Category: Travel
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Going to see Jack
I was in Nashville for the Agile 2013 conference. It was fun being in the booth talking with many people about Agile technologies and what’s going on with software development: coding, managing, teaching. There are couple of people out from Australia that had flights the day after the last day of the conference. Tom and…
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Banff National Park
My last few days in Canada were to be spent at Banff National Park. Banff was about 90 minutes to the west of Calgary up in the mountains. I was hoping that the elevation would give some relief from the heat. Bummed that I had lost my phone at the rodeo, I pulled out the…
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2013 Ponoka Stampede: Buckin’ Horses
Modern rodeo has 2 events that involve bucking horses: saddle bronc riding and bareback riding. The 2 events differ in how the cowboy rides a horse. In saddle bronc riding there’s a substantial, special saddle that the cowboys can use while riding the horse. In bareback, as you can infer, the cowboy is just about…
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2013 Ponoka Stampede: Steer Wrestling
Steer wrestling is an event where two cowboys on horseback chase after a steer. One of the cowboys dismounts his horse and wrestles the steer to the ground. Both the steers and the horses are running at a pretty good clip so it’s an event of careful timing and execution. Out of the gate the…
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2013 Ponoka Stampede: Bull Riding & Wild Pony
I will say I had fun with this lens! The 70 – 200 f/2 .8 lens is a beast but when tuned, it takes great photos. I was struggling with how to set up the camera to balance depth of field, ISO, and shutter speed to get crisp photos that weren’t grainy. Looking in all…
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Getting to the Ponoka Stampede
After a day during Edmonton it was time to get into rural Alberta. If anything became clear over the next couple of days Alberta is more Texas than Texas. I was really surprised how far into the valley Edmonton really was. It definitely sits out on the wide-open plain. Ponoka is about 75 minutes south…
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Northward Ho!
Getting up to 4:30 AM sucks anyway you cut it. The early morning flight saves me from going back to San Francisco to then go back to Calgary. The plan seemed simple enough: fly to Calgary, get a rental car, and drive to Edmonton. We boarded the plane in Austin on time but after about…
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Austin is not Texas
Austin is not Texas. I think if anything, that was the biggest learning from this trip. Rob generously offered to host me in Austin, but it seems like life here kept getting away. I learned in late May that Rob was leaving Austin and relocating back to his hometown in Florida. If I was going…
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New York in Black and White
The fourth stop on Atlassian’s Road Trip was New York City. A quick change on the agenda allowed me to attend. I hadn’t been to New York in a couple of months so was great to be able to go back in the spring rather than in the fall. Aside from that quick trip last…
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danradigan.com.tw
Taiwan felt more like Asia to me. The whole point of this trip was to come to Taiwan for work. We had some clients that needed training on the latest version of software. I was scheduled to be here for 5 days. Since I got in late on a Sunday night, I was not as…
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Mass Transit Done Right
The part about Hong Kong that has really imprinted upon me the most is the density of the city. Each of the subway stations I’ve been in there were people coming and going in mass. Trains would arrive at least every few minutes at the slowest rate and every minute at peak. In contrast CalTrain…
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Day 4: Hong Kong
By this point in the trip I was feeling pretty adept at rolling around Hong Kong. It was day 4 and I had the morning to poke around the area that was closest to my hotel. I strolled into the market and bought some fruit for breakfast. Since I was in Asia, Asian pears were…
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Day 3: Hong Kong
I slept hard last night. I guess I didn’t really realize how much we had done yesterday. I’ve been reading a book that was recommended to me by a friend of a friend called Cowboys, Angels, and Armageddon. I’ve been reading as part of my time on vacation. I’m usually not an avid reader but…
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Day 2: Hong Kong
Today I woke up well rested after a long day traveling. Extreme time changes seem to be unpredictable for me. Moving the clock forward 16 hours has it’s effect on me, but in general, the process has been much smoother than I had expected. Now that I’m here I really have no idea what I’d…
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Day 1: Hong Kong
I’ve never been to Asia. San Francisco was the closest to Asia that I’ve ever been aside from the occasional outing to the Chinese restaurant as a kid. When the opportunity arose to travel out to Taiwan for work, I jumped on it. With a bit of crowd sourcing on where to go, the masses…
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First Impressions: Apple Maps
Apple Computer has been getting a lot of bad press lately due to the removal of Google Maps from iOS and it’s replacement of Apple’s own mapping application. Rumor has it that Apple wanted Google to do turn by turn directions but Google refused and limited that feature to the Android platform. Apple then teamed…
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California’s Seven Federal Highways
This is a blog post that’s taken 7 years to write. I started taking photos in 2005 for this one. In the United States we have two major sets of federally funded highway systems that connect cities across this land. I remember coming back from Seattle on my first long trip. The day I crossed…
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Closing out Colorado
I left Boulder without my wallet and had to go back to Rocky Mountain National Park the most expedient way which unfortunately had all the traffic. Much like going to Yosemite it was slow going, with tons of cars, and no one willing to turn out. Once I got to the park I was relieved…
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Amazing: The Peak to Peak Highway
The Peak to Peak Highway is an amazing piece of asphalt. It was a part of my journey every day of the trip and other than the draconian speed limit management it’s always a wonderful addition. I’d compare it to Skyline Boulevard in the Santa Cruz mountains. I’m sure it’s a staple of the Denver…
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US40 and the National Park
I wasn’t exactly sure where to go on day two. I had heard from some locals that the ride up to Mount Evans wasn’t actually all that interesting. Mount Evans I believe was the highest paved road in the United States. The few people I talk to just said that the ride wasn’t actually that…
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The Highest Pass
I’d made a career of renting motorcycles in my teenage years. When we go down to the beach for spring break and summer vacation I’d make the 60 mile drive from Destin down to Panama City. Once arriving in town I take the test to get my permit and then take my hard-earned cash and…
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Sleepy Sarasota
Travels brought me down to Sarasota, Florida in the middle of June. This trip I was scheduled to travel during the day but got moved to a red eye when Airtran decided to suspend daytime service between San Francisco and Atlanta. I was unhappy about that. Good news is I got to see a spectacular…
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Nevada Bypass
Both the northern California and the southern California groups made it to Mammoth Friday night. The So Cal guys rolled in at 7pm and the Nor Cal guys made it at 9:30pm. Both groups rolled out 12 hours later. Southern California did three major passes: Tioga, Ebbets, and Carson. Northern California did Nevada. A few…
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Boulder
Boulder is a great town! It has the feel of Lake Tahoe, but the tech community of the Bay Area on a much smaller scale. It was great to be able to spend some time in the Rocky Mountains, explore a little bit, and hang out with some old friends. I didn’t get as much…
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Flying to Colorado
Flying to Colorado this time was an absolute adventure. I definitely had issues both ways. On the way there, my flight was totally changed. I got about six calls from Delta alerting me for a change. The problem with their system though is that they tell you there’s a change four times and then you…
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Bed Bugs: Motorcyclists aren’t exempt
On one of my trips up to the Sierras I had a run in with these little critters that was less than pleasant. I didn’t know it at the time but one of the hotel beds I believe had these little critters inside of it. A week after arriving home I had about 150 bites…
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Wrapping it up
I got to have lunch with a fraternity brother of mine over in Tucker. I’ve missed him on prior visits to Atlanta, so it was nice to see him this time. I am looking forward to seeing Todd over Christmas. After lunch I needed to head across town to drop the bike. On the freeway…
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Costal Plain back to Piedmont: 300 miles
Every story has it’s climax. For this story that has passed. With the drive back west, it’s all “downhill” from here. All that remains now is riding the bike back to Atlanta and then dropping it off for shipping back to California. I started the day off by packing up the beach cabin and heading…
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The Tybee Island Round Trip – 30 miles
As luck would have it the bike does not start. The electrical issues that got me in Atlanta were back. Now the question was could I fix it with a new battery or were there more severe electrical gremlins at work. After making a few calls I found an independent mechanic that thinks he might…
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Piedmont to Coastal Plain: 300 miles
At this point I’ve lost the sense of what “Monday” means with nearing three weeks on the road. It’s strange to have the bike in Georgia, sort of an out of place thing even though I enjoy having my own set of wheels. The bike seems to be running just fine. With the battery issues…