Long Beach Hydrobikes...because sometimes you need to get away from wheels.

As part of a week-long celebration of the triumphs over my struggles throughout this past year, I treated myself to a hydrobike ride in Long Beach at the Alamitos Bay. From where I live, it's a very quick drive across the Vincent Thomas Bridge, through Downtown Long Beach, and right past Belmont Shore before hitting Pacific Coast Highway.

Just head all the way to the end of the bay and follow the signs. You can't miss.

The hydrobikes are right at the end of a dock. I got there for the first appointment at 11AM so they were all still parked.

Riding a hydrobike is quite easy. If you can't ride an actual bicycle, you'll still be okay...no balancing of the unit is needed. Just pedal away and point the bike toward your destination. You'll get there eventually.

The route that patrons are given will lead you across the bay and into the Naples neighborhood of Long Beach. Naples is modeled after the same part of Italy and is known for its romantic canals (yes, there are gondola rides too for you boyfriends looking for ideas). We rode in a counter-clockwise direction, and with no wakes or fast boats in the way, it was more of a pleasure cruise with a little bit of cardio involved.

What you see is me having fun. What you don't feel is that it was nearing 95°F on the water with a heat advisory and the sun blazing down on me at noon. I'm wearing a UPF 50 wicking shirt from REI. No burns here.

Naples holds onto its namesake quite well with actual gondola rides along the canals. The city of Venice (near Santa Monica) had the same thing for a while but the area is no longer as well-maintained as this place.

Pedaling for a straight hour is definitely a great workout! I was glad that I didn't bring my giant Nikon DSLR camera, holding my cell phone to take all these shots was enough of a challenge. Fortunately every hydrobike has cupholders and a cubby compartment for a small bag and your refreshments and personal items. I took the rehydration bit one step further and wore a my Camelbak, the same one I use on my motorcycle rides. It was hot, and I was drinking out of it a lot.

The name of this boat took the words right out of my mouth.

Tip: Wear athletic shoes, unless you want to try to fish your flip-flops out of the water. If you follow instructions, there's no real way you can fall off the bike.

After that fun excursion, I headed up the road to have lunch at nearby Joe's Crab Shack. I had wanted to try this national chain at least once while I still lived in Ohio so it made my personal victory even sweeter as I was making a mess of myself cracking crab legs and munching on hushpuppies. I even topped it off with a root beer float! For an escape of a Friday before heading off to courier work, this was definitely one of my more memorable adventures.

Joe's Crab Shack offered a wonderful view of the Alamitos Bay Marina. Why the hell did I leave California? Anyway, the reason no longer exists, and I'm a better person for it.

Steps for enjoyment. 1. Take a nice photo. 2. Destroy it efficiently.

For more information about Long Beach Hydrobikes, visit http://www.lbhydrobikes.com/. Bring your friends or go by yourself! It's all good either way...and go eat some crabs too. Because crabs are awesome.

Showing the out-of-towners around.

I had an interesting situation a couple weeks ago, as by chance I ended up playing the role of last-minute tour guide to two visitors: a friend visiting from the Midwest on business and a soccer coach from England who was staying in the house for the week and had just been reassigned to the Pacific Northwest, leaving the following day.

This mini-adventure started with me picking up my first friend from a hotel adjacent to LAX, taking her the longer way on Pacific Coast Highway into Torrance and to one of my favorite places to eat, Kula Sushi. I haven't done a food review of this place (I'm too busy nomming the sushi to care), but I hope to get the chance to do that, just as I try to drag a friend to this place any opportunity I get. It was easy for her to scarf down on the sushi - living in a land-locked state like Missouri can make it difficult to acquire (and trust) the "fresh" fish that's served there. So I don't blame her for having her fill.

It wasn't the first time that I've played the role of tour guide; in fact I look forward to it every chance I get. However, it had been years since I had acted as one out here in Southern California. My time in Ohio relegated me to a passive (and occasionally torturous) role of online adviser and e-mail buddy to those visiting my home and looking for things to do. Now, one thing I do take pride in is my knowledge of the random facts and details about my part of town. Maybe I could make this a gig! You know, throw a tip jar in the back of the car, serve drinks, and a wear a boom mike to be all official like that.

After dinner, I picked up the soccer coach and started with a cruise in the car onto Palos Verdes Drive East, stopping at one of the vista points overlooking the Pacific Ocean. A few minutes of photo ops, and then it was a jaunt through San Pedro and across the Vincent Thomas Bridge. Lucky for us, the World's Largest Rubber Duck was docked in the Port of Los Angeles for the 2014 Tall Ships Festival so my guests had a chance to see it as well as I cruised along toward the 710 freeway.

I dropped my Missouri friend off at her hotel by LAX and headed (on request) with the soccer coach to Hollywood to see "what the place is all about." So about an hour later I was walking around the touristy portion of Hollywood Blvd. with a Brit on one side and a coffee in my hand (it was a long evening as I had substitute taught a filmmaking class earlier that day). We spent the next hour and a half admiring the cement prints left by stars of the past and present in the TCL Chinese Theater, walking into souvenir shops full of chotskies, and taking pictures for out-of-towners with their phones and cameras. Occasionally, I would simply look down and admire the ground. I was on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, after all.

Here was the reason for the request to go to Hollywood, a chance to pay tribute to the great Robin Williams.

After a little sightseeing, we stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood Blvd. for a couple drinks and conversation. It had been a while since I was able to sit down for a break and just be social again. No deadlines. No rush. Sometimes, all it takes is an opportunity to revisit a familiar place to bring a new magic to something that has been long-standing. As a Southern California native, I had often thought of Hollywood as "the place to avoid." It's probably the traffic and the annoyance of trying to drive a car through there. Anytime of the night on any part of the week, when I'm on my motorcycle courier shift, the area is filled with people looking up at the lights or looking down to try to find an actor, singer, or famous somebody immortalized on the ground below them.

People watching from the top of the bar...the ginger ales seem to taste better from up here.

On the way back home, a request for a small bite to eat meant a stop at Pink's Hot Dogs (I'd be a lame tour guide if I didn't do that). Somewhere in between bites of my chili dog, I was watching my visitor smiling and taking photos of the various autographs and details of the hole-in-the-wall store that's been a fixture here in LA for the last 75 years. Looks like my mission was a success.

What a night. I gotta meet more people from out-of-town and do this more often!

Gateway Arch Observation Deck at Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park (East St. Louis, MO)

One of my last [casual] stops in my drive back to Southern California was East St. Louis, IL, the bordering city to St. Louis, MO. In particular, I was there to visit the observation deck of the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park, one of the best places to see the Gateway Arch in its entirety.

And here's a cameo of my 1999 BMW 528i wagon stuffed to the gills with some of my worldly possessions.

Maid-Rite: First Drive-Thru in the United States (Springfield, IL)

After my visit to the Lincoln Home Historic Site, it was time for lunch. And in fitting fashion, I set my sights on a local eat on Route 66 with a historical significance to the United States and drive-thru restaurants everywhere.

Lincoln Home National Historic Site (Springfield, IL)

It seems that my blog posts are just one trip recap after another. Take a few life changes that involve picking up stakes from Ohio and a 40-hour cross-country car drive and I get a chance to see a few interesting destinations on the way back home to Southern California.

As part of my exodus out of the Midwest, I stopped in Peoria to see a friend with the intention of continuing south, catching Interstate 40, and shooting across the southern part of the country to avoid as much of the snow and ridiculously cold weather of the winter storms as possible.

By just pure calendar timing, I passed through Springfield, IL on the way to St. Louis, MO on the day before Abraham Lincoln's birthday. My original plan was to go visit Lincoln's Tomb, but since it was under renovation and cleanup until the beginning of April, I took a detour and decided to go to Lincoln's House instead.

Springfield is a major city on the original US Route 66. To find Lincoln's house, all one must do is follow the signs.

Day 5-6: Minot! Why not? Fuzzies and Scandinavians included.

**This series of posts recap my two-week trip to Billings, MT and back from July 1-16, 2013. For the entire list of my featured rides, click here.**

I slept in on Day 5 of this trip, which translates to waking up somewhere between 9-9:30AM to the sparring of Mollie and Ammo, my friend's two dogs who have the run of the place. I'll talk more about them later. But first, it was off to breakfast at a nearby Perkins restaurant to catch up on our life travels (it's been a few years since we had seen each other face-to-face). On the way inside, we found these two cuties hanging out in the back of another restaurant patron's truck.

Hello, human. We be chillin' in our ride.

Quick Stops: Grandpa's Cheesebarn (Ashland, OH)

When I'm not on the motorcycle, I'm scouting for new places to stop when I'm back on the bike again.

Since I started working up in NE Ohio about six months ago, the 160-mile drive up and down the very uneventful I-71 became a very droning chore through the night. I would usually leave after work on a Friday to head down to Columbus, spend the weekend with Matt, and then make my way back up to Cleveland either late Sunday night or early Monday morning, rolling straight into work after a quick breakfast and an iced coffee.

A few weeks ago, I made the rare decision to leave for Columbus on Saturday morning to swing by Goschinski's Fin, Feather and Fur Outfitters in Ashland, exactly halfway between my origin and destination, to pick up a new holster for my Glock 27 (yes, that's my other hobby out here). But that wasn't my only reason for stopping off of US-250. Right next to the store is a place called Grandpa's Cheesebarn, a tourist attraction that had me curious for a while but one I couldn't see without making this exception in my regular travel schedule.

The building may look small, but it's stuffed to the gills with food, gifts, novelties, ice cream, cookies, and other nom noms.

When I entered the store, I was immediately greeted at the cafe counter and a menu with goodies ranging from fresh-baked cookies to ice cream and even paninis. I resisted all temptations and continued perusing the store, checking out the many tables full of edible goodies. Jams, chocolates, dried fruits, trail mixes, and other snacks had sample cups on display, urging me to dip a pretzel stick or mini spoon and take a taste of everything. You could hang around for a good hour just staring and sampling the treats. I really would like to know how people can work at this store without gaining at least three pounds a day from all food in this place. And that was just the first floor.

One last ride in NE Ohio for 2012...

A few weeks ago, Matt and I went out on the bike one one of the last nicer days of 2012 in NE Ohio to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

One of our stops was at Brandywine Falls, a popular destination here in the park. Here are a few photos from that location.

After our visit, we scooted over to Cuyahoga Falls to have an old favorite snack at Strickland's Frozen Custard. We've known about this place for a number of years (there's a location in Irvine, CA), but this was the first time Matt had ice cream from this store in Ohio. I had gone to the original location in nearby Akron in 2009.

Due to my current living situation up here in NE Ohio, Eleanor's on vacation down in Columbus with Matt until the weather thaws out enough that I can ride every day again without risking my battery draining overnight due to the excessive cold. At the minimum, was a great detour to break the monotony of the car for just a little while.

To boldly go...to Riverside, Iowa!

As part of my quarterly journey to Lincoln, NE a couple weeks ago, I took a detour down the beaten path (and away from the interstate for a few minutes) to a place that has often been the subject of Star Trek lore, Riverside, Iowa. According to the Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek," Riverside is the future birthplace of James Tiberius Kirk, a boy who would grow up to be captain of the USS Enterprise.

Riverside, IA (population 928) is a small town south of Iowa City, IA, about 20 miles below Interstate 80 on the east side of the state. It's a simple place, with a main road that goes right through town, a single gas station, fire station, and several stores. If you ride through the main thoroughfare (Iowa Highway 22), you probably would miss everything if not for the giant starship float in front of the town's museum and historical center that meets you at one of the curves.

I think this is the right place...

The Riverside History Center houses several examples of Star Trek memorabilia and cool artifacts from William Shatner's visit there in 2004 for the filming of "Invasion Iowa." There are also other historical photos of its long past; one of its oldest buildings, St. Mary's Catholic Church, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It's a simple place, but it has quite a few cool things inside.

Some strange things in here, like this unburied time capsule.

Billboard from William Shatner's 2004 visit to Riverside. Several cue cards (not shown) from filming adorn the walls. His director's chair sits in the bottom right corner.

Does anyone want a tribble to piss of a Klingon?

There are several, fan-donated displays of toy collections and memorabilia. The museum runs solely on donations so they're always looking for something new to add to the exhibit.

Two Starfleet uniforms from the TV series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Continue about four blocks up the road and you'll find the official stone marker that heralds the future coming of one of the greatest captains to ever come out of Starfleet Academy.

The stone marker is behind a small yellow building. Don't worry, the place gives you enough clues.

Come back in a couple hundred years for the real birthday party!

So, if you want to go see "Where the Trek Begins," head to Riverside, IA. If you want to make a weekend of it, definitely visit on the last weekend of June for their annual Trekfest. There's also a huge golf course/resort at its outskirts to keep you busy.

For more information about this city, visit their official website at http://www.riversideiowa.org/.

Live long and prosper!

Josh Groban's Straight to You Tour @ Schottenstein Center (August 5, 2011)

And Josh Groban has proven once again why he's one of the top performers of our generation...

When I found out in March that Josh Groban was coming to Columbus for the first time in a several years, I had to make sure that I could secure tickets for his show. My chances for awesome tickets were very high because Josh Groban Fan Club members received first dibs on tickets one day before the general public for major tours. So after debating between seeing him at the new CONSOL Energy Center arena in Pittsburgh or the smaller and more intimate Schottenstein Center at Ohio State, I decided on the latter because of ticket price and the fact that I was getting floor seats. So just on a whim, I decided on smack dab in the middle, section F5.

I brought one of my good friends with me to the show and was quite impressed with the location of our seats in relation to the main stage. She had never seen Josh perform live before so this was pretty exciting for her as well. However, we both realized that our seats were even more special than we had originally thought...