All About Me!
It was spring of 1969 when a Texas oilman and his beautiful, red headed wife gave birth to their second of two children. My older brother Chet and I would become life long friends (minus a few fistfights and name callin’s). The town was Bakersfield, and although it was the closest thing to West Texas that California had to offer, it could not hold us for long.
Soon after my birth, we headed south for the good life in the OC. I do mean Orange County, California (not New York); Huntington Beach to be exact. It was here where I learned to open water swim and to cross the street (looking both ways first). My passion for two-wheeled travel took a firm hold, with the introduction of a red Schwinn String Ray with a white banana seat. Hitting the lamp post only once, while learning to ride, I was off to a world of adventure. This would be one of many, garage sale/other peoples trash, bicycles my father would bring home.
I grew up, with the same kids on the block, playing stickball, tackle football in the street and riding bicycles to the beach. I was born to be outside. For the first 18 years, I was riding two wheels, mini bikes, beach cruisers, small Yamaha enduros, and even a sidecar built by my brother powered by a 3hp Briggs and Straton (stolen from my father's edger). Growing up in Southern California with the beaches for surfing and the mountain for skiing, I had the life. After graduation from Edison High, I chose to move out of Southern California, mostly because I had to pay my own rent.
It was in Arizona where I attended a motorcycle mechanics trade school. Little did I know how far this trade was going to take me. Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas would be next in this short hop I call life.
It was in Arizona where I attended a motorcycle mechanics trade school. Little did I know how far this trade was going to take me. Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas would be next in this short hop I call life.
In Oklahoma I went back to school and earned a degree in Environmental Science from ECU. It was also in Oklahoma I met my wife to be while on a canoe trip. We would end up getting married on the KATY trail, riding recumbent bicycles across Missouri. Bicycling has played an important role, from the two cross-country rides, multiple cross state tours and competitive mountain bike racing.
This leads us to Jim. A few years ago I met a guy who likes to do the same type of adventures. He invited me to a 60 mile mountain bike ride in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. “Sure” I said, not knowing this would be the same ride years later I would tear my lateral meniscus. As time ticks, I found myself knee deep in adventures such as kayak racing, river rafting the Grand Canyon, or racing an antique car in the Great Race Across America.
In 2006, I bought a lime green Kawasaki KLR dual sport motorcycle with the idea I could cover more ground than riding my bicycles. I rigged the bike up to travel the back roads of America, which I did. In the summer of 2006, I got on line and found 3 others, and we completed the entire Trans American Trail (TAT). This trail is 4800 miles of off-pavement roads leading from Tennessee to the Oregon Coast. Jim rode a few days on his 650 Dakar.
In 2006, I bought a lime green Kawasaki KLR dual sport motorcycle with the idea I could cover more ground than riding my bicycles. I rigged the bike up to travel the back roads of America, which I did. In the summer of 2006, I got on line and found 3 others, and we completed the entire Trans American Trail (TAT). This trail is 4800 miles of off-pavement roads leading from Tennessee to the Oregon Coast. Jim rode a few days on his 650 Dakar.
A few more cross country runs with one down the entire length of old Route 66 (Chicago to LA), and I found myself on the phone with Jim. We decided to ride the Continental Divide (a route made by mountain bikers leading from the Canada to Mexico, along the Rocky Mountains). That leads us to now, come along for the ride as I keep adding to my life’s adventures.
