Trip Update: November-December

Hello friends!

The last month and a half have been a whirlwind of fun and epic adventures. Here are some photos and videos showing you where and what I have been up too!

After hitting up some of the National Parks in Arizona and Southern Utah (seen in the last video) I headed back to the Bay Area. Last May I went to Romania with some friends where I met Alex. Alex was going to be our translator for a few days but turned out he hung with us the whole two weeks we were there. Alex and I hit it off and we became fast friends. I told him that when he came to the states we would absolutely have to hang. Well, after finishing his PHD at the end of October, Alex got on a plane and came to California. Long story short I routed back to the Bay to be with Alex. I spent three weeks with him taking him around and playing tourist! It was awesome! Some of the highlights for me were: my Dad and I took Alex on his first motorcycle ride, we visited the ranch I worked at, and took a day trip to San Francisco just to name a few.

 

After that great time with Alex and my family I packed up and hit the road once again. First stop was Lancaster, California for Thanksgiving with Calin (my girlfriend) and her family. It was a BLAST! Her Dad works for NASA and invited us on a tour of the Flight Research Center. It was a real treat! Being so interested in aerodynamics and aircraft in general it was incredible to see the advancements NASA has made for the industry. Hearing it from such a knowledgeable man was definitely the cherry on top! Being with a family of cooks/chefs, Thanksgiving day was filled with tons of very delicious food.  The day was very laid back and a time of great fellowship was had. The next day we all went Geocaching. I forgot how much more fun it is to go caching with a group of people instead of just by yourself.  The time adventuring around the Willow Springs area was pretty neat. Unfortunately Monday rolled around and I had to get back on the road. With bittersweet “see you laters” said, I turned Sophie east and I started the great trek to Georgia.

 

After leaving the LA area my first stop was at Joshua Tree NP. The ride there was very pretty. The next day on recommendation from Calin’s Dad, I stopped at the General George Patton Memorial Museum It’s off I-10 at the site of the former desert training center used in WW2 for all the field trials before US troops were sent to the Africa campaign. It’s a very well put together collection of artifacts. With enough time to keep going I rode to Quartzsite, Arizona and found a pretty bomb spot at the foot of the only shade tree. I spent two nights there hiking and resting.

 

 

In 2009 my Dad and I picked up our RV in Tucson on what happened to be my birthday weekend. On my birthday we went to the Pima Air Museum. Well that was on my must do list while I was in the Tucson area so I went back and spent a full day poking around.

 

A good friend of ours who is based in Alamogordo, NM invited me to stay with him for a few days. So with an invitation I could not turn down I headed over.

 

After a few very restful days I started the two day trip to Austin, TX. If I was following the weather “a little more closely” I would have realized that it was going to get very very cold during the day. Well I did not and it became very noticeable. With the average temp being 30 and the lows being in the 20s I made the hard but super fun ride with snow, ice, and freezing temps.

 

After a warm night in a motel in Hobbs, NM. I crossed over into Texas and made it to Austin.

 

My senior year of High School we had a super awesome drama director,  Josh. After that year he and his fiancé moved to San Antonio,TX. In the 4 years since I’ve seen them they married and had a beautiful baby girl. It was great spending two nights with them. Tuesday evening was opening night for his school’s stage production of “It’s a Wonderful Life”. It was so fun to see it and help out a bit. (I totally forgot how fun and how much I miss working with that dude!)

 

Since I was south enough I decided to go nerd out even more and stop in Houston at the Johnson Space Center and Houston Space Center Museum. The museum is pretty neat and the tram tour onto Johnson was a real highlight!

 

I spent the night in Galveston and rode the ferry to the other side of the harbor. After hearing enough stories and really liking WW2 history I ran up the road to New Orleans, Louisiana in order to go to the National WW2 Museum. The museum was awesome and the 4D movie (which was highly recommended by Mark’s dad, Mr. Jensen) was really amazing! I am writing this post in New Orleans and will be departing tomorrow morning (12/19) for Leeds, Alabama where the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum is located. By this Friday (12/23) I will be arriving in Atlanta, Georgia where I will be living and working for the next three months. This leg has been truly incredible and I can’t wait for all the adventures ahead!