The Californians

Yes folks it’s that time of the year again, when the Californians (a name given to us by our festival friends) make the pilgrimage to Telluride for the Bluegrass Festival.

Here’s a loose timeline of our travels around the Wild West.

0500/15th June: We board the big blue bus, with Ricky at the helm. Our first stop for the bathroom was Flying J’s where Ricky bought the world’s best Radar detector. Man! that thing is awesome!!!

1600/15th June: We arrive in Moab. Here we get dinner at our favorite Moab eatery, Moab Brewery and spend the night.

0900/16th June: After filing up the big blue bus we make our way to Telluride.
One of the stops we make on the way from Moab to Telluride is Hole in the Rock. Its part Tourist trap, part Zoo. This year the owners have made some new improvements to the place. A Camel, Buffalo, Zebra, Deer, some miniature Horses and a Bird Sanctuary. They also started charging $3.50 to feed the animals, which was a Ricky favorite. None the less we went in anyway...Oh what fun!
We also stopped at this little country store in Bedrock, CO. Rick buy’s a hat, and the store gets to keep the lights on one more day. I’m glad we stopped. We pass this place every year without stopping. A little further up the road is another stop we make every year Naturita, CO. They have this great big walk-in refrigerator full of Beer. After we keep the economy going here, we continue on to Telluride.

1330/16th June: We arrive in Paradise. I love this place, words can not describe it. You have to see it for yourself. Our overpriced condo has a great view of the mountains and Ingram Falls. After unpacking we go for a walk around town, and get some food. I ate too much at supper and got a tummy ache.

0730/17th June: I awake before Ricky and Christina and go for a bike ride to Bear Creek Falls. After about 40 minutes of climbing I reach the falls take a picture with my cell phone then return to the condo. The downhill only took me 5 minutes. That afternoon we get some lunch at Brown Dog Pizza, and then from there we stop off at the most famous drinking establishment in Telluride. The Last Dollar Saloon. While inside I see one of our Festival friends Pam walk by, I call out to her and she joins us at our table. She tells us that she will not be able to attend the festival. We are sad.

1500/17th June: We take the gondola up to Mountain Village for the free Bluegrass show. We see The Greencards and the Lovell Sisters. While in Mountain Village we meet up with some more of our Festival friends, Mark, Steve and Bob. What a great time it was hanging out with those guys. Ricky had the most fun of all…just ask him.

0400/18th June: I get up to get in line for the first of the festival. I do this everyday so we and whoever can get a good seat for the days show.
0500/18th June: I’m joined in line by Ricky, he looks very tried. I guess from to much fun from the night before.
0645/18th June: They pass out line numbers; this is our place in the tarp run.
1000/18th June: The tarp run; when I was a young lad I had a reputation as being a very fast runner, I even held records in Jr. High. Folks, those days are gone. In order to secure a spot on the grass you have to run. You have to go from 0 to a full sprint on very cold tried legs. We get a really good spot for the first day about four rows (Tarps) back.
After seeing about three bands and walking around town, we returned to Town Park for the Head Liner.

2115/18th June : David Byrne comes on stage, what a great set. Although a very untraditional bluegrass one. Every one on stage was dressed in white and there where dancers too. He played about 10 talking heads songs along with some new stuff from his new album; the crowd was moving as one, it was great!!!

0400/19th June: I’m in the Tarp line again, Ricky joins me about an hour later.

0900/19th June: The Tarp run begins; we are almost in the same spot. After a very lazy day we return to Town Park for day number 2…It must be the altitude.

2:45 - 4:00pm — John Cowan Band
4:30 - 5:45pm — Jenny Lewis
6:15 - 7:30pm — Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabaté
8:00 - 9:30pm — Elvis Costello & The Sugarcanes, Elvis Costello’s set was kinda mellow, but I was expecting that.

0400/20th June: This would be my last day in the Tarp Line.

0900/20th June: Saturday is usually more crowded; we get a spot behind the walking aisle, which is good. Today more of the same laziness, damn that altitude.

2:15 - 3:30pm — Jerry Douglas Band
4:00 - 5:30pm — Yonder Mountain String Band
5:45 - 6:00pm — Telluride Troubadour
6:15 - 7:30pm — Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
8:00 - 10:00pm — Sam Bush Band, Sam’s set was his usual awesomeness. He did a Stones cover, Gimme Shelter. Another great day of Telluride Bluegrass Festival fun, I can’t wait for the tapers to release this set so I could relive those awesome moments.

21st June: Because we where suffering from *altitude sickness we didn’t get out of the condo until late, ate a late lunch at Brown Dog and then Town Park for the last day of music.

5:30 - 6:45pm — Tim O'Brien Band
7:15 - 8:30pm — Emmylou Harris
9:00 - 11:00pm — Telluride House Band

Only Christina joined me on the tarp this day, the last day of the festival. Ricky would not be able to attend. We joined Bob and his girlfriend on their tarp for the House Band.
The House Band is a group made up of some of the best and biggest musicians in the world. A great set, but seemed lacking from last year. We say our goodbyes and left before the encore. Another great festival comes to a close.

1000/22nd June: We are seeing beautiful Telluride in our rear view mirror. Our holiday is just getting started, in the words of Robert Earl Keen…The Road Goes on Forever and the Party Never Ends. We’re on the way to Crested Butte, CO. Outside of Ridgeway there was the Jerky Stand…Ray’s. This is the business we should be getting into, Jerky. We spent over 150.00 on two separate occasions. It was good as heck.

1500/22nd June: We roll into Crested Butte, our hotel is very nice and it’s only 125.00 a night. After settling in we take the free shuttle down to the town of Crested Butte, we are staying on the mountain. Ate awesome Mexican food at Teocalli Tamale then walked around the little town. We ended up at the Wooden Nickel. Since this is considered the off season we where the only one’s there. Our bartender was a very nice kid who’s working at the bar in the summer and going to Penn State in the Winter/Fall. He was actually born in Crested Butte. * I read the local papers of these places on the internet. And at graduation time they post the schools that the grads will be attending, it seems like 60% of these kids are going to Ivy League schools…WTF. I’m just saying. Maybe it’s the altitude.

1000/23rd June: I go for bike ride on the Snodgrass trail. I rode here last year and I don’t remember being so out of breath then. I guess I should have trained a lot more. After my ride we went for a hike then back to town for food. After eating at Pita’s in Paradise we went to one of the local bars, The Eldo…A sunning place for shady people, is what the sign side over the door. I’ve been to Crested Butte many times but have never been in here. The sign over the door was spot on. We had one beer and left. We ended up back across the street at the Nickel; our new friend was there, what a nice kid. The shuttle stops running at eleven, so we wish Pierce good luck in life and head back up the hill.

1000/24th June: A travel day, 11 hours to Sedona, AZ. On the way to Sedona we had to back track a little (poor planning on my part, but it was the quickest way) so we stopped back at Ray’s for more Jerky (we had all ready finished what we bought on the way up) and back across the Telluride valley floor, seeing the Falls off in the distant. We stopped in the town of Rico to look for a T-Shirt for Rico, but all that was open was the Liquor Store. A good liquor store with many fine craft beers. * Another thing that is recession proof, Liquor Stores. No luck finding a T-shirt…Sorry Big Guy. After many hours on the road we start our approach into Sedona..so beautiful. Eventfully we arrive at our hotel “The Kings Ransom”. Unpacked again. Our Hotel had a restaurant called Etoile, probably the best meal I’ve had in a long time…so good yeah.

1000/25th June: We take the free shuttle to uptown Sedona and walk around; this was the day we have reserved for the Tomcar, an OHV thingy. We have the Tomcar for half a day, so we hit as many trails we could. We have rented the Tomcar before in Moab, the trails in Sedona do not compare, and they are a lot tamer. The Tomcar is what brought us to Sedona in the first place. The outfitter in Moab stopped renting them because of the repair costs. This time Christina drove the car, she did real well, almost as good as Ricky. After too much fun we shopped and dined in beautiful up-town Sedona.
Sedona is not a place for late night partiers, they start rolling up the side walks at 6:30,
The free shuttle stops running at 6:15, so if you are out past that, your walking home…In the dark.

0900/26th June: Travel day to the River. We leave Sedona, I hope to be back real soon it’s really nice here.

1500/26th June: After a quick lunch we arrived at The Colorado River …Parker. We meet up with Carol and Allen. They have a spot in an RV park. This will be our home for the next two nights. What a shock to the system…the temperature the whole trip never got above 80F and here it was 110F, and at night it got down to 80F. It was so hot the stock AC couldn’t work fast enough, so they have to have a home unit has an extra AC. Allen’s PWC is very fast. He took Ricky and I for a ride at the same time and reached 60 MPH.

1200/27th June: We set up our chairs on the lawn down by the river; it doesn’t seem so hot down there. We all had turns riding Allen’s PWC and it was fun, if I had an extra 15k lying around I would pick up one. After all the fun you can have at the “River” we had hot dogs and hot wings for supper. Ricky had to bring up the fact that our journey is coming to an end…he always does this. While sitting in the restaurant in Sedona we had already recapped our trip. The only thing that was missing was the river trip. The few friends that have completed our two week journeys can attest to the fact that they are indeed once in a lifetime.

Home again…

5/4/2009

Back home. There’s a man selling popsicles on the sidewalk outside. It’s great to be back. Only one more month and we leave for Telluride!!! Feel free to leave cash in our mailbox, a check will do…Thanks

We leave…

5/3/2009

After walking around downtown one last time we head to the airport, to catch our flight.
What another great trip. Many thanks to Christina for making all the arrangements, you missed your calling. You should off been a travel agent.

It rains in Auckland too…

5/2/2009

Raining today, we are supposed to go on a harbor cruse, but decided on going to Devonport instead, a 5 minute ferry ride across the harbor. Devonport is a small community with the usual shops and Pubs; we end up at the Patriot for lunch.
After spending most of the day in Devonport, we return to the hotel to drop off the days shopping then back to the Irish place. We didn’t stay as long this night; we were tired from the night before. So early to bed…tomorrow we leave for LA.

Auckland is a city…

5/1/2009

The Hotel had a shuttle that took us into the city center from there we walked around the Quay (harbor). After lunch at Degree we went up in the Sky Tower to have a look around at the city from way up in the air. That night we ended up at an Irish Pub (tip: if you want to hear live music anywhere an Irish Pub is your best bet). Left the Pub about 2am then to bed.

Bye Bye Queenstown…

4/30/2009

We check in at the Qantas Counter, there’s a memo saying that our flight may be cancel due to poor visibility…it wasn’t that bad. Apparently Qantas has to have 100% visibility, because they have crappy navigation equipment. Well our flight was cancelled. A voice came over the loud speaker telling us to pick up our baggage and call some 0800 number to sort out our flights. Since everybody was calling we could not get through. Our only alternative was to take a bus to Christchruch and catch a flight to Auckland from there.
While seated on the bus before our departure a rep. from QF told us a QF rep will meet us in Christchruch to help us with our flight to Auckland….Ok good. While on the bus we struck up an alliance with this English couple that where living in Queenstown for the last 10 months, they had gotten through to QF and had confirmed that there was an 8:20PM Air New Zealand flight that QF had reserved for us, our bus was supposed to arrive Christchruch at 8:00PM. With 2 hours to go Christina was feeling uncomfortable about the flight details so she asked our English friends for more info. They ended up letting us use their Mobile phone ( for some reason I could no get through on mine) I was on hold for about an hour before getting through to QF. I told them our situation, and they confirm we where on the 8:20 flight. I felt bad for using the phone for so long but our English friends were really cool about and didn’t care…it was a free call for them.
We arrive in Christchruch and there is no won there to greet us, in fact QF didn’t even know about it. We then went over to the Air New Zealand counter. Our English friends and us were the only ones from the bus booked on the 8:20 NZ flight. Whoever did not confirm with QF got f’d!!! Since this was the last flight out to Auckland they had to spend the night at there own expense and fly out in the AM. We are so grateful for the English for letting us use there phone and Christina not trusting QF. 11:00p we arrive at our last Hotel, very plush and cheap. Our trip is all most over.

We swing…

4/29/2009

14:10 our ride picks up at Shotover to take us farther up the canyon. It’s time for the Canyon swing. After a little hike we arrive at the jumping off point, we now see what we are in for…heart beats a little faster. After getting in our harnesses we half to decide who’s gunna go first…there’s five in our group three girls, two guys. The first to go was the other guy…He asked us if we ever done anything like this before, I said no, and he hadn’t either…He went off backwards. Watching him disappear into the canyon was weird…The whole event takes a little over a minute…the freefall is 4 seconds. Next was one of the English girls, who were really scared, the funny thing is that the day before they jumped out of an airplane. After they went, it was our turn. Christina went then me.
The swing is a really well engineered contraption. A lot of cables and safety devices.
My turn, I chose to step off the platform…the girls sat down, letting one the swing guys “pull the pin” Stepping off was kinda scary. I just couldn’t talk my legs into taking that first step. The guys joke and make small take while you’re standing there, I suppose to try and put you at ease. Finally I go…nothing fancy I just kinda fall off the platform. The 4 second freefall went by in the blink of an eye. It was real smooth, only a little wind noise. The whole thing only lasts about 2 minutes, your back at the top before you know it. Would I do it again…YES, but with a bit more style…Video coming soon?
After that we went to Minus 5. One of those Vodka Bars in ice. You get 2 drinks and a half hour inside. After Minus 5 we spent our last night in QT at our favorite Pub, Winnies. Queenstown will be missed; I can’t wait to come back again.

Shotover…

4/29/2009

At 12:50 we meet at the Shotover Jet boat agency. After a short ride up the canyon to the launch site. We dawned our life Jackets and boarded the boat. They don’t waste any time, your zooming though the canyon at about 80MPH, just missing the canyon walls by inches. Because of the rain the river was a little high, which made the ride that much more exciting. After about a half hour of spinning though the canyon it was over. I was drenched!

Luge...

4/27/2009

After hitting up half of the bars the night before, getting up was a little on the late side. We took the gondola up to where the Luge ride is. You can tell we are now in the US, because these Luge thingy were fast as heck. You don't have to sign any waivers or anything,you just by a ticket and some person just tells you pull back for the brakes and your off...I all most ate it in the first turn. After the Luge we book our Jetboat and Canyon Swing...it looks so very scary.

Queenstown

After a short flight from Christchurch we landed in Queenstown. This is our first real hotel, a Crowne Plaza... Only 80.00USD a night. Queenstown has about 100 bars and 120 Restaurants all within a 10 block square.

New Zealand...Christchruch

We Are in New Zealand now. Christchurch for one night then on to Queenstown.
After dropping off our stuffs at the Boutique Hotel, Classic Villa...which was not to far from the action, wish we were here longer...oh well. We hit the streets first a place called "Sticky Fingers" the Bar Man was really cool, he was telling us how he make's his own Vodka. They still kits here for doing that, kinda like the home brew kits they have in the states. Time for food, next store was this semi-Mexican place "Coyote" which was pretty good. Our server told where to go for live music. They was this small Square with about twenty different clubs in it, the place we where told to go was "Fat Eddies"...Pretty good music. The drinking age here as well as Australia is 18. When we then there about 2AM there was a butt load of drunk kids in the street.
So Kids if you want to drink legally until the cows come home(i don't think the clubs have a set closing time, but I think their Government it trying to change that)...

Penguins on Parade…

4/24/2009

Our guide picked us up at 11:40. Our first stop was the Royal Botanical gardens. Had a look around at the plants and stuffs then departed. The Chocolate Factory was our next stop. Consumed a bunch of chocolate then left. Penguin parade, the Penguins don’t come ashore until dusk, so we had an hour to kill before that. They have these grand stands set up on the beach for viewing, for an extra 15 dollars you can upgrade to a smaller grand stand which was better for viewing the Penguins when they came ashore. We did that.
This was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. Hundreds of Penguins coming ashore after being out at sea for up to 2 weeks. They have these boardwalks set up so you can follow the Penguins home. They actually come pretty close. One thing the Rangers where really strict about is NO PHOTOGRAPY. So no pictures. After coming out of the water the Penguins fine there home, which can be up to 1 Kilometer. This was really cool I highly recommend it next time you guys are down here.

Day 8 Oz…

4/23/2009

Our day started at the St. Kilda Sea Baths. It’s an Olympic size swimming pool filled with clean seawater, oh there’s also spa stuffs here too. After bobbing around for an hour. Showered, and then took the bus over to The Melbourne Gaol (jail). Shared a Ham and Cheese with Christina, then on with the Gaol (jail) tour. When you first enter the Jail tour you get the same treatment as if you where really arrested. Our tour guide used to work at the jail up until it closed in 1994. Then they though you in cells…what a minute I thought this was supposed to be fun. Actually it had a scared straight kind of message.
After that we walked and walked and walked over to Chapel Street, it’s one of those streets that have a lot of nice shopping. Good thing most of the shops where closed by the time we got there I could of done a lot of damage to my Credit Card. We walked the length the of street eating and drinking all a long the why. We ended up back at the ESPY(Esplanade Hotel) saw a great band. I was about to proclaim this place the best music venue ever, BUT after the last band, a DJ played until closing time…he played Hip Hop. Oh well the search continues.

On to Melbourne…

4/22/2009



We said our goodbyes to our Inn keepers…boy they sure where nice. And hopped on our 14:15 flight to Melbourne. We are staying in another B&B type of place here too.
Once situated in our new digs we hit the streets. St. Klida is the part of town we are staying in. Ackland street is just a couple of blocks from where we are staying. It’s a lot like Haight Street in San Francisco, a lot of hippie types around. After drinks and a meal (I think Christina ate a Kangaroo steak) at a place called Fringe. We went over to a place some friends had mentioned, The Esplanade Hotel to catch some live music. What a cool place, it reminded me of a club in Amsterdam. After watching three bands we when back to our Boutique Hotel and went to sleep…Good Night!

Day 6 Oz…

4/21/2009


Our Inn Keepers told us that the Sydney fish market is a must do while you are here, so we headed on over for a look…Well more than a look. This place was massive! Fish from all over was represented. After taking some snap shots. We queued up for one of the many eating places inside the market…We ordered the fish feeding frenzy for 10…because it had a little of everything…Shell fish and not so shell fish.
After that I needed to take a nap or take a walk. Christina and I walked across the Harbor Bridge….There that did the trick. Time to eat again. We met back up with Carolyn and had dinner with friends at an Italian place in Kings Cross, I had the Lamb…Yum-O.

Are they taking applicants for the “Biggest Loser” yet?

Day 5 Oz…

4/20/2009

It’s raining today too…
Up at 6AM for our trek to the Blue Mountains, the guide company Blue Mountain picked us up at 7:30 just up the road from our B&B. Our guide “Jim” was really knowledgeable on Australian History, I learned so much…who knew. Once we got to the Blue Mountains we spotted our first Kangaroos feeding on some grass. After spending about fifteen minutes with the Roos we then drove over to Wentworth Falls. Because of the heavy weather it was difficult to see, but after waiting for a few minutes the clouds would pass and we good get a peek at the falls and the valley below. After the falls we then drove over to the railway which took you down to the bottom of the rain forest. There were stairs to the bottom but we thought it would be neat to take the rail. Well the rail went straight down like a roller coaster…didn’t expect that since you just sit in a seat with no safety device. Once in the rain forest you walk on this very slippery board walk. After Carolyn fell twice, she went back up to the top. It was very dark in the rain forest which made for crappy photos, so don't expect magic from me. On our return to the top of the canyon we rode the sky tram...nice view from there. Two hour drive back to Sydney then a nice dinner at the Royal Hotel...tried.

Day 4 Oz…

4/19/2009

It’s raining. We took the bus down to the harbor then over to the Rocks market. The Rocks is where the first ships carrying England’s convicts landed. But first we had a little lunch at an Italian restaurant “ Zia Pina”. Australia doesn’t have food that they really call there own, so there is a lot of food from other countries. After stimulating Australia’s economy, we popped into an Irish Pub for a bit of afternoon music. Well afternoon turned into 9PM so we walked up the street to get a bite to eat. The chef made me a special Pizza that was out of this world. Early to bed tonight tomorrow we have to get up early.

Day 3 Oz…

4/18/2009

Off to the Paddington market, our B&B is in a great location we can walk just about anywhere. There was your usual weekend market with local jewelry and knickknacks. I had my first of many sausages, and it was tasty. After the market we met up with Mark at the Olympic Hotel for some pre Football libations. After picking up my Swans cap we took our seat for the football (Footy) game. Australian Football is a lot different than the American kind. When you first see it its kind of funny, all these guys running around throwing the ball to each other. After a while I got the jest of it and started to get more into the game. Another thing that is different is the fans, there’s no trash talking between the opposing fans, everyone is so nice to each other. After the game the crowd of football fans spill into the pubs, as did we. They sure like to drink here.

Day 2 Oz…

4/17/2009

Today we went sailing in Sydney Harbor with our B&B hosts and it was excellent!!! We are so lucky to have had this experience because we have stayed in other B&B’s and never had this sort of thing offered to us. After a day sailing we took the bus over to the Oaks Pub to meet up with some of Carolyn’s friends. The Oaks is one of the grandest pubs I’ve even seen, it’s a Disneyland of drinking! With a really nice garden that you can cook your own food on there really nice BBQ, this place was jammed packed, I heard they do about $60,000AU a day…Gotta open a bar here.

Day 1 Oz…

4/16/2009

After breakfast we went for a walk-about…Actually we took the bus, to the Sydney Aquarium. This it the first time I’ve been to one of these things, you actually walk under water without getting wet. Most of the theme of the place was “Finding Nemo”, kind of geared more towards kids. None the less it was really cool. After the Aquarium experience we walked to the oldest Hotel in Sydney, actually it’s not a hotel, it’s a Pub. Had a lovely meal and walked over to Sydney’s most famous piece of architecture, the opera house. You’ve all seen pictures of the place, well they just don’t do it justice, and it’s pretty grand. Christina has been in Sydney for a week and suggested we stick around to see it in the dark all lit up. After taking some night shots of the Opera House (gotta start traveling with a tripod) we met back up with Christina’s sister Carolyn at an Irish Pub just up from there. There a two piece Irish band belting out drinking songs. One thing I noticed about the Pubs here is that they don’t tolerate being drunk. If they feel you’ve had one to many, they toss you out and if you resist they call the cops, then it’s a $5500.00AU fine. Ouch!!!

I leave…

Arrived at LAX at the appropriate time, when I checked in at QF they gave me a whole row of seats so I was able to sleep, pretty much the whole way here…which was nice.
Also what make’s it nice was its night time the whole way here I arrived at six in the morning. When I arrived and turned on my mobile phone it did not work, apparently I don’t have a G3 phone (time to upgrade)…but no biggie. I just bought a Sim card at the airport and was back in business. Trying to call Christina was fun, finally got it on the eighteenth try. After a short taxi ride to the B&B I met up with Christina and her sister.

Do you believe in Magic...

My Magic Underpants are packed and I’m ready for the trip down unda. Don’t know how often I’ll have access to the net. So don’t expect daily reports.

Gregory’s Girl…

Have you ever seen this gem, well if you haven’t here’s a summary; In his Scottish New Town home, gangling Gregory and his school friends are starting to find out about girls. He fancies Dorothy, not least because she has got into the football team - and is a better player than him. He finally asks her out, but it is obviously the females in control of matters here, and that very much includes Gregory's younger sister. Anyway, Gregory ends up on a date with three different girls on the same night and each time he passes his friends, they say “There must be something in the air” Well there must have been something in the air last night. Gil and I went to see Yonder Mountain String Band at the House of Everything but Blues on Sunset. On the way there was no traffic, so we arrived kind of early, before the doors opened. With about an hour to kill we went across the street to the Saddle Ranch, as soon as we passed though the doors the bartender was already asking us for our drink order. We were looking for a place to sit around the bar but it was crowded with only a few open spots, as we circled the bar the bartender followed us until we found an open seat, there was only one open seat so I sat and we ordered, a few seconds later another guy comes with a bar stool and put it down for Gil…What service! After one drink we wanted to seat at a table to get something to eat, the place was packed and it didn’t look as if we could be seated, no problem for the Saddle Ranch staff they made room for us. After ordering the Manager came by to check on us and if he could do anything for us…Weird. A little while later another Manager comes by and asked us the same. I looked to see if he was going to other tables but he wasn’t. I’m thinking they must think we are going to steal something or we are someone famous…“There must be something in the air”. Back at the HOB we sat at the up stairs bar until the show started. When we got down stairs all the good viewing spaces were crowded so we stood to the right of stage by the bar…of coarse. There were lots of tall people but I could see around them okay. All of a sudden this guy with an ear piece thingy comes up to us and asks if we want to sit in the Foundation/VIP section…“There must be something in the air”
What a great show, those boy can really rock, to bad Honey Bunny was not there she would of really like it…A lot! I wish more of my friends liked YMSB.

I'm leaving on a Jet Plane...

In a week or so I’m heading out on my next big adventure. I’m going to Australia and New Zealand. So stay tuned to this blog for updates from across the Pacific. I will be joining Christina and her sister in Sydney on the 15th… Should be a lot of FUN!!!
I conceder myself an experienced traveler, so here are a few tips in packing light…Some of which may seem controversial.

Tip number one;
When packing toiletries only bring a tooth brush. Most hotels and B&B’s provide soap
and Shampoo/Conditioner. I see nothing wrong with the stuff, but some of you may
Think otherwise. Also if you are traveling with a large group you can use there
Shampoo.

I’ll post tips though out the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Sometimes my job is cool…

On Tuesday 03/10/2009 I had the job of helping “Kanpei” the most famous comedian in all of Japan in to the United States. After two and a half months at sea he arrived at Parkers Lighthouse in Long Beach on a small sailboat. And that’s not even the end of his journey. Kanpei is sailing and running around the PLANET, he’s doing this to draw attend to Japan as a host for the 2016 Olympic game. This campaign is going to take him almost three years to complete. He is running Long Beach to New York, then sail from NY to Europe. Running across Europe to China is going to take a year in it’s self…My feet are killing me just thinking about it…did I mention Kanpei is 60.

Super Bowl Party

 

Thank you everyone that attended our party, it was a real neat time.