On The Road

I am in Belmont California after two days on the motorcycle headed for Ontario California. Ride thus far has been very educational about the subtleties of riding. Taking clothes on and off to respond to temperature. Remembering to run through the mental checklist while gassing up or packing. Is the top box locked and key put away? Are the straps tight that are holding the camp bags to the back seat? Have I fastened the strap of my helmet? Did I zip both pockets on my leather jacket? I have also rearranged my packing job as I figure out what really needs to be in the tankbag and what can be put away. My face is windburned, I have more trouble getting an ear plug into my right ear than I do into my left ear, and when I loosen the straps on my pack job I have to avoid letting them touch the hot exhaust....or they melt!

I started off from Seattle at 4 p.m. with the goal of reaching Portland. I stopped at Tacoma to meet my sister at Sbux and she gave me some really cool traveling clothes. Lightweight nylon pants and shirt that are SPF 50, cool, and quick drying after being hand-washed. Then, I froze my ass off riding in the evening cool to Portland. At the end there was the lightest rain. My friend Ananda bought me a cool history book at Lincoln's Cabinet (A: the smarmy bastard on The Daily Show was John Bolton!), that I had previous heard about. Spent the night at Lauren's house. She was up early to open her Starbucks at 6 a.m. I slept in, then went over there for breakfast before heading south. Once I got started, I kept going.....all the Redding California.

Going over Siskyou summit was scenic and a riding experience that was simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating. Mt. Shasta was glorious as usual. From Roseburg OR south the sun was out.

The ride from Redding to Belmont was easy. Flat and straight until I got to Vallejo when I ran into a wall of cold air...ocean air being pushed inland by the fog over San Francisco. Also, there were wind gusts and the pavement surface on I80 is for shit. So, a bouncing around, sort of cold, tense ride into the city, but coming over the Bay Bridge towards San Francisco was a big thrill. Tomorrow, I have to ride to Ontario CA. The Run For The Wall starts on Weds. the 16th.

More later when I access to a computer. So far, I am reminded that adventures are necessary even though they are work, can be uncomfortable, and scarey in the strangest small ways. My rear end gets tired but the expensive saddle seems to be worth the money. I am having a good time.

On The Eve of 60

Tomorrow at 7:32 a.m. I will finish my 60th year. Strangely, I don't feel old. In some ways I'm in the best shape of my life since I joined a gym 2 years ago and have been steady about going.

Santa Monica, Tulsa, El Paso, Sierra Vista, Cu Chi, Danang, San Francisco, Marin County, Seattle...the places I've lived.

Where am I going with this? Next week I embark on the long ride on the motorcycle, so it will be great to start the next decade with a big adventure.

My daughter is graduating from college and will be traveling even farther out into the world and life, carrying more of her parent's hearts with her than she'll understand until she is a parent. She will also be carrying our pride in what a fine person she is, and we'll pat ourselves on the back for nurturing a born adventurer. She's walked on the Great Wall of China before she was 20 and scuba dived on the Great Barrier Reef.

I think I will follow her example and start going off big adventures as a regular thing....part of staying mentally young.

Thanks to all of my friends and family, many of them gone on ahead, for being part of my life. It has been a strange trip on many occasions and if I'm lucky it will continue to be that way.