Outdoors

Journal – 120826

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I’ve found myself drawn back to an idea I’ve carried for 26 years; biking across Washington State on the Palouse to Cascades Trail. A quick estimate puts the ride at roughly three to five days, depending on how often I stop for resupply or detour to explore points of interest along the way.With my knee not being what it used to be, this trip will have to be done on my ebike. That means planning for battery management. Scheduled charging stops or possibly building a small solar‑charging trailer to keep me moving through the more remote stretches.I’m not sure how all of this will come together yet, but I do know it’s going to take research, planning, building, and plenty of testing. After two and a half decades of thinking about it, it’s time to finally map it out and make it real.


🌤️ 78°F – 58°F 🙂 | #Seattle

Journal – 110926

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I was back in the office today, welcoming a coworker after his three‑week vacation. It was great to see him again. He surprised me with a high‑powered laser pointer engraved with my name. It was gift for taking care of his son’s Roley Poley farm. I’m already thinking about taking it on my next camping trip and testing how far the beam reaches from a mountain top.

Other than returning the music CDs I borrowed from the library and cooking dinner, I didn’t really do much today. I just needed to take it easy and recover for this weekend as I will be heading to a water park to have some fun.

Just before bed, I slipped outside and sat beside the fire, letting its glow keep me company as I read Tales of the South Pacific.


🌤️ 78°F – 59°F 🥱 | #Seattle

Journal – 100826

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Enjoing the cool summer night outside watching the start lit skies. It’s peaceful. I really should do this everynight, turning it into a ritual and not something I do occationaly. Being outdoors is something I love to do, yet for some reason in recent times, I do it sparingly.

When I do go out, it is almost always hiking or climbing up a dificult route. My body isn’t what it was use to. Back pain and my sciatic nerve in my left legs has been causing me to take it easy this summer. Most of my adventures have been in my small eBike on trails. I have to admit, most of my adventures take place durnig Autumn, Winter, and Spring. While Summer I mostly car camp or do research on location of intrest for my hikes. At the moment I am looking for abandon locations. This typically are mining or forestry locations that were quickly abandon, leaving behind equipment and buildings. Something like Monte Cristo in Washington State, but less known.

I am also very intrested in riding on abandon rail roads. At the moment I have some ideas on building a contraption that will allow my small ebike to ride on the rails. It sounds fun and there must be a few in Washington I can go for a ride.

We will see.


☀️ 74°F – 56°F 😐| #Seattle

Journal – 012925

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I have been feeling tired and overall not feeling health. I am eating right, but feel sick at the same time. Yesterday I was going to take a day off at work but we had 4 people sick, so I had to work through it. Today is an easy day, just a lot of meetings and little actual work. My sleeping habits are the same but I am not getting the rest I need for some reason. I am tired but I am getting my normal 8 hours of sleep. It’s weird.

Over the weekend, I went for a bike ride with my daughter to look for geocaching. We found 24 that day. It was fun,  and we had one on one time with each other.  Nobody interrupted our conversation. It was really nice.



☀️ 47°F – 32°F 🤒 | Seattle

Journal – 012125

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Today went well.  On the way to work, I could see Mars bright in the clear and dark sky. I wish I still had a telescope to see it better. The roads were icy in some areas. Once on the freeway, the road conditions were fine. I arrived early and used the time to study Portuguese and plan out my day.

The day was beautiful but a bit cold. I spent some time outside next to the fire reading and observing the birds flying by in the clear sky. There is something relaxing being in the cold next to a warm fire with the sun’s rays hitting your face.

Once back inside, me and the kids played board games while the landry was being washed. We all enjoyed playing The Game of Life. We finished the night playing Uno.

Before bedtime, I read a little more before  falling asleep and then waking up abruptly when the book hit my chest with a thump.  I wonder if that happens to other people?



☀️ 41°F – 28°F 🙂 | Seattle

Journal – 012025

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I went to Leavenworth over the weekend to just walk around and enjoy the scenery. It was cold but beautiful.  I believe the last time I was before Covid hit. A lot has changed. They have closed the street that leads into the vilage. A welcomed change. There were just too many pedestrians to have cars going in and out of the area. I can walk with confidence that no one is going to hit me trying to back up. I hope they level the a road with the curent sidewalk so it is all even.

A portion of the time we walked around and window shopped. Most of the things there are things you can find home. Overall the resturants are good and definitely need to check them out if you are ever here.

The next day everyone was tired so we stayed home and relaxed playing games and wathcing tv.

☀️ 43°F – 28°F 😀 | Seattle

Journal – 010925

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Yesterday was allot of changes to the team structure and schedule. Everyone was fine with it and didn’t complain, which surprised me. People don’t like change of any sort and always pushed back on it. It wasn’t unreasonable change just a lot of small changes and set expectations. Today I have to redo the everyone schedule and publish them. I am using Ticktick to schedule all my task for the day and it helps a lot. I use to use Microsoft Todo for years, and it worked well but it lacked a calendar integration. I hope Ticktick integration with a smart watch is good. I just need it to remind me of upcoming meeting and events. Adding things to the list isn’t important to me. I prefer doing that at my desk or if I am out and about use my phone.

This month is getting everyone on board on all the changes that are being made and getting through the challenges that may derive from it.

My personal life is going well. I am changing some of my focus to health and personal development. I work out and am studying a new language 5 days a week. The only thing that breaks the routine is something more important pops up. They are rare so I am happy with my progress.

This year I am putting the family on a tight budget so we can do something special once a month. This month we are going snow tubing. The whole family is real excited about it. Afterwards we will hit up a restaurant and head home. We were not able to do this for a few years because we didn’t have a  reliable car and had to wait well over a year to receive our new car. We have it now and it is now time to travel like we use to do. Our first trip in the car was a drive from Seattle to San Diego. The car handled great and the views from the drive was amazing.

🌤️ 48°F – 42°F 🙂 | Seattle 

Tonga Twist

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The Players:

  • 3 oz Pineapple Juice
  • 3 oz Grapefruit Juice
  • 0.5 oz Amarena Cherry Syrup
  • 4 oz Club Soda
  • Pineapple & Mint
  • Amarena Cherry

The Scene:

Place all the ingredients in a tall glass with ice and mix with a straw. Put a couple of Toschi Amarena cherries to garnish.

Journal – 160124

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Another cold morning. I pulled my right shoulder muscle while brushing my hair. Not sure what happened. I took some ibuprofen and headed to work. I get injured for the dumbest things. Grab an orange for the fridge, through my backout. It’s madness I tell you.

Work went well. I got everything done so tomorrow I just need to have a few meeting and keep an eye on everyone.

After work I picked up the kids from school and headed for a haircut. Me and my son needed one and so we look our best for our passport photos.

On the way home we went to the local library to pick up some videos to watch this week. I used to do this all the time with them when I didn’t make that much. I forgot how much fun we had walking around and going through the collection finding odd thing that made us laugh or intrigued. We must do this more often and it will also save us money on entertainment.

Once home I did the laundry and made dinner. We watch tv and then went to bed.

Seattle should receive snow tonight. Hopefully we do and I just need to work from home.

🌤️ 36°F – 20°F 🙂 | Seattle 

Journal – 150124

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On the drive to work was beautiful. Clear skies and you can see the city lights from a distance. Work went pretty well today. An agent came back from his PTO and happy to see him. We are fully staffed once again. The office was cold as usual. I layered up today. I am really using my standing desk now. This my 3rd day in a row using it. My slouch in my back is going away. I just sit in a chair for way too long. The hopes for snow has been dashed away. It looks like we will have sun tomorrow and then moderate rain on Wednesday.

At home I lifted some weights and walked on the treadmill for a bit. My legs are too weak. Once the soreness goes away I am going to add weight in a backpack to push my legs more. They should be able to carry me and 50 lbs backpack up a mountain. I want to bring the family up in the mountains this Summer.

☀️ 33°F – 16°F 🙂 | Seattle