Started: San Diego, CA 8:00am
End: Scottsdale, AZ 3:09pm
Miles driven: 390
High/Low temps: 107,66
Summary:
Started off the day driving through cool, clear air up through the mountains east of San Diego. The weather turned hot though once the sun came up and I dropped down into the desert plains. Wide open spaces, cactus, hawks soaring above, trains that stretch for a mile, fast food truck stops. The bike handled the heat beautifully. Ended the day with an evening skate session at one of Scottdale’s local skateparks. The park was fun: a good pool and fun street course. A quick Wal-Mart dinner now it’s off to bed. Tomorrow I hope to go north up in elevation and out of the heat. Destination: Albequerque.
The first major trip on the Aspencade is in full effect! This will really test the bike and the rider. It’s going to be a long ride but will be worth it! I should be going through some beautiful country during a good time of the year.
- Departing September 26, 2009
- 2,609 miles
- 6 states
- 7 days
- 39 total hours (predicted)
- 1 man
- 1 Honda Goldwing Aspencade 1200
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Click for pics Last week San Diego played host to East Coast representative and male parental unit of EHough and MHough, none other than the venerable Rod Hough of RodHough.com fame (make sure to go check out his site more photos). The visit was great! Eric and I got to play the multi-faceted roles of tour guide, prankster, personal valet, auxiliary photo-documentary crew team member, male model, heckler, boat captain, and personal sunglass shopping assistant. Highlights of the trip include visits to Coronado Navy Base, Cabrillo National Monument, a boat ride around San Diego Bay, a drive through the remote desert land of the Mojave National Preserve, Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, scooter rides around the city, and a classic California sunset. Did I forget to mention all of the great food? Mama’s Bakery, In and Out Burger, Lucha Libre, Phil’s Barbecue, Yo-Gart, Outback, and Santana’s to name a few. Overall it was truly an epic visit and, as I’m sure my little brother would agree, a memorable and joyful time that will bring fond memories for years to come. Enjoy the pics!
Click for pics This past weekend I was finally able to scratch off another area of the world I wanted to travel to, the remote old-growth Redwood forests of Northern California. Eric and I flew to San Francisco where we hopped in a rental car to drive north to the small town of Arcata for our cousin Pete’s wedding.
Arcata is an interesting town that’s for sure. It’s almost like Woodstock never stopped going and only was moved from a small town in New York to an even smaller town in California. The line between homeless, hippie, drifter, and college student are blurred in the heavy sea fog that drifts in each morning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many dreadlocks or sudden performances of hippie folk songs. We went down by the ocean and I scoped out some great looking waves. The Redwoods were majestic, tall, and awe inspiring. Looking at their root structures grabbing the Earth, I secretly wished we all could be so steadfast and firm in our morals and convictions. It’s too bad we don’t have role models like that anymore.
The wedding was not what you would call traditional by most standards, but hey, who makes up these rules anyways? All in all, for an Arcata style wedding, I wouldn’t expect anything else! Enjoy the pics!
Click for pics Here are the pictures from my recent San Francisco trip. I shot the whole trip in black and white. I walked about a million miles, covered a large portion of the city and surrounding areas, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, drank tons of great coffee, watched the Chinese New Year Parade, and toured the SF Museum of Modern Art. Additional writeup to come soon… Enjoy!
Click for pics Eric, Mike, and I headed up into the Sierra’s for a weekend snowboard/ski trip to a secret mountain spot and had one of the best weekend snow trips in recent memory. From start to finish, the gods smiled on us and delivered unto us fun, laughter, good food, great lodging, and, oh yeah, did I mention epic powder conditions!
The 400 mile trip started out Friday around 2pm. We loaded the Exploder, er…I mean Explorer up with our gear and headed North. The drive is a long one but we entertained ourselves with good conversation, caffeine in varying forms, and beef jerky. We arrived around 10pm that night in the small village where we would be staying.
Our cabin was great! Tons of personality, quaint, and nestled in the middle of the town (or what could be loosely defined as a town). It was 2 stories, 3 beds, with a fireplace. The outside was ringed by Christmas tree lights which made the cabin all the more appealing with the 5+ feet of snow surrounding the ground. We quickly huddled in and breathlessly passed out.
In the morning we picked up some great rentals right up the street and fueled up on coffee and breakfast burritos. Our first day on the mountain we got great snow. All the runs were open and we were able to find some fresh powder amongst the trees. Eric even braved some of the obstacles in the park. We stayed on the mountain until closing time and could barely stand by the time we left.
Later that night, as we were eating copious amounts of prime rib, mashed potatoes, and beef ribs it started snowing…a lot. We turned on the weather at the cabin and found out that there was a winter storm warning for our area and they were expecting 30+ inches of snow and 100mph winds on the tops of the peaks. Needless to say we were all giddy and hoping for a good dumping of fresh powder. After watching a few hours of Spike’s Most Amazing Videos, we slowly one by one retreated to another night of sleep.
In the morning upon awakening the first thing we did was look outside to see everything covered in snow. Thundering booms were coming down the mountain, dynamite set by ski patrol to start avalanches. After getting dressed and heading towards the mountain we stopped to get some coffee and breakfast at which point we were informed that all roads leading in and out of the town were closed. Translation: no one could get to the mountain to ski other than the small handful of people staying in the village with 4-wheel drive.
We had to wait an hour or two while the skeleton staff on the mountain dug the lifts out. Finally, we were able to hop on the lift and proceed up. On our way to the top, we gazed out upon hill after hill of beautiful, pristine powder. Long story short, we snowboarded all day and had nothing but fresh champagne powder all day. By the time the day was coming to a close we could barely balance. Mike was collapsing at every turn face down in the powder. I was barely able to get up after falling. Broken, beaten, with huge smiles we changed in the bathroom of the lodge and headed out, the roads now being open.
The drive back was a long one beset by exhaustion, rain, one-lane desert roads that make you hallucinate, and at times snow and ice. We made it back safe and sound in the middle of the night. It’s trips like that that make it all worthwhile. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!