The Next Leg

We've already had so much adventure and yet, these days, we find ourselves chuckling as we shake our heads. Now the adventure begins. I feel we're finding ourselves on a new leg of our adventure. How silly of me to think the adventure was over once we got off the plane and into a rusty pickup. The thing with this type of an adventure we've been on is that it's not up to us when it's over. To keep a calm and steady mind these days, we remind ourselves of the days when we didn't quite know where we were going to camp that night. At those points, we rarely knew what state we'd be in by noon the next day, let alone where we'd land in two weeks. And a month? We rarely could wrap our mind around thinking concretely that far ahead.
It's interesting the things I find myself worrying about these days. It used to be storms, engine failure, or running out of drinking water that got me stressed. Lately I've found my abundant collection of shoes, specifically heels get me stressed out. This is the leg of the journey we've been training for. We've lived in a tent and out of a backpack so you'd think we can most certainly manage in a bus or a room in someone else's house.

     We've been home for a little over a month now and are savoring the time with our friends and families these days. For Christmas, we unofficially gave ourselves the gift of time. Time to sink back in to our community, take in everything we've experienced, tell a story or two (or three or four). We'll be spending the coming days combing through our notebooks and watching footage. So have no fear my friends. We're still around. We've just gone into a bit of a social media hibernation and will be back as soon as we can, with pictures, stories, and footage to share.

Like ripples in a pond...

When we first began planning this journey, we spent a lot of time gathering inspiration from sources around us. From documentaries, to blogs, to people out on the internet doing crazy adventures and amazing things. These people were what inspired us to keep trucking, put on a happy face about what we were trying to achieve, and keep moving forward. The thing of it is, while you're trying to pull something like this off, you become incredibly self centered. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mean self centered in an ego maniacal God complex kind of way. I mean the kind of self centered, self focused zone that puts you in a place where it doesn't even occur to you what the rest of the world may think. To be frank, we were under the assumption that nobody would care or even notice what we were doing. Imagine my shock in Florence Oregon, just a week into our journey when I was having a conversation with someone and they told me how inspiring this journey was. For months we were telling everyone that we were going to load up these tiny bikes and take off. The secret was that we weren't sure we were going to make it very far- we were excited to simply make it to Portland, Oregon and back again. But we carried on. All the while meeting more and more folks that were absolutely floored by the distance we've traveled and most of them telling us we were inspiring them in one way or another. This is the interesting thing about inspiration; the more people we meet that tell us it inspires them, the more we want to move forward. The really incredible thing to me lately, is the reaction we're getting from people that we were drawing inspiration from before we left home. Large motorcycle owners and small moped jockies alike are all absolutely thrilled to meet us and talk with us about our journey. These are names in the game that once upon a time I'd looked up and thought how cool it would be to meet them, and now here they are, asking us to stop by and meet them, or even answer a few questions for an article in a publication they work for. Like I said, when we took off from little Medford, Oregon, we didn't think anyone would care. But they do. And that gives the drive- the inspiration to carry on......

Day 12 A man named Murry

While travelling east through Idaho on Hwy 12, we had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Murry. We had just bathed in the brisk waters of the Clearwater River and were beginning to be on the lookout for a place to bed down for the night when we zipped past Murry while he was walking along the road side with the largest pack I've ever seen on his back. We soon found a beautiful little wayside that was littered with wild daisies across the highway from  river. After exploring a bit and snapping plenty of pictures, we began to set up our tents and up walked Murry. He asked if he could share our spot and there was plenty of room, so of course we told him he could most definitely camp with us. I'm so glad we said yes to the universe and had the opportunity to share the evening with this man. He has been hiking all over the country since 2010 and shared with us the most incredible stories about his adventures. Not only were his stories fascinating but Murry himself was one of the most interesting people I've ever met. The way he knew the flora and fauna surrounding us, his philosophies of life, and the way he told stories were enthralling. At one point late in the evening while we were sitting around the campfire, Murry began to lament the death of his violin. He then recounted he numerous McGyver repairs he did on his instrument until sadly, he got caught in a heavy rainstorm, which caused the back of the violin to pop off and it became beyond repair. He then told us about how he worked for a time as a piano tuner's apprentice at the Berkley school of Music in Boston and that with time, all piano tuners became alcaholics. He believed it had a lot to do with listening to all those partial chords all day. When Adam and I told him about our musical background and the instruments we played, he became very excited. Especially about my playing the accordion. He asked me all sorts of questions about different accordions and their size versus ability. And then with a twinkle in his eye he told me about an opera he's been working on. You see, with all this time on the road to yourself, you have a lot of time to think. Murry is working on an operatic version of the Iliad. And with great gusto and an incredible voice, he sang us the opening song, explaining first that the scene opens with Homer's son playing an accordion. As I've said, this person was fascinating. I've never met anyone like him and I believe that I'll be hard pressed to meet anyone like him again. Meeting Murry on that highway in Idaho was such a gift. Not something tangible, of course, but a gift none the less. Something I will remember and treasure for many years to come. So Murry, if you're out there reading this, thank you for the time you spent with us while on your journey. May your days continue to be filled with wonder and adventure.

Day 10, Washington

As I sit here typing this, I'm taking in the view of the Oregon side of the Columbia river gorge. We've been riding all day from Hood River. We're on one of those stretches of highway in Washington that warns us of "no gas for 82 miles". What that sign didn't tell us was that there was going to be absolutely nothing for the next 82 miles. We came upon what was technically a tiny town, since they had a post office about 45 minutes before we stopped for the night. The tiny post office was about there was, other than a large neighborhood. Oh! There was a small store and diner that unfortunately had closed 20 minutes before we rolled through. A bit dismayed we prepared to roll out of town when I remembered that our water bottles were either empty or well on their way. So we rode through the neighborhood until we saw a father and son on their front porch and asked if we could fill our water bottles from their hose. They both retreated inside and after I thought they weren't coming back, they came out with three bottles of water. So we had bare neccesities and down the highway we went. We all knew we weren't going to find any campground or forest service land of any kind, so we started to scavange a spot off the highway to sleep for the night. What we found is by far one of the prettiest spots on the gorge. With a wind farm across the wide expanse of the Columbia, we spent the night in the perfect spot. The highway was below us, the stars blanketing us from above, while the huge electrial lines behind us hummed like giant robotic crickets. We have found our bliss and it hasn't cost us a dime. This is something I've began to realize while out on the road; not everyone has the means to take a journey like ours and it has nothing to do with money...

Outward bound

So many things and experiences have happened since Portland.... I was going to title this entry "The kindness of strangers" but the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized that their really aren't any strangers out there. In the country we've covered in the last 2,200 miles(!) we've met all sorts of folks. And the bond that ties us all together is not just our bikes but that we're all people. Real people. This has helped me discover and decide that it's not strangers out there. It's people. New friends. Friends that are so excited to see us take a journey like this, that they can't help but gift us with their kindness and sometimes a cold Bud Light out of their cooler. This isn't what strangers do for one another, this is what friends do to care for one another. Examples of this have been presenting themselves left and right. When we went through Hood River, I needed a snap rivet attached to my helmet, as the original got ripped off, along with the face shield by the wind on Hwy 26, going into Portland. I tracked down a sail repair business and the guy fiddled with the snap bracket but realized that he didn't have the tools needed to connect everything to my helmet. 5 minutes later, we found ourselves downstairs in an independently owned motorcycle shop and Jesse, the owner and operator had attached my rivet free of charge. From Portland on out, we've received blessing after blessing from folks like this. From small towns in Idaho, to the national parks in Montana and Wyoming, everyone we've met has been nothing but kind, warm, and generous. Even as I type this, I'm sipping a beer in the lodge in the Grand Tetons thanks to the generosity of a couple we met on the side of the road outside our campground. It's these perpetual gifts that give us the fuel to carry on our way. Oh! And I want to thank you all for your patience! Wifi I've discovered is a tricky thing to find out here, so I'm keeping up as best I can. Stay tuned, y'all! I'll have more to share as soon as I can!

Portland

Rain, mustaches, anything slightly obscure or off beat, lots and lots of people. This is Portland. We originally planned to stay one night but we were having such a great time staying with my friend Evan and his roommates Elizabeth and Robert, that we ended up staying two extra nights until Saturday morning. While in Portland we walked, used the public transit, and buzzed about on our 90s. To be honest, folks, I was really apprehensive to ride around the city on my bike. I'm not fond of even driving a car. Actually, 'not fond of' is an understatement. Let me put it to you this way; a couple of years ago while checking in to our hostel in downtown San Fransisco, I had to move the car out of the loading zone. By the time I had made it around the block, I had broken down into a full blown panic attack due to the terror I experienced in that single city block. So yeah. Driving in the city is not my thing. Or didn't used to be my thing. But that's just the thing. Travelling in the manner that we are, I've found that I know longer have the luxury of aversions. So I hopped on my 90 like I knew what I was doing and off we went. Truth be told, that day of riding around Portland was the best I experienced in the land of micro brew and epic facial hair. And it reenforced a lesson or theme I'm acquainting myself with. This journey is not just about seeing beautiful countryside and meeting all sorts of people. It's about pushing all of our limits to the point of breaking them, becoming comfortable with them, then moving on to the further most edges of our comfort zone. It's this flavor of existence that will both challenge and free us as we make our way into the unknown.

Now don't get me wrong, Portland and the surrounding areas wasn't just about the rain and riding a tiny motorcycle around like a bad ass. We had a great time. We had the pleasure of a private viewing of the classic Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi in the 5th Street Cinema on the PSU campus, wandered about the different districts in town, and we even got to spend the day shooting with a camera guy while exploring the Columbia river gorge on our way out of town. We found Doug, our camera guy through Craigslist. By the time we got to Portland, we were all getting frustrated with the dichotomy of trying to catch all of the shots we want for the documentary while truly experiencing the trip itself. To remedy this, I decided to throw out a hail Mary of a Craigslist ad and see if we could find a camera person this way. We had some requirements for whomever would be interested in shooting for us; we couldn't pay them or cover their costs. We realized what a request this was and you can imagine our surprise when someone actually volunteered for this position. Like I said, it was an amazing and fun day and I'm kind of proud to say that our first camera crew was a man, his wife, their daughter, and a mini van. The perfect crew for this project! 

Off we go!

This morning marks the beginning of our 5th day on the road. It's been one hell of a journey so far and in these first 500 miles, a life time of experiences (already!). We have been truly blessed from the moment we rolled out of the YMCA parking lot. It's been unusually nice weather and the traffic has been really agreeable. The kindness and generosity from everyone we meet is hard to put into words but I'll try.... First of all, the turn out for our send off was much better than we expected. Frankly, I thought that my parents and a few friends would show up, as it was a Saturday morning. Not so. We must have had at least 30 people in that parking lot, some driving all the way from Sacramento, California to see this project come into fruition. Once we were out and on our way, we seemed to meet amazingly kind folks wherever we went. For example, on the evening of our third day, we had the pleasure of meeting up with a couple of friends from the Rogue Valley that were camping for the weekend just outside of Reedsport, Oregon. Though we arrived late, we were treated to a delicious meal and great conversation. It was during one of these conversations that I was helped to realize something kind of big; That what we're doing is inspiring to those around us. This has been something I haven't even considered. During the preparations for this journey I have been drawing so much inspiration from those around us, both known to us personally and not. Adam and I for the past number of years have been the friends that watch our friends explore and adventure. We were the friends that would host the going away and coming home parties for all our restless friends. While I watched them all go off and on their way, whether it was off to Burning Man, Belize, Fort Lauderdale Florida, or just the open road, I was always so inspired by what they were doing. Now that it's our turn to go, I'm startled when someone tells me they really look up to what we're doing. So we journey on, off to Portland and the great beyond, keeping in mind all those thinking of us along our way.

Below, you see Bobby and I with our first Couch Surfing host, Neil. This guy was the best host! Not only did he have a spare room and air mattresses for sleeping, but he let us use his shower and do laundry! Below that is Curran, Matt, Sheila, and Janet. These awesome friends fed us and just generally pampered us on day three outside of Reedsport.

When One Door Closes....

So it's late but I'm really feeling like an update is in order. Frenetic days and long, late nights at the shop have kept me away from blogging and have seemed to drain me creatively. I guess what I'm trying to do here is confess in some witty manner that the following is not something I wrote explicitly for our blog. Our Indiegogo campaign has wound down to it's finale by the time any of y'all read this and the following is what was posted as our closing comment. Read. Enjoy. And be sure to check back with our blog shortly!  

Wow. In approximately one hour, our campaign will reach the end of it's term. Though not as financially successful as we had hoped, we are looking at this experience as a success. First of all, a majority of you that donated don't even know us. One of you out there even donated anonymously. It's this type of thing that has absolutely blown our minds. With 375 Facebook shares, 2 Twitter shares, and a Google Plus share, the word about our mission has surely spread. We recently found out that folks from all over the world have been watching our campaign; from France and Europe, to Australia, to even Uruguay and Peru. With all of these views from all of these places, it really gives us hope that our humble journey around the USA may inspire someone out there to journey out of their comfort zone and prove to themselves that they too can meet the nicest people. Thank you all for all of your support these past 45 days. It's really meant more to us than you'll ever know. And be sure to keep an eye on us for updates coming soon, as we will take off and hit the road in 14 days! 

Indiegogo and You!

It just came to me that some of you, my beloved blog readers, may not have had the opportunity to follow our Facebook page. If you haven't, then you've missed out on the announcement about our Indiegogo campaign. With just 25 days left to campaign and only 3% of our funding goal met, it's safe to say we're getting pretty nervous. It would be super great if y'all could take a moment and go check this out! If you can't pitch in financially, you could really help our cause by Facebooking, emailing, or blogging about our project and our campaign. Thanks in advance for all the love! You can find it at; https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/you-meet-the-nicest-people 

That Super Embarrassing Moment.....

When you thought you hit post, when in all actuality you hit save. Yup. That happened.... Oh well! Enjoy this belated post anyway!


Life around here has been a lot like the early spring in Southern Oregon. 

For those of you who were not able to make it to our fundraiser in April, you were dearly missed. Since you weren't able to attend, I thought I'd have a little fun with this post and share our soundtrack for the event with you, so you can live vicariously through our groovy tunes. Enjoy!

Home- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

American Girl- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Horse with no name- America

American Tin Man- America

Pink Houses- John Cougar Mellencamp

We're an American Band- Grand Funk Railroad

Living in the USA- Steve Miller Band

US Blues- Greatful Dead

Truckin'-Greatful Dead

Sweet Home Alabama- Lynard Skynard

American Pie- Don McLean

American Woman- Guess Who

Back in the USA- Chuck Berry

Young American- David Bowie

America- Simon and Garfunkel

America- Neil Diamond

R.O.C.K. in the USA- John Cougar Mellencamp

Living in America- James Brown

For what it's worth- Buffalo Springfield

Georgia on my mind- Ray Charles

Two of us- Beatles

Bobby McGee- Janis Joplin

Anything from the Remember the Titans soundtrack

Almost anything from Forest Gump soundtrack

Be sure to salt and pepper this fabulous playlist with a bit of The Beach Boys, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, 2 Cellos, and The Vitamin String Quartet to get the desired musical effect.

Did we miss something on our list? What would you suggest? Let me know!

Waking from the deep Winter slumber

    Clearly there's been a bit of an absence around here. Frankly, that's just how it goes sometimes. I'm learning to let it go. So now the sun is coming out and riding season has begun for those of us that are blessed enough to call Southern Oregon our stomping grounds. We all seem to be shaking ourselves out of our long winters' nap and are ready to come out and play. Not to say that we weren't all getting down to business these past number of days. In the time since my last entry we have (in no particular order): posted our first video to YouTube, finalized our basic route around the country, held a number of shop days, made impressive headway on the documentary, finalized our parts list and started ordering parts, and increased our Facebook Likes from 55 to 114. In addition to all this, we've been preparing for and planning a fundraising event due to go down on April 5th.

    We've also been spending a lot of time sharing our story with countless awesome folks in our lives- including our employers. I've been so blessed to find the job of my dreams teaching preschool at the Medford YMCA. Such is my luck to find such a gem of a situation at such a complicated point in my life. Adam and I both have been so very blessed with the outpouring of love and support we continue to get from all of our friends and family members. It's so nice to remember when situations get strained.

This is where we spend every free moment these days

    As we worked and worried, something spectacular happened; After a short time of installing a donate button on our Facebook page, someone donated. Someone donated! Someone out there gave tangible, uplifting, and encouraging support to our project! A HUGE shout out of appreciation to the lovely Liz Chapman for being the very first donor to My Trail 90 Crew!

   We had another miraculous event happen this evening while we were all replacing our tubes and tires. The neighbor across the way gave us a nearly new, super light weight Big Agnes packing tent. For free. Due to a little bit of a language gap, he doesn't really understand our trip- he, as he told us, knew we go camping a lot. This kind gesture from our neighbor just put some much needed funds back into our road money account. A bit later, that same neighbor wandered by and we chatted about our bikes. "One day you'll have brand new bikes. when you're rich". We halfheartedly agreed and he told us, "Yeah, when your rich, you know. In a couple weeks". I'm taking this good omen and I'm running with it.

    I confess, in spite of all the serendipitous opportunities we've had lately, I still get swept up in personal and professional deadlines, stress of the unknown, and the pressure from the ever ticking clock. I remind myself that we all spent so much time planning for the future of this trip, that we now need to revel in the greasy hands and long days we're finding ourselves in right now. It's finally time to get our hands dirty, and as they say, put the rubber to the road!

Did You Know?

Along with this blog and a Facebook page, we also have an Instagram account. You can find and follow us with #mytrail90crew.

Inspiration

Bobby found this awesome Gopro video recently. Give it a look-see if you feel like being inspired :)

2014 proclamation

     Today is the second day of a new year. 2014. No longer do we say to people "Next year we'll be taking this ridiculous and epic adventure..." This is the year it all happens. Now, I am a firm nonbeliever in New Year's Resolutions. I feel they set one up for failure. I've decided, instead of making a resolution, I will make a proclamation. We will be packing up our lives in six short months and heading out to who knows what and I will be documenting this, one blog, Facebook, and Instagram update at a time. And rather than a resolution- a guilt fueled wish to document all this preparation, I've decided to make some changes this year to my blogging style. As you can clearly see, there has been a serious lack of blog entries for the past couple of months. Aside from life in general pulling me away from my duties, I've found that I have a serious lack of inspiration. Every time I sit down in front of my computer, a very frustrating sequence of events goes down; first I'm determined and full of ideas. Then as I begin typing, I start to pick my work apart. I don't want to be negative and I want to keep the focus on My Trail 90 Crew. This has been really difficult lately (hence the lack of entries) as our lives and the preparations for our journey have not always been coming up roses. So I've given myself permission to set myself free. Yes, this blog is an excellent PR tool but keeping it in a Pollyanna group voice has left me feeling creatively drained. So I move forward in this year and the final months at home with a new and personal voice. When I doubt my decision, I'm reminded that this blog isn't just for you, dear readers. It's for us.