That would be capitol.

Belize and Guatemala (Might take awhile to load, more tomorrow)

2008-11-17T22:11:00.053-02:00

Chris and I are just back from our trip to Belize and Guatemala. We landed in Belize City last Saturday (Nov 8) after just a 3 hour flight from Atlanta. We arrived on a bright sunny day a few weeks after a hurricane had swept through the country. Upon arrival, we entered the airport where there was a big sign exclaiming "WELCOME TO BELIZE!" I thought it'd make a good first picture for the start of our trip so I whipped out the camera and took a photo. I didn't realize that this was also the security checkpoint so no sooner had the flash gone off than a security lady stomped over and demanded I erase the photo right away. She stood over my shoulder watching as I fumbled to delete it from the camera. Once she was satisfied I had erased the threat to national security, I made way to the desk where I was presented with a form to fill out. There was one pen chained to the desk but two places to annoy foreign nationals. Of course the only pen was in use by the person ahead of me so I asked the nice man behind the desk if I could borrow his. He continued flicking it back in forth in his hand to show his boredom and suggested "You should travel with a pen." I stood there staring at him for a second, already burning from the photo drama. He relented and handed me the pen he wasn't using. Welcome to Belize!

The international airport in Belize City looks more like a regional airport here in the United States. Our's was the only plane of any significance on the tarmac. Inside was sparse. We wanted to change some money but the bank didn't open until 2pm so we went upstairs to enjoy some authentic Belizean airport food. We paid too much for what amounted to 3 chicken wings in jerk sauce but they were pretty good. We were also introduced to Marie Sharp's Habanero Pepper Sauce, a delicious conflagration found at many of the restaurants we stopped at in Belize and eastern Guatemala.

We had nothing to do in Belize City and were anxious to get to the attractions of western Belize. After exchanging money at the bank (1 USD = 2 BD), we hired a cab and headed for the bus terminal. The cab driver hassled us (in English) to take us to San Ignacio himself because it would be more enjoyable, faster, etc etc. We didn't want to pay the outrageous cab fare ($75) and wanted to get a sense of the country. A chicken bus ($2 from Belize City to San Ignacio) is a good way to do that. Realizing we weren't going to take the cab all the way to San Ignacio, the driver turned up Bob Marley and let us be. We cruised down the bone-colored gravel roads, recently destroyed by the hurricane, and past the fisherman's wharf.

At the bus station we were repeatedly approached by cab drivers who wanted us to ride with them instead of taking the bus. They tell you it will take too long, the bus isn't coming for a long time, etc etc. One lady in particular told us it would take at least 3 hours. We turned her down 2 or 3 times while we peeked in the buses to find out their destinations. Finally we found a driver that was going to San Ignacio. We asked him how long it would take and he said 2 hours (I think), information contrary to that of the cab lady. She was within hearing distance and immediately launched into the guy "Why you lie?! Why you lie?!"

On the bus Chris took a seat next to the only American girl on the bus, a pretty resident doctor from Tucson named Christine. I sat next to an ancient old lady who kept falling asleep on my shoulder. She spoke English but she never said much. We ambled through the countryside at chicken bus speed, making sporadic stops, and taking in the scenery. Belize is a very clean country and feels very different from Nicaragua and Guatemala.

By the time we reached San Ignacio it was getting dark and now Christine was tagging along. She was staying at the Casa Blanca hotel but we wanted to stay at the Hi-Et, a hotel recommended to us by Joel, a friend we made on the Nicaragua trip. The Hi-Et was unappealing so we went back to Casa Blanca for a room. I forget how much it was but Christine came to the rescue and saved us all some money by offering to let us stay in her room. That night we made a reservation for a guided tour of the ATM (the only kind of tour you can take of it), ate across the street at Hanna's, and turned in early.

The next morning the three of us loaded up in the van along with a nice English couple from London (Nick and Gemma), our guide Gliss, and the van driver. Our destination was Actun Tunichil Muknal, a cave used by the Maya for religious purposes. They considered it an opening into the underworld. The cave is at the end of an easy 45 minute hike through a jungle reserve. Normally you have to fjord the river 3 times to get to the cave but because of the recent hurricane, a concrete bridge had been washed out, making it necessary to cross the river one additional time. The river isn't very deep (maybe waist deep at its deepest) and doesn't flow very fast.

Here I am at one of the river crossings with our guide, Gliss, in the background.

The entrance to the cave. It's hard to tell how large the mouth of the cave is in the pic. The lower section of the hourglass-shaped opening is at least 6 feet high.

After a short swim into the cave you wade through water varying from a few inches deep to chest high. Eventually you climb up out of the river and onto a flat landing. This is where the Mayan artifacts remain, protected from flooding for over 1300 years. There are no lights in the cave. We had only our headlamps and a spot light used by the guide to point out pieces of pottery and the skeletal remains of the sacrificed.

Inside the dry part of the cave there are many stalactites and stalagmites. Some of them are covered in a crystal coating that the guide asked us not to touch. To preserve the site we had to remove our shows just after climbing out of the river. You wear only socks in this area to protect the ground from hardened soles and the oils of human skin.

Pottery used for religious ceremonies in the cave. All of the pots were broken intentionally for the purposes of the ceremony.

One of about 15 bodies that remain in the cave. These would have been the victims of sacrifice, some willing, some not.

The highlight of the cave is this skeleton known as The Crystal Maiden. She glistens in the light of the headlamp because her remains have calcified after over a thousand years in the cave.

Nick starts to descend the ladder with Christine close behind. The ladder leads to the chamber of the Crystal Maiden.

The round trip journey through the cave took about 3 hours, then a 45 minute hike back out to the van where we changed clothes, ate some fresh fruit, chips, and salsa, then went back to San Ignacio for another night at the Casa Blanca. Later that evening the three of us met up again with Nick and Jemma to have dinner at Eva's and play some pool at a local bar.

The next morning Chris, Christine, and I loaded into the van once more. This time we were off to Guatemala to see Tikal, the largest (known) ancient city of the Maya. We took a detour on the way to pick up an older couple from Colorado before heading to the Guatemala-Belize border with our guide, Elias.

The border crossing was painless enough though we couldn't immediately tell what we were supposed to do on the Guatemalan side after crossing through no-man's land. Elias had a different van pick us up in Guatemala so off we headed to Tikal.

Tikal is located in the jungles of Petén department in northern Guatemala. It's 40 miles to the closest town, the island city of Flores and its sister city Santa Elena. Driving into the park you see signs for all kinds of animals that might be crossing the road. For example there were signs for snakes, signs for the coatimundi, signs for jaguars, etc. When you enter the park you are given a ticket with your entry time. At the end of the long road to Tikal your ticket is taken and the time differential is used to determine whether you were speeding. Elias told us of a driver who hit a baby jaguar not too long ago.

Inside the park there are 3 inns. Since we weren't going back to Belize with Christine and the older couple, we made a reservation at the Jaguar Inn. It cost $60/room per night, way out of our usual range, but it was worth it to be within walking distance of the ruins and to be far away from civilization. Sixty a night doesn't get you 24hr electricity though. At the Jaguar Inn electricity wasn't available at certain times of day.

The most famous attractions in Tikal are its large temples. You may have seen this one before:

Temple I as seen from Temple II.

A well-known view from Temple IV.

My favorite view from Temple V.

To keep people from scampering all over the temples, they've put stairs up along side. These are on the side of Temple V. As you can see, they are quite steep.

If I recall correctly something like 92% of the site remains unexcavated. Here is an example of a temple that has not yet been unearthed. Elias told us that each temple costs from $2 million to $4 million to excavate.

Video from the platform on Temple II, the only temple built for a woman.

We ate lunch at one of the restaurants in the park. While we were eating a coatimundi was strolling around on the grass field just outside the window. We saw a lot of animals in the park including a toucan, brown jays, bats, and spider monkeys. We never saw the howler monkeys but we could hear them. After lunch the van left leaving Chris and I to explore the park alone. We wanted to see a sunset from the top of the jungle so we went back to Temple V. This is not the best place to see the sunset because it doesn't face the right direction and the view to the west is occluded by a big mound (perhaps another temple?). In the end we only had a good view for awhile and no view of the sunset so we started back to the inn in the dark. The park is an easy place to get lost in. Fortunately we had thought to bring flashlights for the dusk hike out. However, Chris' flashlight died. It was funny because the batteries had just been replaced. It was the light bulb that went out. :) However, the ingenious people at Maglite have thought of this and include a separate bulb in the casing of the flashlight. We were fortunate to have a second flashlight (mine) to illuminate the dead light so we could find and replace the dead bulb. Elias had earlier told us a story of a tourist who lost his way in the park and was missing for two days before a search party found him. We made it out without incident.

At 9pm they shut the electricity off at the Jaguar Inn. We weren't sure if this was true of the other two inns in the park or not but thought it'd be cool to see the night sky full of stars because we were so far away from any light pollution. We were wandering around in the dark when a guy on a motorcycle pulled up to tell us we couldn't walk around after dark. We had to go back to the Jaguar Inn and hang out in candle light.

One funny thing about the Jaguar Inn is the staff's demand for perfection when it comes to monetary exchange. There was nowhere to get Quetzales in the park so we had to resort to paying in US Dollars. The staff refused to accept any US Dollars that were not absolutely perfect. If there was so much as a millimeter tear in a bill, they would refuse it. There was more than one occasion when it took us a long time to pay because we were inspecting each bill for the slightest imperfection, swapping bills to find a perfect combination, and finally settling with the restaurant. They told us the bank wouldn't accept bills with tears or funny looking folds. Elsewhere in Guatemala this was never a problem. We came across plenty of Quetzales in terrible condition.

The next morning we wanted to make up for the failed sunset mission by returning to the temples (this time Temple IV) to watch the fog lift over the jungle, exposing the tops of the taller temples. We didn't want to pay for another day's ticket so we trotted past the guard at speed. He hopped up with his shotgun and shouted for tickets. Chris flashed the tickets from yesterday and we kept walking. We arrived at the temple after sunrise but still very early and watched the fog move in and out, appearing to dissipate and then returning again to form a grey wall a few feet from the temples ledge. Brown jays played in the trees that grew out of the temples unexcavated staircase. We waited and waited but the fog never lifted. Later in the morning we gave up and returned to the Jaguar.

Mis Hermanas

2008-11-08T01:21:00.001-02:00

My sisters are in town for an ALS walk on the eve of my trip to Belize/Guatemala.

AT Update

2008-11-06T02:21:00.003-02:00

Michael put up a complete account of the AT trip from this past weekend. I was too tired on Sunday to write a lot about the trip so you mostly got pictures. You should read the full story if for nothing more than the lost iPhone saga.

Now, we were told of a camping area "very close" to the Walasi-Yi. The source claims that he arrived at the Walasi-Yi on a solo trip, opened up a Starbucks Doubleshot, and by the time he finished it, he was there. So, we took off up the trail... in the middle of the night... through a winding forest... on Halloween... after we'd been listening to Stephen King stories in the car all evening.

Did I mention it was a 2 liter Double Shot? Might have left that part out.

Michael and Wanda also recovered my lost Nalgene bottle without my knowing it, filled it with chocolate (72% cacao), and returned it to me tonight along with a bag full of clothes for the LAA. Awesome!

Speaking of, I went to my first ESL class on Tuesday night. That's English as a Second Language for those that don't know. The students of the LAA ESL class are mostly Hispanic laborers who need or want to learn English to open up opportunities for them here in the United States. Some of the them aspire to go to college, others just want to integrate into society, to be able to negotiate the price of things, to understand the news, to understand what their child's teacher is telling them, normal everyday things that are a real challenge to people who don't speak the language.

I was told the Buford Hwy location had 20-25 students per class. I was assigned to the Cobb branch at Las Colinas, which I later learned has only 7 students. Of those, 3 show up most of the time. On the night I was there 1 showed up. The three of us, the teacher John, Ruth an older lady from Ecuador, and I, studied a hodgepodge of topics mostly dealing with what you might find in a school. Ruth's only level 2 (I think there are 5 levels) but already speaks pretty understandable English. When she can't say something in English she inserts the Spanish. John doesn't speak any Spanish (and I only speak a little of both :)). Despite this Ruth has learned a lot of English in a relatively short time. It's fun to see what words are hard to pronounce for a non-English speaker and to try to explain things that really make no sense in English, they just are. I will probably learn more English grammar through this work than Spanish though we do get a good mix of Spanglish in the class.

AT - Neel's Gap to Unicoi Gap

2008-11-03T03:57:00.002-02:00

Michael, Wanda, Michael's dog JD, and I finally returned to the AT this weekend to complete another section of trail. This time it was a 21 mile trek from the Walasi-Yi center at Neel's Gap to Unicoi Gap.

I arrived earlier than the others so took a side trip up to Woody Gap. The road up is very twisty and fun to drive (or ride). Along the way I took this pic of the sunset from the car.

Because we got a late start, we hiked a mile from Neel's Gap in the dark and set up camp.

The next morning we were up at 8 (an hour later than scheduled) and started up the trail. This is a typical view from the trail.

And another.

The picture above was taken from this rock outcrop.

Most of this section of trail looks like this in the fall.

Occasionally the AT pops out of the forest next to a road. Here's one such road on a perfect day. This was near Hogpen Gap I think.

These I did not eat.

JD was much better equipped for the hike this time. He had not only his adventure pack but boots and socks to protect his feet. They worked. He was tired and sore after the trip but his feet weren't torn up like last time.

Low Gap is where we camped.

We had a pretty good fire the second night. We stayed in the shelter. Michael and Wanda stayed IN the shelter IN their tent... take that Chuck Norris! We were joined by two guys who had hiked up from the hostel at Neel's Gap. A guy named Mark and another guy was an EMT. Mark admitted to snoring louder than anybody he knew but still slept in the shelter with the rest of us. Thoughtful!

Be prepared to deal with spiders on your pants when camping.

Overall the trail is litter-free but there are some people who disregard the sanctity of nature. I was sure to pack this trash out (and use part of it to pay the toll on 400).

Before the hike I wondered why this mountain was called Blue Mountain when clearly its leafy autumn skin was red, yellow, and green. Beneath that skin its blue bones are exposed.

Michael has a good iphone story I'm sure he'll post to his blog. We finished up in the late afternoon and stopped by Waffle House for the traditional All-Star, then back home to Atlanta.

Neels Gap To Unicoi Gap

2008-10-31T01:56:00.006-02:00

View Larger Map

Michael's got all his stuff out of the way so IT WILL HAPPEN this weekend. We start at the blue teardrop on the left (Neel's Gap) and hike 21 miles of the AT to the teardrop on the right (Unicoi Gap). If you look at the larger map and zoom in you can see the Appalachian Trail. I was at Neel's Gap this past weekend and it was brisk. Forecast for the weekend is 70ish during the day and 40s at night. The plan is to leave tomorrow afternoon and camp at Neel's Gap. Saturday we'll get an early start and hike 11 miles to Low Gap. The next morning up early again for a 9.9 mile hike to Unicoi. For a first cold weather hike this agenda works well because we'll be within walking distance of the cars after a night in the tents so we can add or shed gear as needed depending on how cold we get the first night. Completing this portion of the trail will put us at a total of 51 miles, less than 30 miles from our goal of the Georgia state line.

Here's what two nights of gear looks like. A tent, a sleeping bag, 5 liters of water, enough oatmeal for a week, dried meat, gatorade mix, one change of clothes, a hat, a balaclava, two small flashlights, a gps, duct tape, extra trash bags, extra ziplocs, a pocketknife, a cup, a spoon, and a few other small items. You're probably asking yourself, where's the camp stove? Where's the dried chicken and macaroni? Where's are all the cooking pots and pans? Where's the water filter?

I have sherpas for that.

Michael says JD is coming again too. You remember last time he had foot problems... but this time he has boots.

Here he is on the last outing.

In unrelated news, I was happy to see that I got a volunteer position in an ESL class at the LAA. For the next 5 weeks (well 4 since I'll be in Belize/Guatemala week after next) I'll be helping an English teacher introduce the language to a classroom of approx. 25 mostly Spanish-speaking adults. Class starts on Tuesday.

What Kinds Of Things Are There To See And Do In Belize And Guatemala?

2008-10-29T01:31:00.003-02:00

We leave on the 8th!

Caracol in Belize.

Actun Tunichil Muknal cave in Belize.

Tikal in Guatemala.

Antigua, Guatemala.

Volcan Pacaya in Guatemala.

Pacaya is obviously still active.

Beautiful Sunday For A Ride In The Foothills

2008-10-26T19:49:00.005-02:00

Was supposed to get up at 6:30 and leave for the mountains. Went out with Jen and all her friends last night so didn't get to sleep til late, woke up at 9 and had breakfast at Einstein Bros, was on 400 by 10. Totally clear blue day. I had aimed for Amicalola but once I get off 400 I take whatever road looks good. I ended up at the Walasi-Yi center, the place where we're supposed to start the next part of the AT. Hiked a bit on both sides of the trail (northbound and south), then went down through some valleys, turned around and came back up and down the curvy roads again. The chicken strips are a little thinner now and the new Saharas make a big difference. I went up to ride but also to see the leaves:

This is the view from the Walesi-Yi center. I stopped by here two or three times while I was riding around. What you can't see is the stone building (built in the 1930s) and all the motorcycles and trucks parked out front. I'm still a motorcycle parking newb (see below), I always pull in forward and then back out when I'm leaving. Everybody else backs in and drives straight out. I ran into a guy named Guillermo who was riding a new F800GS along with a bunch of riders on R1200GSs. He told me to check out the BMW Motorcycle Riders Of Atlanta Facebook group.

Here's the view of the valley. The picture doesn't do it justice because the angle's not wide enough to take it all in. That's a cow under the shed.

Same valley minus cows plus Dakar. A lady came into the Moe's with her 2 kids while I was eating lunch and asked me if that was my Dakar outside. Said they had just been watching Dakar a few weeks ago, "Pretty awesome!".

Could use a nap now.

BMW and Ducati Open Houses

2008-10-25T17:35:00.003-02:00

Just back from the BMW open house and the Atlanta Triumph Ducati open house.

If I had a garage...

... with space for 3 bikes... (This is the R1200S. My dakar is in the background)

Two sweet bulldogs were at the BMW open house. This one has an unfortunate cherry eye.

The crowd at BMW.

Simon And Lisa Discuss Their Round The World Trip

2008-10-12T12:57:00.008-02:00

So, once again the AT trip is canceled... But Michael had a pretty good excuse for it. Another week of eating trail food for me!

Last night I went to BMW Moto of Atlanta to see a presentation by Simon and Lisa Thomas of http://www.2ridetheworld.com/. They're on a multi-year journey across the globe and currently traveling in the US. Part of what they do on the way is stop at BMW dealerships to give presentations. They're quite tech savvy and have put together a very good multimedia show where they talk, show videos and slides, and play music. Most of the presentation covered Africa with the second shorter half covering South America, specifically how Simon managed to break his neck but continue riding for 3 weeks before getting to a hospital. It's really an amazing story and they have some great photos and video of the places they've been, some of which is linked from advrider.

One interesting point that came up when I saw a picture of the two of them in front of Volcan Tungurahua in Ecuador. When I was visiting Ecuador, Tungurahua began to erupt so I was unable to take the bus from Quito to Cuenca. Meanwhile Simon and Lisa were unknowingly headed for Baños, the town that was being evacuated because of the eruption. They were somewhere south of Quito riding their bikes over hardened lava flows while I was diverted to Papallacta.

Here's one of the videos from the presentation:

The rest of the videos are here.

Lisa's bike, Tarzan, a highly-modified F650GS. It has 100-something thousand miles on it without a rebuild and weighs over 700lbs full of gas and with all the gear. Of the two bikes, her's has experienced fewer problems (actually just a shock and mount replacement) despite traveling through all of Africa, including the Sahara, and through the Amazon.

Simon's bike, Tinkerbell, is an R1100GS modified similarly to Lisa's. It's had the electrical harness replaced, replaced shocks, and frame reinforcements, along with all the cool Touratech mods, etc. 150,000+ miles on this one.

This is one of Bob's (owner, BMW Moto Of Atl) bikes. Think he said its an '82.

And the HP2 Enduro. The $20,000 big brother to my bike. What I find odd about this bike is that it's like the R1200GS, but stripped down with less junk, yet it costs more.

The bikes are cool and all but the real value of the presentation was in the photos and stories of the people and places Simon and Lisa have been. They emphasize that people all over the world are generally honest and caring and that if you have thought of doing a trip like this or have some other unrealized dream that its important to do it now, not to wait until you have the money, or the time, or whatever it may be that's holding you back. Check out their photos at http://2ridetheworld.com/gallery.html

Finally Some More AT!

2008-10-11T15:18:00.004-02:00

This Columbus Day, while most little Ferdinands and Isabellas are decorating their Columbus Day mast with decorative sails in anticipation of New World gifts of gold and silver, Michael and Wanda and I will be back on the ol' AT. You may recall our last trip was canceled due to illness (Wanda, a native Alaskan, contracted smallpox from a settler). Then other things cluttered the schedule like Michael getting a new job, moving to a new city, and other lame excuses. But tomorrow we have a plan. Here's the email from Michael:

Ok so a 2 day, 1 nighter. Here are my thoughts.

We left off at Neel's Gap. Roads and parking areas seem to get farther and farther apart as we progress north, so we'll have to change our strategy a bit. How about going from Neel's Gap to Low Gap shelter on Sunday (11 miles), then from Low Gap shelter to Unicoi Gap on Monday (9.9 miles). A lot of it is *supposed* to be really easy.

This would involve getting an early start both Sunday and Monday. Sunday, because we would have to drop a car off at Unicoi Gap and get started at Neel's Gap (which, as you remember) involves parking farther down the street and walking a 1/4 mile or so to the trailhead. Monday, because we still have to hike 10 miles, get the car, drive to the other car, etc., etc. and still get back at a decent time for work the next day.

So the agenda would look something like this:

Saturday

* congregate in Atlanta in the PM

Sunday

* early start (6:30 maybe?)
* drive to Unicoi Gap (hwy 76) and drop off end car
* drive start car to Neel's Gap (hwy 19/129)
* 11 mile trek to Low Gap shelter for camp

Monday

* early start (early is relative to our usual start times on these trips... I mean like up at 7ish and 8am on the trail)
* 9.9 mile trek to Unicoi Gap
* back to Atlanta

Should be pretty easy I would think, at least logistically speaking. The hiking looks to be simple enough as well. No dogs involved this time, unless we get some boots for JD ;-)

Thoughts?

The Good Life At The Dog Park

2008-10-10T01:39:00.001-02:00

Where else can you dig a hole and sit in it with friends?

More On Those Disgusting Durians

2008-10-09T01:13:00.003-02:00

Digg has article today on durians:

"Adventures in eating: The taste of 3-day-old wet garbage?

delsquacho.com — If you haven ’t heard of a durian, its because they are banned in most public places because they smell absolutely horrible. They also are roughly the size of a football and look like the business end of some sort of medieval weapon. Some consider them delicacies. This guy doesn't."

But the site is hosed so I had to do with the comments, some of which expose the truth of this nasty fruit:

"My local Vietnamese restaurant makes a Durian shake that's to die for. In a good way. It does have a bit of a gasoline aroma, but that's really not as bad as it sounds."

"It's better to eat it frozen; then it tastes like vanilla ice cream with a lot of onion powder."

"The first bite is really bad. It tastes like banana, rotten onion and kerosene. But it tasted better with every bite. Overall I would say I liked it. I finished the whole thing."

I'd say all of these are accurate in terms of flavor. How people like it I will never understand.

Stella and Conan

2008-10-07T10:11:00.000-02:00

iPhone Camera Test

2008-10-05T11:13:00.002-02:00

Jen took these pics of the usual test subject with my new iphone. Not the best camera in the world but not too shabby either.

Welcome To The Dark Side

2008-10-04T17:18:00.006-02:00

I joined the ranks of the masses and bought an iphone. I set up indentured servitude with AT&T online and then made an appointment at my local Apple Store to select and purchase the iphone that I *need* (the 16gb 3G variety in black). When I arrived, my concierge was waiting out front, holding a sign with my name on it. Eric, the concierge, was way more pumped that I was getting an iphone than an hourly employee should be. The store was packed with people. A long line of followers waited to speak to a resident genius at the Genius Bar and many people were moping around in a daze clicking mice. The service was spectacular. In just a few minutes Eric had brought me the iphone I wanted, set me up with email over gmail (I didn't fall for the Me Mail crap), had me connected with 3G and my new AT&T service and out the door. I called Brent from just outside the store and everything works great. I'm now happily enslaved to a two-year contract compliments of a company that's way too full of itself.

This one device will replace my cheap phone, my video ipod, AND (potentially) the Nokia N810.

Whatever you do, DO NOT get the durian smoothie

2008-10-02T23:57:00.007-02:00

On the left is the durian smoothie. On the right is the avocado smoothie. You think an avocado smoothie sounds disgusting. Well it tastes about 500,000 times better than a durian smoothie.

Michael and I went out Buford Hwy to Pho's #1, a Vietnamese restaurant featuring an odd array of things you might find in your garage, Christmas decorations, a big screen tv with Vietnam War opera, and worst of all Durian smoothies.

The menacing fruit in question.

We're out of gas. No, really.

2008-09-28T14:24:00.003-02:00

Because of the recent gas crisis I drove the car to work on Friday with only enough gas to get there and back. At lunch I thought I'd take the opportunity to cruise down Cobb Parkway, where there a few gas stations to choose from (versus my normal route home that passes only 3). I also wanted to see an HP2 Enduro at BMW Moto of Atlanta. Turns out every gas station was completely dry but one, a QT with a line at every pump, and a line leaving the gas station and going up over the hill for at least a quarter mile. I didn't even have enough gas to wait in line so I brought the car home and only barely made it. I'd never seen the gauge so low. I could have switched to the moto and gone back to work but decided I'd need that gas later for finding other gas and only had enough to get it to Marietta and back once. Instead I worked from home. Fortunately I can access everything I need for work over the VPN. Well yesterday the stations were still empty and the light's now on on the moto too. As of this morning the station at Spring St is still empty. The news as reported two hours ago is:

"ATLANTA -- The gas shortage in metro Atlanta will continue for several more weeks, leaving the majority of gas stations across the area dry and frustrated drivers searching for fuel, a petroleum company executive said Sunday."

I'm lucky to live within walking distance of all necessities like the grocery store, etc. The only thing I'm too far from to walk is work, which is also not accessible by *reasonable* (ie not bus) public transportation because its in Cobb County. Hopefully the article is wrong and it won't be "several more weeks".

Stella In The Morning

2008-09-26T10:16:00.001-02:00

...and at midday:

November? Yes. Belize and Guatemala.

2008-09-22T23:55:00.002-02:00

Atlanta To Augusta To Athens To Atlanta

2008-09-20T22:47:00.001-02:00

Another Fire Alarm

2008-09-14T03:00:00.002-02:00

Sigh. 1am. About 20 minutes ago the fire alarm went off. Somebody busted out the glass in the front door and set a stack of telephone books on fire. Just stupid.

Blast From The Past: Barcelona

2008-09-07T03:02:00.008-02:00

Taking a break from all that's going on right now I thought I'd dust off the external drive. When I dumped Gallery for Flickr I hadn't uploaded all the trip photos that used to be available. At the time I switched I wasn't yet a Flickr Pro user so I had limited upload capability.

In 2006 I went to Barcelona with a bunch of friends. There were only a half dozen or so pics available on Flickr from that trip, which is a poor representation of all we did there. To partially correct that I've uploaded some of the ones I discovered tonight on the external drive.

People sometimes see the photos and ask me why there are no people in most of them. For a long time I was interested in capturing the *place* and I wanted that to be devoid of people who would time stamp the photo. After Nicaragua I realize this is a mistake. The photos should capture the *experience*, not the place. But its not like I didn't take pictures of people... case in point:

Kishan and Brent partying on the train or:

Michael and Wanda stealing a minivan.

Riding in North Georgia instead of hiking there

2008-09-01T01:21:00.005-02:00

Since the AT trip was canceled and I was lazy on Saturday I got up at 6:30am this morning and rode up 400 to Suches. Then from Suches to Morganton and back again. It was perfect timing as nobody was out at 7am on a Sunday even on 400. I had the most of the roads to myself. I stopped at Woody Gap (where we had finished one of our AT trip prior) on the way out to Morganton and back. I guess they've recently repaved the roads up there. After an initial run up the mountain over the old tar snake covered roads there's new smooth tarmac thats lots of winding fun (except for the gravel in some corners).

Here she is at the Woody Gap lookout. The AT is just to the right and continues across the street to the left.

And here she is somewhere along state road 60. The road twists through some beautiful farm country and up and down little mountains. It'd been awhile since I had ridden roads like this so I was overly cautious on the way out but had fun on the way back.

When I go on rides like this I often take breaks at gas stations, even if I don't technically need gas. I usually get gas anyway because I'm gonna stand around and drink a gatorade or eat some snacks. The bike sips gas and it only has a 4 gallon tank so there's never much to put in there. Today I stopped at the same gas station twice (just before I got off 400 and just before I got back on again). The amount of gas was minuscule. Apparently this set off alarm bells with Bank Of America, who froze my checkcard because the purchases were "suspicious". I can appreciate that. I guess. It was easy enough to sort out once I got home.

I started heading back around 12:30 or 1. It's nice to be able to cruise up to the mountains and dart back in a half day. When I left in the morning I had a slight headache. By the time I was coming back it was terrible. Stopped for lunch in Norcross. Then came home and went to sleep. Woke up at 6 and got ready to go to dinner at Chris' at 7.

There goes my $100

2008-08-29T14:02:00.004-02:00

First the AT trip is canceled. Now I've lost a $100 bet. On the plus side she sounds like an awesome candidate for VP. I also got to see the first F800GS to arrive at BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta.

Next 36 Miles Of AT

2008-08-28T02:10:00.002-02:00

Here's the original email to Michael detailing our plan for this upcoming Labor Day weekend. Edited and updated to show water sources.

These are my rough notes for what could be the next part of the trek.
I have not looked at the elevations yet but I think the mileage is
doable. If you think about the prior trips we've made it to the
endpoints for a day's hike well before dark so even if we kept our
current speed, there should still be enough daylight to pull these
numbers.

We would park one car at Neels Gap and another at Dicks Creek Gap. I'm
*not* counting the mileage from parking at Neel's Gap to the breezeway
of the center. We can drop people off at the center and then the
driver can walk the extra half mile. I've noted where water is
available. I did not count "seasonal streams" as water since we've
learned our lesson on that. I was going to come up with a 3-day plan B
but I like this Plan A so much I didn't feel like it and I think it
would be harder to pull off. At the end of this trek we'll be just 8.4
miles from the state line. I could see that being another weekend trip
that lazily crosses the border (Dicks Gap to Plumorchard Gap Shelter,
and then Plumorchard Gap Shelter to ??? somewhere in NC! Didn't
research this much).

30.4 Neels Gap
33.2 Rock Spring Top (water)
37.0 paved Hwy 348 (water)
41.4 Low Gap (shelter, water)
48.4 spring (water)
50.7 Unicoi Gap, Hwy 76 (tent site at 49.5, water will be a problem
here. Fill up at 48.4)
54.2 Cheese Factory Site, unpaved FS 79 (water)
56.0 Tray Mountain Shelter (water)
60.5 Sassafras Gap (tent site, water)
61.3 Addis Gap, gated FS fire road, unpaved FS 26 (water)
66.5 Dicks Creek Gap, Hwy 76 (parking available, see
http://hike-usa.com/at-georgia/atgeorgia-dickscreekgap.htm)
74.9 GA-NC state line.

Plan A:
-------
Friday Aug 29 - Monday Sept 1
(4 days)
Day 1 - Neels Gap to Low Gap Shelter (11 miles, 3.7 of this is listed
as "one of the easiest sections of the entire AT")
Day 2 - Low Gap to Unicoi Gap (9.3 miles)
Day 3 - Unicoi Gap to Sassafras Gap (9.8 miles)
Day 4 - Sassafras Gap to Dicks Creek Gap (6 miles)

Thrash this against your knowledge of the trail and let me know what
you think (especially about water). Let's finish this.