Category: Travel

Pacific Lap 2022-23 Travel Notes: Alaska, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand

March 23, 2023 / admin / 0 Comments

I timed the weather decently. Hawaii is not bad for a 5-day layover. Ordered some bomb kimchi from a food truck in an alley while staying on Waikiki beach. Coming from Alaska where I’m alone for months at a time, it’s nice to see and appreciate Asian culture. I quickly headed over to Kauai the next day to start my getaway. Hiked 12 miles down and back Napali Coast. Abundant tropical forest. Goats, chickens, pigs, food forests, waterfalls. Rains had passed but more were coming. Most abundant place I’ve ever been. Very difficult but not because of danger, but trail is up and down and I had gear for multiple months. Should have stashed some but kept it with me. Toenail started to rot because of the moisture. Met a couple on the hike out. They were from Alaska and gave me a ride to town. Great people, so I bought them dinner and told them I’d be in touch when we got home.

Fiji was cheap. Kind of disappointing stay at the hostel but people were nice. Drank a bowl of Kava. Hung out with a dude from India. Trash and construction everywhere. There was a fijian girl following me around the hostel. Asked me if I had a wife. I didn’t know how to respond. “Some day.” I wasn’t feeling too social so went back to get some sleep and try to stave off the jet lag. The Pacific is a huge crossing, even on a plane.

Arrived Auckland without my host. She bailed. I would have to hike alone, but it sounded like she was going through some stuff. We may have hit it off but I’m finding unfortunately Persian women abroad seem to have serious social and familial pressures. I had caught her in the crux of her PhD, she had very little time to breathe, so I left it at that. Maybe touch base later, but she is avoidant like me.

Auckland hostel was messy. People weren’t too warm but warm enough. Guys in my dorm mostly from Germany. Cami from France was great. I could have fallen in love but caught myself leaving the next morning. Airport on arrival wasnt flooded at least. They fixed it but more typhoon was coming. My flight wasn’t cancelled but rain was too much for paragliding. Stayed 4 days and decided to bus to Wellington.

Flew from Wellington to Christchurch. People at hostel super nice. Went to a few great beaches with the local hostel owner. Met up with Marin about some hikes. Our schedules wouldn’t line up. They hitchhiked to Christchurch and I drove on to Queenstown because the typhoon had chased me down. In the mountains to the west, I would find better weather.

Random thought: Discovering and accepting the truth is a process You and others may not like it but it is what it is. Learn and adapt to it. Maybe you can change it, maybe you cant. Accept that you may not even see ot for what it really is, so Repeating it if it feels negative may sound like self limiting behavior to others so make peace with whatever it is, find the positive and turn it into an opportunity to grow. If its your perception, prepare to be enlightened. If it is in fact truth, prepare to be humbled.

Ended up buying a van in Christchurch hostel from two German girls on gap year. It had issues but I fixed them all and converted it to a great overlanding self-contained camper van. As stated, weather started to suck so I decided to haul ass over to Wanaka, then QT. I would link up with Infinity paragliding school and over the course of the next two months, get over a dozen flights in. Regrettably the weather was hit and miss.

During days I couldn’t fly, went exploring overland in the van. Made it to some places I saw in Lord of the Rings. Made it down to Rakiura, the southernmost island. I hiked a few days through the jungle to get across to some of the most amazing deserted beaches I’ve ever been. The hiking wasn’t extremely mountainous but because of the roots, mud and terrain, it was still very hard going. At the top of one hill I ran into a kiwi. I just stood there admiring it as it waddled around.

I hiked and hiked. I made it to Mount Cook. I made it to the fjords. I made my way down parts of the T.A. It all reminded me of home. Of Alaska. But it was so beautiful. And no bears. No snakes. Nothing dangerous but me.

Thru-hike NOBO Winter 2020 A.T. Appalachian Trail Experience During COVID

January 16, 2020 / admin / 0 Comments

January 15

Day 1

Left Atlanta on a bus, got dropped off 7 miles from trailhead and had to walk in some seriously freezing rain to get to the start.

Day 2

Left Springer around 10:30, hiked 7.8 miles in the first 5 hours with Rachel. Nobody else on trail. We averaged 1.58 m/h. Body was only 2 of 10 sore. Toe slightly rubbing in new shoes. Broke my walking stick already. Ran out of quinoa already. Forgot spices and mushrooms. Drank mush coffee. Practiced tarp & tent, solo stove. Pack little dry wood or charcoal in future. Phone was down to 20% already. Battery pack depleted after 1 charge. Light wasnt charging either, even when keeping in sleeping bag.

I feel like running but know that won’t go over well. Need to set a pace and work out the gear issues. This time, I decide to be nice and take it easy. I’ve learned in the past that it’s well worth the happy company to slow down, finish as a team, together.

So I came up with a team name.

Nice & Easy.

It’s a reminder to take it slow and treat it like a workout. There’s no rush. I have to remember to stay in the moment and let go of my ego. This is no race. I need to take care of this woman and put my wilderness guide skills to use. It’s going to be an interesting winter but hopefully fun.

Day 10

I’ve been carrying most of the weight. I get up early. I cook breakfast and make coffee/coco for Rachel. She’s getting into shape. Losing a bit of weight. Having fun, taking it slow. We probably won’t finish at this pace. We’ve been taking at least a zero every few days but it’s cold, and freezes at night. We have the right gear and can dry off to get warm each night.

Day 20

The trail offers some good views as the leaves have fallen off the trees. There’s no snakes, ticks or spiders. Rachel’s feet hurt so we have to stop and rest often, taking nice little soaks in the cold creeks to soothe inflammation.

UPDATE: Made some videos.

Day 45

We’ve been through some shit. Feels like I live out here now. But every once in a while my tenants send me a text. Wish I had good ones, but had to take the opportunity to do this hike regardless. Patellar tendon constant shooting pain on the downhills but getting better. Metabolism and healing is through the roof. I wish I had a fitness tracker. Lost my awesome hiking stick that said “Take me to Maine.” so I picked up a stick and have continued using it to exercise my arms.

UPDATE: 80+ days into hike. Time to get off trail.

Had some great moments, as well as some hard times. Smokey Mountains were magical. I will add some pictures later but my upload speeds are rediculously slow and my phone screen is painfully small.

We had most of the shelters to ourselves through Georgia, Tennessee, N/S Carolina and now Virginia, but people are starting to catch up and pass us. We still don’t have trail names but have only met a handful of people.

Rachel and I are getting into good shape, getting our legs. I’m in better shape now than when I was in the army at age 22. My quads, legs and core are immense, I’ve put on 15 lbs of pure muscle yet my waste went down 2″ and I’ve lost 3% body fat. I can run all day through the mountains when I take my pack off. This is probably the pinnacle. I cannot believe it’s like this in my 40’s. Hopefully I can maintain.

Personal thoughts: I would LOVE to continue but COVID is setting in and trail commission is closing down trail. Not having good luck. I’ve decided to go back to Alaska. Time to take care of some business. I have issues with the contractor working on my rental property, and tenants are complaining. I have to take care of my grandma. Also having issues in my relationship.

My girlfriend seems no longer interested in making it work, testing me to see if I care by pulling away. I’m in no spirit to fight to keep up a relationship with someone who doesn’t value me either. Time to be good to myself. The past 5 years have been brutal.

In sensing my distance, she seems indifferent to close the gap or help create any trust or bond between us. Without that, long distance is not going to work. She’s talking to her dudes back home, tell them how much she misses and loves them. She’s never directed that kind of love toward me, so I can’t say I didn’t foresee it happening. I just ignored my instincts, so I have only myself to blame. Hopefully I had a positive influence. She’s come along way but she is a long way off from appreciating a guy like me. I’ve given the last of my reserve, now numb.

It’s been nice having company but I must go my way. She seems lost. But so am I at this point, just hoping she meets someone who treats her good.

video 1

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video 2

video 3

Using/Installing Upwork Desktop App on a Chromebook with Linux Virtual Machine

March 8, 2019 / admin / 3 Comments

First off, you can’t do this on all Chromebooks that I know of, but there may be even more elaborate hacks for more advanced users.

I’m using a WalMart HP Chromebook I bought on sale for $169. Originally I was disappointed that I couldn’t register it as a device and therefore couldn’t download apps or programs to use it like I would a normal computer. Then the Linux (Beta) option appeared in my settings last week, and I knew that was about to change.

This happened right about the time I started to look on Upwork for contracts, since I’ve been traveling a while and need to replenish funds for more adventures. I was frustrated. I even thought about getting a normal laptop so I could run my typical design programs. Worse, it was starting to look like I couldn’t get paid for my work on Upwork because I couldn’t track time. So I installed the Linux Virtual Machine (LVM) to see if it would work.

When my first attempt to install the app in the LVM didn’t work, I looked into other methods and discovered that there are many settings in Chrome that affect your ability to use unproven (beta) apps. This article was a good resource. Keep that in mind if you get any errors while trying to do this. Otherwise, it was easy. Here’s the process:

Activate Linux beta if your Chromebook supports this. You’ll know because it gives you an option when you go to Settings and scroll through the options. Turn on the switch and follow directions to install. You’ll have to read what version of Linux installs. Mine happened to be Debian 9 (stretch).
I’m not sure if it’s necessary, but I activated the Crostini option in: Chrome://flags.
Once in the Linux terminal, I updated Linux using the command: sudo apt update
I upgraded installed components using command: sudo apt upgrade
The first app I installed was Chrome
Open Chrome in the LVM with the command google-chrome. As you would in a normal browser, navigate to the download page for the Upwork desktop app. If the site detects a valid version of Linux, it will show you a drop down file. Select the one that matches your version of Linux and download.
Once downloaded, it will appear in your file system downloads. My computer generated a Linux downloads folder when it installed. That’s where I found it.
By “two-finger” clicking to open the file and select “Install with Linux (beta), it will install within your virtual machine. If there are any errors, then there may be some additional updates you have to run. Mine didn’t work the first time, so I re-ininstalled Linux, and re-ran the updates and upgrades. After that it installed correctly.

Here’s what you should see along the way: