The sea refuses no river

   

Life

Sometimes life kicks you in the balls. Two years and 40,000 accident free miles on the road and all it took was one careless motorist to change my life forever. Every time you kick your leg over your ride remember your LIFE is on the line. Ride safe guys and rubber side down! 

Ketchup

 

Enjoy the photos, The Nikon was sold to fund the road. No more new shots however I'll start sorting through roughly 70,000 pictures and edit some. More updates on the way...

Hessian

Monkeys and bananas.....

 Start with a cage containing five monkeys.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done round here.


Little road wisdom, 

Hessian
 

Californication

Lake Ruth


Crazy 88


Foxy

When it rains It poors

After enduring some of the coldest riding of my life, having to sub come to a hotel vs facing single digit temps in the desert and pushing Marla to her highway limits I finally crossed through Reno back into the end of the world. Pitched my hammock two nights in the Tahoe nation forest and got some much needed star time, took my sweet time winding through back roads and even squeezing in a little dirt. Finally I got to spend new years eve sound asleep in my hammock after a cheap local bottle of wine and some star gazing from the edge of a Lake.  So on January 1st I landed in what I thought was going to be my new home town, at least for a while. Santa Rosa

 I was able to score a couch to surf on and my second day in town I made the 35 mile trek to the shop I was to work at. As I should have know the gut pulled my attention aside a few times during my walk through but having been off the road for a while  I had lost the touch. I nailed the  interview and made sure I'd be getting a fair wage. Riding back I was excited but in the back of my mind something was off. The next few days I spent the little cash I had left from the SLC trip on some work clothes and a bit of food for the coming week. I searched up and down the area for a room to rent but to no avail, Cali is a very expensive place to live! My CS host offered up a spare bedroom until I got back on my feet and the universe was coming together once again, or so I thought. Monday The 6th was my first day and I got thrown the usual basket case of a recently painted classic car and a dozen or so unlabeled box of parts a hacked wiring harness and told to put it together. No problem I went in with zero expectations so I wouldn't be disappointed. I got paired up with a retired aviation mechanic who turned out to be a really cool guy also into motorcycles. Meanwhile I got a first hand show at the chaos they called a "top notch Hot Rod shop". 

Throughout the next few days my gut got louder and louder telling me something was out of wack. The old man I was wrenching with had been there for 3 weeks without pay and getting the runaround every time he asked. There were tweakers working there, plenty of managers telling people  to jump from one thing to the next. Lots of pissed off customers coming in and out not to mention plenty of angry faces from the staff. The place turned out to be a complete joke and the owner bankrupt and in legal trouble with more than a few three lettered agencies. After putting in an honest 40 hours worth of work and being told they simply didn't have the money to pay me. Here I am back where I started, except now even deeper in the hole.

At the end of the day at least I'm out of the grasps of winter and back in this diverse and beautiful state. The only question on mind now is North or South?! And thus the Hessian and Marla saga continues.....

West leads the way.......

As one door closes another opens and so the story continues. A few days ago out of nowhere and with a vague explanation I was asked to leave the Ranch I've been living and volunteering at for the last 7 weeks. Apparently I'm not exploitable enough to warrant being fed and sheltered and so my kind hosts have decided to cut their losses. My conscious is clear as I've done everything I committed my self to when I first called about the opportunity though I can't say the same about my hosts. This will most likely be my last try at workway/woofing and volunteering in general. As it seems that for the most part these people are usually looking for slave labor and people they can take advantage off. To top it off I was told I needed to be out of here in 3 days or less. Never mind we had an agreement till the end of winter and now I'm forced to hit the road mid winter with temps in the low 20's and an abundance of snow. What doesn't break you makes you and this is just another lesson I was fortunate to learn. 

As unpredictable as this universe is the very same day I received the unpleasant news I also received an email back from a Hot rod shop I had applied at weeks prior. After a skype session and a few phone calls I've been invited to work in California doing what I know and love. I gave up long ago trying to understand the forces that move everything around us and learned to just accept this crazy ride. "Life doesn't require an explanation just participants" So bags are packed, Marla in tip top shape after a quick fork seal swap and fork oil change, losses are cut, lessons learned and at first light I'll get to do what I do best, hit the road. Riding once again into the sunset and unknown.

 

“I was going to be left alone on my butt at the other end of the continent. But why think about that when all the golden land's ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?”

Jack Kerouac