In Memoriam

Lost my best friend Kim five years ago today.

FREEDOM!

Exactly one week ago today, I was summarily dismissed from my job duties.

Boohoo?

No, more like Booyah!

Ah, the luxury of time. I now have as much time as I need to really develop my rally as well as several other projects that had been stalled because of, well, work getting in the way.

So far, this week has been a double layer cake made of win slathered with victory frosting. Keep an eye on this blog.

Sorry, I can't hear you over how awesome this is

The gentleman pictured above drove into Hyder, Alaska at 4:48pm Pacific time today. This may not sound impressive at first, but consider that Dave Schaub started driving his 1932 Ford hot rod roadster on September 9th, 2009, and managed to drive through all 49 continental United States in just nine days. That's right. Nine days. And he did it all to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. In case you're unfamiliar with the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, it's a place where children with life-threatening illnesses can have a home-away-from-home and be surrounded by a supportive community while receiving specialized treatment at local hospitals. Dave Schaub has managed to raise $74,981.37 so far for the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, and I'm dedicating this post to celebrating his amazing journey, his safe arrival in Hyder, Alaska, and the amazing effort he's put into raising funds for his charity. He's still a bit short in reaching his $100,000 goal, but I'm sure he'll make that once more people learn about his trip. If you want to help Dave reach his $100,000, please click here.

You can also read more about Dave and his journey by clicking on the link on the left. They will be offering some items commemorating his drive, like the T-shirt above, with all proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. Dave still has to drive his roadster back to California, but at least he won't be on a such a tight timetable.

Congratulations, Dave, you're a tough act to follow.

Driving around the world would be easier with a new engine

Since I began this endeavor to drive around the planet in a Geo Metro 2 years ago, I've done all manner of things to the nearly dead carcass I found rotting away in Watsonville. Rocinante has gotten a new paint job, new seats from a Saturn, a roof rack, a stereo, new tires, a ruggedized interior, and a rebuilt head. Now, it seems, it's time to really take things to another level and replace the old (and now dying) engine with a quality rebuild. Things took a turn for the worse last week when I noticed a substantial drop in power. As I suspected, cylinder 2 isn't quite holding compression, and I suspect either a burned valve or some serious ring blowby. At first it seemed to be a spark plug wire shorting against the block, but after changing all the wires, the problem didn't go away. A compression check told me that the cylinder wasn't holding pressure and it that it is now time for a new powerplant under the hood.

Fortunately, three cylinder engines for this car are relatively inexpensive and can be bought online. What I was lacking was a garage and a person with superior mechanical skills who could act as a mentor to help me to get the old engine out and the new one in. Chris Normile, who was responsible for all the mechanical upgrades to Rocinante so far and had planned to be my co-driver had the gall to get married and have a kid so he's traded his workshop for a nursery and shan't be driving around the world with me in a tiny car until his son is out of college.

Luckily a chance meeting with an on-site ergonomics specialist solved not only the problems of my poor posture and potential for repetitive injury, she also happens to be married to an ace mechanic whose current obsession is competing in the 24 Hours of LeMons endurance race. After she spotted a small poster of the Rocinante and Hoa Hele and I explained the mad journey I planned, she suggested that I get in contact with her husband Jim, who might be willing to help me.

I called him, and much to my surprise, he offered to not only help, but act as a mentor to guide me through putting a new engine into Rocinante.

I feel very fortunate to have Jim on my side. Later on next month I plan on having the engine delivered. And then the real work begins.

test

Another test of the ARL NorthAm blogging system, this time through my Yahoo account linked to the HTC. After a long day playing with liquid nitrogen, I plan to have dinner here.

Not down and not out...ever?

Ah, my trusty G'zOne phone. I've put this phone into situations that would turn most other phones into useless piles of e-waste. Great com device but not the best at blogging. I'm sure I'll still be using indestructo-phone to blog pics and short messages from places the HTC dare not go. I love this phone so much that I have another one, new in the box, awaiting the first's destruction, which may not happen anytime soon; perhaps not in my lifetime. A legacy for my grandchildren, if CDMA networks still exist in the future.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime 6.5 or higher is required.

New mobile blogging device - Online!

As cool as indestructo-phone is, it suffered from two problems that kept me from unrestrained blogging while out and exploring. One was the lack of a proper QWERTY keyboard. You can only tap out messages on a numeric keypad before it gets really old, and it did so very quickly. The other reason was the lack of international usability, which would have come in very handy the last time I was overseas. So I begrudgingly got a new smart phone, the HTC Ozone, that has both of these features. I am quickly becoming fond of the little guy as it makes blogging on the go a true mobile experience. Oftentimes in the past I'd want to blog on the spot to take advantage of the spontaneity of the moment, and it was a major pain to wait until I could get to my computer and a connection to post something. With all that can happen between that blog-worthy moment and when I got to a keyboard, I'd be lucky to remember a third of the details. I hope this little tool makes my postings a little more interesting, and I won't have to rely completely on my memory to get details right.

Still, I wish they would come out with a Mil-Spec MIL-STD-810F version. I guess no blogging from my canoe out in the middle of the San Francisco Bay unless my Ozone is in a drybag.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime 6.5 or higher is required.

Testing new mobile blogging device.

Aahh...Paris

I decided that while I was on this side of the Atlantic I was going to take my last weekend of vacation to visit Paris. I hopped on a Eurostar train at the St. Pancras International Train Station in London and a couple of hours later I'm now in Paris.

My first impression of the city was from a bus trying to find my hotel as I sort of knew where it was but really didn't. I ended up seeing most of Paris from a bus and it was an impromptu introduction. I now know where the monuments are (sort of) and I've also been very lucky to know an old friend who happens to be a tour guide. I'm off this morning to tour the city and I'll be back to blog more.

That's the problem with travel blogging: sometimes you're off seeing the world and there's hardly any time to post after a hard day's work of walking the city. And it is hard work. I've probably walked more in the last 7 days than all the previous weeks this year. And you wonder why people on this side of the Atlantic seem to be so slim.

London Naadam, Launch of the 2nd Charity Rally to Mongolia

The Launch today was a complete success, and I got to meet several of the ralliers going off to Mongolia today. Right now, I'm completely tired at the moment after spending the day setting up for the London Naadam, seeing the rally vehicles off, and then spending the evening drinking pints to celebrate a successful launch. After that, a few the Charity Rallies Trustees and I went to a boxing match featuring a Mongolian boxer. To finish the evening off, we had a couple more pints near Charing Cross and then we called it a night.

Jetlagged and tired I'm finally going to sleep. It's 3am here. More tomorrow...

A New Personal Record, Back in the UK, I Meet Team Grand Canyon 2

I'm now back in the UK! The last 24 hours have been extremely busy for me as I've gone from being on the bay in California to blogging from a hotel room in London.

The first 2 hours of the last 24 were spent moving the Hoa Hele to a friend's house near the marina where we normally practice. Instead of going straight to storing the canoe, I decided this morning that I would get some paddling time in before I went off to London. I got on to the water this morning and it was perfect out there, the kind of conditions that make you want to stay out all day. As I was watching the planes come in for their landings at Oakland Airport, I decided then and there that I would set the bar for myself in the "Most Transportation Vehicles in 24 Hours" category.

Seeing as I started the 24 hour clock by taking the Hoa Hele out, I'll count travel by outrigger canoe as number one.

As I was putting her away, John, whose backyard was to serve as dry dock for the Hoa Hele while I was gone, offered to drive me to the airport. A generous offer, as I was running late by taking a run out into the bay.

I got to my plane a little over an hour after he dropped me off and I was off and flying to LAX on a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 to catch my connecting flight to Heathrow Airport. I watched as the California coast scrolled past my window to Los Angeles. John's Subaru is transportation vehicle number two, the MD-80 number three.

Once in Los Angeles, and facing a 4 hour layover until I could get onto my flight to the UK, I met my sister who picked me up in her Toyota FJ, vehicle number four. I had a nice California burger before heading back to LAX to catch a Boeing 777 to London Heathrow.

Once on the 777, vehicle number five, I met up with an American team participating in the Charity Rally this year, Team Grand Canyon 2. Jeff and Art bought a Landrover Discovery to make their way through to Ulaanbaatar. On the way they'll hit all the 'stans and Iran and will be tackling the Pamir Highway, the famed road to Dushanbe. We had a good time talking and when we disembarked, they were nice enough to sneak me through the "invite only" passport line where it took mere minutes to get processed and into the UK proper. From there it was off to the London Underground.
Since I had some experience dealing with the tube, I helped Jeff and Art out by getting them maps and showing how to read the London Tube map. To the unitiated, the London Tube system map can be a source of anxiety, until you realize just how brilliant it is.


Once on their way, Jeff and Art made their long trip to retrieve their vehicle. I'll have more about them when I meet up with them tomorrow and get the rundown on their vehicle. I took the Picadilly line further to Holborn. The Tube train is vehicle number six. Once I got off, I had to take the number 55 double decker bus to my hotel in Bakers Arms, making it vehicle number seven. It took about twenty minutes and puts me in North London, a few miles within Islington where the Rally starts. I got checked into my hotel, and found the accommodations kind of scary. It's adequate enough, however there's a raging case of mold growing in the shower stall. I made the joke online that its probably more afraid of me than I am of it.

It's afraid...it's afraid!

Aside from the scary mold, I'm glad to be back in the UK, and I look forward to meeting the rest of the teams this evening and tomorrow at the Naadam Festival in Highbury Fields. After 7 different kinds of transport and running all over the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and London, I'm ready for some sleep. Hopefully I won't be too terribly jetlagged and I'll be coherent within a couple of days.

Off to London Tomorrow

I'm off to London tomorrow afternoon to participate in and help launch the Mongolian Charity Rally from Highbury fields, something I didn't get to do last year. I'll get to meet some of the brave souls making their way across two continents to bring useful vehicles to Mongolia. Last year, Charlie Hogg and his co-driver Matthew Burgum drove a fully loaded ambulance to Mongolia, where it is now fulfilling its duties as an emergency vehicle at International Children’s Centre Nairamdal.

Turning the Ambulance over to the charity.
Photo courtesy Charity Rallies.

International Children’s Centre Nairamdal.
Photo courtesy НАЙРАМДАЛ.

I'm looking forward to meeting more ralliers and see the cars that will be tackling the 10,000 mile journey east to Mongolia. Additionally, since they will be launching from the London Naadam Festival, I'll get to meet and talk to Mongolians and sample their food, archery competitions, wrestling, and I may even try Airag, fermented mare's milk - if there's some around.

2008 Naadam Celebration at Highbury Fields.
Photo courtesy Liz Bartlett.

24 hours to go before I step out my door towards London.

Fourth of July

Kaimanu spent the 4th this year raising money for the club by selling shave ice at the City of San Pablo Fourth of July Family Day. Much fun was had shaving ice into tiny flakes, flavoring it with syrup, and providing some relief from the heat for the patrons. Seizing the opportunity to do some PR and push my trip and maybe get some donations and perhaps some sponsors interested, I had Rocinante and Hoa Hele there on display. I spent a lot of the day explaining where I was going with trip and why I was doing it. It's kind of hard to miss the Hoa Hele and it attracted quite a few people over to our booth. After the day was done and night fell, we celebrated the birth of our country by blowing things up and making a lot of noise. It was perfect weather for the fireworks show and it provided a nice backdrop for the Hoa Hele and Rocinante.A few days from now I leave for London to celebrate another national holiday when the Mongolian Charity Rally launches from the Naadam Celebration in Highbury fields. I'll try to blog daily while I'm over in the UK and I'll be asking lots of questions of the ralliers participating this year in preparation for my own big drive.

Paddling Weather Finally Here

It was actually Summer out on the Bay today so I got up early and took the Hoa Hele out for a spin using the camera on Indestructo-phone to take some photos and a short video clip.

Hoku is too damned smart for her own good

I came home from work yesterday to find that Hoku, my dog, had opened the refrigerator and eaten half a loaf of bread, a pound of baloney, a jar of peanut butter, all of the pepperoni, and an apple. To add insult to injury, she had left the door open, letting all my beer get warm and tepid. I was hoping to have a cold one after a long week, but alas, I was thwarted by my canine companion.

Hoping to thwart her, I made a trip this morning to Pagano's Hardware Store here on the island and bought a child safety interlock to keep Hoku out of my food and keep my precious beers cold. Seeming to know what I was about to do, she came to the kitchen and started barking at me. I had my camera handy and snapped her photo as I taunted her with the device.
Showing no sympathy for her, I installed the child-lock. Afterwards, she looked like she understood this to be the end of her gluttonous afternoon binges and looked on with despondent resignation, knowing she'd have to grow thumbs and walk upright if she wanted to get more free baloney.Haha! Human 1, Canine 0.