We are constantly bombarded with decisions to make. Some of great consequence, many not, though we probably still give them too much worry. Lots of amazing soul satisfying riding has been happening here, and sometimes you make the decision to go home early instead. On Sunday, Kerri, Sue, and I headed out to ride a…
Climate Change, What Climate Change?
I’m going with a photo essay this time! It’s ~115 degrees for the second day in a row. Fortunately we have a window AC unit to keep the temperatures in the house under control, but basically we are hiding out until things improve.
It May Not Be Huckleberry Season Yet, but Huckleberry Lookout Did Not Disappoint
I can’t believe I’m already almost a month into my Oakridge Adventure! I’m getting settled in the shop and really enjoy the atmosphere and my 3-4 days a week schedule. One of the big decisions I made when moving here was to stay car-free. I sold Sassy Sally in October 2019 when I left for…
Riding All the Trails
Hello from Oakridge, Oregon! My new home for at least the next few months, and then… who knows. I fell in love with Oakridge when I visited here the summer of 2017 and then topped that summer off by riding the Oregon Timber Trail which also comes through Oakridge. At that time I met a…
Recalcitrant Rattlesnake
There was in fact a recalcitrant rattlesnake on our ride, and I had *plenty* of time and opportunity to take a picture of it, but was so focused on convincing it to get off the trail that I completely forgot to take a picture of it! The police are not legitimate agents of safety in…
Almost Time to Get On The Road Again…
It’s been over a year since I returned from New Zealand and Australia to hunker down for what turned out to be only the first big Covid wave in the United States. For most of this time Jesse and I only left the county once, that was for a camping trip to Yosemite when Covid…
Honey, Get the Duct Tape!
A few weeks ago Jesse and I did a big clockwise loop from home over the back way to Ojai, exploring a long ridge and new trails, before descending to the bike path and home via Ventura. Honestly, we were pretty exhausted after that ride. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I said Hey!,…
Bikes Are Freedom
Bikes really tie it all together: fun, friendships, relationship, mental health, transportation, and work. The day after I last wrote, Jesse and I took a good hard look at the pandemic situation locally and made the very difficult decision to go back on complete isolation from others. Even the local hospital was getting very full…
Three Hundred and Two Days
Three hundred and two days ago I boarded a plane in Australia, routed through New Zealand, where I secretly rather hoped to get stuck, and finally landed in LAX. In New Zealand they were already handing every single passenger an information card about Covid and entering quarantine if you were staying on the island, but…
And Then It Was Autumn
We chugged, chugged, chugged up the hill as we tried to make our way from Payahuunadu, the indigenous Paiute name for Owens Valley, to Whitney Portal in the Sierra Nevada range. Second gear…first gear… a pause in pullout to let the engine cool a bit. Can Caracol, Jesse’s recently resuscitated 1972 VW bus, make it…