Thanks for the replies.

And yes, I was solo and prefer that. I figure if I tried to ride with someone else, I'd only end up solo any way because they'd get impatient with my 'stop and smell most of the roses' attitude. I love riding to see things and I stop to do so... A LOT. I just can't bring myself to hammer past the things I'm interested in because I won't make a distance quota. My routes are even planned to hit most ruins, 12th - 14th century churches, runestones and castles in an area as possible. Town to town to get from Point A to Point B in X-Amount of time is fairly low on my list.

And I have considered a Kindle since I found out about the good battery life. The work situation is a bit shaky at the moment though, so we're being a bit careful with cash flow.