Tuesday, January 26, 2010

More Baja de California, Mexico

After a long final day of acquiring Mexican insurance and gearing up in Yuma, we finally got the hell out of dodge. We still didn't hit the border until nightfall but we were bound and determined to spend a full final day of '09 in a sweet place so we drove until the wee hours all the way to San Felipe. Long night drives south of the border bring back the memories. A cold balena of XX between my legs sure helped.



The cursed topes... speed bumps from hell.

This is the place: El Malecon de San Felipe.

The North Side of South




Somewhere in Nevada.



Walkin the Vegas beat: stretching our legs after a long
push in the Tortuga.

Outside Caesar's Palace.

Kian's loader with cousin Naomi.


Monday, January 25, 2010

Winter Roadtrip: A Preview, Summary, Post-Script, Teaser

1 RV.
3 Happy Campers.
5,000 miles.
6 States.
2 Countries.
2 Uneventful border crossings.
1 New Decade.
2 Families 2-gether for Christmas.
17 mpg (yes, Marlin).
500+ tacos.
Millions and millions served.

Here's a very small sampling of pics in no particular order. More coming soon with possible commentary as to how the trip went down. Keep in touch!

Ramblin fever.


Long thin line.


Running from something.


Built 12/4.


Como?


Palapa awning.


Southbound.


"My precious!"


Remind me again: Who's this Santa Claus
and what I am doing up so early for?


Beach ball.


Beach bum.


Daddy, when are we going to be there?
Be where?


Couple cool cats.


Amigos.


Vegas stroll.


One of many.


One of many.


Mexico vs America: Same same but different.



Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Southbound and Down

We're loading it up and trucking! Leaving tonight for Christmas in Arizona: Flagstaff with the Francis' and Tucson with the Reid's. Can't wait, weather is less than fun up here.

Pack, travel, unpack, repack, travel.... it feels like an endless cycle of shuffling stuff from one vehicle to the next. Just back from Cyclocross National's in Bend, Oregon for four days where I met my goal of finishing in the top 8 so that I could start on the front row again next year when I hopefully had better fitness. But I exceeded my goals and finished on the podium, 3rd. Immediately after completing the late night drive back home I was unpacking the Honda and repacking the RV, and shuffling all that extra gear that was put there for storage. Up the stairs with a loaded bag of stuff, down the stairs with a different bag of stuff, repeat, then re-repeat.

Annie just finished here final final and so now we're free to go.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Beyond Blowout






Its funny now, and you wouldn't guess it but it was funny then too, and this is a good thing when you have a kid because when you laugh in front of kid, the baby laughs too, and the last thing you want in a crisis situation like this is a crying, squawking, kicking kid.

Just after breaky I noticed Kian's daiper had come undone and had slipped down into his pant leg. Its chilly in here, so I quickly unzipped his one-piece, pulled out the diaper, re-zipped and sent him on his way, diaper free -- one of Kian's favorite things. No more than 10-minutes later I rallied the boy to suit him up for the morning, and that's when I first caught wind of him. Uh oh, this could get messy. I slowly, carefully unzipped the onesie and to my horror it was like a napalm bomb or the guns of navarone went off in there. I was imagining myself on brain detail. But instead of being that race car at a red light, I was laughing pretty hard. Kian started laughing because I was laughing and so we had another one of our guy moments together, the kind that only a father and son could share. I would have laughed louder and longer had I been able to zip it up until mommy got home, but instead I snapped a photo, stripped, and then carried him into the shower with me, onesie and all. I would normally probably end the story here, but one more interesting moment came when I pulled him free of his poopy clothes and into the stream of the shower. I was thinking, "this isn't so bad", as well as how when you're a parent you have to think of poop as though its just dirt and you have to get elbow deep in the stuff once in awhile, but about then I felt this soft thud on my foot and I knew exactly what it was. I still haven't cleaned the mess in the shower up yet, but as much as I'd love to leave it for Annie I'd best take care of it soon.





Monday, November 30, 2009

A Turkeyless Turkeyday Full of Turkeyness


Chariot parking.

Yeah, we were struttin around on our Nordic skis looking like a bunch of goblers. Kian and Annie and I were up at one of my old-time Thanksgiving haunts, Silverstar Nordic Center just up the hill from Vernon, BC where they have some of the best early season XC skiing in North America. We had a blast.

For dinner that night we had curry, Thai curry. It was delicious, nutritious, filling, and we didn't have to spend all day in the kitchen. We'll do that for Christmas.

The skiing didn't disappoint either except maybe a little bit on one day, but because it was snowing too much. Back in the day I used to throw down 5-6 hours on skis per day in two big sessions, but Kian kinda threw a wrench into that drive-train. However, I still got in plenty of skiing and logged 13-hours on the trip and only 4 or 5 of that was with Kian in tow.


We bought a new sled for Kian and he loved it when we
tugged him all around the Village.

Annie and Kian in the Village.


Diaper fun. For him.



Kian and Mr Ducky, still inseparable after all these year.