Road Trip

Our Sacramento company hit the road Friday, Polly reclaimed the guest bedroom, and things are back to normal. Until tomorrow, that is, when Donna and I will drop the dogs off at a friend’s house on the way out of town and hit the road ourselves. We’re going to see our friends John and Melanie in San Diego, pound the streets on […]

Mini-Gypsy Tour the Next

Packing for tomorrow’s motorcycle trip. This one won’t be too rigorous, just a six-day ride to Flagstaff, Las Vegas, Zion National Park, and home again. Mostly I’ll be in Las Vegas with my son Gregory, daughter-in-law Beth, and grandson Quentin. I leave in the morning, heading for Flagstaff via back roads through Globe and Pinetop. […]

Mini-Gypsy Tour II

Wow, two long motorcycle tours in one year (click here for a writeup of my earlier 2012 two-wheeled adventure)—just call me Iron Butt Paul! American motorcyclists have been riding Gypsy Tours since 1917, and they’ve always been hard-core affairs—long distances, sleeping under the stars, campfires, canned beans, roadside engine repairs and tire changes—a style of […]

Maintaining Motorcycle and Soul

Zen and motorcycle maintenance became one this morning. Or, more prosaically, routine maintenance was exactly that: routine, no glitches, no do-overs, no emergency runs to the parts counter. That in itself is a kind of Zen, but in addition to a fun morning working on the bike, I’ve now got a great cross-country ride to […]