Saturday, May 24, 2003  

cat's out of the bag . . . .

wasn't planning on telling family and friends about this trip till I left. My brother in japan has found out about it from google but he's not going to tell anybody is he . . .

he sent me this photo which I thought was hilarious . . . .

Only in thailand - this ones for you M. Gallyer.


posted by Shaun; | 10:39 AM

 

7 Days till departure

Friday the 23rd it be. It's a beautiful day here in LA but the sun shines not within the office. Received a proposal today at around 2pm which has to be finished by Tuesday next. This being a holiday weekend means that attention will need to be paid to a word document instead of the final things LA will have to offer.

I have this minds picture of a racehorse bursting out of a gate . . .

Henning and Matt should have left today with their entourage close behind them from vermont up to and across canada. I haven't heard from them in a couple of days and no answer has been received from numerous attempts to contact them. No doubt they have all been busy preparing (read getting drunk in the pub). I tried Matt's home phone this morning and received a disconnected signal. Another sure sign that this is all happening and not a mirage of a cubicle infested mind.

I guess the next I'll be in touch with them will be in Prince George (BC) on the 5th of June. Oh how to idle away the time until then . . . . .

posted by Shaun; | 1:46 AM

Friday, May 23, 2003  

Iceland and Art

To break up the monotony of motorcycle trivia I have added some pictures of my iceland trip and some personal artwork to the photos page.



posted by Shaun; | 4:57 AM

Thursday, May 22, 2003  

Fedex from visa company

Got back into the office today and there was a fedex awaiting on my desk. I dared not hope, so delicately like a little child opening a present where they wanted to keep the wrapping paper, I opened the package.

Inside was the passport and a letter. It felt like seeing whether I was accepted to a University - was I accepted or was I not? Reading the letter it told me that I had to register my Kasahk visa on arrival at a firm in Almaty.

Well - this meant my visa had been approved for Kasakhstan - but what about Russia (the important one) and Kyrgyz Republic? Had there been a miscommunication? had I just received one visa? Gingerly I took out the Passport and flipped through the empty pages of the new document.

Sure enough - all the visa's were there! Thank flying gophers - they were all there in their highly ornomented glory. I was starting to believe in the saying that whatever can go wrong will - and the visa process would be just another victim of Murphy.

The visa's were all about $1000 - we still have to get plenty more for the other countries we have to go through, but these are the main ones and will get us well on the road. They were done through which is based in Atlanta and turned out to be a thorough and professional service. I would highly recommend them.

Now - to tell the others the good news and hope that they too get their visas. I can't think what would happen if I get approved and they don't. The decision then would be to go on by myself or throw away that 1k and head down to Sth America with them.

posted by Shaun; | 7:51 PM

 

Bike Stickers

Finally got these back from Kinkos. I was originally looking at getting them printed on waterproof plastic stickers which was 25 USD / sq foot. For this amount the cost was going to be 75. Went down today to look at proofs they had done and the quality was awful - looked like a dot matrix printer from the 80's.

I got to talking with the operator and he suggested printing out on their laser printer which is 600 dpi and then laminating it with some sticker lamination they have. Gave it a go and it looked great.

Check out the photos

posted by Shaun; | 8:31 AM

 

Message Board!

I have added a Message Board to this site so people can leave comments and thoughts - give it a go and add your thoughts. We have received tons of advice and tips etc and hungary for more!

Link has also been added to the menu on the right.

posted by Shaun; | 6:23 AM

 

Said my goodbyes

Well - I am back in LA. 5 days in Atlanta and Miami saying my farewells to some of my good friends. Special kudo's to Steve to putting my up in his house for the past 3 days and literally giving me the shirt of his back - thanks steve!

Picked up my stickers from Kinkos today and put some of them on the bike tonight. The look good and adding some color to the bike - maybe a little too much! I'll take some pictures and add them tonight or tomorrow. Also need to finish the bikes page detailing what is going into the machines of the trip.

Dang I'm tired. Still worrying about money.

posted by Shaun; | 6:20 AM

Wednesday, May 21, 2003  

Down and out in Fort Lauderdale

or at least it is feeling that way. In fort lauderdale with my good friend Steve Weissenborn (YZ ) staying at his house here. Just came back from a sad game of pool. Guess I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment.

So far received a great response from people reading the website and received some very charming emails from some very interesting people - keep it up! I'm sharing what I receive with the other guys when appropriate (don't worry Shelly I kept your letter to myself) So keep it up! we love to hear the feedback.

Two items of note today, are that we must pay cash or money order for the flight from anchorage to magadan. this is about 2k USD which can be difficult to get done especially from a retail bank in chicago - but it does have to be done. The other news is that my company is actually wanting money back from me when I leave, for a relocation allowance I got back some time ago. This is no small sum and I will have to look at my options here. This leads me to look at toning up some more and see if we can turn the tables and charge www.russianbrides.com ;-)

Noting henning's post title from yesterday (ON ON) this is one of his annoying sayings that he uses to get everybody moving. I'm getting the feeling y'all gonna hear more about it.

12.04 time to hit the sack got a flight to dallas tomorrow and then back to LA.

ps. shelly - send some more pictures please

posted by Shaun; | 7:10 AM

Tuesday, May 20, 2003  

Call from the grandmother land

My 86 year old Grandmother just called from Germany. She found out about the trip through a neighbor - the trip was supposed to be a secret as I did not want to upset her. Guess I underestimated her, she took the entire thing quite well (better than my mother) and thought it was holding with the family tradition (all her siblings left Germany and ended up in the US). She also promised to knit all of us some fresh socks, worried about how we would take all our stuff on the bike and asked about what we would like for food when we get to the house.

posted by Henning; | 2:54 PM

 

ON ON

Left the City yesterday and headed to VT. Needless to say, had to stop at the Campmore store in NJ to buy everything I forgot as well as some odds and ends I still needed. Will load the bike up today and head North tomorrow. Was bummed that my broken leg story did not send Shaun into orbit - guess I am loosing my touch. Two NYC friends, Brandon and Colin will be going with Matt and me on the Canada portion of the trip. They have taken two weeks vacation and will pack into a Subaru WRX . . . . guess we now have a mobile beer cooler/rescue team as well as some good company.

posted by Henning; | 2:32 PM

 

11 days till departure

I am in Miami today, It seems like both Henning and Matt are up to speed in posting articles now (horray) so for all, this should lead to a richer experience in what is posted.

Henning rang me this morning playing a joke on me that he had broken his leg last night while drunk - I think he was expecting me to be all concerned and worried about how this would effect the trip. What he got back however was me laughing and I just could not stop. I guess now, whatever happens happens and it is just part of the adventure. Surely enough good and bad things will be part of this trip and it is just a matter of taking it as it is.

On that note, both henning and matt have had to put down that they were/are in the US army as officers on their visa applications. We shall see if that that has an effect on whether they are approved or not. If not, I guess we will have to re-evaluate our route.

posted by Shaun; | 12:03 AM

Monday, May 19, 2003  

Saying Goodbye to the loved ones . . .

Well, we're getting down to the wire, still feels a little surreal. I had to say goodbye to the Harley on friday, a friend will be looking after the old girl while I'm gone. I feel kind of like I've been cheating on it by riding the BMW so much and not giving it the care it deserves.

HPIM0625.jpg

Busy day tomorrow, still have to pack up the apartment, get a metric socket set (just realized all of mine are standard), cancel the utilities, etc.

posted by matt; | 5:43 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 


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