Quote of the Day

We are here because one odd group of fishes had a peculiar fin anatomy that could transform into legs for terrestrial creatures; because the earth never froze entirely during an ice age; because a small and tenuous species, arising in Africa a quarter of a million years ago, has managed, so far, to survive by hook and by crook. We may yearn for a "higher" answer - but none exists.  - Stephen Jay Gould

Birth of a Bicycle -Part I

Lori gets fit for her new bike.

No se puede!

"The belief that a change of presidential administration can, by itself, sweep up the detritus of the last eight years, much less that of the last century, is of course ludicrous."  -Lawrence Kaplan, NY Times

Our next adventure

Lori and I have a list of future adventures far longer than our life expectancy so choosing our next journey is often subject to our current whims and may change without notice.  For instance, last summer's PCT hike was originally going to be on the Continental Divide Trail.  January's trip to Baja started as a mountain biking trip to Copper Canyon.  The current plan for Summer '09 is to bicycle from Vancouver BC to Los Angeles (approx. 2000 miles) along the west coast.  We plan to start around the first of July and take about three months.  Take that with a grain of salt...

Since we moved from my dad's house on a rural seven acres to the heart of downtown Tucson, our driving has dropped off immensely and we now bicycle almost everywhere.  In 2007, I rode over 3000 miles.  In 2008, I rode 1600 miles (in addition to the 1600 miles we hiked).  So the transition from long-distance hiking to long-distance biking should be natural.  Most of the gear is the same (except for the bike, obviously).  Because the bicycle is such an integral and necessary part of our plan, we need good, sturdy, and comfortable bikes.  For Xmas, Lori received a gift certificate for a La Suprema bike.  La Supremas are hand-built here in Tucson by Ed Foster.  Lori's bike is #39 - the 39th frame made by Ed.  Since Ed is booked out for months, I secured Lori's place in line last September.

Today we finally went to Ed's shop to get Lori fit for her very first custom bike.  The tubing, tube lengths, angles, etc. will all be designed around her body.  Next, Ed will draw up blueprints and order parts.  We will be documenting the progress of #39 with video posts.  Look for the first one here in a few days.  I hope to continue filming #39 from birth through the end of our west coast journey.  Hope you enjoy!

Through the mesh

It has been two weeks since we have returned from our Baja aventura and I have finally composed some final thoughts...

"Here I am, safely returned over those peaks froma journey far more beautiful and strange than anything I had hoped for or imagined.  How is it that this safe return brings such regret?" - Peter Matthiessen

Map of our Mexican journey

Click to enlarge.

A-OK in LA Bay!

Hola amigos! We are safe and sound in Bahia de los Angeles (known to local gringos as LA Bay). We are still having an amazing Mexican adventure. After leaving San Felipe, we drove south to Puertocitos passing many small beach developments along the Sea of Cortez. The pavement ends south of Puertocitos and the road turns bad! The 50 miles to Bahia Gonzaga took over five hours to drive - I don´t think we broke 10mph the whole way. Luckily, the scenery was stunning. The land is far more arid than Tucson (about 4in of rain per year) yet it borders on one of the most diverse marine ecosystems on the planet. We camped at several small, desolate beaches along the way to Bahia Gonzaga (Gonzaga Bay). Even in the more populated towns, we generally occupy the only palapa out of many. For their supposed high season, we are seeing very few tourists. Luckily the scary headlines out of Tijuana are scaring off the gringos!

After two more kidney-punishing hours on the rocky, wash-boarded road, we came back to the Transpeninsular highway. We headed straight for LA Bay where we have again been lounging at the only occupied palapa in our campo. The weather has been phenomenal except for the occasional viento loco (crazy wind) which apparently is common this time of year. Also, the water temp is still too low for comfortable swimming. When we decide to leave here, we will probably start heading back up north along the Transpeninsular and along the Pacific side of Baja.

Once again, this computer is not playing nice with my photos so my words will have to do for now.