Live in Washington? Can I influence your vote?

Just a quick one. We have made our way down to San Cristobal de Las Casas in Southern Mexico and intend to spend the next few days here enjoying Halloween, Dia do Todos Santos and Dia de Los Muertos. On Thursday we plan on crossing the border into Guatemala and making our way towards Nicaragua. As before, we are healthy and happy and learning much.

Now onto the political prostelysizing (how the hell do you spell that?). So despite our best efforts our ballots never caught up with us on our trip and there are two big decisions to be made. I am sort of hoping that, since our votes won´t be counted in this election we might sway a few folks. As a result this blog is dedicated to influencing your vote if you are a Washington voter. I am assuming that if you are reading this blog you probably are already going to vote for the two things I will mention, but you never know.

First, initiative 933. This is a maddening initiative forwarded by the farm bureau in Washington State. We all like farmers, right? Well, Washington´s farm bureau isn´t made up of small farm Joe from your local area. Its made up of, shall we say, more powerful interests and lots of people that have nothing to do with farming. The initiative would require the state and local governments to pay land-owners for ANY possible demonstrable loss of value to their property from public planning or land-use regulations. Private property is obviously a very important component of our social system, but I firmly believe that we need mechanisms for protecting public health and the environment for all of us. This initiative would make those planning efforts and regulations far too expensive to enforce and eventually lead to their dismantling. It is simply not fair to allow a land-owner to do WHATEVER they wish with their property, the rest of the community be damned. Oregon passed a similar, but weaker, initiative last year and it is causing them many problems. It is also expensive, since the initiative also requires the state or local goverment to bear the burden of administrative costs for managing the changes the initiative requires. http://www.noon933.org/

Second, Maria Cantwell. Many Democrats are upset with Maria´s stance on the war with Iraq, and that is somewhat understandable. However, we have to credit Maria with standing up to some very powerful people in the Senate and elsewhere who wanted to remove regulations limiting the size of tankers in Puget Sound AND who continue to push for drilling in the artic national wildlife refuge. lets be clear - the arctic national wildlife refuge is a WILDLIFE REFUGE, authorized by congress. It plays a role and serves a function. Maria´s opponent has made it clear that he would vote to make the Puget Sound THE port of call for Alaska oil tankers, dramatically increasing the risk of an oil spill in Puget Sound. Washington has made much progress in reducing the risk of such a spill, which would be absolutely devestating, and I believe that we just can´t go that way. http://www.cantwell.com/splash/

Okay, after this back to our regularly scheduled programming. I promise.

Ian

oops, forgot the photos

a few days of reprieve in mexico city

Stories pile up like leaves in fall, and in the five or so days since our last post in San Diego weve experienced far too much to tell. That being said, first the important stuff...we are in mexico city, at this very moment at a cyber cafe in Zona Rosa. It is a stormy night and we were rained on hard today for the first time in a very long while (check the photo of christine seeking shelter). Beside that small inconvenience we are well and healthy, if a bit overwhelmed with the scope of the decisions that we need to be making.

our next step is to travel through Central America to reach Nicaragua where we intend to spend at least a month studying spanish. We are getting by okay right now with the combination of both of our mediocre skill sets, but there is a great deal more to learn with better communication brought to bear. We had originally planned to go to oaxaca city and spend 5 or so days there enjoying the sights and sounds of Dia de Los Muertes. Based on the latest info we could find, though, it sounds as if Oaxaca City is growing more and more unstable by the day as the result of an intense organized people{s revolt against the state government of the state of Oaxaca. Given that Oaxaca made the perfect stopping point as we make our way down the isthmus we are left scrathcing our heads wondering where to go. Perhaps San Cristobal...

Given that, we will likely spend at least one more day here and hope tomorrow to see our first soccer game in Central America. Cruz Azul of Mexico City plays Chiapas tomorrow at 5 pm. if all goes well and we can figure out Mexico city{s stunningly complex transportation system WE ARE THERE!

Enough about now ' what about the past...As you all now know we finished our bike trip a few days back and experienced the pleasurable irony of running into Nancy and Randy on our last day of riding. if you recall, they were the couple, riding from the arctic to south america, that we ran into on our first day of riding. it was an incredible bout of serendipity that brought that about. The photo is of them hi0'fiving christine as we close in on our finish point. Riding the coast was such a fantastic experience, and already I miss the camping and physical aspect of it. We don{t have all of the numbers worked up yet, but we think we rode about 1308 miles, averaging 32.5 miles per day on our riding days, and took 8 rest days for a total of 48 days on the road. We spent an average of $72 dollars a day, with $35 of that being on food. We lived pretty well...And, yes, I finished with my board. I{ve attached a photo of the rig that made it possible. Despite having it I only got probaly a total of 12 or so sessions in. swell where i didn{t want it, no swell where it should have been. classic story...

ian

We Made It!

And we are still married, whole in body and spirit, and have huge monster thighs to boot.

We arrived in San Diego on Sunday evening, and rode through Pacific Beach (where I lived for a summer with my family, and learned to surf) to Ocean Beach, where we connected with a host through www.warmshowers.org. We stayed the night with Margaret, a new assistant prof at UCSD (Victorian literature!), in her small OB apartment. It was a very nice way to arrive.

Then things got crazy. After we opted not to sail out of the states I started pushing for as early a departure as possible, and my eagerness led to us having just two days, Monday and Tuesday, to pick up our shipped luggage, pack up our bike stuff and take care of the myriad little tasks that needed to happen. Notably, I was also trying to get my last hepatitis shot and squeeze in the GRE test. So, it was sort of stressful.

But its not Tuesday afternoon and we are doing okay. Monday was tough, I must admit. With driving through the city, not knowing where anything was, etc. I was just about at my wits end. But we've finished everything (well, I am still w/o my full hepatitis immunization and haven't taken the GRE, but isn't that what Mexico City is there for?) and now can look forward to a nice night in downtown San Diego making good use of a gift certificate to a swank restaurant that Tom and Carrie gave us for our wedding. Life is rough...

Hopefully we will get more computer time in Mexico City to post pictures, etc. I am still processing the bike trip and have been too busy to do so effectively, but I had a small flash this morning of, "oh my word, we just pedaled down here!" I made a brief and aborted attempt to calculate the number of times that my BOB trailer wheel rotated during our trip (studying math for the GRE does weird things to one's head) and may get back to you with a figure if my insanity continues.

We hope everyone is doing well and miss our friends and family dearly. Thank you so much to everyone for emails the like. We will start using skype more now, and want to build our contact list - so skype us! we are at "soulcedar".

-Ian

A Late Night Blog

A few days back, as we were readying ourselves to depart Santa Barbara, we made the decision - sailing wasn't going to happen, at least on this leg. Sad? Perhaps. But a journey is made of these things, small dissapointments in the midst of bigger opportunities.

From past experience I knew that sailing south from San Diego would offer us some experience that there is simply no other way to get. It is a way to learn about silence, and to understand what blue really means, and to grasp, in some small way, the living ocean.

But it also carries a lot of "baggage" with it. In our case it was time - we simply couldn't find a boat that was going to leave on our timeline. We decided that sailing on someone else's timeline wasn't going to be right for us at this point.

So, as of this Monday we are the proud new owners of a pair of nice shiny plane tickets, and will be flying out of San Diego into Mexico City on Wednesday the 25th. Our thoughts now are turned towards San Diego, still about 3 or 4 riding days away, and all of the tasks that we need to accomplish there to get ourselves out of the country.

The riding has changed significantly since we left Santa Barbara. It is mostly flat, and much warmer, and there are a lot more people and cars around. We spent most of today on oddly placed bike paths snaking over unnaturally broad sand beaches as we skirted the edge of Santa Monica Bay. Its actually enjoyable riding, with lots of diversions and interesting things to look at as the miles fly by.

I had the wonderful opportunity this morning to surf Malibu, thanks to the Surfrider Foundation's Nancy Hastings. Nancy picked us up at our campground and supplied me with a long board and we scored small but fun waves at one of the world's famous breaks.

- Ian, writing from the Surf City Hostel in Hermosa Beach

Drawn Out in Santa Barbara

Indecisiveness has found us. Whereas up to this point the way forward has been clear, we now have some decisions to make. We MAY be here for another day or two as we sort them out. While we have a few boat options, none is really reaching out to pull us in, at least yet. That means we have questions to ask - do we bus? do we fly? from where? To where?

Anyhow, for now we have a great place to be. We've posted new photos in our gallery, which you can find by following the photo gallery link at www.christineandian.com. They cover from San Francisco to Santa Barbara.

This is a long one, so buckle down...

Three photos lined up above should tell you that there are a great many stories to tell right now, so get set for a long one. Really it should be titled, "A royal arrival in SoCal, Capt Karl's Birthday AND the most hard-core bikers we know" but there wasn't space in the title line. Anyhow, here we go...

First, the details. We arrived yesterday to Kerry and Rhonda's place in Goleta, CA. They had arranged a welcome for us that left us stunned and pleased. For those of you in the know, after our wedding we found that our "nuptial bed" had been a bit mussed up by some unknown and still under-appreciated marauders (you know who you are :). Well, let me tell you that Kerry and Rhonda know how to prepare a nice bed! They had arranged for us to stay in the apartment of one of their neighbors and had made the place up with flowers, chocolate, wine, the whole bit. It was a delight. Not to mention that they also quickly satisfied those constant needs of the touring cyclist - a shower, laundry, good food and fine company.

We plan to be here at least until Monday morning, when we will depart for points further in the heart of SoCal. We are still trying to arrange for our next leg, the boat trip into Mexico, so if you have any boating contacts we could still use them.

On to the next subject. Today, the 13th, is my dad's birthday. Captain Karl is turning a young 61 (though he might throw out a different number...) and I, being the unattentive son that I am, didn't get him anything - not even a card. Until now. Here is my request: The old guy loves being sung to so, if you are up to it, could you , dear reader, give the old home place a ring and leave a little musical birthday message. Knowing that you probably won't know anyone there (at least that well) I don't expect you to carry on any sort of conversation, just call, sing the much-loved "Happy Birthday" and hang up. It would be great. The number is 804 642 9651. If email is more you style hit him up at puzzles4you@hotmail.com. Thanks. AS an aside, the puzzles referenced in their email address are about the puzzles that he makes - check them at www.puzzles-plus.biz. And as another aside, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Father! I love you. I know that he will be seeing this eventually.

Okay, on to the hard-core bikers. I thought that many of you would be interested in the most hard-core bikers that we've met so far. Florian and Rebekah are swiss, and are biking the west coast from B.C. at least as far as Mexico. They are great and we spent a night with them back on the northern california coast. What makes them so hard-core, though, is that they are doing it with their 2.5 year old son Chan. The photos of Rebekah's bike above is just a start. They are keeping a blog as well and you can reference it here.

And, finally, just a reminder that we no longer have a cell phone, so scratch 360 808 1103. We can now take phone messages at our new Skype number 360 312 ROCK. and email is always nice...

- Ian

Christine "The Machine"

My wife is a machine. There is no other way to explain it. Whereas I (and I think that most of us would share this particular trait) am sweating and shaky at the top of some of these Big Sur hills, Christine, strangely, seems unfazed. No apparent hard breathing. She doesn't even sweat. She just sits in her saddle, and cranks up the hills.

I first started noticing her odd behavior in Oregon when, after a particularily brutal climb of 1000' we reached a stopping point to an overlook another 100' up a hill. We left our bikes at the bottom of the hill and Christine started to RUN up the hill. My suspicions were seeded at that point.

And now, after these last few days of Big Sur, what started as sort of a vague suspicion has cemented itself in my realm of belief. She also doesn't like to go fast downhill. At first I thought it was just because she didn't like the speed, especially with the wobbly trailer. Now I know that its because if she were to fall her "skin" would be scraped away, exposing all of the circuit boards and pistons under there.

Of course this poses a number of potentially difficult questions for the future. What if the power goes out? Is she battery-powered? How long does it last? If not, and she is powered by internal combustion, what happens if oil supplies decline? Is rust an issue? The list goes on and on...

Anyhow, you get some sense here of all of the things that we are learning about each other. We are in Morro Bay now, just a few days out of Santa Barbara, with the trip, sadly, actually starting to wind down. Its hard to believe. Yesterday we visited Hearst Castle, and saw our first male elephant seals neck to neck in the surf. Pretty powerful stuff there...

- Ian

Monterey Days

Sam Watson is a saint to us. The guy not only gave us his very own bed, but he has also given us the opportunity to play a game of soccer, surf, get in the Monterey Bay Aquarium at no charge and go sailing. couldn't be better.

tomorrow we are back to the real world of hard pedaling, starting in to the trip from here to Santa Barbara, through the Bug Sur region.

Enough of that though. We've posted photos from the section ofour trip from the California border to San Francisco. I think you get there from http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/soulcedar/my_photos. Enjoy!

- Ian

a $40 dollar campsite and the axis of shark evil

Our days since arriving in the Bay area have been luxurious. We have emerged from the shroud of fog along the northern coast into the health belt of America. The streets are lined wide lovely bike paths,an endless expanse of carbon fiber and lycra, and fit hip people everywhere. We had a great time in San Fran -visited my brother in law and his family dear Sean Lawson; took in Modern Art at the SOMA which lead to a artful argument as to whether Picasso was politically motivated; relaxed with an $8.00 cocktail in the Mission district and enjoyed an evening at the San Fran Bicycle Film festival where we saw what I would rename Jackass the Movie Two- bike club style.
From here we headed down the coast the coast at a leisurely pace and found ourselves at Costanoa a fabulous yuppy haven where camping includes a hot tub, sauna, a veranda porch with outdoor fireplaces and couches, heated floors in the bathroom and breakfast the next day all for a mere 40 dollars. Despite the fact we had only traveled 25 miles that day who could pass this up. From here onward to Ano Neuvo Wildlife Refuge in search of a quality elephant seal, shark, or otter siting. The docent informed us we were in the triangle of the largest concentration of great white sharks anywhere. Regular evidence of shark attacks are seen on the seals.As the docent spun his tale of doom the caucophony of seals rang out in the distance from hundreds of young males a mere several hundred pounds basked in the sunlight.

Today we are headed to Monterey to hang out with Sam Watson and visit the aquarium where they have a great white shark in captivity. We are now safely beyond the axis of evil and Ian may once again feel safe to get in the water. Did I mention the Sunshine .....

Mythos in So Cal and a great many thank yous

It seems that somewhere around Pacifica, just south of San Francisco, we entered mythical "so cal". Now I know that many of you will say that So Cal doesn't properly start until point conception but we've hit the warmer weather, chill riding (well, except for the dangerous elephant seals along the way) and hundreds of surfers in the water.

We've had a few great house stays and some fine social hob-nobbing over the past week - first in Mill Valley at Brian Thysell's place (see photo). Brian was incredibly kind, and not only gave us his cottage when he left for the weekend, but also his car, which we used to help us get into the city and check out the area a bit. It was a wonderful stay. In Santa Cruz we stayed with Guillermo, a friend of Jorma's from back in the day. That was also very nice, and allowed us to spend an evening in Santa Cruz. We were also able to spend two evenings with Carl Pettit, a long-ago friend of mine from Bellingham and his girlfriend Petra. Petra is Czech and Carl is well-travelled and it was great to get their perspectives on places and people around the globe. We will be well-served by their conversation in the coming year. And today we are riding towards Monterey, where we will meet with Sam Watson and hopefully spend a few days exploring, surfing and generally continuing this trend of early retirement that we've been enjoying.

In other news we arrived in Santa Cruz yesterday in time for my 3:30 meeting with Dr. Gary Griggs. Gary is an extremely well-respected coastal geologist and I wanted to meet him and explore any opportunities for graduate school that might be presented to me. It was a very good meeting and I will be thinking hard about applying to UC Santa Cruz over the next few months.

We are well over half way now, with only one big section of riding remaining - over Big Sur. It includes some more big climbs and winding shoulder-less sections of Hwy 1. I suppose it would be intimidating, but we are now experienced in such things and have thighs that work like machines.

Just joking...its always intimidating. Despite that, I am looking forward to Big Sur, which is one of the world's beautiful places.