7/10/11 Arcata, California

Tom the tie-dye man. There shall one day be a song written about this fellow. He was a vendor set up on King's Beach in Lake Tahoe selling clothing while we played music next to his tent. Tom was one of the friendliest people I have ever come to known as we had good times enjoying the fireworks and learning new material on the instruments. The last night at Tahoe, we stayed overnight at the casino parking lot and decided to follow him back to his house nestled in the mountains a couple of hours away from the lake. If Tom was any less of the the utmost kindness I don't believe we would have made it there since it was somewhat skeptical when he asked that we turn off our phones if we came to visit his place "Off the Grid".

Off the grid may be an understatement for this place as we weaved in and out of sharp turns and steep grade along the gravel road for miles of forest. A very fascinating fellow, Tom lived in a self sustaining community of less than fifteen or so people for a annual cost of less than $1,000. Everything that ran in his household were run by large solar panels located outside next to the chicken pen. All of their food and agriculture was grown on the lot and gave them little reason to need to leave the area but maybe once a month. Thankfully we were able to complete our laundry the old school way as we hung up our clothes to dry on line and clothes pins outside. We decided to stay there for the night and enjoy the quietness and solitude of living off of the grid.

He was a joyous man, not caring for money, or the problems and drama involved with the normal life. He liived in the real world and loved every moment of it. The night was ended with a few cases of Sierra Nevada, a candlelight sushi dinner, and warm saki to finish it off. Tom, the tie-dye, barefoot, hippie will be met up again in the future, that is if I ever remember how the heck we ended up to his house.

We left off the grid, california to head towards San Franciso wheere we spent little time in Golden Gate park enjoying the floral and nature arrangements they had there. From San Franciso, we left north on Hwy 1 which is the coastal road from the city all the way to Oregon passing through the Redwood National Forest. After the long, windy ride of the cload covered coastal road, we camped out in the Redwoods for a few days also stopping my Arcata in Humboldt county. (Which is known to be the top marijuana growing region in all of America.) I ran into another traveler there that I had met in Detroit, Michigan and some other mutal friends before we hit the road past the large, ancient trees on the way to Oregon.

Seems that there are many "kids" up in the Northwest. When I refer to kids I mean the rainbow family gathering folk, which many of them get by solely by asking for free handouts. There has been many bums and spangers I have seen lately along with musicians which makes it tougher to play music for funds. Scott the painter I worked with for a month, although one of the nicest fellows, has been one of the most irresponsible as he still owes me $600 for my work in Michigan and I am broke once again trying to figure out the best route to play some banjo or get some extra work done.

Then again "money" is not the key to my journey. Nor is begging for it.

7/4/11 Lake Tahoe, California

Finished the climb to the tallest mountain in the continental U.S. and it defiantly shows by the amount of snow up there. We are moving into the month of July, a month we know as filled with hot and humid weather. Sure enough there we are, just a couple of southern boys, trekking through feet of snow without the appropriate gear to be moving very quickly. What a magnificent hike though! Due to not having shoe clamps for the snow we made it to about a mile underneath the peak and enjoyed the weather of running around in the snow summer clothing. The Mnt. Whitney was a 22 mile hike in-and-out as it was uphill one way passing through a forest covered in luscious Sequoia trees and lakes as it descended up the pass the more snowy regions on the mountain. As you keep hiking you get the a point were the hike is strictly snow and there is no true path anymore as people take their own paths through the icy mountainside.

Although we did not make it to the very top due to lack of snow gear in summer, we were able to take in all of the views and wonders below the peak. We passed many a folk heading back down due to the elevation change making them sick. Needless to say it was one of the best hikes I have experienced thus far and look forward to seeing it again in the future.

From here in the middle of the boonies in California we will be heading north passing by Yosemite National Park and into Lake Tahoe for the weekend. Since we are coming up onto the 4th of July weekend, I figured Lake Tahoe would be one of the best spots in all of California to play some music for the weekend since there should be tons of people packed all around the Lake all weekend. Upon our arrival into Lake Tahoe, we started our weekend off in Stateline, NV near the casinos and shopping plaza. We made decent tips and met a friend and worked our way to Kings Beach, a large public beach in California on Saturday.

It is the weekend of independence and freedom at Lake Tahoe and vendors are set up all over the walkways to the beach appeasing to the public as many gather from all around to enjoy the fireworks over the lake. We set up our instruments and started busking our way right next to a Tye-dye t-shirt vendor named Tom. It was a strange crowd as the tips weren't all that great since it was on the beach but we stuck around Kings Beach to hang out with Tom and Alacia, a gal who sold hair feather extensions next to us.

During this weekend we also met Jan, a woman intuited with our playing and asked how much we would charge to play for 2 hours at a party plus drinks and dinner on the 4th. We asked for $50 for the two hours and had a great time playing some county bluegrass for these friendly folk. By the end of our music session they fed us wholesomely and we walked out of there with $160 rather than the original $50. This weekend has been an awesome gather of funds to be able to reach up to northern California.  We will be camped out at the casino at the top of the hill overlooking the town of Incline Valley, Ca. Interestingly enough, the casino allows you to stay camped out there for a whole week if you register with them. Thats kinda awesome.

6/27/11 Santa Monica, California

We made it to the sunshine state of California...
After cruising around Red Canyon and Arches National Park in Moab, UT, we headed southwest to Zion National Park. It was the weekend in one of the biggest tourist spots in Utah so I was planning on making some cash playing music yet there was no nightlife in the town of Springdale in the Zion National Park and we ended up at the bar rather than playing music. There we met a biker name Chuck who informed us that we had made a mistake to party with an old man as he kept buying us shots of Crown Royal. 10+ shots of Crown and Whiskey later we closed the bar down and spent time over at their hotel next door while meeting another fellow there named Louie who was another traveler on the road. Turns out that Louie was going on the same hike as us the next day and also heading to Las Vegas.

After one incredible hike at Angels Landing in Zion we hit the sun dried road to Sin City. Walking through the trashed streets of Vegas, littered with pornography on every street. Young girls walk around like sluts as we pass Erotic museums, casinos with live dancers, and the homeless on the smut covered streets. We had a hotel to stay in with Louie as we spend the night in Vegas gambling and drinking.
Unimpressed with the Vegas lifestyle, we then took the route 15 over into California towards Los Angeles, and eventually to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. We spent the day in Santa Monica playing music and running aorund in the terrible traffic. Although there was a strange vibe about the lifestyle on the beach there, we managed to meet friendly folks all around the Venice Boardwalk.
Trying to find a safe place to sleep was a little more difficult in Santa Monica. For the two days we had stayed there, after some windy driving up the west coast, we found a perfect spot in the foothills of the mountains where other RV's and cars had settled for the night. The next day we wake up to find a ticket on our windshield for parking over the 30 minute limit between the hours of 2:00 - 4:00 a.m. where others did not get tickets on the same strip that had no signs stating no overnight parking allowed of any kind. Frustrated by the ticket we received we decided to park on the street where thousands of vehicles stay out overnight without tickets. There parked on 3rd street, I awoke in the middle of the night hearing voices floating in the wind and a few tugs on the truck. Sure enough it is 4:00 a.m. in the morning and two punks are trying to steal our bikes, oblivious to the possibility that there were two men sleeping in the back. Rushing out yelling out all sort of slang in a sleepy rage they ran off without anything of ours.
There is something terribly wrong with a policeman running you off from a safe spot to sleep only to get robbed the next day.
Our next stop is the tallest mountain inn California and of all the Continental U.S.
Onto Mt. Whitney nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

6/23/11 Moab, UT

Here we are driving through Utah, passing through the canyons and rolling hills of what once used to be ancient land, roamed by creatures of the past and ruled by the dinosaurs. We just left Moab, Utah where we took the day to ride the mountain bikes in the valley of Arches National Park. We took a mountain bike trail up Klondike Bluff, where we passed by the remnants of dinosaur tracks fossilized in the stone. Once at the top of the trail we hit a lookout over Arches that was truly magnificent. There is a deep sense of peace and contentment overlooking the canyon valley and gorge below without any other people for miles. It is truly a different world out West..

From Steamboat Springs, CO, we headed west to Dinosaur National Monument and Flaming Gorge. Dinosaur is part of deposits from an ancient sea formed over a billion years ago where fossils have been found of creatures from a time we only know of from the history books. We camped out in the back country there, on top of a ridge of one of the deposits where It got so windy in the night I almost thought our tent was going to fly away with us inside. With little sleep gained from the gusty winds of Colorado we headed north on the way to Yellowstone National Forest.

We stopped at Flaming Gorge, a deep canyon consisting of rocks of a deep crimson color with water so clear and blue, it was impossible not to swim, and with no one around for miles I found it a good time to strip naked and jump off of the rocks into the luscious waters below. Needless to say, It was much colder than expected and jumped off again. Jon and I hit the road again northbound when we saw snow still covering the mountains that we were heading to with temperatures dropping into the 30's in June. We realized that it was still too cold to be taking a Northwestern route. We headed southwest to Salt Lake City, UT where we spent the night with Jon's family and rode the bikes around a bit through unmarked trails and exploring over a small cave on the mountain side.

We are on our way to Zion National Park in Springdale, UT before we head into Arizona and Las Vegas. Until then I wish the best to all of my friends and family.

6/20/2011 Steamboat Springs, CO

Yesterday was started off in Denver as I picked up Jon from the airport in the morning. From there we headed out West towards the mountains. We were going to camp out in the Rocky Mountain Nat Park, until we were informed in Winter Park, CO that it was going to snow at least another 6 inches out there  ....  Yes, in June. Still snow on the mountains in almost what is going to be July! After a good bike ride in Winter Park we kept on north and stopped by in Steamboat Springs to grab a beer before the rest of our drive for the day. We ended up not leaving to meeting some great Colorado folk living right in town almost. This town has been nothing short of awesome, everyone we have met has been extremely helpful and friendly.
A pristine town nestled in the heart of the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

06/19/11 Denver, Colorado

Well folks, I made it out West.
The drive from Michigan was long and flat but I managed to get here in one piece. It was quite a sight as your coming over the hill in Colorado and then all you see is the flatlands with the Rocky Mountains in the background looming above everything else. It has been a busy few days trying to get together two mountain bikes and accessories to be able to place them on my truck but was able to get it together for $1,000. The first night in Colorado was not to impressive... I headed to the college town of Boulder, which is nested in the foot hills of the mountains. I thought the scene there would be very different than it actually was. I played the banjo on Perl street mall and made some extra funds but was not impressed at all with the people I came across. I decided to leave and not come back to that town as I stayed in Denver saturday night.
My second day in Colorado was much better as when I was buying a mnt. bike from a fellow on Craigslist, I stuck around, had a few beers and met some awesome people. I stuck around there for a few hours, getting the true feel of Colorado locals. The neighbor also payed me $20 to play some banjo on his porch for his kids and the neighborhood to hear. Although I missed most of the day to busk on the street corner due to getting a hitch installed on my truck, I headed back to downtown Denver to post up after the Rockies baseball game.
I am now heading to the airport to pick up Jon, and from there will be geared up for the summer trip.

Until then,
Tyler

6/12/11 St. Joseph, Michigan

It has been almost a month now since I first arrived into Michigan and I only have 3 more days remaining until I continue my journey out to the West where I play to stay for the summer and fall. Although working 12 hours a day is getting tedious, I have also been having great times with family. I have been working on more banjo songs for my routine and have played more piano in the past month than I have in years. This weekend we played for a birthday party and played at the River's Edge bar the weekend before. Also, Friday night I went out with my cousin Maria and her boyfriend Mike out to Silver Beach in the night hours. It is a very relaxing feeling up here by the lake.
Although, I have been itching to get back on the journey more than anything. I only have 3 full working days until the long drive to Colorado which will be made much easier having some money saved up. The fellow who I have been painting with, Scott, has been a real kick to work with. He is the type of man that would pull over at any part of the day to dig through a dumpster for any signs of Copper, Brass, Aluminum, or just any metal in general to take to the scrapyard.

Summer road trip '11 is about to begin....