The trip home and Game 7

On the way back home from St. Louis to Cali I decided to give couch surfers a shot. Couch surfers is a website where people open up their homes to weary travellers. The basic idea is that people who like to travel enjoy meeting other people who like to travel and if you can help out someone now maybe the favor will be returned later when you are on the road. It worked out pretty well and I'm glad I did it.

My first couch visit was Stefan in Tulsa. I arrived late afternoon, we grabbed a nice dinner and headed back to his house to watch the Lakers. Again, I'd like to thank everyone for allowing me to indulge in my obsession and not miss the Lakers' ride through the playoffs while on my road trip. I think I only missed one game (the Ron Artest put-back against the Suns (game 5 I believe), a good one) during my entire trip. Stefan works in the oil industry and was living in Tulsa for just a few months on a job. Good guy. However, despite Stefan's likeability, Oklahoma easily wins my vote for worst state in the union. I'm glad Stefan wasn't a native because it allowed me to vent some major trash. What is so awful about Oklahoma, well, first, the weather. I had the two worst days of weather of my entire trip in Oklahoma. And to add to the frustration the two days were extreme opposites. I first had my hottest day of the entire trip when I entered the state followed by a torential downpour on my way out of the state. I really can't begin to describe how awful the rain was (a picture is worth a thousand words). There were flash floods in Oklahoma City, including several road closures, which fortunately did not prevent me from getting out of town. At one point I had to stop at a gas station because my theory "it can't keep raining this hard indefinitely it has to start letting up if I can just get through this rough patch" was not panning out. While I waited with a cup of coffee I met a fellow rider who told me that he has been riding his entire life and didn't remember ever hitting rain this bad. That was good to know being that I was pretty inexperienced and couldn't decide whether I should just man up or go ahead and give the storm some time to pass. After about an hour it let up a little bit and I hit the road again. The rain picked up in spurts but not as constant as the first couple hours of my ride. Literally a mile before hitting Texas I saw the first ray of sunshine of my then 4 hour ride (who would have thought I'd be so happy to see Texas, certainly not me). So you may think, you can't trash too hard on Oklahoma because of bad weather. Well, I can and I will, but that wasn't all that made riding through Oklahoma a mess. Oklahoma was the only state I travelled through gracious enough to have toll roads. Yep. So while I was either sweating my butt off or shivering in flood-inducing rains I would have to occassionally stop, pull dripping wet cash out of my pocket and pay a toll. That did not sit well with me.

I also couch surfed in Alberquerque, New Mexico where I stayed with Bernice. Again Bernice and her friend were kind enough to take me to a sports bar so I could see the Lakers crush the Celtics in game 6. In fact, the Lakers played so well I made Bernice promise me to watch game 7 for good luck (she was kind enough to watch the game and I might add it paid off). Bernice is a student at University of New Mexico studying sign language, which was pretty cool to talk to her about. It was interesting to hear about some of the work she was able to do as an interpreter and she really enjoys the gig.


(Future rider? At least the helmet fits, even if she looks like Lord Helmet and can't keep her head up).

So I promised myself if the Lakers went to seven games in the NBA Championship that I would cruise home and make it in time to end my time as a nomadic fan and watch game 7 at home with the family and fellow Laker lovers. It was worth the run as the Lakers eked out a tough win and Ron Artest had an amazing set of post game interviews. Sometimes crazy is good.

Well, there we go for the road trip blog. But, I'm not quite done yet with Newport Beach v. Gunnison. I am off on a very new adventure half way across the world (literally). I'm already almost done with that trip as well, but I'll be sure to post some updates about my time here.

Old Stomping Grounds

Following Chicago, I extended my break in St. Louis, my home during my teenage years. It was pretty chill and allowed me to catch up on some things (including this blog) and rest my body a little bit more.

(After BBQ at Mary's house (top center) guess what I did? Another Lakers' game!!! And no I can't keep my eyes open during pictures. Not a fan of flash photography.)

With my time in "the STL" I decided to take a ride to visit some places I frequented in my youth, including my home for ten years, church for just as long, my elementary school, jr. high and high school. Pictured are my church and high school.

I decided to go at night, which was a great idea because it made for a very pleasant ride, but it didn't help with the pictures. My old house didn't come out at all, but I'd like to report there is still a hoop out front in the drive way.

I was also able to hit up the famous (more than I had even remembered) Ted Drew's for some concrete shakes. Pretty tasty and draws a crowd.

Taking a break in Chicago

Chicago was a good chance for me to chill out for a few days and rest my butt (the bike can be unforgiving on long rides).

(Rachel and I on the el (train, subway, etc.) heading back after dinner at Piece, an upscalish pizza place that doubles as a karaoke bar)

It was also a great time for me to hang out with some good friends that I don't get to see as often as I'd like. From my days at Michigan, I was able to spend some quality time with Rachel, my buddy Rich, as well as pseudo-stars of this blog, fellow road-trippers Jeremy and Dom. I also got to see a good old friend, Kyle, who I met a ways back in Colorado while we were both working from my bro at Camp Redcloud. I was just a pup back then.

(Kyle and I finding a place out of the pouring rain to watch the Blackhawks beat the Flyers (making Kyle happy) but sadly also seeing the Lakers lose to the Celtics (shocking that I made time to catch another Lakers' game)

(view of Chicago from Rich's balcony, pretty solid)

(Below - smoking some primo stogies on Rich's balcony with Rich and Dom. Jeremy claimed to be in New York and thus missed out on the festivities)

Worth the wait...?

All apologies for the long lay off between posts. I'm going to try to spin through the end of my trip, which has been done for a while now, alas. I believe my next stop was Bariboo, WI, where I stayed with the legendary Wade Wandrey - life's only suriviving Hansons' brother (except for the actual Hansons). Bariboo is an odd town, but very likeable. It's like Vegas (Branson) in a way, a big tourist spot, but instead of Casinos they have waterslides. The most waterslides per capita in the world. Whoooooosh. But just outside of the downtown tourist trap, Bariboo is a quaint, chill town. Rivers, small shops and bars, very green. Summing up the odd Water-slide Vegas/Branson dynamic with small-town beautiful scenery was easily the oddest billboard sign I saw during my entire 5k plus trip, which read "Adult Superstore and Bakery, next left". Well, of course. They should have called it "Hot Buns". I am indeed hilarious.

I tried to find a similar billboard on google so you wouldn't think I was just making this up, instead I found this nugget (pun!!! pun!!!). Old school Mutumbo. Is that Oldyn Polenyce (sic) guarding him? The memories.

However, my time in Bariboo was much more fulfilling than merely reconciling varrying landmarks. I had a great time hanging out with Wade and his friends, whether it was the local pub to watch the Lakers play (the owner of the bar had a tatoo on each calf, one was the Chicago Cubs' logo, the other the Dallas Cowboys' logo, go big or go home), cruising down river in canoes sipping on the high-life, or grilling out at a bonfire and camping out on some Wandrey owned wilderness.

(Wade, Chrisy, and me post Lakers' victory)

Unfortunately, I did not have time to enjoy any waterslides but I did hit up the culinary delight that is Mr. Pancake.

Hanging out with Wade in Bariboo was certainly one of my favorite parts of the trip. If you are heading that way I'll give Wade a heads' up. I'm sure he'll be happy to treat you to some good times.

(Bariboo local, Wade)