Rice is nice

Neat little rice fields are tucked away everywhere around here. Between gigantic new high-rise hotels and next door to spendy trendy yoga retreats. Some have gamelan music playing over loudspeakers, but most are just quiet except for the giant kites fluttering in the wind overhead. Little weathered super black Indo dudes working all hunched over in the squatting position in the blazing hot sun all day every day chopping at things with their trusty sickle. Maybe a couple skinny cows tied up and chomping away in the corner. I always find rice fields just totally bitchin and stoney. Maybe it's organized rows and stacks of symmetrical lines that draw me in and mesmerize me. Could be that I don't really live in rice country, so it's all new to me. Perhaps Indo dudes would trip out on corn fields or all the hay growing out there in the Palouse. Maybe it's all the gas fumes I'm huffing. I don't know.

I Hate CA Camping

SoCal camping is even worse than this...

I Hate California: Camping - watch more funny videos

Honda Vario

One of the super rad things about Bali, and Indonesia in general, is the total devotion to scootering. Really there is no other way to get around. On the way out in the morning, grab a Absolute bottle or 2 of watered-down petrol and hit the road. Helmets for pussys. Death laughs around every corner and behind every truck that's hauling 40 foot lengths of rebar flopping around. Wacked out Aussies and clueless Germans zipping around at mach speed while passing in oncoming traffic with barely inches to spare and total disregard towards the tib/fib spiral fracture. Total fucking chaos. Everyone has the right of way at all times. Streets choked with stifling fumes, horns, shit, and rotten diseased dogs just waiting to end it all at the hands of your front wheel. "Ah DAMMMMM, that Euro chick is smoking hot!"....don't take your eyes off the road, stupid. Ah yes, it's the Island of the Gods.

Jeld Wen Field

Bill Dough and I scored some Heineken club level seats here in Portland. Too bad there was a Timbers soccer game going on at the same time. The $9 beer gouge was softened by the FREE Hot Dogs, Pretzels, Voodoo Dough Nuts, Red Vines, and ice-cream. The dude just walks around chucking food at your face. And we even saw another guy with a familiar dome/nose combo.

Score!

My plan for Indo next week was to bring my 2 Go-To boards. One is a 5'11" Rusty Dwart which is super fun setup as a quad fin. And the other is a 6'8" Lovelace Throughull that is awesome in everything from waist-high to slightly overhead. The Dwart just got benched cuz today in Portland Oregon, I scored an epic 7'2" Yater Single Fin which appears to be from a different time. Maybe the 80's. It's gonna weird.

PA

The Tour Of Fail spent 1 day in shitty Lewiston Idaho being the good son. We caught up on things and watched 12 hours of Sunday football. The next day, I traveled moved west 7 hours to Seattle for 1 night of Bybee and Tonto time. For the first time in my life, I knew when to say "when". I woke up without a hangover then boarded the Ferry to Bainbridge Island and the Olympic Peninsula. It's awesome being back in the rainy old Pacific Northwest after being away for 10 years. The campsite is mossy and rad. Just like I remember. Down the road, I pulled up to a nice little, cobblestone rivermouth and I spotted a Bald Eagle cruizing overhead with some food shoved in it's face. I waited around and the surf turned on a tad bit, so I surfed small waves yesterday wearing my heaviest westuit, thick gloves, and booties. Should be a decent swell arriving tomorrow, hopefully before I need to hit the road south at noon.

Goods times

I've know these dudes for a combined 70 years. Jimmy and I went to the same catholic grade school in Portland where Father Goodrich and his gross hairy knuckles drilled Jesus into us and bored us with the Stations of the Cross for months at a time. Growler and I fought alongside the KSA against the evil Sun Valley overlords during the 90's to finally build a halfpipe, all the while draining the Casino nightly of it's booze. Nothing better than blacking out 6 nights-a-week during your 20's. And Benji, well Benji continues to make incredible life choices that make me seem like a frickin jeenyus.

Pulled Out of Reno

Last week I pulled the plug on Reno, Nevada. This week, I'm living in my camper trailer 2 miles outside Sun Valley Idaho. It's great catching up with my buddies. I love being in my old stomping grounds, breathing fresh mountain air, and crushing my legs on the bike again.