Author: mwmiller2@outlook.com

I’m still fighting the remnants of my cold so I just decided to lay low today figuring that being well rested and healthy is more important than going out for another 25 or 30 mile ride. Continue reading Auckland – Day 4

After getting my bike together yesterday, I wanted to get out for a shakedown ride to make sure everything is tightened up and working OK. My cold seems to be on the wane and the weather was nice so I got things ready and headed out.  I did get a couple of looks as I pushed my bike through the hotel lobby all decked out in my bike clothes – oh, well! It happens a lot when you’re touring by bike!

Continue reading Auckland – Day 3

The good news is – I got my bike all back together. The not so good news is that I still have this cold that I picked up on the way over here somewhere. Bummer.  I am hoping to go for a shakedown ride tomorrow just to make sure everything is working OK. We’ll see how I feel.

It was a fairly nice day today so I walked around a bit. Right across the street from my hotel is the Skycity Tower which has observation decks on the 51st and 60th floors. I decided to take a look and the pictures below were taken from the observation decks.  You can even bunny jump off the tower but I passed on that little adventure.

After a 13 hour, uneventful flight I arrived in Auckland,NZ.  My gear bags and my bike showed up and looked to be in pretty good shape.  I breezed through passport control and thought I would be on my way to my hotel in short order – wrong!

NZ is very serious about not allowing unwanted pests or prohibited items into the country. All sports equipment, including hiking boots must be declared.  I obviously had a bicycle and camping gear!  That resulted in me being shunted off to one of the slow moving lines at the inspection stations!

The couple in front of me had hiking boots in their bags and the agent took them, had them sterilized, and returned them to the couple in a plastic bag after about five minutes.  They were then allowed to continue on their way.

The agent was most interested in my tent, even though I told her I hadn’t used it for two years!   Nonetheless, she took my tent, gave me a claim check, and told me she was taking my tent to the lab and I could claim it in about 10 minutes at the Bioservices Window on the outside.   Given all of this, it took me about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get through customs from the time I deplaned!

If you come to New Zealand be prepared  And if you decide to not declare those hiking boots/shoes in your bag and they find them – instant $NZ 400 fine and you will likely have your boots/shoes confiscated.  The agents were all very nice and professional but it was a new experience for me.

Got to the hotel with no problems and got settled in.  Unfortunately I seem to have caught a small cold somewhere along the way but hopefully a little sleep will help me kick it quickly.  I went and wandered around a little bit and had to snap the pics of the large Santa ( they get started early also!) and the Starbucks!  Now a little sleep is in order and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

 

 

 

Today is departure day and I am due to fly out of LAX tonight.  And even though I am packed and will get on the plane later, it has been a very stressful night and continuing into today.

As I stated in my previous post, many of Jordan’s family lives in the Thousand Oaks/ Newbury Park area.  I am staying at my ex-wife’s place and over night relatives who had to evacuate arrived and are now here. Sleep is in short supply for everyone and other family members have also evacuated to other homes.

Right now, the entire city of Malibu is under a mandatory evacuation order.  I lived in LA for 40 years and have seen some bad fires. I don’t recall seeing anything like this.

Fortunately, all family members are safe but the fires are currently zero percent contained, the winds are blowing, the relative humidity is 4%, and who knows where this is going to end.

It will be tough to get on the plane and leave all of this behind.  Fingers crossed that everyone’s home survives.   More later.

The drive from Las Vegas yesterday was uneventful and the traffic on the freeways when I got to the Inland Empire was just as crazy as I remembered!!  But I made it in OK.

I was not prepared, however, for the news I saw when I woke up this morning about the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks.  A few minutes after I woke up and saw the news, Jordan called me from New York and she was pretty upset.

Jordan’s grandparents, and many aunts, uncles,  and cousins live in the Thousand Oaks. We have spent a lot of time in Thousand Oaks over the years and this senseless tragedy hit pretty close to home. Fortunately, no one in the family was at the venue where this occurred.  But it was shocking nonetheless!

And now we’re watching two major fires in the same general area ( Newbury Park).  That is where Jordan’s grandparents live  and we are waiting to see if they have to evacuate.  The 101 Freeway is completely shut down

I’m supposed to fly out tomorrow night but right now,  this whole day has really cast a dark cloud over everything

 

I haven’t been in Las Vegas for a long time so I decided this would be a good stop after driving 850 miles in two days.  I got a deal (thanks Expedia!)  on a suite at The Palazzo at The Venetian and decided to enjoy a little luxury – particularly given the fact that in about 10 days, I will be spending the better part of a month living in a tent!

After getting settled in, I went for a walk down Las Vegas Blvd. Here we are in November and there were still throngs of people everywhere. It was getting dark when I turned around and headed back down Las Vegas Blvd toward my hotel.

I stopped to watch the show at the fountains in front of the Bellagio and that is pretty impressive!  Maybe I need a fountain in my backyard!  :0)  – or not!

I had dinner at a restaurant in the Venetian and then went up to my room and spent a very “exciting” night watching election returns!  Yes, I’m a real party animal!

Day 3 should be an easy (I hope) drive to LA where I will spend a couple of days before I head over the big pond on Friday.

The time has come, ‘ the Walrus said, To talk of many things …   Oh,no – that’s something else ( but thanks to Lewis Carroll). Actually, the time has come for me to leave – finally!  This little junket has been in the making for about 18 months and today is the day!

I got the house all buttoned up, alarms on and notified the person watching after my house that I was on the road.  And after the obligatory stop for my morning Starbucks, I headed out of Bozeman – destination, Orem,UT about 450 miles away.

I decided to take three days driving to LA – no reason to push it.   I could have done it in two days but two 600 mile days in a row is more than I really wanted to do.

I was concerned that it might be snowing when I left based upon the weather forecast but the roads were dry until I headed into Gallatin Canyon on my way to West Yellowstone.  The closer I got to Big Sky, the more snow pack there was on the road.  Fortunately, no one seemed to be in a hurry so it was a pretty easy drive.

Once I left Big Sky, the snow pack got a bit more intense and there was very little traffic.  In the entire stretch of road from Big Sky to West Yellowstone, I did not follow anyone nor did anyone follow me.  I encountered a few vehicles headed north but no one seemed to be heading south!  Does everyone else know something I don’t? :0)

Once past West Yellowstone, however, the roads cleared up and it was an easy drive to Orem.   Day 2 will find me on my way to Las Vegas and then on into LA on Wednesday.   Ready or not, here I go!

 

I like doing puzzles so I just viewed taking my bike apart, getting it properly packed and stuffed into a cardboard bike box was just another puzzle.   I think it’s packed pretty well but I guess I’ll see what comes out the other end in Auckland!  Fortunately, I am getting to Auckland 5 days before the ride actually starts so if there are problems, hopefully I can get them resolved before the ride.  I have already been on the internet looking for bike stores near my hotel. Continue reading All packed and ready to go!

The weather has decided that my training on my bike is now at an end.  I will be hitting the gym for the next week but I just have no interest in trying to go out and ride in the rain, possible snow and cold!  There is no doubt that I will get ample opportunities to ride in the rain in New Zealand – even though it’s spring going into summer.  You just can’t be on the road for three and a half to four weeks without having some rain fall.

I will now concentrate on disassembling my bike and trying to stuff it into the box and finish getting all of my gear packed and ready.  And, I still have a lot to learn about my GoPro so I’ll be messing around with it.  I posted one more video I took of part of the descent down a road near here named Kelly Canyon.  It’s a bit of a grunt but the descent is great fun.  I posted it below and on YouTube again.

Hopefully my posts will start to get a bit more interesting once I actually hit the road in a few days.  Thanks for tagging along!