Montreal

Canada has never felt so foreign to me. I guess I thought the same about New York when I entered its airport in the wee hours this morning. I suppose the East Coast sun had risen, but that was a secret jealously kept by the rain and lovesick clouds who were trying to have their way with the ground. All of this drama kept us on the ground for an extra hour. Our tiny plain was number 30 in line for takeoff. Until today, I have never had a pilot turn off the engine and announce that it was ok to turn your cell phones and ipods back on for at least 20 more minutes. When we landed and deplaned in Montréal, the customs agents were as reluctant to let me in as New York was to let me out. Maybe it was because I had a one way ticket to a yoga ashram, or maybe it was because my appearance was affected by the past eight hours that felt like trying to sleep on a wooden benched rollercoaster. Thinking back at the situation, it could also possible that they were toying with me. The three separate women who sent me into the depth of beaurocratic maze were all about my age, they all sent me forward with a slightly coy smirk and the third one said that it was really slow right now but I should come back later. I bet every day during their lunchtime smoke break they get together and talk about the “victim of the day” Long story short, I’m now in Café Vienne a block from the bus station waiting for a bus to take me to Val Morin.
It’s really fun to be in a foreign country again. Outside the rain is falling and two guys in electric wheel chairs with cigarettes dangling from their lips are on opposite sides of the street racing each other while pedestrians dive out of the way. Across the street is a Libanaise (that’s how it is spelled) restaurant with a neon sign that has a neon knife wielding chef cutting neon lamb slices for neon kababs. When I have worn my welcome out here I’ll probably go across the street and look for some exotic food and tea.

I have heard French people make fun of Canadian French because it offends their ears. I just offend myself when I have to order things in English because all I took in College for a foreign language was American Sign Language. Regardless, people have been very kind to me here.
It has been a strange transition this past few months. I went from full time job to long distance motorcycle riding to a retreat in the woods of Northern California and Oregon to Las Vegas complete with casinos and bars and now I am about to have a month of a strict yogic lifestyle. The whole point was to shake up the snowglobe I call my psyche. When this is all over it will be interesting to see what it looks like when the snowflakes land. I’m just kind of hoping that there will be a palm tree there.

Reconnection

At 5pm on Saturday evening, I unplugged my vacuum, scooped up a handful of cleaning supplies and walked them down my stairs adding them to a random pile of stuff awaiting a new tenant. My pickup truck was already packed. After slipping a note and key through the manager’s mail slot, I chased the setting sun to the Utah border. As I laid my sleeping bag on the red dirt a few shooting stars welcomed me home to my place under the Milky Way, my Steamboat life was but a memory.

The past week has been one of my most trying ones to date. I basically sequestered myself away in my apartment and went through 7-plus years of accumulation and reduced it so it would fit comfortably into my pickup truck. That last week in Steamboat felt strange. I got to say goodbye to a small handful of friends, but for the most part, I just hid out. I didn’t even go out for Halloween. This was partly because I had so much to do, but mainly because I had no desire. The effects of spending the last eight years as a newspaper publisher are starting to become apparent. Paulie, my business partner said it best, “It’s great because people don’t kiss my ass anymore.” I have found that my interactions, though fewer, have been more real.

In the past two days I have driven about 12,000 miles to Heartwood Institute outside of Garberville California. My girlfriend Cassidy is working here for a few months and I figure it will be a perfect chance to leave my old life behind and prepare for the new. The plan is to head to Las Vegas from here and put my stuff in my Dad’s garage and then fly to Montreal Canada for a month of Yoga teacher training in an ashram. I’m not sure if I will teach yoga when I finish, but I at least want to hit “reset” and figure out what’s next.

Judging by the smell, what’s next is dinner. Happy Election Day Eve! Spooky…

Home, well, sorta...

I never made it to San Diego. I was swallowed up by the LA vortex. Sometimes it’s good to dip a toe into an experience. I dove in head first. Some of my highlights were having swim races in a friend’s new pool while smoke from dozens of out of control fires blew overhead, screening a film with a producer friend in Hollywood, going to a yoga class with a few yoga teacher friends of mine, chasing a friend around the windy roads between the coast and the 101 as he tried to lose me on his motorcycle, spending two days surfing with a lifeguard friend in El Segundo and finally, spending the day with Cass watching the wildlife in Venice Beach. Two days before I was going to head back to Las Vegas and Steamboat we were staying with some friends in Santa Barbara. The husband asked me if I knew anyone who would be passing through who may want to drive his pickup back to Steamboat. I told him that if my motorcycle would fit in the back, I would be happy to drive it back. It did. The next day I reluctantly loaded Shadowfax in the bed of the pickup, said goodbye and began the journey to Steamboat via Las Vegas where Shadowfax will be spending time in my Dad’s garage. The end of our journey together took me by surprise, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to help someone and avoid having to book a flight back to Steamboat. We logged just over 4,000 miles since 9/11

The drive yesterday was gorgeous. I went between five and 10 mph under the speed limit the whole way. It was great to catch up with friends on the cell phone, something I can’t do on the motorcycle.

When I peeked the front of the truck out of Glennwood canyon, I was pummeled by sideways blowing snow, quite the opposite of the seventy-something weather on the Grand Junction side of things. The snow slowed down and stopped, but when I reached State Bridge, the truck started getting squirrely. The roads looked wet, but when I got out to check on things, it was slicker than an ice skating rink. Thank goodness the truck had four-wheel-drive.

I stopped for an hour in Oak Creek to see my friend and business partner Paulie. It was good to catch up and see how much our lives have changed in the last month and a half. Strangely, I dreaded going home. Sleeping in an apartment that I will need to vacate in the next nine days feels like pressurized limbo. Steamboat fall feels really good. It’s the time that naturally pulls one into nesting mode. This is not my path right now. In the next nine days I plan to give away most of my clothes and furniture and will bring the rest back to my Dad’s house where it will live until my restless spirit is ready to float back to Earth.

In nine days I will have paddled to the mouth of the harbor. The ocean awaits!

Lane Splitting

In The Skeleton Crew by Stephen King, there is a story called Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut. I haven’t read it since just before Clinton got into the White House, but apparently the story left a deep impression. In the story, Mrs. Todd always looked for the shortest route to where she was going. She would constantly watch the clock and the odometer. Each time she would beat her previous record, until one time she managed to escape the time space continuum all together. When my Mom had Alzheimer’s I took frequent trips to Las Vegas to be with her and my Dad. Each trip I would go faster and faster. I remember holding 135 mph for what seemed like an eternity until the world started looking normal at that speed. When I would slow to 85, it felt like I was crawling. This lasted until I got the trip down to just over 10 hours. Eventually, I sold that car for a Subaru wagon which went dramatically slower. With that car, I took a different route every time and made the trip as slow as possible. I found petroglyphs, hot springs and magical canyons. Both ways gave me a great deal of satisfaction, though the latter burned less gas, was safer and reduced the chance of a speeding ticket significantly. On this journey I have also experienced both extremes. Though Shadowfax’s comfort zone doesn’t allow speeds much faster than 90 mph, I can still burn a lot of pavement in a day. I’m currently on my third back tire and my speedometer decided to quit as I was leaving San Francisco at 10,016 miles.

Driving in a car, I can daydream and take time to look around at the scenery both close and far. On the motorcycle, I have to be completely in the game. Subsequently, I have made a game out of the act of riding itself. Last week I found myself on Highway 1 feeling the urge to pass cars, even ones who were doing the speed limit. I put myself in check and asked why I didn’t just relax and enjoy the view. I realized that the view wasn’t changing much and the road was much too twisty. I changed my focus and the ride became much more enjoyable. P A S S became my mantra. I passed one car, I passed two cars, I passed on straight stretches, I passed on curvy sections. I didn’t pass to get there quicker, I just passed cars because they were there. Eventually, I dipped into the fog and couldn’t ride more than a minute without rubbing the steam off my glasses. My visor was already useless from salt and water inside and out. Just the act of riding was difficult enough.

One last phenomena of note is called lane splitting. In California, if you are on a motorcycle, you can ride between lanes of traffic. “Those guys are idiots,” I remember my Dad saying when we would visit California when I was little. It took me a good week of California riding before I became one of those idiots, but when I broke down and tried it, I experienced a rush I had never felt. It feels like skiing or snowboarding in the trees, only the trees are moving. As with any thing this intense, I will practice moderation.

My last week-plus with Cass has caused me to slow down significantly and once again I am taking time to look at the things around me. We have backpacked in the redwoods, fallen asleep to the sound of the waves and enjoyed a bluegrass festival in San Francisco. I’m enjoying both worlds, though sometimes the transitions are surprisingly noticeable to me and those around me.

Now I’m in Ventura with Cass staying at a friend’s house for a few days. Then I’m not sure where. Maybe I’ll head down to San Diego and complete my stretch from the Canadian border to the Mexico border

Rain

So far the weather gods have been kind to me. Besides the first day, I only had to ride in the rain for an hour or so… until yesterday.

The day began after a “snore fest” in a hostel dorm room in an old military barracks in Fort Warden State Park in Port Townsend. I had my ear plugs in, but according to one of my temporary roommates, six guys in one room made quite a racket. I stuck around just long enough that morning to grab my ten dollar key deposit and went down to a local coffee shop where the barista was in the process of starting his own newspaper. He was also still on a high from his first Burning Man experience. Synchronicities never cease to amaze me.

When I left Port Townsend the rain gods took a deep breath which took just long enough for me to get a few miles down the road before they exhaled rain all over Shadowfax and my parade. The day kind of looked like this: Ride to the Half Way House Diner for a cod sandwich, rain. Ride a few hours with temporary construction zone stops, rain. Ride another hour feeling my boots fill up with water, rain. Stop for an Oyster Cocktail, rain. Cross the Astoria Bridge hoping not to run out of gas, rain. Fill up gas and get some smoked salmon, welcome break from rain. That’s right for about a half hour, while I took photos of sea lions and digested my salmon, the weather gods took a moment to inhale. Not to worry, the next burst of showers attacked me with a vengeance. For once I was NOT going to ride in the dark, but the skies were so dark most of the day, I couldn’t tell when day was going to become night. The extent of the rain made me have to raise the visor on my helmet to see. The only way I could handle the pounding rain was to grimace and let my teeth take the brunt of the stinging raindrops to give my weather-beaten lips a break. This added to the olfactory experience as I passed the Tillamook cheese factory and then the miles and miles of cow dung soup fields made by the cows responsible for the famous cheese. Eventually I saw a sign that pointed to an inn two miles off the road. I wanted to push on, but Shadowfax turned of her own accord and we ended up staying in Pacific City. Three wines into my wine and cheese tasting made the day almost a memory. The only reminder came from the drops of water dripping from the only pair of shoes I brought, my boots.

Today I ride down the coast to California. I have two days to get to the Hearst Castle area where I will meet Cass. There is an endless battalion of clouds waiting for me outside. We’ll see if they will spare me or if yesterday’s fate will be repeated.

A Few More Minutes of Bobbing in the Ocean

I’m alive, well and picking the blackberry seeds out of my teeth in Doe Bay on Orcas Island, Washington. I’m hoping to make this quick so I can take on more soak in the hot baths here before getting on the ferry to Anacortes and Port Townsend.

Inspiration and timing have rarely coexisted this trip. My best thoughts and stories happen while riding along on my motorcycle. If I had more time right now, I would tell stories like Cass and Scotty almost freeze in Yosemite, Republican Cows, The Harvest Moon vs. The Halogen Monster, I-5 Cell Phone Impact, A Night of Junkie Counseling, the One Mile Diet, the Ill-advised Night Rider, How to Double Your Money on the Nevada Border and a whole lot more. Of course, I am choosing to go out and soak my travel weary bones one more time before jumping on Shadowfax and blazing off this island paradise. The Pacific Coast awaits…

More soon, or at least a bunch of photos.

The Journey Begins

The world was out to get Shadowfax today, and I just happened to be along for the ride, but I’ll get to that in a minute. This journey begins during the last two weeks as I have been in a mad rush to wrap up eight years of business while simultaneously getting Shadowfax, my motorcycle, ready for a journey. Throw in three major events I had to organize in addition to these tasks and what you get is one hugely frazzled Scotty. No matter. When my eyes popped open in the pre-dawn hours on 9/11, I popped up, threw the remaining items into my luggage and loaded up for a one month journey around the Western United States. Was I ready? Picture a ten-year-old running for the school bus with an unzipped backpack, untied shoes and a jacket and lunch box flailing like an old-fashioned movie projector at the end of a film. When the boxes were attached to the bike and the last strapped tightened, I took a moment to just sit there on Shadowfax’s back and let the Steamboat, home and work world come to a stop before letting the world of freedom unfold. With a push of the button the engine started. I was off…

Having embarked on multi-month journeys before, I was aware that I packed too much of what I didn’t need and probably forgot a few things that I did. Fortunately the road provides. My main task on day one was to begin the process of clearing my mind.

I headed west on 40 through Milner and Craig. The skies above were gray; the skies in the direction I was heading were black! I pulled over just before Maybell to put the cover on my tank bag and liberate that first cup of coffee. When I got back on Shadowfax and pushed the button. Nothing happened. Fortunately, I was on a hill and with a compression start, we were back on the road. Moments later, the sky started crying crocodile tears. Not your typical tropical crocodile, mind you, but the ultra-rare arctic version whose tears are the size of marbles with a temperature of 33 degrees. I stayed dry until the drip began filling up my right boot. Right about the time that boot filled, the other one followed suit. The mirrored reflection of the sky off of the standing water on the road took my mind off of this and I reflected on other things.

By the time I hit Vernal, I had outrun the storm. I could have kept going, but I wanted to fill the battery with battery acid to see if that would help the problem. Just as I finished filling the last cell, the arctic crocodile storm caught me. I was already wet, though; It didn’t matter. Continuing west through Vernal, Shadowfax started handling strangely. At first I thought it was the foam on the road, but then realized that the back tire was flat. I stopped at a garage, and a tire store, neither who could help me. One guy told me of a motorcycle dealership down the street. Fortunately, they took the time to change the tire for me.

I have a spare tube and tire irons, but I have heard horror stories of grown men crying like babies after wrestling with a flat for an hour or two. I figured I would eat the cost and let the pros do it since I was in a town. I hung out in the garage with three Mexican mechanics as they tried to decide who would do the job. Of course they picked the guy least suited for it. He got lots of practice, though, having to do it twice. He overfilled and popped the tube on his first try. Have you ever wondered why people who speak different languages still choose to swear in English? Two hours later, we were back on the road. Crocodile rains got board and headed the other way.

That night I chased the sunset all the way to 15 and slept in a motel in Nephi, Utah, 351 miles from home.