I was right:  I didn’t get my bike.  I was completely let down.  That was the fifth or sixth time that I’ve been to the shop.  I lost count.

I feel I’ve done enough complaining for the month.  I believe it may be time to move on to something slightly more productive.  I want to make a list of prioritized destinations for both the very short term as well as the long term.  The Rieju is going to be my local exploring tool.  I figure this will be good: I can spend the next four months exploring the province of Cadiz and further out in Andalucia if I have time.  I’ll start nearby and work my way out, so that by the time I can pick up my BMW, I’ll actually need its legs to go a bit further.  So between now and May:

1. El Puerto de Santa Maria: my new home.  I’m going to learn this city in and out.  Whenever I go someplace new, I usually spend a considerable amount of time exploring.  The SMX will be great for this type of travel.
2. Cadiz.  What a great city.  It’s considered to be one of the oldest in the Europe.  Great beaches, interesting nightlife, lots of things to look around at.  Plus, it’s a tourist city (usually not a plus in my book), but tourist cities are usually great to practice the language in.
3. Sevilla.  Been there once.  Loved it.  It’s a bit of a haul on a 125cc, but I’ve taken much, much longer trips on a 250cc, so why not?  Same deal as with El Puerto here.  Except the difference is Sevilla is considerably larger, and I’ll have the wheels to do more exploring.
4. Granada.  Don’t know crap about this place except Alhambra is there, and it’s cold.  I think this will probably be the outer limits of where I want to push the Rieju.  It’s got a 1.96 gallon tank.  That’ll probably get me about 100 miles/tank or so, provided I carry additional fuel (so that I can take it down to empty).  We’ll see what kind of fuel economy the little bike gets me.  It’s a Yamaha engine, so it should be pretty decent.  As soon as I pick it up, I’ll blog a bit on its performance (or lack thereof).
5. Everywhere in between.  Sure, Sevilla and Granada may be what people think of when they think Andalucia, but the real treasures are going to be what I find on the rural coastlines, the farmlands, the pueblos.  Places that are worth checking out, but too remote for the casual traveler.

I think it’s the 13th of May that I’ll officially be able to pick up the BMW.  I’ll get it out of storage, transport it to the BMW dealership in El Puerto, and get it maintained (hopefully there won’t be any major issues with it other than I already know): new rear sprocket and chain, new front tire, 24K service, new rear brake, new relay for the aux lights.  That should take about a week.  Immediately following service, I’ll take it on a weekend camping trip for a shakedown ride.  Where?  Don’t know yet.  Somewhere cool.  Maybe Morocco.  So where do I want to go once I get some real wheels?

1. Croatia.  The Dalmatian Coast is to me now what Prague was to me 4 years ago: a destination that I always tried to get to, but it never worked out.  So as soon as I know that my bike is ready for a trip, I’ll be off to Tangier to hop a ferry to Genoa.  46 hours later, I’ll be in mainland Italy heading North-East.  I don’t know how long I’ll stay nor what I’ll do yet, but I do know this: I’ll be free to do whatever I want and go where I choose.
2. The African route.  I’d really like to take a trip to Tunis.  From there I could ferry to Greece, or somewhere further East in the Med.  Most people hear these North African countries and immediately think danger.  Sure, they’re dangerous.  But so are a lot of other places.  Additionally, you can’t think just think of these countries as African or European.  There’s more to it than that.  The common thread with all of these countries is they sit on the Meditteranean.  So you have Meditteranean Africa and you have Africa Africa.  Same way that Meditteranean France is comnpletely different than inland France.  You look around and see that Ligurians, Calabrians, or Cote d’Azur-ians are a lot closer to Tunisians than they are to Parisians, Romans, or Florentines (minus the language of course). 

And I think I’ll stop there.  My plans change quicker than a something in a something, and when I do get my bike, I’m just as likely to make a b-line for Norway or England as I am to sticking with any kind of plan that I’ve made for myself.