Starting To Think About The Next Ride West

It all begins by looking back at previous trips and letting my mind wander.The plan forms and then I see a way forward. Well now it’s October of 2014 and I had somehow managed to get on track with my work and am able to fly out to Las Vegas, rent a car, head south to Kingman Arizona, and begin a two week trip with Celia all over this part of the word. We wanted to check out Kingman to see if we could live here but it really didn’t suit us so after two days looking around we headed out across the Mojave Desert to Joshua Tree National Park. It was a long day of driving across the desert but really interesting. I stopped often to take pictures and the rental car had good AC so it wasn’t bad at all even though it was around 100 degrees F outside.At the end of the day we were here at the entrance of Joshua Tree Nat. Park Where we would spend the next two days exploring.

After a good nights sleep we headed into the park to explore. What a great place this is. As we hiked around we found all sorts of cool places. Incredible rock formations, beautiful plants, long distance views, a spring where we saw some birds, it was really nice. Took so many photos it’s hard for me to decide which ones to put in here. It’s 2025 and as I look at all these photos I’m transported back into 2014. It’s motivating me to get busy and start prepping for a trip back out here. Been talking about going with my friend Ron in a truck with our motorcycles in tow behind us next year in the Fall of 2026. Ah, planning another adventure. I’ll be 77 fucking years old then ! Hey, may as well go for it if I’m still in this world. It helps that I’ve been out here before. On the 2014 trip it was mid October and still hot as hell so it will be a bit later in the year for the next trip out so riding will be enjoyable. You know, the plan now is to use a truck and camp here and there for days at a time while exploring the area on motorcycles. A bit more civilized than the way I used to go on the bike lugging all my shit behind me on the seat and luggage rack.That was fun when I was younger but too damn hard now. So, here are some photos of this wonderful national park.

So it looks like this winter I'll be working on a bike to use for this trip.I think it will be my 1971 Yamaha R5 350cc 2 stroke twin.As I get old it's easier to ride than the Moto Guzzi and definately easier to tow being a couple hundred lbs lighter.

Back In The Saddle

Well I actually stayed in the saddle but didn't go out as much as usual as I waited to heal up after hitting that deer. I rode a few days after the encounter with the deer but kept my rides short to give myself plenty of time to heal up. Did a brake job on my little Chevy S10 yesterday and been working in the garden. Life goes on. Went through my inventory and gathered all the parts I'll need to fix my bike and who knows what I'll find at the bike show & swap meet this coming weekend.I'm a lucky guy!This is what I was thinking this morning as I rolled down the road on my 1975 Moto Guzzi 850-T . The other day I was on my 71 Yamaha R5 Life has been pretty good to me in these 76 years I've been here on Planet Earth.

The Battle With The Buck

This morning, July 5th I got all ready to take my 1965 Yamaha YDS3 out for a ride. It was a beautiful morning for a ride and after having my last cup of coffee off I went. Got about 2 minutes into the ride when this huge deer ran out of the woods right in front of me about 10 feet away. I hit it going between 35 and 40 mph and went down hard. The bike left me and slid over into the other lane as I slid along the road to a stop next to the deer. The deer died in under a minute and I got bad road rash on both of my forearms and one hand and both knees . People stopped Some guy from the fire dept wanted to get the ambulance and I said no. That would cost a couple thousand bucks and then there would be thousands more for the ER. Been there done that. I knew I was ok . I was thinking straight. I was able to lift the bike up and once I did that a guy helped me roll it to the shoulder of the road. The cops showed up. I told him what happened and that I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. There were no other people or cars involved so it was my call. I was real close to home so I called my wife. She came and the cop left. I got the bike running and rode it home with my wife following me and blood dripping down my arms and one hand. Put it away in the garage and went inside and showered. Boy did that hurt! Got all the wounds real clean with soap and hot water then put anti biotic cream on everything before bandaging it all up and here I am 2 hours later sitting here in my chair all fucked up but OK ! The deer died and I rode home so I fucking won. It was painful that night and I got no sleep.The next day I went to this urgent care place and let them check out the wounds.I had done a good job on them and all was well.They gave me a tetanus shot and bandaged it all up again.Told me to go to this Wound care thing.I decided to deal with it on my own and last night I took all the bandages off like they told me to do after two days.I did it in the shower so I could get the stuck ones off without hurting myself any more than I already was.Let it air dry after a good long wash out in the shower with soap & water, put lots of Neosporin on it all and re-bandaged it.Now its starting to heal up and doing pretty good.Changing the dressing daily at this point and it's all good.I got real bad road rash on both arms but other than that I came through it ok. So,here I sit dead in the water. The bike came through it pretty well too.It will need paint work on the white part of the gas tank and some body parts. The chrome work was undamaged so it's all fixable without too much effort. Here are some photos of the bike and what road rash looks like. It looks nasty and it is but things happened so fast my brain couldn't process it so there was no fear or pain. It was a blank from the instant after I saw the deer to coming to a stop on the road next to this big deer. I hit it straight on while on the gas getting ready to shift into 5th gear. The impact slowed me down really fast and is why I wasn't hurt much worse.I was probably only going 10 or 15 mph when I hit the ground and the bike took off on it's own. It's always something !

And here we are in the middle of August.I'm riding , all healed up , and thinking about heading over to PA to the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet. Life goes on

Tomorrow, a new beginning I hope

Today is JUNE 13TH and tomorrow is the No Kings Day protests all over America .We get a train into NYC and head to Bryant Park around mid day and it begins. Should be an interesting day and I’m hoping peaceful as well. From what I’m reading there will be over 2000 protests going on all across America tomorrow to counter Donald Dump’s birthday bash being held in DC at tax payer expense. The nerve of this convicted felon. Well, with some luck we’ll put him in his place and start the tide turning against his fascist vision for America. Today I’m hopeful even though the state of Israel is on the brink of starting WWIII with the blessings of this fool we have as a president.I'm certain he'll make money on it somehow because that's all he's really about. He doesn't give a rat's ass about anything else but power and money for himself and his dirtbag friends.

Time To Start Writing Again

There are riots in Los Angeles over this asshole Trump’s deportation policies and his fascist agenda in general. So I write about what could very well be the beginnings of a second civil war in America. It sure looks like this is what this fool wants. What I’m seeing is his desire to crush any opposition to him or his policies just like Hitler did in the early 1930’s in Germany. First it was the Jews ( today it’s the illegal aliens) then it was political opponents and intellectuals, ( Trump is going after foreign students and schools like Harvard), protesters are being demonized. No one is safe except the mindless idiots who blindly follow this fool. It’s scary .I’m watching Los Angeles closely this week as the Hispanic community is being attacked by the police, national guard, and possibly even the US military like this fool has suggested he will use if he thinks it’s necessary. I have a bad feeling about where this is heading and I’m going into the city on Saturday to protest. I wonder how many good Americans are going to die because of this fascist asshole. I have the feeling it will be many before it’s over and we get our country back from these dirt bags. So, the next few pages will be political in nature as I go to the 50501 protest in NYC this Saturday and whatever else comes along as it ramps up and turns into a real battle. I have a feeling this is going to be on a scale even larger than the civil rights movement and the anti Viet Nam war movements combined. This time we are fighting for our liberties as a country against these entitled fascist billionaires and their all powerful corrupt corporations. I see it getting like the IRA vs the English if this fool is allowed to continue on this path. So, going forward for a while it will be this crap rather than the usual crap about cars , motorcycles, art,the woods, my travels, and so on.Well,it's interesting times we are living in anyway.I have been writing, just not here.I've been working on a bio and have around 275 pages with text and photos .I took much from here and used it in the pdf I'm doing. It's a long term project I've had this love/hate relationship with for around 15 years now. Maybe someday I'll publish it here or not. It's probably not of much interest to anyone who didn't know me from way back when I was a wild, out of control kid in total rebelion. These days there are serious issues to write about as they unfold before our eyes. So,now I'm back. Rode on my 1969 Yamaha DS6C today and enjoyed being on a 2 stroke again. Been talking with a guy I know about heading out west together. Exploring the options. Thinking about trucking the bikes across and just riding where we feel like riding rather all the way there and back. Can do that in a truck and save the wear and tear on the bikes and ourselves . Like I said, options like this one. This week I'm getting a bed cap for my 2000 Chevy S10 pick up.Then a hitch and a bike trailer. My mind is working and the ideas are flowing ! Sure hope Trump's bullshit doesn't get in the way and ruin this. Life Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness is what it's all about for me.

As Los Angeles gets terrorized by the federal government and riots break out as it grows and spreads to other cities this is Trump’s plan on making America great again! Great for who? The man is a fascist pig who has been convicted of a felony in New York State and has slipped out of the law’s hands and into the White House. IMPEACH THIS SOB ! “We’re not going anywhere. This isn’t about safety. This is about control,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who was born in Mexico. “Fear is the tactic, silence is the goal. This is not about immigration. This is about domination of all of our communities.” This guy hit the nail on the head. There are support protests all over the country and this Saturday there is the 50501 GO TO ONE NEAR YOU !!!

Playing With My Art

Over the weekend I found this old MacBook laptop With an operating systen that is at least 15 years old packed away in my basement. It's OSX 10.6.8 and totally unsuported It can't even bring up the internet well enough to use email. So I decided to try an old photoshop program I had from way back when and IT WORKED ! So now I have a computer I can use to do photo edditing and to play with my art.After getting it up and running I decided to make a digital piece out of an abstract painting I did a couple years ago to take it for a test ride. So,here it is. I call it "Digital Abstract Stream "

And this one is Three Trees:

Los Angeles

 It's unbelievable what is happening and the speed that it is happening at. Climate change is at work here just like last summer in Ashville, up in Northern NY at my camp, Florida and other places down south, and now Los Angeles just to name a few. There is nowhere one can run to be safe from it and that's starting to become clear to many people. The ignition cause was probably human, caused by some idiot no doubt but the conditions that let it grow into this monster are climate change in action. Back in 2010 I saw a preview of this up in British Columbia Canada when I was riding my motorcycle there. There were over 500 fires burning and heavy smoke for hundreds of miles from them .

These were taken on a cloudless sunny day hundreds of miles from the actual fires. It was a sneak preview of things to come for sure.But the rich corporations owned by the greed driven oligarchs who own everything including the government of the US have a different idea of how things should go. Drill Baby Drill and make as many babies as you can so we have plenty of dumbed down consumers going forward into the future. You know, in 1949 when I was born there were roughly 2.5 BILLION humans on Earth today the number is upwards of 8 BILLION and growing. It's all related and connected to their sick greedy agenda. It's a very sad state of affairs in the world today and it's just beginning. I painted this when I returned from that trip on my motorcycle back in 2010

And now Los Angeles burns and the whole process of global climate change ramps up. I was reading the news on the Associated Press site the other day when I saw a photo my old friend Richard Vogel shot in Santa Monica of a surfer catching a wave as the fires burned out of control near by. Richard is a very talented photographer for the AP. Here is a link to the article.

https://apnews.com/article/california-los-angeles-wildfires-photos-8c2f2767b3722ccbb98d6e78a563c1f4

I can't wrap my mind around the fact that all this is happening and most people aren't all that upset about it and mobilizing to put an end to this. Just like when Occupy Wall Street happened the corporations trough their lackeys the politicians  and the police co-opt and marginalize the opposition to their greed motivated agendas. I'm glad I'm old. It's gonna get real ugly here on planet Earth real soon. This is just the beginning.

Here is another link to some people who are actually fighting the good fight against this madness

https://revbilly.com/podcast/?source=152-fire&link_id=4&can_id=d72a930c8d8dcd73e4fcacd7eb4cc572&email_referrer=email_2583175&email_subject=earth-riot-radio-152-the-fire-edition-from-creation-to-crisis