DAY 30 (Yosemite and ROAD CLOSED!)

My internet has not been reliable, so i'll keep this short!

long and short, went to Yosemite.... OH MY GOD!!!!! what a place!!! HEAVEN ON EARTH!!!!

and this was when it was rainy and foggy... i can only imagine how wonderful it all looks in the fullness of sun!

I was raining this am and rain at "my level" = snow at altitude! Rt 120 (a high elevation pass) got closed ~2 hrs before i got to the park.... no regrets.... Yos. was great.... just had to spend 1/2 the day spinning my wheels (sort of) trying to figure out what i should do... head north? wait another day? head south?

decided to head south as "locals" were saying weather up north was just as bad (or worse); since i had no reliable "net", i could not check weather for myself...

so here i am, in good old Bakersfield CA...

:(

heading to L. Vegas tomorrow... NO!!! no gambling for me!

will post pics next chance i get.... just too tired now (~12:15 am) and need to get some sleep... am living "off the play book" now..... need to make up some miles tomorrow!


------------ pics
- a river runs through it
- poor bears
- good thing there is a hole in that rock... (so the road can go through it!)
- that is a BIG ROCK!
- water fall...
- a mount. emerging from the fog (oh, is that my bike in the foreground?)
- look closely, there is a waterfall beyond the fog!
- another waterfall, this one also has a bike!
- another mount. coming out of the fog (bike in foreground)
- two mounts, fog, bike... - prob the BEST pic i'll take on this trip!

- what is looming behind and above those trees, within that fog?
- a wet bike and a confused ME back at the KOA (rt 120 closed, i need to regroup; head south)

---------- couple vidoes...

Day 29 (Leaving CA for Yosemite!)

Sorry... yest. was very busy! and the "net" was not very reliable...


Left Ben Lomond, CA ~12:00 headed towards Yosemite (had 21927 miles on the bike)... Ride went well (sure is a lot of agriculture! between the Santa Cruz and Serria Mts!)


Weather was pretty good (but i KNEW i was dancing with the devil - re: rain was coming my way - stay tuned for the consequences of that!)...


Finally made it to a KOA (took a cabin) and settled in...


here are a few pics...

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- bike ready to go
- Boxes going BACK to NJ! (thanks again Jeanie and Terry!); jen, do NOT open if they arrive before i do!
- od. at 21927
- Bye Santa Cruz Mts. (you were pretty fun!)
- Erin, for you... Wind turbine farm!
- HELLO Sierra Nevadas!
- Getting closer to Yosemite!
- Settled in at a KOA
- Made some dinner!

----- a video

Day 28C (Bye CA!)

Some of you may know that Jen and I lived in CA between 1996 and 1999 (William was born in CA!). The night before we left CA (to fly back to NJ) we went to a local Park (Central Park in Santa Clara - where Jen, Erin and I used to take walks, etc...) to release some balloons (an orange one for Erin, a purple for Jen, 2 blues for the "Williams" and one yellow for our dog honey). As we watched these balloons float away, we said goodbye to CA. It was a bitter-sweet moment. Eventhough we really enjoyed our time in CA and knew we would miss it, we were happy to be moving back to the east coast.

There is a funny story about erin finding the same "set" of balloons in our back yard in Piscataway once we closed on our house (she was ~6-7 at the time), but we'll save that story for another day! Indeed, "God" knew what house was supposed to be OURS!

anyway... among the various other missions i had here in CA, I wanted to capture a few pics of this balloon release (kind of a "reenactment" as it were).... jen, erin, william... this is for you!

Love Dad.... I'M HEADING EAST!!!!!!!

See ya soon-ish... (~10 days)


-------- some pics ---

---------- video

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and for those of you who wonder how i transported balloons with a motorcycle, i give you this ODD picture!

YUP! i got some funny looks! (where there is a Will-iam, there is a way!)...

Day 28b (Weather for Leg 2)

Plans are coming together for the return trip to NM. The weather is NOT as nice as I would like it to be (nor as nice at it was on the way out or the ENTIRE time here in CA), but... it should be fine.... (though i WILL get wet - good thing i packed for all types of weather!)


Below are some listings of the extended forecast for the areas I'll be traveling though...


The plan right now is to leave on Thurs (6/4) early morning and head towards Yosemite
(double click the images to get a better view)
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Day 28a (The Final Route for Leg 2: CA, NV, UT, CO, NM)

I'll be leaving CA a day early (6/4, rather than 6/5) for the second leg of this trip (the trip BACK to NM!). While CA and the Howards, Browns (and countless others) were fun, it will be nice to start heading home! On this leg I will travel from CA to NV, then UT, then CO and then south to NM. Sites will be "case by case" and could include Yosemite, the Little Alien Inn (in NV - near area 51), Bryce Canyon (Zion, perhaps), perhaps Canyon Lands/Island in the sky (though not all that likely), then, if the weather agrees, I'll head into Glen Canyon and take a ferry across Col. River. After that, i'll head towards CO and perhaps get my way to Pikes Peak (which I'm told is the highest "drivable" road in the US). After that, it is down towards NM and DEE! (which will be my last stop before getting HOME!!).

Below is a Google Map of my route. If you click on the "view larger map" link just below each map, you'll be taken to the full Google Map of the route. If you know how to use "street view," (by dragging that little orange guy onto a road), you'll see "through my eyes," as it were.





View Larger Map

Day 27b (Last Prize was found)

If i do NOT say so myself... i really know my family!

there were 9 prizes in total.... 8/9 were found within my window of +/- 3 days... sure, some would say that THAT gave me ~1 week window... true, however most were found within 1 day of the expected date and one (at least one) was found the the EXACT day...

that AINT so bad!

anyway, today they found a gift card to Aunt Annes Pretzel shop (jen likes these), it was taped to the back of the box of dish detergent (those who know my dad's "3 washers" joke will NOW get the hint!)....

:)

enjoy...

Day 27a (Last day at USGS!)

Well, it is finally here... the end of the road for the "west coast" of CA (will have another day or 2 of prep and travel in CA - but things are drawing to an end)...


Today I gave a seminar to the lab group at USGS (they seemed to apprecaite an east coast perspective on all things NASTY in the NY/NJ harbor)....


I also had to bit farewell to Cindy Brown (she was such a great host!) and say my good byes to other USGS-types (i.e., Dan and Marie).


It was certainly a productive 2.5 weeks and was, at least the way i see it, WELL worth the time and effort!


We'll see if any BIGGER projects develop out of my visit, but I'm hopeful that the Bay Area has NOT seen the last of me (and even MORE hopeful that the next time I visit I'll have Jen, Erin and William with me!)....


I also had to take one more photo opt... this is an ice cream shop that erin and i used to stop at on our way from USGS to picking up Jen at Sun Microsystems (just south of Menlo Park) on the way home from work...


:)



---------------------
- Me talking about how BAD things are in the Arthur Kill
- The USGS lab group (thanks again for having me!)
- Ice cream shop (yummy!); no... i did not have a chance to stop... nor did i make the time to get a cup of coffee at starbucks (for shame!)

Day 26 (Final sample analysis and AMES visit!)

Today was a quick and dirty day... I ran in to USGS to watch while some of our samples were being run on a instrument that measures various stable isotopes (Marie ran our samples... THANKS!)... After that i made a B LINE to the AMES research center at Muffet Field... This is where my cuz Jeanie (her husband and his brother kevin all) work!

Anyway, got some real neat pics of labs, instruments, space suits, HUGE HANGERS!! air craft, etc... etc.... etc... I also helped with one of their projects (will explain below)...
-------------

- Dan and Marie at the instrument
- Jeanie in her lab (MUCH bigger than mine!)
- Jeaine in front of some silver bomb looking thing that they use to collect air samples on the space shuttle! (now... THAT is a cool job!)
- One project that Jeanie, Kevin (et al) are working on is a system to purify urine on space missions so as to reuse the water... well, it sure is gross, BUT... it could save LOADS of money by not having to SEND up as much water as they need to now... so, well... i felt compelled to "contribute" (as they need the REAL THING to test their system on!)- yeah, yuck! but heck, they needed my help... and they were so helpful and kind to me! ANYTHING in the name of SCIENCE!! Heck, my pee might be what helps them with that NEXT big break through! The people in CA were so gracious that they even think my PEE is "valuable"
- Me and Jeanie, yeah, yeah... i KNOW i cannot smile properly!
- various pics from around the air field...
- various pics from inside the AMES visitor center

---- videos

Day 25 (last full lab day! - almost time to start riding!)

Well, dan and i had some GREAT success in tha lab (got to love it when a plan comes together!)... anyway, here are just a final few pics of some lab work...


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- snails before...
- snails after.... (being all smushed up!)
- me doing some lab work
- our test tube racks.... they served us well! (and kept us on track!)
- toxic avenger visits the rad lab!