Some sights up to now... now is Washington, DC

This is where you can find the current map. If you can't click on it, paste this address:

http://maps.google.com/maps/msie=UTF&msa=0&msid=109620624446753609897.000450d6ea54e430d94bd

Must be the fog... or the humidity on my lens.

Do I need to explain what might occur here? "Grown Folks Party", is that what they are calling a "key party" these days?

North Carolina, home of the first flight and Kitty Hawk. 

Little (4'11") Judy was riding this crazy inverted trike. She used to ride a  V-Strom but wanted something a little shorter and less effort.

Two hour ferry ride...clear skies! Yeah!!!

After 2 hours on the ferry... Holy crap - look at those clouds!

Something is living here, can you see them? One of the houses in a residential area on Cape Hateras.

I don't know why I am taking all these state sign photos. I can't remember who suggested it, but at the time I just blew it off and now it has turned into a little game I play with myself. I am missing Maryland so far... unless they don't post one when you enter DC. I might have to get into Maryland proper.

Something that needs to be mentioned is the different types of food served that is based on what is available. We all know the New Orleans faire and have a good idea that you can get good seafood in Florida and Alabama and Mississippi are keen on shrimp. I didn't know that the Carolinas and Georgia had just as many shrimp dishes. As I head north I am seeing more crab on the menu (crab cakes, crab louie, halibut stuffed with crab, rock fish stuffed with crab, shampoo for crabs, crab claws, you name it - if it has crabs in it I have seen it) and that seems to be a good thing. I had the most amazing stuffed halibut the other day. It was cooked perfectly, but what would you expect from McCormick's? Oysters from Chesapeake Bay in Maryland are now popular... mmmm! I can't wait until Maine's lobster, Prince Edward Island's oysters and Alaskan salmon - maybe even some moose steaks in Maine or Canada.

Outer Banks, NC

Outer Banks (OBX) is spectacular and the ride north into Virginia is only rivaled by what has come before. There is something about the inlets, rivers, and other bodies of water that so intrigue me. 

It was easy to break up my trip into small bites from Savannah to OBX. I had planned to stay several nights on the islands, but was stopped by torrential rains and lightning a couple of nights. Rain doesn't bother me much, but the lightning is a little disconcerting when it was as close as it was. I actually stayed the same amount of time I had planned, but I didn't play on the beaches like I would have liked. Not for lack of desire, but they were closed due to the nesting of the Piping Plover. Apparently they are here at a different time and in greater numbers, so they closed a lot of the beaches. 

Remember as a kid when you learned about the Wright Brothers and Kitty Hawk? I always knew it was in North Dakota, but I never realized that it was within a mile of a beach east and west of the hill. Perhaps I was told that and wasn't geographically savvy at the time. The brothers would have had to ship any of their tools and supplies by ship/boat from the mainland. I really don't think that they had that fancy two mile long bridge in place at the time.

Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are my first tastes of Virginia and I would have to say that I am pleasantly surprised at some of the changes. There seems to be a bit more wealth here (no shit, huh?) than the southern states below. The houses are built better and if people are on the coast they are in 40' schooners and ketches vs. bass boats and pontoon day cruisers.

Observations on too much right wing religion - don't bother to argue with me...I may not be right, but I am not wrong!

Sometimes I see something that sticks in my head and festers. This is one of those times. While I was in So. Carolina I heard about a bill that was being passed to allow the printing of license plates that say, "I Believe" with a Christian cross on it. There are some things that just should NOT occur and this is one of them. Today this story was broadcast on CNN and other networks as a new story, but  if they have the plates it is not a NEW story! (see article)  http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/sclicense.plates/index.html

Elsewhere in the news (actually this is about 4 days old)...The People for the American Way (A conservative Evangelical group) were discussing the Olympics and Tyson Gay (an Olympic runner) who will probably win a gold medal. In their article they wrote, "Tyson Homosexual ran the 100 meter...". Apparently they have a program set up that switches the word "gay" to "homosexual". They (The PftAW) won't respond to say which was more offensive to them... gay or homosexual... and why either would give them pause.

These are the same (okay, perhaps they aren't exactly the same) people that want to put a label on all text books describing the Theory of Evolution as being one possible "theory" of life's origin. See article below: http://whyfiles.org/095evolution/   While this article I have included is about a group in Kansas, I would like to point out that there were three, count them...THREE, Republican candidates (Huckabee, Brownback and one other) during the primaries that raised their hands when asked if they believed in Creationism over Evolution. Huckabee went as far as stating that while he didn't know if it was "6 days to create the earth or 6 days of undetermined value". Here is a great article about how the Creationists are trying to subvert the Supreme Court ruling by stating that they want "Intelligent Design" (same as Creationism - they came up with this name to divert the populace AND the courts from who they really are) to be taught. http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/01/10/evolution/

Honestly, I truly don't care what they teach, as long as they teach both AND state that BOTH are "THEORIES". I would also like them to state that Newton's Law of Gravity is a "Theory" - personally, I need much more proof before I will succumb to such nonsense as this gravity-thing. Who are they trying to fool... gravity, bah! I think that we should also make sure that we list Ohm's Law, PI, Pascal's Principle, Avogadro's Number and all the other proven laws as "just theory".

Of course if you believe Occum's Razor (another proven theory), you would have to suggest that the simpler a theory is, the better. Occum's Law states, if two theories predict phenomena to the same accuracy, then the one which is simpler is the better one. Moreover, additional aspects of a theory which do not lend it more powerful predicting ability are unnecessary and should be stripped away. So, if that is the case...the simpler of these principles is Creationism, so by this rule we need to throw out Evolutionism. Well, that is my arguement... now, if you need more proof, watch 100 more reasons to dispute Darwinists (see here)  

http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch?video=17336

Why does religion have to be so zealous about manipulating a situation for its own gain? It isn't just the Christian faiths that are so fanatical, you can find this in the Muslim religion as well. I find it highly amusing that these same "Christians" are the very first to point fingers at Fundamentalist Muslims as being too right wing. Zealotry is not to be admired or emulated, it leads to blind-militarism and the demise of many cultures. 

Okay, I don't want everyone to all jump on this and get confused and think that I am confusing religion with charlatans like Jerry Fallwell, Pat Robertson or Ted Haggard (everyone's favorite drug using - cock chugging evangelical pastor). Religion, more specifically, the belief of something can be good for people. What I mean is that belief in some higher power can make people feel as if they have purpose and that there is more to life than what is in the mirror. I realize that some people need that. 

I would like to think that reading a variety of books is key to a grounded education, but when a person neglects to broaden their knowledge base, they become as narrow as the charlatans I have listed above. One quote I have seemed to hang onto for over 20 years (I re-read it before my trip) is from Robert Persig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", it is, "When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called religion." 

Don't get me wrong, I am not against religion, religions, spiritual beliefs or the teachings of those religions. What I get unplugged by is that there are people who become unhinged by people with diametrically (and not so) opposing viewpoints. Why does the religious "right" try to push so hard to have a voice in the government? Why won't they just allow government to exist without their influence? Maybe another question is, why do governments allow religions so much influence?  

Still South, but thinking Northern thoughts

One thing is certain, it is hot in the south. It is also quite pretty. The forests were something I didn't expect and they ranged all the way from Florida to Virginia (and into VA). The bayous, rivers, tributaries and coast are all so varied and intriguing to me. If it weren't for the fucking humidity I would move here in a minute... oh, and the bouffant coiffed TV preaching puppets - they would need to go too. Religion can stay, the radicals need to go.I can't say enough about Savannah, but I will try. It is a beautiful, it is as old as it is still segregated. Yes, I said segregated. Throughout the lower downtown area it is touristy and mostly white. To the west and the southwest appeared to be devoid of white people to the point that it seemed locked in the past. This went on for miles in all directions. The houses were all beautiful colonials that needed lots of work, but the sense of community there was amazing. I had lunch at a BBQ joint that was just some guy's pickup truck towing a smoker. I rode past it and dismissed it because there was a huge line and it was ungodly hot, but the smell was too much and drew me back. I was the only white person in line and had such a great time pulling up on my bike and getting all the interest from everyone. All the children climbing all over the bike and wishing that I had my camera with me... I had 4 kids sitting on the bike and all I could think of was, what if they fell off. The BBQ guy (Randy of Randy's BBQ) was so surprised that he had a white person stop - he said that they mostly just drive by and that the 11 years he has been doing this I was the 4th. It bothers me that, in this "United" States, we still have ideals that would make the late Jesse Helms proud. 

4 white people in 11 years... pathetic! You would think that the press would find out about this little gem that is set up daily in the same spot and serves the best BBQ I have had on this trip.It has been many years since I have seen a fireworks show (the shows in Iraq don't count - even though they could be louder and more colorful) and was thoroughly entertained. It wasn't just the show, it was the preamble, the crowd (this is where people become integrated here) and the location that was amazing. The looks on the children's faces were the best when it was their first show. 

Of course, with everything, you get your idiots. It is funny to me that someone without an accent can yell and scream yet not seem half as stupid as someone with a southern accent. Like APT said once, "A person with a bad southern accent immediately lowers their IQ by 15 points when they open their mouths".  

Spanish moss is so cool.

Random thought of my day: 

What do you call a dead, deep-voiced crooning soul singer who is turned into a zombie? Barry Wight. 

I didn't say it was good, just random. 

I have left Savannah and have continued north to North South Carolina and will cross into South North Carolina in the morning on the way to the Outer Banks. With the storm off the Eastern Seaboard moving in from Bermuda I should expect plenty of rain for the next few days. Not a big deal, but it sure does make things a lot less entertaining and more exhausting. 

This bridge in No Carolina was so cool - I had to stay in Mt. Pleasant (it was neither) to get the night shot.

3 States - 1 Day

Mississippi - Wow! Not much to talk about. Nice, fine, white sand, empty beaches. Why are the beaches empty? Why can't you drive along the coast without having to stop at every light? I literally was stopped at 40+ lights that turned red just as traffic reached the next light. Only 3 lights in 50 miles was green. Seems like someone needs to figure out how to get the timing of the lights right. Should save lots of money in fuel costs and would cut down on pollution, but that is just me. 

Alabama...

I don't know what to say about Alabama. In most convenient stores you can grab a bottle of water, open and drink it as you are waiting in line. In Alabama it is apparently considered uncouth and against the law. In fact the woman behind the counter, the same one that was gossiping with a woman on my side, yells at me for opening my water before I paid for it. First of all, I was waiting for about 5 minutes before I opened it because I had to wait and listen to what Vern and Kate were fighting about the night before in the bar, secondly it was 98 degrees outside and I was VERY thirsty. I also had my money out and was waiting in line behind little gossip queen - it wasn't as if I was walking out drinking it and whistling Dixie. Alabama can only... Ahh crap! I just remembered the postcard I was reading while I waited. The memory of my great aunt saying M I Crooked letter, Crooked letter (etc...) kept playing in my head while "Vern and Kate were drunk and yellin' at each other"... This happened in Mississippi. That Mississippi-Coon-Assed-Redneck-Cow!  

Apparently the only thing I did or saw in Alabama was visiting with my Uncle Ron and Aunt Betty. 

Days before I arrived I tried to call them, but the number I had for them was disconnected. Since I would be passing by them anyway, I decided to surprise them and go to the address that I had. I programmed the address into my GPS and rode on down the country road to their house. When I arrived at the address I wasn't sure if I was in the right place. With all the houses spread apart on this Country Road it was hard to determine if I was in the right place. I found the address and found a house, barn, a few trees and a mail box with just a number. Fortunately on the side of the barn was their name. I pulled up the grass driveway and knocked on the front door. 

Out of the side door comes a wizened old lady that I didn't recognize. As with all things in life, they change as they age. It had been 20 years since I had seen Betty and at the age of 86 she is healthy and able, but she is still 86 years old and her body isn't as straight as it used to be. Ron, is six years her junior and other than bypass surgery (septuple bypass) two years ago, he looks good. Neither of them have lost any memory or seemed addled by Alzheimer's, which was so very nice to see. That was a big fear as I got close - that and that one of them might have passed on in the five years since I had spoken to them. 

It was cathartic talking about my parents, past events and other family stuff. What wasn't cathartic was when Ron brought up politics. One of the things that I never realized about him was that he is a staunch Republican and is, well... he has certain beliefs that I believe should have been left behind 50 years ago (or more). Here are a few examples that made my skin crawl. 

-Ron claims that Fox News is the only real news that is unbiased and not tilted toward any direction. It is a fair and accurate depiction of what occurs in the US and world and that CNN, MSNBC and network news is biased towards the liberals. 

-Another Ron (ism) was that George Bush has been one of the better presidents and that Obama will be like Carter. 

-Yet another... He doesn't understand why any white person would vote for Obama and that they should be ashamed of themselves. 

That last one was what struck me as the most reprehensible. I don't ever recall hearing him say anything like that when I was growing up. I just don't understand how people can't have evolved past the 1800's. It was almost as if he missed out on the whole MLK-Equal Rights movement in the '60's. Since I can't recall those sorts of comments from him prior to his move to Alabama from Las Vegas, I would have to guess that his beliefs have been acquired since they moved. If that is the case, Alabama is a pretty fucked up place. 

I really did enjoy seeing them again, but these thoughts and beliefs are so much of what is screwed up with our country. Everything is exactly what Fox News foments. Nothing but hate and divisiveness from the Fox folks who feed on those that are weak of mind and can't think for themselves.  Even now I am getting worked up! If I didn't love my family, I wouldn't have been able to respect them and their house by not saying something rude. 

Florida - Pensecola...

I left Ron and Betty's around 730 pm and rode West looking for a hotel for a bit before I decided to just head East to see if anything was there. I hadn't realized how close I was to Florida, so I just continued. For some reason the GPS glitched and told me that there was a hotel somewhere it wasn't, so I had to press on. I ended up arriving at the Motel 6 around 930 in the dark and then have this whacked out front desk chick try to charge me $80 for a room at this little fleabag motel. When I call her on that she tells me there weren't rooms on the first floor. That wasn't a problem for me, but as I went out I looked around and the hotel was empty. I walked back in and mention this to her and she miraculously finds rooms after I point it out.  She then puts me in a smoking room and I have to come back to tell her the room next to me is non-smoking room and I can tell because the blinds are open and it is empty.

Shortly after I get settled into my non-smoking, 1st floor, $45 room, the whole place gets crazy. She is having a party for friends in the empty rooms... a party that lasts until 4 am. Nothing like being awakened by the alarm on my bike when these idiots decide they want to try to sit on it and move it. It was so loud that they freaked out and started running around. Idiots!!! It was a good thing that I locked the steering column and put my alarm and lock on this night. Must've been something about this clerk.

Florida - Panama City

Rain starts...

Georgia (okay, this is a 4th sign - not part of the 3 states in 1 day)

If this isn't Murphy's Law. It rained for 3 hours, stopped for the next 2 (long enough for me to dry off), then more rain the last 30 min... just to keep me from being dry when I checked into my motel in Waycross, GA on my way to Savannah.

Soapbox...

One of the most tragic things about Hurricane Katrina is the way the press reported the situation. They (the press) keyed into the looting and houses, businesses and buildings that were destroyed and the mistakes made by the contractors and government. They rarely touched on the lives that were destroyed. I know they did, but it always seemed as an afterthought. One thing that they press seems to do lately is sensationalize anything that they think can generate interest and sell newspapers, attract viewers or get web-hits. When did we lose integrity in the news? Did we ever have it? Why does news only discuss the tragedy, the deaths, the misanthropic moments that are portrayed daily in the press? Could it be that the population thrives on the misanthropic, the hatred and distrust of the human species? (I call this the "NASCAR syndrome". People are watching to see accidents, otherwise it is just high speed traffic - nothing more, nothing less) I know that I find a story that generates a large volume of reader comment to be more entertaining and affirms my belief that the average reader doesn't comprehend half of what they read.

No, this isn't a new FEMA delivery. It is simply a roof still submerged in the Bayou and probably will be for years to come. It doesn't appear that they whole house is below, but you never know. 

This is an all too common sign on many of the houses in St Bernard Parish and the Lower 9th Ward. A good number of houses have taken to marking their houses to denote that they are coming back or just their general frustration. Most have just let the city tear down the houses and moved on. The press talked about the looters, but they didn't mention that they were mostly looking for food... instead they focused on the few people that went after the 40" flat screen. 

This house might be a disaster, but on either side of it is an empty pad (a common sight). You can imagine what "nightmares" were for his neighbors.

Who is to blame for this? Oh, I don't mean the hurricane. I mean the aftermath. The clean-up, the re-building, the restoration. Some people in the press blame FEMA. Some blame Bush for being stupid and slow to act. The locals I talked to blame the governor for not mobilizing the National Guard in time or allowing them to help. There is plenty of blame to go around and when all the water clears we can all point our fingers at the profiteering, the nepotism in awarding business, and the foot dragging on getting supplies to where they were needed most. So many people took advantage of a catastrophe while thinking that they were just delaying the rebuilding of houses - they forgot about the lives that filled the houses. So much foot dragging by all caused people to go elsewhere to pick up the pieces.

Someone please kick me off my soapbox! 

The best invention EVVVVER!

No, really! 

DRAGON(fly) Slayer

I killed 3 Dragons (okay, they were dragonflies) today. It is very disturbing to see a yellowish/greenish-blue ichor the size of a baseball appear on the windscreen. The first one gave me pause - I didn't know what it was that I hit. The second one hit the lip of the windscreen and "sprayed" me right in the face of my open helmet. Very good thing that I ride with my mouth closed... You can't imagine how much juice is in a dragonfly until one hits your sunglasses!

Perhaps Daria and Michael can tell me why all the local (NOLA) weather guessers state that there will be a 50% chance of rain every day. They need to grow a pair and just say that it is going to rain or it isn't. What is up with 50%? That is about as accurate as if I flipped a coin to tell the weather. It seems like what the weather gurus do here. I have brought the rain gear and not been rained on. Then I leave the rain gear and get caught in a Tsunami. What gives? Now I just take everything with me all the time.

I have finally discovered a use for hair dryers... and as you have guessed, (it isn't for the "skullet" that I am thinking of growing. Can you imagine me with a "skullet"?) ... it is now a good way to dry my jeans after I get caught in the rain. Usually riding until my clothes are dry is the method of choice... not so easy when it doesn't stop raining.

Perhaps in my ardor to make it to Alaska by August, I neglected to look into weather patterns of Texas, New Orleans and the South (NOLA is not the South - it is much too gentile to be the South - perhaps more intelligent than the South).

Pic 1: Typical sight along the way. Always a drive thru with whatever you may need

Pic 2: That is one fine looking fountain!!! Even better looking inside where it is beer flowing freely

Pic 3: LaFitte's Blacksmith Shop - the oldest continuous drinking establishment in NO. The place is still lit by candles, but they have found a way to get electricity to power the refrigerators and the TV.

Come on... Ireland?

Ok, it was amusing that I was mistaken about being from New York. I had a good laugh about it. I am a bit perplexed about today's case of mistaken identity... Ireland. When the waitress said that she hoped I would come back again, I told her that I doubted I would get back this way again (even if I did, the service was crap). Her response was, "Your accent is strange. Where are you from, Ireland?" I couldn't think of anything else to say other than, I have no accent and I sound like people on TV and the movies. She seemed very perplexed at that. I didn't tell here that I thought she had an accent (She is was about the most Cajun person I have met so far), but I made it very clear that her IQ was 10 points lower because of what she said.

The first situation I just attributed to her being from Texas. And Scott, before you get all uppity and defensive about that comment, let me just state that I now know where you get all that hot air. Shit, when Texas doesn't suck... it blows! What a crazy hot place to travel in. I don't know what is worse, West Texas where the roads don't curve and there isn't a tree in sight? Or, Central Texas where the roads don't curve and there isn't a tree in sight. Perhaps it is South Texas where the roads do curve (a little) and there isn't a tree in sight AND it is humid. Actually, Houston was about the time that Texas started looking better - yeah, I know that Austin is the best place in Texas, but I didn't make it this time so I didn't include it. I did like the area around Katy and some of the other areas that I road through.

And THEN I come to a place called Galveston. Sure, it is a beach community close to a large metropolis, but what the fuck is up with the 3 pyramids? It really doesn't compute for me. I never did see the Sphynx, but I did see plenty of chain restaurants. That seems to be all that Texas has. 

 I never thought that I would say that I was immensely happy to cross into Louisiana. What a nice change of pace! Other than the folks from Leesville that I worked with in Iraq, I have nothing but good from LA. It would be a place I could consider living in... Even my bike looks happy as it leaves Texas (no offense to my friends that live there).

I found the axe to be a bit of a puzzle. Don't you usually need the axe to break the glass. Aren't these the axes used in case someone needs to go on a murder spree or just kill a bunch of teenagers at a remote lake wearing a mask. And why frame it? Are they celebrating the fact that it has been used before?

New York

Things that make me go, "hmmmm!"

Upon checking into the hotel tonight, the front desk clerk asked me, "What part of New York are you from?" 

My reply was simply, "The Denver part." 

To which she answered, "Your accent doesn't sound from the mid-west, you must work with people from New York."

When did Colorado fall into the category of "mid-west"? 

Memories of a small island

There is something about coming to Corpus Christi that will always stir up memories of family. As I rode into town and across JFK Bridge onto Padre Island I couldn't help but think about the last few times I was here. There aren't many words that can describe how I felt coming over the bridge but I might start with nostalgic, lost or perhaps just sad. As I pulled up to my parent's old house I was filled with all the memories of the times I had spent here. Whenever I have come back here it feels incomplete. Perhaps because I don't have closure on this part of my life. Perhaps it is something else... 

My goal was to come here, sort out some issues that I have let slide for several years and retrieve a few belongings that I left here and mail them home. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right keys to the house and couldn't get in. This means that I will have to come back when I am done with my trip or I'll fly back here sometime after the Alaska leg. I am guessing that I will have to sort everything out before I go into Mexico. At least I know what I have to do and how long it will take and that I will have to plan to be here during the week, not the weekend. 

Once I left Denver I entered the world of "closing time". Nothing like being in a town full of chain restaurants (Chili's, Joe's Crab Shack, Outback, Applebee's, etc...) that close by 10:00 PM, but some close as early as 9. Not that I would be dining after 10, but I WOULD be looking for a beer at that time. Even the hotel on the beach closes at 10 - that is just ludicrous!

Now that I have made it to CC and done what I could, I feel as if I am about to just start the trip when I leave here tomorrow morning. The rest of the trip is a series of destinations, not a 1200 mile trip just to get to the first destination. Since Denver, my goal was to get to Corpus Christi. From here on out I will be taking my time, seeing the sights, not pushing on even when I am tired. I don't plan on riding 400 miles a day until I get to Canada, well... perhaps a day or two in Florida, but I may want to stop and see what is there (or skip the peninsula all together and save it for another day.

I don't know if anyone caught the small article in one of the papers the other day, but it struck me as one of the most ludicrous things that I have ever heard of. Officials in St Paul, MN plan to mix contraceptives with bird feed to reduce the local pigeon population and clean up the streets. Their claim is that they (the pigeons) make the buildings and the streets dirty when they crap all over them. This is being paid for by the tax payers... what next? Drilling for oil on our beaches? A Tea Cup Museum? A Mule Museum? (those last two REALLY were funded by they tax payer and ARE actual museums now).

President Above

Odd thing about taking a road trip, you just never know how far you are going to get. As much as you think you can get another 100 miles, there is always something that comes up to set you back. The first day was lack of sleep the night before, the second day was a late start, the third day - well I did pretty well the third day. The fourth day I got jacked up by the heat. There is nothing more draining than 100 degree wind hitting your face and wicking away the sweat before it cools you down. I just couldn't make the last 100 miles to Corpus Christi so I stopped some place that looked like it had good AC. 

My whole goal is not to find myself riding all day like I have been. The goal is to see the sights, but since there aren't any sights in Texas (I haven't been through the Austin area on this trip, so I am aware that there is some beauty in this dog-forsaken state) I am just trying to get through to CC and then Houston as fast as I can. 

I do suppose that I have done a few things more than sit on my bike and ride. I had a few beers with a truck driver that had a political opinion about everything and even had an amusing idea about running for president. His idea is to legally change his name to "None of the Above". That way he would always be on the ballot and with a poor selection of candidates he might have a chance to be elected. He was a good drinking buddy, but then again, I heard the same thing about our current president. Both have about the same amount of common sense and intelligence...well, actually the truck driver might be a bit sharper than Bush.

As keen as I am to be camping out, there is something about riding all day in the heat and then setting up a tent to sleep in the heat. If there was a single tree between Raton, NM and San Angelo (other than the scrub oak), I might have considered it. Instead I have stayed in some flea bag motels. Some have been decent, others had cockroaches that were bigger than my bike. Here is a word of advice to all of you that have travelled and will travel...turn on the lights when you get up in the middle of the night to pee. You may end up like me and have to clean the bug juice from betwixt your toes. 

Jedi-Jack...if you are reading this I have one question for you. Latte!? WTFO! I come to visit you in Houston and you want to go get Lattes! I know it was the morning, but a LATTE? I suppose you could've said an iced, soy, caramel, mochacino and I might not be surprised. I find it more than slightly amusing that the toughest marine I know would suggest getting lattes. This is the same marine that used to tell his staff that he would stab them in the eye as a motivational technique. The same marine that I would think twice about fucking with. Ah shit! I forgot rule #1 and didn't think twice - I am not very smart sometimes!

Miles rolling onward

Blistering heat nauseates

Sweat rolls down my back

It begins...

So far this trip has had several beginnings, one start of this journey began years ago with the spark of an idea to ride a horse across the Silk Road, then it morphed into sailing around the world on a 45' Ketch and now it is Denver to the East Coast of the US to New Brunswick, Canada to Prudhoe Bay, AK then onto Ushaia, Argentina and back (or beyond). 

This is probably the best of the three choices since I know where to put the fuel on a motorcycle and would be hard pressed to be able to keep a horse fed and watered and my sailing experience is just a 24 day trip from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia as "crew". That meant that I did everything to support the trip except actually sailing the boat. Sure, I held the wheel, trimmed the sails and learned tons, but I know about as much about sailing as I do about horses. Perhaps one day I will own that boat and sail around the world, but not today...today is all about day 1.

Short version of my planning is that from the time I got a new bike, to replace the one that my brother "lost" one year while I was away, until now, I have been trying to find the most multi-purposed items to take that will streamline what I bring. I feel as if I am bringing the bare bones stuff, but when I look the bike fully loaded I have to question that. In the next few days I have to repack, review and pitch if I can't use it or is duplicate (not to be confused with redundant).

I need the tent and sleeping bag. I need all the camp stuff. I need clothes. I need the tools and spare parts I put together. That is about 3/4 of what I am taking. What I don't need are the cameras and my fishing gear. I don't need the two books I brought with me. I also don't need the computer and the MP3 player. I just can't imagine not taking pictures, not fishing in Alaska and Patagonia and Maine and Canada and Belize and... I also can't imagine having a book to read or music to listen to. I suppose I could chuck the computer, but it allows me to edit the photos I take and write. I have also copied all the manuals for the cameras onto the hard drive. I have videos of a tire change, a clutch overhaul, tune up and other maintenance needs in lieu of a shop manual. It is also my map.

It is funny to think that this is all that I will have for the next 9 or more months to keep me entertained or keep me warm and dry. When you look at it like that, I am not bringing much. Some people would skip the SLR camera and stick with the compact point and shoot - after all, some point and shoot cameras are solid cameras on their own. I wanted the SLR because I don't have to get close to the bears in Alaska or Jaguars in Central America, I can stand at a safe distance and "shoot" them without scaring them off. No sense in becoming something's lunch by getting too close. 

The fishing gear is for those once in a lifetime fishing holes that I might find in Maine, Canada, Alaska, Patagonia or even Belize for bonefish. 

There is one thing that I would like to point out among what I am bringing along. It may be the most important thing in my kit. If you focus on the upper right hand portion of the top picture you may see...and no, I am not talking about the toothpaste (although oral hygiene is high on my list).

(One note about the photos - you should be able to click on them to enlarge them.)

Planning a trip

I have found myself in Denver for the winter without any substantial work. It isn't as if I am not working, but I as I told my friends the other day, I really miss the responsibility and feeling that I was performing a valid and good function when I was in Iraq. I was proud of the work that I did and believe that I made a difference. Let me clarify what I mean when I state that I made a difference. I haven't for even one moment thought that I made a difference directly to the people of Iraq, but I did make a difference to the US Military our company supported. I made a difference to my co-workers and the company I worked for. I made a difference to the interests of the subcontracted foreign workers when I demanded that their living conditions be elevated, their food become more than substandard and the workers be treated better. While I was doing that, there were some companies, like First Kuwaiti, that shifted their personnel camps out of my reach because the requirements that I was imposing cost more than they were willing to give up. I argued against doing business with this company on many fronts, i.e. humanitarian, health, poor quality, bad value (too high compared to others) and billing practices were not consistent causing 1000's of excess hours monthly to justify their bills. The owner has US political ties and the rotating Project Managers that have just come from the military were still beholden to the pressure from politics to directly influence some of the ex-military officers (2nd wave of "leadership", not those under PC's tenure). I am not saying that there was anything untoward done by these people, just that they cowed to what the politics said - and didn't care what was right and the right thing to do. 

Blah, blah, blah...this was supposed to be about planning for my trip. I suppose that in a lot of ways this was exactly how it went for the planning stage - I become distracted by something and forgot all about what I planned to do. Apparently, I am not going to get into what it took to plan this trip and will dive right into the departure. It really wasn't that interesting - just a lot of finding the right item (we

ight, size, dual purpose, etc...) and making certain all my paperwork was done.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot that we took a trip to Moab, UT to camp and (for me) shake down my new bike and gear. Here are a couple of pics...

26 October, 2007

Uggh! Getting into Madrid and settled into the hotel at 10pm knowing that I have to leave at 3:30am is not a great feeling. I could’ve just slept at the airport until the gate opened and then slept on the plane, but I have to clean up from the day of traveling from Barcelona before I can get on a plane. I smelled of little girl vomit and am certain that after sitting so close to that older odiferous couple that it rubbed off on me. I just have a hard time justifying a 5 hour stay in a hotel that cost over $100. Sure, it was a nice hotel and the shower rocked. I just hate having little choice when you stay near the airport. I was also too tired to care at the time.

I am so irritated with the airline that I have most of my miles with. I was just told that even though there are plenty of seats in business that I cannot upgrade because they do not use Northwest’s system in Amsterdam. I was told that if I were to go the other way, I could use them, but not anywhere in Europe. That’s funny because when I tried to use them in the US, I was shut down. What is the benefit?

So I sit here in coach (she did offer to leave the seat next to me open in lieu of the upgrade) with a seat open and enough room to type this out. I do suppose that this is better than wasting the miles on the upgrade.

Coming home from vacation or work overseas always gives me a feeling of completion. This trip is no exception. I suppose that I have the same feeling that I did when I was coming back to Iraq from R&R. I know that I have something else planned after this trip in Spain and that there are some things that I have to sort out before I leave to Mexico, Central America and South America next summer. This is akin to knowing that I had 4 month of work before I could leave on my next holiday and get out of Iraq for a couple of weeks.

Riding through Spain was a good test. It showed me that I need to take a Spanish immersion course so I can be conversational. I understand almost everything that was said to me, but a lot of it could have been body language as much as it was the amount of Spanish that I know. I also want to take a few motorcycle maintenance courses so I can get more comfortable with my bike. I could take my Honda and Kawasaki apart and put it back together, but I think that I will need to change the road tires for knobby tires so certain legs of the trip are safer. There are a lot of places that are dirt roads instead of paved interstates/roads. I also think that I need to get stronger. Seven years ago I may not have said that, but (after having a desk job in Iraq and not aspiring to much more since I have been back in Denver) I don’t want to be exhausted after longer rides that have a lot of wind or rough roads. I also need to sort out my chiropractic issues. If I can’t sort it out by Feb with my current doc, I need to drop him for a different doc.

There are a few things on the list, but only one pressing thing right now…sleep.