No I'm not dead

You may be forgiven for thinking I am dead or just being abducted by aliens.

No I've just been very lazy about posing any updates since I got back to Ireland.

Okay in my last post I was still in the USA, well from the above comment I did get back to Ireland.

So a quick summary of my last bit of America.
I finally drove the poor car into the ground!! It made it as far as Vegas but really needed to be swapped out 18,664 miles added to the poor car in under two months, not sure if Hertz has black listed me or not (guess I will see next time I go to rent a car)

In total I estimate I did ~ 23,000 miles in just over two months.

Car just before I returned it.

At the final tally I only missed Hawaii to visit all the US states, and since it was not a bond car driving to Hawaii was not a practical option (and yes I may have actually tried it if the option was available)

What have I been doing in Ireland for the last few months.

Well other than sleeping much more than I should have been :) some of the highlights include attending the EME 2012 conference in Cambridge (the original Cambridge in the UK not Massachusetts)

Some hiking in Ireland including sections of the Royal Canal in Ireland which is a lovely picturesque walk, also nice and level (just what my body needed to get over America)

Also I have just completed my PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors course in Ireland with Dive Inn Scuba I have to say this was a tiring experience both from the view of mental and physical, but the exams are now complete, jut waiting for the paperwork to be processed.

What Next...
Well I fly out of Ireland tomorrow for 3 and a half months, destination Asia.
Current planned destinations include Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Australia with maybe one or tow more stops included if they take my fancy.

I promise some more updates (Yea Yea I know you have heard that before but I will try)

Well to close some pictures from my the end of the America trip.

Ginnie Springs

Hoover Dam from the new Inter State bridge

Don't think I actually need to caption this!

 

 

 

Crater Lake in Yellow Stone National Park

 

Old Faithful letting go

Yellowstone buffalo with calf

Grand Canyon

And lastly a few pictures for the geeks out there from the computer history museum in Silicon Valley

Working Babbage Engine

Early Beowulf Cluster

 Believe it or not this last picture is actually the most poignant to me, this exhibit is almost hidden away at the computer history museum but it made me stop and look at it for maybe 10 minutes.  Yea Yea I can hear you saying WTF it is only a stack of computers (I won't go into details here of what a Beowulf cluster is, if you are interested google it!) But an article about this computer (this this actual one!) that I read just before going into second year of college was more responsible than anything else for setting the direction I have taken in my computer career. 

More updates

Okay I finally got a proper computer again to post an update from.

Well last time I was in Massachusetts heading south so how did that section of the trip go.

Well from Massachusetts I headed down the coast, firstly to Rhode Island where I met up with some old fiends for a lovely dinner which was a nice change.
From there I stayed heading southish through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and into the District of Columbia and Washington DC.
I had a lovely day wandering around Washington, I could have spent multiple days just in the Smithsonian but I decided to head on after a single day as I had seen most of what I wanted to, getting back to the car I noticed a nice crack in the windscreen (I was parked maybe a hundred meters from an interstate so I think a stone flew from the road and got the windscreen, well the rental company said it was up to me if I swapped the car out or if it was safe to drive, I decide to stay going (it has now grown to maybe 3 foot but I couldn't be bothered to swap it out ))

From Washington I headed down through Virginia and into North Caroline where I met up with some of my friends from RenRe for a lovely lunch and some time catching up.

From there it was on down through South Caroline where the weather conspired to stop me from seeing some of the sights I had wanted to see, just one of those days where it was raining on and off a lot and I just wasn't bothered getting soaked through to see some of the sights.

Then down through Georgia and on down to Key West with a stop in Key Largo.

Key west was filled with tourists so after seeing the most southerly point (which was my main reason for going that far down) I got out of there.

I visited the museum of diving near Key Largo which was spectacular, I fully recommend it if you are in the area and even have a slight interest in diving. (I had to resist buying the Mark IV helmet they had for sale!!)
The plan in Key Largo had been for a few days of diving but unfortunately I seem to be suffering from some sort of sinus issues at the moment so that was out which is a pity as the one dive I did (well tried to do) was lovely and there was a number of dives I really wanted to do there (I'll just have to come back again)
I skipped Disney and such in Orlando and the Kennedy space centre as I had done these on a previous trip (but I would recommend them anyway)

From Florida it was west to Alabama, Mississippi and into Louisiana.
I had a lovely day in New Orleans especially in the French quarter.

From New Orleans I headed Northish to get a corner of Texas and Oklahoma and to get Arkansas.
From there it was back east again to Get Tennessee and up into Kentucky, I skipped Graceland as I was shocked with the price of visiting and I'm not a big enough Elvis fan to pay that price :)

From there I added in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and then  up to South Dakota (year I was already there) to take in Mt Rushmore, the faces are a little smaller than I was expecting (not sure why!) but well worth seeing anyway, fairly crowded but not too bad, admittedly I had to resist barging past some old people (Why is it when you have an old couple walking along a boardwalk that is wide enough for two people they insist on walking side by side so no body can pass )

From Mount Rushmore it was west into Wyoming and off to see Yellowstone National park, I could have spent a week there and still not seen a fraction of the park, I mainly took the time to take in the geysers and such (unfortunately I was having issues with the altitude again so only spend the one day)

From there it was on into Idaho and Utah where I am at the moment.

Only three states to go Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, also I want to get to San Francisco to spend a day and see a few things including some of a day in Las Vegas (to include a helicopter trip to the grand canyon)

I estimate I have about 3000 miles to go to hit all these spots and get back to San Diego by the morning of the 29th, so nine days really and a day or two of sight seeing along the way (just about practical!) The actual millage may be a little lower as I was basing it on getting to Roswell in New Mexico but I may not go quite that far!

After that what are my plans, I'm actually looking at coming back to Ireland for a month or so to do a number of things around Ireland and Europe, the plan is to base myself out of Dublin (thanks Mam), this may actually work out a cheaper way of getting to Australia! and give me a chance to do some stuff I want in Ireland and Europe.

Pictures will follow in a week or so (probably after I get back to Ireland!)


Okay a very quick update and I have to rush off to get checked out and to head on.

Minor rant and updates

Okay firstly a minor rant I need to get off my chest.

Lots of places I have stayed have offered "Continental Breakfast" I have yet to come across a single one that I would actually consider a continental breakfast at least by European standards, a couple of bagels and tea/coffee does not equal a continental breakfast.

Well enough ranting, what else have I been up to lately.

Well I'm currently sitting in Wellfleet which is on Cape Cod, Had a lovely time at the drive in last night http://www.wellfleetdrivein.com/ if you are ever on Cape Cod make sure you go and visit, it is one of the few left in existence (Okay that sounded a bit too like an advertisement, but I'm biased as I worked there for an excellent summer 13 or 14 years ago)

I also made a stop at the Dayton hamvention for a few days (geek heaven) www.hamvention.org

I have uploaded a few more photos to picasa https://picasaweb.google.com/104859470393475914260/MarksWalkAbout?authuser=0&feat=directlink

I have done a quick count of what states I have visited so far and this is the basic list (roughly in order)
California
Oregon
Washington
British Columbia (Canada)
Yukon (Canada)
Alaska
Alberta (Canada)
Saskatchewan (Canada)
Montana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Minnesota
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Ohio
West Virgina
Pennsylvania
New York
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine
New Brunswick (Canada)
Nova Scotia (Canada)
Massachusetts

So 22 US states and 6 Canadian Provinces/Territories, so not quite have way on seeing visiting all 50 US states (not necessarily part of this trip, actually the number is higher as I have visited 7 others on previous trips.

So what is the plan for the coming few weeks.
Today is driving to Providence Rhode Island, then on to Philadelphia for a day then Washington DC for a couple of days to see the sights and visit some of the museums there. Then on to Raleigh North Carolina to catch up with a few of my ex-colleagues, then down to Florida. Of course likes lots of  other parts of this trip I'm not likely to take the direct routes so I can try to take in some extra spots.

Okay well I think that is a good summary of my adventures over the last week or so.

10000 km done

I could start by apologising for the lack of updates but I think I have started most posts with a similar comment :)

I had hoped to get some more photos uploaded but the computer in the hotel I'm using does not seem to be cooperating.

So what have I been up to since leaving the trail?

Basically driving and lots of it.

I have now covered four US states and three Canadian provinces, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon and Alberta.
I have to say the drive over the Alaska highway was spectacular but I should probably have waited a few weeks longer as a lot of the attractions and even motels are not yet open for the season.

Some of the highlights along the way included Fairbanks, the Liard hot springs and all the animals along the way some of which included Grizzly bears, black bears (including cubs), Caribou, Moose, rain dear, elk,duck, geese and lots of different birds including some birds of prey, some of the small birds seem to like playing chicken with the car by seeing how close they can get to hitting it before veering off.

Other interesting points along the way included Crater lake (again not really open for another few weeks), unfortunately there was only one open road up to the lake with snow drifts of 10+ feet still in places.

I'll attempt to get photos posted in the next few days but please don't hold your breath :)

So what are my plans from here?
Well the next few weeks basically shape up like this.
From Edmonton I will head to Dayton Ohio to attend the Dayton Hamvention next weekend (4 days to cover 3000km) with some likely detours to take in some extra states along the way, basically there are places where I;m maybe 100Km from another state I haven't been in before so it would be a shame not to make a small detour :)
After Dayton I intend to wind my way towards Maine to take in the North West corner of my trip.
After that it will be down to Boston and along the east coast.

Well that is all for now.

Plan B is in operation

Firstly apologies for the lack of updates lately but I have had limited access.

So what had been going on with me.
Well firstly the issues I had been having seem to have been confirmed as being related to altitude, my symptoms cleared up very quickly once I returned down to San Diego but returned just as fast everytime I returned to altitude.
So I have decided to abandon the hike as I had planned it, if I had stayed on the trail I would have been heading into higher altitudes fairly quickly also I did not feel comfortable considering heading into the desert sections if I was not feeling 100% 

So what are my plans now, well I have rented a car for the next two months and I am heading out on an epic road trip instead, at a minimum I plan to visit the four corners of the US (Washington state, Maine, the Florida keys and back to San Diego) with a possible side trip up to Alaska (if I do I will basically go up far enough to be able to say I was there before turning back)  also along the way I want to visit as many different states as possible.
So any friends and ex colleagues on the east coast you may see me in the coming weeks.

So what else have I been up to in the last weeks.
Well I had a few days in San Diego so one thing I did was visit sea world which was a fun day out.
I also rented a car and tried out a little trail angeling, I provided some lifts from paradise valley cafe up to idyllwild, I also collected a few other hikers and provided them a lift back down to the kickoff which I was attending anyway.
Kickoff was interesting, I was good to meet some of the other hikers, but to be honest at the same time was a little sad for me, I'm quite happy with my decision to come off the trail but seeing a few presentations which included videos made me a little disappointed at the same time.
I couldn't actually camp up at the kickoff as I was starting to feel bad from the altitude (I did stay one night but that was enough)

Well after kickoff I dropped the same hikers back to where I had collected them, then back down to San Diego to swap out the rental car with the new one for the two months.

My plan was to get through California as fast as possible (I plan to spend some more time on my way back) that took a day and a half on its own, so I'm now in Oregon, I visited Crater Lake park today, unfortunately a lot of the roads there are still closed due to snow (12 foot plus in places)

Tomorrow I will probably see some.more of Oregon and head into Washington.

Section A finished

Well I reached Warner Springs which marks the end of section A at mile.marker 109.2

So what is next?
Well at the moment I am back in San Diego to try let my stomach issue clear up, so far it is looking good, in fact it seemed to clear up very quickly, this is both good and bad news, good in that I am feeling a lot better,  bad as it may indicate that I am reacting badly to the altitude (or at least exertion at altitude) this is bad in that later sections get higher still.
My current plan is to rent a car and do some angelling for a few days before attending the kickoff, I also.intend to spend some time at altitude to see how my body reacts, I will decide after kickoff if I am getting back on the trail or implementing plan B..

Plan B is an American road trip instead of the trail.

More details to follow.

Sucked into Julien, and some photos.

Okay so I have decided to spend an extra couple of days in Julien, mainly due to a couple of bad weather fronts that are passing through here today and Friday, to be honest the sort of weather is not that bad, I would consider it a reasonable day for hiking at home (for a day hike anyway) but it is the sort of weather that would likely leave you soaked through before the end of the day and when your only option is to pitch your tent then being overly damp is not nice.  Also you need to factor in the different equipment that I'm using here compared to at home, for example if the sleeping bag I'm using gets too damp it will lose a lot of its insulation so not leaving me in all that good a position.
A lot of through hikers may choose to hunker down in their tents on a rain day so as not to get their equipment too damp, so I decided instead of hunkering down in a tent why not hunker down in a nice comfortable hotel room within walking distance of some nice restaurants (how I love not being on a tight budget)
The other factor is along with the rain is some strong winds predicted, I can hear you saying so what.

Well here is an example of the trail in the last few days, that is the trail cutting across the middle of the photo, in was only a couple of feet wide in places with maybe a 200+ meter drop down a 75 degree+ slope (i.e. no stopping till you get to the bottom), now imagine walking along this in high winds and with mud underfoot!!

The plans for the coming weeks are roughly as follows.
Leave Julien Saturday (maybe midday depending on weather) and head north with the next planned full break being in Idyllwild in approximately 100 miles, I hope to cover this in 8-10 days, (possible partial resupply in Warner Springs and maybe a zero day somewhere on the trail) then plans call for a day or so break in Idyllwild before heading back to the kickoff event at Lake Morena, currently I'm considering getting down to a larger town and maybe renting a car for the few days and helping out other hikers, but we will see.

I have uploaded a few other photos as well, probably haven't been taking as many as I should!
https://picasaweb.google.com/104859470393475914260/MarksWalkAbout?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Oh one last clarification despite what Alan has been saying we were not actually picked up by the helicopter on the first night!

Mark