Food and Music

The food here is incredible! The plate on the right is a combo plate with oysters on a biscuit, crawfish in a bag of deep-fried filo-type dough, and some spicy hush puppy-like things. The other plate is just straight, boiled crawfish. I haven't sampled all of the food available at the fest, but I'm working on it.

The highlight of the first day was Van Morrison. I've been a fan of his forever, and it was great to see him live. He did a lot of stuff I wasn't totally familiar with, but he also did an incredible version of Moon Dance. The second day all-star was Mose Allison. I had heard of him (mainly though a Greg Brown song), but I'd never heard his music. He's 80 years old, plays fabulous piano (I think he must be classically trained), and sings great little story books of songs. I can see his influence on Greg Brown's music.

There was a lot of good music on yesterday, with The New Orleans Social Club (a group of Katrina musician refugees who evacuated to Austin), George Thorogood, and Gillian Welch. The prize has to go to Gillian Welch, who has never diappointed me. I was tempted to give George the nod, just because everyone seems to totally dismiss his musical talent. Whatever he has, he still has it, and can sure get a crowd up and dancing to the same stuff he's been doing for 30 years. Last night we went and saw a trio called the Tin Man. They consist of a guitar/lead singer, a sousaphone, and washboard player. The combination works! Who'd a thunk it?!! Very entertaining, even though they kept me up past 3AM!

I've decided to stay here in New Orleans for this week rather than traveling to Houston or Jackson, MS. I want to do some exploring in the bayous, maybe wrestle an alligator or two, and see how some of the worst-hit areas in New Orleans are doing. My first impressions are still holding. There's been a lot of at least cosmetic progress since I was here last.

3535 miles later

We made it! We had a great ride from Houston. The weather was perfect with blue skies and the wind at our back. The miles just flew by, making me think that after all the Motorcycle Maintenance we've done, a little Zen was in order.

It's interesting to note that since we hit West Texas, whenever we've asked how far it is to some location, everyone answers in terms of time rather than miles. Even today, near Baton Rouge, Hal specifically asked a local how many miles it was to New Orleans, the person replied, "45 minutes to an hour, depending on how fast you drive."

First impressions of New Orleans are better than I expected. Last February when I drove through here in my car (with my broken ankle), blue tarps covering roofs were everywhere along I10. Today, I didn't see any. I'll do a lot more exploring before I'm out of here, and will report back, complete with photos.

We went out for dinner tonight at the Parkway Bakery and Tavern. We had poorboys and a couple of beer, and were entertained by an all-girls brass band. Great place! Later tonight, we'll go see Walter Wolfman Washington at the Banks Tavern (which fortunately is walking distance from where we're staying). Any "Walter" can't be all bad, and besides, all Walters are at least honorary members of the Walternative Universe.

Tomorrow the Jazz Fest starts. My only must-see tomorrow is Van Morrison. He'll be competing against Lucinda Williams on another stage, but I've seen Lucinda several times, and have never seen Van Morrison.

Stay tuned for more food, music, and venue reviews. I'll also do some exploring and report back on the state of New Orleans.

Next Stop New Orleans

We've got all the bike issues sorted out, the thunderstorms have passed through, the sun is shining, and we'll be on the road again in a couple of hours.

It turned out that the problem on my bike wasn't too serious. A wire had come off the alternator, and re-attachment was all that was required. It just took the master BMW mechanic (and two MU) to find it. Hal is still way ahead in the MU's spent race, so I guess BMW still has bragging rights over Triumph. After a Houston-wide search, Hal finally found the right chain master link, so his issues are cured as well.

Next stop, New Orleans.

Bikeless in Houston

The sparks are flying in Houston! That's Hal grinding off his old chain. We put the new one on, but need a press tool to put the master link in. That will have to wait until tomorrow. Meanwhile, my bike is in a BMW shop here with as yet undefined electrical problems. The master BMW mechanic is supposed to be in tomorrow, and with some luck he can prescribe a fix. The ordinary mechanic couldn't do it. There are no BMW dealerships in New Orleans, so I guess I'm stuck here until my bike is fixed. The people at the BMW dealership are suprisingly hel[ful, even though they haven't been able to fix my bike yet. They lent me a Triumph Rocket III as a loaner. They don't call it the Rocket III for nothing. It's got a 2300cc engine with 140HP! Tomorrow is supposed to be a terrible weather day, so we probably wouldn't be going anywhere anyway.

The other shot there is of Ben and Kara. Ben's doing well, but can't get in to see the specialist until Thursday. The actual course of treatment is as yet undetermined.

We're staying at a good hostel here in the Museum District. It's not too far from downtown, the people here are great, and the price is right. There are worse places to be stuck for an extra day or two.

Austin

Here we are in Austin at Datri and Chalo's house. No, not with Jesus in the background. The chickens are in the background. I'm on a Mac computer, so this post is causing more than normal posting difficulties. Don't ask me why everything is underlined. I guess Firefox on a Mac loses something in the translation to the PC world, Oh well, bear with me.

This picture of an 80' Jesus, taken by my daughter Caroline, won the grand prize in The Budget Traveler magazine contest. She took it at an amusement park outside of Buenos Aires last summer. Apparently every hour, Jesus would rise into the heavens, but there was a sign that said something like, "Jesus will not be rising today due to high winds." Caroline wrote up a short blub to accompany the photo (which she didn't send to me, so I've probably screwed up the story somewhat), sent it off last fall, and promptly forgot about it. She was notified a couple of days ago that hers was the grand prize winner. And the prize was......an all expense paid trip for two to Singapore!!!! Way to go Caroline!!!

I've lost all BMW v. Triumph bragging rights. My battery died today, and I either have a battery or electrical system issue. So there's me with my bike in a state that I'm more used to seeing Hal's in. Of course there are no BMW dealers open in Austin until Tuesday. I did find a battery shop to charge and test my battery. I'll find out tomorrow if it's just the battery, or whether something more serious is wrong. They do have a new battery, for a mere 1.3MU. (MU are $100, BU are $1000) So with some luck, I'll pop in a new battery and be on our way tomorrow. If not, I guess I'll have an unscheduled layover in Austin until the BMW deakership opens and gets me in for service.

I do have to give some major kudos to Datri and Chalo for the use of their place in their absence, with special thanks to Vivian and Connie for setting up our beds and welcoming us like old friends yesterday. They've all gone way above and beyond any call of duty. I hope that someday I'll be able to reciprocate in Seattle.

Big Spring, Texas

We drove to Big Spring today via Carlsbad. I had never been to Carlsbad before, and had no idea that there were so many x-rated formations. There's Hal about to try and fondle the Mammoth Mammary. I'm not sure what to call the other one. It might actually be a Viagra product placement.

Tomorrow we'll be in Austin and will probably stay there for a couple of days before heading to Houston to visit Ben. Then we'll be off to New Orleans. From here on in, the days on the bikes should be relatively short, no more than around 300 miles on any one leg.

We must be in the South. I heard my first live y'all today. The first of many, I'm sure.

Oh, I almost forgot. For those of you wondering about WaveGuide's ultimate fate, she is back at Elliot Bay, but the repairs are not complete. The folks at Sea View have thrown up their hands in trying to determine why the water flow to the new seal is so weak. I contacted Hatton Marine (an authorized Yanmar service center) today, and they are going to take a look at it sometime in the next week or two. On one hand, I'm glad that WaveGuide is back in the water, but I am disappointed after spending almost 3.3BU (boat units) with Sea View, and they didn't get the problem fixed. Everything they did had to be done, so I'm not saying they screwed me, but it sucks just the same.

El Paso

Today was a pretty good day. We left Tom’s place about 9 or 9:30, and got to El Paso around 7. We had the wind at our backs most of the way, and the skies were clear all the way. As I promised myself, I did play Kinky Friedman’s hit song, Asshole from El Paso after we arrived

There sure is a lot of nothing in southern Arizona and New Mexico, so it was a bit boring at times. But then again, one of the beauties of riding is being alone with your thoughts, and becoming one with the bike, the wind, and the road. (If you don’t believe me, read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Persig. It’s a must for all sensitive new-age guys like me.)

It is good to be alone with my thoughts, with no music or conversation to distract me. Sometimes it is almost possible to achieve a semi Zen-like state where the miles just fly by. Other times, I just think random thoughts and let them go where they lead. For example, today I was thinking about opera and one of my all-time favorite songs, Dom Epais, from the opera Lakme. Like most operas, this one has a rather convoluted plot that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It is set in French Colonial India (I didn’t know there was a French colonial India either until I saw this opera), and is a cross between Romeo and Juliet and Love Story. A French officer falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a powerful Brahim, but it’s a hopeless affair. To make a long story short, the officer is wounded in battle against her father and is lying dying when his lover finds him. She becomes distraught at the sight of him, and starts tearing at her hair and her sari in her anguish. He becomes conscious while she is doing this, and tells her to stop ripping her clothes and not be so sad. She sees what she’s done to herself and her clothes, and is embarrassed and doesn’t want the officer to think badly of her. She apologizes and straightens her hair and sari as best she can and tells him that she’ll repair the sari as soon as she can. He tells her not to worry about her sari, and then dies in her arms. Then, with him still in her arms, the sari magically repairs itself and is better than new. The point of the story is that “love means never to have to sew your sari.”

Yes folks, I made most of that up, all by myself.

I tried to figure out a way to link both Dom Epais and Asshole from El Paso from my computer to this post so that you all could enjoy both songs, but I don't think it's possible. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Tom's Place

The layers of clothes came off quickly as we headed into the heat of the desert. The ride was a bit windy, but otherwise uneventful. Tom's got a lovely place here with beautiful views.

Hal and I took the opportunity to remove at least some of the 1800 miles of accumulated road grime. I figured I'd better get a picture of my bike just to prove that it was at least once relatively clean.

We'll likely change our itinerary a bit and spend some time in Houston rather than Austin. Ben, our New Orleans friend and host, is on his way to Houston right now to have an operation that he thought he could put off until after the Jazz Fest. With any luck, he'll be in reasonable shape for at least the second weekend of the festival. We can only hope.

The Croatian Capital of the USA?

For all you Croatians out there (you know who you are), here are a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure. I guess the Croatians, especially from Dalmatia, came here years ago primarily as fisherman, and as Croatians tend to do when they leave Croatia, never moved on again.

The picture of the plant has some history. The plant is older than Hal is, and Joan moved here, the plant outgrew its pot, so she planted it in the common ground at her apartment complex. It's doing just fine. Another transplant from New Jersey.

Next stop Scottsdale, for some quality time with Tom and Joe.

San Pedro

After a long, cold, and windy ride from San Francisco, we made it to Joan's lovely place in San Pedro early yesterday evening. She had a sumptious lamb stew with mashed potatoes waiting for us; her complex has a pool and hot tub that we've already made use of, and there's a decent wireless internet connection here. So all is well with the world.

I'll try and post more later today, complete with photos and amusing anecdotes.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Here we are in the Mission District in San Francisco, having a beer in the sunshine, and writing a blog for the first time since the trip began. I meant to write the first night, but we only made it as far as Portland. I meant to blog the second night, but the wireless connection I had in Ashland was slower than the Pony Express. So here I am, with a decent connection.

We had a long cold and wet ride to Portland....7-1/2 hours!!! Hal had issues with his bike that took some time, blood (see photo in a Home Depot parking lot in Tacoma), and $129 for a new coil to resolve. Yesterday, we rode to Ashland, arriving in time for fabulous blue skies after a day in the rain. Today's ride was great. A bit cold in the morning, but once the sun burned off the frost, the layers of clothing came off pretty quickly.

I've just uploaded some pictures, and some of them got posted twice because they didn't look like they got posted the first time. Does Microsoft (grrrr!) write the code for Blogspot, or is there a conspiracy to make the unwashed multitudes (of which I am a proud card-carrying member) feel like fools whenever they try and do something on the computer? One picture is at mile zero, another couple of Hal, and me by what looks like a miniature Abe Linclon in Ashland.

Sometime soon, I hope to be able to spend some quality time on the computer trying to figure out how to do what I want to do, but right now, I want to have a beer or two and enjoy the company of John and Megan, our San Francisco host. So for now, you'll just have to live with double pictures.

One more thing

For those of you interested in the health of Western Canadian pine forests, here's a link http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/science/beetle.html

Tip of the hat to John for the link.

Good News, Bad News

First, the good news. I had an uneventful 13-1/2 hour trip back from Edmonton yesterday, fueled by the usual combination of sunflower seeds and coffee, plus some new music pirated from Marian. No wonder the music industry is in such bad shape!

The bad news is that WaveGuide isn't ready. The seals have been replaced, but there is a water pressure issue, most likely the raw water impeller. So I won't get her back until I get back from New Orleans in mid-May.

The good news from the bad news is that I'll have a bit more time to do the million things I have to do before I leave tomorrow.

Look for my next post in a few days, likely from California somewhere.

World Champions?

I looked in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Seattle Times this morning for their front page coverage of the world championship I watched live and in-person yesterday. Imagine my dismay when I couldn't find any stories at all!!! Well for all you news-starved sports addicts out, here's a link http://www.tsn.ca/headlines/news_story.asp?ID=203374&hubName=main I will forward this link to the sports desks of these otherwise fine publications.

Rita is awarded bonus points for correctly identifying curling as the sport in question. Lets hear it for Rita!!!

In case the rest of you haven't heard yet, Canada defeated Germay to win the World Curling Championship! The big bad boys from the USA came in third.

Another thing I couldn't find in the major media this morning is the fact that six, yes SIX Canadians were killed by an IED in Afghanistan yesterday. The mess in Iraq is overshadowing the fact that there is another bloody mess not far away, and it's not only Americans who are dying. (Of course the lives of Iraqis and Afghanis don't count)

Today will consist of lots of windshield time with coffee and sunflower seeds. I should be in Seattle tonight.

World Championships

Boy oh boy! This is awfully exciting! It's not often that one gets to see the best in the world compete in a world championship! This morning I will indeed be there in the flesh watching the Germans and Canadians fight it out for honor and country!

Special bonus points will be awarded to any of you who correctly identify the sport. Stay tuned for updates, and maybe even some photos!

I made it

After 830 miles, 14-1/2 hours, 41 gallons of gas, 1 (at least) gallon of coffee, 1 pound of Spitz sunflower seeds, 1 package of beef jerky, and 1/2 a pizza, I made it to Edmonton. It was a good drive, the weather was great, and the roads were bare and dry. Even Mt. Robson cooperated and was out of the clouds for a change. And the elk were out in force in Jasper.

But all is not totally idyllic in BC. You can see the dead and dying trees in one of the pictures above. In large swaths of the BC interior, if the pine bark beetle doesn't kill the trees, forest fires will. This appears to one of those less-thought-of consequences of global warming. The cold winters used to kill off the beetle larvae, so they were never much more than a nuisance, but for the last 20 or so years, the average winter temperatures have risen to the point where the bugs survive. Then the dead trees burn or rot, adding CO2 to the atmosphere to heat things up even more.

I'm not in the mood for a political rant right now (breakfast is ready), so I'll leave it there for now.

Betrayed - Iraqis who trusted America the most

For those of you who want to know what's really happening to the Iraqis who've worked with the Americans since the invasion, read this:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/26/070326fa_fact_packer/

It's a very personal and heart-breaking story of several Iraqi interpreters who worked for US forces for the last several years. It will make you ashamed to be an American, or if your not an American, ashamed for Americans. It's a long article, but it's well worth the read.

On the Hard

Here are a few shots for your viewing pleasure. There's Gary, having a nap on my boat at the dock in the sun in Langley. It's hard work watching all those whales! (It's a good thing I haven't figured out how to add sound to the post. Gary's snore is actually quite inoffensive.)

The other shots are of WaveGuide "on the hard." I felt a bit sorry for her. She doesn't look nearly so glamorous out of the water. For all the men reading this, you could think of her as a gorgeous and sexy woman (with no reference to a real woman) whom you've known quite well, intimately, in fact, who's in the doctor's examination room with her feet up in the stirrups in a most undignified position. In that position, she's really interesting to look at, but somehow not quite so sexy any more. (This might of the first of many "O, Walter!" moments to come in the course of this blog:-))

The last shot is of the offending seal. It's supposed to have a couple of water lines attached to it, but both of them have been broken off. The whole shaft will have to be removed, and a new seal installed.

The initial prognosis is good. It appears that there is no malignancy, and that after some basic surgery and a couple of thousand dollars, she'll be as good as new. I'll know more tomorrow after the test results are in. I'll keep you posted.

Whale Watching in Langley

We saw several California Gray whales on Friday and Saturday, but being the skipper of WaveGuide, it was difficult for me to run the boat and get a photo or two at the same time. At one point a whale surfaced immediately in front of the boat, and I immediately shut down the engines so as not to injure the whale if he (she?) went under the boat. By the time I got outside with my camera, the whale was gone. Oh, well. So for your viewing pleasure, I've done the next best thing and attached this picture I took last year in the Queen Charlottes of a humpback whale.

Unfortunately, the trip was not without adventure. When I left the marina yesterday morning, I heard the sound of something flapping in my starboard side engine compartment. I thought it might have been a fender line or something, but when I opened the engine compartment, I saw water accumulating in a rather alarming fashion. The propshaft seal (which doesn't normally rotate) had seized around the shaft. As it spun with the propshaft, it broke off the water hoses that kept the shaft lubed. I limped back into Langley, and with Gary's help managed to get the broken hoses plugged. Gary also was kind enough to stay close on the trip back, just in case I had further difficulties.

So, my mission for this morning is to arrange for repairs, which unfortunately won't be cheap. I have to get WaveGuide hauled out of the water to pull the shaft to replace the seal. Oh well, boating is not for the faint of heart or faint of wallet!