My options are one of two i think ?
I need to give you some background information first, and then I’ll tell you about the letter!
I’ve done well since February I’ve gone from a road bike to a fully prepped overlander in the form of a Yamaha TT600RE, also I’ve just about got all the stuff I need to hit the road. I’m wasn’t planning on leaving on my BIG adventure until 2011, enough time for clearing debts and saving the funds for six months on the road.
I’m in regular work at the moment and I’m crashing back at home with the parents because I had a move went wrong and I needed a bed. Living back at home is cool because I can pay big lumps of the credit cards that I used when prepping the bike.
Looking back now I wouldn’t spend half the cash I did, I put a lot of mods on that bike and if you ask me now how I’d do it next time, this would be my ideal setup:
By the lowest mile Yamaha TT600RE you can find.
Big Tank
Hand Guards
Bash Plate
Use throw over soft bags and spend the money on the trip.
The Letter
It’s from the CSA (child support agency) and it says…
Amount to be paid
Your employer should take amounts as follows.
£212.22 payable WEEKLY from 16/09/08
Now, I only get £205 in my wages each week so it’s deemed only fair that I can keep £90.50 - all amounts after this are taken and the 90.50 unpaid is rolled over, which keeps getting bigger and bigger…
I quit my job today, if they think I’m working for £18 a day, they can F

K off that’s £18 per day less some bills leaving 0.05 pence. I’d be working 8/10 days for a chocolate bar!!
My options are?
Sign my bike over to a life long friend, who would also stash all my quality bike items which is just about all I have. Then, bankrupt myself and they’ll probably still want the cash. No access to cash or cards after this option is taken, no trip.
Or
Draw money from the cards needed to fund a six month trip, buy greenbacks and euros and hit the road. Having said that if I could come up with 2k and turn that into dollars I’d have about $4K (almost) add that to the $2K I already have that’s about $6K without touching the cards. While I’m on the road use internet banking to shove money around, cards to pay cards, and with nothing going in, at some point, all the cards will be stopped and, upon return, I’ll have a big mess and a bankruptcy to deal with, BUT I’ve had my trip.
If I stay I’ll probably still bankrupt myself, still have to pay and never get a chance for years to go on a trip, 90.50 a week doesn’t do much. So, that’s just about it until my child is 16, and then they’ll probably still want the cash.
If I do disappear for 6 months, question is, which way? East is getting cold this time of year. Trans Africa maybe? Down and Back! I’d like to ride the bike home in a defiant gesture!
A lot does happen in 7 days

and in the next se7en, I need a plan.
Shaun
PS ::: Before anybody starts on the subject, I love my girl very much, I see her one week a year and try to help anyway I can. her mother left me after sleeping with the chap next door.. thanks, got a bike soon after