Friday

Irene looks to be the news of the day.  We're probably okay here, but The Big Apple crew is definitely in the line of fire.  Reports from the front are welcome.

High school football season comes into full swing tonight.  They actually had the first game of the season locally last night in Davenport as the city's three public schools and the Catholic school all share the same stadium for home games, and they need most Thursday nights to make the schedule work.  Pretty nice weather for kick-off.  Does football mean that it is now officially Fall?

I'm not sure if my faculties fully processed the fact that my VISA and AmEx cards were both subject to a 3% foreign transaction fee for each usage while we were in Europe.  I understood that obtaining Euro's at a bank or ATM would have that charge, and I think that when I notified both card companies that I would be in Europe they reminded me of that fee, but it just didn't register with my synapses.  My activity statement now carries separate line-items for the fee for each incident of card usage, even the 2 Euro tolls on the freeway.  I think that there are some cards out there that specifically market the feature of no-foreign-transaction-fees.  Probably worth the price of admission for the next trip.

RevKev's mention on his blog of his interest in acquiring a folding bike sounds a little Left Coast-ish.  Very green.  It all depends on the objective.  If you have a good purpose in mind, I say go for it. 

My next bike will be another up-grade to my road-er.  That will make my current bike my back-up, which then becomes the sorta-expendable bike that I will ship/carry-on for my next trip.  This most recent, generally favorable experience with the carry-on bikes has piqued my interest in bringing my own for that next trip.

My pal Ron has maintained custody of my pal Roy's 40-foot motor home (Holiday Rambler), that Ron's group used for RAGBRAI.  And Roy has secured RV parking at Kinnick for the up-coming football season.  Do the math, folks.  We should have a place to call home for any game that we choose to attend.  Suite!

I don't think that I fessed-up here that I lost my mini-digi in Spain.  It happened the same day that I had the window problem with the rental car.  I'm guessing that I had set it on the car at some point getting the bikes ready to ride and forgot to pick it up.  In any event, I've already replaced it with a similar model, a slight upgrade as the particular camera that was lost was out of stock with my dealer.  The new one is a blue Fuji FinepixXP20.  My only gripe is that its a smidge bigger than my previous camera which matters when the normal carrying spot is the back-pocket of a cycling jersey.  Sometimer's strikes again.

I don't have a Bucket List, but I do have the recurring thought that I'd like to go to the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway.  It happens to be this weekend every year.  Bristol, Tennessee.  I actually considered going last year, but just couldn't muster the energy (nor justify the expense).  This is short-track racin' in an amphitheater setting where you can see the whole track in front of you.  Its one of the most popular races of the year.  Any takers?

Looks like a Biaggi's night here in River City.  Hello Weekend! 

BCOT