A ride down the coast

September 7, 2011 in General | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

On Monday Roberta and I decided to go for a ride down Highway 1 along the coast. The plan was to head down past Big Sur and take the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road up and over the hills to Highway 101, then up to Greenfield and cut back across the hills along the Carmel Valley road.   It would be a fairly long ride, but nice.

From 2011 Adventures

Well, best laid plans and all.

We took off at about 2pm and headed down the coast. Cruising in and out of a bit of fog and sunshine. We met another biker on a new GSXR-750 by the name of Mat. He had wandered over from Arizona to spend some time with friends up in San Fran and was headed down the coast to LA and back home. He told us that pulling a wheelie on the Golden Gate bridge earned him a $3000 ticket. Ouch! We stopped at the Big Sur Lodge and had something to drink and some Sweet Potato fries.

It was a nice day for a ride.

From 2011 Adventures

The Nacimiento-Fergusson Road was basically a paved goat trail. Mostly single lane with turn outs and a shear cliffs edge most of the way up.

From 2011 Adventures

The view from the road was pretty spectacular.

From 2011 Adventures

After we crested the top of the hill and ran across towards hiway 101 for about 5 miles or so we stopped to rest for a few minutes. It was hot as the dickens. At that point the air intake temp (outside temp as read by the bike) was up over 90 degrees. We had seen 1 car and 1 motorcycle in the 30 minutes or so it took us to cross this far. We had no cell service at this point. We hopped back on the bike and started down the road when I noticed that the bike was showing a Check Engine Light.

Oh crap! We are literally in the middle of no where with no cell service, on top of the mountain 15 miles up a goat trail, and 80 miles from home. We stopped, I checked all the fluids and everything else I could think of. Nothing looked abnormal It was an Error Code 18 on the dash.  We had no idea what this was. So, the choice we had was to head back the way we came to Lucia, a no nothing little town with a gas station and a restaurant or continue forward towards Fort Hunter Liggett and King City.  We chose to go forward in the hopes that there would be better services that way than on the coast.

Another 15 miles or so of nervous, cautious riding and we reached a T in the road. To the left I could see Fort Hunter Liggett, to the right a sign saying Jolon, which I couldn’t see and didn’t know what was there. I didn’t bring my badges, but I figured the gate guard would at least  know where the closest services were. When we pulled up to the gate my air intake temp showed 104 degrees. Holy crap was it hot.  We explained to the guard that we had thrown a Check Engine Light on the bike and had no idea what it meant, where was the closest service station? He started to explain how far Jolon was when he noticed my DoD sticker on the Bike. Stopped, asked for my ID and registration, then said, go through the gate to the stop sign, turn left and go over the hill. It’s there on your left. Thank you Sir!

Even though the gas station was closed there was shade, a soda machine and a place to stop where we could get our asses picked up if the bike had truly died. Roberta whips out her Droid phone. does a Google search for Yamaha R6 Check Engine Light Code 18 (Thank you Google!!) and discovers the error showing is Oxygen Sensor failure. Turns out, after all that stress, that coming up the steep climb from sea level to 2800 feet, which I had been taking slow and easy, the bike had leaned out enough that the O2 sensor tripped a failure. No big deal. In fact the code reset itself after going down the freeway for 10 miles or so of normal riding. It would have been nice to know that when we were in the middle of no-where, worried we were going to get stranded in 100 degree heat, with no water, no cell service, and no one else around.

Anyhow. Once we figured out we were good to go we thanked the gate guard, headed into King City for dinner and then up the 101 to Salinas and over toward home. It was faster getting home that way than if we had cut through Carmel Valley road. In fact, by the time we got home it was pushing 9pm. A long day of riding.

We’ll definitely remember what an Error Code 18 is from now on. I can tell you that much.

 

The future of MyTravelingFamily

September 2, 2011 in General | 2 comments

I’m really not sure of the future of this blog/website. When I first started this website it was just after the family had moved to Alaska and I wanted a way to share our adventures with our families down in the lower 48.

That was over 10 years ago now. Since then a lot of things have changed, for us, and technology. Now it’s nothing to have a Facebook page, a twitter account, Google+, picasa, etc. There are lots of ways now to share information with others. Ways that we had no idea were coming down the line.

Even this website has moved around. At first I paid a monthly fee to have it hosted by Pairnic, where I had my own little linux server running httpd, then I finally moved it over to WordPress and let someone else manage the hosting and httpd portions for me, where it still is. It’s hard to argue with free hosting.

Now I look at this website and think, what do I say? Is there really anything I want to put up here? We’re not living in Scotland anymore, or the outbacks of Alaska. The last hurricane for us was 6 years ago last week. Our adventures are more like a normal everyday life now. We live in Pacific Grove California, where we have 4 police officers for the whole town. We work and play in a very normal, quiet fashion now.

Most nights Roberta and I go for a walk down past the lighthouse, through the golf course and along the beach. Sometimes we’ll catch the sunset over the Pacific, sometimes not. It gives us a few moments to relax and chat. During last nights chat I mentioned that we need to stop with the Hunker Down mentality. The last two years of our lives have been one long series of shock, sadness, and hunkering down. I guess that’s a normal response when someone is given a death sentence. How do you live a normal life when you have no idea how long you actually have? How do you plan for the future, or even the near future when you have no idea what that future holds?

When we were given 6 months to a year for Roberta’s cancer to kill her we dug in and braced for the worst. We hunkered down, we tried to prepare the girls and ourselves. Then a year later she’s still here and fighting, then another six months and another round of chemo, and another six months. Every time she gets sick we fear the worst. It’s been 2 years so far and she’s still doing pretty well. But, in that whole time, we’ve been dug in, preparing for the storm.

Now, my damn contract at work is up again. Being a contractor is okay, but with it comes a level of uncertainty. The place I work is trying to convince us all to become government workers, which I don’t want to do. It looks like I have another years contract in place, so for now I have a job. But, I’m being told that when that one expires, well, with the economy the way it is, it’s not looking good for a renewal. So, what now? How is Roberta going to feel in a year when I, probably, will have to be looking to move. Will she be alive? Will she be like she is now and hurting but functional, in hospice? I can’t even imagine what we’ll do if I lose my job near the end of her life. It’s almost better to move now before she gets that sick than to even have a remote chance that I’ll be out of work or forced to move the family at the very end.

It’s really hard not to hunker down, to make no plans, to just exist. But, we can’t do that, we have to try and figure out what to do in the future. Living in Pacific Grove is such a great place for the kids, but they are resilient, if we have to move they’ll do okay. They’ve played under the Midnight Sun, walked in the footsteps of William Wallace, and lived through the heart of Katrina. No matter what, I know they will land on their feet. Be it here in California or wherever our future takes us.

Like this web page, our future is unknown. It’ll be what it will be. So, for those of you who have read these pages over the last decade, we’re still here. We still don’t know where we’re going, or what we’re doing, but we’ll get there. Whatever the future holds for this family, well, time will tell.

A guest

August 23, 2011 in General | Leave a comment

The other day Megan came in and asked if she could have a guest stay over for a few days. A white rat named Izzy.

I’m not too sure what Lady thought of the whole thing. She seemed okay with it though.

From Monterey Living

But the cat was definitely above all the commotion.

From Monterey Living

Interestingly enough it seemed to win over Roberta’s heart.

From Monterey Living

Not too sure how long Izzy will be staying, probably only a couple of days. Kind of an interesting critter. Friendly, inquisitive, and different.

Not updating much

August 15, 2011 in General | 2 comments

I know I haven’t updated the web site much lately. A lot is going on and not much is going on. Roberta is still doing okay, the girls are back in school, I am still working.

We have family coming to visit in the next few days. The Monterey “Car” season is about to start. A half dozen different Concourse’s and auctions in the next week or two.

We’re coming up on our 19th Wedding anniversary next week (Wow time flies). It’ll be the 6th anniversary of Katrina on the 29th. Megan in driving, Nora now has a bigger shoe size than Roberta and Molly isn’t far behind. I’m picturing 6 ft tall, skinny, redheads in a few years. As a father this scares me to death.

That’s our life right now.

Exploring strange new worlds

July 27, 2011 in science | 1 comment

Did you know that our best view of pluto right now is this?

However, in July of 2015 the New Horizons probe will do a close pass of not only Pluto but it’s currently known 4 moons. Did you even know Pluto had 4 moons?

So, in just under 4 years we will finally get up close and personal views of our farthest ex-planet. To me Pluto will always be the 9th planet, and anyone who says different can bite me.

Anyhow. It’ll be interesting to see what Pluto truly looks like. And Charon, Hydra, Nix, and whatever the final name of P4 turns out to be.

Maybe like Ganymede. Smooth and ice covered.

Or maybe like Mercury. A crater covered ball.

Or maybe it’ll turn out to be nothing but a potato shaped blob like Deimos. Which would mean it really isn’t a planet. That would be a sad day.

My first attempt at Scotch Eggs, or Scottish Eggs

July 25, 2011 in General | Tags: , | 5 comments

What pray tell is a Scottish Egg? Ahhh, it’s artery clogging goodness. Imagine a hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage, covered in bread crumbs and then deep fried to yummy perfection.

According to the Wiki article they date back to 1738 and in the UK they are most commonly eaten cold.

From Projects

That’s a Scotch Egg. So, for my first try I used Jimmy Dean Sausage regular in the roll package.

For the bread crumbs I tried two different types. Panko and Western Family.

From Projects
From Projects

I didn’t think I liked the Panko so much, but then I made a couple with Western Family, which is much finer, and I actually like the more coarse Panko. I think it has a bit better texture.

Here’s a picture side by side.

From Projects

So, how do you make the Scottish Egg? Pretty easy really.

  1. Hard boil some eggs.  12 minutes or so at a boil.
  2. Shell them and rinse them off in cool water.
  3. Take a chunk of sausage and wrap the egg completely in a thin layer of sausage.
  4. Dip the sausage wrapped egg in whipped egg and then roll in the bread crumbs, getting a good covering.
  5. Deep fry the egg for about 4-6 minutes. Don’t burn the bread crumbs.
  6. Place on some paper towels to drain and  cool.
  7. Eat.

That’s it. They are good hot, cold, in lunches as a snack. They were

We picked up a Presto Fry Daddy deep fat fryer a while ago that we use for French Fries, Beignets, etc. It works perfect for these.

From Projects

One Jimmy Dean Sausage Roll made 8 Scottish Eggs with a pretty thin sausage covering. I think in the future I will use 2 rolls for a dozen eggs. I think that might be about right. I also might try the Maple sausage instead of the regular. Just because.

Here they are, the ones that are left after all my taste testing. I had to be sure they were cooked correctly. :-)

From Projects

It’s almost MotoGP time!

July 19, 2011 in General | 3 comments

2 1/2 days til the fun begins! Can’t wait! Can’t wait!

For my Washington State friends

July 17, 2011 in Climate Change | Leave a comment

I understand that the Seattle Times ran an article talking about how the Seattle area has warmed so much in the last few years. In fact I found this snippet in this article

At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where the city’s official weather observations are taken, the normal daily high temperature has risen for every month of the year, except October. In Seattle’s warmest month, August, the “normal” daily high rises from 75.6 degrees to 76.3.

Now, what you may find interesting is that the official temperature for the Seattle area is taken at the Seattle International Airport. You know, the place where a few years ago they added a 3rd runway.  Cliff Mass did a nice article, including pictures, of the changes to both the temperature at SeaTac compared to other weather stations locally and where the temperature sensors at SeaTac are located.

Here is a nice picture taken from Watts Up with That (which grabbed it from Chris Mass) that shows the change in temperature averages before, during, and after the 3rd runway construction.

Interesting how the temperature jumped almost 2 degrees (compared to other local temperature sensors) during the construction of the 3rd runway and then stablelized somewhat after, at the higher temps.

Oh wait, didn’t the Seattle Times tell you that??? Oh, gee, the must have just forgotten.  The Seattle Times would never push the meme of “WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!”

It would be nice if institutions like the Seattle Times would stop with the bull crap and actually give a straight story without the fear mongering. Oh well.

4th of July motorcycle ride through Carmel Valley

July 6, 2011 in Places | 1 comment

Roberta and I decided to head out for a motorcycle ride on the 4th. We ended up riding through Carmel Valley towards Greenfield. (We actually got within 8 miles of Greenfield before turning around and coming back).

From 2011 Adventures

What’s interesting is the change in temperature between our start point and the top of the hills inland. 59 degree starting temp up to 100 degrees and then back to 55 degrees coming home. It was foggy and cold in Pacific Grove when we left, then we got out of the fog and into the California sunshine up in the hills. Coming home was the reverse, we left the sun and hit the cold fog of the coast. Kind of hard to dress for those kinds of changes in only 40 miles. My bike has an air intake temperature sensor, so I can get a fairly accurate reading of temps as we ride.

This picture is from about 10 miles past Carmel Valley Village out in the hills.

From 2011 Adventures

And this one is just a few miles farther along the road. It’s was pretty  interesting how quickly the terrain changed.

From 2011 Adventures

Here’s the bike while we were taking a break near one of the creeks we passed. We didn’t stay there all that long, with the cooler temps, water, and shade the flies and mosquitoes were pretty bad.

From 2011 Adventures

Just be careful of the Newts. (-:

From 2011 Adventures

It was a pretty nice ride. We didn’t push it that hard, just out having fun. What’s interesting is how much of the tires we used “just” cruising around. We stopped for some water in Carmel Valley Village on the way back and I noticed the wear pattern on the new back tire. The shiny part is because the tire is only a week old and the protective coating hasn’t all been worn off yet. As you can see, we used about 90% of the tire on the trip, taking it easy. Can you imaging if we were riding hard? Talk about an easy leaning bike.

From 2011 Adventures

Old Times in Pacific Grove

July 5, 2011 in Places, Thoughts n Rants | 5 comments

Roberta and I ate lunch at a local place called Holly’s Lighthouse Cafe (I’d link to their home page, but it’s a overdone Flash site that I think could cause seizures, ya, that bad). Anyhow, while we were there having lunch we saw a neat old picture on the wall showing the building and street we were on from 1940.

We determined 1940 by using Google to research the movie playing at the movie house. It’s The Westerner with Gary Cooper. Released September 1940. The waitress was happy when we told her. She said people kept asking when the picture was taken and she had no idea. Now she does.

From 2011 Adventures

What I really love is the fact that the central sign says “The Pine Cone Cafe”. Growing up my grandfather used to take us to a Pine Cone in Lynwood Washington where they had the greasiest home made fries. I still remember sitting there as a child eating those fries with my Grandad. Driving there in the mid 70′s in a big old LTD style boat of a car. My grandfather using one foot for the gas and the other for the brakes. He’d go through brakes like you wouldn’t believe! I remember that, that and the smell of Cigars. Those are the memories I have of a Pine Cone Cafe.

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