Summertime...

...and the livin' is easy.

After facing a potential 120 degree day in the desert and dangerous crossing on the bike, I thought it best to amend the trip and make it a train/road/hostel adventure. Stepdad Scott joined me in California and we headed out on a fun road trip through the hellish heat waves of Arizona and California. While in Phoenix, we met up with a fellow backpacking pal before heading out on the road again. Despite dodging Texas Editions, battling banditos on the Juarez border and wolfing down truck stop food, we made to Austin safely, where we then thoroughly enjoyed a plate of Ironworks BBQ.

The following day, I made it over to Antone's Blues Club in Austin where Storyville, an Austin blues rock band featuring Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton (Stevie Ray Vaughan's band), was playing. The show was great, and I even met Tommy Shannon after the show. For the 4th, I watched the fireworks over town lake in Austin, and took in some local color walking fifth and sixth streets after the festivities. Austin is a great town with a lot of fun people, good food and great music. It was fun to be there, but I looked forward to heading out on the train and moving towards the swamps and marshes of cajun country. There, my next adventures awaited...

A Ride through the Desert

After dropping our camper off at his grandma's place in Orange, CA, Josh is now on his bike headed east. He is headed first to his other grandparent's place in Prescott, AZ. He's stopped in Apple Valley, CA and Yucca Valley, CA, and is now trying to figure out how to smartly cross the desert. He's finding temps of 110 and is probably going to get a ride across instead of biking it. We'll see what happens on the other side. We're also against a bit of a tight timeline as I'm done here on the 25th of July. So, we'll see if he bikes the whole way or if he hops a bus or train at some point. Either way, he says that he's learning how to pack better for the ride we'll hopefully do together at some point this year...Only two days into it and he already has some really cool stories. I'll let him tell those to you later; for now, I'll just keep posting the photos that he texts to me from the open road and will post his progress.

VP and the Gang

Robin meets Admiral Allen, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and Vice President Joe Biden. Check the link to our Picasa site for photos.

Highway Chile

The Dolphin has officially made it out of Seattle on to the open road…After packing up the camper with the bikes, camping gear and a whole lot of other miscellaneous things; I took off on Highway 101 via I-5 around 11:30pm Thursday evening. Drove for about 5 hours on the road (max speed: 55 mph), and made it to Wilapa State Park. Pulled off and slept for a bit; resumed driving at 8:30am. Starting the day with a little coffee recharge in Seaside, the drive went smoothly through to the coast. The day started with a little rain, but burned off by 10, and for the rest of the day it was the nicest weather I have ever seen on the coast.

During the course of the trip, I learned a couple quirky things about the camper: 1) There is a small vent which shoots extremely hot air onto your gas pedal foot, 2) fuses periodically blow for no reason, resulting in getting stopped by cops for having no tail lights, and 3) the heater is apparently always on.

…now in San Francisco, enjoying a cup of coffee with my Mom. Tomorrow is another long day of driving, en route to southern California, where the camper will wait until Robin and I return in a month to go on more adventures in it. Stay tuned for more adventures…

Erik visits Robin in NOLA

Erik and Robin get Saturday off. Erik drives 2.5 hours west from Mobile, AL, to New Orleans, LA to hang with Robin. Robin and Erik head south on LA Hwy 23 to see Venice, LA in Plaquemine's Parish. Erik and Robin drive back up north at the end of the day, Erik drops Robin off in New Orleans, and Erik heads back to Mobile, AL, that night for work the next day.