26 East

After months of anticipation and preparation, I checked the roof racks on the Syncro one last time, said good-bye to my mom and left the Gorge heading east.  With my brother Tim sitting shotgun, we pumped "The Weight" as an homage to Easy Rider and cruised down highway 26 at a steady 63 mph.  I rolled down the manual crank window, put on my sunglasses and enjoyed the dry air.

Taking turns behind the wheel, we took the in the scenery and headed towards Colorado by way of Oregon, Idaho and Utah.  Sticking to the back roads,  we moved slowly, camping by night on BLM land and cooking our meals at rest stops and state parks.

Open Country.

300 win mag near the John Day River in Eastern Oregon.

Brush fires in Southern Idaho. Bruneau Dunes.

Modern navigation.

A barn in Central Oregon.

John Day River Valley.

Dinner by Tim, mug by Snow Peak.

Does any one know what kind of snake this is?

Sunset on I-84.

Gas can, dry bags and 14 gallons of water.

Tim on a morning hike.

After four days ,  1100 miles, and 57 gallons of gas, we finally crossed over into Colorado from southern Utah.  For the next few weeks, we are cruising around CO, backpacking, fishing and enjoying the mountains.

Here are some more links,

26 East (Picasa),

John Day (Picasa),

Utah (Picasa).

It starts with a notion..

The idea to leave my corporate design job in Manhattan and travel around taking photos and enjoying the outdoors crept into my presleep thoughts sometime in the in early spring.  Like a virus, this notion spread from daydreams to late night conversations with a few close friends.  I missed the outdoors and a sense of exploration.  Leaving a comfortable life in search of something different seemed crazy, but the more I thought it the more I realized it was the right decision.

At first, it seemed like a distant dream, years off perhaps.  Much to my surprise, steps started falling into place.  I signed a book deal with !t Books (a department of Harper Collins) for the Burning House and shot a commissioned project with The Anthropologist. These projects gave me both the money to finance my trip and the purpose to stay productive while traveling.   Eager to put my money where my mouth is, I bought a VW Syncro and made preparations.  LL Bean agreed to outfit me with the necessary camping and fly fishing equipment and I was off running.

"You're going to do what?  Have you thought this through?  What about your job?"

Next came a series of conversations with friends, family and my coworkers.  The responses were polarized, but by this point, my mind was made up.  If I didn't take a leap like this now, I probably never would.

"I want to see how far down the hole the rabbit goes."

In July, I  started condensing my things down. I gave bags of clothes to my cleaning lady to send back to her family in Trinidad and Tobago, sold odds and ends on eBay and gave away the rest to friends.  It was easier than I thought and more liberating than I could have imagined.

As the dust settled, I packed my possessions into a handful of dry bags and my GR1 and wrapped up my surfboard in preparation of  catching a a one wa,y flight back to Portland Oregon this Sunday.  From there, I will pick up my Syncro, hit the road and open a new chapter of my life.

Here are some more links,

All I Need Is (Picasa),

These Photos by Jon Levitt inspired me a lot.

Foc'sle in Provincetown Mass

I first met Alex in the fall of 2008 after weeks of emails and calls to him asking if we could meet and discus a potential internship with his brand, Rogues Gallery.  I had no design experience but I did have a strong  interest in menswear, a connection with Rogue's aesthetic and a desire to learn.   Most likely to stop the weekly calls and emails, Alex let me come down from Waterville a few days a week that fall and winter to help with odds and ends around the office.  The seed was planted and based on my exposure  at Rogues Gallery and getting to know people like Daniel Pepice, Jay Carroll and Aaron Levine, my life took a new path.

Alex and I have kept in close contact over the last three years.  When he started at Bean in 2009, I interned and freelanced helping on various projects associated with the launch of LL Bean Signature.  After leaving Maine and moving to New York, I would meet Alex for coffee when he was in town or I was up north.

Alex recently opened a gallery/antique shop called Foc'sle on Commercial Street in the East End in Provincetown, Massachusetts.   Last weekend I drove up to Cape Cod for a photo shoot on a project I am working on for the Anthropologist.  Stopping by one afternoon,  I chatted with Alex for a few hours and poked around Foc'sle.

The shop combines the work of local artists, folk art and nautical-inspired antiques from around New England.  Alex sources most of the antiques like this fish-tail hinged trunk from the 18th century, himself.

Rock Lobster.

Paintings in the walkway.

Anchored.

Portraits of local residents by Mischa Richter.

Atlantic Salmon.

Alex's trusty spaniel, Ranger.

Visiting Foc'sle reminded me why I decided to hound Alex to give me an internship my junior year of college.  It captures New England.  If you're ever in Cape Cod,  Foc'sle is well worth a trip to Provincetown to see.

Here are some more links, Foc'sle (Facebook), Foc'sle (Picasa).

A One Way Ticket to Reno

"How much would it be to go Newark?" I asked at 3:50am on Friday morning.

"$72," the driver quickly responded, removing the cell phone from his ear for an instant.

"Forget it. Take me to Penn Station," I responded, taking off my backpack and setting it against the window.  For five minutes I rubbed my eyes and tapped on the screen of my iPhone as the cab bounced down 8th ave.

"OK, how much you pay to Newark?

"I'd pay $45."  I leaned forward towards the sliding door and prepared for some negotiations.  Twenty-five minutes later, I handed him $55 and walked into the departures gate at Newark International Airport with my one-way ticket to Reno firmly gripped in my hand.

For months, I had scoured Craigslist and The Samba looking for a VW Syncro Vanagon. This isn't your grandmother's VW. Roughly 2,000 were imported to North America from 1985-1992.  They were built in the same factory as Unimogs, Steyr-Daimler-Puch a German tank company to be exact, and have since developed a strong cult following.  Today, these Syncro's have mostly collected on the west coast in predominant outdoor cities like San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Boulder.  Eventually, I found one that met my criteria and after exchanging a few dozen emails and phone calls with its original owner, I bought a one way ticket to Reno with a return flight out of Portland four days later.

Arriving in Reno at noon, I waited with my two bags for Deon, the Syncro's owner of 24 years, to pick me up. Before long, I heard the buzz of the Syncro's Audi 2.0 engine.  Love at first sight.  After a lengthy test drive and subsequent trip to the Nevada DMV, I headed north on 395 towards central Oregon.   I put on The Weight by The Band, rolled down my windows and cruised north.

As the sun started to set, I passed an abandoned road snaking off of CA-139 into the Modoc National Forrest. Pulling a U-y on the empty highway, I headed up the road for twenty minutes, following the single track in first gear up the side of a mountain.  Eventually, the road ended at a locked gate and I set up for the night, folding out the bed in the back and snacking on some goods from Whole Foods.  I had the valley to myself.

For the next four days,  I explored the Northwest, camping in the Syncro by night and traveling and hiking by day.

My trusty GR1 and the front seats of the Syncro.

Northern California, just south of the Oregon border.

My mom near her house in the Columbia River Gorge.

The Syncro set up for the night in National Forest north of the Columbia River Gorge.

Rolling hills in the Modoc National Forest.

My mom's soon to be finished house just outside the Columbia River Gorge.

My dad and his signature Pendleton shirt in the Silver Star Mountains, just south of Mount St. Helens.

Late Monday evening, I dropped off the Syncro at my dad's and headed to the airport to catch a redeye back to JFK.  I slept the entire way, exhausted from a long weekend of wandering.   The Syncro is having some upgrades and repairs done to it (I got reckless off-roading and side swept a stump).  I will be back in a month or so to pick it up and continuing traveling.

Here are some more links, Hit the Road (Picasa), A Restless Transplant (Facebook), Foster Huntington (Twitter).