Tuesday 1st November – A Day of Errands and Weird Trees

Did I mention it was cold? Up this morning, first on the agenda was a shower. I felt dirty. I got some water boiling and did some rearrangement in the van until it was ready. I proceeded to spill most of the water on the ground attempting to get it into the solar shower bag…

Monday 31st October – Head Up in the Clouds of Big Bear

I had my first scare of the trip last night. After I had finished dinner and was winding down for the night, another car pulled up to where I was, stopped beside me, then turned around and stayed there. Eventually they turned the engine off and I waited. I was spooked because the area I…

Sunday 30th October – Luck and Good Times In The Rain

I was up at 6am, we had to leave by 6:30am to get to the Lake and set up the Kona stand. I met the boys in their hotel room and used their bathroom, then we went for breakfast. No questions were asked about me, I walked in like I owned the place and helped…

Saturday 29th October – Making It In Hollywood

It was pretty cold this morning, still shorts weather, but enough to make my fingers cold during morning duties. I decided not to have a shower and settled for washing my face, still figuring out the morning routine. Cereal for breakfast, I was out of camp by 8:30am. I continued driving south through farmland and…

Friday 28th October – The Art of Camping in the Rain

I’d left the side door window open for air and had minor water intrusion, but the roof rack straps had let water in during the night, creating four separate pools of water. Will have to fix that, but it wasn’t raining heavily enough to justify immediate action. I heated water for a shower and managed…

Austin – A Weekend of F1 in the “Weird” City

Thursday (Pre-F1 day) The flight to Texas from California started with the coast, quickly transitioned to mountains (some of them snow capped), then it was desert with inverse canyons. Just before landing, I saw farmland that initially was laid out in circular fields, then all squares. Maybe the two counties had a difference of opinion…

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (or HSB) is an annual festival held in Golden Gate Park, always on the first weekend in October and it is completely FREE. A guy named Warren Hellman started it all fifteen years ago just because he liked Bluegrass. He was a wealthy investor and used his wealth to bring the event…

Day 16 – Careful What You Wish For

I woke happy to see my camp from the night before. Such a good spot. I was getting pretty good at my morning routine now, I washed my face, made the bed, stowed my curtains, made breakfast, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, all while listening to a BBC news podcast. I was on the road…

Day 15 – On Paper, A Bad Day

Good morning! Flat tyre… I thought when I woke up that I wasn’t quite lying level. That slow leak on my right rear tyre had sped up, probably had something to do with the bogging escapades from yesterday. I noticed when I walked back to the car after going to the bathroom. On the one…