Everything's Groovy... Maybe a bit too Groovy

Picture this...

Relaxing on the outskirts of LA in Long Beach in the hot tub at around 100 degrees fahrenheit, lapping up the mid 30s heat of the sun with beer in hand and the bike (now named Ingrid the On One Inbred) peering over at me, longing to be ridden. Well that has pretty much what my first one and half weeks have consisted of. Cycling has been kept to a minimum and I am probably average less than 50 miles a day, however I keep reminding myself that "I have got fifteen months for me to get close to my girl and these things have to take time...". I have already made her look stunning ridulous, to stop any pikey from being tempting to take my baby from me when she is not in my sight; I have also oiled her up a few times and she is finding her gear just right.

Ingrid in all her beauty

The poor gurl all ladened up...

So about California. It has been superb! The people I have found here are the most enthused, interested and hospitable people I have met in any developed western country. A great example of this is just the shear amount of families that have been happy to host, feed and supply me on my travels. On a couple of occasions I have been offered a place to stay from just chatting with people on the road and I have even been welcomed into people's homes by just knocking on their door and asking for a piece of lawn to set my tent on; not only that, they have fed, bathed (not literally, because that would be strange) and provided a warm and safe place to sleep in the form of a bed. If I mentioned all the names the list would be extremely long, so I will mention a few that have gone the extra mile and really surprised me by how kind and caring they have been: namely, Darlene and Dan (who not only providing me with spiritual protection, but protection in the form of a 6" flip blade), Ryan and Murdoch (who were happy to share contacts all along the Pacific Coast and parts of Central and South America; as well as getting some groovy photos with the firearms) and Jim and Mary (who took me into their beautiful coastal home from the street and fed me a meal fit for a king) among many many others..! (including some Hispanic farmers who put me up for a night... conversation was limited)

The view from Gary and Michelle's home in Cayucos

I have a number of reasons for doing this trip and one of those is for the adventure; i.e. to put myself in uncomfortable situations that I would have to solve and crawl out of. So far, this adventure has been more of a luxurious holiday - I have honestly bathed and showered more than I would at home, I have spent only one night under canvas and I wouldn't be surprised if I have put on a few pounds from all this delightful American cuisine I have been forced into eating (not that I was complaining).

I hate to do it (take photos of food), but here are my first ever American Waffles with Murdoch's special topping

The only hiccups I have had on this trip are being escorted off the freeway (the equivalent of a motorway) by the highway police - I did wonder why cars were flying past me so quickly and I was getting the occasional toot from a Californian; the thing that actually made my mind click was when I got a siren and an announcement from the highway police telling me to "Please, get off of the highway". Among other things, my camera has died and I had to buy a new one and cycling through a few not so quaint areas with gangstars hurling a bit of lip and climbing a F*** O** large pass in extreme heat with little water.

The f*** o** large pass into Santa Barbara

My time in California and the US are nearly up and it has been absolutely fantastic and many good memories and friends have been made and not a lot of bad ones. Next up is Mexico, Baja California; which essentially is a desert, this should make for some interesting stories and a bit more adventure and I hope that my next post will be a bit more of an entertaining read than this one. Apologies for it being a bit dull.

The dramatic backdrop of the Pacific Coast - just south of Big Sur

One for the ladies with the new twist cam screen... Getting them selfies down to a tee

Below is the unimpressive data from Garmin including routes (or rowts if you are American) - hopefully you can see it.

 

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And The Journey Begins...

So it is another year and that means only one thing for the life of Tom Whitlam. Another adventure - but this time: the hardest, the longest and most dangerous to date.
Over the next 15 months this intrepid Norfolkian will be dodging bullets in the US of the A, fending off venomous snakes with his bare hands and obviously not forgetting the RABID DOGS, these lil' bastards are up against a crazy Norfolkian with a machete! For those interested on the route, the trip is not at all planned - my only bearing is to head south down to Ushuaia (the most southern city in South America and the world); this should take me along Baja California into mainland Mexico and into Central America, where I will be hopping onto a ferry at Panama (renowned for it's beautiful canal being the gateway to most of the world's drug trafficking into North America) and finally along the backbone of South America or the beautiful Andes.

My home for the next 15 months

It is has been a hectic few days, as me being me - loving a challenge that is; I left myself only 1.5 days to get all my stuff fully packed up, bike tested and built and run errands. This proved quite stressful, especialy after being incapacitated by my final exam blow-out and The Parklife Weekender for the four days before my 1.5 day countdown. But in the end everything things were packed and I even managed to achieve this in style.

As Lee said Sun's out, guns out

The journey to Gatwick was pretty uneventful and some could say it was even better than previous years, for example: this year even my OWN dad managed to wave me off at the coach station (which is unusual because he would normally dump me in the middle of nowhere and make me drag 50kgs of stuff a mile or two down the road to my destination as in previous years). My dad was accompanied by my mum and grandad. Mum being in complete tatters to finally have her final son flown the nest - I think the reason she was so upset is there would be nothing to do around the house; i.e. she would have nothing of mine to move and then hide from me (for her own pleasure) or somebody to clean up behind.Thank you all for waving me off :D.

The bike not laden, but with a few bits attached to it including a fishing rod

The flight consisted of a two part special from Gatwick to Oslo, Norway and then across to San Francisco, CA. The flight was similar to the film "Meet the Fockers" and everything went perilously well, apart from one hiccup: falling asleep at Oslo airport. This was quite a scary moment because I was only woken up by the last call for my Oakland flight and therefore had to sprint down the length of the depature lounges and I had to pretend to be Norweigen to get through security quicker, haha I fooled them.
After being in San Francisco for two days I have mixed feelings about it; on one hand you see the beautiful city, the expansive parks full of wildlife and not forgetting the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Yet there is a darker side to SF that I wasn't expecting; in certain parts of the city it is full of homeless people begging for money, drugs are everywhere and you get the occasional nut with pissed-stained pants murmering jibberish at you (but I guess this is expected in any large city). However the beauty and the majority of people are super friendly and my lovely host Cyndi is a fantastic example of this and her alongside the 2 other guests at her house currently (a Hungarian couple called Zeta and RP, who have been on the road for over 3 years) made it a delightful stay consisting of sharing stories, gaining friendship and not forgeting the awesome home-made pizzas.

The iconic Golden Gate Bridge

All-in-all things couldn't be going much better for the start of my trip and keep posted for my next update...

Wild cats are massive in the US of A

Wildlife update: Birds of prey, humming birds and sea lions!

Over and out amigos

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