50 mm...a Moto...and Me

OK in OKC

2008-11-17T18:39:00.001-08:00

Luckily, I spent several of my last nights on the road with family. The final night before reaching Missouri I stayed with my cousin Julie and finally met my newest cousin, Austin. He's quite adorable, to say the least. Their dog Sadie kind of stands out against his small frame!

The Mooneyham family caught up as Julie chatted with Sam, her husband, who is currently deployed to Iraq. Thankfully the modern age allows the family to stay pretty close, even if they are half a world apart.

Austin was very well behaved!

And in addition to seeing family, I caught up with Sara and Landon, old friends from Mizzou. They're now both tackling advanced degrees. It was a wonderful way to round out the 7 weeks on the road.

Dead and Petrified

2008-11-17T18:32:00.001-08:00

Death Valley NP and Petrified Forest NP were so different from anything I had seen thus far. Both offered such odd aspects of natural life.

Petrified Forest NP was so cool because you can walk right through all these downed trees, which are rocks, of course. But it looks like it could just be a downed tree.

What seems to be bark is still right there. Such an awesome natural wonder!

Hidden Valley Ranch

2008-11-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

The valley wasn't hidden, but I arrived at night, so it seemed to be! My good friend from living in Santiago, Chile, Jacob Bechtold, below, has worked on a ranch in southern California for quite a few years now. I helped a little here and there during my day there.

Carver Bowen, above, the patriarch and fourth generation rancher (there are up to 7 generations now!) got a water pump started. It was a cool old machine. The Bowens took me in and showed me around their lovely property.

Upon leaving the ranch I went through some of the sketchiest weather that I saw on the trip! Several inches of snow on a pass through the Sierra Nevadas meant that I went for 8-10 miles in first gear. If there was a time on the trip when I was going to lay the bike down...this was it. Luckily it all turned out well. Because then I exited down into the desert.

Large and Rugged

2008-11-17T18:15:00.001-08:00

The General Sherman giant sequoia, rear right in the above photo, is the largest tree in the world. That's largest volume. Neither tallest, nor widest...largest. Photos can't do it justice. it's gigantic. Just huge. Both the tallest and widest are also in California.

Sequoia NP, above, and Kings Canyon, below, were spell-bindingly unique. Through Kings Canyon the King River rushes through an unfathomable amount of rapids. And Sequoia is just grand. And majestic. I wish I had more time to either sit or explore in either of these great places.

Kings Canyon and Sequoia offer some of the most untouched wilderness in the contiguous states. There is supposedly amazing hiking and wildlife. Both parks are Large and Rugged.

Redwoods allow for pretty cool camping spots, as well!

Some Among Them Are Dangerous

2008-11-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

It is believed that Yosemite actually means, some among them are dangerous, in the native language. It was probably the native americans describing the white men who came into the area to one another. A warning against the white man. But, of course, the white man didn't understand, thought it was the name of the place, and used it for the national park title!

Yosemite NP is easily one of the most outstanding and unexpected of the areas I visited. I knew it was beautiful. Why else would Ansel Adams spend so many years photographing here, but I was not prepared for how impressive it is. I was blown away. I can't wait to return.

There are 3,000 foot cliffs, such as El Capitan, below, one of the most impressive rock faces I've ever seen.

Capital of the World's 10th Largest Economy

2008-11-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

Among several other things, I caught up with some old friends some studying abroad while in Sacramento. Nicole, left, and I lived on the same street in Santiago. Her boyfriend Kip joined us. Quite similar, I know. And Scott, right, also studied with us. Nicole now teaches and Scott is in law school.

Amazingly, if California was an independent country, it would have the world's 10th largest economy. Wow. And they say 'Don't Mess with Texas!'

Scenes from around the capitol building where there are quite a few gardens. Scott and I did some reading, me for pleasure and him for homework, and played frisbee.

Sacramento is pleasant, but probably not a place I would want to end up long-term. It was great to see friends, but there didn't seem to be that much to do within the city itself. A lot of government stuff, as I had expected.

And a mounted policeman on his cell phone. Which is interesting, because it's illegal to talk while driving, so I would assume that applies to riding as well. Regardless, I didn't get a chance to ask him!

Sister Act...II

2008-11-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

More photos from my visit to Jamie in Coos Bay, OR. These two are from a nice little hike we did to Golden and Silver Falls State Park.

Above is the final color of Jamie's living room area, at least as one when I left. Below Jamie is demanding that I paint more and at a much faster pace over the blue-ish and yellow-ish colors in the photo below, which she was unhappy with. Understandably!

My sheepish self trying to not catch more flack for my dismal painting skills! And to think that a vendor of paint supplies raised me! (My family owns a paint supply distribution business!)

Jamie hiding from the plethora of color swatches we littered the new apartment with. We weaved them together to make plates! Multi-colored plates!

At Shore Acres State Park (I have no idea why this is underlined, but I can't figure out how to shut it off!) Testing the versatility of my flippable shades!

Excited about something...probably the prospect of painting! More at Shore Acres.

That Tree Be Tall

2008-11-03T11:26:00.001-08:00

Redwood National Park is quite impressive. Not as astoundingly jaw-dropping as I was expecting, but great. Unfortunately, it rained like crazy on me for the two days that I was in the park.

If I have time, I'm really looking forward to Sequoia NP, where the trees are supposed to be even HUGER! That being said, 300 foot trees are commonplace in Redwood. 300 feet. That's pretty massive. Every now and then I would stop and think...if some of the smaller trees here were put elsewhere, they would completely tower above things and drawf everything else!

Oh, and of course you get the coast then, also, with Redwood NP. And not just any coast, a great, amazing coast. The Pacific looked cruel and wrathful the two days that I was near it through Redwoods. Just a little arch (it was gigantic...as seems to be the theme of this park) during my drive.

Whiskey Bravo

2008-11-03T10:57:00.000-08:00

So I visited my eldest sister Jamie at her new place in Coos Bay, OR. The repairman who came to work on the stove was walkie-talkieing back to the office with parts numbers and verifying things with full letter names, such as Charlie Foxtrot. But the part was WB123??, and he was like, "Can we get Whiskey Bravo ???...." I nearly lost it while painting and he's in the background sounding like he's sending in an airstrike on the apartment!

I won't beat around the bush. We painted. We did a lot of painting, considering it's a one room apartment! However, we had a great time. Even if I might act otherwise.

We went for a short hike out at Shore Acres State Park, which is beautiful. It's the former property of a former shipping baron...Simpson, I believe. The views and weather were both amazing. I could handle living 15 minutes from a place like this, as Jamie now does.

And I picked up some wicked clip-on sunglasses during a stop at Goodwill for random house necessities. They're pretty much pure awesomeness!

More photos to come when I have access for a bit longer!

Mount Helens was Canonized

2008-10-26T23:47:00.000-07:00

I joined my friends and former rafting co-workers Chris and Chad (and his girlfriend Shannon) for a great weekend up at Mount St. Helens. We didn't make it to the north side, which was wiped out when she blew in 1980. The south side is still great and pretty much untouched. Chad, Chris and I having some fun at the Middle Falls on the Lewis River!

Rainier, above. Adams, below. From a knob on our day hike Sunday we could see Rainier to the north, Adams to the east, Hood to the south, and Helens to the west. It was a great vantage point.

Shannon and Chad having some fun around the campfire!

We camped about 50 yards from the above falls, The Lower Falls on the Lewis River. Chris near the Middle Falls, below.

Upper Falls, above. Middle Falls, below.

The colors were pretty perfect for our trip. And the weather was unexpectedly and unbelievably nice for this time of year in the northwest. Chris and I didn't even set up a tent, just plopped it on the ground.

Some tasty eggs for breakfast, above. By the way, car camping is soooo great because you can take just about anything you want. It's actually quite similar to rafting in that sense. I hadn't used a dutch oven, above, since I used to raft. It's a great vessel for cooking!

Shannon jokingly attempted climbing one of the largest Douglas Firs that any of us had ever seen. It was easily well over 200 feet tall. You just don't see trees like that in the Midwest!

Back to the Clack

2008-10-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

Ahh, the good old Clackamas River. This is where I did most of my rafting when I lived and worked up in Portland. It was great to go back and see if I could remember rapids and how I ran them and all that good stuff! That's Carter Bridge Rapids, above. And The Narrows, below, a beautiful mafic basalt formation that I believe was a lava tube at one point before collapsing and forming this little gem of a rapid!

And I had to include Toilet Bowl, one of my all-time favorite rapids. I hope I can get out there to raft the Clack again some day!

City of Roses

2008-10-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

Portland has beautiful rose gardens. I took a book and enjoyed myself very much.

It was overcast and wet...I know, unheard of in Portland...but it meant some great colors and probably better photos.

Ghostland Observatory

2008-10-20T10:46:00.001-07:00

I arrived in Portland Saturday evening to immediately head to the Ghostland Observatory concert at the Crystal Ballroom, an awesome venue in downtown Portland. It was a great show, considering I'd never heard of the group before.

Lights these days are outstanding. They are all lasers and can completely change a show. Especially for electronic music like Ghostland.

The video does neither the lights nor sounds justice. It was a very fun concert, considering I'd never even heard of the group before!

No Speedo...or...Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

2008-10-20T10:31:00.001-07:00

That's the speedometer cable above. It should be connected! So, I'm stuck at 39,699 miles. And have been since somewhere on the Olympic Peninsula. I have no speedometer or odometer, meaning I also don't know how much gas I have.

We'll see how my zen and moto maintenance skills are honed and toned when I get parts in from Tim. I'll put on a new wheel as well as new speedometer cable, housing, and drive gear.

I tested my luck and made the trip to Portland with some key parts missing, like the snap ring on the wheel that keeps bearings from moving about! The mix of broken pieces, above, are normally what holds the snap ring in place on the axle. The tabbed washer, below, should not have any jagged edges and keeps the speedometer drive gear in place. Obviously several things went wrong.

The snap ring barely still on the wheel. The mismatched broken pieces above, should be on the wheel holding the snap ring in place.

On a different note...Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a very interesting book that I highly recommend. It's quite dense and difficult to make it through; if you do, though, the reading, lessons and journey are enjoyable. Pretty much just a philosophy book with analogies to motorcycle maintenance and everyday life. Mainly comes down to Quality and how we approach things! What is Quality?

Carve It Up

2008-10-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

Katie and her roommates threw a rocking pumpkin carving potluck party. The food was great, the 40 something people there were great, and the carving was great. It really was a fun night.

Jay above. Every main room of the house was crowded with people carving stuff!
There were some very cool pumpkins that came out of the evening.

Jane, one of the roomies, and my Picasso-esque production that came about due to several knife slips! The damn thing was so large that it was like 4 inches thick! Once the knife got in and started moving, it was hard to take the action back.

And at some point, people started wanting to wrestle in one form or another. Katie learned not to take on Dave!

Liking the Lichen

2008-10-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

The Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park was pretty awesome. Most photos just didn't do it justice. Half the time it seemed that the main body of the tree couldn't even be made out because of the amount of mossy lichens hanging all over everything.

Also, all was soft and cushy, below, like the well-padded paths of many fallen leaves and trees.

Unfortunately, upon leaving we hit rain for several hours. Motoing with a passenger went pretty well. I hadn't ever done it before and Katie and I only had several near-falls when going super slow and turning or something like that! Overall, the Olympic Peninsula was awesome. It is very well guarded, though. We got pulled over TWICE by a Park Ranger in Fort Worden State Park, in Port Townsend, where we spent the first night in a cool hostel.

First, I was apparently going almost 30 MPH in a 15 MPH zone! But even better, we walked down by the beach that evening and he came out on the beach to tell us it was closed off. Then he was like, "Oh, bummer, I already pulled these two over earlier this evening!"

The Sea Cowboy meets Second Beach

2008-10-19T23:07:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how this amazing place could be anyone's Second Beach? I think it was only that in name, because it was absolutely stunning. Katie Donze and I took the moto out to the Olympic Peninsula and were lucky enough to get at least one clear day and night to camp out on Second Beach on the west coast. I was hopping, below, in my excitement when we reached the beach and unpacked!

We ended up scavenging some mussels from this rock, if I remember correctly, and cooking them up with dinner.

Although none of the photos came out well, we camped on a full moon night! We also saw a sea lion while walking the beach that evening. The ideal weather that day made the whole trip worthwhile!

It was a really cool place.

The Sea Cowboy! I'm a raging dork!

Reunions

2008-10-18T15:15:00.001-07:00

Things have an odd way of coming back around. People that you don't expect pop up in usually good ways.

I had several great reunions in Seattle. I had dinner with Ben and Sarah, above, some wonderful rafting friends from back in my Portland days. We all admired the fish tank.

Then, I had the wonderful surprise of discovering that Emily Orling resides in Seattle. We hadn't seen each other in over 10 years! We sang together many years ago in the St. Louis Children's Choirs. Emily continues to sing, outdoing me, as the lead vocalist for a bluegrass group!

Further Up and Further In

2008-10-17T19:02:00.001-07:00

No climber am I. The shaky Elvis leg came out many times as I struggled to find correct footing and hand holds.

I joined a large group of Katie Donze's friends as I visited her in Seattle for a climbing trip. There were over a dozen of us that went to central Washington. I was the least experienced and happy to watch the good climbers, but they insisted I tried a few runs.

When not climbing, the camp fire offered lots of entertainment, such as Mike with his smoking coozy! The results the following morning, below!

Maggie, the obligatory cute puppy along. And my tent near the feathers, some of the many basalt columns in the area.

The central crag in the above photo is the one successful climb I made. I hadn't climbed in years, so I was happy to reach the top on at least one.

A bunch of climbers were out for the weekend. And a lot of butts were seen scaling one run or another.

Getting ready to shotgun some beers after a hard day of climbing.

Along the Way

2008-10-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

Logging is a huge industry, but it's often hard to see evidence while out and about. Every now and then you come across huge amounts of timber. I struggle with opinions about it. Many are opposed to it, but it's a pretty necessary industry overall.

Some views around the University of Washington library. College campuses are always very interesting for the diversity of thought and people that they offer.

A view of the sky from my camp in southern Canada.

Rocky Mountain High

2008-10-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Canadian Rockies, that is. Okay, so the Canadian Rockies are beyond description. Absolutely awesome. I loved the several days that I spent up there, although the weather wasn't ideal. I hit a lot of snow and ice on the passes.

I had better weather in Banff NP. Then headed into a graveyard of mountains as weather came in for my trip through Jasper NP. The Icefield Parkway, Highway 93, had huge tombstones peaking in and out of the foggy cloud cover as I made my way through a beautifully frightening valley.

Surprisingly, the Canadian Rockies are not taller than the US counterparts. However, they are much more striking. With sharper peaks, more stone and few trees, they are very dramatic.

COOT - N - EEE

2008-10-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

Pronunciation guide for Canadian National Park Kootenay.

The Canadian Rockies are amazing. I can honestly not articulate the amazing visuals of these ranges. Unfortunately, the photos will do nothing close to justice, either.

Marble Canyon, above, a great, short little jog to see a deep canyon made over the ages. Almost 15% of the park was devastated by a fire in 2003. Entire valleys and mountain sides are gone. However, that is apparently helpful in the long run for new growth and better forest health.

Coming into Banff Monday evening.

So Fresh amd So Clean, Clean

2008-10-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

Shower, Shave, Laundry.

Life Is Good.

Glaciers Get Snow

2008-10-06T21:22:00.001-07:00

Most of the drive...above. Some shining moments...below.

Although the main road through Glacier NP in northern Montana is Road-To-The-Sun, I should have been skeptical.

As previously stated, I went through rain, sleet, hail and snow while coming to Logan Pass, where I turned around due to construction. Unfortunate that one couldn't traverse all the way through the park.

A fallen Red Cedar, above.

The weather changed constantly, offering a wide spectrum of views and temperatures! Overall I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I was too cold overall.

Still a wonderful park. While walking through an old growth cedar and hemlock forest, below.

Wild Montana Skies

2008-10-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

John Denver just has a song for everything!

Ohhhhhh Montana, give this child a home
Give him the love of a good family and a woman of his own
Give him a fire in his heart, give him a light in his eyes
Give him the wild wind for a brother and the Wild Montana Skies

Montana was just great. The people were nice. The cities/towns were quaint and attractive. I really don't have many negative things to say about the state.

While camping on the continental divide I came across these mushrooms. Just saying...imagine those were something else.... enough said. They're gigantic!

I also had my first solo fire while camping along the Missouri River. Well, along the first damming of the Missouri, at Canyon Ferry Lake. I can't remember if that's actually the name of the lake or just the dam. Regardless, it was cool to pass the Missouri River near it's start, when I grew up near its confluence with the Mississippi.

Ministry versus Department...which wins?

2008-10-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

This will be short because I'm at the Chamber of Commerce in Cranbrook, B.C. They let me use their computer because the library is closed today!

Um...Montana is great. In Glacier National Park instead of the Road-To-The-Sun, it was more the Road-to-the-rain/sleet/hail/snow. I encountered all while on my way up to Logan Pass. However, road construction kept me from going all the way through to the east side. Regardless of my much I couldn't feel my hands or feet, the views were truly beautiful. I'm looking forward to the Canadian Rockies, which are apparently quite a bit more impressive than their American counterparts.

I'M CLEAN. I shelled out a ton (you become very frugal...or cheap...while traveling) for a crappy motel room in Eureka, MT, and took several showers! I also did laundry there and checked the bike over before continuing up here to Canada, ay!

Why are so many British influenced things cooler than American influenced things. **I'm not forgetting that we're very influenced by them, also, but not to the same extent as Canada.
National Parks Service, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Conservation...decent names. Ministry of Recreation...freaking awesome. I wonder if they have a Ministry of Ministers. MoMs!! I will move here immediately if they do!

I'll expound on all of these topics and upload photos at a later date!

Blue Highways...and other ramblings

2008-10-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

"My rambling metaphysics was getting caught in the trap of reducing experience to coherence and meaning, letting the perplexity of things disrupt the joy in their mystery. To insist that diligent thought would bring an understanding of change was to limit life to the comprehensible."

Some cool words from William Least Heat Moon, who I am reading right now. Blue Highways 'A Journey Into America' rings true in many ways for me. Least Heat Moon was a professor at Mizzou when he took a break to get away from life and everything else and toured the states. My sabbatical is nothing nearly as large, but it's fun to see what I can relate to.

Here's another passage about the West: "Space west of the line is perceptible and often palpable, especially when it appears empty, and it's that apparent emptiness which makes matter look alone, exiled, and unconnected. Those spaces diminish man and reduce his blindness to the immensity of the universe; they push him toward a greater reliance on himself, and, at the same time, to a greater awareness of others and what they do. But, as the space diminishes man and his constructions in a material fashion, it also - paradoxically - makes them more noticeable. Things show up out here."

So...I'm trying to appreciate the space and not understand anything. Roughly.

Basalt columns, above. Mammoth Hot Springs, below.

I'd like to think that my looks are in tune with that of the beautiful shots above. However, that's a lie. I need a shower. Here's a look at life on the road.

Breakfast, above. I try not to cook any meals except for dinner. Last night I had pasta and then some soup. The previous night I had tuna fillets!

Typical lunch. Sandwiches for royalty! Perhaps mini-royalty.

A Park Ranger unsuccessfully pulling over some elk! And me needing a shower.

Oh, and I took a video while driving on gravel with one hand past a herd of buffalo. One of those super-smart moves! Not as bad as the following day when I drove within five feet of a huge buff (bigger than the bike and I combined) because he (I'm assuming it was male or else it was one huge bitch) wouldn't move off the road!

From Such Great Heights

2008-10-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

Las cascadas...los saltos...que increible!

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is really quite cool.

I spent most of Thursday touring the areas around the canyon. The great rock colors, which I don't think turned out too well in my photos, are another result of volcanic activity. Water trickling down the rocks over time have brought out different minerals, depending on the temperature of the water, which result in an awe-inspiring canyon.

It's Getting Hot In Here...

2008-10-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

...except for in the mornings, which are freaking freezing.

Um...so Yellowstone is a gigantic volcano. Not so surprisingly, there are many thermal areas!

It is an awesome park.

Most of these are from the southwest corner of the park where the majority of the major thermal action is. Of course, I spent a lot of time around Old Faithful. However, I also got to see Grand Geyser and several smaller ones erupt. Amazing.

Ain't she Faithful?! I guess she's Old as well!

I'm Going to Jackson, Way Down in Jackson Town

2008-09-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

If Wyoming were to described in a word, I would choose GUSTY. I was blown all over the road in this state thanks to outrageous winds. Areas such as the Wind Indian Reservation and Wind Creek Range are aptly named!

The pass from central Wyoming through Teton National Forest is amazing. The Tetons open up before on the way down. With the fall colors it was breathtaking!

I headed down to Jackson, or Jackson Hole, to visit my friend Kelsey Dayton, who works here at the News and Guide newspaper. She's a fellow Mizzou J-School alum.

The National Elk Refuge is right outside of Jackson, thus the four arches made of elk antlers that adorn the town square.

Kelsey nearly killed me on Monday with a ridiculous climb into Avalanche Canyon in Grand Teton National Park. It was more that I nearly killed myself by failing to bring enough water. Luckily the few sips I took from some streams and lakes hasn't come back to hurt me...yet!

It was primarily a game trail that some hikers dare to take...we spotted a bear, and perhaps her cub, as well as a momma and baby moose! It was an excellent day.

A baby moose and his mother. And the small dot in the lower right of the below photo is a black bear. Higher up was another dot, which we believe might have been a younger bear.

Kelsey also taught me that faking animal calls is illegal in national parks. Yet she couldn't resist when pressured to make her elk bugle. Thus my friend, the illegal Elk Bugler!

WY?!? because I wanna

2008-09-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

Northern Colorado into southern Wyoming is simply beautiful. I encountered my first rain. Thanks to Tim's righteous gear I didn't even know that it was raining, save the water on my face shield. Otherwise I spent about 6 hours crossing the high plains/plateaus of Wyoming.

Mea and Tim in Rocky Mountain National Park where we hiked early Friday.

I went up through central Wyoming to meet my high school friend Nick Britt for a relaxing day along the North Platte River. Nick and his friends were up to fly fish.

I came; I saw;I tried; I failed.

Fly fishing can be awesome to watch in person. There were easily over a dozen anglers near the Gray Reef Reservoir dam just above us on the river. It's an art to master the rhythm of fly fishing and I was happy to relax and enjoy the views from our campsite on the bank.

I tried for several hours but didn't want to spend the whole day frustrated! And Nicky can spice up just about anything...like trying to spin in my helmet!

36,570

2008-09-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

That's the starting mileage.

I left Denver on Thursday to encounter quite a few firsts with Meaghan and Tim in the car ahead of me. I had less than 5 miles experience on the bike, both loaded and unloaded, before setting out.

Within a mile of the house I encountered my first first: an interstate. Namely I-25, running 5 lanes wide through Denver during rush hour! Luckily all went well!

About 20 miles later we were coming into Boulder when Tim and Mea pull over with distraught looks on their faces. I understood as soon as I began to slow down and realized that my front tire was flat! Again, no accidents or mishaps. We changed the front tube...and it hasn't been a problem since.

Then some night riding and gravel riding were added on top of everything else as we made our way into Estes Park to camp for the evening.

I'm hoping that I got most of the frightening things out of my system early.

Leaving, but not on a jet plane

2008-09-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

So it begins. Another blog for another journey.

I'll be leaving Denver to begin wandering the western states on a motorcycle. I'll be straight with you upfront. I don't have much cycling experience...about 500 miles. Luckily this will be on my brother-in-law Tim's 2006 KLR 650 instead of my oh-so-untrustworhty 1980 Yamaha XS 650, which is in a friend's garage back in Cape Girardeau. Oh, and it's also older than I am by several years!

I hope to mainly take photos with a fixed 50mm lens on my Canon. But I'll probably post lots from my point-and-shoot as well.

This trip is being made possible thanks to the good people at the Southeast Missourian newspaper back in Cape Girardeau, Mo., allowing me to do some soul searching and exploring before returning to work in November.

The general plan is to leave Denver, hit some national parks in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, then perhaps swing across Canada to BC before heading south into Seattle and seeing how far south I can make it before heading back. Some would consider that a run-on sentence!

We'll see what happens. I don't know how often I'll be near a computer. So let's all hope for the best.