For the 4th of July weekend Dan, NJ and I went up to Kernville to camp with the family.  There are a bunch of things do up there.  Fish, hike, mountain bike, tube, raft, sit, drink beer, etc…  Since there was a descent sized group of us I decided to bring the toyhauler (the camper trailer) so we’d have an extra bathroom and shower for everyone.  My parents bought one after seeing mine.  Fortunately for them its been awesome.  For me, I liked the idea but since I’ve had issues with it I’m not so in love with it anymore.  More on that later.  Dan, NJ and I loaded everything up Thursday afternoon and drove up to Kernville.  It took 6.5 hours to get up there.  Longer than I wanted or estimated but we arrived just before dark.  We got to see my Mom and Ted and have a nice relaxed evening.

Cannell Plunge

Friday morning I walked around Kernville looking to see if I could find some fellow riders who were planning a ride that day.  Walking out the front door of Mountain River Adventures I came across Ryan, Seth and Paige looking like they were getting ready for a ride.  As they say, if you don’t ask the answer is ‘no’ so I approached them and asked if they were going for a ride, and if I could join them.  It turned out, they were trying to figure out logistics on how to get to the top of Sherman Pass with three bikes and two cars that could only carry two bikes each.  I said “I have a truck! If you can give me a ride to it after the ride I can put everyone in the truck.”  And a deal was struck.  I rushed back to the campsite to get my bike and gear.

On the way up to the top of the pass I got to know the gang a bit better.  Seth and Paige were out on vacation from Colorado visiting their daughter in San Diego.  And Ryan is from Lancaster.  It turns out Ryan is an adventure monster.  For fun the guy rides a bicycle from Lancaster to Santa Monica.  At this point I started to think “Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into.”  Paige fortunately informed me that her and Seth were not quite so extreme.

Our ride started at the summit of Sherman Pass at 9200 feet.  The air up that high is pretty thin and I was feeling it on the climbs.  The first 18 miles or so was a bunch of up and down.  Through the forest, meadows and a little bit of fire road.  Its a generally well maintained trail but sandy, kind of like this kitty litter sand.  Going down, not much of a problem.  Its a little squirrely but you get used to it.  But on the flats and climbs it was pretty tiring.  Not all of the trail is like this, but there was a fair amount of it.  We only ran into three other people on the trail.  It was a small group of three guys attempting the same ride we were on.  I didn’t have good hopes for them as one was without a helmet, and another was saying he was toast, just an eighth of the way into the ride.  Not good!

Along the ride we got to see some really neat stuff.  You’ll have to take a look at the pictures to get an idea of it all.  Highlights (and lowlights) were the Cow Poop Swamp, Big Climbing Rock, Lord Seth’s Throne, Sandrock Pile and the Plunge itself of course!  The top part of the ride is in the woods and meadows.  Very green and lush.  Stream crossings every once and a while along with some rocky technical sections.

Once we hit the top of the Cannell Plunge we do a 7000 foot descent in 9 miles.  At two points there are climbs which are very technical and steep.  The second climb I couldn’t even ride it was so steep.  This is what Ryan called “Up-Plunging”  I preferred the term “Suck.”  It is a pretty awesome ride if you are in great shape and like a challenge.  The riding varies significantly and you get to apply your skills and fitness level to the test.   We finished off the day with a BBQ and watching the fire come down the mountain on the southside of the lake.

If you’re in the area, go for the ride.  I recommend taking munchies and plenty of water.  And be physically prepared.

cannell21

For more pictures of the ride: Cannell Trail Photo Album

Tubing and Rafting the Kern River

On Saturday we did some tubing and rafting.  From my prior experience at the Kern River I discovered that tubing and I don’t get along.  Seriously, this is one of the most idiotic things a person can do.  You sit in a tube, which has no directional control other than your futile paddling.  Most people wear no life jacket (myself included) nor a helmet.  You ‘flow’ down a rapid moving river over rocks and logs.  And hope you don’t get tossed.  Everytime I’ve done this, I’ve been tossed.  This time I was cruising down the river trying to avoid the first eddie and I ended up right in it.  There I was, stuck, and trying to figure out how to get unstuck.  I paddle some, try to bounce, and finally I get dislodged and tossed over a rock off of the tube.  Now, I’m being pulled downstream rapidly over rocks and branches trying to figure out how to get back onto the tube before I drown.  At some point, I thought it would be a good idea to try to stop myself with my feet on the rocks.  Bad idea.  I ended up smashing my left big and second toes.  Finally I got to the calmer area with Ted and Danny there and I said “This is just f%$#ing retarded” and stormed out of the river.  I had thought I broke my toe but it just turned out to be jammed badly and the nails were torn off their beds.

Rafting however went much better!  I had be kayaking on the Kern before and enjoyed it alot.  Even though I had be tossed on that trip too.  But, you at least have a paddle and some far fetched notion you are in control. (HAHA!)  This time, I decided to do the raft with the rest of the gang.  Six people + the guide can ride in the raft.  We had eight, so Carmen and Jerry took the inflatable kayak (IK) while the rest of us piled into the raft.  The most important thing they say to do is keep your hand on the T-handle on the paddle.  Apparently having one of those swing around can be very bad and give you summer teeth. (Summer in your mouth, summer in the raft, summer in the water).

They start you out by teaching you how to work together, for about 60 seconds.  Then they just go for it.  For the most part, if you do what he says, and do it together you’re good to go.  Paddle forward three means everyone paddle forward three times.  Paddle back four means paddle backwards four times.  Or, if they just say paddle forward you keep paddling until he says stop.  Along with following the front left persons pace, and some other tips you’re pretty much ready to go down the river.  Until you hit the first rapids.

The first rapids was an entertaining experience.  Jerry and Carmen were ahead of us in the IK.  The guide yelled to them “Follow the other kayak in front of you down!”  The look on Jerry’s face was priceless.  It was the look of “Are you f$%#ing kidding me?!”  They did as told and bounced through the first rapids and pretyt much aced it.  Then, it was our turn… Dan was front left, I was front right.  Behind us were the two boys, Jimmy and NJ.  Then Rob and Norma were in the back.  The first rapids we dipped hard forward and it basically turned into Dan and I paddling with screaming kids on our back and everyone all over the place.  We probably got spun around two to three times as we were pretty much flailing all over the place.  The guide is yelling “Paddle forward!!!! Paddle backward!!!!” Pretty hilarious actually.  After that, it was much easier.  There were a few more rapids but pretty mellow compaired to the first one.  We mastered the “splash your neighbor” skills as well as paddling in unison.

Giant Sequoias

On Sunday we took a short road trip up to see the giant sequoias.  I can’t even explain their magnificence and just encourage you to take a look at the photo album.

You can find more pictures of the forest in the Photo Album

As I mentioned earlier I had brought my trailer.  I wanted to bring it because it has a real bed, a shower, power, a fridge, and some other nice things.  Unfortunately everytime I’ve taken this trailer out I’ve had problems with it.  I’ve reached a point that I just plain done with it.  I bought it for two reasons.  1. Dirt biking in the desert and 2. Alison.  Well, I don’t have dirt bikes anymore and I don’t have Alison.  I can’t see any reason to continue to drop money into it anymore.  This last weekend both the generator failed to work and the fridge died.  These are things that have happened before and cost me a fair sized chunk of money.  Currently its in the shop and its already cost me $350 just to see what’s wrong with.  That’s not even including the cost it will be to fix it.  Like I said, done.  I’m going to get it working and get it sold.

Not to end on a negative note.  I had a good weekend even if I was a little baked from the sun.  At some point Sunday afternoon I decided I was just done with 95 degrees plus temperatures, dust, and the relentless Sun.  With smile and fond farewells we packed up and hit the road to go home.  It only took us five hours to get back home opposed to the six plus it took to get up.  I attribute it to driving ‘down’ the map.

Good weekend, fun adventures, and loving family members.  Love you guys!

Photo Albums:

Mountain Biking Cannell Trail
Giant Sequoias
Danny’s Photos (He has alot)

Gregg sent this to me. I think its hilarious!  Its another translation of the WW2 movie with Hitler, and how his men bought him the WRONG BIKE!

Well, basically I’ve decided that I have to make some decisions on life. And traveling is one of those decisions. On March 26, 2010 I’d like to embark on a journey. The only things I have worked out so far is that it will be on a bike, and it will be away from here. I haven’t decided if I’m selling my house or what to do with Karma and Pookie, or what it means for the rest of things. What it does mean is that I have until that countdown timer on the right ticks down until zero to figure it out

Currently I’m reading a book on Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. Its interesting so far. I’ve got a stack of books at my house to go through over the next few months. But in general I want to take the time now when I am still fairly young and generally able to see what I can. Wish me luck!

I’m all good and so is my household. The fire came no where near me this time (Not like in 2003). Some friends were evactuated, some stayed with me. Gregg and Amanda got to do some horse shuffling, and even evacuate Amanda at one point. Lots of people lost their homes so San Diego will have to rebuild. Granted, the fire isn’t out yet but the worst of it seems to be over with. Best wishes to everyone in San Diego and those of my friends who are waiting to find out if their home is still there. I’m hoping for the best. (Gregg took this picture himself, 3/4 mile from Amanda’s front door. Click on the picture for more.)

I had a funny conversation with Alison today about why people who are prone to melancholy feel the desire to wander or roam. She pointed to me to this poem that a mutual friend of ours showed to her. The Wanderer, and its interesting how I can identify with a few of the areas. (Granted, this was obviously written some time ago and times have changed). And she brought up the ‘greener pastures’ idea. Perhaps, but here are some of my thoughts.

The thoughts of a wanderer…

An interesting part of me that some people either; recognize and understand, recognize and don’t understand, don’t recognize and understand (oddly enough), or are completely oblivious. Is, that I’m never happy ‘here’ and I’m always looking to go ‘there’. Sometimes ‘there’ is a place, a time, or a being. But regardless, its never ‘here’. The problem with going ‘there’ is that once I’m there, its then ‘here’ and I feel the urge to find another ‘there’ shortly after arriving at ‘here’. I don’t think I’d be where I am today if this wasn’t a part of who I am. I’d probably be back at some old ‘here’ landing where ever my decisions and life put me. But, instead I followed the path of ‘there’.

For some friends this behavior is completely incomprehensible. It causes confusion and misunderstanding for which I deeply apologize to them. For others, they get it, or know that its not important that I’m not content with staying ‘here’ with them and that at some point our ‘theres’ will intersect and all will be good again. Sometimes when I’m on a journey I don’t think to let people know where I am. If that makes me inconsiderate, then I apologize. Its nothing personal, its just who I am. I accept my friends for who they are, I can only hope they all do the same for me.

But back to the topic of ‘here’ and ‘there’. It is very unlikely that I will ever be happy just being ‘here’, and I’ll be happiest going ‘there’. It doesn’t mean I’ll be happy when ‘there’ becomes ‘here’, but that I’ll be happy making the journey. Whether that journey is physical, intellectual, spiritual, or emotional. For me its the journey, its the new experience. It probably explains the issues with my relationships, because at some point I was ‘here’ too long and I couldn’t figure out how to get both of us ‘there’. Or, perhaps our ‘theres’ were not the same, thus our paths diverted. There is nothing wrong with that but unfortunately it leads to more misunderstanding and unhappiness of most parties involved.

So, my parting thoughts. If I am ‘here’ with you enjoy the time. And if you go ‘there’ with me enjoy the journey. And, if you stay in the ‘here’ do not fret for I shall always be your friend. Its just time for me to move on to the next ‘there’, and know that at some point our future ‘theres’ will cross, and we will be ‘here’ together again my friend.

Here’s some great info on colorblindness.

I was talking to Diane the other day, who was trying to help me with the colors on my site. And, I explained that I’m red/green colorblind. The world I see is not the same as 91% of the rest of the world. Oddly enough, there are three people at work including me with the same colorblindness, and one of them is on my team. So we totally understand each other. Its funny how much this affects everyday life really. Websites don’t look the same, stoplights turned sideways can be confusing (Simon found that out in Calgary, haha), video games using red and green to indicate friend or foe. So, I thought I’d share some of my world with all of you. So, take a look at some of the cool stuff here!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness

I’m classified as Deuteranomaly.

Having a mutated form of the medium-wavelength pigment. The medium-wavelength pigment is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum resulting in a reduction in sensitivity to the green area of the spectrum. Unlike protanomaly the intensity of colors is unchanged. This is the most common form of color blindness, making up about 6% of the male population. The deuteranomalous person is considered “green weak”. For example, in the evening, dark green cars appear to be black to Deuteranomalous people. Similar to the protanomates, deuteranomates are poor at discriminating small differences in hues in the red, orange, yellow, green region of the spectrum. They make errors in the naming of hues in this region because the hues appear somewhat shifted towards red. One very important difference between deuteranomalous individuals and protanomalous individuals is deuteranomalous individuals do not have the loss of “brightness” problem.

(Wikipidea, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness)

This site has a cool little tool that you can change how the picture looks.
http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/2.html
If you rollover Deutan you’ll see how that picture generally looks to me.

This one is a tool that you can use to see the color pallet affect.
http://colorlab.wickline.org/colorblind/colorlab/

I got to take a ride around the Southwest US last week, visit the family, and see some cool places. The highlights were the Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon, and Zion. This is the first mostly solo ride I’ve done. There are some nice things about running solo, but there is something to be said about having a companion on these trips. So, most of what I experience, I’ll just have myself to talk to about it. But I’ll share what I can with you all! So here we go!

Stats:
8 days - 9/1/07-9/8/07
1743 Miles
Photo Album: Southwest Tour 07
The Route:

View Larger Map

Heading East - 9/1/07
I woke up around 3:30 AM with the intent to be on the road by 4 AM. I didn’t roll out of bed until 4:15, DOH! No worries, I had no real agenda heading up to Williams Arizona other than to be there before dark. My greatest desire was to beat the desert heat which was getting up to around 110 Fahrenheit. I hit the road around 4:30, double checking all my gear was strapped down, running through my checklist in my head. It was still dark, but warm so I didn’t have to bundle up. It was kind of nice being on the road that early, hardly a vehicle on the road, it was all MINE! My route took me through El Centro, Glamis (Which I had never been to before), Blythe, Prescott and then on to Williams. The ride was pretty uneventful, at one points I found I was Beyond Hope! Before going beyond Hope I stopped at the Kofa Cafe. Excellent breakfast! They made fresh squeezed OJ right in front of me. The road up into the mountains around Prescott is very nice. Twisty and a ton of fun. I passed several cruisers and notice a few ‘interesting’ parking jobs by sport bike jockeys. DOH! There was a big festival going on in Prescott and some Classic Porche club in town as well. I made it to Williams around 2:30, about 30 minutes after my parents. We were staying at some campground that was marginal, no table, no firepit, and hardly any level ground. We had great burgers, and crashed out pretty early. I had a 7 AM flight the next morning. Read More »

Well, heading out Saturday at 4 AM to beat the heat on the way to Flagstaff. I’ll probably post a ride report up here afterwards. Its going to be a fun trip I think. Ride up to Williams AZ and camp a night with the family, hop a plane Sunday AM to fly to Kevin & Karen’s wedding up in Banff. Get back Tuesday with my niece landing 2 hours behind me, hop on the bike and head on up to the Grand Canyon! Just something to share with all of you. I was surfing the advrider forums and came across this.

From Tombstone: Wyatt: All I ever wanted was to live a normal life. Doc: When will you wake up? You wouldn’t know a normal life if it bit you in the ass. Wyatt: That’s great coming from you. Doc: I played the cards I was dealt, Wyatt. Your problem is you’re always trying to play someone else’s. Allow me to tell you the truth and thus set you free: There is no happiness, Wyatt there is no normal life. There’s only life, that’s all. Just life. The rest is relative. Wyatt: Then what do I do? Doc: First you can grab that black-haired woman and make her your own. Wyatt: All right. Then what? Doc: Run. Take that girl and start running. Run and don’t look back. All your life you been running and looking back and just barely existing and calling it getting by. This time run and don’t look back and call it living. Live every second, live it right up to the hilt. Live, Wyatt - Live for me.

See you all again in 10 days!

So, not many people know but I have an older brother Bill. We didn’t grow up together, and really don’t know each other very well. Probably through the fault of both of us. I kind of keep to myself, and he’s had a lot going on.

But, the other day my niece Iris called and when I answered the phone she said “Uncle Jason?”

I have to admit, I’ve never been called Uncle before, and it was kind of a surprising but good feeling experience. We spent a while talking catching up on life. Turns out we have a lot in common. She rides motorcycles, likes things with engines. And is considering joining the Army. Pretty cool…