The Radavist

These are totally random, but too good to just let sit on my hoard drive…

Sean from Team Dream Team has a really rad VW bus that has been in his possession since he was just a bobcat cub. Well, truthfully, he’s shared this bus with a buddy of his since the early 90’s. On our last night in Los Angeles – adios! – Sean took Lauren, Kyle, Liz and myself on a ride up one of the many canyons in Malibu where he lives.

It was awesome and the perfect way to end a road trip. Now, for some much-needed time on the bike!

Well, we’re here in Los Angeles, after four days of pedal to the metal driving down Highway 1 from Portland to Los Angeles. The Pacific Coast Highway is one of the nation’s most popular bicycle touring routes and unfortunately, that also means it’s one of the most popular RV / Camper / no-clue how to drive windy road tourist destinations.

Ok. Seriously. Now it’s a vacation. Nothing against hanging in cities but it’s damn stressful trying to get around and see all your best buddies. Well, a different kind of stress, especially when compared to driving with the windows down and music blasting down some rad gravel road with no one in sight. That’s stressful.

Lauren and I spent the day on a route I planned out to take us from Portland to the 101, without getting on any major highways. It ruled. Then, a wreck happened on the 101 and we had to take a 50 mile detour. That didn’t rule. Getting to eat at the Local Ocean in Newport, Oregon made up for it though.

I didn’t shoot a lot of digital today, because I’m shooting medium format, but I did get a little trigger happy at a nice little beach spot before we called it a night.

Check out some in the Gallery!

Look, I didn’t want day two to be more Portland photos. I know this city is awesome and I have a lot of rad friends here but come on. I need some nature. Alas, yesterday was our last day in PDX, before we head out of town, along the Nestucca River to the PCH.

It’s been 12 years since I owned a vehicle and I was quickly reminded at the cost of maintenance. New tires? Yeah, expensive. Funny how you can rationalize $80 tires for your bike, but $200 tires for a car or truck? Dammit!

After running some errands, I swung by to see my friends at Rapha North America to see their expanded offices and drink all their coffee before heading out to do much of the same – try to meet as many friends as I could before we headed out of town in the morning…

Vacations, holidays, or just plain breaks. We all need them and regardless to how fun you may think this job is, it’s a lot of work. Like, I’ve worked for 8 years in architecture and I thought that was a lot of work. No way. Traveling, shooting photos, maintaining this site, is all work and once a year, I like to take a break.

Granted, the very fact that I’m writing a post today, on the first day of our West Coast Best Coast trip, contradicts the notion of a true “holiday”, but hey, I can’t just leave the site alone for a week!

Lauren and I have been apart a lot this year, she’s been kicking ass in Myanmar doing design research and I’ve been jet-setting around the globe attending various events. So when we had a week or two open in our schedules, I planned a trip.

The general idea was fly into Portland, spend a few days there and then dip down to LA along the Pacific Coast Highway, aka PCH.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this route, I rode it a few years back on my touring bike, albeit a bit later in the year. In August, it’s a haven for people in the US and around the world, leaving camp sites, hotels, everything booked out for months, making it difficult to plan anything.

Luckily, I’m not a big fan of plans and I have a pretty good idea of where to go, what to see and how long to spend in each place.

The only planning I did was our vehicle. I’ve been wanting either a mid 80’s – mid 90’s Toyota 4×4 4 cylinder pickup since moving to Texas and getting back into mountain biking. Trucks in Texas are crazy expensive and so I extended my search to the west coast, where I found a pretty good deal on a ’96 Tacoma.

It’s red, has a 3″ lift, camper shell and it needs a name. More on that later. Best news is, it runs and will be our vehicle for this trip and hopefully many others.

Yesterday, we did the tourist thing in Portland. Went to a few shops, met friends and took it easy.

It was a perfect day to begin our West Coast Best Coast trip!

Let me begin this post with the phrase: don’t blow up the spot, bro. Now, I know I’m posting photos of a few hidden gems, but you don’t have to name them… That said, we also were given “special permission” to access these spots from land owners, so, again #dontblowupthespot, bro. Also, also, remember one thing: this is Texas, people have a lot of guns and a particular connection to their private property. I’ve dealt with angry land owners before. Let me tell you, it ain’t worth it.

Now that that’s out of the way…

Central Texas can be quite unforgiving in the summer months and the only bastian for relaxation are limestone swimming holes, sink holes, aquifers, lakes and other vessels for holding water. The problem is: every frat boy bro and his messy friends camp out with coolers of beer and boom boxes, littering and ruining a lot of these swimming locales, leaving my friends and I seeking refuge in lesser-known locations.

Be it on a mountain bike, cross bike, or in this case, simply driving outside of the Austin area to swim has proven to be quite fruitful this summer in particular. We hike in and leave nothing but footprints and tire tracks.

Last sunday, we ruled summer as we partook in some classic Central Texas cliff jumps and lounging… enjoy the Gallery!

Tools of the trade:
Mamiya 7ii / 80mm
Kodak Portra 400

Western Recreation Photos – Week 01: Words and photos by Yonder Journal

THIS IS A SURVEY OF RECREATION IN THE AMERICAN WEST. The primary purpose of this project is to explore, document, and publish a permanent, voluminous, wide-sweeping, and studied record of the State of Recreation in the summer of 2014.