Biplane Ride
Jan 17th
As previously mentioned, I received a gift card for a 30-minute ride in an old biplane for Christmas. This past Saturday I redeemed this gift for a short, but fun, ride. Kevin was also able to join me since they allow two passengers — you sit side by side.
The plane, NC3242, was built in May of 1927 — yep, that makes it nearly 83 years old, and was originally used to transport mail. There are very few of these planes still in active operation and it’s a pleasure and humbling experience to get a chance to take to the air in one. Remember, the Wright Brothers first flew in 1903, only 24 years prior to this plane being built.
Even if you’ve flown in small planes before it’s still thrilling to ride in an open cockpit biplane flying low and slow. The pilot threw in a few descending, 50+ degree banked turns to give you a view of the beautiful California coast. Not to mention that great sinking feeling in your gut!
If you are ever in San Diego and have a few bucks to blow, I highly recommending taking a flight with Barnstorming Adventures.
Christmas Break Road Trip
Jan 9th
Thanks to furloughs I had 15 days off for Christmas vacation, so it was a perfect time for a road trip! The plan was simple: drive north towards San Francisco.
We departed San Diego on Sunday, December 27. After getting north of LA we headed for the coast and Highway 1/101. I was amazed at the amount of farmland in California. Mile after mile of crops — mainly artichokes this time of year — that lead right up to the sea.
We stayed the first night in Pacific Grove on Monterey Bay.
After getting settled in at the Pacific Grove Inn and having dinner, we took a walk around town. No matter where you were you could feel the presence of the sea.
The next morning we decided to check out the included breakfast at the inn. Hey, it’s a bed and breakfast after all. Let’s just say it was bleak and we mistook the coffee for dishwater.
The next stop was San Francisco! There was no real agenda for San Francisco other than to go to the SFMOMA on Tuesday. Monday night we walked from our hotel near Union Square to Pier 39 and then back — around 6 miles. It was pretty cool and drizzling, which felt really nice. In fact it’s probably the only time I’ll get to wear a coat this winter.
The view from the hotel was great.
Tuesday included visiting the SFMOMA, which has a great collection, and having some pretty decent Indian food for dinner.
We did not go here.
Wednesday we got the Jeep from the belly of the hotel and set off for the Golden Gate Bridge. Seeing the bridge in person is something you must do. Its shear size it daunting. I also found its orange color wonderful.
After driving across the Golden Gate Bridge we headed towards Muir Woods National Monument to view some redwoods. Muir Woods gets extremely busy, and today was no exception. After driving down a road lined with cars for a mile trying to find a parking spot, we called it quits. Back to Highway 1!
This is pretty much where the trip ends. We drove north on Highway 1 — void of guardrails, along a roadway perched on cliffs! — until we came to a road that would take us east back to Highway 101. From there we shot over to Sacramento and then headed south on Interstate 5 back to San Diego.
Long drive, but totally worth it.
Barnstorming
Jan 8th
For Christmas I received a gift card for a 30-minute flight in a 1920’s era biplane offered by Barnstorming Adventures. I called today and scheduled a flight for January 16, at 2:30 PM.
Here’s the plane:
I’ll post some pictures after the flight!
Potluck Recipes from Hell
Jan 3rd
Last night I had a dream about disgusting potluck recipes.
Here’s one of them:
- Cubed orange Jell-O
- Dried cranberries
- Walnuts
- Spinach leaves
Now toss the above in:
- 1 cup of mayonnaise
It would be a fun experiment to bring this to a potluck and see who actually eats it. But I promise to never do so…
Birthday Cake
Dec 26th
Gingerbread man cake pans make wonderful, er, cakes. Kevin and his mad skills whipped together this white cake with homemade cherry icing for my birthday. Very tasty!
I took the liberty to add the cherry and orange face and nipples.
Note: It was also God’s birthday.
Long Way Round Review
Dec 23rd
I finally finished Long Way Round after a month of grueling reading. OK, it wasn’t that grueling but it wasn’t the most inspirational read, and every other page led me to cast it aside until I had nothing better to do but pick it up again.
I have two major issues with this book:
1.) After spending three months riding around the world, I expect more details. Tell me more about the land and people. Throw in some history along the way to bind it all together (sympathy and guilt are not reliable substitutes for facts here, fellas). I’m sure in an attempt to keep the book around 300 pages a lot had to be cut, but less time could have been spent whining about how much they missed their wives and children – we got the point, no need to remind us every other page.
2.) Heard of packing light? Not Ewan and Charley. Two 4×4 support vehicles, a camera man on a third bike, a doctor, and local “fixers” is all it takes to ride around the world? God I hope not! Throughout the book Ewan complains about the local media attention that awaits their arrival in each town. No wonder! To many of these people it must have looked like the carnival was rolling into town with as much crap as you guys had in tow.
In the end this book is nothing more than two personal journals – seemingly written after the fact – clobbered together in an attempt to create an epic travel novel. Had there been more details about the trip itself and less self-absorbed introspection and whining it could have been a good read.
Many men and women have completed this same trip without any sponsors or support vehicles. In fact, I’ve gained more knowledge about the land and people from reading firsthand accounts on ADVrider.
Motorcycle Safety Course
Nov 16th
This weekend I retook the MSF Basic RiderCourse in order to regain my motorcycle license endorsement here in California. As usual the class was good.
However, I found two things amusing:
1.) On day two, an instructor came roaring up on his bike cursing. Turns out he was struck in the face by a rock on his way there. Guess that half helmet didn’t offer much protection – safety first.
2.) The other instructor was unable to successfully demonstrate the two u-turns in a box exercise without crossing the box boundaries – good way to set everyone up for failure.