So... What next?

September 24th, 2010

I had the genius idea of singing up for a free bike ride called "Bike to the Bash". Ok, so the idea was not mine. A friend suggested it, but I did not hesitate. It's a ride to San Antonio, where the cyclists will end up at the "Bash at the brewery", a live music event organized by the Lone Star brewery.

Being a free event, with free entry to the concert, it was a matter of signing up and hoping you would get selected the day they would pick the names out of the hat. And it seems, I was one of the lucky cyclists who will be joining the ride.

So, here I am, ready to join the ride tomorrow.



Bike ready CHECK
Camelbak filled with Gatorade CHECK
Clothes ready CHECK
Glasses CHECK
Bandana CHECK
Ride wristband CHECK
Tyre repair tools CHECK
Energy gel shots CHECK
Phone, ID, money CHECK
Timing watch CHECK
iPod CHECK

I think I got everything covered... Now, why all this preparation, you're gonna ask. Well, San Antonio is not exactly down the road. In fact, it is an 80 mile (129km) distance from here to our final destination. All 165 of us will be setting off precisely at 7am, intending to get there some time in the afternoon. So yes, I do need to be prepared.

Am I nuts? Probably! Hell, I don't even like the music they'll be playing at the festival. I'm only going for the fun of it and to see how I'll cope with such a long bike ride. Luckily, another friend is also on the ride, so we'll get some good laughs in.

Time now is 8.30pm and I'm going to bed already, because I got a 5am wake up call ahead of me. I'll keep you posted if I survive this.

M.

07/02/2010

(If you don't understand the reference of the post title, ask Mr. Johnny Cash!)

While in San Francisco I looked for some people to share the drive (and cost of gas) back to Texas and I met 2 awesome guys that where headed exactly the same way.

I ended up driving with everything I could possibly need: a cooler full of food, my AAA card, an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and a professional wrestler! I was obviously covered for every possible situation. I must say, we had an absolutely awesome time together, we were driving non stop and had a laughter filled, musically dressed, incredibly fast drive back to Texas. I dropped the off in San Antonio and then went to San Marcos, to visit my favorite dropzone and see some of the great friends I have there. Hands down, best way to spend my first weekend back in Texas.

Today, Sunday the 7th of February 2010 I arrived back in Austin. And today is officially the day that this erratic journey stops! I've been on the road for a while and to be honest, I'm very tired and more than happy to stop in one place and spend some time with a certain someone! In fact, it does feel like I've been everywhere. Allow me to try and make a list of the places I visited during this trip.

Buenos Aires
Barcelona
Sant Pedor
Limoges
Athens
Madrid
Buenos Aires (yes, again, but very briefly)
La Quiaca
Tupiza
Uyuni
La Paz
Copacabana
Puno
Cusco
Aguas Calientes
Lima
Cajamarca
Popayan
Silvia
Cali
Armenia
Ibague
Pereira
Bogota
San Pelayo
Santa Marta
Tayrona
Cartagena
Playa Blanca
Medellin
Austin
San Marcos
Chico
Reno
Black Rock City (yeah baby!!)
Tahoe lake
Las Vegas
Kingman
Flagstaff
Grand Canyon
Sedona
Phoenix
Marfa
New Orleans
Birmingham
Cedartown
Cornelius
Charlotte
New York (Manhattan, Brooklyn and all that jazz)
Washington D.C.
Niagara Falls
St. Catharines
Keego Harbor
Detroit
Ann Arbor
Chicago
Stevens Point
Madison
Seattle
Mr. Rainier
Newport
Redwood National Forrest
San Francisco

And that's without mentioning all tiny little places where I made brief stops, or all the dusty and non roads I crossed.

At some point, if I feel like it, I may actually sit down and calculate the miles of the distances I traveled and form some sort of a trip map.

I want to thank you all for having followed me in my journey so far! It was always exciting to hear from you and perceive what I was doing through your eyes. At many times you inspired me to do more things and take more photos, just because you were praising my work so much! I miss you guys! :)

But right now, I'm ready to put my feet up, be less of a nomad for a bit and enjoy the company of the people I love. Believe me, it feels good!

M.

23/12/2009

I left Madison, Wisconsin on Monday early morning and arrived in Seattle on Wednesday afternoon. I don't know if it seems like a long time to you or not, but I can tell you, I did that whole drive in much less time than I was expecting, even though the biggest part of it was as tough as I thought it would be.

The whole drive was 1928 miles (3103 kilometers). Although initially I thought I'd arrive in Seattle on Christmas eve (i.e. 3 days later), when I set off I set it as a goal to drive 650 miles a day and be at my final destination a day early. I drove through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington and the diversity of scenery, traffic, driving conditions and weather was truly remarkable.

The first day was just exhausting. Lots of snow and ice everywhere and the winds and snow would not stop attacking Charlie. Not only was half the highway covered in snow, making two of threes lanes very dangerous, but also the wind was maintaining a constant layer of snow floating over the remaining lane, like a big group of road ghosts, scaring all the drivers and laughing at their worried faces. And if you survived this, there was always the icy patch under every single overpass, attempting to send you skidding towards a deadly christmas road twist. Still well on your way? The bridges should finish the job, which, for some reason, many times had ice on their surface.




Try driving through this...

On a couple of occasions Charlie's wheels tried giving up on me and decided to go one way, while I wanted to go the other way. Luckily I had my hands tight around the wheel during the whole drive, and being the top class driver that I am (You better be nodding at this point!!), I kept it in line. That, however, does not mean that those split second were not accompanied by the perfectly understandable "oh, shiiiiiit!".

A stopped at a rest area as soon as daylight was fully gone. Funny enough, it was also the very same moment I had exceeded 650 miles and a snow storm had begun. Sleeping in Charlie was my only choice, but it was not going to be as pleasant as usual.It was 8pm and it was already -15 degrees Celcius. I am guessing realisation has not come, until I opened a can of corn that I had to eat, only to find its contents frozen solid. I knew that it was gonna be a chilly night. And chilly it was. (I ate the can of corn anyway. Hunger before comfort.)

The second day was much easier than the first. The second half of the whole distance to Seattle proved to be much quicker than I thought. I was expecting crazy mountain turns and endless mountains of snow, but instead, I found zero traffic and perfectly clean roads. I was still very careful for ice, but it was all fine. There were some random snowy moments and scary parts up in the mountains, but I felt confident enough to continue. I even decided to drive during the night, which got me to drive 950 miles before I parked Charlie outside a hotel at the state line of Idaho and Washington, to spend the night. Even the temperatures were much milder over there. Heck, I could even sleep naked (but still with 5 covers on top)!

The third and last day was a doddle. I was well ahead of schedule and it looked like I would be in Seattle for lunchtime. Even the skies were smiling at me and the weather was beautiful. Sunny day, blue skies and beautiful, varying scenery throughout the whole drive. There wasn't much snow around, but everything was crystalised and looked bleached!









I was in Seattle indeed by 1pm, where I met up with my friend E., whom I'll be staying with for a few days. I'm already getting a good vibe by this city. :)

M.

03/12/2009

A road trip cannot be a road trip without the occasional car problem. I had various so far, but this was the first one actually on the road.

On the way from Michigan to Chicago, driving down the I-94, under an almost snowy weather, we suddenly heard a very loud and disturbing noise coming from the rear left side of the car. We quickly pulled over, put on our huge jackets (the weather can't be handled with just a t-shirt and flip-flops anymore) and got out to face the damage.

The rear, left tire was not just flat. It had practically exploded.



Anyway, no biggie I thought. I got a spare, so we'll change it and we'll be on our way. I went round the back, brought out the jack and the rest of the tools, and.... well... I didn't get much further from there to be honest.

To start with, I was fiddling with the jack and a long metal rod for about ten minutes, trying to figure out how to make them work together and get the damn car to rise. You should have seen my face. I was probably like a 6-month old kid, trying to fit the triangle in the circle. Trying from every possible angle and with all likely combinations, but I just couldn't get it to work.

I decided to leave that aside and try to get the spare wheel from under the van. Little did I know that I was in for yet another failure. How the hell do you get that wheel from under there? I knew that the long metal rod was the one to be used, but where the hell was I supposed to stick it? (Careful with the answers on this one.......) I was looking everywhere, under the van, on the side, behind the bumper, under the mattress. I ended up unscrewing something that I was not supposed to.

So there we are, both me and H., looking at each other baffled and feeling incompetent. She threw the idea of calling the AAA, but I felt too embarrassed to call road-side service just for a flat tire! (It wasn't just flat by the way, the whole damn thing exploded, but still. The procedure was the same...) Anyway, my initial reaction of not wanting to call the AAA was just me being in denied that I was useless and that I did need help to change the tire.

So we did call them and half an hour later they arrived. Changed the tire in a matter of 10 minutes and that was that.

At least we were not completely stupid. The jack was missing a tool, which is why we couldn't get it to work and to get the spare tyre off, I needed to remove a bit of rubber from behind the bumper, which I did not even notice it was possible. So with my competence not fully ridiculed and a good tyre in place, we continued our journey towards Chicago.

M.

14/09/2009

The Grand Canyon is not called "Grand" just for the hell of it. If you think it's big, you're not thinking big enough!





From the moment we started figuring out where to go and which road to take, we realised that it's not just a 2 hours ride all around it. Not by a long shot. Apparently, one can visit either the north rim or the south rim and the distance between the two is about 450 kilometers. So to go around it, you're looking at almost 1000 kilometers. So make sure you don't forget your bag before setting off.



Once we got there, we really could not believe our eyes! The endless canyon-like (surprised?) landscape extended as far as our eyes could see. Color and shadow variations to our heart's content and breathtaking views wherever we looked.



We drove around a bit, inside the Grand Canyon park and decided to spend the night parked at the Grandview trail point.

We set the alarm clock for well early the following morning. Had to catch the sunrise to start with and boy, was that worth it.



It reminded me a bit of the sunrise at Machu Picchu in Peru. Watching the rocky surfaces of the canyon getting gently caressed by the first rays of light, taking a new form every moment, reflecting more and more light towards everything around them. It was a very peaceful and soothing sight.

As soon as we enjoyed that as much as we could, we got our stuff together and began the trail downwards.


So choose your breakfast wisely.

After a bit more than a couple of hours, we had reached the Horseshoe Mesa, which offered yet another spectacular view of the canyon, right from its heart.


My face seems to have adapted to the colour of the stones.



The way down was easy and we got kinda cocky. Couldn't say the same thing for the walk back up though. Daaaaaaaamn, that was tougher than I thought. Once again, it reminded me of Machu Picchu and the 13000 steps around Huayna Picchu. Ok, so this one was not THAT hard, but I still ended up huffin and puffin and lying flat on the ground as soon as we arrived at the top. My reaction when finishing the trek down and up kinda scared and deterred people from doing it themselves. :)

The trek took us a good few hours and by the time we got back, we needed the rest, so we decided to spend another night in the park. Nothing wrong with watching yet another spectacular sundown and cooking pasta on the rim of the grand canyon really.



The next day N. was gonna make his way towards Colorado, so I left him somewhere that he could hitch hike it out and I headed back south. I drove down a beautiful country road, through thick forrests and "little house on the prairie"-style farm houses. I made a quick stop in Sedona too, a cute little town (although way too touristy) amongst the red rocks



and finally arrived in Phoenix, to visit my friend M.

M. (not my friend. Me. :p )

11/09/2009

Leaving Burning Man was a nasty blow by itself. No matter how dirty, dusty, sleepy, hungry people are, no one wants to leave all that they created and experienced, and I was no exception. But starting the road trip again, and this time with L. as a co-pilot, made it that little bit easier. :)

As soon as we left the playa, we made a bit of a detour to visit the some geisers nearby, called the Fly Geysers, and their hot spring. I had read that it is located on private land and the caretaker is fed up with burners visiting it after the festival, so he's pretty snappy about it. Indeed, I went over to speak to him and he did not exactly have a welcoming attitude. Somehow though, I managed to persuade him to let us through for half an hour. He even advised us to have a dip at the hot spring just behind the geyser! Obviously, we did not waste any time. :)

The geyser was apparently formed accidentally when a water well drill hit a geothermal source.



That drill caused this geyser, while putting the already existing one to a dormant state. As for its colours.... I don't know what's the reason behind that, but they are extremely impressive.



After the quick stop at the geyser, our first stop was Reno. A proper shower was definitely in order after 10 days covered with dust, sweat and whatever other crap does not come off by wiping it off with your arm.


Found this message on my car the following morning

So, lots of soap and water and a good night's sleep was practically a 90% of our experience in the casino-filled city. (I think the other 10% was the humongous burger I had for lunch the next day.

We got back on the road and headed towards Tahoe and its lake. Lovely little quiet place, where again we did not miss out on the opportunity to get in the water. (It seems after Burning Man any opportunity for water is not to be taken lightly). Crazy thing about the lake was that we were waking and walking in the water and we had barely gotten our waists wet.



Couldn't believe how shallow it was. I was literally walking next to parked speedboats! :)

At that point we were torn between going to San Fransisco or going to Las Vegas (it's a hard life, isn't it?). Although we were not ecstatic about Vegas, we ruled out the possibility of San Fran because L. had a flight booked for 3 days later from Flagstaff, Arizona, so we had no choice but to head towards that direction. On the way there, around 2am, we decided to stop on the side of the road and sleep a bit. We were in the middle of nowhere, in the desert, a landscape that made it very surreal seeing a van pulled up with all its curtains lowered.



Something that the local law enforcement probably considered weird enough to come and knock on the door and wake us up in the morning. All the police officer wanted was to make sure that we were ok, but since we had slept with the side door open, it was a bit alarming for me to wake up and see someone's head in front of the open door.

Being in Vegas was a huge shock to the system.


Yes, this is not Paris. It's Vegas!

I do not deny the fact that it was interesting to be there again 13 years after the first time I had visited it and to actually see different kinds of people.



Other than that though, it was far from what we needed at that point (or any point). We went from one extreme to the other. Black Rock City is a place run by love, creativity and giving. Las Vegas is run by sex and money.



Being surrounded by so much commercialism, quantity rather than quality, arrogant, unfriendly people, vendors, casino addicts who spend hours in front of a slot machine or roulette table, losing their fortunes...



We couldn't take it for much longer so after about 3 hours, we hit the road again.

We reached Flagstaff and that was the end of L.'s participation in my trip. She took her flight back to Austin and I continued again solo.

Flagstaff is a key stop on the legendary route 66.



Other than this city being a constant explosion of live music, it's full of route 66 landmarks. I even paid a visit to the Museum club, one of the oldest and most well-known dance clubs in the US.



When talking about a dance club though, we are not referring to a night club. This is all about line dancing, country music, big leather boots and cowboy hats. The night I went there wasn't that much dancing going on, but the cowboys had certainly walked in after tying their horses round the back.



And then, I even got the chance to see the route 66 annual car show, with all sort of imaginative creations and car-pimping.



During my 2-3 days in Flagstaff I got to meet an Ozzie kid who was planning to hitchhike to the Grand Canyon. So, here I am with N. my new travel partner, getting ready to head towards the canyon. :)

M.

28/08/2009

3000 kilometers from Austin to Chico and they passed in no time. It was Charlie's first big test and he passed with flying colors.

It was a very long route, but incredibly comfortable and I ended up doing the whole thing in less than 48 hours. Charlie coped without a problem even with endless hours of non-stop driving and my seat is the most comfortable I have ever sat on.

The whole ride was really interesting, mainly due to the fact that it was so different than any other I have traveled on so far. Hundreds of kilometers through the deserts, where every now and then a gas station would show up along with a restaurant and a couple of hotels for the truckers and travelers like myself.






Took a few friends from Texas for a ride.

I crossed Texas, passed through New Mexico, saw Arizona from east to west and finally California from south to north. At some point in the middle of nowhere in Arizona, I stopped on the side of the road and got out of the car to take some photos. Two minutes later, I turned around and saw a police car stopped right behind my car and the cop approaching me.

- Good afternoon. You taking photos?
- Yes.
- Ok. Well, I'm gonna ask you to get back in your car and drive off, because we are looking for someone and he is somewhere around here right now.

He didn't need to say it twice. I was already driving away with Charlie, thinking "Daaaaamn!"



Sunday morning I made it to D.'s place in Chico, a couchsurfing friend with whom I never had the chance to meet in person. In fact, I even had the chance to meet B., another couchsurfer I know the same way, with whom we have the same sense of humor and for three days we did not stop laughing and throwing sarcasm all over the place.
The three days that followed till we left for Burning Man, I didn't see much of Chico, as we had so much to do and be fully ready for two weeks in the middle of the desert. Needless to say, we were not short on laughters, wines, food and chats.








Preparing and protecting cameras for the burn.

And the grand day of departure towards Burning Man had finally arrived.



It's about 500 kilometers away, so we split the ride in two, spending a night in Reno, a casino filled city in the heart of Nevada.
28th of august and in a few hours I will be in Black Rock City, in Burning Man, the primary force that dragged me all the way to the USA. My excitement is undescribable! :D

M.

21/08/2009

Ok, there are a couple of zeros missing, but it's no big deal...

The time has come to leave Austin. I stayed in this vibrant city for three weeks and I had a blast. It is time, however, to head out west and start approaching Burning Man (for the ones who have not done their homework, a relative article will follow).

So, Charlie is ready...



the route already selected on the GPS...



and off to Chico, California we gooooooo! There is a long way ahead of us!

Μ.

11/08/2009

I have decided to continue my trip with someone. Someone reliable who will follow me around everywhere and will make my life just a bit easier.

We only met recently and we have decided to continue this trip together until wherever possible. We're going to go through the weirdest of places and will share everything.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to present you to...


...Charlie!

Charlie will be my new mode of transport for the rest of my trip around the USA. In fact, it's not just my car, but my proper house. :)



Anyone feels like joining? ;)

M.

26/06/2009

A six hour trip ended up being completed after 3 overnight stays, 2 big parties and almost half the car repaired.

After leaving Armenia, we made a "short" stop at the thermal baths of Santa Rosa. Problem was, it was so damn enjoyable that we ended up staying in the waters until 11pm. Obviously though, that brought us in a position of needing a place to spend the night. In this case, A. came to the rescue, a couchsurfer from the neighboring city of Pereira. She had given me her phone number and had said she'd be able to host one or two people if I happened to need it. Poor girl ended up with five nutcases in her house.

The following day we continued our journey. We were determined to reach Bogota, but fate had other plans for us (dramatic DA-DA-DA-DAAAAAN style music). Just outside of Ibague, the car's gearbox gave up on us. Without many options to choose from, we drove to the center, left the car at a mechanic and in the meantime I put a post in the Ibague couchsurfing group explaining the situation and asking for anyone's hosting help. How did this end?
Half an hour later we were already at a couchsurfer's house.
Two hours later we were joined by 12 couchsurfers, spending a night to remember.

The day after the car had been fixed. But out of total coincidence, Ibague happened to have a huge festival those days. How could we possibly leave? So there we were, staying yet another night in Ibague, in a middle of one hell of a party, with incredibly friendly people all around us.













On thursday we finally made a move to get to Bogota, where I was planning to stay a few days and see a rock festival. But there comes L., planting the bomb: "We are going to a concert tonight and tomorrow we are going to a village 20 hours north where there is a traditional, big music festival. From there we will continue towards the beaches of the caribbean. Wanna Join?" Of course, it didn't take much to get me convinced...



Let's see where we'll end up with this. The music and dance of Colombia shows no mercy...

Μ.