59 days off. To travel and do with as I would like.  My first decision, get on a Greyhound for a little over a day. 1,500 miles on a bus to visit my mom for Thanksgiving.

Then I traveled 3 days.  Nearly 3,000 miles.  Taking 3 trains.  Arriving in North Dakota.  Beginning in South Padre Island TX to find myself in Bismark North Dakota.  As usual surrounded by water.  But doing nothing as I would “normally”.

It all started for me in California.  Quitting my job. My 25 yr life packed up into 3 bags and thrown into the back of a conversion U-haul for the better part of 3 yrs.  Spending all of my time on a beach somewhere, windsurfing and teaching others to windsurf.  Corpus Christi and South Padre Island Texas to start off the spring.  Continuing on to Avon North Carolina, and Mauntauk New York before spending my summers in California and Hood River, OR.

As the summer wains its off to Cape Cod, MA back to NY, and Dewey Beach Delaware.  Before going back to North Carolina and Texas.  Usually with a little less then a month time off its off to Bonaire and Aruba for my winter before it all starts back up in the spring.

Sounds like a dream 322 days traveling around chasing the sun.  But their is a price to be paid when using a cooler as a refrigerator, a car as a home, and your moms address as your own.  For how much I am out and about I am for the most part alone.  My socialization and fraternization all done through work.  Everyday normal things and interactions become unusually difficult.

The nice thing is that abnormal begins to become common place.  Deciding last minute with no plan I take a train half way around the United States.  Finding myself in a foot of snow.  1,000 miles away from a beach.  In the beginning of winter.  At #2 on the US list of coldest cities.  With a friend who was both at the end and the beginning of this story.

Just your average trip. The Texas Eagle took me through 1,000 miles plus of desert and Cactus.  The Pacific Starlight took me along the southern California Coastline and through all the neighborhoods of my first 25yrs.  Roaming the cars of the train.  Sipping on a beer at a table in the observation car.  As the scenes of my life, Beaches, cliffs and waves passed by me on the rail.  Through a great Halloween,  Great Great Grandmother, and Great grandparents towns. Passing by Childhood summers.  Into Tennis matches, and past football games attended, first kisses and Friends left behind.

This (photo left) would be the last picture my camera took on the Coast Starlight. I would not get it fixed until just after getting on the 28 Empire Builder.

Waking up just in time to see the sun rising through the clouds and over the mountains.  I was somewhere in Western Montana with my camera finally working.  This would be the start of scenes totally unfamiliar to me.

Here are the two sides of Montana (photo to right and below). It was as if a line had been drawn mountains on one side and a totally flat landscape on the other. 

Three days on a train and I was finally there. Minot North Dakota where I met my friend and former Santa Cruz roommate Annie.  I would not realize it till I saw her brother and sister in law.  That they all where there when I stopped living in a house and started at that time living in a tent, [the next season I would upgrade to a van].

To most it sounds pretty crazy, to take a nearly 3,000 mile trip in order to be 1,500 miles further away then you started. But then again most people don't have 59 days off [estimated] Not to mention most people are not accustomed to my current lifestyle spent solely on the road.  Below my planned route to visit a friend and former house mate from Santa Cruz.  [I lived in Santa Cruz 4 yrs ago this May]

Below what a normal person would have done, by taking a plane and flying from Arizona to North Dakota.... But as it has already been established over the last few years in this blog I am not exactly normal!  Most of you by now must be thinking that taking a train or a bus must be less expensive then flying. [otherwise why would I take 60hrs and almost 1,500 more miles then needed, to get where I was going]  Unfortunately to compound my seemingly mad behavior a bus or a train was more expensive to travel by then a plane in my circumstance.  I'm sure with proper planning. That is more then 4 days notice before booking a ticket, prices may have been the same.

For those that did see the Greyhound trip. [below] My bus ride from South Padre Island, TX.  The start of my 59 days off [estimated] To my first stop visiting my mom for Thanksgiving. Setting the next path to be taken, my train ride to the snow.

Roughly 3,788 miles of road and rail to get me from Texas to North Dakota.  With a stop over in AZ to visit my mom for Thanksgiving before spending Christmas in the snowy geographical center of the United States [East to west...not north to south]  I could not think of any other means more appropriate then buses and trains for a gypsy like myself.  Even though I would not recommend a bus ride to anyone, the train however I feel is a form of transportation that more should take advantage of.

The best thing about taking a train is the dignity in which you travel.  The seats in regular class make first  class airline seats look like high school bleachers.  Tremendous room. Leg rests that extend up from the seat to the end of your calves. Foot rests extending out from the seat in front.  Plugs to charge your computer or whatever else you may wish.  An observation car to have a drink. [Right]

Or just sit with friends and family and take in the sights as you steam past them. [Left]  Even a dinning car that serves full on meals [not "meal" boxes of candies and chips like on the planes].

After making this trip I realized how much we sacrifice for "convenience".  By that I mean time, for a belief in taking a path of least resistance.  This may just be me or the influence of all the Euro's I hang out with... but my destination is just a part of my trip.  I do not like having the stress of getting somewhere rushing though all the sites before catching my plane back a week later, only to go back to work the next day.  If given that option or the option to stay at home relaxing with ice cream while watching movies, I would stay at home.
When taking the train I was relaxed from the very start. No amazingly long lines to get your ticket from the counter on a train.  No long feverishly nervous wait in a security check.  No hoping I put on a good pair of socks for the flight. Nor is there a worry if you have the right size bottles of liquid in an approved travel bag.  I did not have to take of my shoes, or out my laptop.  I did not have to walk through a metal detector or full body scanner only to go to a secondary screening with a pat down, and magic wand between my legs.  I simply got my ticket. Boarded my train. Sat back...and enjoyed my freedom to move/travel around.
To Be Continued......

In 2011 I decided to focus most of my attention on learning as many moves as possible.  Broken down into three major Categories,
 Realistic = most likely to be attainable,
1.Switch in straps
2.Grubby Diablo
3.Spock Diablo
4.One Handed Swayze
5.Swayze Diablo
6.Clew First Spock Diablo
7.Grubby Carving 360
8.Stall Jibe
9.Backwind Jibe
Possible = Given other skills learned also very possible,
10. Air Swayze
11. Ponch
12. Eslider
13.Switch Kono
14. Kono
15.Flaka 720
16. Double Flaka
17.Double Spock
18.Shove it
19. Cheese Roll
20.Clew First Flaka
21.Toad
Fantasy = Hardest moves I could think of but still doable.
22. Shaka
23. Punetta
24. Burner
25.Bob
26.Back Loop
27.Push Loop
28.Double Loop
29. Funnel

My Goal was to achieve 20 of these moves for 2011, I however did not come close.  Having only walked away with 9 total all the listed moves above with a line through them and one not on the list a monkey jibe.  When writing this down it was 5 moves every 3 months, under perfect conditions in a great year of all around windsurfing this would have still been a challenge.  My purpose was to set my mark, and constantly work on something and not get stuck day after day not trying to learn a new skill.

For 2012 my goals have switched slightly to have more focus off the water then on the water.  But there is one major goal for the new year thanks to my good friend in Oregon, Beric.  The Ponch!  Beric, happened upon a challenge after doing a practice drill I had told him for the ponch... which apparently he is really good at, being able to do this drill in his bedroom and vault on the bed, over his wife right onto his side of the bed.   "Then I thought maybe I can make myself start throwing down by challenging you?"
Video below Beric trying to get the jump on the challenge/ make up for 3 months of windsurfing I will have in Bonaire while he is in Oregon.

So the contest!
6+ months to Ponch/Goiter.  Contest ends at the 2012 Hood River ABK Clinic
The rules...
There are none!

The Stakes
Bragging rights [although I'm open for some other suggestions]

Below are shots of Beric Wells, my current compitetion... one is of him throwing down a back loop in the Gorge. Hopefully by the time I get to Hood River that will not be me he is looking down at.... And Beric doing the Moon Walk (photo right).

The first time he has seen the Goose in over 3yrs.

Somewhere along the lines we gave up trying to get in the front door after I killed a wasp, which was next to a nest awaking a fair amount of his brothers....no pictures were taken of this as we were too busy running.

All he wanted was a couple fins, and some centerboards for the Long boards we got from the trailer above.  But we could not get the lock undone.....

Matt's Solution for a stuck lock.  When all else fails.....Get something big to smash on it!

Smashing an old 4x4 on a lock apparently does NOTHING!.... so we went to Delta Windsurf because Matt said Derek would have the answer....and he did!

After running from the first set of Wasps we found another set once we got the doors open....after dealing with that and other things related to leaving a truck sit in a field for a couple years, he was pretty much done taking pictures!

But we did get 2 complete Granny Goose boards set up for him to take to San Diego...Really they are High Fly Revos but these boards were special edition Granny Goose and Safeway boards made for ABK.

Matts next challenge drive his Camery with two old long boards, a 90L freestyle board a bunch of sails, booms, camping stove.......[all the way back to San Diego]

Check out girl calling Robby Naish a "poet" at 6:20 of video...