Here’s a sequel to my last video “On The Road Again”, so yeah, different day, different two wheeled vehicle LOL The photos in this video are from one of my typical 20 mile bicycle rides around Pacific Beach, Mission Beach, and Mission Bay in San Diego, California early in the mornin’ when things are still fairly deserted except for us exercise nuts LOL. The song I used for the video is “Dreadlock Holiday” by 10cc.

Brighton Pier (originally called Palace Pier) is a wonderful example of an old historic amusement pier, which is located at the southern seaport of Brighton, England. Construction on the pier began in 1891 and opened in May 1899, with a construction cost of around $300,000 (a LOT of money back then!). A concert hall opened on the pier two years later, but now no longer exists. Much of the original pier architecture remains, so when you walk on the pier, it’s like going back to a different era! The song is “On The Beach” by Chris Rea.

Here are some more video clips taken along Pacific Coast Highway during my recent motorcycle trip around the Southwest. One of the areas shown in the video is the “Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area”. I believe this is the only place left in California where you can still legally drive your vehicles on the beach. The speed limit on the beach THESE days is an OH so boring 15 miles per hour, but, BUT in the early 1970s when I went to a nearby university (and BEFORE!!!! all the annoying “Do” and “Don’t” regulations popped up at this beach!!), I had this fantastic beach pretty much to myself on most days, and I spent a lot of time there, racing my motorcycle at 70 mph through the sand at the surf line, with sand and water flying out from under the speeding tires, as I zigzagged in and out, just BARELY avoiding all the incoming waves. It was SO . . . MUCH . . . FUN!!! I would of course have gone FASTER than 70 mph, but that’s as fast as my hard working first motorcycle would GO! LOL The song choice is “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” by Jimmy Buffett, which has the GREAT classic line: “If we couldn’t laugh. . . we would ALL go insane.”

I just got back from 5 days of motorcycling around the deserts and mountains of Southern California and Nevada, so here’s a video of some of the scenes along the way. The song for the video is America’s great desert song “A Horse With No Name”.

Here is a video about the playful polar bears at SeaWorld in San Diego, California. The song is “Message to Myself” by Melissa Etheridge; I love the positive message conveyed in the lyrics!

I wanted to show some of my friends this fun bike path in Utah, so they can compare it to the great bike paths along the beach in San Diego near my home . . . the song is "Saltwater" by the England musical artist "Chicane" . . .

Here are some video clips I took of the peaceful solitude that can be found at 6:30 AM at the 2008 Hollister Motorcycle Rally in California. This tranquil time of day is obviously BEFORE approximately 130,000 bikers and spectators arrive at the event! The photos of the bikes and bikers that follow the video clips are ones I took at the Hollister Motorcycle Rally in 2003. The two songs I used for the video are “Solitary Man” by Neil Diamond and “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf. The Hollister Motorcycle Rally is known worldwide as “the birthplace of the American biker”, with bikers attending from as far away as France and Australia. The vendors at this event make Hollister the largest motorcycle marketplace in the west. This event got its historic birth on the 1947 Fourth of July weekend, when approximately 4,000 motorcyclists descended on the sleepy little town of Hollister, California and created havoc. This invasion was the spark that eventually led to what is arguably the quintessential outlaw biker movie of all time, entitled “The Wild One” in 1953, starring Marlon Brando as “Johnny”, and Lee Marvin as “Chino”. At one point in the movie Johnny is guzzling beer and dancing with some of the ladies in the bar, and one female dance partner questions Johnny: “Hey, Johnny, What are you rebelling AGAINST?” While tapping out a jazzy beat on the top of the jukebox, Marlon Brando raises his eyebrow and drawls his amorphous reason for rebellion: “What’ve you GOT!?” For more historical perspective on the 1947 biker riot, here is an account from the time from the San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.cestcop.com/chron1.htm and a followup article from July 6, 1947: http://www.cestcop.com/chron2.htm Here is an excerpt from the articles: HOLLISTER. July, 5 1947 State Highway patrolmen tonight imposed informal martial law in downtown Hollister to curb the riotous activities of an estimated 4000. Almost 60 persons were injured, three of them seriously. Several more arrests were made and a special night court session was convened to punish those charged with reckless driving and drunkenness. The outburst of terrorism - wrecking of bars, bottle barrages into the streets from upper story windows and roofs and high speed racing of motorcycles though the streets - came as participants in the annual "Gypsy Tour" sponsored by the American Motorcycle Association converged on Hollister for a three-day meeting. Armed with tear gas guns, the officers herded the cyclists into a block on San Benito street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, parked a dance band on a truck and ordered the musicians to play. Hundreds of individuals who invaded the town yesterday for the motorcycle show, about 10 percent of them women, halted their riotous "play" to dance. Their formal ball at the American Legion Hall was canceled by police orders. The dancers scuffed their way through inches of broken glass, debris of bottle barrages thrown during the day. The officers stood almost shoulder to shoulder along the curb.” The "tour" brought the largest amount of transients in recent history to Hollister. Hundreds slept in "haystacks" according to police and in the city park and squares.

I always enjoy visiting the Grand Canyon. You can never truly grasp the enormity and vastness of the vistas before your eyes when you’re there, because you lose ALL sense of scale, nor can you truly comprehend that the oldest rocks within the Inner Gorge at the bottom of Grand Canyon date back to almost two billion years ago. The song for the video is Jimmy Buffett’s “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On”. I really like the life message within the lyrics: “I bought a cheap watch from the crazy man Floating down Canal It doesn’t use numbers or moving hands It always just says "now" . . . “Now you may be thinking that I was had But this watch is never wrong And if I had trouble the warranty said: Breathe in, breathe out, move on . . . “According to my watch, the time is now The past is dead and gone Don't try to shake it, just nod your head Breathe in, breathe out, move on . . . “Don’t try to explain it, just bow your head Breathe in, Breathe Out, Move on....”

These are some of the photos I took of the ghost town of "Bodie" on the eastern side of the Sierras in California. The music is entitled "May It Be" by the group "Celtic Woman" from the album "Celtic Woman" . . . the haunting quality of this beautiful song seemed to go really well with the haunted, empty, forlorn feeling you get while walking around deserted Bodie. Here is the link to the music video of this same song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo5n0HwaRmQ The following information from "americanwest.com/pages/bodie.htm" gives you an idea of the former life this ghost town once had. "The town of Bodie rose to prominence with the decline of mining along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Prospectors crossing the eastern slope in 1859 to "see the Elephant" - that is, to search for gold - discovered what was to be the Comstock Lode at Virginia City, and started a wild rush to the surrounding high desert country. Bodie became a boom town in 1877 and by 1879 Bodie boasted a population of about 10,000 with 2,000 buildings, and was second to none for wickedness, badmen, and "the worst climate out of doors". One little girl, whose family was taking her to the remote and infamous town, wrote in her diary: "Good-bye God, I'm going to Bodie." The phrase came to be known throughout the west. Killings occurred with monotonous regularity, sometimes becoming almost daily events. The fire bell, which tolled the ages of the deceased when they were buried, rang often and long. Robberies, stage holdups, and street fights provided variety, and the town's 65 saloons offered many opportunities for relaxation after hard days of work in the mines. The Reverend F.M. Warrington saw it in 1881 as "a sea of sin, lashed by the tempest of lust and passion." The town became more known for its wild living than for its big gold resources. Every other building on the mile long main street was a saloon. Seven breweries were working day and night. The whiskey was brought in by horse carriages, 100 barrels at a time. The boom was over in four short years and by 1882, Bodie was in the grips of decline. The rich mines were playing out and mining companies were going bankrupt. Two fires, one in 1892 and the other in 1932, ravaged the business district. Bodie faded into a ghost town during the 1940's. It became a State Historic Park in 1962, managed in a state of arrested decay. Today, with less than 10% of the town still standing, it is still the largest ghost town in the western United States, and what is left looks much the same as it did over 50 years ago when the last residents left."

This is the sequel to “Into The Desert”. After a few days in the heat of the deserts of Southern California and Nevada, I worked my way back towards San Diego, by motorcycling up into the mountains, to ride by Lake Arrowhead, Silverwood Lake, Lake Gregory, and along the beautiful “Rim of the World Drive” to Big Bear Lake. Rim of the World Drive is the two lane Highway 18, located northeast of San Bernardino, and, as I found out, FILLED with OTHER motorcyclists on weekends! It was QUITE a change bein’ around so many other motorcyclists again, after bein’ in the solitude of the deserts on my own. And once I got FURTHER back into civilization, it was even MORE of a change, havin’ to be impacted by damned TRAFFIC LIGHTS again!!, after ridin’ for DAYS without seein’ even ONE of those truly annoying inventions from Hell! LOL I wonder how many YEARS are wasted out of people’s lives by havin’ to sit still at traffic lights? . . . . but I digress LOL . . . On Memorial Day I head out from San Diego again on the motorcycle for a few weeks, and ride up the Pacific Coast Highway to the San Francisco Bay Area, then east through Yosemite National Park, then by Mono Lake and east on the wonderful two old U.S. 50 through Nevada, which is a GREAT motorcycling road that I’ve loved bein’ on many times over the decades. U.S. 50 was part of the old 3,400 mile long Lincoln Highway, which was a famed transcontinental highway, and the first practical automobile road to link the East and West coasts of the United States. The Nevada portion of U.S. 50 is rarely used any more, with most travelers opting to use 4 lane Interstate 80 to the north, which is fine by ME! since they leave U.S. 50 to the bikers and people in enclosed vehicles who have more time on their hands to enjoy the incredible vistas :) :) Once out of Nevada, I’ll wander around Utah and Arizona for a while, then spend a few days in Las Vegas, before headin’ back to San Diego. The song I used for this video is “Let It Ride” by Ryan Adams & The Cardinals.

Here is the second part of my brief video tour around portions of Horsham, in the southern part of England. The song for the video is a beautiful version of “True Colors” done by Eva Cassidy.

Not to be confused with nearby “Westminster Abbey” of the Church of England, “Westminster Cathedral” is the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in either England or Wales. Construction began in 1895, and the Byzantine style architectural style is HIGHLY distinctive in London. The interior of the cathedral is quite dark, but you can still see in these video clips some of the beauty of the architecture and can see the elaborately carved marble columns. One of the highlights of a visit to this cathedral is that you can go to the top of the 273 foot tall cathedral tower and see some great views of London. The song I chose is “The Prayer” by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion.

Here’s a video of the huge walrus that hangs out at SeaWorld in San Diego, California. This walrus is a VERRRRYYYY messy EATER!!! LOL, but a VERRYYY graceful SWIMMER! The song is “I Am The Walrus”. This version is a collaboration by U2’s Bono and the group Secret Machines. Their version of the song was in the movie “Across the Universe”.

This is just a vid about some of the myriad things I contemplate when I fly . . . the passage I quote in the vid is from the new Dean Koontz novel "Brother Odd" . . . the song is "You Raise Me Up" by the group "Selah" . . .

People come from miles around, to this canal in the southern part of Salt Lake City, Utah, in order to feed the birds and the small goats. It's fun watchin' the faces of the OHHHHH so happy kids as they feed the critters, and watchin' the frenzy of the birds pouncing on the food :) . . . It's not often you'll see ducks, geese & seagulls hangin' out together! This part of the canal has an old rural property with the goats on it, and the property is now TOTALLY surrounded by typical "surburban sprawl". I filmed this on March 22, 2007. The song is "I Believe in Karma" by Savage Garden.

Not to be confused with Morro Rock (with TWO Rs) in Morro Bay, California, this is a video of the fun hike to the top of 6,725 foot high Moro Rock, located in Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The two “mountain” songs used in the video are: “There Is A Mountain” by Donovan, and “Go Tell It On A Mountain” by Peter, Paul & Mary.

San Francisco is a beautiful city to photograph! :) :) Here are some more of the photos I've taken there over the years. I want to give many thanks to Kyrie, of http://www.youtube.com/user/kyriesong , for permission to use her great version of Neil Young's "Old Man" in this video. Here is Kyrie's video of her and her band performing this song at Berklee Cafe in Boston, Nov. 18, 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q4pUxjSync

Yosemite is my favorite National Park, and I’ve probably now been there over sixty times in my life, and I never tire of the beauty of the scenery there, so when I was motorcycling from the San Francisco Bay Area eastward on my recent trip around the Southwest, it was a no brainer type decision for me that I’d go through Yosemite once again, and take Tioga Pass Road over the summit, and on down to Lee Vining at Mono Lake, California. Tioga Pass Road had only recently been cleared of winter snow and opened for traffic again, so it was great seeing all the snow and seasonal waterfalls beside the road. The song choice is “Gravity” by Alison Krauss and Union Station, which I relate to really well, ‘cause I’ve had wanderlust all my life, and have always wanted to know what was over the next mountain, or around the next bend in the road.

Here are video footage and photos I took this morning at the 62nd annual Del Mar National Horse Show, in San Diego County, California. The show finishes up this coming weekend, on May 6, 2007. For more information on the show, here’s a website: http://www.sdfair.com/horseshow/index.html As you will see, the horse in the first video clip did NOT want to behave itself, and start the jumping course!! The IRONY is that the horse and rider not only managed to start the course JUST before the team was penalized for delay, but the duo finished the course WITHIN the allotted time limit, AND it didn’t knock down any jump poles either, so the horse and rider got to advance to the competitors’ “jump off round”!! The song is “Up!” by Shania Twain.

Here are some of the scenes I saw along Route 66 in Arizona and California, during my recent wonderful motorcycle ride around the Southwest. The video also includes some examples of the Burma Shave ads. Here are a few websites that talk about these famous, highly entertaining ads, which were seemingly EVERYWHERE on the highways “in the old days”: http://www.montgomerycollege.edu/Departments/hpolscrv/mthomas.htm http://www.fiftiesweb.com/burma.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma-Shave http://www.signindustry.com/outdoor/articles/2000-02-15-giveusbackourburmashave.php3 The "Hollow Mountain" store and gas station is actually on a road that's north of Route 66, but it's funky nature fits right in with many of the quirky places on Route 66, so I included it in the video as well. There's an entire store carved into that mountain, with restrooms and storage rooms, etc. The store owner confirmed for me that the rock is a great natural insulator, so they never have to use heat during the winter, and only need air conditioning in the summer because of the heat that the refrigerator cooling units put out. The song for the video is three different versions of “Route 66”, one by Depeche Mode, one by Chuck Berry, and the final version by the Rolling Stones.