Summer Arrives with Another Oddity

The weather throughout January and February was pretty nice, although in the closing weeks we got three rain storms. Usually we don't get any rain until Monsoon season that begins in July. Can anyone say Climate Change? Anyway  few days ago I'm riding home on my motorcyle and I have to do a double take of what is before me. Keep in mind that I've seen some pretty whack-a-doo stuff since I've been in India

Experience India - A Web Series

Yes, we're going to launch a travel-adventure web series and we want you to participate for as little as $2 a month. Friends see me traveling around the world and tell me "Your life is like a movie," so we decided to turn it into one. I've been a vagabonder since 2014 when I met and befriended a Colombian photojournalist. She'd been traveling solo -- or rather backpacking (they're different things I was to discover) --  since the age of sixteen. When she and I traveled to northern Argentina, we traveled by bus, hitchhiked, and walked.  It was amazing.

The Space Between

It’s been a while since I posted my adventures in India. So I thought I’d share a lovely experience I had today. It was the most contradictory thing I've experienced thus far.

Motorcycle Adventure to Palolem

Combining a motorcycle ride to Palolem Beach, Goa India with a week stay on the beach was exhilarating and relaxing, and proved that these old bones have a lot of mileage left in them.

To The Falls on Two Wheels

Our little adventure began at 5:00AM – then again, waking up at 5:00 AM was more of a nightmare for me than an adventure, and we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. I had only fallen asleep at 4:30 AM. But I awoke, bathed, got dressed and met with others from our small motorcycle group out in front of the house. Rajeev emerged from the house last, big surprise, and we left by 6:00 AM.

We followed Rajeev-- the Kamikaze biker -- as we snaked our way through the back streets, shooting between and around the few cars and trucks we encountered, en route to the prearranged spot on Kanakputra Road where we would meet up with Kiran and Nishanth.

Mysore on Two Wheels

 

I felt tense; my mind racing, my adrenaline flowing. I was being assaulted by the rain as we streaked along the Bangalore-Mysore Highway at speeds up to 100-120 kilometers an hour, swerving in and out of traffic.  Our three motorcycles in a row (with two riders each), only feet apart, trailed the vehicles before us waiting for a crack of opportunity. Then without warning, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, one closely followed by the other shot through the sliver of opening as we raced towards Mysore. Had I lost my mind?  Welcome to yet another India experience.

Vagabonding - Rule #1

I had no expectations of India.  But I did have an agenda, and most importantly in doing so, forgot the first rule of travel:  never set a firm agenda.  From the moment I landed I was counting the days until I would depart. That was my first error.