Tales of a Traveler

Month: April 2011

  • Twitter Updates for 2011-04-22

    • I woke to the sound of cars on wet roads. Raining? No: 2.5″ of snow on the ground. I shoulda stuck to the coast. #adventure #
    • Hey @AltRiderLLC and @TouratechUSA: Thanks for the awesome gear for my bike. I hoped to say goodbye on my way out but time wouldn’t allow. #
    • I passed by the town of Bieber, but couldn’t resist Nubieber. Sadly, the Shamrock Cafe (Open 5am) was closed. For good, by the look of it. #
    • Cold start aside, 299 from Alturas to Redding is a beauty, with snowy passes, verdant narrows and charming small towns. On to Auburn! #

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  • Now With 23% More Adventure

    There is a certain cognitive dissonance to being at the Super 8 in Alturas *not* covered in dust head to toe …

    I woke in Portland on Tuesday morning and spent some time determining optimal routes to today’s destination, breaking down the distance to cover over three days. However, I failed to consider the weather forecast, which has resulted in several cold, wet days. Yesterday’s ride from La Pine, OR to Alturas CA offered the following: 35° and snow, 48° and sun, rain and just about every possible combination in between. I know, this isn’t “real” adventure riding, but it’s certainly been a test of my ability to relax on the bike while cold, wet and extra-attentive to road conditions.

    I planned to continue down 395 to Susanville today, but the gloomy forecast for NE California plus reports of snow amounts in passes has convinced me to take 299 to Redding. Hopefully I’ll be visiting some friends near Auburn tonight, but that will make for a long ride today, and I’m still warming up into my riding setup. We’ll see what happens.

    In administrative news:

    • There’s now a ‘Current Location’ link in the menu at the top of this page. Check it out! It shows where I am (within about ten minutes travel time – depending on whether Spot got a reading at destination before I shut it down.
    • I also set up my twitter tools to post a daily summary of tweets here, so that folks who aren’t following me there can see the little pearls of wisdom I toss out from my tricorder throughout the day. I’ll see how well it works and is received before making a determination whether I keep this set up).

    Okay, time to pack up and get moving again. I’ve got 300 miles ahead of me if I hope to see friends tonight.

  • Yoiks, and Away! *

    Well, then, it’s done. Or perhaps it has started. Maybe both.

    Around 4pm today, after saying the hardest goodbyes, I left Seattle on Day 0 of this crazy adventure on which I’ve embarked. After four years of dreaming, two years of scheming, a year of planning and many days divesting and boxing up my life’s goods and savoring final moments with my wonderful friends, I’m actually doing it.

    Ho. Ly. Shit.

    I’m exhausted and sore. Sleep now.

    * Hopefully without the tragicomedy in the original.

  • More progress and a neat photo too!

    Today has been pretty productive. So far I have:

    • Received a response (including initial rough quote) from Adventure Bike Tours, regarding joining them for transit through China from Kazakhstan to Laos. Yes, it’s expensive. It’s probably also completely worth it.
    • Started scanning important documents (which I’ll store in a DropBox account so that they’re accessible on all my devices and securely online).
    • Purchased international travel insurance for June – November, through WorldNomads (on the recommendation of my friend, former co-worker and fellow crazy traveler Michelle Duffy).
    • Looked more into MedJetAssist – I need to read the fine print on my WorldNomads policy a little more closely to figure out whether I need to add this.
    • Began looking into purchase of an emergency insurance policy for the US, in case of medically-necessitated return.

    I also had coffee and conversation with my good friend Tabasco, who luckily got first dibs on a big pile of clothes that I’m giving away (not to worry, gentlemen, he took mostly work clothes. Being a blacksmith, he is rough on work shirts and such). This evening, I’ve got plans to visit with other dear friends.

    Yeah, good day!

    Oh, and here’s a neat photo that was recently taken of me by Jeremy Center, a most excellent photographer I’ve known for a few years. Check out his work!

  • Itinerary, Revisited

    Many moons ago – in fact, back in August before I’d even bought the bike – I posted an expected itinerary. For a number of reasons those plans have changed somewhat, so here’s a revisit. The big change is that I probably won’t be venturing into the Baltic Republics or Scandinavia, sadly. I guess I will just have to save those places for another trip. :)

    April 15th – June 1: USA (and a tiny bit of Canada)

    June – October: European Pinball

    • June 2: Frankfurt
    • June ?: Krefeld, DE (where the Updegraves come from)
    • July 5-10: Nowhere, near Zaragosa, Spain – yes, my birthday is smack in the middle of Nowhere ;)
    • Mid-July: Munich
    • End of July: possibly Vienna, then Brasov, Romania
    • Early September: Bordeaux
    • Early October: Venice

    Also mixed in there (dates unknown) will be likely visits to Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, the UK (including the Isle of Jura, whence come the Shaws – my maternal grandfather’s family), Swiss Alps. Maybe Paris again, because it’s so beautiful.

    Assuming the UK happens in August, and not factoring in any of those other spots, that looks something like this:


    View Larger Map

    Fall: Ride into the Danger Zone

    • October ? – ferry from Venice to Alexandria. A few weeks (to a month, maybe?) in Egypt.
    • Across Libya. Yes, only if it’s not entirely fucking stupid to do so.
    • Tunisia
    • Ferry Tunisia => Spain, then Spain => Morocco

    When I wrote up the initial draft of this itinerary, I certainly didn’t expect multiple democratic revolts and a civil war to erupt across the entirety of Arabic North Africa. As a result, these particular plans are the most volatile. If Libya proves to be out of the question, I’ll probably try to figure out a way to see Egypt and Morocco, and will sadly end up skipping Tunisia. Unless I can manage to purchase transport on some freight ship, rather than a ferry.

    Winter 2011-2012

    • Southern Europe – northern coast of the Mediterranean, and into the Balkans
    • Spain, southern France, Italy, Croatia, Greece, ???

    Spring – Fall 2012:

    • Turkey
    • Georgia
    • Russia
    • Kazakhstan
    • Mongolia
    • China
    • Laos
    • Vietnam, Cambodia, and/or Thailand