too much time away from the computer...is good, no?

Well, I haven't been able to get on here and update lately, but have had some good trips recently. My laptop is on the fritz, and hopefully getting it looked at tomorrow, and possibly fix it, so I can put up photos.

Recently rode out to Hawthorne, Nv. with a bunch of friends from the bay area, and spent 3 days in Nevada, riding and seeing sights, but more importantly, drinking and hanging out by the pool. :D

I have to talk about one thing while I'm at it....Saturday evening, after a good day of riding with several of the guys and gals, we were swimming and I was chatting with one of the ladies in the group. We were throwing stories back and forth, and somehow the story of myself being sent to a survival camp in Ontario at the tender age of 11 y/0 came up. Before I could finish, she asked "Was it Northwaters?"

I was like, "wtf?!" and then "no, but it was Langskib, the all boys camp" and she was in the sister camp (coed, but both run by the Northwaters group) What the hell?! out of nowhere. I've seen this lady a few times in our motorcycling groups and chatted here and there, but to randomly find out all of a sudden that she was at the same camps as myself only a few years after I was...was pretty rad and unexpected.

Needless to say, we talked a bunch and filled in each other with memories that either we couldn't remember, and were filling in spaces for each other, or just marveling at finding someone that had experienced the same thing. 27 years, and I had never met anyone else that had been to these camps. It was an intense 4 weeks of canoeing, camping, hunting, and learning to live in the bush, with little to no resources, while respecting the land and what it has to offer.

The camp had a few agreements with the local Ojibway Indians and for that, were allowed to use their land, and tried to instill the same philosophies to us. It pretty much defined the rest of my life and how I have been able to do just about anything I put my mind to. No complaints, no crying...just do it. Survive! Live! and if the world takes everything you own, away from you....you live with the certainty that you will survive and not fall apart.

eh.. it was crazy. but loads of fun to know/meet someone that had been there too.

after that we all drank heavily, ate tons of good food, and talked motorcycles for the rest of the night, before riding home in the morning.

I have many photos from the trip, and will get them uploaded asap, as well as a few fun videos. :D

Here is a teaser, from our Saturday. I decided to tag along with one group, and we rode to Bodie State Park/Ghost town.....and then we rode back to Lee Vinning for some lunch at Mono Cone (best burger, just east of Yosemite) and then we stopped in Nevada to toss a few rounds down range. :D

Utah, Nevada portion of the trip...back to California. (April 2010)

Well, we made it past New mexico, with a nights stay at the historic El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, NM. A lot of old movies were filmed in this region back in the day (northwest New Mexico).
After being denied entrance into "four corners" landmark, as it was gated up and under construction, we made our way west towards Utah.

Along the way, we stopped off to see this little heard of landmark, Mexican Hat.


After zipping by the hat, we drove our way out to Zion National Park.
After paying our entry fees, we made our way down through a mile long tunnel that takes you along the inside face of the mountain as seen on the first photo (a vent for fumes and probably construction access. Just head for the light at the end of the tunnel. It's when I found out that she has a bit of a claustrophobic side. :D

Saw some cars stopped, and this little fella was walking by on the road. It took him a bit, but I must have been scrambling in the truck to put the zoom lense on my camera, because, he had this inquisitive look on him when I looked up. hahaha

There were some cool structures and lines in the mountains through the park, truly breathtaking area. Wish we could have spent more days here.

While driving into the visitors center, I saw this old car, and approached the couple when we all parked. It's a 1970 3CV that they were driving up from Ushuaia, Argentina, with a final destination of Alaska...and then back home. The couple had been on the road for 2 years, and were just plugging along. You too can see them on their blog site.....not sure how google translator will work, but there is an option for it, as their blog is in spanish.

on the way out of the park, I saw this cool little wagon parked out in the middle of a well groomed field next to this tree. Didn't look like it was running, but the photo seemed like one to take.

I stopped at the road sign for the "Extraterrestrial Highway" (Hwy 375 thru Nevada) one funny sticker, "I don't masturbate, I just wash my d*ck really fast" HAHAHAHAHA dropped an on-on sticker in place, and we moved on.

One final stop in Hawthorne, Nv. before rounding our way into Reno for 2 days. I have seen this tow truck before, and really really want to buy it and restore it into a tow truck rat rodd. I think it would look sick, but alas, no room to store it at the moment. soon though, I hope.

Spent a nice 2 days in Reno with my sister and brother-in-law.