Where's Dan Now?

THERE IS SUNSHINE IN THE WORLD

Jees. Okay. I finally get to a sunny clime and am able to take off the coat, hat and gloves and do a little sketching outdoors and enjoy the sunshine. Living in eastern Oregon we somtimes forget that the rest of the world is not slipping and sliding all over the icey sidewalks just trying to get to the postoffice for the mail! After four rigorous days of pedaling out of San Rafael, i have made it to Monterey. My most favoritest place of all. So coastal. So historic. So......sunny! Got a shower at the local gym and found a quiet corner of the library to catch up on the Chronicles and this blog. People seem to be so friendly on this trip. Of course everyone wants to know about the trike. What in the world is it? Did i build it? How fast does it go? And how many speeds does it have? I answer questions then give each person a wiz wheelz card and tell them to go look at the website, and buy one! They are so fun to ride! Haven't been sleeping much. Getting into odd places to set up the tent that end up being noisy or worrisome in other ways. Practically got blown to smithereens on one pass where i camped out next to the road. Looking forward to Eric's cabin in Carmel. Should be a good place to hang for awhile and get my thots all lined up. Do your thots ever get all scattered about and at lose ends? Mine seem to be in a state of rearrangement with trying to get this trip going and sad times back home. You see a hobo with the opportunities that i have been offered, owes it to the world to be free and happy and always up and looking for the positive things in life. That's what i want my Chronicles to be like anyway. Like if a little kid was doing them and he was saying "wow, look at this." There's too many sad and lonely people in the world and I for one am determined not to be counted amongst them. Will let you know how it goes in Carmel-By-The_Sea. Don't forget to look at the pictures. See ya. HOBO

HOBO MAKES HIS ESCAPE!

No time to write now, but the hobo has got outta dodge peoples. Mailed the trike to San Francisco, rode the bus down and he's now pedaling hell bent for parts unknown. See the pictures by clicking above. The trike had a malfunction and i am trying to get it fixed. Will be back on the long, lonely road soon. HOBO

WILD WEATHER WOES

She's at it again. The mother of nature has been hurling extreme wind storms at us for several months now. One week ago i almost froze to death riding the trike 6 miles in 7 degree weather. Yesterday the temps soared to nearly 50 degrees. The snow is melting fast, the streams are filling and then to top it off the wind began to howl, all over again. 20 or 30 mile an hour gusts can cause you to stumble around while walking home from the store. 50 to 60 mile an hour blasts send things flying by you as you struggle to return. Anything higher than that and you really can't go outside, but watch helplessly from inside your home as trees bend, roofs come apart and debri flys by in mini whirlwinds. Yesterday the wind peaked at around 60 and when we went to check on the meadow in the dusk, we found limbs and sticks scattered across the entire 2 acres and one of the bigger cottonwood trees felled across several smaller ones. Our mother's way of pruning all the dead wood from above. The coast of oregon and california is being battered as well. We watched the news on Lynne's TV last night and saw a hurricane-like swirling storm hitting the state. And we wondered, with all the crazy climate changes going on, will the pacific coast begin to get hurricanes? Will our relatively disaster free zone become the next tornado alley? Still trying to get away on the trikes, but we were sure glad we were home insted of being holed up in some stinky motel out on the coast. The plan is to ride into california to san francisco and then down to carmel, where a friend has said we could stay in his cabin. That would be a good place to get the Drawing Book finished up. Time to go clean up the meadow. Keep those cards and letters coming folks. It's the only thing that is keeping us sane during these crazy winter storms. HOBO