My poor motorcycle typically sits in a garage in Mandan for almost the entire year. It's tough to get it out for a ride when I'm 1,000 miles away in St. Louis or even 160 miles away in Beach, ND, where I'm working this summer.

When I'm working somewhere I need my pickup and I was always unsure if the motorcycle would fit in the back. And I was nervous about wrecking the bike or pickup trying to load the thing. But I finally got some ramps and some help to shove the bike up in the pickup box. It worked great! So, in case you were wondering, a 2001 Suzuki SV650S does fit nicely in the back of a 2005 Chevy Colorado.

After the Masses here in Beach today the sun finally came out after days of wind and rain. To take advantage of the beautiful weather I cruised on over to Medora and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (South Unit). While there I drove around the 36-mile park loop road. It's beautiful out there. I saw deer, rabbits, prairie dogs, and three or four bison. Along the way I did a little hiking around Buck Hill and in Wind Canyon. Check out the photos here:

Back in Medora after the ride I had some dinner, an ice cream cone, and did a bit of shopping (I picked up a biography of Theodore Roosevelt) before racing (yet another) thunderstorm. It's been stormy this summer. But at least I got out for a little while.

-Jason

P.S.: In one week, I will be a deacon. Wow.

It's hard to believe it, but another academic year has flown by. I'm now a member of the "Theology 4" class, and will soon be ordained as a deacon. The picture above is of my old room at the seminary. When seminarians are ordained, they get new nameplates for their doors that say "Rev. Mr....," but it takes a while. A classmate prematurely put up a temporary "Rev. Mr." in front of my name, so it had to be clarified.

After working nonstop for a week on my thesis over the last days I managed to crank out one more chapter. I suppose I'm about half done with that project. Then, as a reward, I took time to pack up my things and move to a new room.

This is a crazy panorama I stitched together of that old room. It seems like just yesterday that I moved into that 10x10' room, but that was almost 4 years ago.

So now I'm enjoying my slightly larger room on the 2nd floor. The seminary is mostly empty as everyone has left for their summer vacations before their summer assignments begin. It's peaceful here when the place empties out. I'm thinking I might just hang out for another week and pound away at that thesis paper before I head north.

-Jason

The semester has ended here at Kenrick, and I finally got a rough draft completed of a thesis chapter (something I lazily worked on for probably half a year). So tomorrow our Christmas break begins. To kick off the long break, I will be flying down to Del Rio, TX, hopping on my bicycle (which is already waiting for me down there) and riding to College Station, TX, over the course of the week. This is Section 4 of the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier Route. Jesse McCormack and I have ridden the first three sections, which cover the distance between San Diego, CA, and Del Rio, TX. He will be joining me on this ride as well. You can see our path across Texas in blue, above.

We'll be on our bikes until December 20th. You can follow our progress on Twitter, where I will be posting updates whenever I have cell coverage. I'll try to update at least once a day to let everyone know what city (or village) we're in. To see the latest news, click on the image above, or visit my Twitter page at http://twitter.com/jsignal/.

Please pray for our safety, health, and for good Texas weather.

-Jason

The semester is almost over already here in Saint Louis. It has been passing very quickly. This last week I wrote a homily, took two exams, and taught 7th graders about confession. It was an especially busy week, and the rest of the semester will probably be even more busy as I try to wrap up all of the assigned work. Of course, next week I will be going home for Thanksgiving. That will be nice. And then it's a marathon couple of weeks to the end.

And once Christmas break begins, I'm off to Texas to ride bike. Today I finally dropped my bike off at REI for a tune up. Once it's done, some time next week, it will be shipped off to Del Rio, TX, where Jesse and I will resume our cross-country ride on December 12th.

Doing a trip like this required planning. I wanted to include a bunch of stuff in the bike box that will be shipped down ahead of me. So I had to update my gear and packing list. Here is everything I'll be bringing on this trip:

• Bike: Novara Randonee touring bike. (obviously)
• Helmet
• Sunglasses
• Bike Jerseys (2 or 3)
• Bike Gloves
• Warmer Bike Gloves (for cold weather)
• Fleece hat (for cold weather)
• Cycling shorts (2 pr)
• Cycling socks (2 pr)
• Cycling shoes
• Rain jacket (for cold or wet weather)
• Rain pants (for cold or wet weather)
• Leg tights (for cold weather)
• Tennis shoes (for when I'm not on the bike)
• Zip-off pants (pants that double as shorts)
• Short-sleeve t-shirts (2)
• Long-sleeve t-shirt (1)
• Panniers
• Chain Tool
• Chain link
• Hex wrenches
• Spoke Wrench
• Tire Irons
• Spare tubes (3)
• chain lube
• Mirror
• Pump
• Patch kit
• Headlamp
• Small Bungee Cords
• 1st aid kit
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Sunscreen
• Cycle computer
• GPS
• Camera
• Pen/Pencil
• Journal notebook.
• Adventure Cycling Map for SoTier Section 4

I haven't even found the time to publish all the great photos, videos, and travel logs from my last bike trip down south, but I've already booked the next trip! Jesse and I will be continuing our trek from California to Florida from December 12th-20th. We will be riding from Del Rio, TX, where we ended our last ride, and continue on toward College Station, TX. This consists of Section Four of the Adventure Cycling Southern Tier route.

It seems like we've been riding across Texas for an eternity. After this year's 450 mile, eastward trek, we'll STILL be in Texas.

Plane tickets were surprisingly affordable, so it's not going to be too expensive of a trip, thankfully. But I am a bit overwhelmed at all I must accomplish before we depart. Homilies, thesis work, teaching 7th graders, etc, etc. Let's just say the semester is getting busy.

-Jason