V, you can get some pretty nice lightweight custom wheels (like Mavic/Dura Ace) for well under $500 bucks and still have $500 leftover for a really nice town bike. Yeah, these wheels won't look like the factory-built 2 spoke jobbers but those would look funny on Fluffy anyway.

Bubba had the wheels for his Kelly built by the guy (Gorgeous George or something like that) who builds for www.speedgoat.com for an excellent price and he got DT Swiss Hugi hubs. They were less than $400 and built really well.

Since I can ride late Tuesday afternoons, you can always take Amtrak up here, ride with me, stay overnight and then ride home to Antioch in the morning. That would take care of you! You can add to your Diablo-at-a-distance photo collection.