7/31/2020

Back In The US, Sorting it Out

I'm lost.  Here I am, back in the US, third day, and I'm totally lost.  Honey went to the doctor, found out, as I suspected, that she has damage in her shoulder from the broken wrist incident, so they gave her some exercises to do.  Hopefully by the time she comes back from Bosnia her shoulder motion will be better.  The other thing is that her wrist still hurts because of the hardware.  Doctor touched it in one spot and he knew exactly where, and said, yeah it has to come out.  So, she's going to have surgery when she comes back.  That means I won't be seeing her again until late October.  I guess at which point we'll be looking for housing unless we end up staying with my older daughter and family.

I had a plan, that would have taken years, and now the plan is gone.  I'm back in the US earlier than I wanted to be, and I have nothing to do.  I guess that's no different than when I retired, but at that point I did have things to do.  I was planning and preparing.  Now I have nothing to plan or prepare for.

The short term picture is I'm with my daughter in CO until they move.  I'm going to put the motorcycle on the truck and drive it to TN for them.  Hopefully they find a place that's big enough.  But regardless, I'm going to ride my bike to IL to family, spend almost two months there, then ride back to TN, and take a flight out to Denver, meet Honey there and we'll drive the car back to TN, where we'll go house hunting.  If we can find something big enough and we (meaning us and my older daughter's family) decide we can get along, then it's for all of us, if not, then it's just for us.  But we'll be in that same area.  It's a nice area to be in.

8/22/2020
Well, we are four days from leaving CO and heading for TN.  I just got done with a two week regiment of two different antibiotics, because it turned out I had H-pylori, a gut bacterial infection/overpopulation that exactly fits all the symptoms I've been struggling with.  It is associated with ulcers and cancer of the stomach.  The treatment seems to have helped, now I have some healing to do.

Also, I'm looking at houses in TN, NC, GA corners.  That seems to be the path that lies before me.  Honey is still in Europe and having surgery on her wrist early October to have the metal removed from her wrist, which is causing issues.  She's also doing some therapy for her shoulder range of motion, which appears to be related to the wrist injury; her shoulder was hurt in the fall and has scared up.  I've scheduled a followup appointment with my gastroenterologist for the 19th.  Most likely will be my last appointment in CO, if I go to it, because I'm leaving the state. So, since I'm not traveling, and can't use Nomad insurance, I'll have to do something to get insurance; an expensive proposition.

3/16/2021
What the heck is going on? I'm just beside myself. Over a year since this whole COVID thing went down and we're still here. It's like the twilight zone. The fear mongering is still going strong, our southern border is being overrun, there's talk of the Great Reset, Bill Gates is the devil incarnate, everybody is getting censored, the government is spending trillions like they are going out of style, Texas froze and ran out of energy, and we got cancel culture, and it's killing Dr. Seuss and curious George!!! Dr. Seuss?!!! Really?!!! We have a president that can't string together a coherent paragraph and is afraid of the press and other world leaders... They don't even trust him with the nuke button (ok, maybe I agree with that one). Seriously... I thought 2020 was bad...

On the bright side, I do see that there are still some people traveling the world. Good for them! I'm just not one of them... will that change? I don't know. I don't want to hope because I'm just getting over the fact that I had to stop. And every time I turn around the WHO and CDC are changing the rules on when things will be back to normal... the latest estimate is NEVER! So, I'm just keeping myself occupied, secretly looking for an opening. Opening for what? Who said that? Don't know, never mind, wasn't me. Go AWAY COVID! What? Who said that?...

So, honey and I bought a place in the rolling hills of Northeast Alabama and been hunkered down here since last November. Tell you what, this entire area of South central TN, Northwestern GA, Northeastern Alabama is just beautiful. Waterfalls, babbling brooks, twisty mountain roads, beautiful views... All I'm saying is that if I had to land somewhere, this is not a bad place to be... If you like any of the photos I'ma gona show ya, drop me a line, I will set you up.

What does hunkering down mean. Oh, you know, all the usual stuff when you buy a place... fixing stuff, preparing gardens to grow some food, if we can keep those frikin squires, moles and rabbits out of them. Oh, yeah, the deer too. I've become adapt at drilling holes through brick walls, moving car ports (take it down here, put it up there), making keyhole gardens (yeah, that's a thing), crawling through dark crawl spaces, knocking down spider webs and hornets nests, digging big holes and ditches, and filling them up again... (did you ever see Cool Hand Luke... I'm digging the hole boss)... scraping black dirt out of the forest area, dumping it in holes... moving dirt around in wheel barrows, planting fruit and nut trees... All this digging is either going to keep me in shape or kill me, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorite activities... like Zen and the art of digging holes.

Honey is like a forest pixy, everything she touches grows. Gives my joy just to watch her sprinkle fairy dust as she flits about about... (look it up)

Sometimes I just go sit in the grass on the hill in front of the house, look around, listen to birds chirping, watch the wind blow the trees around, feel the sunshine beating down on my bald head. I look down and within a few square inches of field I can see a dozen different kinds of green things... most people would call them weeds, but it's a blend of tiny plants that cover acres, all existing in harmony with each other. The world could learn something from these weeds! And they're not bothered by COVID.

Ok, some pics and then more interesting blabbing (I'm building here... stay with me)... in no particular order, all this is within two hours or less from the homestead.



Honey, the moles are using wheelbarrows now!


































So, yeah, I am not complaining. Consider myself blessed to have landed as I have.

They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Unless of course you buy something in Vegas and then fly there to ride it home...



Yup... It's my early 60th birthday gift to myself! It's a used 2018, with 58k miles on it, and now that I've ridden it home.. 60k miles on it!.. It's a sign. My first dilemma was do I really want to buy a motorcycle with 58k miles on it? Thought about it and figured if it made sense at all, it certainly made sense with a BMW, so got over that. And well, rode it for five days from Vegas, mostly interstate, and it didn't blow up, so that's a good start.

Yeah, riding it home. Had to think about that too. Seeing as Texas just froze it's nuts off two weeks before, I wasn't sure what I may run into this time of year, so I watched the weather and it looked like I had a window, used some miles to fly out there and it turned out pretty good. I only got a few hours of rain all five days, got down to low 40's a couple days, but with my heated vest and the heated grips on this thing, I was fine. I missed a five day snow storm in Flagstaff, by a day! Whew! Didn't realize some of that area is at 7000 ft elevation. Anyway, it cost me less to make the trip than to ship it, and I get to have a maiden voyage with it, so win-win!

Of course, this raises more questions. If/when I continue my RTW, do I take this bike, or do I stay with the DR? I bought the DR because it was low profile (doesn't stick out like a sore thumb), lite, simple, capable and any mechanic or I could work on it. This beast is none of those things. Well, it definitely has some capability, but it's none of the other things.

The world gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and sip it in the sun. Because at 60, there isn't "later"... now is later. Nope, there is no later, just now.

4/11/21

Well, ended up taking the BMW to my local dealer, with the hopes that my dealer in Vegas would stick to his word and fix the few issues, namely leaky fork seal and increased vibration at highway speeds (feels like out of true or bad wheels/tires/something).  But no such luck.. Frustrating.  So, will have to do it myself.  They did balance the rear wheel, and it's a little better than it was, but still not right. 

Next day after picking it up I went for a ride for a few hours.  Rode down to Little River Canyon and followed the road along the Northwest rim. 





The whole three hour round trip was nice.  Beautiful day.  Perfect weather.  The stretch of road from Little River Falls down to Little River is pretty nice.  Narrow twisty two lane with some nice scenic stops and views of the river.  Almost a little on the slow side with 25 mph limit in some places.  Also, a big part of that road is definitely not well traveled.  The center line disappears, the road is in disrepair, gravel here and there.  Gets very tight and twisty with steep climbs and drops. Definitely keeps you guessing!

Looking down into the valley from a couple of the view points.








This was in the less traveled section of that road along the river.  Lots of fun!


This was a really nice spot.  Would have stopped for lunch there, but there was a no parking sign... and ... well, Alabama does like it's guns, so respect the signage.




Looped back around at Little River and stopped back up at the main falls to have a snack before continuing home.

4/15/21

This last week and the week before went on some hikes in Cloudland Canyon State Park.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.











Yeah, life could definitely be worse!

4/24/21

Seems it was just the start of March, and here we are near the end of April.  We actually had a night below freezing two nights ago.  Very unusual.  But no shortage of weird stuff going on.

I'm continually amazed at what is going on in government, the economy, and especially COVID because that's what's driving it all.  Recently I joined a discussion on ADV Rider regarding health passports.  You would think that motorcycle riders are a bit of a higher risk group, independent thinkers, that don't go along with whatever the mainstream says.  Not true.  Seems that most people in that discussion can't wait to take the vaccine and are perfectly fine with the possibility that they will have to have health passports, because it will allow everything to get back to normal.  And really, people like myself (even though I've had COVID and I'm probably better protected than anyone who takes a vaccine), who don't want the vaccine, are the one's causing the problem, prolonging the mystery, because we're selfish and thinking only of ourselves.  That's so wrong on so many levels.  And these people are also calling me names, a conspiracy theorist, clearly getting angry that I would even have a view different than their own.  Yeah, cancel culture is getting stronger and stronger.  Fall in line or suffer the consequences.  Tolerance of opposing views is dying quickly.

First, It's hard to believe that in a free society people are advocating that vaccines should be mandatory for everyone.  I guess that's nothing new, but on a world wide scale.  And why, because they believe the "vaccine", which it's really not, will eliminate people getting sick or spreading it.  But the manufacturers have said from the start, it doesn't keep you from getting sick and it doesn't keep you from spreading it, it only lessens your symptoms.  So, if I spread it whether I'm vaccinated or not, what's the difference?  And if vaccination does protect you, and you're vaccinated, why would you care if I was or not?  Yeah, I see the argument that if we all got vaccinated now, things might be better.   Yeah, and if we treated it like measles, and everyone just went out and socialized, even made an effort to hand out with sick people, we'd all get it and be immune, if there is any immunity.

The given assumption is that if we all just get the "vaccine" then there won't be needless deaths.  And what drives that assumption, that there are a lot of people dying from it.  Let's just stop there.  It is a fact that when COVID came around, the CDC changed the guidelines for how death certificates are supposed to be filled out, after having the same guidelines in place for 17+ years.  And even though such a guideline is suppose to go through public discussion and official approval, neither happened.  So, now, if a person dies of anything, and they test positive for COVID, then the cause of death is COVID.  There was actually a well publicized case of a guy dying in a motorcycle accident and his death was listed as COVID, until someone challenged it.  Many doctors have come out talking about these requirements and how misleading they are.

Why? Well, there's the obvious, that hospitals get a bigger payment if someone is listed as dying from COVID as opposed to some other cause.  Then you have the Great Reset, which anyone can go read about, papers, books, and internet.  The point being that the disruption caused by COVID and the fact that people are scared, can be used to further an agenda to reform society into a system as envisioned by leaders, Corporations, and the World Economic Forum.  Which, at first look seem to be a good thing.  Talks about universal income, eliminating poverty, eliminating capitalism in it's current form, etc.. One point is that people will become transhuman, like cyborgs, and we'll be plugged into a system, which is controlled by AI and manages resources equitably, so that no one will need to own anything.  I don't know, I don't really want to be transhuman, what ever that's going to mean, and I want to control my destiny, and if I don't own anything, who's going to own it and control it?  And there's the rub.  The only thing worse than a bunch of elitist rich controlling everything is some AI controlling everything, based on some rules that were programmed in, or worse yet, rules that it came up with on it's own.

So, the goal is to keep people afraid, keep them apart (divide and conquer), and slowly erode freedoms.  Of course the primary means of doing that is the "case count".  The number of people who currently are testing positive for COVID.  We know the death count is already bogus because of the change in how cause of death is assigned, but are the counts valid?  Well, first, who cares what the count is if the deaths are not overwhelming?  People die of all sorts of things, including flu, every year, even though many people get the flu shot.  But the other problem is that the case counts are based on the PCR test, which can be run at various "cycles", a sort of magnification process, and we know that the higher the cycle count, the more likely that any positive outcome is false.  From the beginning it's been clear that the testing is done at very high cycles, like 40+.  But Fauci, head of the NIH, had previously said that anything higher than the teens or 20's is too much.  And even the CDC had to come out with a guideline reminding practitioners that a positive PCR test does not mean you have the virus.  You have to do the test at least twice and also show symptoms.  But of course one of the big things being pushed is that asymptomatic people are spreading the disease.  Either way, the numbers are blown out of proportion, and it's those "case" numbers that are being used to justify the lockdowns, and all the economic and social hardship that are resulting.  Which the WHO even issued a memo on, that lockdowns should not be used as the primary system of control, because of the economic havoc they create.

But anyway, getting back to the health/vaccine passports.  Since when is it ok that everyone can ask you for your health history and you have to show it to them, or you're faced with not being able to shop, or go to a restaurant, or a sporting event?  Show me your papers... What happened to HIPAA? Yes, you have to be vaccinated to enter certain countries where certain diseases run, but this is not just at the border, or possibly to officials, and those are not mRNA genetic experimental treatments, they are vaccines that have a long history. The first problem is that it opens up an avenue for discrimination, based on medical status, which is not much different than what the Americans with Disabilities act explicitly prohibits.  The other problem is that the passports open up an avenue to personal intrusion like nothing else.  To really be effective they will eventually track where you are, who's around you, and then they will monitor your other apps and what you do on them.  And we already see that big tech is actively involved in analyzing our every move.  How much more so when the justification is everyone's safety? To fight the unseen enemy.   I listened to a talk the other day about how the Nazi's started segregating people, based on perceived medical threat.  They were "unclean" and doctors were complicit in advancing the genocide that took place under Hitler.  And all this sorting and classification was made possible through the use of punch cards and census data.   How much more data is available on us now, and how much faster can it be sorted and manipulated.  Clearly this plays right into the hands of the Great Reset plans to control everything and have AI take care of everything for us.

No, that's not something I can support.  But unfortunately many people don't see it and don't think it could ever happen in this country.  It's a lot harder to stop it once it starts than before.  I mean, China has this in place now, and they also have a social point system.  Israel has passes now, and those that are not vaccinated are kept out of certain activities; they are discriminated against, because they are the "unclean".  There are several states in the US that see the writing on the wall.  Florida has already passed a law against the use of health passports, other state governors have issued orders, but they really need to pass state laws.  Because the federal government is clearly signaling that industry developing these is OK.

Enough of that.  We're working on putting up the pool, planting stuff, and I'm riding when I can. Definitely need it now and then to keep my sanity.  Just feels better when I come back.  Waiting for my wheel balancing/truing stand to see if I can get to the bottom of the vibration at higher speeds.  Not sure how successful I'll be.  I've read that if the BMW wheels are more than .125 out of true, they can't be straightened with the spokes, you have to take them apart and then find someone with a machine that can straighten them. We'll see.

Anyway, took a ride a couple days ago.  It was beautiful weather and a nice ride.  The bike really is nice.  The fairing produces a relatively protected pocket.  You get wind, but it hits pretty high and smooth.  Even with the vibration that creeps in at about 60, it's just a pleasure to ride. 







That silver seat is my custom job.  Seems I have to do that on every motorcycle, because even aftermarket seats are not as comfortable as the one's I make.  Granted they are not as aesthetically well done, but they work.  I cut foam off the existing seat, built it up with new stiffer foam, made it wider and reshaped it.  Still trying to decide if it's as comfortable as I like.  It's way better than the stock seat, but it puts more pressure than I'd like on my thigh.  We'll see, it seems to get better as I ride it.

4/27/21

We took down the pool and decided to even out the ground a bit more.  It was 3" lower on one side and that's the limit.  With the pool partially filled on the bottom, we could measure exactly how much water was where so we know how much to raise it.  Worked on that most of the morning... digging up more dirt and clay right at the edge of our forest, carting it to the pool area, building it to the level we need it at.  I will say one thing, I'm stronger now than I was months ago when we got here.  I could barely push a wheelbarrow full of dirt all the way from the dirt pit to the pool without stopping for a break.  Now I'm filling the barrow and doing it in one straight shot.  It will kill me or make me stronger.

After that I took the old bike for a ride.  I guy is coming tomorrow to take a look at it.  Must be pretty serious, because he's coming from North Carolina, which is a four hour drive.  We'll see.

After that I took the BMW out and took honey for a ride.  It's the first time she's ridden on the bike since I got it.  Even she says she notices the difference, compared to the DR650.  Yeah, there really is no comparison.  The DR only does one thing better, and that's serious off road, but with the right tires the BMW can get close.  Anyway, 80 degrees and sunny.  Beautiful day to just tool around.

I got my fork seals, so will start to work on that as time permits.  Focus will still be on getting the pool up and starting to fill it.  Temps hitting 80's, it's the right time.  Still waiting for my truing/balance stand, which apparently was shipped, but there's not shipping history for it. 

Older daughter's family and the kids and dogs were here over the weekend.  It was nice to see them.  They went rock climbing on Sunday and the kids stayed with us.  Had some fun pushing them around on the swing and feeding the neighbors cow and goats across the fence with grass from our yard.  Played "slap" with the kids.  Grandaughter won the first game, then I started beating her in the second.  She quit.  We had a lot of fun.  Just being a 59 year old kid.

Played fetch with Neptune until he was dog tired! Hah.   Ah.. I have a love hate relationship with that dog.  He's a good dog, but just like all dogs, especially him because he's young, he's annoying and demanding.  The good thing is they spent the nights in the garage.  So, son-in-law didn't have to sleep out in the yard with them, because that would have been the only option.  They are not coming in the house.

5/20/2021

Well, almost another month has gone by and where are we?  The pool is up and basically ready to go.  Today it's suppose to be in the 80's, so honey is talking about using it.  I'm not so sure yet, I have long pants, shirt, and a hat on right now.  But anyway. 

I took a shot at trying to eliminate that vibration on the bike.  First I did get the guys in Vegas to allow me to take it in to the local dealer to check on everything.  Unfortunately, they couldn't find any issue besides the wheels being slightly out of balance.  Which of course is ridiculous.  But without their backing, the guys in Vegas weren't paying for anything.  They also said I didn't have a for seal leak, although I have multiple pictures of oil around the seal and up the fork leg.  So, paid them like $90, thanks for nothing. 

Since then I've replaced my own for seals, though they still seem to leak, so I think the aftermarket seals I bought aren't quite up to snuff.  I'm trying another set, but if that doesn't work, I'm going to spring for the BMW bits. 

The bigger thing was the vibration.  I decided to tackle truing of the wheels.  Found that the rear wheel really wasn't that far off, but the front had a noticeable wobble.  Now, supposedly these wheels shouldn't be attempted by anyone but a professional, even dealers just replace them if they are bad.  Yes, they are designed unlike any other, but they are still spokes and adjustable.  The idea that I can't adjust my own spoke wheels is ridiculous.  To make a long story short, I spent days getting the wheels as straight as I could. After the first couple times it was pretty clear that there was a bigger problem than just the trueness of the wheel.  So, I replaced the tire also, and it made a world of difference.  Even though the tire had only around 3000 miles on it, there was clearly something wrong with it. Now the bike is smooth, even past 100 mph.  Just need to decide if I'm going to press the Vegas guy and how far I'm willing to take it, for them selling the bike to me with problems.  Of course, just like the other dealer, they probably wouldn't have known the problem exists.  Anyway, the irony is that I just gave them a crappy review, and the owner responds to the review saying he's sorry I had a bad experience and to call Dave and he'll take care of me.  Yeah, the same Dave who has ignored just about every email I sent him.  We'll see.  The fact that I could fix the problems goes a long way to me not caring if they reimburse me or not.

Anyway, after getting it all sorted out I've been starting to take day rides.  The weather here has been unbelievable; sunny and in the 60-s to 70's.  Sweet home Alabama, where the skies are blue...

This was a loop over into GA and then back down into Alabama.  A lot of this path was labeled as the Trail of Tears.  That's Weiss Lake at the South.


This somewhere North of Graysville AL, just West of the GA border on route 99.  Seemed like the perfect spot to stop and have a lunch snack. 


This is by a boat ram at Cedar Bluff on Weiss Lake


Few days later went Northwest into TN, up past Sawanee.  There isn't a bad road between here and there.  And to either side of Sawanee on route 156 and 41A is a climb and descent.  This part of the country seems to be motorcycle heaven.  Beautiful scenery and curvy two lane roads that go on forever.







Couple days ago went straight East about 140 miles one way.  Mostly Route 136 and then 52.  That takes you past Cloudland Canyon State Park, and other State Parks in GA.  I randomly chose a waterfall as my destination point, but ended up running into a guy at my lunch stop, Burn Mountain overlook, and we talked for a while, so I didn't quite make it as far as I thought.  But, again, an amazing ride, and the guy is a big motorcycle enthusiast, so we may go riding together.  Though he does live in GA, hours away, so some multi-day ride may make more sense than a day ride.



This is a curious spot.  Why have a fence?  You can walk around it.  It just serves to ruin the view. 










This is the Burnt Mountain overlook.  Looks like graffiti mountain, but ok... wonder why they call it Burnt Mountain.  Is this where all the burnouts hang out?



Somewhere on the way back... No, not much traffic on these roads, especially during the week.



05/30/2021

It's Memorial Day Weekend... For me every day is a weekend, but it was a beautiful 68 degrees and sunny day, so pieced together a route from Higdon out to Gurly.  I definitely covered every kind of road there is; some twisty stuff badly need of repair, a muddy section I kind of tiptoed around, gravel, and river rock, in addition to the usual smooth two laners meandering through the countryside.

West on CR53, past Rash, just outside of Stevenson, CR54 goes into the Skyline Wildlife Management Area.  Started out a narrow twisty gravel road, then a muddy section going through some weeds, then a dry river bed filled with 3-4" rocks,  then into more weeds and looked a kind of muddy up hill.  Looking back a the map, looks like I might have veered off the main road at a bend, but anyway, turned around not to tempt fate; alone, on a big bike, with a street tire in the rear, on a muddy uphill through the weeds, wasn't a good plan.  I'll have to go back there some day to see if I did just miss the turn.  If the rest of the road was just gravel I'd like to take it further.

Anyway, went to CR55 to CR42 to CR32, through Kyles then CR33 to route 146 to CR 65 into Princeton to Gurly, where I got some gas and turned around.  Where 65 turns off 146 there was a sign for the road, Curly Putnam Highway... It was definitely a curly road.  Saw quite a few motorcycle riders on it. 



Right before the road went to gravel.





This is where the road appeared to go into the bushes and up. Judging by the river rock everywhere, and the muddy section before this, I was riding in the river. Yeah, took the option on that.






The whole trip was just under 5 hours.  Really enjoyable. Perfect weather, and the bike just humming beneath me.  It's meditation in motion; the feel of the motor, the road, the air rushing past, hands feet and eyes all coordinating, there's an ohmmmm to it all. 

I got to thinking about a discussion I saw the other day about adventuring, and when is it adventuring.  There's this idea that we have to take big risks to have an adventure.  As I was riding this mix of roads, it occurred to me that there's not much difference between riding in Mexico vs Alabama. It's just going down a road, enjoying the scenery and the sensory experience.  Yeah, some would argue that Mexico is more dangerous, which makes it more of an adventure, or more beautiful.  But the real difference is when you stop... the people, the culture.  An adventure takes you places you haven't been, there's an element of unknown.   But at it's core, it is the road, that's most appealing, that meditation time, that ballet in motion. 

Back in Illinois where there was a lack of nice roads in my metropolitan area, I did the same thing.  I looked on the map and pieced together some squiggly lines that took me to a couple state parks.  Back roads that went through farm areas, along the liver, through some towns (they were just in the way), past some cemeteries.  I don't know how many times I did that ride.  But it never really got old.  Over time I saw the roads improve and more development happen, but that was all secondary to just enjoying the ride.

There's definitely no lack of nice roads around here.  Every ridge has some twisty road that goes up over and down it.  And people pretty much stick to their express routes, so most of these roads are pretty empty.  Houses and farms scattered about, cows here and there, the occasional car...

I think more about it because things are easing up regarding COVID.  In a way anyway.  The CDC is saying it's ok for vaccinated people to not wear masks, so everyone is freaking out about how will anyone know if a person not wearing a mask is really vaccinated or not.  Which of course is ridiculous, but it will drive the use of "health passports".  So, those who have had a vaccine will get to go back to normal life, and the rest will be discriminated against.  I really don't know what's going to happen.  The shit is hitting the fan.  Its now becoming accepted that the virus was leaked out of the Wuhan China lab, where they were doing gain of function development... genetic manipulation... funded by the NIH and Fauci.  Also, thousands of people have had adverse reactions to the vaccine and died; blood clots, hemorrhaging, Bell's palsy, miscarriages.  And now renowned virologists are saying the spike proteins that the vaccines force our bodies to make are actually toxic, attacking 28 different bodily tissues.  Others are saying that vaccination during the Pandemic is just accelerating the variants, the mutations of the virus. Thousands of people still ended up in hospitals even after getting the vaccine and catching COVID. It's a frikin mess.  And up to now they've even been pushing people who have had COVID to get vaccinated.  At least one study was done to prove that it's not needed because those people have naturally occurring immunity, probably for life.  But anyway, people are starting to travel, consulates are opening up again.  Though I don't think the world will ever be the same.

Basically, COVID, which is nowhere near as bad as it's made out to be, has been weaponized.  It is the means by which Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum, and various world leaders are trying to usher in the Great Reset (explained in Schwab's book).  They want to restructure the world.  Which would be great if they restructured it to right the wrongs that exist, but it will just be a restructured ruling class, but this time they will be able to track people where every they go with "health passports" and the like.  Part of this reset is the idea of a universal income, which sounds great, but even if there wasn't the potential to coerce and manipulate the people getting it, we've seen that when you give people money, like they have been doing during these lockdowns, people don't want to go back to work, so there's no one to make stuff, and there are shortages. And as Elon Musk stated the obvious, if there's no one making stuff, then there will be no stuff to buy.  Which is fine by China, because they make all the stuff anyway, and we're buying it all.  I'm guilty of it myself.

But yeah, so now I'm starting to think, do I want to continue the journey I started.  Honey definitely will not come with me, she's had enough of traveling and staying in other peoples houses, setting up shop, and then packing up again a few days later.  I don't think she's up for it physically either. Seems like the wrist injury, the two surgeries, and the shoulder weakness she had, have taken their toll on her.  She hasn't returned to her previous physical ability.  She's never really been injured before.  She's also very tied into the house now, with her gardens, and the pool, and she likes her life.  I like it too.

There's a purity in walking through the grass, taking care of the land.  Listening to the birds chirp.  Watching nature do it's thing.  Saw a ground hog the other day running across our driveway. Spiders building their nests in the grass.  Ants going about their business.  I was up on the roof today, had to unclog the nets on the downspouts.  When I was done I just sat there looking over the land.  Maybe when we put on the new roof we should build a deck up there.  It's a different perspective on top of the roof.

So, why can't I just relax, enjoy what I have?  Stay here and grow old with Honey. Enjoy the motorcycling here.  I mean the rides don't have to be local, I can go for days, to whatever part of the country I want to go to.  Maybe do the trip to Alaska, or up to Washington state.  The US is a great country. 

I've been catching myself being impatient, discontent. Feel like an animal in a cage.  A nice cage, with nice company.  But I'm not here of my free will.  It was the least of evils I could choose from. Yeah, there was a choice, there's always a choice.

Why do people travel?  To see... I went to see some ruins, but honesty, a picture probably would have done it.  People go for the architecture, the art, the nightlife, which doesn't really interest me. I wanted to go around the world for that challenge, to get a sense of different cultures, and to see it. That's it.  Honey says it's a different experience if you take the vagabond traveler cheap route, vs the money route.  Well, yeah, it's different.  Personally I like the vagabond route, and the roads not typically traveled, and seeing common people.  Like I said above, the cities are just in the way.  I much prefer the small town. 

The other issue is communication.  I'd love to know every language to have a conversation with the local folk.  But at my skill level it's just painful.  The conversation gets lost in the search for words.  And even if I learn one or two languages, I can't learn them all.  Maybe I don't need the languages.

One of the surprises was the way everyone is trying to be the United States.  Corporate America is taking over.  You don't have people on street corners making garments by hand.  You have guys selling Levis, and cheap Chinese stuff.  Talking on their cell phones and drinking their Cokes.  Doing it for the money...  living in cities, where they are no longer self sufficient, but have to exchange their services for money, to get what they need, instead of making what they need themselves.  And this is the third world countries.  The first world is all corporatized already.  No real difference anywhere.  So, the only thing different is really the scenery.

6/1/2021

In five days, Alabama will remove the COVID state of emergency.  About time.  In the mean time, there are states and countries still trying to push it.  Not the least of which is following the CDC guidelines that anyone over 2 years old who hasn't had the vaccine should wear a mask in certain situations.  So, in other words we're going to coerce parents into getting their kids vaccinated.  Kids, that are the lowest risk group of any group.  It's just crazy.

Everyone is encouraged to get vaccinated.  Doesn't even matter if you had COVID, and the fact that natural immunity is better than a narrow spectrum vaccine induced one.  It doesn't matter.  The science doesn't matter any more.  The idea of natural being better than man made is being put into question.  There was actually a paper that challenged that breastfeeding was not really natural, and not better than feeding kids formula.

At this point it's not just the "anti-vaxers" who are raising red flags.  Pro-vax people and doctors are saying this is a bad idea.  First, there has been more adverse reactions and deaths reported for these vaccines than all other vaccines combined.  Then, it's becoming clear that the spike protein, which the "vaccine" makes your body produce is actually toxic to 28 different bodily tissues, so it's not just the key that opens the door to the virus, it is a major part of the disease.  And the vaccines, make our bodies make it.  It's also clear that the issue is vascular; the spike protein attacks the vessels of the body, which is why there are so many reports of blood clots, and blood clot related deaths.  And then there's the whole issue of mass vaccination during a Pandemic, which virologists say will lead to more rapid development of new strains of the virus, mutations, and we could end up with one that's really dangerous, that the vaccine will not protect against at all.

But none of this matters, because at this point people are so scared, indoctrinated, and fed up, they'll do anything to get back to normal.  And, the problem is the people who don't want to get vaccinated.  Because we're not going along with the program, because we're the one's that are going to continue to spread it and get the vaccinated one's sick.  Really, that's the best that they can do?  We're going to make the vaccinated one's sick.  Isn't that why they got the vaccine, so they won't get sick?  But of course not, because from the beginning it's been made clear that the vaccine does not prevent the sickness, nor prevent spreading it, it just reduces the symptoms.  And actually there's thousands of "breakout" cases; people who have been vaccinated but still get sick, and some even die.  And of course, that's not really enough, is it.  So, you don't blame the pharmaceutical companies for making a vaccine that doesn't really help you, you blame the one's who want no part of it.  Someone has to be the scapegoat, and it's not going to be the Pharma companies, because they are indemnified.  

On the other hand, the shit is starting to hit the fan.  It's now becoming more and more clear that this virus was the result of human manipulation in the lab, and the Wuhan lab theory is now gaining ground.  More and more facts are pointing to a man modified virus, and the fact that China hid the truth.  Fauci, the NIH and the CDC are also under fire.  The question is, who will prevail?  Will people wake up, or is it too late?  Most people I know are getting the vaccine, almost begging for it.  Poorer countries who haven't had access can't wait.  But using the governments' own data, shows that in most countries that have started vaccinating, the number of deaths has increased.  Saw a post today from a woman, who within 45 days had four friends who had strokes and the last one died from it. And she's looking for reassurance that everything will be fine if she gets her second shot.  Vaccine roulette, that's what people are playing, and they don't even know how many chambers in the gun are empty.  Of course, if the four people in front of you died, maybe someone is lying to you, and you best not play the game.

This is actually a very sad story.  The woman doesn't have the sense of self preservation to see what is happening to her friends, and make a good decision for herself.  She is so indoctrinated, so brainwashed into thinking that the vaccine is the absolutely necessary, that even people dying around her, that she knows personally, is not enough to snap her out of it.  Wow!

6/30/2021

Well, now the Indian government is suing the WHO because they stopped the Indian government from using Ivermectin, and after that time the four states that stopped using it had significantly increased deaths. Whereas one state that kept using it, had very low death rates.  And actually there was a video of an Indian woman who didn't want the shot, so two people held her while a third one gave it to her.  A data analysis showed that for every three people the shot saved, it killed two.  Although the WHO did finally come out and say that kids shouldn't be getting the shot "for now", because it's not clear that the benefit outweighs the risk (which is really stupid given that virtually no children have died of COVID), countries are still coercing and pushing to give it to them.  There's reports on the Internet of young males getting heart inflammation and dying.  Women having miscarriages.  And now they're talking about new "variants" and trying to justify more lockdowns! It is total insanity. The US government is pushing even harder, carrying on an entire media campaign, using celebrities, cash incentives, giving away scholarships.  Insane.  All for a disease that has a 99.99% survival rate?  And in the news was the fact that the value of the vaccine companies has gone up so much that there are now nine new billionaires.  The good news is that more people are sick and tired of it, and there are worldwide demonstrations.  Which you don't see in the mainstream news.

Really, you couldn't make this up.  It's a sci-fi tragedy of the worst kind.

In the midst of all this, our lives go on.  Been riding the motorcycle around the area.  Went down to Florida to spend some time with the family.  Growing some of our own foods.  The wild blackberries are starting to ripen so we're making blackberry crisps, and berry pies, and freezing a lot of them.

This is route 117.  Downhill truck is always a good sign, usually means a steep twisty road!  All the motorcycle images below were from a single three hour ride.  The variation in scenery and terrain is just beautiful.


This guy, having fun with his the rocks in his front yard.  The white one is painted like a chicken, the brown one is the back off a cow, there's a giraffe in there.


More squiggly lines.  I ran across some roads where you had to slow down to a crawl because the hairpin was so tight.








This is part of the Curly Putnam, or is it Putman, highway, heading north across the TN AL border.  Named after an Alabama born singer.



And then a few days in Florida with the family.  Helping my grandson boogy on his boogy board.




And the blackberries growing along the edge of the forest on the land, just one part of two big patches.  We're eating blackberry crisps and pies!


Also got the pool operational and enjoying that a lot with the heat of summer.  Do some work, sweat like a pig, the water feels like heaven. 


I've also started writing a book, a sci-fi novel.  We'll see how that goes.  In general getting use to the time on my hands and enjoying it.

8/13/2020

Well, who would have thought, over a year now since we got back to the states and the whole COVID thing is still in full swing.  Countries still in lockdowns, people demonstrating, getting arrested, push to vaccinate kids and keep them in masks with parents speaking up against it, Instagram still in full swing with the censorship.  Biden is the biggest idiot on the face of the earth.  The Democrats just passed a 3.5 Trillion infrastructure bill that has over 2600 pages in it, 50 to 49.  Seems to have little to do with infrastructure though.  It's becoming clear that the vaccines are not working, and there are lot of people getting sick from them, even dying, but they don't want to admit it, so just keep pushing and suggesting booster shots.  Medical workers are now "mandatory" and the department of defense it about to make it mandatory to have the vaccine... blah blah blah for the common good.  There are 7.7 billion people in the world and let's say 1 million dies from COVID, which they didn't because the numbers are jacked up, but let's just say.  So, a grand total of .01% of the population has died from it.  And the other 99.9999% have to suffer for it.  Not to mention that the world population is up something like 45 million people so far this year. 

It's all about the agenda.  Agenda 2030, The Great Reset, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, The World Economic Forum.  The goals are, one world government, a centralized digital currency, not to be confused with a decentralized crypto concurrency, we'll own nothing and be happy, we'll be inventoried and studied and tracked in a surveillance state.

The good thing is that Alabama passed a law strictly forbidding government agencies and and businesses discriminating, or even asking, about vaccine status.  And I just left Instagram and WhatsApp, so that's my last link to Facebook.  I can get my information elsewhere, and I'm done supporting a company that is making billions of dollars on people and then censoring the one's they don't agree with. So, I'm good. 


11/5/2021

Well, life has been surreal.  Basically at this point:
- The mainstream media is totally not covering what is going on in the world.  It is conspiracy reality, not theory any more, and media is complicit and promotes the false narrative.
- Based on the most highly vaccinated countries, and states in the US, the vaccines do not work and actually vaccinated people spread the virus more.
- Death rates among teens taking the vaccine in UK are up significantly.
- High profile deaths in the European soccer industry are happening.  People are dying of heart attacks, blood clots, and strokes.
- Majority of hospitalizations and deaths are vaccinated people.
- Health passes are now implemented or being implemented in various countries.  But clearly it's not about health because the vaccinated are dying at higher rates.
- Australia and New Zealand are segregated police states.
- Coercion and threats by governments, including a mandate by Biden... get the jab or lose your job. 
- I'm glad to say Alabama has passed another law.  This one to prevent vaccine mandates, and a few other states as well, but in general it's not going in a good direction.
- Fauci has been lying about the gain of research work.  The NIH did fund it.
- Article came out in NPR, mainstream media, that hospitals across the country are packed with patients who have COVID like symptoms, and just weird stuff going on, but they don't have COVID.
- The fertilizer supply just got scarce and they project food prices will shoot up and there may be shortages next spring, of food.
- Cargo ships are floundering in the SF area.  They're not getting unloaded, and the one's that are unloaded aren't being taken away.
- The Biden administration just approved $450,000 payments to migrants who were separated at the border under Trump.
- They also just issued a mandate that all employers with 100 or more employees must have people vaccinated.  There are over 24 states that will now be suing the Biden over this.
- There is another migrant train headed for the Texas border.  Patriots and National Guard are lining up.
- There's a huge undercurrent of Ivermectin use in the US.  But, it and HCQ are basically being blocked by the CDC.  They still wont make it part of the official treatment.  Even though countries like parts of India and Japan, who pushed it and made it available have basically gotten rid of their COVID.

I'm reading Klaus Schwab's COVID-19 The Great Reset.  Got distracted by other things I'm reading, but this is all very clear.  In the document he talks about needing to stop the economy in order to reset it.  Like hitting the power button on the computer.  You have to stop it before you can restart it. Of course the excuse they are using is that COVID did all this to the economy and now it can't go back to normal, and we have to "build back better".  But in fact, this is all because the financial system basically collapsed back in 2008 during the bank bailouts, and it can only be kept running in it's current form for so long.  They are re-imagining it, and part of that is they want more control over people.  The vaccine is the excuse, particularly for the "green pass" which will eventually be the system of controlling where we go and how we spend our money.  Just like China's social credit system.

The most ridiculous thing is the "you'll own nothing and be happy" slogan that Schwab and the WEF have used.  So, they plan to take away all property right, and they want to move people into cities so they can control and herd them more easily.

Supposedly there is this billionaire guy, a Frenchmen, who owns a bunch of databases that have damning information on the entire elite structure.  But he's trying to use it as a bargaining chip, to get them to change their minds, and see the error of their ways.  He also says if it was revealed it would be havoc.  Governments would fall.  Entire nations.  He says he doesn't want to start a war by revealing it... but he doesn't see that we are already at war.  What he means is he doesn't want to arm those who are being killed, because it's more peaceful that way.  Peace at the cost of liberty and innocent people dying is no peace.

Of course, what are the odds that the people that caused this entire collapse are going to come up with a better solution? Zero. We end up with more of the same, but with more propaganda and control, because technology enables it. The US is the world's only hope.  The power given to the states can hold back the tide and possibly reverse it. If that fails, it will fall.

Saw a video yesterday from a woman who was previously arrested for incitement, in Australia.  She was let go after legal proceedings, but in this video she's asking for help from the international community and for sanctions.  Who is going to help Australia?  Everyone is fighting their own battle.  US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, all of EU.  And you definitely don't want the UN's help because they are the one's promoting the one world government that this is all moving toward.  Peaceful protests have only resulted in more pressure and riot control from the police, and the agenda still moves forward.  It's going to be pitchfork and knives soon, if they want their freedom back, because the government is not listening to them, at all.  And they laugh about it.

12/19/2020

Not only did I get off all the mainline social networks, I got rid of Windows off my computer (Running Ubuntu), and I got rid of gmail as my mail service.  I'm so done with supporting anything that censors anyone.

There are actually people saying that we need to do away with the Nuremberg code and just force vaccinate everyone.  Australia has quarantine camps. There's places where you can't buy food unless you're vaccinated.  The world demonstrations are getting bigger; hundreds of thousands of people marching against the vaccine passports, which are being used in some places already.  There are surges of miscarriages and still births.  There's no way I could list everything that's going on.

It's also estimated that in the US the vaccines have killed up to 800,000 people. The official count in VAERS is only about 20,000+, but everyone knows that events are grossly under reported.  And now they are pushing it harder on the young kids in various countries, and in California. 

The biggest thing now is that it's becoming clear that vaccinated people's immune systems are permanently altered, degraded.  There's even talk of VAIDS; vaccine induced AIDS.  And now there is a new Omnicron variant which was first seen in South Africa, and there is no worse than a mild flue.  But the symptoms listed for are are all the side effects of the vaccines!  Well, that's convenient.  South Africa keeps saying it's no big deal, but all the highly vaccinated countries, which are seeing surges in hospitalizations and deaths, are locking everything down again and blaming Omnicron.

Honestly, it is getting really old.  I don't even read most of the articles I come across.  It's just more of the same.  What I am doing is signing every petition that I come across demanding that this all be stopped.  Biden's no jab no job mandate was stayed nation wide, but then an appeal court reinstated it.  So, I'm sure now it will go to the Supreme Court, which is probably a good thing, because there is no way Biden and OSHA have the authority to make the mandate, and hopefully the Supreme Court will support the original decision to stop it.

I also bought an AR-60 to go along with the 9mm handgun, and a stack of non perishable food, just in case.  Because now more cargo is stuck in the California bay, the fertilizer shortage has got manure prices way up, grain production is down, producer index is up double digits, some foods have doubled or tripled in price.  But there's a huge project starting which will build a Co2 pipeline to capture Co2 across mostly Iowa, but four other states as well.  In other words, it's anyone's guess what's going to happen.

I haven't gotten back to writing that sci-fi book. Got to a point where I was looking at solving the worlds issues, and as I started looking at everything that's wrong, I realized that this has been going on for millennia, and even if I could go back in time and alter some events, it would never solve the problem.  So, I guess the problem needs to be solved now, and the solution may be worse than what's going on now, meaning a total dismantling of the system, but then what to replace it with. 

I've been messing around with Ubuntu, learning it, and also learning more about cryptocurrency.  It interests me because of what it could mean, what it means.  It's an independent form of money; not government controlled.  So, maybe the government couldn't mess it up.  Failing currencies-- oh yeah, that's the other thing going on, looks like the dollar is going to lose it's status as the world's reserve currency, if Russia and China have their way -- have been around for millennia.  You would thing we'd learn something from that.

The problem is that crypto is here now.  And as I've written recently, whether decentralized, people controlled, currency will be allowed to exist, or if it's even a good idea, or whether the governments will squash it, is yet to be seen.  Either way, governments will start issuing their own crypto, centrally controlled, because now the technology is maturing. But there's no going back now. Pandora's box has been opened, and there will be a crypto war coming.  Personally, I'm trying to understand what it takes to run a node on a network, getting into the code of it to understand it, and if that's the place to be in the future.  Is it even worth the trouble?

The issue that I'm having with it is that what it really brings to the table is fast exchange with no middlemen.  Not sure how much that's worth to the average person, who could use cash or credit just easily, as we have for years.  The fact that government can use it to set up a control system over our finances, far outweighs any advantages it might have.  The problem is not our technology, the problem is the way we elect, and hold accountable, the people that manipulate our money, and the corruption in government.  Crypto is not going to solve that.