I'm trying to wind things up for another attempt. It's a daily gauge thing, but day by day I just haven't been feeling it. I'm not worried I won't. Nothing's different, the feeling will come again.

Any time in August would've been ideal. My landlord, my cousin's uncle on her mother's side, wouldn't have received September's rent, but that wouldn't ring bells because he knows I'm responsible and would let it slide. What would get his attention is that around mid-September I'm supposed to fill out the gas gauge reading on a slip of paper the gas department posts on the front door of the building every other month.

That's not something my landlord can let slide and he'd be contacted about it. I imagine he'd come by my room and knock on the door. Getting no answer, he'd try the door and find it unlocked (he'd have the key with him anyway since he still needed to get the gas reading from in my room). He'd enter and get the reading and post it, no harm. Questions raised that didn't need to be answered immediately.

With the arrival of October, another month's rent will have been missed, but what would really do it is that my parents are coming to Taiwan in October and they will not be able to contact me. They may just be really pissed thinking I was ignoring them and not answering my phone, but then inquiry about where I was would get to my cousin who would call her uncle, who would inform them what he knew – two months rent not paid and gas reading not done. I wasn't and hadn't been around.

From there it would be a mystery with no one able to fill in the spaces, and I can't speculate on anyone's reaction at that point. Maybe they call my workplace and find out I haven't been there since January. Surprise, surprise. The most likely scenario is that they will think I dissed them, be pissed, spend their time in Taiwan and leave to go back to the U.S. thinking whatever happened will be sorted out later.

Quite honestly, if I'm not in anyone's lives, I don't think anyone can complain if I'm not on the planet. And I'm not in anyone's lives in the profoundest sense. Giving everyone I know all benefit of the doubt, I am not in their lives. There is not a person who would be directly affected by my not being on the planet. Anyone I know, if they hadn't heard from me in days, weeks, months, years, they wouldn't notice.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2:33 p.m. - On Taipei Bridge crossing the Danshui River into Taipei County. I live on the east side of Taipei (although there is further east) and the most direct way to get to Taipei County to the west is to ride on Minsheng Rd. the length of Taipei to the riverside bikeway access point there. Taipei Bridge is a continuation of Minquan Rd., so it's the equivalent of a city block to the north to get to the bridge ramp.

2:49 p.m. - The bikeway, riding north on the left bank of the Danshui River towards Bali, passes a garbage collection center. It's quite a stench. But if you can see past the garbage, there is Beitou District and lovely the Yangmingshan range. I'm not positive if Qixing peak, the highest, is visible; a sliver of it might just be peeking up dead center of the photo. I think the three bumps at the left may be the Datun peaks (I think there are a collection of them), most visible from Danshui and Bali townships.

2:58 p.m. - The Danshui River is a tidal river, so even though there is this basin where the Keelung River drains just a bit to the north, you can get water levels like this. We even had tropical storm rains a few days earlier, too.

2:59 p.m. - The basin is also at the north end of the Erchong/Shuhong reclaimed wetlands park. These look like gates to regulate water between the wetlands and the Danshui and the bikeway goes over them. 

3:00 p.m. - Kids, don't ride your bike in the river.

3:58 p.m. - Marker photo. This is the farthest I've ridden on this highway. Years ago I rode up to Linkou on a night ride and rode down County Road 106 on this side of the Linkou plateau to this point and turned right and headed back towards Bali and then Taipei. I remember the highway (that I was on and shot a few weeks ago) was still under construction and so it was rather spotty riding. 

4:04 p.m. - Marker photo. I never would have thought I'd see a sign for Taoyuan Airport on a ride. Living in Taipei, I just don't think where the airport is exactly. I just know I take the bus from Taipei Main Station and I arrive there 50 minutes later. 

4:17-4:19 p.m. - Luzhu township 蘆竹鄉, Taoyuan County! Rest area just after crossing into . . . Taoyuan County! It's just . . . I've come a long way, baby (unfortunately only literally). It's a beautiful ride on the northwest coast, as is the ocean (Taiwan Strait, actually) which is quite inviting. The ride would end up being 70 miles, though. Not easy getting here. 

4:35 p.m. - Riding down Provincial Highway 15, this bridge is visible and too intriguing to resist taking a detour to explore. It goes to Zhuwei 竹圍 Fishing Village where I couldn't find anything to shoot, but I think they're developing it into a tourist attraction. 

4:42 p.m. - So close to the airport, there are always planes overhead.

4:42 p.m. - Taken from the bridge, looking up the coast. It's the northwest coast that curves because it's an island, but from this vantage point I was surprised to see things I didn't expect to see. On a local scale, this is kinda looking more east-north-east, and those coastline buildings on the left are Danshui and mountain range behind it is Yangmingshan, with Mt. Guanyin in Bali to the right (closer and therefore darker in tone). 

4:49 p.m. - Making my way the short distance back to Provincial Highway 15. Another plane taking off visible maybe above the big fish. But not long on Highway 15 as my turn-off onto Highway 4 to head back to Taipei was almost right there. It's still quite a ways to go, all urban riding and nothing to shoot. Provincial Highway 4 goes past the north end of Taoyuan Airport and climbs the plateau highlands along the west side of the Taipei basin. I turned left when I reached Provincial Highway 1, which goes to Guishan where I'd been through before on a Linkou ride. By the time I made it back to the riverside bikeway along the Dahan River (read: still far from home), it was getting dark. But at least I was finally off urban surface roads. 

5:49 p.m. - Provincial Highway 1, Guishan 龜山 township. The one shot I thought to get while waiting for the light. This is the top of a long downhill. The key is to use the light and time when to start so that traffic from behind doesn't catch up, but you don't reach red lights further down the hill too soon. I think waiting about 35-40 seconds into the red light is perfect and it's like doing the downhill traffic and traffic light-free at a near-screaming clip (it's fast, but not steep enough to become a screaming downhill).