GnarlyRiders.org

It’s been a while since i’ve written. I’m still in San Francisco working and having an amazing time. The appreciation for everything in life is through the roof. Every day there’s so much to recognize and be aware of. Granted there are still things that really suck but seeing the balance of life is much easier. Im guessing that the last journey I did was trial and error. I know now what has to be done to make it work and I know what I need to make it work as well. I’ve already trimmed the fat and wont leave with anything to slow me down ever again. It was just the beginning. I went as far as I could and was still an honest person in the end. Im home now paying off all the debts James and I accumulated but the thing that sucks is I’m home paying them off by myself. I don’t know what James is going to do but I wish him the best.

  Im sorry to say that this is the last gnarlyriders.com post. I want to thank everyone who ever visited this site and donated money to the cause, and everyone on the road that ever helped me out in any way. I wish there was a way for me to see all of you again and thank you one more time and let you know how much I appreciate all of you guys! There are new adventures in the making so follow me there! The new site I’m working on is extremeworldtour.com. That will be the new website for all my adventures. The adventures are truly going to be amazing. Im stepping it up. With the help of my true friends, family, and the people that inspire me, I have always been able to take things above and beyond my own imagination. I will be very prepared with nice gear for recording other then just crappy point and shoot cameras. To let you in on a few events, Im pushing a car with my friend Patrick Harvey across Ireland to go to his family reunion (not kidding!), Going to Machu Pichu, Peru and climbing the back side fo the mountain and indulging in Ayahauasca, The ultra marathon in the south of spain (5 marathons in 5 days, i hope the sponsors pull through for this), I’m racing a boat from barcelona, Spain to Niece, France (Im winning this), there are just so many things lined up but thats just a taste. Not to mention the obvious riding everyday. One of the feats I want to accomplish is 100 miles a day for a week. I want to top out at 700 miles in a week just to see if I can do it. 

  I have a few things to do while I’m here. I have to see many people. I will be in Ventura, Los angeles (again), and San Diego in the next month for a visit between work. After that I head to Houston for Christmas and New years. I can’t wait for that! Im coming to Houston! Can’t wait to see everyone.

  I still think that you only get back what you put into anything. There were times in my life where I thought I deserved everything but then I realized I had never put anything in and I had not lived long enough to understand. I don’t even know where these ideas came from.(early 20’s thinking) Then there was a time in my life where I had everything I had ever wanted and still wasn’t happy. Im about to turn 30 and I’m just now putting all the pieces together from all the older people who actually gave up a second of their time to give me a few hints. I know now they were right and what they meant. I think we all get suck in ruts and little scenes and sometime we get blinded by what’s around us. We go from being fish in the ocean to fish in a bowl. We become content and lazy, which is fine, but sometimes we stop growing as individuals. I’ve realized the only way for me to grow as an individual is to go into this extreme world tour alone and not have to compensate for others ignorance. What ever happens is a result of what I did. Weather it be good or bad, I can blame nobody but myself. I dedicated my time to representing others who could not be there for whatever reason. Weather it be illness, handicaps, or even to represent the spirits of amazing friends and family who are no longer with us today. I’m not doing this to be cool or show off for everyone, like some people do. It’s not about me, it’s about all of us. I’m doing this to give hope and inspire people to do anything in this world they have always wanted to do. In accomplishing my goals and showing people through the website it’s possible, I hope to come home when all is said and done to hear about all of your stories of success. If I can do it, anyone can. I am not better then anyone else. The only thing i do, is I never lose sight of my goals. I wake up everyday and think of a tasks I can do to get closer to my goal. If they can’t be done right away, then just the awareness alone is enough. All you have to do is detach from the man made comfort zones that we grow up in and get into nature a lot more. I think We have to have a balance in our lives of nature made and man made things at the very least. 

  I really want every single person who reads this to let me in on the one thing they have always wanted to do in their lives. What is that one thing you would do if money and time was not an issue? what is the one thing you would do if you only had a week to live? what is the one thing you would do to define yourself as an individual? If you find yourself at work or at home doing research on some place in the world and can’t figure out why, then the one thing you can do is go there. Make the effort, plan the trip and go. Go alone if you have to so that you are not influenced by anyone or anything. Why does it interest you so much? Why do you keep looking at pictures of it? Break out of your shell and go. You can do it. The material possessions you have don’t make you, detach from your everyday cycle and go see it. Think of it this way, You could have a bigger T.V. then the one you have now, or you can go experience something in the world that nobody can take away from you. Someone could take everything you own, but the one thing they can’t take, is the one thing that sets you apart from everyone else, and thats your experiences and accomplishments. 

  Before I leave on my next trip I will be visiting a middle school for a few days and giving a lesson on travel and geography. I can’t wait for this. I think kids are amazing and the belief that anything is possible is still with them. It’s not something they have to find later in life. So when I go to the school I will ask the kids the same questions. Where have you always wanted to go in the whole world and what have you always wanted to do? I can’t wait to hear the answers. When I was In third grade we had a substitute teacher named Mrs. Apple. If I could find this woman I would give her the biggest hug in the world. She came into our class for 2 weeks and taught us about the world and all the different continents. This is the one thing that I never forgot. She had been to every continent and showed us all the pictures she took. That inspired me from that point on, to see the world and go to all of the continents like she did. It’s something I always wanted to do before I died. I hope when I go talk to the kids at this school in Los Angeles, That just one of them, at least one of them, will be inspired to do their own research and travel someday when they are old enough to a place in the world that calls them….  Thank you Mrs. Apple. If you were around I’d hug you and tell you that I’m passing on the one thing that meant most to me that I learned in grade school.  

  Well so long people. Thank you all so much. I hope to get emails and visits through the extremeworldtour.com website. Don’t let opportunist and liars get the best of you. They do it with a big smile. Stay true and honest to yourself and others and you’ll always win in the end. It’s the one thing I never knew how to do until now. I had to go through hell to figure that one out and took a leap of faith on my own. Now Im doing that one thing I always wanted to do in life, I’m traveling the world and doing my best to help others. Just remember one thing, I’ll never lie about anything on the new web site. Everything that happens I will tell you straight up, just like my blogs on this website. Stay positive! You can do anything in the world you want to, you just have to try. 

            -jp sakamoto    extremeworldtour.com

As the days linger on and the waves crash against the ship people are beginning to become uneasy of the situation. My two deckhands that I work with are anything but happy right now and it is starting to rub off on my vibe. I always try to be positive and happy but since they have been hellbent on complaining it has been difficult to talk much about anything else but life on the ship. Sorta like when I worked in the bar all people could talk about was the bar. I am coming to the understanding that humans have a tendency to engulf themselves in the thing they usually hate the most and that is work. The live, eat and breath work. Their friends are from work because they have no other social networks other than work. I know this because I have lived this. On a ship that network is non existent. You have no friends besides the people you live with. You can go into land but only for a couple of hours and if you have any money you usually spend it on Internet and trying to get a hold of loved ones. I feel happy to be in the situation I am in but I need to sometimes breath and let this really fall into place. I need to write more which I have been doing and I need to try to figure out some steps for further achieving my mission.
As it stands right now I am going to be entering Dakar, Senegal very soon. I say very soon because that could be in a couple of weeks or a couple of months due the progress with the ship. I feel like I need to be in Senegal right now. Although some days my mind wonders to thoughts of Faith and life with her. Times right now are very scattered brained and I believe it has to do with living on a boat. I am putting together my bicycle to ride on the Island more and hopefully that during the day time will prove to be a release of sorts.
I apologize for not updating but I have been working on other writings and as that gets more serious I will be making these blogs shorter for the moment. I am working on some short stories and also working to get through with some timely articles about travels before.
Oh on another note my Birthday is in 19days and that should be an Epic time due to the Arrival of Faith in Madeira! I cant tell you how excited I am to see her and it really makes life alot easier to rock out with her in person!

A Full Moon and a Fresh Outlook

As the moon linger in the distance of the ship it gives me a sense of power. Knowing I can accomplish anything and go anywhere. For the last week my thoughts have been sour and I just now had to take myself out of my way of thinking and plug myself back into positive. I think alot of the reasons why this trip got rocky was because of manifestation. I think in the beginning of this trip the goal was to party and to rock out and that manifested itself with the Running with the Bulls Festival. As we got further into the manifestation of thinking Africa right now was wrong become a highlight and that caused a rift in my thoughts and it might have lead to why JP left the trip. I think I manifested negativity at times that wasn’t necessary. I think that by understanding why things have happened based upon the thoughts that were present at that time I start to realize why things have happened more. I think if I was in Jps shoes I would have left me to. I think I got into a mental output slump, I needed to focus more on the wonderful things. I have done that but sometimes your mind drifts and sometimes being on the road it takes you back. I even believe this getting jumped, I had manifested something negative happening to me and had thoughts of rather stupid situations, hence me getting jumped. I also am starting to realize why I have been meeting certain people in my life right now. I have thought them into my life. For instance the guy I met who bicycled from Capetown to Lisbon and just so happens to drink with me all night. That was a complete manifestation. Dean! I need to know that everything I put into the universe comes back ten fold and I need to plug my positive energy. I need to feel the trip and I do tonight than ever before, I feel my writing more than ever before. I feel my goals are attainable and easier than ever. I am awake and I feel one. I feel one with my thoughts about Faith and I feel one with and I my trajectory. The moon is doing crazy things tonight cant tell you how special tonight feels.

Two days ago I felt the need to explore the island I have been living at. Like any curious traveler I was captivated by the mountains and the heigth they reached past the clouds. To my fellow crew mates on board I was crazy to want to anything other than stay in the city expecially on a Satuday Night. As work came to an end aboard the ship Satuday afternoon I packed my bag with just a tarp and my headlamp. My book for my appetite was Thomas More Utopia. As I showered a colleage of mine decided to join me on my hike and thought it would be good to be immersed in nature for a couple of days. As we departed the ship the weather was warm and our general outlook on the coming adventure high. We took a bus from the city center to the highest point it could take us which was still a 3 hour hike from the isolated top 1820m above. As we got off the bus we could instantly feel the change in humidity and temperature for both had dropped to almost unbarable appeal. The trees and ground all had a mossy growth that was not common on the level below and the air seemed to have earthy tone to it.

The hike was intervined half way through by a group of guys on the back of a converted van with a truck bed and they offered to drive us past the mountain we wanted to the highest mountain on the island. So we hopped in the back and went for the ride. The hair pin turns and even shaper incline was journey in itself knowing the driver was consumed in hash consumption. As we appraoched the lookout the guys pulled the ebrake and jumped out. They gathered their bicycles and smoked a cigarette with us before bombing down the whole mountain. Moments like these I wish my bicycle wasnt on top of the Astrid. As the road off into the sunset we were left with the most amazing views of the clouds colliding into the mountains and for a second it almost looked like water gushing into the valleys. The sun played a light show as it settled in the west and the last beams staggered to the prevailing darkness that awaited. As darkness arrived so did the winds and the cold weather that I was so nieve about. I thought my tarp of awesome survival goodness could protect me and my colleage from the conditions that proved to be unbearable. We drank local rum in hopes of keeping warm but the conditions only became worst as we drank more rum. The stars shattered the plain of the black sky and almost took on a more human feel since it felt like we could touch them from our height. The night to turn into a brutal deprevation of sleep and the chattering of my jaw was relentless. My mind wandered and the rum was not helping.
Around 10.30pm Faith called and gave me a revigored force to push through, it was only wind. I listened to her tell me about LA and her adventurers with some friends that she had to a party the night before. She told me about New York plans for Halloween and how she was getting everything in order for Paris. I just listened and loved hearing her voice, of course we bantered about how much we missed each other and than before she got off the phone she said I would have to make a descision about being with her soon. I would have to choose between my trip to Africa and being with her. She said she didnt want to loose me and couldnt afford to be hurt with my departure if that were to happen in Africa. This was not a good time for the affects of the horrible weather and rum mixed cocktail of thoughts that would surround me throughout my sleepless night. I departed the phone with deepest I love yous and went back into my dugeon of shivers and thoughts.

I thought to myself of my current plans which at this moment are to stay aboard the ship and learn more about sailing and the nature of the water and mans battle with vessel and sea to stay afloat. I am intrigued by the physics of sailing and also repairing the ship to its former glory is also amazing to be apart of. Africa is looking to be an end of the year project but even when I hit Africa I want to appreciate it and not rush. I will keep a steady pace but for myself I need to explore not only the land but the people. In previous trips I couldve done the whole US in 32 days but decided to do it in 3 months because of the people I met and the places I got to explore.

This trip is about discovery not only of places and people but of who I am, and what direction I plan on going. I know Faith is a centrivical part of my life and I tend not to disrupt it but at the sametime I must push forward and finding out what I am made of. Finding out what Africa is made off and finally answering the call to Capetown. I am doing this for me because with out really knowing myself how I am supposed to be help people in the future. I know what I have done in my past and I know my previous expeditions but I still need to know me. I need to know how to say yes to certain situations and say no. For example saying yes to be on the ship for longer, that is a positive experience I didnt run from because of deadlines of some sort. My goal at hand is my trip and how I develope is the wonders of the journey. I still have alot of room to grow and calling my trip off shorter would be something I would have done before. Not finishing the goal at hand and leaving something half done. This is something I must stop and follwing through for me is key.

I have tons of pictures but my laptop ran out of battery power so will be uploading them tomorrow. Also the stache is coming out hard.

James

Being ported currently on the island of Madiera waiting here for possible work for the ship. We could be here 4 more days or if work prevails one to two months. The question is how long will I? Depends when I am full living on a pirate ship.

Leaving the boat for land

The one that looks like a pirate ship is the Astrid

Talking with Faith yesterday was amazing and it has been nearly 4½ months since we have been together on a everyday basis. It’s been rough and very pragmactical to moods and the ongoing sense of lonliness.

The Picture that makes the words come out

We both are sticking it out, but some days aren’t the best and could you blame it for being hard? Skype is our lifeline but how will this work in Sub-Saharan Africa? You know the saying “If it’s meant to be it will be.” , it’s bullshit. This takes undeniable efforts on both parts and it’s not ending soon. Faith has also committed to staying in Paris since she got her working visa for her company. I am so proud of her and the woman she is. As I am achieving the glory of the road, she is achieving business success, which in lies the current spacing. As I progress into my current adventure like many have before me, I wonder how our relationship will progress? I know it will be fine but my mind has so much time to wonder being on board the boat and when I am not cleaning rust I often drift away to thoughts of me and Faith. I need to stay grounded. I need to stay focused. I know we will both succeed.

My work project, refurbishing wood and painting

As I travel more I have become humble to knowledge and I have been taking steps to go to College next fall in the US. I was never a go to college kind of guy, but fully understanding what I want to become I must explore knowledge through Academia. Have seen many lands and seen more than I could share, now after this journey I want to explore the world of medicine. To have the ability to save and protect life is something I want to do. This will be my next adventure and will take me to some city that has the best medical program. Trust me it’s never the wrong time to go to school. To be honest I think I just had to clear the engine of what I had been dreaming. I needed to say farewell to the road and what better way than going into the most isolated wondering possible, Africa.

What I woke up to next to our ship

If you asked me a year and half ago what I wanted to do after Big Brother I would have said a tv show about traveling to the best dive bars in the world by bicycle. How small my world was back then, taken away by the urge to combine travel and partying on the most epic level. Not understand that sometimes passions of self sometimes turnout empty. Which brings me to my new tattoo and the meaning behind it .

New Tattoo

 Engraved on my right arm is the saying “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us, what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” Traveling is just a fraction of my life right now and ultimately my goal of utilizing my ability to help the world is through medicine and not breaking down walls and drinking while bicycling. These adventures are my life but I have to understand that being an adventurer can mean not only traveling on the physical plain but also on the mental side of things too. Trust me I had to make a lot of wrong turns to finally get to the place where I am confident about my direction in pushing forward through the amazing challenges that lay ahead. One must be strong not in the sense of muscles but of determination to keep going, whether you are reading this from your house or from your job just know to keep positive and focused on the goal at hand, Survive and Live.

Oh quit smoking too…..so these blogs might bet alittle more angry and rhetorical.

2 days with no cigarettes breaking in 3 2 1

The magic of being on the road is intwined with the neverneding possibilities of where the road will take you. This magic has twisted my road to the sea for the moment and I am now on board a early 1900 Tall Ship headed to Morrocco. As I wirte this I am currently off the coast of Morrocco on a Portuguese Island called Medaira. The lush hills of forest and wilderness splash into the coast unfolding a city by the sea called Funical. I still can’t believe I am on a pirate ship. Although the Captain and crew are Dutch and a Belgian Jeweler it still makes for an interesting side journey before Africa. The sea and land are two seperate beasts and I can fully understand the solitude the sea brings after sailing for 5 days with not a soul around for hundreds of miles. Also the motion sickness of the sea rocking the boat sometimes have left me bewildered and all I can still do is smile that I am actually in this sitiuation.

The back of the shipWorking on the shipThe kitchen

It was 11 days ago I met Pieter my captain in Cascais, Portugal. I served him a pint of Super Bock and his wife a cappuchino. To describe Pieter in the best sense he is a quite man with a look that seems to have been through alot. His face has undertaken the life of the sea and the sun and he has a distinct calmness about him, not to mention he is dutch and has blue eyes. I was intrigued by his shirt that had a outline of the pirate ship that was in the harbor embordiered on it. I asked if he worked on the ship that was on his shirt and if it was the one ported in the harbor. He laughed and said yes, “That is my ship.” We gott alking about where we were both headed in our adentures and he jokingly said , “Come with me I will sail you to Africa.” At first I laughed with him and than it sunk in. This man has just ask me to board his ship and go on a high seas adventure to Africa and dyanmite into Africa with a less than normal arrival. Immediately after work I sped home and told my housemates of my new adventure and realized I had to go. The road had given me a new light a path to devour and I could not turn it down. Over the next two days I thought about leaving ill prepared not having my financial quota met before Africa but why wait to gain a couple of hundred euros when I could gain a lifelong expeirence learning how to sail on a ship that comes from dreams. After the days passed I thought I would never see Pieter again and that my chances of boarding the ship had passed and than bang he arrived one last time before he left and ordered the same again, this time I don’t think he was expecting not only to get his order but a new crew mate. I eagerly told him of my aspirations to board teh ship and that his offer had made me feverish to leave the bar I had been working at, he quinatly said he needed to talk to his firstmate but it should be ok.

me and the sea

Amazing, the boat has called now I just had to leave work and get paid without pissing anybody off. I knew my boss was notorious for boning people out of cash if they left early and made people wait til the next pay period the follwing month to get paid, in order to expedite this process and my leaving from work I said my uncle called me while I was on my break and said I urgently needed to go home. Of course I didn’t say why but sometimes the things you leave out make it seem more intense, it leaves the imagination to grow the most outrageous ideas and thoughts of what might have happened. Of course I had to act distrought and thankfully my time as a mortgage broker and the verbal conning I had learned had helped me through this process quite nicely.

Directions for lying to your boss.
a.)Always look into the eyes never shifting your postion sometimes its best to focus on his or her nose
b.)Politely and calmly ask for a discreet moment, using the word discreet usually catches them off guard
c.)Make your bullshit excuse for leaving is good and subtle but have an undertone of emergency
d.) Always hug your employees goodbye in front of your boss and always leave a note with the most trusted telling them to call you after work.
e.)Always thank them for the oppotunity for working for them and that you will be back…Sometimes you might gag at the idea of ever coming back to work for some people and that is why your lying to get away.
I as I bicycled from the bar all I could do is giggle like a little boy and hurried home to pack my bags and say goodbye, my adventure had taken me into an unknown realm and it would never be the same.

Enroute to Africa and couchsurfing.com is proving to be a wonderful resource for discovering unlimited possibilites on the African Coast all the way down to Capetown.

This is for real

-

   I’ve been in the states for about three weeks or so. Some days I wake up and couldn’t be happier to be here. Other days I wake up and miss the rest of the world. I still have not completely adjusted. I miss the feeling of being in a different country. It can make you very emotional sometimes. To be honest I can’t wait to go back. I’m enjoying time with my good friends and getting a chance to catch up with family members. That is the good part. I’m also getting my gear in order. I got the new bike. I just have to modify it for the journey. The bad part is knowing i still have a lot of time till I get to leave again. I’m making the best of my time here and appreciate that I have work and good people around me. 

   I guess I never really knew what appreciation was until the start of the adventure. I really like the idea of applying things I’ve learned from other parts of the world to where I’m from. It seems to make things so much easier. It has really helped with stress and tension. It’s just easier now to see reasons to smile, laugh, and just have fun in life altogether. Everything in the world has a balance. Things like work, exercise, bills, ect., that require effort, energy, and motivation, are not as difficult as they once were for me. I have figured out what I want to do in my life and everyday I go to work, or workout, or pay a bill, is just one step closer to achieving that.

   The city of San Francisco has been very good to me. There is a lot of positive energy here. I can see myself living here at some point in my life. There is so much to do. If you get bored here then your not applying yourself to anything. It seems with so many events that opportunity to grow with the city would be easy. The last three weeks have been exhausting because there is so many options on top of working long hours. 

  It’s been very weird lately running into people from the same city I grew up in. There are a bunch of them here. I can see why. There are a few of my really good friends from the past here and then there are people I run into that I never talked to but knew who they were from school. It’s bazar how that works. So many years later and so many of them ended up here. Including myself. 

   I’ve been really motivated lately to sort out my next trip. I have plenty of time to do it. There are many new amazing variables to add to the gnarly journey. Im bringing people to ride with for certain parts, I’m adding more running, and swimming, and I’m throwing in mountain climbing at some point. Thats going to be tough to sort out but I have an idea of how to pull it off. There are so many different things happening. I’m running and biking organized events to try and qualify for bigger races. I’m going to try my first triathalon next year. I’m still racing the boat on my bike. Im nervous about everything. The bike riding is great but there is so much more to do. If I throw in some other means of travel I won’t burn out and things wont be so monotinous. The next time out won’t be such horror stories. I will show more results. I will have all new gear for the trip and there will be no excuse but that I couldn’t pull it off, if I don’t succed. I said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not going to lie to the readers. I’ll let you know exactly what happens and at this point I’m ready to do this with real athletes. I want to do this with people who push me to the limits and test my endurance. Going with a real bike meant for long distance and the right gear, I know I can. 

  -Positive energy, plus appreciation for everything, mixed with commitment to what you say, topped off with nothing but honesty, equals a life that feels like your on vacation everyday. 

           talk to you guys soon,

PS: new website coming soon! in a few weeks look for the future of gnarlyriders.com. new pictures, videos, events, ect. 

Sometimes in life you mimic the actions of others and in turn enough of these mimics can sometimes build who you become. From the jokes you acquire to the way you inflect your voice to certain situations, even to the way you hole yourself. You can say your original but in honesty we mimic people. I know this can I am starting to see my mimics get me into trouble.

Most recently my brash unforgiving sense of humor has caught me in a firestorm with my boss and his son. Mainly his son. To give you alittle back story about me I have surrounded myself with some of the most ridiculous people on the face of the earth. Humor that spills from these beings is out of left field and is often seen as hard crude humor, to which is why I fell in love with them. The blunt reality of life is people sometimes take these snippets of humor seriously.As I age I am starting to filter myself from what I say, but sometimes it just slips and the ape underneath my skin starts to spew the things that make me laugh.

About a week ago I was sitting out in back of work at the bar having my glorified cigarette break before entering the old age home for drinkers and my boss’s son girlfriend walks by. Not even thinking I scream out “You Whore.” Of course this is in my most joking voice and didn’t take into affect that she is of Russian decent and that this might come out of left field. Of course she dropped her jaw heard her gasp. Great. Not a superior moment in the book of my work expeirence. Calling the Middle Eastern Owners Son’s girlfriend a Whore not a good way to make friends. Only if I was in LA would she turn around and scream back “Fuck you, You prick-less cunt.” That is LA of course and than we would proceed to drink away the night. Not in Portugal and not with this girl.

Later in the night thinking of nothing about what I said to the girl or what my come of vocal vomit, the groundation of my work started to come apart. In rushes the girl screaming at me almost climbing over the bar to tell me that I called her a whore and what kind of person calls her a whore. From behind her stood her boyfriend who was “You can’t just call my girlfriend a whore and who do you think you are.” “Do you want to fight, your lucky I respect my dad or I would fight you right here.” Great the kid whose only existence is his father and his businesses is pissed at me. I just want to teleport. I want to quit. Why can’t I be back in Los Angeles where people most of the time know how to laugh. I try to dig myself out of this hole as fast as I can, “I sorry, I didn’t mean it seriously.” “I was joking” this is all being said with the largest grin in the world. I couldn’t help but laugh how stupid these people really where. The guy who has a bow tie tattoo, your really going to take him seriously? No. Of course this battle of idoicracy was not over. As I sling gin and tonics like its going out of stlye I catch in the corner of my eye my boss come in. Standing at the side of the bar he calls me over. I shake his hand and he says ” What are you thinking calling my son’s girlfriend a whore, would you call your mother that or your sister?” to which I replied “Of course if it was in Joking manner.” He looked disgusted and that made me giggle to. Of course as he touched his left hand and rubbed his shitty ring fingers he looked up to me and said “You really must understand Europeans have different sesnes of humor than Americans and that doesn’t go over well here.” This is me thinking inside my head “YOUR FROM IRAQ”. How the hell can you claim to be European. And no harm to the Middle East but to be honest comedy doesnt really exist in the desert. As I finish closing up the bar I think everything has settled. Was I incredibly wrong.

The next day as I come into work I am quite, tired and alittle hungover. I don’t want to talk to anyone, I want to go back to bed. I go outside to smoke away the time I have to pass behind the bar. As I am smoking the son charges me and bounces me with his belly and starts off by screaming at me and trying to make me hit him. I stand my ground don’t speak in these situations. Keep smoking. Not reacting sometimes pisses people off more. And it did. I apologize again in my I don’t really mean it voice now. I walk back in and as he screams from behind me threatning my job. I need my job but it’s not like I have bills of any size that needs to be paid right now and the money I make is to use in Africa. I walk away and let the sand settle, but sand never settles.

It’s been a week and I am just counting down the days til I leave. Some people never leave their bubble they so proudly rule. And some people never really grow up…which is me.

26 days and Africa adventures begin.

The traveling from ibiza to Rhode island was long and wore me out. Left around 10 pm and showed up about 10 pm. Three planes, 3 trains, a bus, and a cab ride later I was there. It was really cool seeing some old friends I haven’t seen in a long time. It made me want to put the effort into seeing as many old friends as possible while I was here. I hung out in Providence for two nights and then headed back to New york. I was on another train and then a bus. I had to take a train to Boston then get my bus to NY. My friend Ramon, from the bar107 days in Los Angeles, bought me a  round trip ticket from Boston. My plane to San Francisco was leaving out of Boston so It worked out. If I had any sense of planing I would have just flown out of NY, but sometimes you can’t see the future. I didn’t know I was going to end up in NY at the end. Im really glad I did. I got to see people I really wanted to see and for some reason I know Im going to move there when I get back from this trip. I’ve always loved that city.

 I stayed with my friend Jay from Houston. We met up with Ramon and my old friend Kelly Conroy. Wow. That was an intense combo. To say the least. It was pretty awsome. We all did a proper pub crawl shift through brooklyn and the lower eastside. Somewhere around 12 hours. I can’t thank my friends enough for paying for everything. I owe them a good time and I can’t wait to come back. I think I’ll definitely come through NY on my way back to Europe. 

 The morning I had to leave for my bus was rough. I got on the wrong subway and headed the wrong direction. I was out of it from the night before. It made me laugh though. I caught a bus an hour later then I was supposed to and for some reason I didn’t even care if I was late. I made it into Boston and there was another bus at the station that went straight to the airport. I was out of money and I overdrew my account. It was the grace of god that got me on that bus and I couldn’t stop smiling cause the second I put my card in ticket machine, they all had a red strip across the top that said “sorry no debit or credit cards, machine error”. The machines all broke at once. It was amazing. So the attendant let me and two other people on for free. I jumped on the bus and went right into the airport. My timing the whole day was uncanny. I made it to every gate perfectly and for some reason I was making buses and connections that time had to have been stopped for me to make. I loved it. 

 I finally made it to San Francisco. I got picked up by paul and went to have mexican food. I miss real mexican food, and then we went for a beer. It feels good to be back on the west coast. I was a bit jet lagged but still got up this morning for work. I was happy to be working and I caught up with a few people on the phone. It was nice to go shopping for groceries today. I have to say, I’ve seemed to be appreciating things more then when I left. After a few close calls and a few serious days of hunger, you just seem to start to look at things differently. The best part about it is that it was just the first leg of the trip. There is much more. 

 A good update! I talked to a friend on the phone in NY and we couldn’t seem to meet up. The good news that came out of that conversation is that he may be joining me on the bike ride when I head back. I’ll have him write you some of his stories if he decides to join me but, I’m not joking they are by far, above and beyond any stories i’ve heard, and the kicker is “they’re all true!”. I’ve known this guy for years and always run into him. I can’t wait to introduce this dude to the readers. There’s a possible new gnarly rider. Once again I stress how serious I am, the stories this guy has already, are so dominating in realm of “crazy”, that if he comes to ride with me, it’s official, you can now start to worry. Hahaha! All I can say is that this dude has traveled a lot and done some things on this planet that are unreal. If he comes out, I may be in way over my head!

2 am hit and I am awakened by the chill of my window in my room being left open throughout the night. I can feel fall entering the weather and it reminds me of Paris last fall and before that entering New York City two falls ago. The wind starts to breathe exhaustion from the summer and you can feel her getting colder as the night grows thinner. I stumble from bed and think how do I go back to sleep? Of course in times of sleep or wanting to sleep that is it’s always good to have a Dan Brown novel around or so I thought. To be honest I hate Dan Brown’s style of writing because it’s too easy, which makes it wonderful but at the same time everyone and the freaking’ mother will read his books and its makes the novel cheesy in many affects. Anyways his new abortion of literature is called The Lost Symbol and thinking this novel could drain me of my life and put me back into sleep mode was the ultimate goal. 510 pages later I came out pumped stoked on his new book and the ideas he laid down. To pretty much sum it up the books empowers people to realize they are their own god and have the ability to create and destroy all around them. Also that thoughts have mass and when many people manifest on one thing it tends to happen. Interesting stuff and pumped me way up in the morning. So with my newly acquired Dan Brown strength I slammed back two huge cups of coffee and decided to set out to bicycle to the castles in the sky.

The city is called Sintra, Portugal. Home it a bevy of Moorish Castles from the 5th Century and is kind of like a fairy tale land. I felt inspired to make the 25km charge up the hills that collided with the coast of the Atlantic, the same coast that Christopher Columbus set sail from on his first adventure across the ocean blue. As I rode the sun peered from the back of me and crisply cut a fine line across the mountains and the coast. I felt vivacious and excited to be alive, nothing new but it felt good to appreciate my existence and where I was right than and there. Sometimes life gets so busy you forget how amazing it is to be alive and awake right at that moment. As fiddled with the AM/FM radio attached to my arm I cruised up and down snake turn streets that were lined with old stone walls. Of course half way up the hill I needed to commandeer a pack of cigarettes and decided to swiftly power back a sportsman like smoke before taking on the rest of the mountains.

Following the small roads finally lead me to a sign that pointed to the Historic Sintra and one more brutal up hill, the smoke didn’t help I found myself following a horse and carriage up hill and creeping along until I entered the city. Thinking the horse pace was good enough for me I ended up following the horses through the whole city and took in the random ride of hearing hooves rather than motors. It calmed me and made me happy. As I rode through the city I was mesmerized by the castles and thought not to deeply explore them and wait in anticipation to bring Faith here and explore them with her. Sometimes it’s better to be surprised with the person you love than to be alone and this city holds many surprises.

I decided I needed to relax and enjoy the scenery so I found a café by the castle and took in a fresh fruit plate and two huge cups of coffee. It was nice to sit here and understand how great it feels to be free. To understand life at its most simple terms and enjoy it for everything it was worth. It’s truly the small things that make life special and today was filled with many. As I finished up I thought to myself hey why not take a cab back home and I did. It felt good to acquire a cab a luxury I sometimes for go but hey I am in relax mode today and when Faith gets back here will charge the whole thing with her.

Here is to Tuesday and to 40 more days left in Portugal. Here is to my wonderful housemates Scott and Laura for providing me with an awesome house to stay while I prepare for the trip and it’s so good to have little slices of America in Portugal…ESPN.

I hope this catches some of you and Google Sintra it’s an amazing place.

I have pictures but it won’t let me format…ARGH! I will add pics later today.

For a month now I have been ported in Portugal, this was the plan from the beginning to get work in Lisbon and leave, the plan is now extending to a Nov. 1leave date from Lisbon and what a ride it has been. From the moment of arrival my experience in Lisbon has been filled with wicked ups and even harder downs. I can’t tell you how positive I am to be in the situation I am and the fulfillment of personal knowledge about myself I am acquiring. I think being on this part of the journey alone has taught me that great accomplishments come with great distress and struggle. From being broke and having no work to getting a job and than getting mugged. Alot had to due with poor planning from the start. I love the idea to take on challenges with no rules and no boundaries. Boundaries meaning money and limits on which one can go without the paper that drives a world for a worth that some people think is god. Although money is not god in an adventure like this one needs money and one needs drive. Nothing is free and nothing is never not earned.

Some people think this trip has been attributed to the good will of others, and for a big part of it that was the case, but for the last two months I have used my own money and my own work to get me this far. I bear down on the low wages I am getting paid to earn the dream I want. My sour will end in the sweetest taste when I arrive in Capetown. A city I have been wanting to go to since I discovered the music scene there 3 years ago. My heart races for the adventure and survival I will have to gain and adapt to on the road, a survival I am doing now.

As I bar tend and serve drinks I think of every tip and how I will use that on the road, the meal I will have eaten because I earned it now. These moments make a man, and many of you reading this have already discovered when the question of what you are and what you will become is questioned, standing up for your dream and pushing forward is the only mission.

I miss my family and friends and it has been one year since I have seen Los Angeles and almost a year and a half since I have seen my mother and sister. I can’t express how bummed not being a big brother to my sister makes me feel, I want to hug her and watch her do good in high school. I want to tell her that most boys in High School are con artists and goof balls. I know because I was one of them. I want to be at Barney’s Beanery in Hollywood watching the football games and than go to Monday Fundayand relax under the southern sun of California. I want alot of things from my past and to be honest I will have all those and more in the future. Right now is go time, I can’t miss a beat. I can’t think about what was, only what I have to do now. I have to bring in a humble understanding of life and embrace it. I need to be aware of false wants such as clothes and creature comforts…ice cream.

Looking forward to my last 40 days in Portugal I think about what I need to accomplish.

1. -Smaller Sleeping
2. -Smaller Cooking Stove
3. -A Head Lamp
4. -A smaller tent (found it just need to buy it)
5. -A better first aid lit
6. -My Yellow Fever Shot
7. -Quit Smoking…argh
8. -To get my ATM card mailed to me (mom if your reading this I am emailing you my address now)
9. -Mom I need SPF 50 sun screen I am out (They don’t sell it in Portugal, they are brown already)
10. -Get rid of all my clothes and get used to my new Columbia Gear
11. -Take 5 photos a day, lost the drive since I have been ported and also my memory card filled up, got a new one today so its on
12. -I need to get multiple spare tubes and learn how to properly fix flats
13. -I am buying either a small HD camera or a micro laptop if money allows it don’t need either one but I do need to call Faith and keep everyone updated on my status.
14. Convince Faith to come to Africa with me…maybe blueberry muffins when she comes back to Portugal.

So as I close in on another wonderful day off and an epic day on terms of doing nothing I send my love to all. Here’s to hitting bumps in Lisbon and recovering from the falls.