I had this wonderful period in my life some years back where, for maybe 2 weeks, I dreamed every night of flying. It wasn’t like I was suddenly in the air, or jumped from a height. I started on the ground, ran, flapped my arms, and took off. It was such a vivid experience, I remember it clearly, after all these years. An out-of-body experience, if you’ll pardon the cliché. During my waking hours, I’d sometimes feel like I could almost do it.
Yesterday I was corresponding with Kian Clipson, who lives in Southwest England; his small, cozy, artistic mobile home is going into our new book, Tiny Homes on the Move, and I decided to check the paragliding website that Kian co-founded, here, and there is a ton of exciting stuff. These guys are doing what I did in my dreams.
Urban Side from Jean-Baptiste Chandelier JB prod on Vimeo.
I gather too much “content.” Photos and hastily scribbled notes. What to do with it all? Here are some bits and pieces from my latest trip:
New York City
iPhones: most of the people I hung out with were doing everything on their iPhones. Calendar, directions, mail. I upped my data plan and am starting to use it more. One thing I’m working on is talking into the phone and having it come out as text. Rather than using MacSpeech Dictate (with headset speaker) as I do on my MacPro in the office, I open up the mail program on the phone, open “new message,” hit the microphone icon at lower left, talk into phone and then email it to myself and voila! words into text.
Subway I’m now riding the subway all over. I get a $20 metro card. Watched a big rat run down the tracks in one station. There’s no graffiti on the subway trains these days.
Rum drinks at Caracas Restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn: “Dark & Stormy” with dark rum, ginger beer, sugar cane syrup; the “Morning After Mardi Gras”: rum, coffee, hot milk, vanilla, sugar cane syrup. Good rums: Pampero Anniversario, Zacapa
NYC Bike Program You see racks of the blue bikes everywhere. This is a big deal. Aimed at cutting down cars. You pay an annual fee, pick bike up, drop it off at destination.
“This 2007 FJ has been built to take you on just about any trail or trip you desire. It of course retains its Toyota build quality, but has been upgraded with an extensive list of modifications to include items for protection, recovery, and performance. To prevent front-end damage and provide an aggressive look, a Viper 4×4 bumper has been mounted along with a set of Hella LED fog lights for an improvement in visibility. In case you’ve wandered in just a little too deep don’t worry, the truck has been equipped with an ARB Safari Snorkel for clean dry air as well as an 8,000 lb winch to pull your truck, and your pride, out of the drink. A rough country suspension system has replaced the standard setup to provide an additional six inches of lift for larger tires, and more importantly off road clearance. At the back of the truck, the owner installed a Viper 4×4 rear bumper with an integrated rear view camera to improve visibility past the oversized spare tire. If you’re searching for a trail ready truck with a lift, winch, bumper, and more, then check out this FJ Cruiser…” https://www.expeditionportal.com/vehicules/4×4/toyota-other-models/2117-la-aduana-2007-toyota-fj-cruiser.html
Carved into the Patagonian Andes, the Cuevas de Mármol are located on a peninsula of solid marble bordering Lake General Carrera, a remote glacial lake that spans the Chile-Argentina border. Formed by more than 6,000 years of waves washing up against calcium carbonate, the smooth, swirling blues of the cavern walls are a reflection of the lake’s azure waters, which change in intensity and hue depending on water levels and time of year. Located far from any road, the caves are accessible only by boat. Thirty-minute tours are operated by a local company, weather and water conditions permitting.
“On the final day of September 2007, I left Jasper Alberta Canada without any agenda, plans or time. Living simply from my passion of photography and writing, living a freedom life while riding my Suzuki DR 350 motorcycle in search of rock climbing, surfing and experiencing different cultures along the way.
Now nearly 100 000 km, 19 countries and 4 years later… I continue to ride the dream… north from South America.
You can follow my stories and collection of images through my blog.
“Expedition 360 was a successful attempt at one of the last great firsts for true circumnavigation: reaching antipodal points on the surface of the globe using only human power (no motors or sails). Bicycles, in-line skates, kayaks, swimming, rowing, walking and a unique pedal powered boat were used by Englishman Jason Lewis and an international team to travel over 45,000 miles across five continents, two oceans and one sea (12th July 1994 – 6th October 2007).” www.expedition360.com
My friend Louie recently sold his sailboat, the Roy Fox, to his friend Bill, and last week, Louie, Bill, and Titsch sailed the boat from Bodega Bay down the coast to Sausalito. Actually, they motored all the way, leaving Bodega at sunset in order to come under the Golden gate Bridge with an incoming tide. When I met them in Mill Valley, they been up all night, freezing, and were wind burned and wiped out.
We had dinner at Frantoio’s; I’d seen the restaurant, but never been there before. Not only is the food great, but a feature at this very Italian restaurant is a giant olive press for making olive oil. During olive pressing season, the press operates night and day, so customers can watch the magic of oil coming from olives while having dinner.
With a bottle of Pinot Noir, the hardship of 20 sleepless hours at sea faded into memory, and we had a great dinner.
Read about Kees Prins’ adventures on the water with friends along the northwest Pacific coast. (Kees and his little trailer-pulled adventure sailboat will be in Tiny Homes on the Move):
