People are evil

Are people so miserable in this county that they have to bring everyone else down around them? I was nearly run over today by the same guy twice... I went for a short ride around the city just trying to clear the cobwebs and take in some parts of the city I have never seen. Some douche in a gray Cobalt came within inches of me going down a street... i yelled at him and told him to give me more room the first time. The guy must have waited for me to turn around and this time came EVEN CLOSER. If this guy thinks he was going to try to hit me I wonder what the hell could be going on in his life that made him so miserable. And I was on a small two lane road with no other cars coming the other direction. I hate this fucking county... every time I get out on a bike people dont pay attention to me. And this isn't the first time someone has tried to hit me. I hate the thought of it but it makes me want to give up cycling when I realize how dangerous humans beings are to each other.

Bill has made it past half way!

I have been following Bills adventure across the country on his blog for the past 40 days. Its like reading a live adventure book, and I am quite jelous at the views of some of the pictures he has taken during his trip. I noticed the last link I posted to Bills blog didnt work so I found a better link for all who wants to try to catch up to what I have been following. heres the link... http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/bills2009ride ...for anyone who doesn't know, Bill Hemme a friend of mine who travelled with me on the guided trip I led last year, is riding from California to Clearwater on his bicycle. It is a trip I too hope to make one day and it seems like an incredible feat. He has just passed his halfway point after just under 40 days on the road. Good job so far Bill and good luck.

the joy of a sad song

Nothing beats the joy of just getting it out of your system in song.

Smelly old books

I have been making it a habbit lately to go thrift store shopping for old books. I have gotten a few neat classics that I am proud to own. Among them a 1947 copy of A Field Guide to The Birds by Peterson, a 1941 copy of Don Quixote, a 1967 copy of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, and a 1941 copy of Ben Franklin's Autobiography. They arent really worth much but the smell of old books beats anything else. I really enjoy reading the classics and believe there is no greater knowledge than reading about our past through its literature. I am currently working my way through a 1969 copy of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. The story is great, and I get a kick out of burying my face in the spine and inhaling the scent of old book, and perhaps the decades of life this book has seen, and perhaps the many people who have flipped through these same pages generations before me. What has happened through the life of this book? who owned it? who read it? Why did they get rid of it? did someone who owned it die? The story of the life of this book is almost as intriguing as the story within its pages.
My proudest find to date isnt a book all that old but a very unique book still the same... a 1987 copy of Rob Van der Plas' The Bicycle Touring Manual. The technology described in this book is completely outdated, some of the advice is a bit antiquated and the pictures are classic, but this book was certainly a neat find. It is interesting to see how far we have come since I was a wee 6 year old boy.

Getting in shape and thinking about racing again.

Ok it has been some time since I have mentioned anything related to bicycle racing. In fact my last race was over a year ago. The Karate Monkey has been leaning patiently against the wall in my bedroom for quite some time... oh sure Ive been on the trails... once maybe every three months, but I believe the time is coming that she will spend some time on a race course. I have been putting in some mileage on the bike and on the running shoes, not much, but enough to spark some curiosity about how well I would do if I started training again for the fall mountain bike series starting this september. The scale has been teasing dangerously close to a milestone no one wants to accomplish and I am battling the climb with all my strength... ORRR perhaps with a lackluster, semi-hearted motivation that is held back by my inability to break free of stress (coughexcusescough). For the last two weeks I have riden at least two days for a minimal amount of mileage, I have been attempting to walk more and even jogging from time to time, and most importantly I have been training at my local MMA gym. Now, they call it "mixed martial arts". For my purposes the acronym is doning the new definition "move my ass". With the added intensity and doubled pace of the summer coursework I have spent a lot of time sitting on my ass in the house(coughexcusecough). So to get me out of the depressing, cabin feverish shlump, I have been trying to do some of these things just to get me outside and active. Well.. and also to take my mind off of probability, pascals triangle, and espanol... but the rewarding benefit is double fold... it takes my mind off of things just long enough to revitalize me but it also makes me sharper. And, now that I feel I am getting into a decent enough training regimine the ideas are floating around about racing my mountain bike again. We'll see how it goes... but if I am out there in September, you better believe I'm coming out to win.

Falling from blogging grace.

It seems that every where I look my fellow bloggers are all quitting.. The dream of posting pictures and stories for anyone, and perhaps no one to read is falling off into the jaded land of I Give Up. Well here is an alert to all my faithful follower, I will not quit! The idea of spilling countless rants and stories of adventure through time and space and perhaps just my maniacal quip is a pure and thorough joy that I cannot put to pasture. I dont care who reads my stories and I do not care who does not read my stories but if you read my stories and enjoy them my high horse can certainly be hard to climb down from as the flattery of another soul enjoying my writting as much as I do can be more than this self indulgent braggart can handle. I do not necessarily think that I am anymore capable and perhaps not nearly as friendly as some of those that I have seen fall from the ranks of blogdom, but it sadens me to see the empty spaces of those blogs of you who have disapeared from the land of let-it-all-out-and-tell-everyone-online-your-life-stories. I will surely miss reading your sporatic updates of life, adventure, and nonsense. Farewell my blog jumping friends... farewell.

Advice on roughing it from a softie

Ok so every great adventurer has tricks they pick up over time spent in the bush, on the road, on the trail, in the field... ect... well... I cant say that I am any different. After a few years in the Army and several on my own adventures there are a few things that I have picked up and modified into my adventuring routine to make life easier, and because I can be a softie, a bit more comfortable. Whether you are going hiking in the Florida plains, bicycle touring across the country, camping in the field on an archeological dig, or just going for an over nighter with the family, these are things I have found that have worked for me.

Mat advice... This picture is actually a pair of Thermarest Ridgerests stuffed into a pillow case.
The problem I had with buying the blow-up mattresses is that most of them cost nearly 5 times that of the closed cell mattresses... and the ones I could afford were twice the weight. Now the Ridgerests are a bit bulky but 70$ is better spent elsewhere. Well one way to minimize the size of the ridge rest is to cut it down, you simply cannot do this with any other mattress, and all you really need is enough to cover the width of your shoulders and the length from under your head to your tail bone. Incidentally this works out to be the exact width and almost the same length as a standard pillow case. On a hot night in the Florida plain when a sleeping bag is out of the question and the sweat is making your body stick to your mattress a cool silk or polyesther pillow case is a nice place to lay whether a closed cell or blow up mattress is used.
Another good reason to cut this mattress down is to save a bit of weight... at 9oz the small Ridgerest is already nearly the lightest of Thermarest's offerings... cutting this matt down proved to cut about 25% of its weight to less than 7oz. Less than any other matt on the market for a small fraction of the price, and though the bulk is still there, it is reduced enough to fit into my pack for a summer load(yes both of them). I use 2 matts because I am a wuss and need the extra cushion, but this is still less than 14oz, which is still less weight than many other more expensive matts on the market.
A couple more things about this matt is one; that it is very sturdy and does not get cut like other matts do on rocks, sticks, thorns, roots, etc... thus not requiring field maintenance or home maintenance for that matter. And second, because of this durability I have used them as camp chairs on logs or even on the ground for added comfort, because once again, I am a wuss.

Pillow Advice... Now some purists scoff at the use of a camp pillow in the field... I cannot fathom how on Buddha's green Earth how anyone could possibly go without this loving ball of soft, fluffy down and nylon. Now I have tried the rolled clothing method, the stuff sack method, and even the soft sided stuff sack method... but nothing was comfortable enough for me to get any amount of what I could call sleep on a first night in the woods, on the ground, on a hard and possibly tilted(and usually the wrong way) ground. I use a camp pillow, and I DO NOT regret it, it is worth every bit of its weight and I would bring it before any other piece of sleepy time equipment.
You may also notice that my pillow seems slightly modified... well after severl nights on this guy it has lost a little bit of loft and I have had to use it in tandem with the stuff sack full of clothes so it would hold my head in the right position... well this stitch job kinda serves both purposes in one. By folding the pillow in half i double up the loft and effectively raise my head to a comfortable position, by leaving the opening in the middle I can also stuff a couple things in there, a t-shirt or my pant legs, to improve that loft even more so.
Camera Advice... Now this advice can probably be found in photographer's and journalist's blogs and for good reason. My camera is attached to my backpack by means of backpack straps... These are made by Op Tech USA but other brands are out there. These pack straps take the weight of the camera and distribute it into the backpack straps, instead of on your neck. This also keeps the extra heat of the strap off of your neck as well, which is nice in Florida... anytime of the year.
Clothing advice... Now here in Florida especially the tendency is to wear shorts in the summer... and I couldnt agree more. BUT... I wear the convertible pants that zip off into shorts... two reasons: mosquitoes and mosquitos. As the sun starts to hang low in the sky the stagnant pools of Florida's swamps (and marshes, and swimming pools, and puddles etc...) become a mess of swarming mosquitoes ready to search for your bare ankles and annoy the BLOODY HELL out of you. I dont care how much repellant you use for some reason they always get your ankles and the itch makes it hard to sleep.
When it starts to get late just zip the legs back on (which weigh next to nothing) and tuck the bottoms into your socks. This keeps both mosquitos and other nasty critters out of your pants. They weigh very little so the added comfort is well worth it and if a night should turn cold they are an added layer of warmth as well. You can probobly pick up a pair at REI for around the price of a pair of jeans.
Other tidbits... bring a book, not 3; Leave the Peterson's guide at home, and leave the Edible Wild Plants book at home(trust me if you cant ID it by sight anyway, you probably shouldn't risk it, ask the McCandles Family).
Wool or synthetic over cotton, DUH.
Bring extra socks, and dry wet ones on sticks NEAR the fire at night. dont cook them.
Thin sock liners inside of thicker hiking socks keeps blisters down.
Moleskin... should always be in your first aid kit if the sock trick doesnt work.
Dont forget to restock said first aid kit... not having that itch relief in the morning after you forgot to zip the tent less than an inch further is another annoyance you could avoid by not being stupid.
I've said it and Ill repeat it, bring a water filter, tabs are slow and dont suck water from puddles.
Bring enough dry food that you don't have to cook if you cant find enough water or have stove issues, which is an inevitable annoyance when you're looking forward to that beef stroganoff and only have trail mix to eat.
Do you really need that flask of tequila? the answer is a most certain and resounding yes.

Good things from the garden

Tomatoes, chili peppers, bell peppers, a giant marconi, sweet corn and onions.

(perhaps) unconventional fatherly advice

What would be the reason for even considering walking across the country? The pure freedom? Unencumbered by the reliance on any machine or man made device... or perhaps the ability to hop in the back of the next passing pickup with a quick hello and a thanks? To stop and work for a couple bucks to catch the next bus out of town, to jump in with a friendly passing motorist who may possibly be your new best friend... or have we become so jaded of hitch hikers due to scary stories and serial killer movies? Has the idea of hitch hiking across the country gone the way of the Chia pet? My parents did their share of hitch hiking up and down the east coast in the 70's. Kerouak speaks of it as if it were a standard form of public travel in the 1950's, and the plethora of stories that became his career as a novelist ensued. The heartwarming story of Christopher McCandless, otherwise known as Alexander Supertramp, has more recently brought the idea of travelling the country on a fleeting whim into the minds of the youth (and not so youth) of America. The story told by adventure columnist and writer Jon Krakauer, puts Christopher in the passenger side of many a vehicle including cars, semi trucks, RV's, and even train cars as he thumbed and hiked his way back and forth across the west and eventually to Alaska where he found his final resting place. But the sense of freedom! The reliance and the trust that this guy in the Daewoo who just pulled over for you isnt going to end your trip, before you intended. The sights you may see, the people you may meet, seeing the country first hand with only the things you have on your back that can be quickly thrown into someones backseat. I cant imagine that this could be so easily discarded because some people think its dangerous. Lots of things are dangerous... BASE jumping, motocross, mountainbiking... but the ability to get out and see the country, perhaps the world, and meet its people... I couldnt say I would not jump at the opportunity to do it myself, or that I could ever advise my son that this would be a bad idea.
Perhaps if not by the fate of a wandering gypsy but by the means of travelling with friends who arent idiots. Its important to see the world and meet its people before you can absolutely feel attached to the world that surrounds you. To shed cynicism and don hope for a philosophical vision quest, in search of the wisdom of the open road and its peoples...
There are three pieces of advice I will make sure my son follows through with before I am certain to release him into his life of manhood; 1. Be well read, read the classics and biographies of people who made a dent on our society, and surround yourself with people who also value these things. 2. Before getting a job to make money for yourself, spend some time giving to people who may never be able to fend for themselves. Volunteer, intern, hell... join green peace. 3. Travel the country (the world) and seek the wisdom its people, dont just travel to have a good time, spend time meeting people and sharing stories, and do this travel with friends from fatherly advise #1. Whether by foot or by car, train, bicycle... see the world and learn from her, nothing is more important than learning.

Intracoastal adventure

My brother Chris and I went for a boat trip through the intracoastal waters of the Pinellas on Monday. It was a beautiful day as the weather was cooperative and the water was smooth as glass all day. We motored from Bay Pines War Veterans Memorial Park all the way down to Shell Island and Sister Key where we had lunch and snapped some shots. All was great until on our way back to the boat ramp, the prop somehow disappeared from the boats motor leaving us to have to paddle for a couple miles before being able to get back to the truck.