More of WASHINGTON… State.
Thursday, July 12th, 2007It has been so quiet here, starting to feel like home with a great sense of well being. Another day of errands today before maybe tomorrow’s visit to the Boeing Museum in Seattle. Will depend on the weather… it is 104 degrees today, even with his cover I cannot leave Spirit out while I check out the “Flight Museum unless some serious shade. That is the plan anyhow. Still waiting for some mail to follow me, it will be then up Mt St Helen, which I did visit in 2000, but was a quick ride at the time, I would like to spend the whole day as I understand there has been some changes, mainly lots of growth throughout the vegetation, more information, come up the back side this time, get a better education as to really what happened and the story of some survivors that made it.
A surprise this morning…
This weekend is the BMW MOA Annual Rally… and its thought has been a weight on me a bit like a dark cloud (so much for my well being…) Their magazine has just published an article that I wrote, spanning our first four months on the road… they have scheduled us to appear for a “talk” this coming Saturday… and we cannot make it. It would be a 3000 mile round trip for us and in total honesty… we cannot afford the fuel and the tire wear this year! Again this website is proving to be a double edge sword toward expenses…
The bridge which I cross twice a day…
I would have loved to meet some of our readers, some which have even e mailed us looking forward to it… a bit of a let down, specially when it has already been printed in the Rally’s schedule. I apologize for this… they have been notified. Keeping up with this website is not only a matter of meeting the bandwidth expenses, Dish cost… it has been a vast array of logistics to make it possible. With no website and less travel, life on the road would not be as much of a hardship on the finances as it is, has become. But I am not complaining… there are just situations, outings, Rallies (such as also the West Fest Rally next weekend in New Mexico, another 3000 mile round trip…) that have to be canceled.
I learned a while back to say, when asked about being a certain place at a certain time, “I will try…”. I obviously have not learned the lesson fully and still not avoiding commitments as I should. Our living fashion is only a sidebar to the purpose of this website… it’s main purpose has always been to show the beautiful relevant parts of this country right under all our noses, and I do try to keep it on that path with many pictures and some research of the areas visited. Depicting our life of course gets entangled with it, all the way down to the cooking, the relationships with friends, meeting locals, mechanical repairs, Spirit’s own life, life itself… all under one title. It is not just a ride report… but a life on the road… “Life under the Stars”.
Intsant replay… sunrise this morning!
There would be not much interest if staying in one place besides the human factor… there would be not many new pictures to display… there would not be much history to talk about if weeks went on taking roots on the same land day after day. Those are the logistics of our life… those are the reasons for, quite honestly at times, the uncomfortable presence of a “donation” window!
And then again, I look at the number of readers, the e mails received of all the minds following this path wanting themselves to be in my shoes someday, (Spirit does not wear shoes), interested in the “how” and “where”, only then “donation” window, which I prefer to call it “contribution” starts making sense… if this was a book, it would have a price tag… It is only “you” readers that will determine at this point where this website will go… The request of contributions per month has been so little and still it is only such a small percentage of readers contributing… less than 10%. Am I being too blunt?
Maybe some day… a sponsor or two will find their way on the pages, with a tastefully designed banner… and I will stop asking for contributions. I am also in the midst of putting a Picture Gallery together as I have had requests of readers wanting to buy pictures… also working on a recipe for… “Spirited Doggie Treats” (with two “g’s”…) to bake and sell treats, all to support and allow us to expose the many sights worthwhile traveling to…
A close friend of mine today wrote me “there are too many Blogs out there… why should I pay for it…”. You don’t have to my friend… There are millions of books out there published also… not all sell… you only buy the few that interests you, you only subscribe to the magazines that turn you on… it is a matter of choice… if this interests you, really does… how radical is a one dollar a month contribution?
Why am I writing all this today?… because I really would like for this website to amaze you, as it amazes me when going back into the archives, with all the pictures taken around this country and maybe other countries in the future, in the coming years… I would really like to continue creating amazing recipes that you all can follow while camping, on the road or even at home… local tidbits to help you plan your next vacation… and I obviously did not realize in the beginning the costs of it not quite fitting into a simple traveling / living on the road budget! So that is the reality of it all… Now you know…
Today was another “fixing” the rig day… Jay Dauntless was kind enough to reposition the sidecar’s disc brake for better results… will even be back next week to remount some eyebolts which he does not like their position… No one wants me to touch this rig anymore… I know, I should have stayed in the kitchen, my skills are limited…
The loggers! Quite an operation on the hill… when it is all done and the need is to move on to the next one, some intricate cables are positioned over the gorge, a couple loggers are transferred over and the logs are brought in one at the time… flying! When their shift is over at about 2pm, the same cable brings them back pulling them up the hill… I talked to them… tough job, they all told me that it is best to be under thirty!
Till the next time… you all be well… and sorry having to bring up the behind the scenes of this website’s logistics…
Enjoying the site? The pictures?… or simply finding it entertaining… Then why not consider supporting it with a contribution. We would appreciate it. See the “contribution” link above… If snail mail…
Ara Gureghian
853 Vanderbilt Beach Rd #245
Naples Fl 34108
Ara & Spirit
July 12th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Ara; Sorry to hear you’re having so much trouble getting contributions, but it sure is great to have you (and the blog) back on the road again!
The reason I’m writing is to confirm that you recieved the contribution I made to your account via ‘Pay Pal’. As I wrote to you before, I was having some trouble figuring out how to make a donation. After reading what you wrote on the blog about how to do it, I was able (I believe) to post a $50.00 donation to your account…at least that is what I tried to do. Could you tell me if it ever arrived in your account? If not, I’ll try again.
In the meanwhile, keep up the good work…your’s is my favorite website! I am too old and stove-up to ever do an extended trip/ride myself, although I still have my two solo bikes, as well as the sidecar rig, and ride whenever I can.
Following along with you and Sprit on your travels brings a great deal of pleasure to my life, and I hope you never stop! I guess that I am just one of the many who are riding along with you and Sprit, and enjoying the trip.
Take care, and be safe…your friend, Don
July 16th, 2007 at 7:12 am
Ara.
Fantastic post: text and photos. But most importantly, your thoughts as they trail from the heart and the mind, through cyberspace and out to reach all of us. I think of you often, you and Spirit on the road, me here tied to this and now, waiting for my turn. I’m still slowly unloading, shedding one life preparing to slide and roll into the next, despite the hurdles and bumps in the road along the way. And before that occurs, I do hope our paths will cross in December, down in the desert of Texas. Perhaps you and I can do a pilgrimage out into the desert to watch the sun rise. An trifle occurrence to some, but to others it heralds more than just another day.
Take care and happy belated birthday.
TS