Got any book recommendations?
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Yuba: Up And Over
Saturday was all about group riding with Homoto doing the Queer Invasion of Death Valley. Sunday, I had a north towards Lake Tahoe to soak in a bit more of the fall color as this was the only weekend in October I was going to be up here with my motorcycle. Autumn is one of… Read more
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Lake Sabrina and South Lake
In all of motorcycling, there are two dead-end roads I absolutely love to ride. They couldn’t be more different, yet they are located just miles from each other with no connecting path. To the west is Highway 180 to the bottom of Kings Canyon. It’s 50 miles of twisty goodness up and over the western… Read more
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Queer Invasion of Sierra Nevada
Hurricane Hillary dumped immense amounts of rain on Death Valley National Park. Thus, for this year’s ride the park was entirely closed. We made alternate plans this year rather than cancel. I last did the Queer Invasion of Death Valley in 2019. I rode the bike too hard on the last day of Interstate 5.… Read more
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Enter Gutenberg: Modernizing WordPress
For those who don’t know, my blog runs on WordPress – an open-source platform to create websites. It’s estimated that 43% of the Internet runs on WordPress. Every couple of years my blog needs to jump over some technical hurdle. In 2008, I chose to make the move from Serendipity over to WordPress due to… Read more
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2023 Ride for Kids
I must’ve been 15 when I saw my first “Ride for Kids” roll by. There were hundreds of motorcycles rolling down the road, two by two. I’d soon come to learn that motorcyclists are a highly philanthropic bunch. What I did know at the time was that I wanted to do that ride for one… Read more
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The Tahoe Return
I knew this was going to be a short trip. It was about burning fuel and exercising all of the systems in the motorcycle, as a moving motorcycle is a happy motorcycle. I got in at about 9 o’clock last night after a pretty intense evening ride. I slept hard that night and woke up… Read more
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Moses, the Sun, and I-80
I’m taking a small break from blogging about my time in the Pacific Northwest to focus on some events in the current day. I know, I know – These are small problems but I sometimes worry about my motorcycle sitting too long. Motorcycles are happiest when they are ridden. My motorcycle has been sitting for… Read more
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Parrotheads & Motorcycles
No other musician has influenced my life more than Jimmy Buffett. As such, I’m taking a break from travel blogging to reflect on and share a bit of his influence in my life. My parents and many in the extended family were all parrot heads. Even from an early age, Jimmy Buffett’s music was always… Read more
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Coming Home
I was surprised at how quickly a month passed. It was finally time to come home. Part of me was ready to be in my own bed. Part of me wanted to keep traveling. At some point, I needed to return home. I’d rather end on a high note while I’m still enjoying my time… Read more
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Doing Brrrrrrrrrap!
I enjoyed the ride yesterday amongst the Sawtooth Mountains. Today is a different adventure. While yesterday was riding a bike I knew, today was a bike I’ve always wanted to ride but never got the opportunity (or courage) to ride the big red beast. It was also on the short list of motorcycles to replace… Read more
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Into the Storm
Yesterday was fantastic. There is no other way to describe traveling through this beautiful part of the country. Today’s ride is around the northern and western side of the Sawtooth Mountains along Idaho 21. When I turned onto the highway, I instantly wanted to stop to capture these beautiful, rocky mountains. I’m equally impressed how… Read more
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Sawing Teeth
As a young kid, I would flip through my parent’s Atlas and Gazetteer for hours looking at all kinds of places. I often looked at Idaho, envisioning it as a mountain paradise filled with mountains all around the state. Moreover, I remember being in college, thinking I was going to graduate with a computer science… Read more
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Boise by Foot
Sarah was right. It was too long since I’d seen Andy. The past few days have been wonderful seeing him, his wife, and his now nearly grown children. Great friendships can pick up right where they left off. Andy is one of those people in my life. I am super thankful for him and his… Read more
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537 miles for Potatoes
Today would be a different kind of driving I had not yet done on this trip. The main goal of today is distance. I wanted to get from Olympia, Washington, to Boise, Idaho. It’s about 540 miles of driving, wholly composed of high-speed freeway. The all-out freeway is not an electric car’s best path to… Read more
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Serendipitous Olympia
I rolled into town right about dinnertime last night and met Atom for the first time face-to-face. We’d known each other in the Bay Area in somewhat distant circles but never connected face-to-face in the big metropolis. We’d exchange hellos online every few months to years, but we never met up for whatever reason. Simply… Read more
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The Bridge to Terabithia
Starting a vacation without plans means being agile throughout your trip. In professional circles, I call this my vacation backlog. The backlog contains all of the things I could potentially ever do with some consideration of constraining factors like time and cost, but I know there is no way I can do everything in the… Read more
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The Ends of the Earth
The time on my trip seemed to be flying by. I felt a bit of twinge as I crossed into the United States knowing that I was on the southbound leg of my journey. I felt like I was going home. I wasn’t, however, ready to fully commit that I was over the hill on… Read more
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An Adventure to Live
I’m starting to get to the center as to why I am even here – a thousand miles north of home and nearly 2000 miles into this trip. I’m refining my journey. I started by just driving north and having no plans or direction other than getting to Canada. About 20 years ago as a… Read more
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Caught by Smoke
After being chased around by fires for three weeks, the smoke finally caught up with me. Remember, I had no real destination or itinerary for this trip. Each day, I looked at the weather, reached out to my community, and scoured the local area for opportunities. The winds shifted from the east, so now all… Read more
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Locks Which Grant Access
Over the past few days, I’ve highlighted numerous challenges with borders. Let’s take another look. What if borders opened access and provided opportunities? Some friends and I in Seattle had the opportunity to see the Ballard Locks, the border between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. Let’s take a look at the geography: Lake Washington is… Read more
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Insulin in Canada
To stay healthy, I require a continuous drip of insulin to manage my type one diabetes. The price of insulin in the United States has received a lot of press these days. However, unless you live on insulin, it’s hard to really understand how broken our system is. As a type one diabetic, I try… Read more
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Returning to America
As I am nearing the end of my time in Canada, I’m getting the hang of crossing the border. When I first started regularly traveling to Canada, border crossings were often long, complicated, and slow. One of the best pieces of advice Randy had for me was to enroll in NEXUS. NEXUS is Canada’s version… Read more
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Hitting a goal at Kitsilano Pool
Many years ago, I took up the practice of swimming. Since then, I’ve had a goal to swim 1 mile in a pool. As I approached that goal, I’d usually overdo it and strain something, setting me back another couple of weeks and get shy of that goal. Over the years, I’ve developed a rhythm… Read more
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Point Roberts: A Geographic Anomaly
Today was my first day on my own in Canada. Randy went back to work (it is Monday, after all), and I had the day free (as I’m on vacation 😀). What was on tap for today? Going back to the United States of course! I’ve always been a big fan of Americana – in… Read more
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Hike of opportunity: Mamquam Falls
Fortunately, Randy found a good friend who was willing to make the drive from Vancouver up to Whistler to rescue us. The Rivian left town yesterday, and due to the regulations of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), we couldn’t ride with the tow truck driver, which is commonplace here in the States. Passenger… Read more
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Sightings of Winter in Whistler
One of the special items on this trip was celebrating our anniversary in person. Randy booked a few days at the Nita Lake Lodge just outside of Whistler, BC. The lodge was amazing. It sits right next to a lake and has alpine cabin architecture and decor all the throughout the property. I don’t think… Read more
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Trainwreck turned Trainwreck
Trail info at All Trails Randy and I celebrated our anniversary on “BC Day,” a holiday unlike those celebrated south of the border. BC Day is a provincial-level holiday “focused on recognizing and celebrating the unique culture and achievements of British Columbia and providing a long weekend during the summer months for the citizens of… Read more
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Entering Canada
With three good days in Seattle, it’s time to continue north to Canada. There’s always a bit of anticipation in crossing the Canadian border, despite the fact that it’s been a regular part of my life for the last few years. This approach is my first time crossing the land border to see my partner.… Read more
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Seattle
This post is different than just about every post on my blog. I don’t have any pictures to describe such an intensely intimate experience. I don’t think littering this blog with pictures of everybody I saw would do the kindness of Seattle justice. I saw so many people from so many parts of my life.… Read more
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Death by Scooter, Part Two
About six years ago, I was on a business trip to Austin. That evening, everyone was going out for dinner. It was a short Lyft ride from the hotel or a reasonably long walk. I decided to split the difference with an Uber Scooter. I scanned the QR code and then was off and running. The… Read more