New day, New bike

 Okay, yes, this kind of belongs on my bike blog but also kind of doesn't. :)

I have been rocking around on my trusty 2017 Honda 250 Rally since I got it new three years ago. Fantastic bike for what it is. I have rode all over Minnesota. Did a dual sport tour in northern Arkansas, rode singletrack in northern Minnesota. But over the winter new plans have been brewing and something had to be done about the little 250. After much deliberation I came to the conclusion that I would not be able to shed 100lbs from the bike to make it more off-road-able at the level I wanted.

So I started shopping. The KTM 350 EXCf was a clear leader for quite some time. A coworker down the street offered up his for sale even. And then I hopped on the ole marketplace one night and zap, there it was:

(photo)

a 2019 Husqvarna FE501.

I went and took it for a test drive. Hooked instantly, despite the fact that it has possibly the MOST uncomfortable factory seat I have ever sat on.

It had its flaws, but overall I w as okay with the deal.

Paperwork has been sent out, and I am off to Colorado to snowmobile for a week. But expect to see more of this beast on the blog soon. Good things are coming@

Interesting boat options

So I have been on a boating kick lately (have you noticed?) and I wanted to record a few interesting boat makes and models that I have come across and a quick note of why.


Oyster
Made in England. Most people regard them as good high quality cruising boats. Likely good in colder climes thanks to their designers being British. Likely short overhead inside. Some have hard lifelines/rails.


Oyster 39 ketch
A cute little ketch. Center cockpit design. By most accounts a sturdy built boat with a high center cockpit to keep sailors dry. Interior looks fairly compact, but most models have a "workshop" space behind the nav station.

Oyster 37 Pilothouse
An oddball that and not many around. Definitely a better layout that the other two, IMHO. Also a bit of an odd layout since the overall hull is fairly small for a full pilothouse. I have yet to see good pictures of the interior, and none are for sale anywhere at this time.

DuJardain

DuJardain Atlantis 430

Absolutely stunning in pictures. Aluminum hull, nice deck, nice arch in the stern, also a lovely sugar scoop swim platform on some. Small number of yachts produced over many years so lots of variety on interiors and deck particulars.

Beneteau
Known around the world but mostly as a company that builds charter boats. The largest benefit that I see is that they can be had relatively cheaply on the used market and they are fairly roomy boats. Their lineup has been sailed around the world and across oceans, of course with ample prep work. The older, pre 2000s, models are much less nice inside, IMHO.


Benetau Oceanis 40 CC 42CC 400CC
A bit of an outlier in the Beneteau range. Can be found with a nice hard dodger, and has a neat folding swim platform a the stern. Typical center cockpit interior layout; looks cramped in the walkthrough and minim headroom in rear cabin.


Jeanneau


Sun Odyssey DS models
Mostly in the 40-50' range, the Deck Saloon models offer a much brighter saloon and kitchen area while not quite offering the height of a pilot house.

Freedom Yachts
An interesting brand that usually gets miss labeled as a Freedom and vise versa.
Early to mid 1980s models that use a spar mast (freestanding) and a small jib. Supposed to be decent sailing boats, but I believe the real benefits are in the roomy, appearing, interior.

Amel
Only vintage Amels fit in my budget. They are nice boats, as best as I can tell. The particulars are wide and varied: Hard life-lines, Hard dodger, pilot station vs central wheel/tiller.

Alubat
Alubat Ovni.
A cool modern aluminum boat. most have a swing keel. Very expensive.

Hanse
Not many in north america. Look nice, look affordable (maybe cheaply finished, dont know) Possibly a neat option.

Farr
While not really a model, he did produce some nice designs. There are a couple of cruisers and pilot house models in his catalog. Many different yards have produced different models so only the idea is left here.

2/15/21 Update

I have, since writing all of the above, come upon a couple of other models that I want to mention here.

Dufour Atoll

A very unique design that I really love on paper. The windows and upper level kitchen, I think, are great features. Obviously not the best sailing boat ever, and the sales numbers show that it was not a success at the time. Finding a used model for sale will be difficult as I read somewhere that there were only 45 of the 43' model sold.

Traveling money, what everybody asks about.

I've alluded to this topic in my last several posts, in different ways.
It boils down to this: How to afford to not work.

Again there are a million different answers to this question and they hinge around you as a person and your skillsets.
If you are good at saving money: Do that and then just leave when you hit your target. Clearly that is a majority technique. Retirees do this, even if it is not spelled out in the above words. They work until a certain age (the time target) and then go. I'm not a big fan of this method because most of us are battered and broken by the time we hit retirement age making world travel much more resource intensive. But I digress.

This blog is supposed to be about me, and my options, with some insights into what I have done or at least researched in hopes of helping others. Right...?

A few of my friends have done the FIRE+investment real estate. This appears to be a pretty solid option if you are a handy person or have connections in the construction trades. You also need a fairly large investment up front. The payout is that you get a much higher payback in the long run. Ref: my savings graph on the education post. Similar idea to the bottom lines only a huge dip and then a sharper return trend.
Major benefit: Good return on money. Long term potential income.
Detractors: Poor housing market in your area and lack of tenants means no income and you pay for an empty house. You need some way to play landlord remotely or pay a management company if you plan on traveling on that budget.

A more basic plan is to just be a frugal person. But you are not going to have a ton of fun doing that. You will have to change your lifestyle to make this work. Some people are lucky and just did it from the day they left the nest, lucky them as they already have it in their system. Most of us millennials are spoiled little shits that think grinding our own coffee is a drag and that not having a starbucks nearby is the end of the world. (whoops, ranting again) But I feel that it is a fairly honest evaluation of today's society in the USA. People who live a truly frugal and minimal lifestyle are frowned upon and considered weird. I don't know why, but its true.
What I find fascinating is that in other locales I don't get that feeling: When I walk to the grocery store here in Minnesota I can feel people giving me the look as I walk through my subdivision. Yet on the streets of Tamarindo or Santa Rosa Colombia nobody looked twice other than to say hello to a foreigner. weird indeed.

What does it actually cost?

This really is a trick question. There is so much variability person-to-person and situation to situation that it really is very difficult to lend advice here.

Faroutride.com has a very nice breakdown of their costs over the last two years. I think this is a good place to start for fellow USA nationals as they spent most of their first year in the USA and Canada. Why does that matter you ask?? Because, like the Euro zone, the USA is a rather expensive place to be.

If you were to travel in, say,  Thailand; the living costs should be significantly lower. typically the more touristy a location is, or easier it is to travel to, the higher the costs.

Example: When I visited Belize in 2016 their peso was worth $0.50. This meant I could buy a nice dinner for me and my girlfriend for about $20, bar tab included.

Example: When I visited Tamarindo, Costa Rica in 2020 their peso was 3500 to the dollar, but the costs were quite large, roughly equivalent to USA prices. This meant I wandered from bar to bar looking for a single dinner that would be less than $25.

So if we use FarOutRide: Their living expenses in 2018 were $32k. That is a relatively large number in my mind but also very realistic. Keep in mind that they are 2 people living in a van.

From my reading on cruisers the costs seem to float around but the $1500-2000/month number seems commonplace. That is $24k a year so it seems close enough to the vanlife number to be reasonable.

When Tula's was still living on their trawler they spent around $18k in a year. and that is not a sailboat! Somehow the first year of owning their catamaran they spent $68k...not sure where all that money came from! But again that plays into the idea that this is so wide and varied in particular situations.

I have not yet found any motorcycle overlanders that published a yearly expense or budget. I will update the blog as soon as I do!

How to afford this life?

This is such an American question. *sigh* Anyway...

In my situation I take home about $45k a year. So such a monthly budget is easily attainable. The problem is that I have to go to work 5 days a week in order to keep that money coming in. Even during this pandemic I go into the office about once a week, and I have my laptop on every weekday.

So my personal situation, today, doesn't really apply.

I think for the sake of this discussion a monthly breakdown is best: What do I spend a month and what might I change in a different situation.

The two listed sources above both check in around $3k US each month.

A couple of hours crunching my last years worth of bank statements gave me a number of $3300/mo and that is just me, in a house by myself. Clearly having a second person to split costs and increase volume discounts is an advantage. We all can't be so lucky it would seem.

Really there is not much that can be cut from the pictured lists. Yikes.

Mortgage	1137
Utilities	150
vehicle payments	559
vehicle insurance	160
groceries	219
Credit card	881
cellular	67
restaurants	128

Clearly a mortgage is my big monthly payment. I pay that amount by myself for the opportunity to live in a house.

After that I spend a shit-ton of money through my credit card, which I could further break down to other categories, but I'm tired right now.

Vehicle costs are huge as a financed land-dweller.

Then finally food. I actually spend less than I thought at only ~$350/mo on groceries and restaurants combined.

So a fairly clear answer to the opening question is: Get rid of debt. If I can achieve that I potentially remove almost $2000/mo! Of course those items would be replaced by others so it is not a strict savings but it is notable.

If I chose to drive a 20 year old honda civic instead of a Mercedes and a newer Jeep I would save probably $600/mo.

The mortgage is a little more complex. I don't like having random roommates. This makes the huge cost worth paying most of the time. Having a partner reduces this cost obviously. The other part to this is potential rental income when travelling.

Rental income.

Income from my real estate: I can likely take in $1700/mo from rental income. That is a potential for $450/mo profit. These are guesstimates from what I have seen on the market. If I can get a reliable renter in my home I can reduce the amount I need to work each month by that $450 amount. It is that easy. 

The education question. covid musings

Education.

This is such a complex topic. Which is really kind of unfortunate, in my mind. I really feel like here in the USA we have screwed up the system so badly that it no longer functions correctly.

I have an engineering background. I don't have a Bachelors of Engineering degree though. I have a Bachelors of Science degree. Seems logical to me but not to corporate 'Merica. I had to take writing and social classes, PE credits, etc. These are often left out of the modern "Bachelors of Engineering" degrees, which is a huge mistake in my opinion.

So I have a few options if I chose to pursue more education:

• Pursue another bachelors degree. This will take likely 3 years, since I have some credit to my name. This seems like a surprisingly good option as I could completely restart my career. New material and new connections to get me started in a new field. The downside is that I would be starting over my career, clean slate means lower pay and harder jobs typically. 
• Pursue a Master's degree. This will likely take about 3 years as well as I would likely work on it while still employed meaning I could only take a few classes at a time. This is a tough option because my advice to others has always been: don't bother with a masters unless you have a damn good reason to pursue it. This is not true for all professions in the USA, but in Engineering I think it is still true. I have met several people through work that have a masters degree and no experience; they are usually very hard to work with and have very poor solutions. My issue is that I don't have any background in fields that I am interested in, therefore I have very little knowledge of if a particular institution has good connections, and I have no research partner besides the nonsense most institutions list on their websites. (excessive autonomy and electrification topics. Not my intrest)
• Pursue a degree through a foreign school. This is really a subset of either of the above. So far I have looked at schooling in Australia and New Zealand. The cost is fairly high for foreigners $40k for undergrad) which is not terrible, far cheaper than non-resident at most domestic schools in the USA. The issue would be higher costs of living while attending and the likelihood of career placement afterward. In some cases placement might be easy, in some cases not so much. Lots of unknowns. 
• Something completely different. Get my pilots license. Start an apprenticeship in a machine shop. Get my PADI instructor license, or commercial diver permit. I might explore those more elsewhere. Maybe.

This is a much shorter post, likely because I am not considering it nearly as seriously as my last two posts. The outcome is not bad (another career, decent pay, etc) but I am not sure the outcome justifies the investment. That point is hard to justify but here is the basic premise:

I just turned 36. this means I would likely be 40 when I finish another degree. Right now I make $65k/year salary. (which is decent in my situation I would like to add. Probably $10k/yr less than a similar engineer)

This is a curve representing my pay if I got a 2.5% raise every year for the next 40. (which is already negated by covid-19 pandemic)

At age 65 I might be making 1.95x today's salary. $126k doesn't sound too bad.

Of course there is no guarantee. Company's go bankrupt all the time, people get fired when they become "too old" for the internal system. Health and healthcare come and go. It is a bleak outlook when you consider life in those terms.

What if I take 3 years to get another degree of similar nature to current? I would say the likely outcome is that I would get another job at the same rate after three years, so now the curve looks something like this:

Now at age 65 I am making 1.76x today's salary. $114k Not terrible but other than my personal knowledge I haven't gained any ground.

School for something different. Like an MBA. Ick. I cringe at the idea. But what if I can make $100k USD after graduation? (unlike but I needed a number)

Now things change a little: at age 65 I am making 2.27x today's salary. $120k Still having dry heaves thinking about that outcome though.

So there is an obvious flaw here: I am not taking personal well being into account. I am not taking Savings or a FIRE lifestyle into account. No bonuses or anything like that. These graphs also make the assumption that we will continue to get raises after this pandemic...which is a large stretch of the imagination right now.

So I thought "What does my savings account look like?" So I theorized a 10% of income saved per year. Then I said my "same" degree will cost me $10k/year/3 years and the "high" degree will cost me $20k/yr/3 years.

Again this is theoretical, lots of large and sweeping assumptions. This assumes that I maintain the same income while in school and that I can find a job immediately out of school.

I feel that this is a pretty clear illustration of the adage "You have to spend money to make money." Thought again; that is not justification, in my opinion, to follow any of these paths.

Post-Covid travel musing

Item: World traveler

If you have an interest in traveling and seeing the world, such as I do, you likely have already done some travel and have likely read, watched, researched others who have done more than you. The writing is on the wall: You can travel and you can do it on very little budget.

A complaint I have about sources on the internet: Why don't people like to share their numbers?

As a techncial/engineer brained person I want to know if I am in the same ball-park as other adventurers. I don't need amounts to the nearest penny, but the nearest $100 would be fine. Even to the nearest $1000.

I equate this issue with people not wanting to share their wages/salary. What do you gain by keeping that number secret? You think people will hate you because the number is so large; maybe you should consider the implications of that.

My youtube example would probably be SLV. Now I don't know Riley and Elayna, have never met them. But in all of their videos and website I know little to nothing about their background. Their first yacht was a used charter boat bought in Eastern Europe so Riley likely spent $80k USD on purchase of that boat. maybe less. I don't know.

So why does that matter? Because most people such as myself don't have that kind of cash sitting around. What did they do before becoming internet celebrities? How did they save money? how much money did they leave home with?

Don't get me wrong, it is not unique to SLV. I will say most of the sailing youtubes seem to operate this way. they have a tag line to the effect of "we started with nothing and didn't know how to sail and we traveled around the world!" Which might be technically accurate but is definitely not a complete story. They mostly have yachts that should cost in the several 100k USD range, some have large businesses that they run remotely, some are independently wealthy, etc. The common denominator, that I see at least, is that they never talk about where the money comes from or how much is going out.

Seriously the Sailing Loot podcast is about the best (besides Teddy's irritating deameanor) because he asks people for numbers. THANK YOU TEDDY! Also MJ Sailing does a monthly expense recap and Tula's Endless Summer have talked about money in a few episodes.

Okay /rant. Sorry.

What are options I have considered?

The usual millennial options. :D

The world by motorcycle.

I have been riding motorcycle for over a decade. I enjoy it and I believe it holds some unique opportunities. It is a highly minimalist option, which I am okay with. That means I get to explore some neat space saving gadgets while being an effective traveler. yay!

The costs are relatively low:

• Purchase cost of moto: Low. A new or newish adventure bike can be had for $10k USD here in the US. And I am seeing an increasing trend of people buying bikes in other countries for even lower investment cost. (Itchy Boots did just that: she bought an Indian Royal enfield for "half" of the Euro price)
• Operating costs of moto: Low. Motorcycles get good fuel economy compared to an automobile or truck. They have very few moving parts to break. Insurance is less than that of a car (in the US) in my case my motorcycle insurance is 1/3-1/4 of the cost of my car insurance.
• Modification cost: Low. Adding bits and bobs to your moto is relatively cheap. It is likely also an option while on the road: most Adv-Touring motorcycles have following all around the world and parts can be sourced or found in most major locals.

The world by car.

I have been driving cars and trucks since before I had a driving license. I used to enjoy it more before my spine decided to not always work right, but I still enjoy it in smaller amounts.

• Purchase cost of car: Medium. This can vary hugely from market to market and person to person. There are people who have driven from London to Peking or across Africa in cars that were purchased for less than $5k USD. But those folks should not be considered the "average!" I currently own a Jeep that I would feel comfortable driving most places in North America and I purchased it for $14k USD. If I were to undertake a long overland trip in said truck I would need to make large investments in maintenance and modifications. People also have spent several hundreds of thousands of dollars on custom built overland trucks with bespoke bathroom linens and 8 wheel drive...so this is a wide open point.
• Operating costs of car: Medium. Again this should probably be considered as a function of purchase cost: Higher purchase cost = higher operating and maintenance costs. For my particular case fuel would likely be the highest line item with maintenance being a close second. Far Out Ride has some numbers listed for their van life expenses, which I feel are a good indicator, at least for North America.
• Modification cost: Low. I put this as low, relative to the investment in the vehicle. This could be completely the opposite depending on the particulars. I am not interested in building out a live-in van therefore my changes would be much smaller costs. (suspensions, racks, trailers, etc)

The world by yacht.

This is an interesting one. Also many people have done it before, and are doing it today. I have lots of sailing experience but not on oceans and not in foreign waters. This lifestyle of "cruising" has a lot of appeal: no deadlines, go with the flow, etc. It also has the highest risk in terms of affordability, reliability, and longevity. 

• Purchase cost of yacht: Very High. Again this can vary hugely from case to case but I feel that for my situation investing in a ready-to-go yacht is the best option and that means a very large investment, possibly over $100k USD. Folks have sailed the world in boats that they got for free, and celebrities cruise the world in multi-million dollar megayachts. again: this is so hard to narrow down here. Perhaps I will talk more on this in a later post.
• Operating costs of yacht: Medium. This is dependent on the yacht being used and there are two aspects to consider 1)The operating costs are lower for a newer boat; systems are more efficient and it will take longer for them to reach a replacement or repair status. 2)The operating costs increase with the size of the boat. I don't have much for reference yet on this one, and it is a hotly debated topic on message boards around the internet! If we average things out the moral of the story is likely just: Big boat=big costs. Small boat=smaller costs.
• Modification cost: High. This rating is based on my own mechanical ability. I can do fiberglass and basic carpentry, as well as mechanical work. If you cannot do those your costs will be huge as you will have to pay labor rates at boat yards, extra haul-out and splash fees, etc.

So now I have written a rambling novel of a blog post. Congratulations are in order if you are still reading this! Go crack a cold beer to celebrate. :)

Covid career

Item: Career

So the background here is that I have worked for Polaris for 7 years, this month. The first almost two years as a contractor and the remainder as an employee. The first 5 years were pretty good: I got along with coworkers and the environment. But in the last few I have seen a far less ideal environment, more concern with the all mighty dollar rather than customers or employees. Also as my role has morphed over the years I get involved in more impossible politics which make me sick. Of course there are lots of aspects to this, but those are ones that are easy to put down in words.

So what are some alternatives?

Change roles at the same company.

This is probably the most easily accomplished alternative. I know people in different parts of the company that can probably get some leverage. The downside would be that I still work for the same company, so the environment would change only in the short term, and the social world of the company would remain the same: The dollar sign still wins and the customer still loses.

Don't get me wrong: Most corporate entities in the US will be like this. The advantage to changing to a new company is that it would likely take me another 5 years to really get a good grasp at their political and social situations. Not ideal but worth be realistic about it.

Moving to a new company.

Seems like what my soul needs, but not simple. Because of my very uncommon background and role, I don't have many professional connections. I have plenty of friends but they all do very different things professionally from myself. This equates to most job applications being "cold calls" to companies I have no connections at and no insights to their operations. So the likelihood of gaining said positions drops dramatically.

entrepreneurial alternative?

This one is a known option, but also a huge unknown for me personally. Do I envy the digital nomads of last months world? Yes, definitely, but I also don't a proven skillset that lends itself well to that lifestyle. The "side hustle" is not something that just springs up overnight, despite what you see on instragram. If you son't have a viable offering it is not going to amount to much. *shrug*

These are just a few options obviously.

They are also opinions and ramblings as I sit here staring out into my snowy yard and dream of warmer weather.

What does the future look like...

Wow, I have not written a post in over 1.5 years. I guess isolation seems like as good of time as any to write again.

So it is April 2020. Covid-19 is making a mess of the world right now. There are silver linings of course; like me writing this post, and getting okay sleep, not having to stress out as much about work, etc.
There is also, for me, an introspective side to this period of less work and more isolation. I have been having serious thoughts about leaving my career job and doing something else. I have been feeling this way for quite some time, but this large quantity of personal time has allowed my brain to explore these thoughts in more depth. Of course I have also been watching a ridiculous amount of youtube which also prompts a lot of daydreaming, not sure if that is good or bad...

So what is on my mind? A couple of items stand out.
-I don't like my day job any more. As a 36 year old white male, what are my options? I could go flip burgers or stock shelves anywhere probably, but what if I want to retain some dignity to my previous roles? How do I break out of the hole I have dug myself into by staying in my current role for 7 years?

-Is going back to education a feasible option? another undergraduate degree, a masters, or something foreign even? The caveat to this, of course, is that I need both money to pay for said schooling and resources to keep a roof over my head. I am very much torn on this as it is definitely a way to break into another career path but it comes at huge expense and a system reset for careers.

-Seeing the world. This is probably fueled, in a large part, by my choices of entertainment. reading and watching stories of other people up and leaving the world behind for a "grand adventure" Whether by motorcycle, truck, or boat this option seems the most volatile or risk prone. It also sounds the most satisfying!

So lets explore the mind some more!

Age lonelyness and dating

I am 34. Not terribly old, but aware of my mortality.
Two years ago my life fell apart.
I spent much time in reflection, remorse, self-pity, anger, anxiety over the future. I put myself on display in hopes that somebody !ight notice and help me through such times.
Online dating netted me very little.
Finally somebody noticed and was interested. I was exstatic. Overjoyed.
The problem was that I didn't know how to act or what to do right.

The physical side of me wanted passion, sex, physical contact.
The emotional side of me wanted compassion, familiarity, understanding.

And both sides wanted it now.
Some emotion was met and then physical came about and my mind said no. Suddenly a tailspin, the end. As quickly as it developed it came apart. And why; because I had forced myself to believe what society and media spread: sex and emotion will just spring up like it's nothing. Total bullshit.
I had emotional baggage. She had emotional baggage. We both ran and spat in the face of that and didn't bother to stop for two seconds and talk about it. And because of that we are both now alone again.

As Shakespeare said "it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all." But holy shit will it tear you down.

More online dating

It's been a while since I posted. Feeling a bit bored so thought I would text a little.
More observations from online dating.
-nurses and teachers are majority share of users. I can count on one hand the number of engineers I have come across.
-women will never make the first move. Even on Bumble, which makes the app pointless.
-lots of women have climbed Mt Kilamanjaro. They have a picture of the same sign in their profile. Why is this?
-nobody mentions sex. Very few mention family goals aside from a checkbox.
-an alarming number of accounts are either blank, one line, have one picture, etc. You are not going to get any interest from people interested in a substantive relationship that way.
-girls dressed in...revealing outfits all say they want serious relationships and know what they want. I am highly doubtful of that.
-an alarming number of large women list active lifestyle and healthy eating in their profiles. I think my definition of those must be wrong then. Or if you have a medical condition just talk about it.

As I have said before: all of these apps are based completely around aesthetics. If you are not comfortable with that then go back to the real world. I'm not real happy about it(since I'm not one of the beautiful people) but I am desperately enough to try it out obviously.

Another major gripe of mine is the lack of activity. If I send you a message via one of these aps do me a favor: either respond or block me or something. I have hundreds of single messages sitting in my outbox. Match.com actually shows if they have been read or not and most of them have been. Still no response. Just stupid.

1000 miles! 1000 smiles.

Sitting here, cleaned up, the dust of the road rinsed from my sole. Or is that soul?

Lets start over.

Sipping a tall Coors, eating my ramen, wondering with all these talents how am I still single? I just rode one thousand miles in a weekend. I'm awesome and tired and worn out like an old leather shoe; tired from the miles.
Now I understand that there are people out there that do this in a day, or put on lots more miles going to Sturgis or whatever but the first time you do something significant should be of note. So lets everybody just close our eyes and think back to their first...
Okay I give up lets just talk about motorcycles! 2016 Honda Goldwing F6B Deluxe. Damn near new. I love my job. Sometimes. I asked for some keys and they actually gave them to me, granted I have been riding motorcycles since college and have pretty good training along with owning my own motorcycles so I suppose they had some small reason to let me take it.
Its black. Its got 6 cylinders. Its got five gears? Its got cruise control!
How this whole thing got started is simple: I forgot my mother's birthday. But don't tell her that! So I decided to go for a motorcycle ride to get out of Dodge and see some countryside I had not seen in a while: The Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan! Having spent summers there as a child I never get tired of visiting but this would be the first time on a motorcycle.

I have dreamed of doing more long distance cruising, but my Indian Chief really wasn't what I had in mind for the job, but this black road missile looked the part: Part 3 parts Goldwing, one part CBR. My kind of cocktail.

I headed north towards God's country after lunch on a Friday. All I had packed was two pairs of socks, my toothbrush, and a hat. Actually that's not true but it sounds good. I burned up the Interstate for about an hour before taking off to the east and into the northwoods. I only had to make it to Michigan which should be about 6 hours away. Unless you take the back roads but lets be honest; Interstates are so boring and straight, it can be painful to ride them. This nimble beast of a machine loved being thrown into corners, The weight of it making it feel planted and sure. Only one time on the whole trip did I feel the weight pushing the bike outward which was my own fault and not the bike! The mini-windscreen and fairing offers the body all of the protection of a long-haul cruiser while still leaving your helmeted head out in the breeze so you get a much more raw feel.

I carved towards Michigan, stopping only to empty the ladder and occasionally fuel up. I had a quick vegeburger dinner in Ironwood, booked a hotel room online and headed into the woods once more. Unfortunately the stretch from Ironwood to Houghton Michigan has few reasonable options for roads once the sun has set and wildlife is abundant, in particular right around sunset. My timing was not ideal in this respect. Luckily I only spotted one deer across this stretch, I tried to stay near cars during this piece as the last thing I want to do is hit a whitetail when they are just starting to grow antlers. If I am taking a deer down with a motorcycle it better be Ole Mossyhorns!

Saturday morning arrived, a sticky 65F outside but the sun was shining bright! After some mediocre hotel breakfast I was ready for the fun section: touring the Peninsula. I left Houghton about 10am, and headed up the northwest face of the Keeweenaw. The roads are some of the best I have ridden. Does the Tail of the Dragon have amazing views of the water? Does Highway 1 have stinky rotten seaweed? Do the Black Hills have...um...The end of the road?
Huzzah! A brisk ride up the rocky and sometimes remote coast will leave you just outside of the Mountain Biking meca of Copper Harbor at, you guessed it, the end of the road. While physically this is not the end of the road; adventure riders can continue eastward all the way to the very tippy tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula if they want. Sealed surface riders will have to be happy with a turn-around and a big sign. It's worth it.

Turning the bike homeward from the end of the road did not mean I was anywhere near home, it was simply lunch times o I went to the beach! I swam in Lake Superior and it was amazing. Just as I remembered it; cold as balls. As the kids say these days. I had some water and ate some carrot cake muffin. See what I was saying about being single? Hard to believe.

I headed south, this time along the eastern shore of the keweenaw. This is a much less traveled route, and the pavement lets you know. There are lots of little pull-offs and lunch stops along the route though, and if you make it all the way south you can even stop at the famous Gay Bar. At this juncture I had seen what I came to see near the lake so I crossed the lift bridge, had a pastie for an early dinner and headed southwest. On the northern route I had stayed inland as there had been wind warnings along the lake, but now I was headed the opposite direction and I hadn't even looked at a forecast in two days to tell me otherwise so I took the much more scenic lake route. From Houghton heading south-west you go through lots of fun little towns; Rockland, Ontanogan, Silver City and finally you arrive at the Porcupine Mountains State Park. Here the State Highway ends, and the South Boundary Road begins. This is a hidden gem of a road. I am reticent to even mention it here so as to keep it peaceful and serene as I found it this weekend. The asphalt does leave a little to be desired, but the turns and undulations make up for it. The Honda purred to life and headed away from the lake and I turned off my music so as to enjoy every last ounce of the road and the scenery. At the southern end I stopped and dipped my feet in the Presque Isle River. Sadly I did not have time to go to the visitor center so a the view from the bridge would have to do.

Around this time I realized that my goal of reaching Ashland, WI was going to happen, so I hopped on the phone when I got to Ironwood and was shocked at the hotel prices. So I made a call and arranged to crash in a guest room in Duluth instead. Its only another hour plus past Ashland...

At this point I should mention something about riding in the upper midwest in the summer: Bugs. Not big Junebug things, tiny flys and mosquitos. I had to stop three times between Ironwood and Duluth to clean my visor. I don't know how you guys without face shields do it. The front of the Honda also appeared to be a buffet of flat bug snacks by the end of the first night, and only got better over the weekend. So despite the quick stops along the route I made it to Duluth by 11pm and zonked right out.

Sunday morning: The last morning before work happens again. Coffee is a necessity today. I think about making a nice breakfast but all I have is peanut butter on toast. Somehow I don't feel that hungry knowing that this is the last day. Once I finnish breakfast I decide that the Bayfield Pennisula, though a large backtrack is the goal for the day. Not as spectacular as the Keweenaw perhaps but it looks less likely to rain there the alternative North Shore. I fuel up, grab waters and trail mix, and away I go. Highway 13 runs around the perimeter of the Bayfield pennisula and takes you through most of the cute little coastal (former) fishing villages as well as the more developed Bayfield area. I stop for a stretch at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore park at Little Sand Bay. It is a busy campground and launching point for many intrepid kayakers, as well as fishing boats. I think part of my mind wants me to keep walking around since each time I get back on the bike I am getting closer and closer to home and normalcy.
I continue the Penninsula loop and fuel up in Iron River. A quick lunch and I am off to Brule, where I head south into Pine Barrens country. The road is much straighter than I remember it being through here, but still spectacular scenery. My neck and back ache, my bum iches, my feet are going a little numb at times. Maybe being back home isn't the worst thing to happen today. As I approach the Minnesota border the traffic picks up, I get to flex the Honda's power a little getting around slow moving traffic. That breaks up the monotony of the final stretches.

I have this idea in my mind that I am going to pull in the driveway, throw the kickstand down and flop down on my lawn and just sprawl out. It sounds like a movie scene. When I do finally pull in the drive I don't fling myself to the ground though. I just, like a robot on a pre-programmed setting, open the garage door, slowly pull the bike inside, go check the mailbox, unload the bags, and go inside. I peel off my monkey suit. Find a cold beer in the garage fridge and stand in the doorway looking out at the sunny afternoon in my driveway. Gym shorts, dirty smelly Tshirt and flip-flops I take a slow walk around my block. I wave to the neighbors but I'm too tired to talk or introduce myself, they probably think I am crazy. They probably are right but I did something for the first time this weekend and I am proud of it.

Sometimes you just have to take it all off and go swimming. 

In case you were wondering...

Since I was not tenting, packing was very light. I think my rain suit was the single bulkiest item. I could have gotten away with much less if I really was feeling adventurous.

Dating in the age of idiocracy.

Okay, this is a gripe post, sorry in advance if you couldn't care less. :)

So I am on this dating app (yeah yeah, there is not enough cold beer in front of me right now to talk about that) and its really starting to bug me.

Dear single women of the internet:
I understand that you are smart, witty, sarcastic, love dogs, love cats, love tacos, do yoga, run marathons, and love to travel. Would it bother you so much to reply to an email or message? I would like to point out that YOU created your profile, maybe uploaded some pictures, maybe filled out some little bio fields, this implies that you are interested in communicating with potential suitors via said app.
So far the only messages *I* have received have been something along the lines of "hey" which I am unlikely to respond to because there is no actual message; just one word. The messages I send out to attractive ladies read something along the lines of "Hi YourNameHere! I love your #puglife christmas sweater, lol. What make you decide to move back to MN?"
I addressed my subject, I paid a compliment, and I asked a question. How does that not warrant a response? Even "push off ya knob!" would at least be A response and I wouldn't send you any more.

The second situation I have noticed is on the Bumble app. This is the app where you both have to "like" each other, and then the female has to message first. I like this idea, because it is non-traditional and the woman actually has to put some sort of effort in up front as well. BUT the problem I am seeing as I swipe through profiles is the number of profiles that say something to the effect of: "...But I am pretty shy so you'll have to make the first contact." What!? The first problem here is that the man CANNOT message you first. The second problem is why are you on Bumble if you don't want to make the initial contact?? That's the whole premise of the app! Go back to OKC, PoF, Match or real life if you don't want to make contact. sheesh.

Also, please dont consider me shallow since I am basing swipes off of 95% aesthetics, its the nature of these apps, and likely human nature as well. I'm just playing along at this point.

Okay, time for a beer. Enough rambling.

Sailing the world!

Okay, dont worry intrepid readers: I am not actually leaving you all to go live on a boat. Sadly.

What I have been doing is watching a lot of YouTube accounts and vlogs of life aboard different boats. From La vagabonde a 38 foot Beneteau, to Neverland a 1973 Marine Trawler. There are many more from all walks of life, but obviously I am drawn to those that I feel I most identify with. Like Sailing Uma and their 1970s Pearson 36 whose lines and fixtures I recognize a mile away because of my father's Pearson 30!

So something that I think about a lot, since I am a number-crunching engineer, is how these things are possible. I tent to over think and over analyze things so this should not come as a surprise to you. I decided to document two approaches to the live-aboard boat puzzle: The first is that of a young couple with big dreams. The second the solution of more aged and wizened folk with a much larger cash reserve. There are tons of nuances to this whole puzzle so if you have a question about it just ping me and i'll do my best to answer you. I also need to put out the caveat that I do not live aboard a boat so this is all hypothetical, but i do my best to make sound judgments regardless.

Example 1: the youthful adventurer.

This could be interpreted as a single, or couple, my imagination says just out of high school or college. Maybe a couple of summer jobs or working the first "real" job, and pretty small cash reserves. There is a very large prerequisite to making this work: You have to be resourceful and have to be willing to work very hard to get what you want.

Case and point are Billy and Sierra from Tula's Endless Summer. They are a couple young kids with a love for the water and a dream. He bought Tula for $800 but had to restore it. I don't see a price paid for the Neverland but I am guessing it was pretty affordable. But they also have to work on it and finish the work left by previous owners. This requires willingness to work and mechanical ability to build and maintain what they need.

Using a camping stove to cook all your meals on is totally doable, but for many people that does not sound appealing. The same is true of the Sailing Uma crew with their camping stove and dorm room fridge. These are things that I feel most Youtube binge watchers take for granted: simple utilities like a stove and microwave, limitless clean running water, electricity, a soft dry bed.

What about the practical reality? This can be viewed in Bill's video about the cost of living on Neverland:


Now this just talks about the recurring costs, but I like to use the comparison of living on land. The highest rent I ever paid (which was arguably while I was my poorest in college) was $1600/month split a few ways. That was in bum-fizzle minnesota NOT a high-rent area like Miami or Ft. Lauderdale or Sarasota. Currently I have a mortgage and pay about $1100/mo. If I were to have purchased a boat instead of a house I could have got a damn nice trawler or an even nicer sailboat.

At this very moment, when I consulted my credit union's website I see that I could finance a boat older than 2015 for 3.99% for up to 120 months. Reversing the numbers means for the same $1100/mo I pay on my mortgage I could be paying about the same to get around $100,000 to spend on a boat. Mind you my mortgage is for 30 years and this loan term is only 10 years and I only got double with my mortgage. :(

In this light I could have bought a boat like Makena of Moonshadow Sailing; a 42 foot Beneteau Oceanis which would arguably be better than my house! The catch to this opulent spending is that you need to have an income that satisfies your loan and can support these payments for 10 years. That is not easy, especially for younger enthusiasts that dont have the credit background and capital.

I will continue this in another post as it is late and I might have a job interview tomorrow. :)

cheers!
G

Jeep build sheet website!

Found this while looking up diesel grand cherokee information:

Website where Chrysler will spit out the original build options

cheers!

Considering a new laptop

looking at buying a new laptop to replace two old failing ones. So far I have found this guy:

2016 Newest HP Probook 15.6" Premium High Performance Laptop, AMD Quad Core A10-8700P up to 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, AMD Radeon R6 Graphics, DVD+/-RW, HDMI, VGA, Bluetooth, Wifi, Webcam, Windows 10

Does anybody have any thoughts? leave a comment below! weeeeee!!!

Bike for a cure! the MS150 ride.

Hey everybody!
It is that time of year again, just like on NPR, where I come out and ask for a few of your hard-earned dollars to support what I believe is a good cause. This is the second year that I am riding for a cause and I hope that readers will at least consider making a contribution: Even if it is not to me! Be grateful for what you have and generous with the resources you are blessed with. Whether it is a monetary donation to a campaign like mine or helping an elderly neighbor with their yard-work; be a better person this summer.

thank you,
Gabe Johnston

BMW coding for new(er) models

Discussion of parameters you can change on BMW e46 chassis
http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/archive/index.php/t-372299.html

List of changeable parameters
http://www.lindvigs.com/obioban/FSW_PSW.pdf

Beginners guide for installing NCSExpert software and the basics of coding.
http://nutsofamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Guide-to-BMW-Coding-2011.04.23.pdf

NCSDummy program for interpreting files
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1553779-NCS-Dummy-Taking-the-expert-out-of-NCS-Expert

ALSZ BLINKIMPULS_WARNBLK
setting 4 is supposedly the "euro" flash pattern but I am not sure. Woudl like to see what 1-3 look like! 

Curta, a storied computer.

I originally wrote this little piece in February of 2015 and am just posting it now. Enjoy!

This is a Curta. It is probably 45 years old. It probably works about as well as the day it was built. It adds, subtracts, multiplies and divides numbers.

And that is it.

It also has no batteries, yet works in the dark, underwater, in space, underground, up-side-down and sideways. It is one of the many mechanical genius machines of the last century in my opinion.

The Curta is the brain child of Curt Herzstark, a Viennese engineer and inventor. He patented a rotating drum adding device (German patent 747073) in 1938, though did not create the above machine until he was imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp towards the end of World War II. There he took his idea and created a producible machine essentially in exchange for his life.

After escaping the Nazi camp and fleeing the Russians, he found an investor in the royalty of Lichtenstein and the company Contina AG Mauren was formed. The venture was rocky by most accounts but the product was sold and became successful even if poor Curt did not.

Now-a-days there are collectors and enthusiasts for such devices, myself included, who probably wish for life in an earlier era. The value of Curta’s these days is in the $1000 and up range for clean functional models. I have owned as many as two, though currently only have a single Type 1 (SN-39500). I bought it both as a lover of truly mechanical devices but also, as you may have guessed, because I like rally paraphernalia!

These little mechanical calculators are great for the rallyist thanks to their positive displacement actions and their ignorance to the shocks and jolts of typical rally routes. Did I also mention they work in the dark, in lakes, and upsidedown?

Most rallyists are familiar with the larger Curta, the Type II. This model has 11 inputs and 15 results, versus the Type I’s 8 inputs and 11 results. Obviously the more registers you have either the more accurate you can be, or the further you can go!

Operation of the Curta for rally is mostly straight forward. Enter your factor into the inputs, and crank away. The counter now displays your odometer, and the outputs show what time you should be at that mileage. Modern rallyists who have used the Starr method on a scientific pocket calculator will quickly see that you are doing the same operation. Granted this is not the only way to use a Curta but for young bucks, such as myself, catch onto this method right away since I have used the Gary Starr’s technique for years.

While I cannot recommend that anyone purchase these, they are an absolutely amazing piece of history and machine art. They have a long a storied history from soldiers, to surveyors, to aviators and rallyists. If you ever have a chance to try one out, do yourself a favor and give it a twist! (Just be gentle please)

Back to chips and stuff

Its that time of year again where I don't want to go outside, I barely want to ride my bikes, and life is generally slow. Time to get out the Arduino and the chip burning equipment! YAY!

I recently was given some gear by a coworker who built a sensor simulator that connects to his phone via bluetooth and has an Android app to control it. This blew me away especially since it all fits on a half-sized breadboard. So I figured I better try out my Arduino again and see if i can at least get through the "intro to Arduino" book that I bought last year. There are a million uses for these budget friendly boards so i better get crackin. Plus with this sensor simulator I have found out about some of the new generation of even smaller processors that can use Arduino code. Teensy for instance.

As with the last installment of my discussion about proto, chip, and hack material my goal is to expand my own knowledge of hardware/software integration along with my continuing Bosch ECU de-engineering and engine simulation.

Right now i am working with a BMW 525 DME for hardware, but sadly I have not done much more than discover a table list in the .hex and my TunerPro is a bit rusty again. I do know that I need a small enclosure and some variable resistors for the simple sensors. Another aspect of my Arduino exploration is the ability to simulate the CKP and CMP signals that are needed by most Engine controllers in this vintage.

Some of my reading lately is the same as previous discussions:

FixKicks Engine Simulator
ArduStim Wheel Simulator

Traveling to Belize!

Pack at least two swimsuits. Pack very light and airy clothing. Avoid heavy cottons, though the trendy "performance" shirts ( like underarmour and the like) are usually polyester based and will stink by the end of the first day. For this reason I strongly suggest loose fitting tops and bottoms of lightweight cotton or other natural fibers. Preferably of light colors that stay cooler longer in the heat. I brought my UA fishing shirt and wished I had brought two! I also packed heavy cotton/denim cargo shorts and they were largely useless.

Pack lots of sunscreen and some bug repellant. If the wind dies down, especially at night, the bugs will eat you alive. This is a perk of traveling during the hurricane season as there is nearly permanent wind.
A downside to the wind is that the coastal waters are almost never clear but rather murky out to 20-odd feet deep.

Don't let people move your bags around, they expect to be paid and usually for nothing.

Culture shock is day one. Just stay hydrated at all costs and find one of the suggested dining locations that is nearby and eat there. It will not be cheap but it will be the price of convenience and hopefully your entrees will be savory and sound. Have a beer and relax. It gets dark early so don't stay out too late if you have a ways to hoof it back to your resort.

Speaking of hoofing it: take the complementary bicycles whenever
Possible. Your resort doesn't have these bicycles? You didn't do your homework! Everywhere I looked at booking offered bicycles and kayaks for free(some had more for free!) Which are free entertainment options. Especially if you stay in the south of amergris and can paddle around the Hol Chan Reserve for free.

Golf cart rentals are pretty convenient but not cheap. WSC offered hourly and half day(35usd) and full day(85usd) rentals. This is a good option if you want to adventure north, but expensive if you just want to run in to San Pedro Town.

Food is very expensive. Stop at a small local market in town and at least buy breakfast and lunch supplies. We had "the burrito guy" ($5bz for burritos or some days tamales) who sold breakfast burritos but that was it for local options. American breakfast is only served at about half the food places.

We befriended a couple from TX (Christian and Christine) and went adventuring with them one day. We took a golf cart north to "secret beach" which was an awesome beach since the water was clear and shallow but had almost no marine life aside from some small fry schooled under the docks and a few ribbon fish(maybe?).

We lunched at Portofino after we figured out how to get there. We met a general manager (Paul or Matt?) After lunch and he told us that the road we drove up on had only been built 5 months prior. That was a shocker! Getting to secret beach without the roads that are there today would definitely have been quite a journey! The concrete roadway only extends to about mile 4, then there is a bumpy narrow section of maybe half a mile, then back to a fairly serious road bed that extends up to about mile 8 or 9.
I cannot suggest riding a beach cruiser out to secret beach but on my mountain bike from home I wouldn't have thought twice about it. On our way back from the beach we did pass a pair of I trepid touristas on cruisers headed there. Bring lots of water if you go this route!!

Thursday we did the "Day Sail to Caye Caulker" courtesy of Searious Adventures.
They have a 30something foot McGregor catamaran with most of the trapeze replaced with decks. James Bond, Nick and Captain Junior were awesome! The most disappointing part of the trip was probably the snorkeling sessions. For these they just pull the boat up to the parking lot where everybody else is and you snorkel around this overcrowded tiny area for a bit. It was fun and there is lots of marine life but it would be way better if they just parked a bit away from everybody else and gave swimmers some room.
James and crew were great;   they kept the alcohol flowing and when the rains came the second time they covered all the customers up while they roughed it out in the cold tropical deluge.

Rain rain rain
Drinks at the cococabana pool bar, then coffee at our bar after we got swamped on the way back. Then Palapa Bar for lunch where we met Kirk and his ladyfriend, from Edmonton Alberta. They gave us a beer for our information and gave us a ride home on their golf cart! Cheers!

Stormy day. Dinner at Portofino was pretty awesome. Only 3 parties at the restaurant and $100 for two plus a generous tip for Raphael the awesome waiter! Not an every day thing but very awesome date night. ...just wish it wasn't a storm the whole time!

Bosch Motronic Comparison

I just wanted to post a photo comparison for future reference. The unit on the left is Motronic M1.3 and the unit on the right is Motronic M1.7.
These were used concurrently in BMW 3series in the very late 80s-early 90s. There is a surprisingly larger amount of circuitry crammed into the 1.7 IMHO!