Wow… Massive Terrawolf Update…

Yep. out of almost 800 shots taken on leg 4, 110 or so have been posted up on Terrawolf for review and purchase. I’m astounded at some of the shots I didn’t think I nailed… there’s one in the Fauna gallery that blew me away when I saw it… it looks like a cow elk whispering to a bull elk… cute shot :=)

Still have a massive amount of keywording to do on my galleries, but the detail work is done for the moment, and the camera gets to take a break. That, and allowing slideshow functionality within the galleries…

Best to all! Check out the new shots at Terrawolf Photography and enjoy!

The point of the journey…

… is not to arrive. Anything can happen. – N. Peart

And I assure you, it did. What an incredibly fun ride.

4 bridge closures in my way… all after #5… well, #1… the one in Minneapolis. I had just flown over it a few hours before. After that, 3 in Utah and one in… PA? WV? Not sure exactly, but it was blocking I-70. I crossed that stateline back and forth a couple times.

Oddly, told Garmin fastest route, and the fastest route happened to be Interesting. I 67? 79? I’ll have to dig it up, but from Eastern Ohio on was high speed, full lean, fast running all the way down through the western appalachia. Fun :=) Then from Frsotburg, MD, it routed me down WV 28 to pick up 50… Nice 🙂 Yep, I just said it: Garmin got that one -right-. I’m not saying I would or wouldn’t have gotten there any faster any other way… it was just a beautiful ride hands down.

Yesterday… Well, I left North Platt, NB in Mountain Time at 7:22 am (9:22 Eastern), drove for 17 hours and 6 minutes, and arrived in London, Ohio at in Eastern time at 2:28 am, 1022 miles on the gps. 59.76 mph average speed :=) No signed reciepts and all that stuff, so I’m s.o.l. on the plate, but so what 🙂

Only one more oops… another right side drop. Yep, trying to get another picture of the bike. Yep, got some help. Yep, I was embarassed, but no damage done. 5 whole mph. The ground on the sides of the welcome signs at zion? The unpaved part? May look like dirt, but I plowed an 8 inch deep furrow with the front tire. Be warned.

And I noticed one of the warnings signs of a culture that cannot save itself from extinction… in Rocky Mountain National Park, I was driving out the NE towards Estes Park… there’s a long straight stretch. There was a rock laying in the middle of the road, traffic was reasonably light, and just ducking around it. It was a good sized rock, maybe 8-9″ across two dimensions, and 6″ or so in the third… and there was plenty of room on the right. Watched a couple bikes ride by it. Huge area to pull over though… I pulled over and picked it up, and moved it to the side of the road and off the path of traffic. So I get back on the bike, and I see a ranger/scientist type over in the meadows just down the road… other cars driving by… I hae to ask myself… how long had that been there? It was a pretty gentle slope. Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? How many drove by without stopping for 2 seconds to remove that hazard? They just drove around it and kept going. Intelligent mammals remove hazards to the community/pack. We don’t.

Well, I could go on, but for the moment, the bike is unpacked, I think… no, I -know- I need a shower… and some pictures will have to come fairly soon I suppose :=)

Best,

Mark

No updates…

I will not be making any updates unless I stay someplace with a computer…. travelling light this time. Those who need to know, have my cell phone.

See you in a couple weeks!

Mark

The Last Leg

I’m sitting here at work idly contemplating the fact that in a few short days, I will be embarking on the last leg of my cross-country meanderings… the first of what I hope will be many long distance summer excursions on the motorcycle. Sure, I’ve been on trips before, but they’ve all been under 1000 miles each way. This summer, I’ve got 9k down and 4k or so to go. My typical saturday ride, usually 5-6 hours or a few hundred miles… replaced by 12, 14, and 16 hour riding days; my 300’s replaced by legs that would, if I cared about the liscence plate, qualify me for an IBA cert had I not stopped so frequently for pictures from the saddle.

For the previous 3 months, I’ve led a dual life. For two weeks out of the month, I’ve been your more or less typical systems administrator…. I drive my car to work, spend time with my girlfriend, do my time in the office, and live a relatively mundane life. For the other two weeks, it’s been a world of winding roads, farms, mountains, valleys, elk, bison, and wolves. Half my time is sleeping under the stars, the other in hotels in town after town strung out along the highways and byways of this…. incredible… land the majority of us call home. It is as if there were two of me, the me of the body, and the me of the soul…. one trapped in the cage, one released from it to roam at will. The wolf runs fast and far…

In 5 days time, I meet the beginning of the end. I cross west over North Dakota, wind my way down through the Rockies, spend a few days wandering the parks in southern Utah, then after the Rush concert at Red Rocks, I’ll ride my last ride through -real- mountains for what may be another year… or more, if Tanzania comes calling.

What have I learned? What have I survived? How has my life been enriched by my travels? She asks me this frequently, but I have no answer. If there can be an answer to such a question. The answer I keep coming to is that when the time comes to summon the strength I gained, the peace I acheived, then the answer will be obvious.

Yet…. yet. In this downtime, this calm before the final storm, I know what is down the road. Monday morning, Aug 12th, I ride my GS back to work. a measly 75 minutes in the saddle. An empty, unladenned bike. Will I even have time to get comfortable? Will my engine even be warmed up? Will I even notice the passage of minutes instead of hours? Time will tell. Time… that thing which we all think we have, that we spend in our lives like it were pennies… a boring, day to day existence in which the only freedom you can really achieve is the choice of which toilet to use in which building.

So many hours, so many days, I listenned to the full, rich sound of my engine pulling myself and my gear up and down hills. The only truly boring days I have had were crossing the plains. Even then, the silence of one’s soul can be measured in revolutions per minute. The Soul’s salvation at the throttle’s twist.

Beware the Ides of Mark.

Will I be able to handle the return to Mundania, and re-integrate that other half of myself into normal life again? I can’t help but recall a line from Tombstone… “There is no normal life Wyatt, There’s just life.”

If only it didn’t have to end…

Routes updated

Switched part 4 up a bit (to ride beartooth again and take another crack at the tetons….) and added some more passes along the way (since they are so conveniently close!) and tossed the 4th Wolf destination into the mix… Wolf Park in Indiana.

All at the cost of 400 additional miles… bummer 🙂

Maps tacked onto the end of the existing ones. In case I change my mind. I won’t, though. I’m just like that…. only real trick? Making sure I am in time for Rush at Red Rocks… gonna be cutting it close…

Starting Part 3…

I’m going off route, going to do Lolo Pass and maybe head back into Glacier along the way and hit Logan Pass this time… will post once I get to Missoula.

Why, oh why…

..did I never, ever come here before now…. when I lived on the west coast? How come I have never heard of this place before ADV…

This place is AWESOME!

Man…. I almost… wish… the bike would break down or something. Damn BMW, sometimes a bike is perfect at the WRONG TIME! Just one more day….

Pictures? Yah, I got em. All… but… I’m only gonna put the best up, and I’m too tired to compare differences. _wOw_ what a place. I’m already in the right rythm of the weather here. I decided to camp in the Best Western tonight, after having ridden into and through Hell’s Canyon. here were only two problems… I was loaded up (flip-side: there was gravel, slow driving is a must! Load wins..) And I kept having to stop every few minutes for one breathtaking view after another. I felt like a hot shower after a long, fun ride on the bikes. I found a hot tub, a working WET sauna, and a heated pool. And a room on the front, facing the mountains.

Yes, of course my alarm is set for sunrise :=)

Pictures will illustrate at a slightly better time!

Mark

Just a quicky

Checking in from Dallas, Oregon. MacKenzie pass was closed to 20 foot snow drifts. Good ride otherwise, but bloody cold in the passes. Bit of rain, but weather in Bend was awesome… great pictures taken, more to come.

Advice is to ignore weather “possibilities’ and hit Hell’s Canyon, so I’m going along with the plan. At least I can point fingers if I go down:P

Will only be able to update a couple nmore times… in sandpoint, and in missoula. Unless someone put a cell phone tower in the middle of nowhere.

Round 2…

Looks like it’s time…. NorCal, Oregon Coast, Cascades, Columbia River Gorge, Hell’s Canyon, Sawtooth Mountains, Cabinet Mountains, and Glacier NP…. The transit days are over for the moment, the exploration begins!

I’m a bit apprehensive at this point about the possibility of rain in Hell’s Canyon. Mud and Annakee’s don’t really go together. We’ll see… but I’m ready to give it the old college try…

At any rate, my bags are packed, I’m ready to go… and on the way to the airport after work.

Best,

Mark