The Bike Journey is Complete and Recap of Burning Man 2011

First and foremost, thanks for reading the blog.  It has been a long trip with a lifetime of memories.  There was never once a day where I wish I had kept my reliable and steady life in San Francisco.  This bike trip was full of twists and turns that tested my inner core.  I found new gears inside.  You cannot unlock these without the real concern for survival, which was more frequent in my travels than I should have allowed.  I flew by the seat of my pants and proved to myself that I can quickly adapt and prosper in any environment.

I wouldn't be honest if I did not tell you that I was tired of traveling around the 6 month mark.  When you travel, you constantly have to explain yourself and listen to others doing the same.  I met so many people that I cannot even try to name 10% of them, and I know I was forgotten by most as well.  I pushed through my trough in travels and culminated my journey with a week in the high Nevada desert in Black Rock City where the annual community of Burning Man comes together.  With that said, the true end of my biking took place in Chicago.  I took Amtrak from Chicago to Salt Lake City, where I met friends from NYC and drove an RV to Black Rock City.  After Burning Man, we drove back to SLC where I took Amtrak once again to Glenwood Springs, CO.  I did a short ride on no sleep or food to Wolcott where Lindsay picked me up but I am not counting that.  The site of her car and putting my bike on the rack was a great cathartic feeling.

I am now in Vail, CO looking for a job and apartment.

DETAILS!

Before leaving Tully's apartment in Wicker Park, I had made arrangement to ride the train to Reno and ride to Burning Man where I would have a ticket at will call and camp with my friends from San Francisco.  After leaving Tully's apartment, I was offered a ticket and spot in an RV with a camp from NYC.  (The ride from the apartment to the Amtrak station was only 30 minutes.  This is what I mean by flying by the seat of my pants.)  I took this offer and changed my ticket to Salt Lake City.  I was refunded $7.20!  The train was a mess.  Immediately after leaving, there were massive delays.  It took 16 hours to get 6 hours into the original schedule.  All in all, the train was 16 hours delayed to Salt Lake City for a 50 hour ride on my part.  The reason for the delay was mostly out of control of Amtrak, but they did not do a good job setting expectations.  Iowa had received massive flooding in May of 2011 and most of the land was still under water.  Apparently Interstate-29 is under water and some of the train stations as well.  The tracks had been washed out so Amtrak was sharing a single line of track with the freight going in and out of Chicago.

After arriving in Salt Lake City, I rode to the Mormon Temple and took in the sights.  I found the visitors center and found a place to wash my things and a hostel.  I was a total hobo doing my laundry in my underwear and spreading out all of the things that were supposed to air dry in the grass outside.  The hostel was only $20, and I had a room to myself.

After watching the sunset, I went to find a beer and some food.  It turns out that there is decent nightlife in SLC.  Obviously the ones in the bars are not Mormons so they have to make up for their non-partying peers. The girls were amazing.  Beautiful faces with incredible fitness.  The bars do close at 1am however.  I was there on a Friday night, and the downtown streets were barren.  The SLC people drive there cars to the bar and go directly in.  There is no bar hopping it seems.  Even with these nightlife downfalls, the city more than made up for itself in friendliness and attractiveness.

The next day I lumbered my bike to the place where I was meeting the NY Infinity Camp at an RV center.  We all did our meet and greets then got to shopping.  We spent 8 hours between, grocery and hardware stores.  It was tedious getting on the road, but once we were on the move, the anticipation of Burning Man was incredible.  In our RV of 7 people, there were 3 Burner Virgins including me.  I drove the floating whale of an RV most of the way to Black Rock City before almost passing out going down the craziest road that was not recommended by the organizers of Burning Man.  The route I took cut off over 100 miles but was unpaved and rattled the RV like a paint mixer.  Depending on the quality, the road allowed for speeds between 20 and 50 mph for a 90 mile stretch.  When the road was paved again, we picked up 5 - 15 gallon jugs of water in Gerlach and proceeded directly into Black Rock City.

Upon entry, I was devirginized at the gate with hugs and ringing of a bell.  We spent most of the day setting up, and I passed out in the dome considering I was running on less than 1 hour of sleep.  This sleep level would provide the norm for the week.  There is no time for sleep with this much energy.  The excitement in the air was greater than anything I have experienced including: New Year's Eve in NYC; Mardi Gras in New Orleans; Kentucky Derby; or the 2006 Texas vs. USC National Championship Football Game.

The best way I can describe Burning Man is a experiment in self reliance that will fail where the community will step in to support you.  What I mean is that everyone comes to BM with the materials to survive.  However, you will undoubtedly be in a pinch where you need water or food from another person.  Everyone is there supporting themselves and each other simultaneously.  It is a city of exploration and discovery.  I have never been so impressed with mankind and their artistic ability.  There is one big misconception of BM: Leave No Trace.  When I was standing at the edge of the Playa looking back at the city, you can see dust all over the city.  This dust does not exist in the deep untouched Playa.  It is clear that all of the movement of the people is absolutely ripping up the soil and leaving quite a trace.

My favorite dance party was at Robot Heart, which set up shop in a random place on the 10 O'clock side of the Playa.

My favorite theme dance dome was Monticello.  It is pretty surreal dancing next to Thomas Jefferson with some random furries and people from the US Civil War mixed in.  I guess my underwear, tutu, and pink wig didn't turn heads.

The Burning Man community ends with the burning of the Temple of Transition.  I couldn't have asked for a better ending to my journey.  All of the tears and sweat to design, build and destroy the Temple were lying in ashes as I passed out directly on the Playa after the crowds had dispersed.  It was a life changing week that I recommend for all.

Leaving Black Rock City was a nightmare.  It took 7 hours to get out of the line just to get to the two lane highway.  We then had another 8 hour drive in front of us to SLC.  We arrived in the morning and paid only $100 to clean the filthy RV.  I caught Amtrak at 3:30 am, which was right on time.    It dropped me off in Glenwood Springs, CO at noon ahead of schedule.  I assembled my bike and tried to ride towards Eagle-Vail only to find out that the massive snow pack of the prior year had washed out the bike trail leaving me with no realistic option.  I paid a van $20 to take me 5 miles down the road past where the trail was in the Colorado River!  I had no energy but managed to make it Wolcott where Lindsay drove up and scooped me.

I am now looking for residence and employment in the Vail area.  This land is some of the most beautiful in the country and hope to have as many visitors as I had in San Francisco.

Thanks for reading!!!

Indiana along Lake Michigan, Chicago, a new favorite, and next plan

I left New Buffalo after blogging then came up to the Indiana border only to realize that I left my Flip in New Buffalo.  I wasted an hour, but I couldn't do without a camera and camcorder.

 

Everyone had warned me about Gary, Indiana.  The group of people concerned for my well being included my father, a guy who made me a sandwich in South Haven, Mike Yeh in Milwaukee, and a cyclist that wanted to ride from Michigan City, IN to Chicago, IL but was afraid of Gary.  Even Google showed a route adding 20 miles to my trip to route me around Gary.  Needless to say, I was concerned...and I probably won't name any of my children Gary.  With this fear, I decided to brave Gary early in the morning.  In fact, I camped the night before in the Sand Dunes between Michigan City and Gary.  I set my iPod to wake me up at 6am since I was illegally camping in the park, and it opens at 7.  This would provide plenty of get away time.  When I woke up, it was still dark outside.  I was a little confused as I slowly gathered my belongings.  I later realized that I had crossed a time zone and really woke up at 5am.

The effect of this was that I crossed through Gary at about 8:30am.  The town looked depressed, but I never had a reasonable reason to be nervous and was never in danger greater than a rouge truck driver going postal on a biker.  I didn't see any white people and heard lots of sub woofers blasting, but everything seemed fine to me.

The next town after Gary is East Chicago.  This place was all factories and pretty awful to ride through.  There is a unique smell only rivaled by parts of New Jersey and the Houston Ship Channel.

 

I sailed on through Indiana and was at the border much sooner than I needed to.  My friend wasn't getting off work until 1pm and my ETA for Chicago was 11am.

 

After cruising up the SouthSide of Chicago, which I found much more intense than Gary, I found Michigan Ave.  I passed by the Art Institute with the green copper lions except for their tails where so many people have touched it that the oxidation is rubbed clean and Millennium Park with its gorgeous amphitheater. 

 

After settling in, Mike, Anderson, and I went to the Air and Water practice.  There was nothing in the water so it was basically the same thing as NY or SF's Fleet Week.  The plane maneuvers are awesome and intimidating.  I may be going to far, but I think these shows are subsidised by the government to remind people that we should be paying billions of dollars for new high tech planes to put on yearly free shows and scare the crap out of whatever potential threat the US has.  The announcer was not shy to remind the crowd of how the US Air Force is the strongest in the world.  It seems a bit subjective but probably true however you analyze it. 

After the plane show, we went to Second City Comedy Club, where Chris Farley and Jim Belushi got their starts.  The show was a sketch comedy with parts of it hysterical and parts of it redundant.  Post comedy show, we went to Old Town Social, which was a cool bar with Edison light bulbs.  Then we taxied over to Wicker Park and roamed around.  So far so good.  Chicago nightlife is bustling.  

The videos from Friday evening are mostly incomprehensible, not for the state of mind, but for the loud music and lack of light.  Bars close at 2, 3, or 4 O'clock depending on their license.  There tends to be a mad dash for each later one before the night ends with a taco, burrito, or any Mexican stuffed greasy thing.

We had planned to go play volleyball on Lake Michigan and see the real Air and Water show on Saturday.  However, torrential downpours prevented this.  A few episodes of Entourage later, we were onto Wrigleyville.  This section of town is completely awesome.  I ran into a college peer and shared a few beers.  After six hours in Barleycorn, Vines, and Sheffield, we returned back to prepare for a night in the Gold Coast along Hubbard Street.  The night included dancing at Theory, not getting into a hotel downstairs club, then hanging out at Boss Bar until they kicked us out a little after 4.

 

I didn't take out my Flip anymore, so there are no more videos of Chicago.  I explored more of Chicago and will be leaving on Wednesday.  Awesome things I did in Chicago including but not limited to: 1) Tully took me to the Art Institute where I saw (quoting Ferris Bueller) priceless works of art 2) Tried to figure out how many reflection of oneself is possible in one location under The Bean 3) Went to a Cubs game for $10 4) Ashley Gulke showed to the Union League of Chicago where I was given loaner khaki pants 5) A tour of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange floor where everything from grain, to OJ, to 10 year T-bonds are traded.  The exchange floor was pretty much like a sports book in Las Vegas.  Things that are identical: 1) The boards on the walls look like they are made of Lite-Brite and use the same colors 2) Mostly old and bald men 3) People will begin to raise their hands, pointing any number of fingers to the sky, and start shouting.  I equate this to a turnover in the NFL.  They come unexpectedly and lots of excitement happens around these events. 4) Each pit is like a different game.  The guy with a wager on the Eagles game will look over at what the Chargers when the fans are yelling but doesn't actually care since he doesn't have any skin in the game.  This is common when there are 10 simultaneous Sunday morning NFL games.  4) There are rows of seats away from the Pits.  I equate the Pits to the randomly placed chairs up front in a sports book and the rows in the back to the rows in the back with small personal TV's for the hardcore horse better. 5) People are chain smoking just outside the trading floor, assuming the sports book is smoke free.

One other observation was that the traders are wearing baby holding slings for their tablets.  They all have an iPad or some other knock off tablet.  It appeared that most were running a form of windows, so I assume knock off is the norm.

I have enjoyed every moment in Chicago and may very well want to live here some day.  As for my next plans, I am leaving Wednesday.  I am taking Amtrak West so I can make an event called Burning Man, which start on August 29th.  The same guy who made my sandwich in South Haven, suggested that I pass on the Chicken Sandwich and get the Burner.  I followed his instructions, and while waiting for my sandwich to toast, I realized this was a sign that I will use Burning Man as the end of my first mid-career retirement.  I will be in the middle of the Nevada desert by Monday and will have no cell phone service or email access. 

Leaving Mackinac, Wedding Time in Traverse City, Down the Lake Michigan Coast

I made the last post from the library on the Island when a friend mandated that I go see the Grand Hotel.  There was an entrance fee so I just did a bike fly bye.

After making to the Lower Pennisula, I saw a restaurant that serves Pasties.  I don't like to admit that I watched the Travel Channel where some guy came to Michigan and ate one, but that was more than enough to entice me to try the Beef Pastie.  I am glad I did but will likely pass on them in the future. 

Now content on miner food, I found lots of bike path options and randomly took this one.  It was heading more east then south, but I was able to stroll without my helmet, which was a nice change.

The first night in the Lower Peninsula I camped with at the Aloha State Park where a nice family fed me steak and potatoes.  I gave their son Caleb the best career advice I could coming from the vagrant that I am.  That night a crazy wind storm swept in, and it was still going into the morning.

I decide to go through the Pigeon River valley because there are pictures of Elk and Moose on my map in this area.  I found a remote bike path that went right through the middle of it but nothing more than deer.

I rode all the way to Kalkaska and stealth camped on a random vacant street a few blocks off the main drag 131.  On my way into Kalkaska, I found a beat up quarter on the ground.  I turned around and picked it up.  In turn for the offering the land gave me, I gave sunglasses to the pacement 15 minutes later.  It was dusky so I folded my glasses and put them on my shirt.  They must have fallen off while bombing down a hill into Mancelona.

Then next morning I took the short ride past the Turtle Creek Casino into Traverse City.  This was the view as I entered the Township Limits.

After following the signs to downtown, here is a tour of this quaint downtown.  We only painted the town red one night, but we all enjoyed our 2:30 am hot dogs. 

The real reason I was in Traverse City or Michigan for that matter was the Kritcher-Wu Wedding.  Ying and Annie brought my gangster brown and white pinstripe suit from California so I could look presentable at their wedding.

After the wedding and reception, I rode out west to try to meet some of the bride's maids at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  Instead, I found country roads that took me well south of our meeting destination.  I was unable to meet up, but I did catch some Zzz on the Empire Beach before the Park Ranger showed up.  I took more country roads down close to Manistee where I camped in the Michigan Audubon Wildlife Reserve.  I definitely wasn't supposed to be there, but I couldn't help but want to camp up on a hill with the gentle sounds of Lake Michigan lapping up against the shore wooing me to sleep. 

I got up early and hit the road.  I was fed into more country roads, and there was even a loose dog that chased me.  I kicked the pooch in the face with my right heel and dazed him.  He collected his mind and went right back to trying to bite me.  This lasted only 15 seconds before the dog was winded, but my heart rate was equally elevated.  This was the perfect opportunity to use my mace, but I had it in the bottom of my handlebar bag.  It now sits comfortably at a close distance in my pocket. 

I rode down to Muskegon and found some nice bike paths.

As I was wandering aimlessly down the path, I was concerned by my map and a sign pointing to the ferry.  Basically, it turns out my map is wrong, but the walkers who helps quell my fears suggested I skip Muskegon for Grand Haven.  I took their advice and kept going south until near total darkness.  I managed to make two new friends and had a place to sleep with a roof over my head and a hot water shower at my disposal. 

With major comfort on my side, I struggled to get moving.  I lumbered myself and my bike out of their condo around 11am and before reaching my day's destination, I found myself:

My day's destination was South Haven.  It is another quaint Michigan town:

I found some mowed grass behind a building with no windows and no nearby lights.  While setting up my tent, I was massacred by mosquitoes.  I was getting bit about 3 times per second as I hastily, which made my set up slower, set up my tent.  I choose to abandon the rainfly for the night to be more stealth.  As my luck, it began to rain at 2:30 am.  I put my rainfly on and woke up at 7am to the sound of some trucks in the nearby parking lot.  I scrambled to get packed up, and no one saw me or at least came to complain. 

I kept south on A-2 until I saw signs for a bike path.  I followed these, which ultimately took me on a circuitous route traversing I-94 five times until the bike path was pointing the wrong direction.  I opted to follow my compass South and West.  I rode into New Buffalo which is near the Indiana-Michigan State Border. 

This post is coming live from the New Buffalo Public Library, and I will cross to Indiana in just a few minutes.  A few last thoughts on Michigan before I depart:
1) There are more churches per mile ridden than anywhere I have seen (even a Greek Orthodox)
2) More golf courses per mile ridden but very few golfers
3) Tons of U-Pick'em blueberry fields.  Tom Sawyer would be proud.
4) Ridiculous amount of road kill.  Everything that lives here including but not limited to: small birds, turtles, snakes, dogs, cats, raccoon, squirrels, and even a deer.
5) This is the best state for biking I have experienced.  The shoulders are large, and there are tons of dedicated bike trails.  Go Michigan!

Ontario is Relative, Crossing into Michigan

The reason I say Ontario is relative is that 80% of the signs on the road tell you distances in time it takes to drive there.  When I ask a store clerk how far until the next town, I get a responce like, "15 minutes."  When I ask them to clarify in terms of Kilometers, they are usually unable.

I traversed TransCanadian 17 for the entire way on my Ontario trek.  Some lengths had shoulders, some did not.  I never felt particularly unsafe, but I wouldn't recommend this route for a first time bike tourist.  There were plenty of times when I felt the need to bail off on the soft shoulder for survival.

I also learned that I was going the "wrong" direction.  There is a prevailing Westerly wind.  Heading Eastbound is just a lot more work. 

This was my first expected big downhill experience heading into a town called Mattawa.  Mattawa is where the Ottawa and Mattawa Rivers intersect.  In Ojibwa, which is the local tribe, Mattawa means, "Meeting of the waters."

This is where I camped after my brief night in North Bay.  North Bay had a centralize downtown area with all of the restaurants and bars on the same street.  I went to a place called Cecils, which was the only place open that night.  A dance party ensued, and I was impressed with North Bay.  While chowing down on my thrid dinner, I overhead a local talking with some out of towners, and he said, "North Bay is the best place on Earth."  To him I am sure it is.

In addition to Poutin, Pogo is another Canadian food that can or cannot be missed.  Either way, I tried them both.



It was about 7pm and I was trying to get to Blind River.  About 30km before I got to Blind River, I passed through Cutler where I saw a stage and heard some rock music.  I pulled into the fairground area and set up my tent.  It turned out that there was a traditional Indian Pow Wow.  I assumed that a big congregration of people would imply some beer drinking.  However, alcohol is strictly prohibited during these ceremonies. I went to the North Channel to go for a swim.  Before I got in, one of the locals said, if I go swimming, I will wake up with "the itch".  I decided against going in.

 

I did not stick around until noon the next day where they came out in traditional costumes, but I did see the evening concert where they hired celebrity impessonators.  I did not catch all of the acts, but the list at least included: Cyrus, Beiber, Beyonce, Katy Perry, Rihanna => Pass out.

Before I made it to Sault Ste. Marie, it turns out that a Native I had made friends with actually skipped the Pow Wow as well and went and returned from Sault.  I assume he went to the casino since he drove 1.5 hours each way, and didn't do well.  He must have also been looking for me as he had Sweetgrass ready to give to me.  He told me to burn it and smother my face in the smoke to remove any negative thoughts.

After seeing Tate, I passed through an Amish community.  This was evident by the signs for horse drawn buggies, large amounts of horse manure in the road, and useless trinkets being sold by guys in long, black and grey beards.

I saw this Public Service Announcement, but I did not see any bears.

After getting to Sault Ste. Marie, I came down with a cold.  I basically spent the next two nights laying in my tent.  Since it was raining, I relocated my tent to the concrete breezeway.  I still don't have a sleeping pad, so the only cushion I had to the concrete was my sleeping bag.  My tent and sleeping bag became a den is disease, and I am afraid to get in them now.  I started taking antibiotics assuming that would make me feel better.  However, I have confirmed that I have a cold and the medicine is useless.  I did stop in the casino with 15 Canadian Dollars and walked out with over 200.  I debated whether or not to spend another day in the den of disease.  Obviously, I just gathered my belongings and pushed onward.

The lady to check my passport asked me all sorts of odd questions.  She even went so far as to say I didn't look tan enough to have been biking from Montreal.  After passing her line of useless questions, I had to pay $1.50 in toll.  I strolled into Sault Ste. Marie of Michigan, had breakfast, and did my laundry.  I took the Mackinac Trail all the way to St. Ignace, stopping at an Indian casino along the way.  This time, my luck was quite different.  I pulled out $140 and they took it away from me in about 45 minutes playing $2 craps and $3 blackjack.  I camped the night in Straits State Park, which I am still unsure if I was allowed to be.

I got up at 6:30am, packed my things, and took the Star Line Ferry to Mackinac Island.

Mackinac Island does not allow cars, so it is just a bunch of horses and bikes.  I actually pity my great great great great grand relatives that did not have cars.  Their cities must have smelt like a circus all the time.  I really can't imagine what a town like San Francisco, New York, or Chicago was like before the car pushed out the horses.  It must have been a crappy situation...

This video is in honor of my father.  I remember as a boy, we would talk about places to go see.  One of them he always dropped on me was Mackinac Island.  I tended to veto going to Michigan, but now that I conveniently up here, this video is for you.  I will do more exploring and tell you the details...if it will stop raining.

I have also added one item which may be of interest, which I forgot to add in my last blog.  I have been taking a count of my food consumed.

Montreal to Ottawa: 220g Beef Jerkey, 300g Mixed Nuts, Cheeseburger, 1/2 poutin, 225 g Sun Chips Harvest Cheddar, 100g sour gummi worms.

Ottawa to Chenaux: 2L Powerade (Blue and Red), Big Kahuna Burger 2/3 lb -Rated best burger in Ottawa area by viewers of Eastern Ontario Region CTV, Kentucky Fried Chicken (This was old school and spelt it out) Double Down (Imagine a BLT with chesse but instead of bread, replace with fried chicken breasts.), 240g of Old Dutch Corn Chips, 310 mL of Old Dutch Medium Salsa, 80g Beef Jerkey, Double Pack of Snickers

Chenaux to Deep River: 100g Whole Cashews, Bacon Cheeseburger, 80g of Old Dutch Corn Chips, 105 mL of Old Dutch Medium Salsa, 3 homemade beef crunchy tacos with Ortega Shells, full order of fajitas without the tortillas, 2 Rickard White beers, Pint Rickards Red, Pint Creemore Springs Lager, 1 Molson, Snickers bar

Deep River to North Bay: Rolfton Motel Restaurant Lumberjack Breakfast (10oz OJ, 2 pieces of buttered wheat toast with peanut butter, 3 scrambled eggs, 2 sausage links, 2 bacon, ham, home potatoes), large blueberry muffin to go, 120g sour gummi worms, 125mL Oreo ice cream bar, 75g Munchies Trail Mix, 90g Doritios Nacho Cheese, 124g Almond M&Ms, $5 Footlong Subway Pizza Sub fully loaded, 1/2 burger and salad from Cecils, Pint of Alexander Keiths IPA, and Can of Budweiser

North Bay to Sudbury: Nancy's Cafe "Hungry Man" (3 eggs, 2 wheat toast, potatoes, 3 sausage links, 3 bacon), 3 pieces of ham (just to try all of their meats), Pogo, grilled chicken burger with everything, Tim Hortons 95 cent Blueberry Fritter, 12 oz Coke, 150g Nature Trail Mix, 171g sour gummi worms (I dropped one in transit), 5/8 of a medium pepperoni pizza, 150g honey roasted peanuts, 2 Molson Beers.

Sudbury to Cutler: 2 times Windjammers breakfast special (3 bacon, 3 sausage links, potatoes, 3 pieces of rye toast buttered with peanut butter, 2 scrambled eggs), 64g Skittles Berry Explosion, 50g sour gummi worms, Snickers bar, 350g Turkey Pepperettes, 16oz Strawberry Lemonade, Indian Taco (Fried Foccacia bread covered in Chili, topped with lettuce tomatoe, and cheddar.

Cutler to Sault Ste. Marie: HungryMan from Native Touch: 2 fried eggs, 2 pieces of white buttered toast, 3 bacon, 2 sasauge links, slice of balogne, home fries, $5 footlong honey oat bread with meatballs, Snickers Almond, 180g Snack Patrol Wild Strawberry gummi candies, 300g Nature Tail Mix, 175g sour gummi worms, 100g Tostitos blue corn chips, 150mL medium salsa,

Sick in SSM...5 Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Bars (175g), 1/2 medium pizza, PB&J.

SSM, Ontario to St. Ignace, Michigan: Slice of bread, Slice of bread with Nutella, 3 pieces of French Toast, 10 oz of OJ, 3 small sasauge links, Buffalo burger with cheese, grilled onions, jalapenos, pickels, mustard, catsup, huge plate of fries, Dinner at Jose's Cantina (Chips/Salsa, Rice, refried beans, ground beef burrito)

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I am heading to Traverse City for Annie and Ying's Wedding.  After that, the road and path is pretty open.  I will take suggestions.  If anyone know people working at mountain resorts, please let me know.  I want to spend my winter working and living in the mountains.



NYC, MTL, and Biking in Canada

Since my last post, I received my final B School rejection email so my trajectory is greatly changed. Actually, this has been my plan for the last 5 months, but this email made it official and mandatory!

As a reminder my camera is sleeping at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea; therefore, I don't have any photos to share.  Luckily, I have a flip so this blog will be all videos henceforth.

I want to share an older video of Vespa-ing around Rome.

I flew back from Croatia via Easyjet to Paris then flew American to New York.  Since Katie got busted and paid a 50 Euro fine for too large a bag on Easyjet, I was super paranoid.  To prevent this situation, since I was carrying two bags, I decided to put on all of my clothes at the airport terminal and pack one bag in the other.  The plan worked perfectly, and I boarded the plane dripping in sweat.

I landed in New York with little interruption and stayed for 10 days.  There were many nights out, but again, I have no camera.  Jason took Abdou and me to his friend Donnie's lake house where we went cliff jumping.

Actually twice!

I left NY and took an 8 hour $84 bus to Montreal.  One stop in Albany and a silly border crossing, then I was in Montreal.  The border crossings are very inconsistent from flying, driving, busing, or training into their country.  At any rate, I took the Metro from Berri-Uram to the Rosemont stop which I thought was close to Kyle, the man graciously holding my bike.  It turned out to be a 30 minute walk with my heavy bags.  I got to his place and took my bike for a spin.  I stopped at the bike store he recommended to fix the headset and got loaded up with gear that had broken down: gloves, air pump, tubes, and chain lube.

I was watching Super Troopers when a major thunderstorm beat on his skylight.  Kyle showed up after his date completely drenched in water.  The next morning I picked up my bike, then rode to a "ghetto" free pool.  The water was cool but warmer than I expected for Montreal.  That night, we went to a house party where I was the only American and the only one that didn't speak French.  I still held my own because the music they were playing was straight off my old Pandora "Hot Chip" hipster mix.

I got up at 7:30 am and hit the road.  I, for an unknown reasons, thought it would be better to get out of Quebec sans map.  This was a terrible idea as I was stuck in the train track area in Montreal for an hour.  I was cut off by tracks and at some point, had to push my bikes down the tracks and had to jump out of the way of a passing train.  The conductor wasn't happy I was there, but I wasn't happy they built this track inbetween a freeway I can't ride on a muddy muck.  I finally made it out of Montreal and stopped to eat lunch.

First taste of Poutin

Review of Poutin

This Poutin was terrible on my stomach as I had to run to the toilet immediately afterward.  I decided that am very easily impressed as the toilet was one of those really slow drainers but still managed not to clog with massive amounts of TP I tossed in the toilet.

I got to the Ottawa area an hour before sunset.

I made it to a coffee shop and used their free WiFi.  No one from Warmshowers emailed me so I had no place to stay.  I looked up a hostel and headed to downtown Ottawa.  While locking up my bike, I saw a squirrel scurry off a table, a racoon run on the fence, and a skunk rummage though rubbish.  I was in nature in the heart of a city.  I took a shower and intended to go see the nightlife since Monday was an Ontario holiday.  I put on my jeans and woke up the next morning at 8am.

I got up to pee then passed out again.  I wasn't on the road until noon.  There was a cool section of a bunch of bars and restaurants that I missed because I face planted on my crappy hostel mattress.  I made a 4 minute tour of downtown and Parliament Hill.

Ottawa gets a grade of A for bike friendly city.  This is the second best place to bike behind Santa Cruz that I have visited on this trip.

I rode about 8 hours and ran out of sunlight.  I found a place to camp in a partially mowed field behind a gas station.

I was on the road by 9am and after fighting headwinds for a third day in a row, I made it to my Warmshowers host in Deep River by 4pm.  It turns out my host Andrew is a nuclear engineer!

Tomorrow, I plan to ride to North Bay followed by Sudbury, some place toward Sault Ste. Marie, then Sault Ste. Marie.

Photos from Croatia (Thanks Nick)

Split fish market

Sailing for beginners

Dinner is Vis

Dinner in Korcula

Lieutenant Dan with the girls of the Yacht

Passing time playing Hearts

Relaxing on a typical and very comfortable beach

Texas, Spain, Italy, and Croatia

I have been distracted from the blog spending time around Texas then exploring Europe.  It seems like a long time since I was in South America and on my bike, and the truth is that is has been.

I don't have any photos to post because the Adriatic swallowed my camera.  In summary, Spain is my favorite European country.  Italy was overrated, and I think Croatia changed my life forever.

Spain: I stopped in Madrid and was immediately impressed with their airport and metro.  The rest of the city did not disappoint.  Amazing nightlife and friendly people abound.  I took a bus to Valencia and was there when the Formula 1 race was going on.  I couldn't afford tickets but met some crazy race fans.  Valencia also introduced me to my first Spanish beach.  Like Brasil, the women wear tiny bathing suits.  Unlike Brasil, the women frequently go topless.  I left Valencia for Ibiza with no place to stay.  I knew very little about the island other than it was good for partying.  The ferry dropped me off in San Antonio and I roamed the streets looking for hotels.  I found a private room near the west end for 25 Euros a night.  It was a steal compared to anything else in Europe.  However, for what I saved on accommodations, I blasted my account through the stratosphere on other things on the island.  Club entrance is 30 to 70 Euros.  Beers are 15.  Water is 10.  3 days was all I could handle.  I then took an overnight ferry to Barcelona.  Barcelona was amazing as was each city in Spain.  I explored all over the Gothic Center and beaches.  Leaving Barcelona left a bad taste as my taxi to the airport was 45 Euros then my flight was cancelled followed by more delays on my new flight.

Italy: The food is famous in Italy.  However, I am not sure what the big deal is.  I guess my expectations were too high as I thought the food was on par with any American Italian restaurant.  There are tons of sight that can be seen in a long day.  I saw most of the main ones except the Vatican Museum.  Renting a Vespa and exploring was a treat.  3 days in Roma was more than enough.

Croatia: The flight had little hiccup, but I was entering Split sans hotel again.  After a few false leads, Katia provided a suitable apartment right in Diocletian's Palace.  Two days later I was on a 45 foot yacht with six of my best friends from San Francisco.  The skipper was about as awful as I could imagine, but we made the best of it.  We sailed to several island and off the coast including Hvar and Vis.  Some nights, we were on anchor, while other nights we were mooring at marinas.  The whole experience changed me and I hope to make a trip similar to my bike one in about 5 years but on a sail boat.

I head to NYC tomorrow and will be back on my bike crossing the country in about 2 weeks.  I expect to take 2 months or so to ride from Montreal to San Francisco.