Random Thoughts

Zucchinis, tomatoes, eggplants, salads, pickles, pumpkins, potatoes… et cetera. The garden has been a frank success this year and for the first time since we’ve been gardening.

We have more than enough vegetables for our consumption. We’re canning some of them and although they won’t last us a whole winter a little more effort next year will allow this.

We also have 6 chicken, get about 4 eggs a day and are thinking about a goat.

I feel like we’ve taken a huge step towards self sustainability.

A while back I heard a show about the rise of methamphetamine in rural America. I didn’t make much of it until this trip. Across all the little towns we visited, signs of meth problems were blatant. While in Salt Lake some advertisement campaigns target meth, they are sporadic and other drugs are also addressed. In rural Montana & Idaho, they’ll paint anti-meth murals on the main town buildings. Meth signs are omnipresent, so are meth users to the more observant eye (not me).

I have to say I was pretty shocked by all this, I did not expect such a widespread and sustained presence. Rural America still has its well known charm but it seems to be struggling against the depravity left behind a drug strained social fabric.

This trip wouldn’t have lived up to it’s reputation without rain, cold & technical difficulties. While I had hoped that the later would not prevent progress, we did have to bring a trailer pretty far north to get Brandon’s bike back to Salt Lake. Upon arriving in Idaho falls we were met by a severe thunderstorm, we decided to spend the night there but the hotel was such a crap hole we said “fuck it” and loaded the second bike on the trailer and drove back to Salt Lake. This is not the return I had expected but we had to get home. And Nicole rocks for bringing the trailer all the way to Idaho Falls and putting up with the major driving that ensued, I’m in serious debt.

The trip was awesome, being back home is amazing, I fell like we’ve been gone for 2 months. I’ve gotten exactly what I wanted to get out of it: a good break outside of my comfort zone and by that token there’s nothing like asphalt moving at 75 mph bellow your feet, wind in your face for hours, camping with wildlife & being far from home.

The grand total for the trip is 1534 miles (2469 kilometers), and we had to work for every mile.

On a side note, the pictures are lacking because of how hard it is to stop, unwrap & get the camera out every time we saw something noteworthy. Motorcycles aren’t great for photography and I now understand the use of helmet cams. So we mostly have shots of when we stopped for breaks. We have a few more pics on Brandon’s camera that I’ll upload later today.

It’s been a rough day, Brandon’s bike wouldn’t start so we tried to push
start it, jump start it and finally we replaced the battery. This only took
us to Beavertail Hill (which I first missread as Beverley Hills). A major
"oh shit" moment followed. The alternator is probably busted, and we needed
to figure out a way to get back home. Brandon hitch-hiked to Butte MT, I
rode to Idaho Falls ID where Nicole joined me with the trailer. We got back
to Beavertail Hill (many hours north of Idaho Falls and picked up the bike.
We’re now headed back south, I’ll pick up my bike and keep going, Brandon
will drive back. It’s been an exhausting past couple of days. Limits have
been tested.

And this is us trying to make it bac to the motorcycles in time…

Here’s a much better picture that we took with Brandon’s camera