Picnic Sunday

It's a warm one here in usually chilly Seattle, almost 90 degrees. We went down to the water across from Mee-Kwa-Mooks park, as the crow flies only 3,000 feet from our house (map here) and found a perfect picnic spot to enjoy the afternoon. A good day to count our blessings, this is the good life. PS That's Bainbridge Island across the water, the still snowcapped Olympic mountain range barely visible in the background - 45 miles away!

Driving Change

Looks like the tiny Italina motorcycle company, Aprilia will be importing their 850cc Mana motorcycle to the US sometime soon. What makes this significant is this bike is CVT (transmission that doens't have to "shift" gears) and automatic (no clutch lever) unlike all other bikes, with the exception of the Yamaha FJA of course. Group this with the success of the Prius, and the electric Tesla roadster, and watching GM shut down it's truck manufacturing lines and it's another reminder that we're in the middle of a huge shift in transportation. The next 5 years will go down in the history books as filled with change. Anyways, the Aprilia Mana is a brilliant and more importantly bold machine that is helping pave the way for acceptance of new ideas in American transportation. You bet I want one.

Moto on the Mind

Some my say I'm obsessed with this Alaska trip...and they might be right. I've got moto on the mind. So does the wife - I'm in good company.

Museum Picture Sideshow

Flight Time

About 3 months ago Lindsay and I met an actual Rosie the Riveter, who we gave a ride home to from downtown late one night. Sweet old lady, and it was our pleasure to visit with a living part of WWII history. Many, if not most of the planes in WWII were built by our other neighbor, Boeing, and yesterday we headed to their Muesum of Flight to see their massive collection (Smithsonian sized). It's fascinating to see everything they have there and we didn't have enough time get to see it all. I've been really interested in Charles Lindberg's life story, after we saw his grave in Maui, and the museum has some great old artifacts of his flight to Seattle. There's also an Air Force Once that we toured, Blackbird spy plane, a concord (Did you know a concord stretches 5-7 inches when it's at full speed?), an amazing collection of WWII and WWI fighters, and we even saw one of the very storied AWAC radar planes that Regan sold to Saudi Arabia in 1981 amidst huge controversy. The collection is huge and very complete, and the people watching is great too, so we'll have to go back sometime and do it again.

Twice As Nice

Did you know Seattle has double decker buses? Me either, until one passed me downtown a few weeks ago. Got a quick pic of it off as it passed. Neat eh?

The Best Beast

Took the Alaska bike out for a couple of long drives this week. That's a pic of the actual bike, there. Scott loaned it to me for a little getting used to. Took a few loops of Seattle on the first evening and on the second evening met up with JP at his place for a little jaw flapping about bikes and life in general. I'm used to the bike now and ready for the trip, and excited for Scott and his wife to begin their trip northward to make the whole thing that more real. It'll be an amazing moment, that first turn out of their driveway toward Alaska, I'm happy for them. We'll meet them, or at least the bike, in Anchorage on July 14th. I'm glad that I could be in the right place right time to take advantage of this and add another adventure to our life story.

Da Route, Da Home

We got a great used tent this week, in preparation for any camping we'll have to do in Alaska, most importantly on the deck of the ferry for 2 days once we leave Skagway. We set it up in the front yard to test it out. If you look really closely you can see Mt Rainier in the background, just to the right of the neighbor's chimney. If you want to see the route we'll be taking, I've finally mapped out the route, on Google/maps here. We'll have to make some changes to the BC part, but for the most part it's on track and a good measure of where we'll be when. Exciting!

From Anchorage to Seattle with Love

If you know the Seattle weather lately you'll understand that to get some warmer temperatures and sunshine we're headed to Anchorage. Almost not funny. It's been 50 and cloudy here for...ever.

Anyways, we are headed to Anchorage. It's a long story, but the short version is I found a guy on Craigslist who is riding up to Anchorage from Seattle on his 650 V-Strom (similar to the one in the pic above), and wanted to know if anyone could help him out, and have fun in the process, by riding his bike back down for him. That's where I come in. I gave him my responsibility resume, years I've been riding, bikes I've owned, etc then met him for lunch at REI. Not surprisingly we're a lot alike, recently married, in marketing, about the same age and most importantly we both can be relied upon and are very responsible riders. Seeing as we're both taking a risk that's important. IWe'll fly up and meet him in Anchorage on July 14th, and as they catch their flight back, Lindsay (aka super-adventure-kick-ass-wife) and I will depart from Anchorage to > Tok > Burwash Landing, BC >Skagway > Alaska Marine Ferry inside passage > Prince Rupert >Prince George > 100 Mile House > Seattle. Should be about 2,300 miles in total. Yes, we're a little crazy, a little nervous, but a lot more carpe diem so really excited mostly.

Death of Mole

I didn't do it. Part of me, the primal hunter part, wishes that I did, but I didn't. Working in the yard this weekend I looked over and faced death. Death being a unexpectedly tiny mole. Ashes to ashes, I thought, so I dropped him and his cute digger feet into a hole in the front yard and buried him. Hoping it'll be a warning to other moles to stay away. Unless they want to help me dig fence post holes.

What She Said...Sushi

I'll let the wife tell the full story of our hedonistic sushi trip yesterday. Sushi = yummy and healthy. I love a restaurant that 1. doesn't make you wait on the waiter 2. you can see what you'll be getting, and 3. that's healthy. Lindsay tells the story better than me here.

Scooter Loop Around the USA

This guy is an inspiration. He's taking his 49cc scooter on a lap around the United States. The whole, amazing, thing is being documented on this scooter site. Keep in mind that he's Korean, so just stopping by the US and decided to see it ALL, and that he's on a scooter that's generally goes to a top speed of about 45mph, so he's driving many of his miles on the shoulder of the highways. He's doing it right now. At this very moment he's slowly rolling through parts of the US (see his Google map of progress here) that you, a life long resident of this country, will never even consider seeing. Again, what an inspiration. He didn't need a $20,000 German engineered touring machine with handmade body armor, he just got on his scooter and drove. I've done some hardcore stuff in my time, but this guy is a warrior.

Furry Accessory

Really? Do you need to take your dog with you when you ride?