Jon and Bri's little spot on the web

An Oregon Chautauqua

Posted Sat, 08/08/2009 - 00:22 by pufferfish

A stop at the Golden Gate

On Tuesday of this week I took off on a trip up to Oregon on my brand spankin’ new Honda VFR800A Interceptor. Yep, I tripled the mileage on my new bike, but I can’t think of a more fitting way to really break in that engine. It was a short trip – I took two days to travel to Newport, Oregon, and then took just one to travel the 660 miles back to Mountain View, California. I suppose I can’t really call this a Chautauqua in the true self-improvement Pirsig way of the word, but my intentions were certainly the same. Perhaps one day I’ll get in that 18 day trip, but for now my three days will have to do. (read more)

All pictures from the trip out on Flickr

Between the Rock... and a hard case

Posted Sun, 08/02/2009 - 23:48 by pufferfish

Not really sure who the ‘hard case’ is in the title of this blog post, but since I tried a really poor Sean Connery impression on more than one occasion on our trip to Alcatraz, I guess it’s what’s stuck in my head.

Anyway, we were on a %#@ boat!!! (NSFW lyrics)

On a #$@ boat!

All pictures out on Flickr

We came, we saw, we camped

Posted Sun, 07/19/2009 - 21:42 by pufferfish

The drive up Dunne to Henry Coe
We just made it back from our very first camping trip in California, not two weeks to the day after arriving here with the moving truck. Not too shabby, right? I think it reflects a proper sense of priorities, if I do say so myself ;-)

Full pics from the trip are out here on Flickr or click here to read more

Oregon Beer tasting at Artisan Wine Depot

Posted Sat, 07/18/2009 - 13:42 by pufferfish

As part of my birthday weekend, my amazing wife picked up tickets to the Internationally Acclaimed Oregon Craft Breweries beer tasting at the Artisan Wine Depot . This was an awesome event. Not only did we get to try some beers from my favorite brewers, but the event was small enough that we could talk with the store owner, Christine, about all kinds of beers and wines.

A nice day for a ride

Posted Fri, 07/17/2009 - 16:42 by pufferfish

So what does a guy do the day after he turns 30 and has free day? Why he goes for a MOTORCYCLE RIDE of course!!!

Settling in to Mountain View

Posted Wed, 07/08/2009 - 23:34 by pufferfish

72 degrees and sunny? I could get used to this.

Well I’m happy to report that we made it safe and sound to our new home in Mountain View after a very long 3000 mile drive across the country. In some ways it was a fast trip. There was so much countryside we passed at 60 mph that it made the distance seem that much greater. I’m sure we could have extended the trip a week, or two weeks and still felt rushed. On the other hand, the 14 hour days were pretty long and we just wanted to get there.

WE MADE IT!

Posted Sun, 07/05/2009 - 01:57 by pufferfish

For everybody following the blog - we made it in to our new place in Mountain View at about 5:30 PST. It was quite a trip, especially the last 5 hours coming down from the Sierras and through Sacramento. We're in one piece though, and all of our stuff made it just fine. The truck is 80% unpacked at this point and we've even made a quick grocery run to pick up some essentials for our first night. With that said, I'm super tired, so I'll post more on the last leg of our trip later. G'night, yall.

High Deserts and Salty Lakes

Posted Fri, 07/03/2009 - 23:24 by pufferfish

Laramie greeted us this morning with some light rain and a cool breeze. We pushed off pretty early, eager to make our appointment in Park City to pick up my pre-ordered motorcycle at a dealer there. The morning drive through the high plains and desert of western Wyoming was a pleasant surprise. The country was beautiful, just huge expanses of sky, plateaus and the ribbon of I-80 disappearing off in the distance. About the only station on the radio we could pick up was NPR, and they had some sort of special where they read off the complete Declaration of Independence. It was pretty cool to hear the words that started this country while driving a road that connects the two coasts.

Into the West

Posted Fri, 07/03/2009 - 00:13 by pufferfish

Rolling hills of Iowa
We got our start this morning in Iowa just after the sun came up. It was another 14 hour day, but we were able to leave by 7 in the morning, and with another time change, that would get us in by 8 that evening, at least that was the plan.

Down the hills and into...The Flatness

Posted Wed, 07/01/2009 - 22:29 by pufferfish
No longer PA Residents

That's right, we made it out of Pennsylvania this morning meaning that we are officially no longer PA residents. Wow, that feels weird to say. We crossed into Ohio and drove and drove. Not a whole lot going on in Ohio, but since Bri went to college there, I DID get some good small town stories. You know, they go something like "wow, we used to go to that truck stop ALL THE TIME". I think I had to be there ;-)