Poof it’s gone, Longest ride ever

My five days off went by quickly as is always the case.  On Saturday I followed up the weed whacking I did Friday with mowing the property.  After I got done I quickly shot an updated video regarding my thoughts about the Husqvarna tractor now that I have over 35 hours on it.  I had been wanting to do that for a little while.

Saturday night Cindy and I spent some time in VR.  This time I used a link cable to hook the Quest to my computer, doing so allows you to unlock a huge collection of PC based VR titles.  I installed Google Earth and was instantly blown away by the God-like ability to go anywhere on the planet and get a 360 perspective that almost feels like you are there.  After I was blown away by it I let Cindy try.  She navigated to her hometown of Miami and visited a bunch of spots which was really cool both for me and her.  With the app I could see what she was seeing on my big computer monitor at the same time.

On Sunday I had plans to meet up with some guys from Miami to ride around Naples.  I had a bit of anxiety about it which is normal any time I am meeting up with new human beings to do something.  I loaded up my truck with three of my wheels and a bunch of gear.  I met up with Robert and Enrique a little after 12:30.  The temps were warmer than I would have preferred, scratching 90 degrees.

Both Enrique and Robert brought wheels with huge batteries.  I just sold my Gotway MSX which had the biggest battery in my fleet.  The next largest I have is my King Song 16X which is 1000WH smaller than what their wheels had.  I figured I could always swap to one of the other wheels if my battery got too low so as we headed out I just hoped for the best.

Robert is a natural speed demon and was leading the way most of the ride.  My 16X not only had a smaller battery than the other two wheels but a lower top speed.  I felt like a bit of an anchor keeping my speed around 20MPH for a good portion of the ride but the guys accommodated me.  Enrique and I talked a lot during the ride, he is closer to my age and mindset.  In total we were out on the road for something like four and a half hours, a record for me.

We also wound up covering the most distance I have ever gone in one shot on an EUC.  My app showed 43 miles at the end of it.  I was amazed when the 16X showed as having 37% battery remaining even after logging that many miles.  I knew this wheel was good on range, I did not know it was that good on range.  All three of us had a good time although I am sure Robert would have liked to keep things at a faster pace.  We talked about having them over again to do an all Veteran Sherman ride and even a venture into the swamp in the future.  I think the video does a decent job of capturing the ride.  Like is often the case, pushing yourself into situations that may initially seem uncomfortable for you often has positive results.

This is going to be a full work week.  We are doing a swap out of a number of the workstations here at the end of the week which will require considerable time Friday night and Saturday.  The good news is once this is behind us the bulk of the project will be behind us just in time for the holidays.