the Apeironian

got a phone

Hey y’all I just got a cell phone over here, if you want to call or text. The numer (dialed from the US) is +2207849402.

im here!

No time to write. In Banjul, at the peace corps office. Everything is great, will have no internet for 2 months. Will update when I get it again. LATER!

The beginning of another adventure

I leave tomorrow morning for Peace Corps service in The Gambia. I’ll fly to Philly tomorrow, then Wednesday evening we’ll fly to Brussels, then down to Dakar and then Banjul. Should be there in plenty of time to celebrate the 4th. Not sure what the fireworks situation will be.

Since I’ve chosen a URL for my website that apparently nobody can remember, I also set up michael.clervi.org (which just redirects to this site), in case people want to follow along on my trip and just want to remember my name, not some seemingly arbitrary website address.

My mailing address when I’m there will be:

Michael Clervi, PCT*
C/O Peace Corps/The Gambia
P.O. Box 582
Banjul, The Gambia
West Africa

*After September, change PCT to PCV - just do it, don’t ask.

I will get a cell phone, which will be reachable from the outside world. I’ll post my number when I get it.

I have no idea what the internet access will be like over there, except I do know I will have no access for about the first two months. Hopefully I can start posting stuff after that.

Wish me luck!

The end of one adventure…

As usual I put this off until the last minute.

Quick recap of the last part of my moto-roadtrip:

After the Mancation, I picked Heather up at the Palm Springs airport, and we hung out in Indio for a few days. We took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway up into San Jacinto State Park (from seal level to 8500 feet in 20 minutes), and went from 100+ degrees to 70 with drifts of snow remaining behind boulders.

We also went for a hike in Palm Canyon, which is a totally sweet area in the middle of the desert densely populated by enormous palm trees!

Next we drove to Orange, swung by my cousin Kim’s place, hit the beach at Santa Monica, then met Brian at Maya’s house in Hollywood. We walked down the road to the Hollywood Forever cemetery, where they projected Cool Hand Luke on the side of a huge white mosoleum in front of about 2000 people with picnics, etc. Then we drove back to Indio after hanging out at Mayas post-movie. Long day.

Brian swung out to the desert the next day and we chilled by the pool, then Heather and I hung out in Indio for a couple days until Heather had to leave. Overall, it was an awesome visit and we both had a great time.

Heather flew out at the same time my parents flew in (they said hi at the airport). My family hung out in Indio for a couple days before we all headed up to Santa Barbara for Chris’ wedding. Some pics:

Mom also took pics

I played golf with my dad and uncles a few times (first times playing golf). It was a lot of fun, and I lost a lot of balls

After that, it was time to head back. I loaded up the bike, and high-tailed it across the desert up to Utah, through Cedar City and Salt Lake on my way to Big Sky Montana, where I stayed with Uncle Terry’s buddy Ken. From there, I hung out in Yellowstone park for half a day (awesome), made it to Buffalo Wyoming that night, and all the way home the next day (a personal record 733 miles in one day - yikes!).

I made a google map of my whole trip. The only part that’s not accurate is the desert area that I rode through (Mojove national preserve) north of Palm Springs because google doesn’t know there are roads through it (there barely are!).

View Moto Road Trip in a larger map

The Adventure Continues

I’ll get the important stuff out of the way first:

• We didn’t make it to Mexico - our motor blew up near San Diego. We fixed it and returned to LA.
• I got my Peace Corps invitation to serve in The Gambia leaving the end of June.

I visited Brian in Irvine last Friday night. We had a great time; here is some visual documentation:

Saturday I rode up to Marina Del Rey and met Evan at his boat. The rest of the dudes flew in throughout the day Saturday, and we cast off Sunday morning. Overall, the trip was astoundingly successful. Here’s the rough outline:

• Sailed all day Sunday, stopped at Dana Point that night.
• Monday, sailed/motored towards San Diego, but got mired in a kelp field at dusk. The kelp plugged the water inlet on the engine, and it overheated, blew a gasket, and crapped out. We barely made it to Mission Bay, and got a guest slip at the Hyatt.
• For the next two days, Evan and Chris completely disassembled, cleaned, re-sealed, and re-assembled the motor, on the 3 foot wide dock next to the boat, while Jim and I gathered gasket sealer, various required fluids, and photographs of the relevant pages of the only copy of the honda outboard repair manual in the entire San Diego area (at a public library a mere $100 cab ride from the marina).
• The next morning we headed out for the return trip. We stopped at Dana Point again that night, and made it back the next day. The motor ran flawlessly the whole time.
• Jim and I got a 4×4 animal style, with animal style fries at In n Out after we got back. The other dudes got lesser meals. In retrospect my GI tract wishes I had too.
• Saturday, we met up with Brian and Maya at Venice Beach, attended some establishments, etc.

Here’s a sampling of photos:

On Sunday I visited my Uncle Chris and Ramona in Santa Monica. Some pics:

On Monday I picked up Heather from the Airport in Palm Springs, and she and I are hanging out in Indio now. Details to follow.

Heartland -> West Coast (almost)

I’ve been putting this off for a few days, so It’s going to be kind of long. I’ll try to keep the information to word count ratio as high as possible.

MONDAY

Left North Platte in 40 degrees armed with my new $1 Wal Mart long underwear top, headed towards Denver. The temperature failed to improve, and it started to drizzle. I was, as expected, freezing the the ol’ n*ts off. I reached Colorado, but the weather didn’t get any better. This caused me to belligerently increase my rate of travel (in the hope that the increased friction of the wind on my hands would cause them to warm up), with which Colorado’s finest were thoroughly and enthusiastically unimpressed. Luckily, the bucket of change I cashed in before I left more than paid for this little fiasco.

In retrospect, it turns out I rolled through Denver mere hours after they received about 9 inches of snow. I’m not sure where all of it went, because there was only a trace on the ground when I got there. In fact, it was in Denver that I finally started to thaw out a bit. From there I went south, and eventually made it to Trinidad, CO.

I walked around town, cruisin’ for some grub, and located a fairly righteous mexican restaurant, at which I procured an enormous beef and potato burrito (at the recommendation of the waiter). The establishment had a sauce hotness description page on their menu. I ordered it medium. It made me cry a little bit.

TUESDAY

Tuesday was the biggest total miles day. 563 miles from Trinidad CO to Flagstaff AZ. I don’t have a ton to report from this day, except that it got deliciously warmer as I headed south and west. Long day of riding.

WEDNESDAY

After droning down the highways for several days, and being within spitting distance from the west coast, I decided to treat myself to a more scenic and recreational riding experience. I headed south and west from Flagstaff towards Sedona. This brought me through Oak Creek Canyon, which is a beautiful red rock canyon, accessed by a ridiculous series of switchbacks that made for a challenging and intense ride. Here’s a little media:

Here’s the google map of the road heading down into the canyon. Yowza!

Here’s a couple panoramas from the top of the canyon:

From there I continued along 89A southwest through Cottonwood, Jerome, and Prescott. Here’s a google map of the road going down the mountain south of Jerome:

And the panorama from Jerome:

Needless to say, the riding yesterday was [explitive]ing SPECTACULAR! The mountain roads were incredible, challenging, and awesome.

After the mountains, I headed for I-10, which took me straight to Indio, where I eventually located my Uncle Terry’s place within the maze of gated community homogeneity. I wasn’t even off the bike before he handed me a chilled beverage, and happy hour subsequently ensued. Then we came back to his place, where we grilled steaks and hung out. His buddy Ken from Big Sky is also visiting. Separate incidents.

Today I’m taking it easy. Went for a run, hit the pool, and currently gearing up for some mexican food. Tomorrow I’m planning to swing over to visit Brian in Irvine, then on Saturday I’ll meet Evan and the dudes at Marina Del Rey (near Santa Monica). I’m a little worried about a tapping noise the bike engine is making - might end up having to check the valve clearances and the timing chain tension, but I hope not because that’s kind of a major deal, as I understand it.

Anyway, here’s a sampling of photos from this latest batch:

Goodbye Omaha, hello… Nebraska?

Said goodbye to the Omaha Whitakers this afternoon around 2, and headed west on I 80. I was hoping to dodge the wicked thunderstorms in the area, but they found me. Some number of soggy miles later, I decided to pull over and actually put on my rain gear. When I took the exit I noticed the bike wasn’t running quite right, and when I got back on the road this suspicion was confirmed: I was definitely running on one out of two cylinders. I limped about 10 miles to the next exit, and pulled dejectedly into a gas station. I suspected the front spark plug electrical connection was wet, causing the plug to not fire. Unfortunately, to test this theory requires disconnecting the radiator to get to the plug wire, which I really didn’t want to do at a gas station. At that moment, a highly nebraskan individual in an enormous diesel pickup pulled up, got out, and commented to me on the wetness of the day. I indicated I was experiencing some technical difficulties and asked if he knew of a shop close by that was open on sundays (fat chance). In fact, he informed me, the biggest and best shop in Lincoln was just around the corner AND open on sundays! I called them, rode over, and got the bike on the lift. Within 20 minutes, it was determined that the front plug hole had in fact been repurposed as a lake, due to a clogged drainage channel. Dude gave ‘er the old italian tune up with the compressed air, threw the plug wire back in, and she ran like a champ. Best part was he didn’t even charge me!

So, several miles later I find myself in scenic North Platte, NE. It’s supposed to be like 35 degrees when I wake up tomorrow, according to my trusty logistical trip manager Heather. That temperature equals freezing my b*lls off. I may need to augment my wardrobe.

Here are some pics from the Omaha visit:

On the Road

Started my road trip to Cali today, on the bike. I’m in Omaha now. The first leg of the trip went great. Will update.

Kung Fu Assistant Instructor Rank

Two nights ago my teacher Mike presented me with my Assistant Instructor rank certificate. I’ve been studying with him for four years. I told him that I will return to finish the full instructor rank, even if it’s not for a few years.

Last day at Brown Printing Company

I’m about to leave work for the last time. It’s been fun guys, thanks! Now the adventure begins…

Filled up the Mexican joint for lunch. Got stuffed.

This is pretty much what I did on my last day: