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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
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The Big Volcano
I’m learning a pattern. Many of the national parks in this area have several entrances, none of which connect, and each has exciting things to see. It makes it hard to traverse the park, so the approach needs to commit to one area in doing that area well. Paradise was the popular entrance with the… Read more
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Multnomah Falls
I aim to hit at least “one” interesting thing each day on the drive. First, route planning. I struggle with how much preplanning to do. Since I don’t know the area, each morning it does take a considerable amount of planning to know where to go, charge, and what to do when I’m there. Evening… Read more
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Crater Lake: Elevation Matters
Welcome to Oregon! One of the big things I’m excited about learning on this trip is how to drive my EV. Effective drivers know how to maximize the battery’s usage, consumption, and range. I don’t want to continually start to charge, but I don’t want to get stranded, either. Because I don’t know the roads… Read more
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Living Memorial Sculpture Garden
Today am leaving California. I’ve often come to this area to stay at Mount Shasta but haven’t really spent much time in the cities further north. Weed, CA has always been a little bit of a double entendre – but most of us haven’t done the research to understand where Weed got its name. Weed,… Read more
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One Volcano Too Short!
A good friend of mine uses the phrase “We’re out like a herd of turtles!” This time, I was no exception. Packing for this adventure took more time than I expected. I’m thankful that I recorded all of the things I’ve used for motorcycle trips in the past, at Motorcycle Packing List. That gave me… Read more
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North
I’ve had the same job (more appropriately said worked for the same employer) for more than 10 1/2 years. I’m definitely a fossil if not an oddity inside of the tech industry that prioritizes change. It’s been a good run doing all sorts of different things as my employer grew into its own. That being… Read more
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Crossing the Mendocino County Line
I’m experimenting with this blog. A confluence of factors that may break me of my old Mac came into my life. My old Mac was one of the last Intel-based Macs that ran Windows. I am a massive fan of Dragon Dictate for Windows and have extensively used it to dictate blogs for work and… Read more
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Dancing with Windmills
The WordPress.com team launched a new feature called #wordPrompt where they post a term each month to inspire content for your blog. This month’s word: green. When it comes to motorcycle posts, I almost always lead with a picture, stories, and conclude with a route map. As to every rule, there is always an exception.… Read more
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80 miles
Shit! It’s hard to believe it’s already mid June. Where has the year been going? Life is becoming more and more like “old normal.” Work travel is starting to pick up again. While back east I got to see my family again, which was great! I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do the Monterey… Read more
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California Alpine & Low Country Boils
This post is retroactive. All events took place on Memorial Day weekend 2021. A half-written post sat in my drafts folder for almost a year, so it’s now time to finish! I was highly emotional after I got my first shot. After more than a year of relative isolation, I could feel that change was… Read more
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Grinding the Grouse Grind
This post is highlighted by Your Daily Word Prompt – a random word on a random website designed to spark creativity! Today’s word is grouse! I’m doing a look back on the climb of my life back in September 2021. I love playing tourist – especially in my backyard. Even here at home, I love… Read more
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A motorcyclist marked by Covid
This post is a follow-up to my first pandemic post: It’s ok to say “I’m hurting”. Talk to any seasoned motorcycle rider, and you often hear the phrase “There is cold, and there is cold on a motorcycle.” Without the proper gear, riding extended distances in cold weather leaves the rider chilled to the bones.… Read more
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On Winter Riding
If I’m honest, there’s definitely a part of me that has been feeling the winter blues. For the last 3 to 4 weeks here in Northern California, it’s been cold, wet, and cloudy just about every day. Since we generally have so many great days to go riding, it’s easy to forgo your motorcycle, and… Read more
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Save rooftop solar!
California is a leader in solar power generation. The abundance of sunshine makes California the ideal place to go solar. Utilities often generate solar power through large-scale solar farms. Homeowners and other property owners generate solar power to offset their own consumption in a small-scale format. Those generation methods have value. However new legislation threatens… Read more
