October 29, 2021
Santa Cruz storms and Santa Cruz sunshine. Horizontal rain and wind at a beach party. Trees down and big surf and then all calm again, warm, like summer with no tourists. How can this not be my favorite time of year?
Bicycle rides along the Wilder Ranch sea cliffs. Lunch at West End. Sunset drinks on the porch sipping Hard Kombucha.
At the Wilder Ranch Historic State Park with writer Kevin Silva.
Plan Scribbles. Made to be Broken.
Elena Houlihan Hiatt, also an author in my Travel Writing Workshops, who lives in Mexico (by way of Philadelphia), visited IRL too!
Meeting Virtual Travel Writing Group members in person, making notes of travel plans on to-go boxes. Getting a new motorcycle helmet and a quick look at the galley of a new book.
On Riding Motorcycles, Collected by Reg Kittrelle, who also lives in Santa Cruz.
Ooh! Delivery of my new LS2 Explorer Carbon Adventure Helmet!
The stories in Ride/Write are written by motorcyclists who don't make a living by writing. "I wanted stories by regular people who ride," says Reg.
If you want a copy of the Ride/Write book, hurry. Reg, who conceived of, edited, produced, and published the book, went all old-school and only printed a limited number of copies. It's not available anywhere online or in any stores. How to order? Connect with him on Facebook.
It's worth noting that Reg has been in the moto biz for a long time. He founded Thunder Press and is an excellent writer and editor, despite his intimidating nickname Contrarian Bastard... or is it Unrepentant Curmudgeon? There may be more. I've got his 2017 book, Motorcycles and Our 2nd 50 Years, which is full of great advice, exercises, best practices for keeping sharp so we can ride longer. Also not available in stores. Hmmm. I'm thinking about invoking a bit of peer pressure here. You in?
All in all, an excellent couple of autumn weeks in Santa Cruz. Let me know if you're in the area. IRL.