Coast to Coast (and back?) with an Italian Supermodel

One of the greatest stories never told. A shoe in to win the the Vendee Globe. Takes a slingshot and shoots a message to a merchant vessel mid atlantic; "abandoning race, heading to Tahiti to save my soul". Those were the days. No GPS, shooting the sun by day and the stars by night.

Hero I've been reading ride reports here since 2002. Most are painful to me for some reason. Yours has been a pleasure. Godspeed from a fellow solo traveler. I've traveled all of N & S America solo over 70,000 miles. I relish the solitude. I would write a ride report but it'd be one of the painful ones.

Imagine going for a swim in that

Hardly never told. I met Robin Knox-Johnson in a crowd of others of similar interests. We didn't need the story told or understand the proable motivation for leaving the race.

Robin told anecdotes about his solo adventures which raised my hair then and caused me to reflect when later, I did a good deal of singlehanding. i still have difficulty in believing one of his tales but he seemed sincere to me.

It's great to see NOLA back in action. It also amazes me to see posts from people offering their house to stay. There truly is hope left in this world.

Ask 20 people on the street (in America) who Bernard Moitessier is. Hell ask a hundred. The voyaging by sail community is very small. Yeah a group glad handing Robin Johnston is going to know Moitessier but five thousand kids wearing baggy pants and ball caps won't.

Kids wearing baggy pants and flat brimmed ball caps know nothing about anything. So what else is new?

Seriously, you'd not expect any but the sailing community to know either or that Slocum piloted Spray around the world or many other things specific to the community.

I can't tell you who won the superbowl in any year or who won the world series or the world cup or any other cup and don't consider myself worse for the ignorance.

AntiHero, Hope you are doing well out there.
Seem to have slowed down a tad, with the RR.
How are you doing yourself?
Getting home sick? Burned out?
Ready to do it all over again?
How would you rate this in your life experiences?
Loose weight or gained weight, for better or worse?
You have a workout you do?

I have a long-term goal to go back to NOLA for a Sazerac. One of my favorite drinks ever and the ultimate test of greatness for a cocktail bar.

I'll have to try one of these. But just one.

What an incredible report. I opened it up this morning with my cup of coffee and it has been on my screen all day long. I spent the full day reading and enjoying this report. I enjoy seeing someone use the Panigale as a touring bike like you have. I am excited to follow this thread!!

Welcome, Imyamen. That must have been some strong coffee. I wish I could promise (and look forward to) another 50 pages, but my trip is nearing its end.

There’s a very specific internal state that’s emerged from this journey. I’d say it’s a feeling, but there’s a distinction I can’t articulate, so I’ll just describe the idea as it exists in my mind visually. (In my head) A state is a geometric shape that has a thick and uniform colored line around the perimeter, whereas feelings are little electric fuzzy balls bouncing around inside (or sometimes floating, rolling like steel balls or magnetically stuck to the sides). Feelings are fairly universal and rarely change, but states are forged with repeat experiences--internal reproductions of an external environment or experience. They can be peaceful (meditation, not that I’d know) or troublesome (PTSD), and they can be anything in between. They change with age and new experiences, but old ones can be re-experienced with very specific sensory inputs (smells or songs, typically).

When I looked into the mirror the day I left I knew I’d return different. That my leaving was a ‘suicide of sorts’. The power of experiences has changed me into a different person. Things exist inside me that didn’t exist when I began. And the things that did exist have been reshaped. The problem is that I’m nearing the end of my trip and I’m faced with living ‘normally’. But this new state isn’t compatible with picket fences, 12 month leases or a regular mailing address.

From Nola to Texas:





I've been in Austin for a week now I think. I really love it here, except for the fact that the roads have as much traction as a boulevard paved with Starburst fruit chews (which is actually a lot of fun. With TC set low I can drift at will and slither away from each and every stoplight. Front end tuck is not quite as fun, though).

I'll get to posting pics and a report of Austin soon, but I'm not going to have time before my next leg. Tires finally arrived, which means I'll be leaving to Phoenix on Friday morning. Though my bike will be ready for the trip, 1000 miles in under 24 hours is an oppressive (if not exciting) physical prospect and I am not underestimating the difficulty. I'm not going to bother with registering for the Iron Butt Association (somehow trying to legitimize what I'm doing always seems less legitimate, plus I have a healthy intolerance for indexing, filing, stamping, briefing and debriefing.). I will use a couple of witnesses to silence the trolls and I'll also tweet real-time GPS coordinates using Google Maps.

That my heart is beating 10% faster than it should at rest just thinking about all this, which is a fortuitous indication that this is the right decision.

You need a voyaging yacht. The anti picket fence and trapped in normalcy vehicle; plus you always know you can throw off the lines and be in Europe or Africa in 25 days.

+1 for what Gun Smoke suggests above. It's a surefire way to break the mould.
Except the reality is that living on a sailing boat is not even close to being as luxurious as those pictures suggest!! (I've done it).

I've done it too and you are quite right. It can be a damp smelly experience. I lived aboard a 33 foot Hans Christian cutter. There is a certain romanticism about life aboard. It's tangible especially at anchor. I used to love to pop over to the Bahamas and just anchor out alone with a bottle of rum. Mostly I never even bothered with customs and immigration. I sailed the Caribbean but my dream which I will fulfill was to circumnavigate. I hope to buy a 28' Bristol Channel Cutter on which to do it.

Here is a fine example of the Hans Christian I owned. They say it's a happy day when you sell your boat. I hated to see her go. She was a bluewater cruiser in the truest sense of the word.
http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...back=boatDetail.jsp&boat_id=1946400&noOfPic=2


Ah and the boat I will buy for my circumnavigation. The Bristol Channel Cutter. Below is a fine example of my dream boat. A little ship really. A single handers dream. 13,000#, 37 foot overall with 28' on deck. An all ocean cruiser.
http://www.lindajohnstoninteriors.com/tenacity.php#

Funny that sailing would come up. I was just reminiscing yesterday and thinking how similar adventure on a bike and adventure on a boat is. The one difference is, and which probably gives voyaging by sea an edge on extreme, is that you can simply stop on a bike, but at sea there is no break (until you arrive that is), especially single-handing. The sea is inexorable.

Looking forward to the conclusion of your journey, AH.

Cheers,

Mike, 50 Ton Master (inactive) and Motorcyclist

Yes, but when riding underway, it's tough to go below and grab a snack. Also when riding, when you stop for the night, you can't just make sure the anchor is set and then relax in the cockpit watching the sun set.

I've lived aboard about 7 years. The only parallel I can find is that both means of travel are sport. By that I mean they aren't the most practical way to get about AND every run is either wonderful or terrible. There is no mediocre in sailing or riding.

But how good would any sailboat be on the twisties? Anti-Hero is putting his thoughts together right now - I don't think he's given us his conclusions yet. I went back to the beginning of the RR to refresh my understanding of the genesis of this journey. He said that he'd been living in a way that was designed to achieve the facilitation of very specific financial, occupational, educational, and social goals....and that he knew he was stepping away from that and that doing so would be a "death" of sorts. Just before he left SF he met a neighbor of the guy he was staying with, who said '"On your journey remember, "Right here, right now, nothing else matters." Great advice and a poignant reminder of what this trip is all about.' To me, those are the essence of "Anti-Hero's Trip".....to consciously abandon a focus on achieving future goals and adopt a "right here, right now" way of living, accepting that the journey is the goal, the destination is not the goal, for in the end he's going to return to where he started. Except it won't really be "where he started" because he won't be the same guy when he gets back. I expect he'll tell us more about how the trip has affected him. Anti-Hero, please accept my apologies if I've strayed with this post. No intention to play armchair shrink or tell you what your trip was all about. Just a bit of what I've learned about life from reading your incredible RR. Thanks again for taking us along for the ride and sharing your thoughts with us.

you guys had to go there, didn't you? I've dreamed of sailing for years. The most sailing I've done has been on little hobie cats or sunfish/lazers... I decided I wanted a little cruiser a few years back and bought a fixer upper... wow big mistake! I worked on this boat for over a year and never got to sail it (ended up moving cross-country for work).



Some day I'll have another...

if you guys want to read the ultimate sailing/travel blog, check out www.bumfuzzle.com