My Canada Trip Site Unveiled

I decided to create a new site to blog about my Canada trip. Using Apple's iWeb application, I can do much tighter integration with my Mobile Me account so pics I put up using iPhoto will show up in the site automatically. Plus, I can do way fancier things with the design (as you'll see). So this blog will continue to be a place I record my life, but while I'm on this trip, I'll be blogging into my Canada site. When I return, I'll consider re-posting each day's post here if that's what makes sense.

In the left column, you'll find a link to my Canada site. The site is up now and includes:

- A time-lapse video of me packing and loading 140 items onto the bike.
- Each day's route, mileage, and driving time will be posted as I go.
- A file you'll be able to download and open in Google Earth which will show you the path I actually took that day.
- A "Where Am I" section which will allow you to see my location on the globe.
- A comments section in the blog area. I hope to hear from you all as I travel. I will be reading as often as I can.
- My itinerary
- Photo albums for each day of the trip
- A countdown timer for when I'm going to return

You can always visit here, then click the link on the left or just bookmark the site directly. I'll post more this week, then I'm out of here on Saturday.

Bodega Bay Ride *UPDATED*

Sunday, I'm taking another ride but this one won't be solo.  I'll be riding with Tony, Rochelle, and possibly a friend or two of Tony's.  As is customary, I'm posting my potential route, but tomorrow is not my trip, I'm just along for the ride so things might vary slightly from what's posted.

*UPDATE* The route link is now accurate to the route I actually did. I'm home now. Great ride today!

Trip Name: Bodega Bay
Total Miles: 263

Day	Origin	Destination	Miles	Notes
1	Livermore, CA	Bodega Bay, CA	119	Lunch
2	Bodega Bay, CA	Livermore, CA	144

Trip Recap

The picture is Tony and his girlfriend Rochelle who I rode up with from Harris Ranch to home.  The ride home was way twistier than the coastal run but highway 25 is a fun road.  When I met Tony, I was on a group ride up the coast and I got the nickname "Dr. Doolittle" because out of 12 bikes on the ride, animals seemed to jump out of bushes to come meet me.  I nearly hit two deer and a couple of squirrel in a matter of two days.  Today was Tony's turn.  Alvin and Simon decided that - even though there are three cars on this particular road every 20 minutes, they would wait until the three of us were approaching on the bikes before dashing across the street.  Score?  Tony's bike: 1, Alvin: 0.  My bike almost took out Simon before his survival instinct took over and he jumped over Alvin's still spinning body and dashed back into the bushes.  I can never figure out why squirrels like to put themselves to sleep.  But there's no doubt about it, this one was definitely a suicide.

When we hit Hollister we were greeted by hurricane Willy Whitetrash.  Jeez.  The three of us had a crosswind that had to be 60mph.  Our bikes were slanted diagonally (which normally has us in a nice left turn) but it was the only way to keep going straight!

The total miles for the two days was 568.  Day two was definitely harder on me mainly because of the heat but a little because of a sore ass.  I did pretty good considering I haven't ridden my bike a significant distance in quite a while.  Ironically, my shoulder feels better than before I rode.  Hmmmm.  Has me suspecting something with my home office chair/desk setup.

So aside from the camping fiasco, I'm chalking this up as a giant success.  The bonding I got to do with Sean was immeasurably valuable and I'm planning on doing this more often.  If you want to see more photos than what I posted in the blog, visit this me.com gallery

Thanks for following along!  Next time some of you can comment too and we can make this a bit more interactive.  :P

I'm home

For those of you following along playing the home game, I'm home - enjoying a much deserved Anita's burrito. Once I unpack the bike, I'll post a closing message about today's ride and the ride in general. Stay tuned. I'll be right back after this burrito break.

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Sent from my iPhone

At Harris Ranch

It's a cool 95 degrees outside. I'm not even hungry after breakfast and I'm desperately wanting to be. Vomit? Just kidding. Tony and Rochelle should be here soon.

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Sent from my iPhone

Lessons Learned

I had such a wonderful evening by the fire, under the stars, with my headphones on. I rested my soul. It didn't turn to shit until I tried to rest my body. I considered yelling, "Immigration!!!" just so I could get (the loudest) part of the campground to evacuate. I'm all for letting kids be kids but this morning was just icing on the cake. Mobs of kids running around my tent screaming. No parents in sight. Adults maybe, but not parents. And I believe I witnessed my very first temper tantrum. This kid needed to be shot... with morphine or something. It lasted for the entire time it took me to break down camp. I cannot describe this scene other than to advise anyone who's thinking of having kids to stay at this campground on a weekend. I never will again.  Even as I left, the squirrels seemed to be looking at me saying, "Take us with you!" In fact, this experience has me seriously questioning whether I should camp at all on my Canada trip. The good parts were so good but the bad parts were so bad. It's too soon to be considered a pattern, but I'm thinking weekends are probably a bad time to camp in general. I'm making a note to talk to my mom and Randy when I get back. They have a lot of camping experience so they'll be able to confirm my suspicion. They do allow pets at this campground so maybe bringing Kuma here will be an option one time.

I don't think I'll have enough time to see Hearst castle today because I need to be at Harris Ranch at 1:30pm and it's a good 2.5 hr drive from here. That leaves me only an hour or so before I need to get on the road. So what I'm going to do is start going to Harris Ranch now, but take a leisurely pace and stop to smell and hear the ocean so to speak. I'm trying desperately to erase the sounds of Mexican cackling and kids screaming.

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Sent from my iPhone

Sigh

Apparently, moving the universe to shoot a star is easier than moving a group of drunk, stoned mexicans in the next camp site to shut the hell up. At 1am, I went over and asked them to keep it down.  All that changed was now their obnoxious noise included sporadic mocking of me. I started worrying about my bike. I think I finally drifted off at 2am. But did I mention that I'm in the spot next to the bathroom? So not only do I get to hear the bathroom door slamming all night long, at 7:30am I was awoken by the sounds of women taking their screaming babies into the showers and kids chasing dogs around my tent.

I am NOT in a good mood right now. I've got to pack up and get out of here. Maybe coffee will offer me some escape.

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Sent from my iPhone

The Bucket List

What a great movie. If you have a chance, I highly recommend you see it. It has certainly inspired me to make one when I get home.

So it's almost midnight and the flames are gone from the camp fire but the heat is still sufficient for me to be out here. I'm sitting here looking up at more stars than I've ever seen. I decided to try out the law of attraction so I thanked the universe for letting me see a shooting star. I envisioned a bright one and how I'd feel if I saw it. Just then, someone in a neighboring campsite started shining their flashlight into the sky right where I was looking. I said to myself, "very funny God! You know what I mean."  The light went out and about 10 seconds later, a huge bright shooting star crossed the sky exactly where I was looking. I'm still kind of tingling about it. It could be a coincidence, but I prefer to believe that my belief that I could see one made it happen. Incidentally, I've been looking into the sky all night and didn't see one until this one.

On that note, my sleeping bag is calling me. I'm sure I'll sleep well.  If I can conjure a shooting star I can certainly conjure a good night's sleep.

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Sent from my iPhone

It's All Coming Back to Me

It's all coming back to me. Why I loved being single. The freedom. The solitude. It's refreshing to only have my own needs and wants to consider. It's liberating, I guess. I know there will come a time when I will look forward to someone else in my life (and the right guy appearing will accelerate that schedule tremendously) but for now I'm content just chilling. The beach here is only a short walk from my campsite and I'm gonna watch something here that happens every day and I take for granted... The sunset.

The Land of Opportunity

Oh and ripoffs. I took a picture because I figured no one would believe me. $6.39 a gallon. They don't even sell lube at the store attached to the gas station. I hope this is the most I ever spend for gas in my life, but I'm not holding my breath.

Hearst Castle

I'm standing next to the entrance to Hearst Castle which I might visit tomorrow if there's time and I can get a ticket. This may be the only connectivity I get here so I wanted to post that I made it here and will be setting up camp a few miles up the road. I will queue up another post or two from there and get them sent out in the morning if I don't have signal at the campground. I have to pee. Haha

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Posted from my iPhone

First Rest Stop

I'm 120 miles into the ride just north of Monterey at a beach called Moss Landing. Wasnt that a tv show? The fact that I'm 120 into it before my first break is a sign that my stamina is going to be fine for Canada.


The weather is awesome. 70+ degrees, blue skies, gentle cool breeze. One thing I forgot is a small towel which I use to clean my visor. I've already had a large bug end his life right in front of my eyes - literally. And I know it was a he because I got to stare at his smashed penis for about ten miles until I grabbed a few paper towels from a gas station.


Traffic is mostly light except the odd jackass with 15 cars behind him doing 45 in a 55. I often wonder what they are thinking? The bike is running flawlessly and my boots are surprisingly comfy considering they've got a ways to go before they're broken in. More to come.

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Posted from my iPhone

Pre-Trip Jitters

Well the bike's packed up and I'm ready to go.  Lesson #1:  Do not buy a new video game the night before a motorcycle trip.  I was planning on bed by 10pm, up at 6am with all sorts of grand ideas of getting a few things done this morning and leaving by 7.  Well, I played until 1am and slept until 8.  I'll be lucky to be on the road by 9 :)

There's a guy named... Guy... who is a firefighter in Alabama.  I think he's retired now.  Anyway, he rides the same bike as I do and takes it on all kinds of trips.  He calls what I'm feeling now "pre-trip jitters".  I mean, let's face it.  Every time we walk out the door could be the last time but motorcycles bring that reality just a tiny bit closer.  Plus your mind is racing thinking of everything.  Did I close that door?  Did I turn the AC on for the dog?  Are the windows closed?  Did I forget anything?  Should I bring that too?  Saying goodbye to Kuma is always the hardest part.  He always knows when I'm leaving for more than just a little bit and he gets a bit sad and distant.  This is just one night!  I can't imagine what this is going to be like for the Canada trip.

Anyways, I'm off.  I'll try to post interesting factoids if they occur.  The iPhone movie rental for tonight is, "The Bucket List" which is a movie I'm morbidly attracted to, but for all the right reasons.