Throw it in the Bin

Home Run

2007-01-27T17:05:00.000-08:00

Lets see now lets see. As it turned out, we actually did make it as a group down to Tapachula, the final destination of my bike trip. We were, and then we werent, but then we did have time to make it, and it was great to ride in, rather than limp in on the bus and seperate from the group.

I think ill write this up briefly though. The last bit of the ride, rather than fist in the air whoop whooping our way home, i was actually finding it really hard, and was pretty frustrated. Like when youre writing the last few lines of a letter and your hand hurts the most. Strange reaction to have, but it didnt bother me since theres been enough highs to last me a while yet.

I met a man and his family, and went back to see them later in the night and gave them my bike. That felt really good, not just because it was 'a nice thing to do' but also because it felt so liberating to get shot of it all and just be on foot without all the hassles that come with wheeling it around. The sense of finality was overwhelming, and it was good.

A bit of a booze up, a last supper, we said our fairwells and i got a taxi to the airport in the morning and flew up to Tijuana, south side of the USa border. I was smiling and happy rather than sad though. I know ill see them all again, and theyll be friends for life.

Some probelms at the tijuana border control, where they made me feel like a criminal, and well i wont explain it all because its just stupid. I had 4 nights in san diego where it was ncie and cool, and spent it with Natalie the swede (who i met the forst time round), and i could wear a pair of trousers in the daytime too. Jeff, a friend who was restoring a Yacht at the posh boat yard gave us a nice evening on the boat. I got a lift up to LA the next day from someone who was going that way (Nancy Chong, with a nice little truck, but a horrid Gloria Estefan soundtrack) , and met up with Mattias and Timo, whod been so good to me last time i was there, and had another great time in a posh (im posh arent I) restaurant. It was so dark i couldnt see the plate, but i know it was a nice lamb chop.

Got the greyhound up to San francisco, and now im staying with Nic in the hostel that she works at. Coming into the city across the giant Bay bridge at night felt like being in Tron or Metropolis, but without the lazer tanks or robot germans. We'll do a short road trip north tomorrow, to Mount Chasta (i htink thats what it is) witha coupld of others for the weekend. Nics arranged that which is really nice. Im to do the driving which shouild be fun.

Its nice to bookend all of this by going back through the places i started at, and seeing all the people whove made the trip what it's been. Digesting the bike trip
will take a bit of time, but its quite exciting to be able to look at a
map of the world and be able to see a big chunk that i did just on a bike.
Ive done 2600 miles on the nose since the start of it.

A guy called Charlie approached me in the street last night just after id arrived here, whod spotted my bike panniers, and turns out he was doing a trip right around the edges of USA, and stopping off in San Francisco for the night. We shared some stories, and gave the nod to each others beard's. Its like being part of a little group of people, you dont know them, but theyre all really nice and probably your friend.

Soon ill be home and.... well i dont really know, but i think ill enjoy that too.

Vision... blurring...

2007-01-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

holy smokes its hot... i havnt stopped sweating in days, and imnot even a sweaty person. We are on the final push south now. Ive no hope of getting to Guatemala unfortunatly. Id have really have liked that, it would have been a great end to the trip, just to have crossed the border. But ah well... itd stupid to be down about that.

I have 5 days riding remaining before my flight back up to Tijuana from Tapachula, and im in funny times. Im really ready to go home now.

Which is a good thing!

I think that means ive finished with all the reasons and whats of why i wanted to come out here. Or its just me at breaking point. speaking fo which, theres beena lot of breaking points in the last few days, for everyone. But one thing about this small group of friends ive been thoroughly impressed with is everyones abilty to let things go and get on eith things. Its been astonishing, and hopefuly somehitng i can take away with me.

<--- this isnt me
Its been windy, but its wind like from a hair dryer set to hot. We arrived and Salina Cruz 5 days ago ish, and it was the windiest place ive ever been to. I mean i felt sick. It was like the end of the world was coming but no one cared. Apparently its like that all the time, but i found it really disturbing. It was pink from the sunset when we rode in and we codulnt even stay on the road. Crap was blowing al over the place and evertyone just did their thing like normal. A bit like the end of Ghostbusters, or the storm in Philidelphia Experiment if youve seen that. So i didnyt like it there... which is odd for me, itd usually take something more than just weather to put me off something. (but it was scary!)

My tent s not really geared for wind. Its like being trapped inside a half inflated bouncy castle with a bunch of fat kids with their shoes on jumping all around and laughing at you.

THere are 250km left, which with my maths is 50km a day to go. which isnt much, but the heat is pretty debilitating anytime after 11am. lots of water. Weve just left Oaxaca state, and passed into Chiapas, which is the southern most state in mexico. Its also the poorest, and is very jungle like and humid.

Right now we are in Ariaga. Me, tom and curtis are in an internet place which is long and thin, its about 40 degrees. theres music from everything outside and we´re getting stared at a lot, but in a nice way, i think. Ken and Matt are off at a bike shop getting some spokes fixed, they ran into each other this morning and broke a few things. I bought an ice lolly kind of thing from an old man who was walking a cool box along the hard shoulder of the highway we were on. He waved them at us like lightsabres, It was so hot, funny place to walk. Mine tasted of vegetables.

I keep thinking about rain, and that itd be great to just walk in the cold. Ive really forgotten what its like. But i think i prefer it. Last night we had a motel, which had cable tv and we watched robocop one two and three. and then terminator. Here is ken at the bikeshop. I bet this guy has fixed a few bikes in his time, we had the right place.

But But but but but but but but but, ths is all no news because - I am an Uncle now!! Ive just had news from home that my sister Ruth has given birth today, to Fred :) Im looking forward to meeting him, and in the years to come forcing my interests onto him. I think id be good at reading stories too, ill give that a go. I bet he likes Thundercats...

Now ill get back to sweating and growing more hair, and work on my body odour. Actually we had a shower in the place last night.

And more pictures are in here if you like: http://afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set15

Uh Oh

2007-01-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

THings are gloomy now. But lets not let that get us down.

We arrived in Puerto Escondido on boxing day, on the bus trip which was as bad as expected. Not any worse, but i did lose my bike helmet in with the luggage, and ken´s bags were ´lost´but then reappeared when he offered the bus cleaners some money to find them. It was pretty bad but if thats the worst thing that happened while in mexico, we wont complain. In all i havnt felt any danger or worry really.

The silver lining was meeting David, almost as soon as we wheeled into town at midnight with no place to stay. He was just finishing work, and offered to put us all up in his house. It was an amazing offer, and we ended up being there for 6 or 7 nights. He was fantastic, and we had a great time with him. he ran a Disco club, which was a pretty funky building that looked arabian and seemed to have no roof but it did. And bats. We helped him out with some bar work and it was good stuff. two drink options- bottle of beer or shot of tequila made it fortunately simple enough for us. But i think david made more drinks money off us than all the customers combined. Im pretty sure he did actually.

Once again we met up with Ben and Corrine, our australian friends and they had a link to a great new years party. it was very indulgent and i wont go into any of it. Hey that sounded rock n roll. Here is our wholesome chrismtas dinner in Acupulco---->

Then some things begand to fall apart. Matt lost his passport and all docuemnts somewhere in town. Hes had nought but trouble trying to police reports, emergency passports and his cards replaced. He took an overnight trip to Oaxaca City to a consulate, but it looks like he cant geta new passport for 6 weeks, meaning he cannot continue through central america. Theres reasons for everything that i dont understrand, but thats wat it looks to be. We´re all miserable about that, especially because its his first trip outside of Canada. Ken became ill with something, which kncoked him out for 3 days but it hes ok today. It looks as though time and money will affect all the group, as events happen back home for everyone and priorities are changing.

Finally after these delays we set off tomrorow, trying to get to the border. Its almost 700km though, and the heat is almost too much to walk around in, maybe itll be easier moving on the bike though. Im not bringing the bike back either, so ill try and find someone nice to give it to, hopefully in Guatemala.

Phewey. Doooom! Lightning!! We´re chin up folks though, and once we start moving again moods will lighten. I have only 15 days left before i fly up from south mexico back upto tijuana to begin my trip back through USA and out of san francisco and back to Manchester (where it will be raining). That all begins on the 21st Jan, so i dont even know if i can get to Guatemala before turning back. Booo. Id like to at least cross the border for a day. Ill face some kind of problem when i get up to the mexico/america border since i have some issues that are again too complicated and boring to explain, so lets hope im not stuck in tijuana border control quarantine.

Its easy to be glum about it... and harder to remember that the original 500 mile trip to LA grew to what´s now over 2000, and I feel amazing for having that opportunity. Its not finished yet, so pick up your heels boy!

more pictures are inside http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set13 and http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set14

Going Christmas Loco

2006-12-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

Acupulco! How wierd it is to have christmas here! it must be at least 30 degrees and its very very humid.. i doubt santa would keep his red coat on long. I really did miss the christmas dinner (we had a small steak sort of dinner in the afternoon outside at a restaurant, and taco´s in the evening) but am looking forward to the homecoming xmas dinner in february back in old whitley bay. Yay!! Shhh you shodulnt wish time away should you. I really missed my family yesterday (which is a good thing, isnt it).

Me and Matt jumped in the sea on christmas day afternoon because it was so hot. It looked like evryone had brought their families to spend the day in the bay. How different to being at home with the family? THey had all their gear there and were camped for the day. It was incredible, nice and warm water and much joy and merriment. It was splashing and hand stands and salty water and avoiding boats, and to be in amongst all the fascinating faces in the nice water made the day for me. Later on i think i did some wrestling, but that was a different kind of merriment. We met a small man called Manwell (who had 13 children) and all his family, they treated us to a beer by the water from their cooler box. His grandma was eating a corn on the cob for over an hour, she didnt have any teeth.

Getting to Acupulco was horrid though. We did a 30 hour journey from Mazatlan (which we had thought was going to be 16) in a baking oven of a broken bus. The man next to me did a quick hail mary just as we were setting off, he obviously knew more than I did. I actually was wishing for the driver to crash into the wall at one stage, just so we could stop all the winding and rolling that never seemed to end. If channel 4 did a Top 100 Worst Bus Journeys countdown programme, i think youd have to stay up late to watch the bit about this one. Anyway, somewhere on that journey, we passed a time zone but didnt know it, so we missed our connecting bus today by an hour :( Here there are a million VW beetles acting as taxis, each of them the same blue and white, which add so much to the feel of it. Its a sight to see.

The plan is this- we bus south today for another 7 hours, which will take us to Peurto Escandido (bad spell), and will bike the 700km to guatemala. Ive got my yellow fever shot now, so its all go. By about the 8th of january we should be at the border, and then on the 20th of January ill have to leave everyone and turn back. Thats going to be sad withouta doubt, but i know ive got things to do and if i move the flight once more, ill be in the same situation again. Ho humm.. ill write more on that in a different one. But we musnt think aboiut the end. And i should be quiet about all this bussing around- what wimps!

Went to the cinema back up in Mazatlan, to watch Casino Royale (good film!). There was a Cricket in the cinema somewhere, which added a nice atmosphere to the quiet bits :) Ive bought some rubber clogs which the nasty canadians hate, but i like em.

Weve hot 3 big cities in a row, and its al quiet intense. Right, its nearly time to get back on the hell hound bus again. I feel terrible today, but am getting better. Its boxing day!

Review

2006-12-21T22:34:00.000-08:00

A while back, I wrote that I have ups and downs, and that i only write about the ups. Riding along a dead straight 40 mile road on wednesday the 29th of November (there really were no bends at all), there wasnt a right lot to concentrate on (youve seen 10000 cactus, youve seen them all), and so I thought maybe it was time to write about the bad. And why shouldnt it be? A big part of the reson for me being out here at all is the end of 'Annika and Me'. So here it is, in the middle of this hopefully sometimes entertaining blog.

And then I realised almost straight away that this was the first time id chosen/wished to think about her, and it wasnt because I was feeling sad or bitter or lost. When I was last in Sweden in July, after a horrible afternoon of (looking back - Oscar winning scenes and articulate drama) talking, the only thing I wanted to do (or could think of doing) was to go running, just to try and get rid of some energy. Then i collapsed after a mile inbetween two fields and sobbed and said that i felt like i wanted to die. A deer hopped out infront of me and skipped way, but i dont remember thinking that that meant anything. Now that sounds pretty silly and melodramatic, but the good thing now is that that really does feel silly and melodramatic. Life carried on quickly once id returned home and resigned and bought a plane ticket.

Obviously it still hurts to think of what a nice future we could have had and all the things we said we would do in it, but I think now ive realised or remembered that theres a lot of other futures out there, i just have to step back a few paces and find them. Losing my best friend and going right back to the ´drawing board´ are the hardest things to face. JH

John is unemployed and writes for his own column. He doesnt really have any plans yet, but hopes that 'something will come along soon'. He usually writes just using the keyboard, but this piece was written on paper by torch light in his tent. He is not sure where exactly.

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We´ve left Baja and are now on the mainland Mexico. We had some fun buying tickets for the boat to Mazatalan, and ended up having to sail somewhere else and bus down. Ive got my Yellow Fever vaccine now, after a lot of running around. Ive been into more than 6 hospitals and clinics here in Mazatlan and La Paz, miming motions of injecting something into my arm which just prompted concerned looks and shaking heads. It really feels crippling sometimes not being able to speak spanish.

We´re keen to get into central america, so we´re taking a 16hour bus down to Accupulco, where we´ll spend christmas. Oh, and that Four Tops song, Going Loco down in Accupulco means going crazy.

Theres an overwhelming charm to things here now- the general state of disrepair to everything makes all things more human. Ive seen potholes in the pavements that would go up to my shoulders if i fell in. But its the "we can do it, Si Si!! No Problem!" attitide that really hits. Whatever you need to do. Theres whole families that all pile into the back of an open flatbed truck and whizz all around, cars that look like a speedbump would knock the roof off. I watched two work men hoist up a heavy illumninated billboard up 10 meters with just a single rope tied round the waist of one guy and the other was using a ladder with a load of missing rungs that was just leaning against their van, they were laughing and drinking beers. We needed our bikes onto a bus, but it had no roof rack. He just waved wildly, opened the back door and jammed them all in. No silly rules and regulations to work inside of. A small thing like that would never ever happen in england, and its whats making us all enjoy Mexico so much.

Happy christmas everyone! I miss you all!

Out of the Frying pan and into.... the other one?

2006-12-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

No is hasnt been that bad... maybe its just my arse and legs getting tired? who can tell. We met a fantastic Australian couple, Ben and Corrine in Guerrero Negro, which is where i wrote the last blog entry. Theyve been treating us to some lovely cooking, Sea Bass and Clams, which theyve been catching. Wow that was 12 days ago... we}ve been leapfrogging each other since then. They are in a Van. We are not that fast. But slow and steady wins the race, yes?

Next town stop was San Ignacio, 2 days after leaving. This was written up as "An Oasis in the desert". It wasnt bad though.. it had palm trees, and thinsg were becoming much more lush and green. Ben and Corrine had beat us there, and found a kooky little family run place that would get us in for $10 US a room with 3 beds, which was a good deal hu. We had a lovely meal in their little restaurant. The husband ran out to get the ingredients. Mine was a beef stew and it was great. At 2am i was sick like a fire hydrant. As it was shooting out i thought "All that nice food!" but it didnt look as good the second time around. I felt much better. I think they were keeping cockroaches in a pipe that came out of the ground too. They brought their whole family around the next morning to meet us. We said Hello, they said Hello, then we looked at each other for a bit. It was nice.

One of the nicest moments was playing football in the street with a bunch of kids who laughed a lot and it was just magic. Then i felt ill again. Hoo Hey.

Curtis}s birthday was up next, and we wanted to get to the east coast to swim in the postcard Sea of Cortez. We got there, but the hurricane we didnt know about had washed up a world of crap all over the place, so no swimming there. We met a cheery Wolfgang who waves at the camera here on the way in to town where we ate tacos together at Pepe's. He was heading north on his bike, presumably up Devils Mouth which we had just rode all the way down. Sucker!! Ups and downs ay. The next day I met Hugo & Hugo in a bar, they were a Father and Son super team and were BIG pink floyd fans. They ran me back to the hotel to meet everyone else. It turned out they could get you anything you wanted and it was all pretty wierd. THey hung about with us for 3 days, and i kept dissapointing Hugo Jnr by forgetting the words to Wish You Were Here over and over while he smiled and played it on guitar. Im quite good at shotgunning a beer now, ill teach you. Curtis had a good birthday and it was time to get back on the saddle.

South to Mulege, and there was more beaches that looked more Post Apocalyptic than Tropical, but we kept going and eventually found some nice ones. Ben and Corrine were with us still and its been great to spend time with them. We loafed about, swam, played basket ball with our new neighbour Barry and brothers Gent & Luke from Canada. I found a pair of goggles for 15 pesos, which is about a pound, and did some night swimming to see the phosphorescent glow of... well im not sure what it is- i need to read up on that, but its a glowing of organisms in the water when you disturb them. You can see it if its dark enough, and it feels a lot like swimming in space. WOO! Like a 1960s special effect, its pretty magical. Then i got scared, thought about jelly fish and got out quick.

Last night i saw three shooting stars, but they werent nearly as bright at that first one i saw back by the shipwreck. I wonder what that means?? Youre right, Nothing. I should mention the sky though. The stars are incredible. Every night is a clear view of the Milky Way stretching all the way across, and ever since I lost the roof of the tent back in california, ive never looked back.

We stopped at a place to eat yesterday, and saw this man there who was chopping up the side of beef here. We wondered if it were like the cows we've seen with Vultures sat on top. Mine was nice though. And I like this photo!

Matt and Curtis have stayed back at Cyote Beach with Ben and Corrine, while the remaining 3 of us were feeling a bit too lazy and so have continued alone to meet them in La Paz, which is the southern most point we will get to in Baja, where we'll take the ferry from, across to the main land.

The rest of this bunch of photos are in here: http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set12

And finally i managed to get some video off the camera from yesterday... it should hopefully play, but you will probably have to right click on it and choose Save Target As or someting similar. Now you can pretend you too are riding through mexico with socks that can kill a cyote!! Get it here: http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set12/MVI_0082.AVI

Adios Amigos

What a Beauty

2006-11-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

Heres a handsome photo of my face, battle damaged after the 7 days of desert riding from El Rosario down to where we are now, in Guerrero Negro, which we think has been about 330 km. Click it for a full size glamour shot. Whee! Since then Ive had a shower, eaten junk food, pop, tequila, enjoyed a bed, lots of tacos and tortas, and just now have a belly full of fresh Clams we and our Australian-motel-neighbours bought from a fisherman today. And i look a bit more like myself again.

Ive just arrived at the motel in this picture, and we are all looking forward to a bed, some running water, wahsing some clothes, and a hot shower (my turn is next). Safe to say i smell worse than ever, its been a pretty rough week.

But then i feel absolutely fantastic too.

Theres a LOT of dogs in mexico... wild ones nice ones noisy ones and ones that look like theyll bite your knees off while you sleep. Theres a lot of dead ones too. I gave a patient poor alsatian two slices of bread for being nice, then an hour later he went and stole all my bread and sardines from my tent. OO! A Cyote got me on another night, and crunched my can of highly prized mango juice.

We´ve camped in all sorts of places - behind desert scrub, at a truck stop, in a storm drain under the highway (which was the best i thought - flat ground, good shade, and a real and old cowboy stopped by to say hello on a horse), in a small canyon, on a beach by a big shipwreck and some other places too.

Seeing two children ride a big dark horse inside a swirl of sand and dust nearby your tent makes any morning pretty special.

The heat has been incredible, weve had to work around it. Our "Beat The Heat" strategy has worked and it hasnt. weve been trying to start early, around 6am, but some mornings its just been so cold its impossible to get out of the sleeping bag - it feels like mid winter back in sweden at 5am. then by 11am its been too hot to ride... so pretty confusing weather. We had to each carry 8 litres of water on our longest stretch without supply stops, which made things hard work, but it was pretty obvious after out first sun stroked day we werent going to race through. A helpful man told kept telling us "Drink or Die!" which i never thought id hear, but i think he was talking about water.

I had a cup of tea with Domingo Cruz Martinez here at breakfast in San Quintin, while he grinned and ate whole jalepeno peppers at 8 in the morning. Oh heres a picture of him- we got on like house on fire.

Part of the desert felt like i was in a looney tunes cartoon, road runner wasnt about but im pretty sure there were a lot of cyotes. The birds ive been seeing since southern california, ive since learned are Vultures... probably chasing our stink. Here i am as a Hero On a Rock.

Here is some of the cartoon desert... it felt like a huge soft play area.. only it was very hard rock and it would have hurt. But the feeling of fun and excitement coming off the warm rocks and cacti was overwhelming for everyone and just made me want to run and climb like spiderman.

Theres a lot more pictures you can see my going to http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set11/ and also some better ones here http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set11/more/

My Camera has resurected itself, probably after being baked/frozen/baked7frozen repeatedly in the desert. Curtis has taken some great footage over the last week, and the documentary theyre making should have some great bits in it. Plus me trying to not look stupid and dumbfounded at every occasion.

We have two more nights here in Guerrero Negra, then we set off again into the frying pan, but this time we´re heading south east, and will re-appear in Santa Rosalia on the east coast, and be by the Sea of Cortez, which is all whiote sands and tropical things, where we plan to fish and swim a lot.

Ive just reached 1500 miles on the clock. we just went through a timezone yesterday, so we are one hour closer to england now. Once we are into southern Baja, we´ll cross the Tropic of Cancer, and "towards the bit at the middle of the magnifying glass where you can set ants on fire" as hostel keeper Kyle explained 300 miles ago. I know its November, but hooooeeee it doesnt feel like it at all.

This hill crest made everyone stop at 8am, probably the highlight of the scenery so far for me. Obviously it was much better in life, but you get the impression of it here. You can see the road ahead winding where we were going that day (this was 2 or 3 days ago)

Hot Hot Salsa

2006-11-16T19:13:00.000-08:00

I saw my first shooting star zoom overhead last night, and had my first tumble weed bounce across infront of me. That made me happy! And here is a giant Jesus, with a flashing light on his head.

We camped on a beach next to a shipwreck, where two dogs came and played with us all night, and were still there in the morning to bite my arm and shake wet sand into the tent. It was a bit of a wet morning, but then ramped up to the usual heat by 10am. The hair on my legs and arms has turned blonde. We got some very good information about the desert stages, which will save our lives. Theres a lot of scorpions, but no snakes, so its ok.

Curtis has been filming some things for his documentary, so itll be nice to see all that together when its finished. Theres a very short clip on their website, which is in the post below.

I just about managed to upload some more pictures, the tail end of america, san diego. here: www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set9

Oh yes, and my camera is broken now :( it got battered and then mushed in mashed banana, and it doesnt turn on any more. So thats a pain. The rest of the guys are taking loads, so ill be getting those. Burning my mouth on one chilli or another is a daily event. AH! this is working now..

The mexico pictures are in here: www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set10

.

Uno Torta porr favor! My god im bad at that.

To Tijuana and Beyond

2006-11-14T18:16:00.000-08:00

Hi! right now im sat in a crookety cafe with Matt and Ken, and we are in San Vincente, 50 miles south of Ensenada. Weve been through Tijuana, Rosarito, Ensenada. We havnt managed to camp really yet , but we will be doing that once we get further south and things become quiet.

Terrain has changed wildly now that were are in the sort of place i had imagined mexico to be in my head. The cars sound like lancaster bombers zooming by. The smog in some of the towns has been choking on the road, i wonder what Mexico City might be like.

Grinning Mexicans honk and wave as they pass, i presume they think we are pretty stupid. "you very brave!" one shouted at us, and beautiful kids yell and cheer from the back seats. My bike is like a game of Buckaroo thats going very well, and flexes like a piece of bamboo. The colours here are all new, theres so much of it everywhere- on the walls and in the advertising, in the ground and on the hills. I so wish i could talk to people, thats a shame.

We are in northern Baja, and very soon it will become very sparse and unpopulated. In two days time we will enter a stretch of rocky desert that will take us 3 days to get through without any towns. Water has become very important. Its very hot. Today has really shown us what lies ahead. We wind through rocky canyons, grind up hills and speed downwards through the chocolate dirt. That was poetic wasnt it? Everything has changed.

The towns we've been through seem to take the form of one central strip of tarmaced road, and either side about 10 meters of dirt/dust, and then rows of shops lining that. I wish i could show you some pictures here. Its quite magic. We did a burning 55 miles today, and got cooked.

I think we know the dangers now, and have spoken to as many people as we can about whats ahead.

THis weekend is the 'Baja 1000' rally race, which is a nonstop offroad buggy race the length of Baja, so we've seena lot of things towing offroad vehicles along. One racing guy at the camp ground last night donated $20 to each of us, because he was so amazed! So we are in a motel tonight, complete with cold showers and electricty that works once the suns gone down. So maybe we'll be able to see some racers.

But theres anough to be excited about here.

Im thrilled to be with the guys here, theyre fantastic company and its fun riding in a 5 bike group. They are film makers, sound engineers and photographers. Thyere making a documentary of this whole thing, which im privelidged to be a part of. You can see what theyre doing here: http://www.thebiketrip.nervouscity.com

The food is amazing, and of course everything is super cheap.

Now we're going for some beers and relax, and get back for an early night. A 60 miler tomorrow will take us 40 miles from the desert stretch, where we'll stop for 2 nights and prepare. Its all ok though! Lots of room for food and water.

We are all very sensible, hardy, innocent, gringos.

Arriba!

2006-11-09T10:27:00.000-08:00

well well well- i have a new plan, and it s anice one. Here in San Diego ive met 4 nice canadian guys, who are on a cycle trip too. Theyre headed down through mexico, guatamala, Hondura, Nicuragua and Panama. Theyve been nice enough to let me tag along for a bit! Im very happy about this. Its funny the way things work out. So today they will pass back through Ocean Beach, pick me up, and we will all cross the border and find some fun in Mexico. I will be 1st Auxiliary Reserve, 5th Wheel. Ill travel with them for about 4 weeks, down the length of Baja which is 800 miles, cross by ferry onto mainland mexico, and somewhere after that ill turn back on a bus, head through LA and get my rucksack, and shoot on up into Canada mid december.

Ive got some new toys for the bike, and have proper pannier bags now, so at least things shodulnt fall out on the road. Although my water bottle popped out of the bike at a big interesection yesterday. I turned back to fetch it, but then i watched it get run over by 4 cars, right like they were going for it. crunch squish. So i said goodbye, sniffed and continued. I went to get an $8 haircut, but it was $10 if you didnt want it buzzed to a velvety finish with the clippers. Theres a lot of military bases and barracks here.

Ive met some really great people here, its a fantastic place and i woduilnt hesitate to stop here again. theres a lot of skateboards, loads of surfers, and best still, theres a ton of beards. I had a go on a long board last night, id like to have one someday. I came close to running into some Llamas on it, i think they were Llamas, they smelled horrible.

I dont know much about where im going, but i think the boys do, and theres safety in numbers. Just ask those heards of Gazelles who dash across crocodile infested rivers. I will keep to the middle of the pack.

Matt has a laptop with him, which may or may not connect with the rest of the world, but he guessed 'every 3 or 4 days'.

Arriba!

PS I should learn more spanish

South to the Border

2006-11-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

I had a good haloween in Hollywood, i was dressed as a Zombie, but looked much more like a Tramp. Id bought an old tweed suit jacket and trousers froma charity shop. They do Halloween BIG in Hollywood... but its not very scary. Little Bo Peep, Postmen and Snow White. Theres a photo of me once ive fixed it up. The same Day Mattias took me out for a drive up Mullholland Drive, where you can see the whole of LA and it was quite spectacul;ar. I felt sick almost, being up there and just feelng the humm and immensity of it all. The San Fernando Valley side of LA wasnt there at all 60 years ago, it was apple orchards and we saw some old photos of it. Now its got all the fiml studios, Universal Studios and a good few million people living there. So that all happened fast then.

I got to see the Band i wanted to see which was magic, after we hung out with Arthur, Fernando and Ulysees outside the Laundromat and Liquor shop and drank drinks called Sparks and Stripper.

Ive ridden solo down to Sandiego over the 3 days. I had a half day cycling with Danish Claus, and a terrible nights sleep half way up a bumpy trail where i codulnt find the campsite in the dark and my legs were burning. Something was wandering around my tent at 12:30am... i had my pen knife out in a stupid try for a sense of safety. I imagined it might be a mountain lion which are around here, and thats what i should write here. There were a pack of dogs howling somewhere too. But it was probably a mouse wasnt it.

It was great to be riding alone too, it felt really liberating and free, but its good to be with a friend too.

I met Daisy Sam and Natalie in San Diego, and we went to Tijuana for the day. That was incredible! you can walk accross a bridge, go through a turnstile (no checks on the way in from USA) and in 10 minutes youre in a very different place. It was fantastic. Smiling mexican faces were howling and shouting at us to come over to buy some rubbish or other, and we loved it all. Tijuana isnt the place to 'Have Seen Mexico' at all, but it definitey wasnt America iether. We had 6 tacos each, lots of margharitas, and had a great night in a locals dnacing bar. It was Day of the Dead ont he 2nd November (which is All Souls Day), but we codulnt find much t do with that which i thought was a shame. We listened to Oompa Oompa music, but with fast drums and non stop spanish singing. Either it was the greatest DJ in thw world or the song lasted for 3 hours. I danced like i was in the Jungle Book and we spun around with the Mexicans till we had to go home.

If id met Zsombor from Hungary a few days earlier, we could have driven through mexico in his car, but he had just decided to flay back to Hungary and had bought his ticket.

Now im trying to decide where to go form here, but its all nice so far. Its sad to finish the bike ride, but maybe it will resume soon. Ive another week here yet, and ive got a new book to read, Last Tango in Aberystwyth. How appropriate.

Ive had that Gomez song Tijuana Lady (where did you go / make my way back to San Diego) in my head for days, itd be nice to hear it!

Its ups and downs isnt it. I write all the good stuff, but theres lows inbetween. But theres a lot less of that, and thats fine with me.

I need to buy a notepad, and I want to read some of the book today. Its neary lunchtime but i still feel ill from the pancake breakfast. My appetites still huge though, its all going somewhere i suppose.

PS i went to a photography exhibition titled Migration, which had some incredible heart stopping pictures of mexicans fleeing border patrols, hurling themselves over the border fence, groups running across car riddled freeways led by smugglers, and starving 10 year old kids riding alone ontop of freight trains into America to search for their mothers who had left them to find work. They say 1 Million people cross the border into north america illegally every year. It certainly put a new angle onto our easy Tijuana trip.

Comments!

2006-11-01T16:08:00.000-08:00

Please Please Please if you leave a comment, can you write your full name or not do it as anonymous- i dont know whos who! and thats a shame!

Ive made it to San Diego.. but more of that later on. The Library has surfboard on the wall. Radical Awesome Wipe-Out!

LA Living

2006-10-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

Buses.... it takes a long tiome to get around on buses. theres a metro system too, but it doesnt cover much of the city as it was meant to, i dont think they got around to finishing it off. So yes, the shortest bus ride ove been on is 15 minutes, the longest was 5 hours.. when by the time id got to my destination i was too late, and had to turn straight back. And getting off the bus at the right place is difficult, since everything looks the same. gaaaah. (my first trip to hollywood i overshot it by 5 miles without realising... fool!)

Timo and Mattias have been really kind to me, putting me up, showing me round a bit and putting up with me. Ive met up with nic a few times, but she is staying 15 miles way from where i am, and that makes that difficult. One crazy man sang "Macadamia Nuts Maan!!" to me. I got refferred to as Amigo. I pushed a man in a wheelchair a few blocks who told me being in a chair was a pain in the ass man and i could only agree with that. I went to a famous graveyard which was next to where Mattias lives, and has Marilyn Monroe's grave, and James Coburn and more famous rich people in. I missed Monroes grave, and i still havnt decided whether i like going to graveyards or not, i dont think i do.

I had a good night out on Sunset Strip and Hollywood. I think i spent a lot, but it was great to be there in amongst all that rock n roll history legends and disasters. we went to the Viper Rooms, saw a crappy band, and went to a few bars, one had a mechanical bull in it that you could ride on if you fancied. The 'Power House' had good priced beers luckily. THat night we were walking on all those stars in the pavement on Hollywood Boulevard, but i dont hitnk i paid much attention, theres a *lot* of them. Actually i think im going back there today, so i might have aproper look.

Incredibly, the band that i wanted to see over herewhich id spotted before i left, are playing here tonight and Nic and I have tickets. its going to be amazing! Cansie de Ser Sexy, which is the brazilian group from am old post. Weee!

This weekend just gone, (22nd October) was the anniversary of the Machynlleth Film festival which we won with the Hollywood Sign project thing (itll make much mroe sense if you knew what that was -look at www.onceuponatimeinmidwales.co.uk ). Strange to be here by the real one exactly one year on! Ive takena stack of photos, which i want to make into a film. Itll be sort of s fast paces slideshow i suppose, but with themes and patterns in it to music. You can see the photos from LA by going to www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/LA Photos THyre not sorted out yet, but youre welcome to look if youre interested. Theres a lot of signs and billboards, if you like that sort of thing. Dont we all????? oh?

Ive stayed a bit longer in LA, ive done a bit of research into animation places here and done a bit of time on the phone with them. Not much has come of it yet, but ive got my stuff around at least. I also wanted to stay for this band, plus of course its Halloween this weekend, which should be pretty crazy here. I thought itd be better to spend that here with friends than be on the road again. Im setting off for San Diego on monday morning.

After that, i think im going to do some volunteer work on an organic farm in Arizona. You can work in the gardens there for a week or longer. Theres a few participating farms, but some are a bit creepy. Religeous and spiritual things going on. (Solar Yoga!!? Ive never heard of that. Morning meditation, awakenings and awareness etc) Still, im sure itd be interesting. Im trying to get one as close to the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley as possible. So yes theresa little alterior motive there, and no i dont think ill get sucked in and youll never hear from me again.

I visted the Getti Centre too (left), which was a fascinating place full of nice things and nice gardens to sit iin.

I went out to a cuban restaraunt last night, and have left overs for lunch. hurrah! Timo has a microwave under the sink.

Now ill go out and get talent spotted for a starring role in The Short and the Hairy - Hitting the Road: The Reckoning

Santa Barbara to L.A. Baby

2006-10-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

Santa Barbara gave us a taste of the cash to come... palm trees coming out of our ears by this point, we headed through Ventura (i found a cool shop full of memorabilia tat and old toys). We didnt stop to sleep, but we did explore some 'Thrift' shops, which are big charity shops, and there were lots. Also, just beyond was this marina, which took us forever to cycle around. Silly boat names i saw were Trophy, Sleeper and Xanadaz or something... there wasnt even enough room in the man made marina alleys (it was filtered through peoples back gardens in canals stuffed with yaghts) that a lot were in boat parks. aye aye captn. Although they were obviously clinging onto their roots by calling it Fishermans Yard and things like that. I doubt any fisherman could afford anything within 20 miles of these places.

Going through Malibu was a big dissapointment for me. I think because id confused the drinks Malibu, and Lilt, and stupidly had in mind the old lilt adverts. It was one long stretched out retail park, but with even more benign shops and restaurants. 27 miles of it actually. We stayed in a camp ground there chocked with mega RVs called things like Night Creeper and Navigator (Check out this one's expanding wings! This is Navigator). I did take one picture in malibu, this giant mexican man here. I took a wheel around Downtown at night and came back dissapointed, but i did get a nice Steak Burrito.

Nic and I had a chance lucky meeting at night, as she was stuck at a spooky isolated dark bus stop trying to get back home, just as I decided to take a detour back through the crap shops, and right past the said bus stop. It doesnt sound that remarkable does it? But it was quite. I think i missed some of the thrill there. I will delete this paragraph for the book version.

Traffic increased arriving into LA, and i got buzzed the closest ive ever been by a car, so we quickly found a bike path, which turned into this path.... which was pretty. Then it went on for exactly 15 miles (no exxageration).

It had a few turns in it, but it was sand sand and featureless sand. Oo it was hot too... my head was exploding, but uit was out of the traffic (the highway is off the left here) and it was pretty Glam. people were jogging all over the place... or they were roller blading, or looking silly power walking. I think everyone works out here, all ages. gotta look good for the movies.

We were headed to Hermosa beach, where our hostel was, squeezed between some bars and it was a nice place.

Now ive hooked up with Timo in Santa Monica, whos kindly putting me up in his mini apartment. He tooke me out to lunch to meet up with Jimmy and Mattias, who are friends from sweden days. We whizzed through Westwood at lunchtime which was quite exciting and i felt right like a child amongst all the hoo haa and buzz. It feels amazing to have a friendly guide to show me around a bit.

I dont think ive seen anyting imcredible yet, but i havt seen one percent of it yet. east to west, it is 160km ive been told. Oh the street entertainers and peddlers here in santa monica must have come from a pro school, all verty neat and efficient. today ive had spanish guitar, acrobats, and folk music. And a shoe shop i went in, i met Kerby, who was happy to help me with choosing some shoes, and shook my hand for the commision garauntee he'd been practicing. Its actually all quite dissarming, when shop people ask you about your day, howz it goin, whats up man, and how are you today sir. I dont mind it though, learning that they dont really want to know makes it easier. I think i might even like it... strangers are less friendly here though. Im smiling at less people already, which has been a New Thing that ive been trying, it makes an afternoon into a good afternoon.

Its sad to leave Nic, but she has to stick around and get some work to raise funds for board and things. That feels a bit hard, specially now that i have a comfy place to stay here, but theres no more room at the inn, and she has a friend who will put her up a bit. Shes tough. We'll meet this week. I will bleach her hair and she will cut mine. Ive decided to continue on to San Diego, and probably dip into Mexico while im there. I dont want to stop yet. Ive done 730 miles now, but its all gone fast. Im going to approach a few animation studios here before i leave, may aswell i thought. Theres a few about. I should wash my clothes first though, ay Mum.

Obispo to Barbara

2006-10-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

Its all been a bit well flat... and windy since leaving Big Sur. I really enjoyed San Lois Obispo... quite snoozy but still with life and bike friendly (ie no 5 lanes to cross to get your paper).

We did pass through an incredible place called Guadelupe... which was founded as a Mexican town on a govermnet grant in 1850 or so. Its been the closest toa wild west town... but it wasnt that wild. Theyed filmed the 1920's silent film Ten Commandments there, and made some huge film sets, and then buried them in the dunes outside of town. THeyre looking for them with sonar equipment apparently. We met a great man called Anothony who owned a car repair shop, who came out onto the empty street to meet us and chat. He had a great map of California painted onto the side of his building. We signed his guestbook and i got a nice picture of him waving under the map, which ill put in here once i gat them off the blah blah. I wanted some Root Beer and went into the best dusty cafe ive ever been into. they didnt have any, but i got somethihne else he said was nice, and it was.

We camped in Reffugio State beach, which was a proper posh beach side (really beach side) camp ground, with palms and white sand. Ive never been on a beach like that, so it was quite exiciting. we took two nights, and before leaving left our mark on the well carved picnic bench. Oh had a swim too, and got mushed about and tangled in sea weed.

Today we are in Santa Barbara, almost to LA. theres a artsy fair on, and i will make the most of it by visiting the BBQs. we're mnot stopping here, but will continue south a bit.

weathers been windy.. but thats part of the deal isnt it.

onwards and upwards. down really though isnt it. ?

PS the black thing in the middle here- a dolphin! we were watching a surf competition, excpet there wasnt really any waves, but there were a few dolphins playing about. Corr

Big Sur

2006-10-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Hmm, this is writing about events that happenned 3 or 5 days ago... it would have been great to have written about things while they were so fresh, but in the area known as Big Sur, there wasnt any phones, and since we've been camping for the last while, no easy access to computers. BUT... this has been incredible.

Leaving Monterey (arriving was another event, but its a bit complicated to explain) was a great, rich, route known as 17 Mile Drive, which had so much money on display, you could see the gold sparkles in the pavements. If we were in a car, we wouild have had to pay to go along it. Famous Pebble Beach golf course is contained within the headland/end of the bay, which i suppose explains all the hard cash (the US open is held there, or masters, or whatsit called). But the more amazing thing happened- I ran off along the beach because a lady said to keep your eyes on the sea today, and i saw a whale! it blew its top and did its thing and was quite amazing. I was hopping and pointing, but i was alone. which i think made it a bit more special in a way. who knows... it was nice though :)

the Big Sur climbs, cliffs, beaches, bridges, forests, birds, elephant seals has all been overwhelming. I mean really overwhelming, we were really quite speechless. its been really really tough, ups n downs (and no they dont cancel each other out), but "hoo heee" i had a real wash of just incredible warmth and excitment, whizzing down a little too fast to keep my eyes just on the scenery, glancing back for potholes nd things and just wanting that euphoric feeling to last for ever. Theres some bad musiuc playing in the hostel here where im writing, so i cant come up with any damn words, but it wasnt som,ething to forget.

Its funny the songs that run through your head on the road here, Born to be Wild, straight to Frosty the Snowman.

Campsites along the way have been really fun- meet lots of people. At Kirk Creek i rolled in feeling pretty battered, and got chatting to a lady. I didnt tell a woeful tale or anything, but crikey, she was offering up a fresh homegorwn salad, hot tea, and wood for a fire. THat day started bad (wet) and ended up being very very veryt nice. I climbed downa path marked dangerous do not use, but i didnt htink it was really. But it did mean i had a small beach to myself, and swam naked as the sun sploshed into the pacific. ooo postcard! but better because it wanst a fakedc post card. Not with me in it hey, but other than that, it was very beautiful.

next morning was a note from Suzanne and Wayne (the samaritans) on our table inviting us to their trailer for pancakes with homemade jam, tea and coffee!

all the photos form this big sur bit are here, and might make things a bit clearer, so i hope you can seem them alright-

www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set3

right, time limits, puncture to mend, hostel full of interestingt people to see and so i go.

Oh, im in San Louis Obispo, which if youve seen the film 'Side Ways', it was set here. Theres some Wineries on the road out of town tomrorow morning, so ive proposed a short 15mile day, witha few stops.

One for the road!

Santa Cruz to Monterey

2006-10-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Now we have arrived in Monterey, and are set up at the campsite. Its at the top of a giant hill, and after a 60 mile day i wasnt in much of a mood for it. Its called Veterans Memorial Camping Ground, and when i cycled in there was the sound of a Bugle doing that Do Do Diddle Doo (Song for the lone soldier or Farewell to the Common Man? The one at the end of the day, you know the one). We are serenaded to sleep at night by some very loud sea lions, which must be somewhere down in the bay. I imagine the whole of the city can hear them.

Weve seen so much its all been a bit of a blur.. even at 12mph.

I got a little itchy in Santa Cruz on the rest day, and so took myself off for a ride in Nissine Mark's State Park, which was a beautiful natural park with 30 miles of trails. Unfortunately it turned into an extreme uphil grind and hairy downhill, shakedn to bits by the time id made it to the bottom though. Heres a photo of me at the top, looking a bit manic, but quite pleased with myself. I suppose i liked the challenge. It was gorgeous.

The ride from Santa cruz to Monterey was tough, but it shouldnt have been really. we got a bit lost, and various other situations using the words Lost, Oh My God, Im Hungry, Is That Rain, Where is Nic, I Better get a Move On, Thats a Puncture and so on.

We seem to be leapfrogging a Canadian pair, who are much more kitted out for this, in terms of gear and sense. We left them in Santa cruz, and bumped into them here in Monterey. John and Charlene.

Me as a Zombie in Montery Halloween Superstore

Last night we got raided. We'd been warned about Raccoons and Deer, but the smell of tunafish in a sealed plastic bag obviously brought the Raccoons out anyway. They made a right mess of things outside the tent. I had the earplugs in and hear any of it, but the bike was knocked over and there were shreds of most things all around. They didnt take the Vegetable Flavoured Crackers though.

The Raccoon Tuna Party

Tomorrow morning we leave for the mighty Big Sur section. We have been warned and encouraged abotu this bit, and it is the most difficult stretch of the whole trip. Put in Big Sur into Google images, and im sure therl be plenty of pictures.

The rest of the pictures form this lot are at:

http://www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/set2/

Ive fixed the images link below to the previous set, that should work now.

200 Miles done so far

On The Road

2006-09-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is our 4th day on the road, but we're retsing up in Santa Cruz. Weve been through Devils Slide (steep!), Montera, Halfmoon Bay (The Pumpkin Capital Of The World), Pidgeon Point, Pescadero, Davenport and now Santa Cruz. We're both eating tons of food, its not that hot though so thats ok. Already met lots of nice and interesting people on the way. It seems theres a whole other little sub culture of bike tourers, putting our meagre distance to shame. Its good to get tips and info about the next stages though, and where to camp etc. The bikes are holding up well, but they're really heavy now, it feels like youre towing an extra person. We've done just over 100 miles so far.

Nic has eaten 12 eggs in two days, which she says was "a mistake".

We're camping at the top of a cliff in a nice campsite now, i think we'll have another 2 nights and then move on. Theres some monster RV's about... whole houses on wheels that must be quite amazing to see inside. Anyway, i think im going to the beach to read, and i need to buy a new pair of shoes. We have stopped by the library, which is where im typing this.

2-4-6-8 Motorway!

The One Before We Set Off On The Bikes

2006-09-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

You maye have noticed ive five got some photos arranged below. hurrah! I bought a small card reader... Radio Shack (curses!) didnt have any... but i did go into an underground computer 'warehouse'and got one there. Ive been whizzing around town like a proper San Francisco-er. Ive got the hang of the traffic, its much more considerate than in England.. nice n easy really.

I took a short film on my camera, of a nice n buff fire engine screaming by Union Square, dodging a tram with sirens whailing. Clkic here and see if it works for you. I got pretty excited. Will you?? (you need broadband, slow coaches)

Look at the fog! Id met Eddie at breakfast, who had just hired a bike, so we went on a ride across the bridge, through Sausalito and on to Tiberon, and then we got the ferry back to San Fran across the bay. We saw some great house boats, little wooden bridges, and rode past a pumpkin bouncy castle theme park. I like charlie brown, and the pumpkins did look nice. We should have gone in. Eddie uses a lot of sun cream. THis one to the left was taken from the ferry on the way back... Id thought the postcards were faked, but no no its real. Then it got cold, the fog swalowed the boat up and we could have been anywhere. No pirates like in The Fog showed up.

Ruth, the pen-knife you gave me has been good luck all the way, and chopped and opened things left right and centre. I even lost it (and all my keys) in a park, got on a bus for 10 minutes, realised, got told how to make a million dollars by a sunburned man with bright bue eyes (he hoped id find them again), went back to the park and found them. So Thankyou!!

Me as a Complete Idiot

So tomorrow morning we set off on the first leg of the trip. I dont have the guide book with me, so i cant tell you where ill end up by the end of tomorrow, but the trip takes us through Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Montery, Carmel, Big Sur, San Luis, Santa Barbara, and a lot of coastal ranges, beaches, cliffs and sunsets.

Today we were trying to scoop up the last of the things we need. Because we are biking proffessionals we went straight to the One Dollar Shop and then back to the Goodwill Charity shop. We got a bike rack for $1, some water bottles, bungee cords, cagouly type jackets, sweets and party dresses for our stop offs. We also have a bunch of tools and tubes. Oh and we've fixed fruit crates onto the back of the bikes too, hobo style. Cable Ties Forever!

All thats left to do is buy a bike pump, and post my heavyish rucksack down to LA where ill meet it. Travelling light is the name of the game. Well whatever it is, it has to fit into the crates.

RIGHT... just heard my dorm will be empty tonight, so i can mess it up with my new found charity goods. Nic adores buying crap in dollar shops, i wonder what her bike will look like by tomorrow. Heres a map of California, we'll be hugging the coast all the way. I Proabbly wont be on here for a while, but you never know do you. Internet eh, its everywhere these days.

(All the photos so far can be found if you visit www.afilmcalleddads.com/photos/ but theyre not sorted or anything, although ive deleted the bad ones)

A Winner of a Day

2006-09-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

I bought my bike which looks like its more than upto the job, cycled a lot through town and along the coast, and visited a GIANT second hand shop, where i found a Camping Mat ($2), Bike Helmet ($3.50) and nice clean sleeping bag ($8). also some knives and forks ($1).

Having good toothpaste makes the world seem a better place.

Heres the bike, hero shot. Im watching the San Francisco Philarmonic Orchestra play (off screen right).

Bird Muck and A-Team

2006-09-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

This weeks been a bit hectic. Im with Nic now too, which is fantastic. Another schmo to wander the streets with. We met on Sunday, and since then its all been good (most of it anyway! but that is for another day) and an ezciting new trip to plan. On monday we're going to set off to Los Angeles on bicycles. Its 500 miles, which sounded a bit crazy (since we dont have any bikes or equipment), but now we've read up on it a bit, it looks like its going to be pretty special. So its beena lot of trips to bike shops, workshops and charity shops. We'll stretch it out over 3 weeks or so, and the route has some beautiful scenery and plenty of places to stop off. Its Highway 1 more or less, with a few extra bits.

The green man is white, and he gives you a digital countdown to when youll get knocked down by a bus or bike. Traffic is nice and friendly actually.... theres a wierd sort of car showdown shuffle at each junction without lights. a bit like when you walk arounda corner and dance with someone who wants to get past. Some of the best views are while standing right in the middle of a street too - all the roads are on blocks as you proabbly know, so you can see miiiiles along soem of them... ups and downs. Ive been hanging around with Nic's Friend Breezy, whos got an apartment here. Its got a flat roof, with one of those fire escapes that sticks out the top, 9its like climbing a narrow staircase and opening a door on it, to see an amazing rooftop view of the city. And it also makes you want to hide behind it, shoot your finger pistols and shout "IM NOT COMIN DOWN MAN! STAY BACK!".

We climbed up to a high viewpoint called Corona Heights (i think). I gonked my head off a big rock (Pictured), Nic thought it smelled of Wee everywhere, but the view was incredible. It was very windy. We saw the famous fog crawl across.

Ive been in another hostel, which was soemthing to remember. On Haight Street, which has some history, birthplace of the san francisco Beat Poets and hippies im told, but generally full of 'lost souls' and crack heads shuffling around asking for dollars. The guests - Dean: talked an unbelievable, un-imaginable ammount of gibberish, he just wouldnt shut up about this and that, he had 'Anger problems' and 'went to a clinic' three times a day. Rogerwas conspiracy nut - "Oh youre english huh..... what do you think of those crop circles??" were his first words to me. People had stolen everything useful from there, but really silly things. We ate soup with chopsticks. The one cup id found for breakfast had had a cigarette hole burned through the bottom (so i had to drink fast). It was one of thoseplaces that you really hate, but know youll love once youve gone. Im back in the Green Tortoise hostel again now, which by comparison is like Alton Towers to Haight Street's Spanish City.

Ive been trying to find map of SF on here, but nothings really clear when its oin the screen. And i still havnt managed to get the ophotos off the camera.

We went to alcatraz today which was amazing- theres bird muck evrywhere. But yes, it was very interesring. Theres soemthing very glamourous about Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly types... back when criminals were good n honest Bank Robbers. they had 23 hours a day in the cells. The 'Bird Man' was in a tiny cell for 6 years, and NEVER came out. There was an audio tour, like the Churchill War Rooms in london. Heres a picture of an esape attempt at Alcatraz, the REAL one. I dont think Clint Eastwood did this.

View from Alcatraz.

On saturday im going along to a bike workshop, where you can use their tools, buy cheap new and usedparts and fix up your bike. Nic's bike needs new drive train pieces anda fair ammount of sorting. Ive found an ex-hire bike, which costs a bit more (its a posh Marin touring bike for $270), but i should be able to sell it on once we get to L.A. They're very into bikes here, so that buzz keeps it as a volunteer non profit project, and its very well used. What a good idea! But we have only 5 hours with them, so itll be an A-Team effort required to get this one road worthy. Nic will do the welding and fit the armour plating, and i will get to crash it through the doors in slow motion once its finished. I love it when a plan comes together. Hey we might see them! They were in LA werent they...

Nic and Me on Alcatraz...

A Concise Account

2006-09-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

Wow- Things have been quite hectic. BUT, it looks like ive made it to San Francisco! It was pouring with heavy grey rain in manchester when i left, to see me off, you know. Checks at the airport flagged me up as being here for more than 90 days, ie outstaying my so called welcome, so i had to change my ticket to 89 days, and at some point ill have to apply for an extended visa, if im to be here/Canada for christmas. blah blah, but they were all very nice about it. NOT SO in new york, where the bored man obviously liked to pick a few aliens and watch them squirm now and then. He asked me questions like about how much money have i got (and was it in cash?), how did i earn it, and "i dunno man, 90 days in hostels? whos your friend? how do you know her?" I was a sweating wreck, since i had 25 minutes to get onto my next plane on the otherside of an unhelpful and hard to understand airport.. I ate a lot of crap plane food and was feeling ill. it was horrible really but oh i better move on- this is boring stuff. another 7 or 8 hours anyway, i was back on the ground and out of San Fran airport and getting my first Bus into town. A nice man gave me three quarters, since i didnt have the right change.

Ive got got some nice photos of things i think are interesting or wierd, but i dont know yet how ill get them off the camera.

Thinsg ive seen: cars with lots of lights on them, 4 lane roads, people talking to themselves, people dancing by themselves with no music, and quite a few who shout gibberish at everyone else. Very very steep roads and pavements, trams (trolleys), very tall buildings, a man whos foot was really rotting and smelled like the strongest cheese you could imagine (he got on the same bus i was on, and the man sat opposite said "Jesus christ!" and opened as many windows as he could- others were holding their jumpers over their faces, and the tiny old chinese woman i was next to looked she was going to black out). Big juggernaught trucks honk honk, yellow school buses, a muffin i couldnt finish, electric buses, the steepest winding residential street in the USA (youve seen it in a picture), a broken down bus blocking the rushhour financial district (we had to abandon our working but helpless bus and there were lots of horns and "WHY I OUGHTTA!" shouting out of car windows). Ive been in a really nice hostel, and a night in a really bad one (no sheets, ciggarrette holes all over the blankets, the staff were 3 russian teenagers, and a lot of other guests in the morning were complaining about water flooding through their ceilings in the night. It wasnt a busy hostel (word must have got out), so i had my own room with 4 filthy beds). I put my head down for a rest after checking in at 6pm, and i woke up at 7:30am, which i think has exorcised the last of the jetlag, or made it worse, but i feel fine now). Im back in the nice and friendly one now, and have it for the next few nights. Its the same price too. Service with a smile.

I went to see the Golden Gate bridge, which was quite special. Its enormous, and you can walk across it while grinning widely, which takes about 35 minutes each way. You get fantastic views into the bay, and out to the pacific ocean. You can see Alcatraz island too. Everyone on the bridge was happy, but it was really windy, and you have to dodge some pretty serious cyclists buzzing along the 'sidewalk'. They probably do it every day, and must be sick of gurning tourists taking the billionth picture of themselves with their thumbs up infront of the big orange stantions. I did my bit the best i could, but not being with anyone, only my thumbs-up makes it into the photo.

Today, my third but second full day has been pretty hard. A lot of lugging the rucksack around, and battling with the cash card i have, i think ive cracked it now. I went to a Comic Art museum which was very good, and then immediately when i stepped outside got dragged in to an opening day 'Psychotherapy Is Terrible' exhibition next door which was awful- lots of weak links and facts about EST and drug treatment... presented in the worst amercan way you can imagine. Next door to that though, was the Gay Lesbian and Transgender Celebration Museum, but i think id had enough of museums by that point. Ill go back tomorrow for that one.

OH i had a crazy breakfast in Loui's Diner, which was all 50's inside. I think it was quite a touristy thing, but there seemed a lot of locals in there too. I ordered the wrong thing by accident, so no pancakes, but i did get a huge plate of potato and corned beef thing, with sausages. It was nice, but i codulnt finish that either. My waitress was called Erika, who hoped id have a nice day, and a happy stay in San Francisco. They had 5 immaculate and amazing vintage Pinball Machines to play on, making some nice clunking, dinging and clanging sounds. I got 90,000 points, which on todays machines with inflation would be 90,0000000000000 points.

Hoping to meet up with Nic tomorrow or Monday, whichll be nice to share some of this with. Now i need to get some food. Its very hot today, i have a red tan. But i think itll have cooled down by now (6pm). Ill try and add the photos to this post when i get them.

Overall, this seems like a very relaxed place, for a big city. The traffic is on the whole very calm, except when things break down, and most people are nice and friendly (that reminds me, on the way here i was just invited to go into a place to have a personality check! I spotted that it was the Church of Scientology! yuck! to show me where i was going wrong obviously).

Hope you enoyed this uncut rambling, who knows, you might not have even got this far. Imagine!

EDIT: NOW WITH PHOTOS

The Last Post

2006-09-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the last day at work, which was generally a mish mash of feelings- excitement, anxiety, sadness and something else, but that makes it sounds like there was a bit more drama than there actually was. In all a strange day, but a good one. I had nice goodbyes with everyone i wanted to, which was all i really wanted. It was sad to leave Dave (who is my flatmate here and friend), who's been fantastic and very good for me, and who I hope to see a lot more of when im done and dusted (that sounds like 'when im dead', doesnt it).

So as soon as ive finished packing, had a last nights sleep here in Ansdell and steered the white van back up to Newcastle (ill cut a few people up on the way), it'll be All Clear to get on with it
and start the ball rolling.

I have a hostel booked in San Francisco, so ill have a bed on the first night, which is the only kind of problem id like to have for the duration of the trip. We will see eh. byee!

The Invigorated

2006-09-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

Today's weather was incredible, biblical. I bet Moses couldnt whip up the winds there were today. This is how I looked after getting back from a hair raising walk along the sea front. Its the same expression too i bet. I have very thick hair, its good at holding its own. It was hard work, because i was carrying a packet of sausages, a paper, a small book, a calendar (a birthday present) and some shampoo (for me), but no bag! oh ho.

Five days are left at work.

Out with the old, in with the.... no they're gone.

2006-09-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday on Saturday, im 28 now. I think its a good age, one that i would prefer to be for the rest of my life. But maybe 29, or 30 is better? Dad said that it was an age whereby I didnt have to prove anything more to anybody, and that id grown into a nice man, which I thought was warming. Ill find out. I had a nice weekend down in wales, we went foraging for Blackberries, Mushrooms and Muscles (Mussels? it must be mussels...? Not one i use often) Then i went to Chicken Shack, a housing co-op's annual party in the sticks. Its great to go back to Machynlleth- its 'my happy place' as Dave put it, which is probably quite right (he knows im a little 'off kilter and not quite happy' now).

I used to live there for a bit (11 months), and made some fantastic friends and generally my life opened up into a lot of new dimensions. Infact, the picture of me over on the right, is myself in Happy Valley! And that is the name of the place... look it up. infact (since you won't)... (map of it here) its along the white road heading east from the blue line). A cheery sign post just beyond Pennal proves it (i bet theres a picture of it google- i will look now). Oh ok, there isnt, but here is a picture of somebody wearing red shorts in Happy Valley, and he looks quite happy too. Its a nice place, and I do love Wales.

Today was the doorstep pickup for the large bag I had filled with things, that were destined for charitable causes. I thought this was brilliant timing, since getting rid of a thing or two would be a good move before going away, and far better than binning things. Ive done this before too. I certainly didnt fill it with holey socks, ripped trousers, and old razors, but i did put some things in which i dont really use or have no need for. Like trousers that dont fit but are fine and even quite new. Tonight though i had cold feet, because id put in some thick socks, like slippers. Still, im pretty sure that someones elses feet are colder or are in worse condition than mine. ill just turn the heating up eh.

Dave and I went to pay a 'Scare Bill' for council tax (£720 - we'd missed a payment and it said we had forfeited the right to pay in installments). A very Jolly man told us oh no no we wouldnt pay that, thats just to scare people. We paid our months worth, and in the meantime dave got a parking ticket. Another lunch break for the diary (Hah!! thats one in your eye).

Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above

2006-08-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is pure joy.

this made me smile for the whole afternoon at work, and it wasnt because I was looking at websites im not supposed to either. Im going to try and catch up with them on tour in california next month. but its not next month is it.. its october i think. The beauty of this trip and my bubbling buzzing brain is that im not good with planning dates at all (which makes it of note that i bought my plane ticket yesterday- its an eticket.. meaning i havnt really got one. Have i just been ripped off???) Anyway, lets make love and listen to... whatever, but it is great isnt it? You dont think so i dont care, because im still smiling. Iwonder if ill still like it in October? Id like to think so.

What youve got to look forward to

2006-08-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

Look het this is my first posting on the blog of John Hedley. Looks like ive done a 'typo' already too, because im just so excited about this and leapt onto the keys with 10 fingers, but maybe you didnt notice it? Im good. Oh im good.

Some of you will know that im going across to travel in America and Canada for bit, like so many others. I think its been done before- but not by me hey. so now you have the option to read about it. Some of you know its been a rough year for me- its the time old story of a relationship gone wrong. Now i know that im not the only one that that has happened to, but i also know that doesnt make it any easier (how can it? not now)... but chin up and chest out hey. Never felt so bad, didnt even know that i could, but at least thats something. I imagine a funeral of a loved one comes very close, i suppose ill find out.

Oh no this isnt the way to go on at all- im stopping this rubbish, and will see if this will work once ive pressed the 'Publish Post' button below me now. Maybe it will filter out miserable things, and replace them with witty, cheery quips and lyrics? Thatd be a blog to be proud of. Im doing it..

Yes! it worked. And look im editing the same post, so i can come back once ive gone away and thought of something more witty and replce it. gahh there definitely IS something wrong with the keyboard... id thought so. I have also just learned that this experience of writing from your head (theres a name for that isnt there - not the one with the word 'Stream' though?) is quite addicitive. On with the business.