Marching across bridges - with a motorcycle and a cell phone.

Several quotes come to my mind when I think of bridges. 

Some which make me ponder and smile..

"We build too many walls, but not enough bridges." - Isaac Newton

"Fear builds walls instead of bridges. I want a life of bridges, not walls!" - Lisa Wingate

I love both of these quotes, it is so much easier to build walls, than bridges, but walls take you nowhere, and neither do they show you what's on the other side. :-)

.. and others which leave me conflicted..

"A bridge has no allegiance to either side." - Les Coleman.

“The wisdom of bridges comes from the fact that they know the both sides, they know the both shores!” - Mehmet Murat Ildan.

"The fate of bridges is to be lonely; because bridges are to cross not to stay." - Mehmet Murat Ildan. 

It leaves me conflicted because here we have philosophers opining that one's fate is to be lonely, unless one picks a side. Knowing both sides is not enough, is this akin to sitting on a fence (wall)? Are bridges then in some sense also like a wall?

.. and yet others which make me scratch my head and go - What the heck! ;-)

"I can almost understand why people leap from bridges." - Charles Bukowski.

I will cross that bridge, when I come to it, I suppose, which I hope is never! :-D

I did, however, cross many other bridges in March, another fun theme in the scavenger hunt called the Big Money Rally. I am as competitive a person as any other, and this rally demands a lot of one's time and attention to stay competitive, especially if you are handicapped by the demands and responsibilities of work, which limits your riding to the weekends only. The landscape of the rally leader's board changes constantly, and a couple missed riding weekends will sink you into oblivion. I haven't been carrying my Panasonic bridge camera with me while I have been rallying, barring a few exceptions. This rally relies mainly and solely on cell phones to take and submit pictures, so most of the images have been cell phone pictures, save a few. I doubt these images will stand up to scrutiny on a larger canvas, but they do muster acceptability (barely), for mere blogging purposes.

Pedestrian bridge over the Yuba River.

Recollections of February.

February was a Big Money month. Big Money Rally that is, maybe it's called that because it causes you to spend Big Money on tires, maintenance, fuel and lodging as you crisscross the countryside on a scavenger hunt for points, scored by finding and photo-documenting certain bonus locations, which fall into several themes, different each year it has been run. This year's themes include libraries, Whole Foods stores, post offices, certain monuments and a 'Been Everywhere' theme which takes inspiration from and creatively interprets the Johnny Cash song into bonuses scattered across the country. Since the rally is mainly structured as a touring rally and the bonuses more often than not lead you off the beaten path, the Big Money Rally also brings big rewards, in the form of big fun and big smiles and discovering new roads and new places, one may not visit otherwise.

Points fever started the very first day of February. A zigzag trip down central California, visiting the heart of the farm lands of California (which feeds the rest of the state, yet is largely ignored and forgotten in the cesspool of the State Capitol), ending up in Bakersfield by sun down - for the last bonus of the day. 

Some pictorial highlights from January.

It has been a busy start to the year. Work has picked up steam since returning from the holidays, picked up quite a bit actually, but at least they are letting me have my weekends to myself, and I have been doing my best to spend them well, indulging in my hobbies. 

I have taken some day and weekend trips around California and I have been playing a picture tag game called the "Big Money Rally" with a lot of my motorcycle riding friends. No, there is no "big money" involved in this sport, just big miles and big smiles and it was conjured as just another excuse to keep riding this Winter and share your fun with your friends. It seems so far that a lot of my motorcycle riding this Winter and well into Spring, will revolve around this rally. It becomes quite addictive once you get into the friendly competitive spirit, the unquenchable thirst for points keeps driving you to ride more and score more points. I am having fun with it so far.

I wanted to share with you some pictures that I have taken, whilst out and about this month. I will keep it pithy and try to let the pictures along with their captions spell the majority of the prose for me. 

Monarch Butterflies in Pacific Grove, CA. This Butterfly town has a tiny park which serves as a sanctuary to these exquisite creatures. 

Fall Colors at a vineyard in the Sierra Foothills

On a Sunday afternoon, I found myself with nothing to do. The forecast was calling for the sudden arrival of winter like weather on Monday, with overnight drops in max/min temperatures of at least 10 degrees. This Fall, I hadn't yet taken the time to go leaf peeping anywhere in the Sierras', it appeared this maybe my last chance to do so before the leafs get shed for good. 

I took a short couple hour trip into the wine country in the Sierra foothills. Found a couple of new roads I hadn't yet been on, spotted a few dastardly Deer, and saw a spattering of color in the trees amidst an overabundance of evergreens here in California.

My one and only stop was at a small vineyard/winery, I went into the tasting room to talk to the friendly folks and left a few dollars in the tip jar and got their permission to wander a bit in their vineyard. I wasn't there long, maybe 20-25 minutes or so, I wanted to be home well before the fast approaching dusk. 

I had borrowed a friend's Canon, similar to one (a couple generations newer), that I am looking to purchase to upgrade from my Panasonic. I had some trouble with the Canon, while quickly trying to figure out all the controls and had some trouble getting used to it's viewfinder, so my composition sucked, but the f1.8 lens on that Canon was beyond fantastic. My Panasonic with it's f2.8 lens paled in comparison. I am used to my Panasonic, having had it for a few years now, so the composition maybe better with the Panasonic. I leave it to the reader to figure out which picture is from which camera. 

I wanted to try some experiments comparing the bokeh from the Canon f.18 and the Panasonic's Leica f2.8 lenses. I would focus on something close-by and try to make everything-else fade away, hopefully into some kind of artistic oblivion. Honestly, I didn't have much success in my opinion. More studies are needed! Haha! :-)

Hope you enjoy these few images!

I left my heart in Big Sur.

A story of a much anticipated weekend spent on my motorcycle. Dedicating this to the memory of my friend John Ryan. I hope he would have enjoyed reading this blog post. May you Ride in Paradise John!

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Three months of motorcycle withdrawals, for someone who loves motorcycling that can prove to be quite the damper indeed. In the parts of the country which gets blessed every year with that funny white stuff which falls form the sky, sometimes in obliterating amounts, they actually have a term for it. It's called PMS or Parked Motorcycle Syndrome, so you might say I had been suffering from PMS for the past three months! My PMS was due to some other funny stuff which was going on within the bowels of the motorcycle itself. Not 100% sure the funniness has gone away completely, but for now, that seems to be the case, and hope it remains so. Knock on wood!

This was the first long-range test, relatively speaking, of the FJR since undergoing multiple investigative surgeries to root cause symptoms which had rendered it unsafe to ride. There was also this errand I had to take care of on the Central Coast, something to do with a certain amendment to the constitution, two birds with one FJR, this was going to be fun. I won't go into the details of the errand, I will just say that is for me to know and a rude shock for anyone who decides to find out. 

I was sticking to the main thoroughfares on the ride south, this was a test run after all, if I did run into bike trouble, better chances of finding help if I am not out in the sticks! If I had any hint of trouble, I had planned to return the same day and on the same route, but when 352 miles of riding produced nary a hiccup, I switched plans and headed for the coast. 

Makes me think of Finding Nemo.

Peaks and Falls - Another Anti Ride Report.

I apologize for the non-motorcycle content as of late. I would have liked to figure out a way for these non-motorcycle related posts to appear else-where, rather than the main motorcycle ride archives, which still remains the main driving force for creating this blog, but I confess, I haven't spent much time at all trying to make it happen, so please bear with me.

Motorcycling and photography continue to be my two true loves and passions, but how do you motorcycle when your trusty steed has been rendered not so trusty anymore? There is no point and no sense in not being outdoors enjoying all the sights that traveling has to offer, while you await a remedy to all that ails your two-wheeled companion. That means falling back to my backup transportation, which is no slug by comparison, even if it has 4 wheels, it still has bigger Brembo ABS brakes, traction control, and a 6 speed transmission as a conduit to a snarling motor which (through some modifications) churns out 300+ HP at the wheels. Not bad, not bad at all.. :)

What follows is another collection of photographs from a spontaneous and unplanned excursion into Northern California, to see some sights, enjoy some hikes and visit with some of my favorite people in this world. Unlike my motorcycling posts, this blog post, will be far less effusive. Writing about non-motorcycle trips doesn't quite inspire prose which bubbles from my heart and tingles my fingertips to dance on the keyboard. So like the blog post preceding this one, I will keep banter to a minimum and let the beauty of Northern California speak in it's stead. I hope you enjoy the view! :)

My favorite mountain hide-away. Mt. Shasta in a veil of silk.

Into The Unknown in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming - The Anti Ride Report.

Not really a ride report, as riding was not involved. I had initially planned on taking my motorcycle to the "Into The Unknown" LD event in Big Sky, Montana. However, reliability issues in my usually bulletproof and reliable Yamaha FJR1300, poured some very cold water over those plans. Nevertheless, I decided that staying home is not an option, so I took my oft neglected (as far as driving it is concerned), but probably also far more reliable car - my Nissan 350Z on this trip. 

As I mentioned before, this is not really a ride report, but rather a collection of images from the trip. I have discovered that while cooped up in a car, I hardly take any pictures at all. That burning flame of freedom and adventure, and the desire to freeze frame those moments of exploration for all time in a memorable photograph, somehow that flame barely flickers alive when seated inside a 'cage', no matter how gilded or how sporty! 

Instead of linking to a slideshow of pictures, what follows are the few pictures I did take, with a footnote description of each. I hope you enjoy looking at them, even if they weren't taken whilst atop a saddle. 

The Martin Hotel.

The Martin Hotel in Winnemucca, NV. A Basque style restaurant, established in 1898.