Wrap Up of Me

So, I figured I would end my blog with a wrap up of myself. It is hard for one to observe oneself and describe who they are; it is always easiest for someone else to describe you. So if you have followed me through all, or portions, of this blog, then you would be better off writing this than me.

I'm just a boy from the south, raised with a shotgun in my hand and tobacco in my mouth; not exactly a characteristic of a world traveler. The more I traveled the larger my thirst for learning about new things grew. When you think of someone who has traveled as much as I, you may think of a guy walking around without his shoes on and sitting on the ground, eating with his bare hands. I can definitely admit that I did that a time or two, but why? The real question is, why do the locals in the countries I visited do it? The not knowing is the reason why I do those things; I want to know why.

Now, I don't want to sit here and answer all the questions that I think you may have about the world. I am going to charge you to go out and answer your own questions. Don't ever look at someone you know nothing about and judge him or her right off the bat. Try to look at where that person is coming from, try to understand why they do what they do. When I first started traveling, I was always afraid to ask why because I felt like it was disrespectful. I then realized that me not knowing and coming up with my own reasoning was more disrespectful.

Travel, see, do, experience, and live. You should never be unhappy with your life when there is a world out there that you have most likely seen less than 10% of.

Before we part, I want to thank you, the audience, for following me around the world. The main reason why I liked keeping this blog was that you kept me charged to do something different everyday. I felt like such a waste whenever I sat there and did nothing, knowing that everyone of you would have killed to be where I was. You are the reason why I visited 20 countries, you were the drive that helped me ask why, and you were the hand that pushed me out of my comfort zone time and time again.

To complete my journey around the world, I will leave you with this: An excuse is the easiest thing in the world to create; just close your eyes and jump, I promise you'll make it out alive.

Will our paths ever cross again? Only time will tell and anything is possible.

Good luck world

USA Wrap Up

My trip in the US was amazing. I never thought that I would enjoy traveling in the States as much as I did. Everything from playing volleyball on the beaches of San Diego to camping by a pond at the bottom of the Mt. Rainier National Park. The US is truly an under rated traveling destination. I feel sorry for all of those that I met while traveling who had said they just visited NY, LA, and San Francisco; visit three national parks and I'm sure you'll have a much better time.

Day 230: Columbia

This morning, we gathered our thing and I waved my friends goodbye. We made the long trip back to Columbia. Home sweet home. 

Day 229: Athens

Today is the day we have all been waiting for, Gameday.

An early hungover morning filled with ESPN, eggs, and beer started off my first true Gamecocks gameday.

Luckily I was able get a great ticket with William a couple rows from the Gamecocks sideline. This game ended up being a heartbreaking loss, 30-41. Our schools are both big rivals, so most of my friends were so upset with the loss that they just wanted to go back to the house and to sleep. I didn't let that get in the way of me and the other guys having a great time.

Day 228: Athens

This morning, more friends from Columbia showed up; literally a bus showed up and dropped off about 8 people in front of their house. One of their friends bought and an old bus and turned it in to a road trip machine.

By about mid-day the keg and most of the friends had arrived. It was great catching up with friends and sharing stories from around the world.

Later that night we headed out to a half-day music festival featuring Savoy and Wiz Khalifa, among other artists. Another night with good friends and live music.

Day 227: Athens

I decided not to finish my blog until I get back home. I trip around the world is not completed until I get back to where I started.

This morning, I caught an early flight to Atlanta, Georgia. The coast to coast flight was not as bad as I was expecting, but the time change did throw me off. Once I landed, I took a shuttle a hour away to Athens, Ga. This weekend, my alma mater, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, play the University of Georgia Bulldogs; not only a football game worth coming back for but an even better group of friends to ease me back into home.

My friend William picked me up where I was dropped off in the center of town. We headed over to some friend of our's house, James and Harper, two guys that I basically grew up with through high school.

We all met up with my sister and my cousin later that night for dinner and some drinks. It was great to see two girls from my family, it has been way too long!

First night back on the east coast in 227 days with great friends and family, couldn't think of a better first night back.

Day 226: Seattle

So, today is my last day on the west coast... What to do?

I decided to see one more thing in Canada and then head back to Seattle, Grouse Mountain, which is in North Vancouver, across the Harbor. Grouse Mountain is a great ski park that becomes a green tourist attraction during the summers. I took a large skyride up to the park, which was filled with tourist activities. They had a really cheesy lumberjack show that had me laughing at them rather than with them.

I took a ski lift up to the park's wind turbine and was able to go up to the top of the turbine. I have never been this close to a wind turbine let alone take an elevator up to the top of it. It was pretty cool not to mention the view of the surrounding mountains were amazing. After I got done exploring the rest of the park, I had to head back to the US and return my car. The drive back to Seattle was a long ride; the entire ride was spent reflecting on the past eight and a half months of my excursion around the world. Its even crazier to think its been that long... Almost nine months. While each country seemed to take an eternity to explore, the world has flown by in a mere blink of an eye.

Once I got back to Seattle, I returned my car and made the walk to my hotel. The last walk I will take, the last backpack I'll pack, and the last hotel reservation I'll make. Until my next adventure.

Day 225: Vancouver

I started off the day by heading across the street to a great spot for brunch. After brunch, I headed into downtown Vancouver.

I first stopped off at False Creek, which is a small body of water that comes in off the English Bay. To my dismay, there wasn't really anything to see aside from the beautiful waterfront are. Afterwards, I drove further into downtown past the BC Place and Rogers Arena, home to both the BC Lions Canadian football team and the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team and the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, respectively. These two large stadiums really welcome you to the city.

Before I went into the thick of the city, I stopped off at Sunset Beach, a nice beach where I was able to sit on some carved logs and watch the container ships come in.

Downtown Vancouver is nice, tall buildings just like any other big city. It is clean, lots of renovation and construction going on (which causes awful traffic), and bikes everywhere. The city is really pushing bike transportation; I even heard on the radio how they are pushing to have the center part of downtown Vancouver to be only foot and bike traffic by 2040.

I found a parking garage right next to the Vancouver Convention Center which is on the Vancouver Harbor. The CC had a great exhibit of the War of 1812. I didn't know that the Canadian and US boarder is the longest unguarded boarder in the world. The Harbor is really beautiful. Water planes taking off and landing right in front of me, with large lush green mountains in the background; a sight I could never get tired of.

To end the afternoon, I decided to rent a bike and explore the large Stanley Park. There is a great biking path that goes all the way around the park, so I decided to attempt to make it around before the sunset. About halfway around, I realized that I was not going to make it back before the store closed so I cut through the park. The park is really nice; deep forests right in downtown Vancouver overlooking the Harbor. Luckily, I made it back just in time and made my way back to the hotel.

Day 224: Vancouver

I woke up early to William's alarm as he got ready for his flight back to South Carolina. The shuttle was full to the airport, so I dropped him off. I went straight back to the hotel and slept until checkout.

I packed up and had two options: camp in Mt Olympic National Park or go to Vancouver, Canada. While I was traveling the world I met so many Canadians and was almost embarrassed to admit I had never been to my neighboring country, and I have heard many great things about Vancouver. The next thing I know, I'm in a foreign country with no no more cell service heading into downtown Vancouver. Luckily, my map also included Canada and I was able to piece together where I was and where I needed to go. So this is what life was like before the GPS?

I ended up making it to my hotel late in the afternoon. All I did was clean out my rental car and update my blog.

Day 223: Seattle

That morning, William and I packed up early and headed back to Seattle; since we didn't have much time a couple days ago, we want to cram as much as we can into one day.

We started off by heading to the southernmost part of downtown and walked to Pike Place Market, which was founded in 1907 and is where the local Farmer's Market. Everything from fresh squid to peaches were readily available. No wonder these people like to buy local, there is a fun good looking Farmer's Market right in downtown; you know you did something right when your city's Farmer's Market is a top tourist attraction!

After we got done walking around the Market for a bit, we joined in on a tour of Elliot Bay in the Puget Sound. The tour gave us a some general knowledge about Seattle and its history.

Once the boat tour ended, we walked into town and caught the underground tour. Back when Seattle was founded and being created, the town was built from the timber industry and the small town was surrounded by swampy grounds. With all the wood the town was built almost completely out of wood: everything from the streets to the buildings. Yes, the streets were created with the sawdust from the lumber mills along with the sidewalks. One big problem was that the city was close to sea level, so the city's crude plumbing would flood the city during above normal high rides. In 1889, a large fire burned down almost all of Seattle, which caused  the creation of a completely new city. Because of the fire, plumbing, and other problems, the town was to be rebuilt 22ft above the current town (the height varied depending on the location). This rebuilding process didn't just happen overnight, and you can't have merchants building their stores to be almost four stories higher before the roads were even built. So the stores did end up being about four stories higher, but the original ground level was still used during and after the road construction. At some points during the road construction process, the road was built well before the sidewalk. Once you got done buying your groceries you hiked up a 15 foot ladder to get to the road and then down another ladder if you wanted to continue shopping, or eat, or drink. Its pretty interesting, a city is built on top of another city; the underground tour company has to rent out each little segment of the tour because the property owners of the building above ground also own the property below ground, almost every year the tour has to be re-routed.

As soon as we made it to the new Seattle, we made our way to a local microbrew, Pyramid Breweries. We each grabbed a sampler group of their beer and some finger food.

We then made our way to the hotel to rest off the long day.

Day 222: Gorge

We spent the morning hanging out with the guys next to us who are from Washington, from "the other side of the Mountains," (the Cascade Mountains). It was great to learn more about people from Washington and have him learn about the South; he has always wanted to visit the East Coast and, "see what its like on the other side of the country." Its crazy to think about it, learning what its like on the other side of the country, but thats why I am here... there's a lot to learn and many differences.

Later that night, we headed to the concert. There are two main reasons why I am here: I never never seen Dave Matthews live, and I have always wanted to see a concert at the Gorge. The Gorge is an amazingly beautiful music venue that sits right next to the Columbus River with the deep river gorge surrounding the venue; the general admissions seats are on a massive hill that overlooks the Gorge.

At night you can experience two almost completely different concerts at once. You can either lay down and stare at the almost perfect display of stars or you can stand up, allowing the music and the lights take over your body. A good night with great music and amazing surroundings.

Day 221: Gorge

This morning, William and I had to get to Gorge to see part of a three day Dave Matthews Band concert. Before we left, we headed into downtown Seattle and go to the top of the Columbia Center. Today is a much clearer day, so I was able to see much of the mountains and the bay. After we saw the city from above and gathered supplies, we headed out, except we decided to take the long way. Instead of taking I90 pretty much all the way to Gorge, we took Highway 2 through the Cascade Mountains and then down the Columbus River to Gorge; a slow but beautiful drive.

We ended up getting to the campsite pretty late; by the time we set up and pre-gamed some, we made it in for the last couple songs. Tonights concert ended much earlier than we both expected, 10pm. While we missed most of the concert, it was still a good night getting to know the people camping around us and enjoying a clear night's sky.

Day 220: Seattle

After a good morning of sleep, I headed into cloudy downtown Seattle. The first thing I wanted to do was see the whole city. I went up to the top of the second tallest building west of Chicago, the Columbia Center; at 73 stories, I was able to see everything that wasn't covered by fog, cloud, and rain.

Afterwards, I hunted for a sports bar where I could watch my Gamecock's first football game against the University of North Carolina. Luckily, its 3pm here on a Thursday, so no one is at the bar drinking, except me and two other USC fans, what are the odds.

At halftime, I headed to the airport to pick up William. It is good to see a good childhood friend after almost 9 months. We headed to the hotel to drop off his stuff then we headed back into town. We ended up going back to the same sports bar to grab some food. Afterwards, we walked across the street to the Seattle Space Needle to head to the top. The Space Needle was built for the World Fair of 1962, at the time, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi. However, it was meant to be disassembled after the World Fair, as it was just a model of what skyscrapers were going to look like in the 21st century. The city refused to buy it, so Howard Wright, the contractor, bought it in 1977; the tower makes money from tour fees and the rotating restaurant at the top.

We then drove around downtown to get a feel for the Seattle nightlife.

Day 219: Seattle

So, today I was not too good of a tourist. As you can tell, I am pretty behind on my blog, so I spent most of today writing my blog. I was surprised that I had not caught up to today by the end of the night.

Day 218: Seattle

A night full of rain was followed by a morning full of mixed clouds with a clear lake at the base of the mountain and right next to my tent; not a bad view from bed.

I broke camp and headed to my next trail, and I ended up beginning at the wrong place, about 3 miles before I was supposed to. While the hike was beautiful, hiking a couple extra miles up a mountain is not a good way to start the day.

That afternoon, I made it to the part of the woods I was assigned to camp. Unfortunately, it was on the hill down the other side of the mountain. Not sure if it was the best decision, I decided to hike out of the woods and head to Seattle. Since it was past 7pm, I would not be able to get another permit; I was also worried about hiking in another spot and being fined by a Ranger, and since good friend of mine is meeting me in two day in Seattle, I figured I might as well go to Seattle.

I checked into my hotel and fell asleep before I could put my bags down.

Day 217: Mt. Rainier National Park

This morning I headed out to Mt. Olympic National Park in Washington State. Instead of going straight to the park, I headed West to the mouth of the Columbia River. During the early 19th century, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Louis, MO set off on a mission to the West Coast; through Oregon, they canoed down part of the Columbia River. Currently, there are some National and State Parks around the river's end in both Oregon and Washington, there is also a great museum on the Oregon side.

I enjoyed the museum, they had a lot to display on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, current day Coast Guards, and the commercial shipping industry. This area combines the hard Pacific Ocean currents crashing into the end of the Columbia River with close to annual fog, cloud, and rain coverage, creating what is known as The Graveyard of the Pacific. I saw some pretty intense videos of large and small commercial freight boats getting thrown around by the waves. Because of this, the Coast Guard is among the top trained, prepared, and practiced in the country. And since this area on the West Coast (including both Portland & Seattle) is much closer to China's main ports than Los Angeles is, the Coast Guard gets a lot of practice.

After I finished up with the museum, I set off fo Mt Olympic National Park. It turns out that the Ranger Station is too far away for me to reach by 5pm (it is currently around noon), so I decided to go to Mt Rainier National Park, it turns out they have a Ranger Station that is open until 7pm. The drive through Washington was much different from Oregon, so far it has been nothing but trees. To my surprise, I passed a lot of logging sites and most of the trucks I passed were transporting tree trunks. I figured that, legally, it would be difficult to be in the logging industry in Washington.

After getting a little lost, I finally arrived and got my camping permit. Since I got in late, I chose a short hike to Snow Lake. Once I began the hike it started to rain. You'd think it would be a miserable hike, but the only bad part about it was that I knew the stuff in my bag would be wet. There was something about hiking in the woods, at night, and in the rain that truly added to the outdoor manly feeling you can get from camping; I really think my beard grew an inch that night.

Oregon Wrap Up

I really did like Oregon; I could have spent days just driving through countryside on back roads. Oregon is a green state in terms of both nature and technology. I was constantly reminded of the south: the people are nice, the trucks are big, and the so are the farms. Although, in Oregon, the deer crossing hazard sign is accompanied by cow, snowmobile, and horseback crossing signs as well. From mountains to rivers to fields, I think that it would be amazing to see Oregon by air.

Day 216: Portland

This morning, I had to stop by a pretty popular restaurant in Oregon, Voodoo Donuts, which is known for putting crazy ingredients on their donuts. I got the Bacon Maple, sweet and salty!

I then headed off to Portland. I connected with my friend Crystal's sister, Jenna,  who is living in Portland; luckily, she is going to let me crash on her couch.

First thing I wanted to do was check out a couple of Portland's 60 microbrews. I first headed over to Hair of the Dog. I got a sandwich and a couple beer samplers to wash it down.

I then headed into downtown to do some exploring. Downtown Portland is really cool, it is definitely not a typical US city. One way roads, full wide bike lanes everywhere, and electric streetcars everywhere. Thats one thing that I found odd in California; in busy places like San Francisco and Los Angeles buses had their own designated lane. However, in the mid 20th century places like LA were riddles with electric streetcars; believe it or not, those streetcar companies were bought up by large US car companies at the time, the tracks were removed, the streetcars discarded and replaced by highways and large buses. Somehow, Portland dodged that bullet.

Portland has taken large steps to "keep Portland weird." There is a large hipster population, everyone supports local businesses, and there is a large entrepreneur culture here. There is a funny TV show called Portlandia, while is is an exaggerated comedy, it does a pretty good job at describing Portland. The Columbia River runs right through Portland. I think Portland should be nicknamed the City of Bridges because there are so many bridges connecting the city.

While I was walking around in the downtown area, I saw a lot of homeless people. There was a large food program going on, so all of them were congested in one area. All of these people looked really bad, you could definitely tell who was a drug addicts and easily pick out the guys who were still high on drugs, head bobbling talking and yelling at no one. Time to pick a new place to explore...

I ended up stumbling upon an area that was full of food carts, another thing that Portland is known for. I briefly took myself back to the Middle East and got a lamb kabab, oh so good!

I then came across the Rock Bottom microbrew and decided to pop in for a couple samplers.

Afterwards, I headed over to meet up with Jenna and her boyfriend. That night we went to the larges movie rental store in the world (yes they still exist), with over 90,000 titles and got a good movie wot watch on their projection screen back home.

Day 215: Eugene

Packed up my gear and headed back to the car. As you can tell, I am moving rather fast. It may seem as though I don't really get to enjoy everything but I really am; would one more night in the woods make me appreciate the Crater Lake National Park more? Like I have said before, I want to see all that I possibly can, and you can't do that by sticking around for a week just to take in the beauty of Crater Lake. Gots to go.

My goal was to make it to the coast and then head north to Portland tomorrow and stop in Eugene for lunch. Well I had no clue that Eugene is home to the University of Oregon; it is such a beautiful campus that looks like it was built last year. Luscious green grass and plants everywhere acompanied by new aged buildings that had plenty of glass. I decided to stay and explore the campus a little bit.

Luckily the motel I was staying in had a little kitchen in it so I was finally able to cook the pasta that I bought weeks ago. A little "home-cooked meal" to put me to sleep. 

Day 214: Crater Lake National Park

I got up early this morning and made my way to Oregon; its been great California, but I got to go.

Wow, Oregon is really beautiful. I drove hard Northeast to get to the park, straight through large cow and sheep farms with the occasional horse running around, and rolling mountains in the backdrop. Small towns; old gas stations with the old silo looking gas pumps (its also illegal to pump your own gas); the road side caution signs are of deer, cattle, snowmobile, and horse rider cautions. I am already really liking this State!

Once I got to the Ranger Station, I got my permit and headed to the lake. This lake is no ordinary lake. Over 7,000 years ago Mount Mazama volcano began to erupt and caved in on itself. Over the thousands of years that followed, a combination of rain and snow created the lake that is here today. Since there is no other source of water or runoff running into the lake, it is regarded as one of the clearest lakes in the world, setting a record clarity of 142ft!! The lake is really amazing; there is even a small volcano on Wizard Island, which sits almost on the edge of the lake.

Once I got done checking out the lake, I headed down to my campsite. Once again, in the woods with nothing but nature; it is a pretty amazing experience. I thought that I would be spoiled by camping first in the Redwoods, while the trees aren't half as tall, it is still an amazing forest. After I ate dinner, I realized a terrible thing: I forgot my rope to hang up my food bag from bears. I can either take the four mile walk back at night and get the rope or figure something out. Next thing I know I'm halfway up a tree trying to tie up my food bag while not breaking my neck. With my food secured up a tree, I got a peaceful night sleep.

California Wrap Up

Spending the past couple weeks in California was great, catching up with both new and old friends was even better. Being in California, I might as well be in another country; the culture is so different from South Carolina, and California itself is very diverse. You have surfers, beach volleyballers, and the rich and famous in the south; tech savvy, wine lovers, and hipsters in the middle; and rural, green, and outdoor driven in the north. Northern California did remind me a lot of the south. The towns were often small, spread out, and poor; big trucks, farms, and a "yes sir" where everywhere you looked. The only thing Northern California is missing is "y'all" and the confederate flag.

The south of San Francisco, California is like a hot desert. The plants look like those in a dry desert and the air is also dry to go along with it. It can get really hot during the day and then be very cold at night. In northern California, you have constant fog mixed with rain and some of the greenest trees I have ever seen; not to mention my favorite, the Redwoods!!

I definitely did not spend enough time in California. I would have wanted to spend at least a week and a half alone exploring all the Redwoods! If you truly wanted to do this trip right: rent a car, bring a friend who you have done a long road trip with before, hook up bikes to the back of the car, and strap two canoes to the top of the car. Boom.. now you have yourself a West Coast Road Trip Machine.

Day 213: Crescent City

Birds chirping is the best alarm clock. I cooked up some breakfast and then headed off into the woods again to do some hiking. I didn't pack up all my stuff because time is of the escense and, unfortunately, I have to move on. 

After an afternoon of hiking, I broke camp and headed north. I entered the close by Cresent City, found a motel, showered, and crashed. All of the wood from the motel was made out of one Redwood tree; cool!

Day 212: Redwood National Park

I decided to leave the KOA campsite and do some real camping. One thing that I forgot about the US is that this country is covered with National Parks and you can sleep in all of the for free. Theres got to be someone out there who just goes from National Park to National Park living in the woods for free.

So, I have never really camped before and definitely not by myself and never in bear areas; I don't really know what to expect at all. I headed to the ranger station, got a permit, stocked up on supplies, and headed out.

I wasn't sure how much to pack, what to pack, and what not to pack; definitely a learning experience. With my bags packed, I headed in. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Endless forests of the oldest trees in the world and NO ONE around. I picked out a spot a couple our before sundown, unpacked all my gear, and gathered firewood. I can't even describe how amazing it is to be in this park; I definitely think that I have spoiled myself by camping for the first time in the Redwoods, I don't think anything can compare. I walked around in the rocked creekbed so that I could truly appreciate the height of these trees. The creek is lined with normal trees, behind those are the Redwoods. At first I was thrown off, thinking that the Redwoods were just on a hill, but no... they are about two and a half times the size of a normal tree.

Walking through the Redwoods, I am only interrupted by a scurrying chipmunk, or the piercing screech of a hawk as it swoops down to its prey; ahh the great outdoors. That night I built a small fire, enjoyed my dinner and silence, and relaxed in my tent as the thunder and lightning rumbled me to sleep.

Day 211: Eureka

As great as the wine country was, I had to move on, waving Catherine and the grapes goodbye. I booked a night at a KOA campsite further north in Eureka, California. I was told by some people in Cambria that Eureka is a great spot to camp and explore. Again, I chose to take Highway 1 so I could continue to follow the beautiful coast. 

Eventually Highway 1 and Highway 101 come together for form a road that is known as the Redwood Highway, I started to pass some Redwood Trees. Wow, these trees are magnificent. I stopped off at the famous drive through tree; unfortunately, the hole is much smaller than I thought and I was unable to fit through the tree. However, it is still magnificent that a tree can be so big that a car can fit through it. 

Once I got to Humbodlt Redwoods State Park, a large park filled with massive Redwood trees. I came across an exit sign on Redwood Highway (HWY 101) is The Avenue of Giants. Even though I was running late, I didn't care where this road led me I was taking it. It turns out the road runs next to HWY 101 but really takes you through the Redwoods on a slow one laned road. These trees are MASSIVE! Some of them are even bulging into the road. If I ran head into one of these trees a branch probably wouldn't even fall off. I just had to stop a couple times and explore parts of the park.

Well I was pretty upset once I arrived at the KOA campsite. The campsite is in a town, there really isn't anything to see in the area, and the "campsite" has a pool and showers. Not what I had in mind.

Day 210: Sanoma

Well, I have not had my fill of wine, so I hopped on the Napa Valley Wine Train for a little tour of the Valley by train. The Wine Train was really nice and the slow ride through the valley was quite a compliment. I ended up sitting next to an interesting couple, a man from California and a women from Colombia, who barely spoke English. We got to chatting when she apologized to me in English and I responded in Spanish, she was surprised by my accent. I spoke as good as I could with her in Spanish, the rest had to be translated by her husband. It was great to speak with them; she really wanted to introduce me to her niece who is back in Colombia at medical school. We shall see how that goes?!

After the Wine Train, I headed off to a couple wineries in Sanoma. I first stopped off at Little Vineyards & Winery. As the name hints, it is a small vineyard that specializes in a small variety of wine. The owner is in a small band, so many of the names or labels have some influence of music; I liked only one of the wines though.

With little time to spare, I headed to one last winery, Muscardini Cellars. The winery was pretty cool, and had a large selection to choose from; many of them were pretty good.

Afterwards, I met up with an old friend, Catherine, who is currently working and living in Sanoma. It has been a while since I have seen her, so it was great to catch up and hear about everything that she has learned about wine in the past year! We walked into downtown and ducked into a great local restaurant for some wine and pasta. Now that I have a wine professional with me, we were able to pair some great wines with our meal!

Day 209: Fairfield

I made my way to Napa Valley in search of some great wine. I headed into the visitor's center to get a good map and get an idea of which of the 300+ wineries to visit. I picked out two vineyards/wineries that I wanted to visited and I figured that I would just pull into one or two that sparked my interest on the way to them.

The first one that I visited, Folie a Deux Winery, was a nice small winery with a little vineyard in the side yard. I wasn't too impressed with the wine, but the yard was really nice and relaxing.

I then headed to a pretty famous winery/vineyard (and a bit of a tourist trap), Castello di Amorosa. The winery is a huge old Italian-styled castle surrounded by rolling hills covered by the vineyard. The inside of the castle reminded me a lot of the inside of the Hearst Castle. As we went deeper underneath the castle, we eventually stumbled upon the aging room and tasting table. Some of the wines they had were rather good, although I'm no wine connoisseur, I was impressed.

I then made my way to the last vineyard, Sterling Vineyards. To get to the main building I had to take a cable car up the hill, showing off a great view of the Valley! The wines here were pretty good as well. Enjoyed some good wine and a great view, not a bad day.

I headed back to grab some dinner, then went to my wonderful smelling hotel room, and had little trouble falling asleep. 

Day 206: Carmel

After a very cold night in the tent, with no sleeping bag might I add, I headed over to Hearst Castle. To get to the Castle, I took an amazing bus ride through some of the property that showed off the rolling mountains that made up the property and the foggy coast. 

The Castle was built by a man named William Randolph Hearst who was a news tycoon back in the first half of the 20th century. He got the idea for the design of the castle (inside and out) from when he spent a year traveling through Europe when he was a young boy. The Castle is modeled after Spanish churches, and the inside is home to relics, artifacts, and art from around western Europe. Most of the things in the Castle are religious based, large christian tapestries, huge roofs from centuries old Spanish or Italian churches, or two story fireplaces.

The Castle is similar to that of a museum, I couldn't imagine actually living in this place; would you want to be sleeping in a 600 year old European bed? someone has definitely died in that thing! Parts of the outside of the Castle and the grounds have not been completed. One of the big things with Mr. Hearst was that he was always changing the Castle. It took three complete remodelings of the outdoor pool until he was satisfied. The Hearst family decided not to complete the unfinished parts of the property because if Mr. Hearst was still alive and finished it, he probably would have changed it soon after!

So, this Castle was built between 1919 and 1947. Can you imagine the difficulty of coordinating the purchase of a two story stone fireplace from an old mansion in southern Spain? Can't just send them a tweet. There weren't hundreds of massive cargo freight boats circumventing the global all day everyday, or DHL to just drop things off at your doorstep. Also, during this time this area of California was not as "developed" as it is now, so things like electricity and running water were not available. Yet, Mr. Hearst had electricity, elevators, and running water throughout the whole Castle. There were also, an excess of telephones in the Castle with its own operator. "Where am I and where's the exit?"

While everything inside of the Castle was really luxurious, so were things on the Castle grounds. Mr. Hearst would always have multiple guest at the property at any given time (some even flown in on their own runway!). Mr. Hearst would mandate that everyone spend their days out of their rooms, enjoying either the indoor our outdoor pool, the two tennis courts, the private ocean front beach, or horseback riding throughout the property. You were really free to do whatever you wanted, as long as you made it to the dinner and nightly party. Not a bad way to live. And these guest weren't your typical set of friends; people like Walt Disney, Amadeo Giannini (the founder of Bank of America), other top name CEOs, and plenty of Hollywood's finest. Again, not a bad way to live!

Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me put a downpayment to own my first home, so I continued to head north. The windy and jagged coast line kept my hypnotized on my way up to Big Sur. Big Sur is a small little town in the woods. A friend of mine recommended that I at least spend one night there and get some good hiking in. Big Sur isn't your typical town; it is really like a bunch of "micro'towns." Each hotel/hotel has its own gas station, restaurant, and convenient store. Unfortunately, every bed in the area was filled as was every campsite. It turns out that the Concourse, a huge classic car show, is going on this weekend in Pebble Peach. So, I drove into the night to find a town with a vacancy. Eventually, I came across a hotel with one bed left; while it was a little over priced, I couldn't continue to drive much longer. 

Day 207: Sausalito

A good friend that I made while traveling in Vietnam, Crystal, and her boyfriend, Alex, just happened to be in San Francisco; I couldn't miss this rare and unbelievable chance to meet back up with her. I met up with them and one other friend, Caitlin, at a coffee joint.

Crystal and I spent part of the day exploring San Francisco. We walked around in Golden Gate Park, which is a beautiful massive park, similar to that of Central Park in Manhattan. We spent most of our time reliving our own travel experiences since Vietnam. It seems like yesterday Crystal, Boyd, and I payed some local to drop us off on an island in Ha Long Bay in the middle of the night.

We then made our way to China Town; not quite like the China I remember! We explored the whole area and then made our way up to Coit Tower. 

The tower is on Telegraph Hill, which boasts an amazing view of the city. San Francisco is a very hilly city, so it is hard to not only walk in this city, but also get a good view. We headed down the hill, towards the piers; the walk down was extremely long!

Unbeknownst to me, the American Cup is currently going on in San Francisco, so we made our way over to the pier where they were hosting the event to check it out. They really had a great set up on the pier, everything was really nice, yet getting in, hanging out, and watching the race was all free. We enjoyed some great local beer and watched replays of the race from earlier today on the big screens outside while we rested on the large bean bags they had layed out on the turf grass.

Afterwards, we met up with Alex at Fisherman's Wharf. Fisherman's Wharf is a pretty popular tourist destination in San Francisco, loaded with sea-based restaurants, novelty shops (ther was even a left hand only store!), and entertainers. 

While I was here, I did a tour of the USS Pampanito. The Pampanito served six tours during WWII in the Pacific. As you can imagine, the sumbarine was extremely small, I don't think I would have been of much use on this vessel!

It was getting rather late, so we only had a short amount of time to walk around and enjoy a sourdough bowl of clam chowder!

We headed into town and met back up with Caitlin for a great Thai dinner. After dinner, I made the drive across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. One thing about the US that is very different from the rest of the world is finding a place to sleep. Outside of the US, it was extremely easy to show up in a random city, get some wifi, and find a place to stay at a popular hostel in no time. On my way to San Francisco, I called all 18 hostels and all of them were full for at least the next 5 days... I was rather shocked tof ind this out. Luckily, I was able to find a place across the Bay that had some room left. 

Day 205: Cambria

This morning, I packed up my things, hugged Wrenn and her roommates goodbye and headed off to Hearst Castle.

It was good to finally get onto Highway 101. I must admit, HWY 101, the Pacific Coast Highway, was pretty disappointing, mainly because you don't actually see the coast! I diverged onto Highway 1, where you actually drive up the coast. The California coast is oddly amazing, jagged big rocks and steep cliffs make up the sea line, its like something out of Scotland. The drive up to Hearst Castle took a lot longer than it should have, mainly because I kept pulling over to take pictures or walk around in the various State Parks that line the coast.

As I was making my way up the highway, I saw this small cool looking town and I decided to pull in for a late lunch. Once I was there, I figured I might as well call Hearst Castle to see if I had to buy a ticket in advance or something. Well I glad I called because you definitely can't just show up and walk around like I was planning to do.

I decided to stay the night in the town. I headed over to the only hostel in the town; unfortunately, they were full. The hostel was run out of an older lady's house; luckily, she let me put up my tent in the backyard for a small fee.

I explored the town during the small bit of sunlight I had, and popped into a small wine distributor and did a little wine tasting. Afterwards, I headed over to the local grocery store and grabbed some dinner and food for the days to come.

Day 208: Fairfield

Not in order!! Check day!

This morning, I spent some time updating my blog; definitely not enough time though. As you can tell, I am very far behind on my blog; it is not because I am lazy, only because all of my days are jam packed with activities!

So, I had to stay in Sausalito until noon because of some run that was taking place across the Golden Gate Bridge. Last night at dinner, I gave my number to Caitlin and we were supposed to meet up and explore San Francisco and then I was going to crash on her couch, spending one more night in SF. Well, I had not heard from her yet, so I figured I have her the wrong number; Crystal and Alex we on some all day hike, so I was not able to get in touch with them either... I went into San Francisco anyway and hung out for the day by the piers. Since we were pretty strained on time yesterday at the piers, I took my time and relaxed. I watch one of the races from the American Cup and then headed back to Fisherman's Wharf.

By around 6pm, I still had not heard from Caitlin, so I decided to head north, next stop Napa Valley. Well, a place to sleep in Napa is extremely expensive, so I opted for the nearby town of Fairfield and dived into probably America's only smoking hotel room still legally left standing. Saving the extra $10 was probably not worth the rancid odor.

Day 204: Los Angeles, West Hollywood

Since Wrenn is hard at work, I'm off on my own in the hectic town. I ended up eating breakfast at this really good place called Griddle Cafe, not realizing it is a rather popular place in Hollywood; I enjoyed their famous French Toast.

Once I got done, I drove down Hollywood Blvd to see what was there was to see. I just so happened to stumble upon the Chinese Theatre. I figured that I might as well find a parking spot and explore the area. Personally, I feel its kinda over rated. A lot of people dressed up in old faded popular costumes like Batman and Spiderman. 

The street outside the Chinese Theatre was under construction, so I got a good view of the area from far away. As you can imagine there is a lot of Hollywood related stuff in the area, but it is really just a bunch of novelty related shops... mainly foreigners.

After I got done, I met up with an old friend from Switzerland, Camille, at Griffith Park. We made our way up to Griffith Observatory. 

The museum is really cool, explains a lot about space and the Earth, but has very simplistic interactive displays that can make learning fun! Outside of the museum, we got a great view of LA; instead of playing "Where's Waldo?" we played "Wheres downtown LA?" the smog is unbelievable.

Camille works at Universal Studios, so we grabbed some lunch and then headed to Universal. The Universal Studios is like a whole city. We made our way into CIty Walk, which is like a little town inside Universal with everything from restaurants to a skydiving tunnel.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Santa Monica Pier. It getting kinda late and the fog was rolling in, so it wasn't quite the picture perfect pier I'd seen before, but it was still nice. 

We then walked up the Pier and headed to Santa Monica Blvd. Once we got off the Pier, it was homeless people overlad. The Blvd was nice, lined with restaurants, bars, and shops. I really wanted to stop off in the Tesla showroom and check out the Silicon Valley startup's latest push in electric vehicle innovation.

Once we got done with the Blvd, we headed off to a late movie to end the night.

Day 203: Los Angeles, West Hollywood

I spent the majority of Monday hanging out with Andre. He owns his own furniture company and only opens by appointment, so he live somewhat of a work-free life, filling his time with surfing and beaching. We headed to Ocean Beach and hung out at a local dive bar for a drink. Afterwards, Andre had his afternoon appointments, so I headed off for LA.

In LA, I am meeting up with a college friend, Wrenn. She works pretty late into the night, so I swung by her office, grabbed her keys and headed to her house. Once I got settled in, her two room mates arrived and we all hung out until Wrenn got home. Wrenn and I headed to some fancy bar around midnight for drinks and to catch up. It was great to hear about her new life in LA and tell her some stories of the world. A little after midnight, this entourage of people walked in and one of the girls was wearing crazy makeup all over her face, she kinda looked like the joker. "Who is that ugly beast?" "That's Lady Gaga," Wrenn replied. Jeez, she looks like such an idiot. I definitely don't understand the Hollywood culture yet.

Day 202: San Diego

We got a slow start to the day and grabbed a flu out breakfast in San Diego, a big breakfast burrito at ???? It was so good. 

Afterwards Andre, Jessica (Andre's girlfriend), and I headed to Ocean Beach so they could compete in their volleyball games. The level of volleyball intensity is kinda weird out here. It's like an entire sub-culture out here. The beach is loaded with nets, the age varies from kids to adults, and the skill varies from drunken fun to serious advanced. People are out here cheering, keeping score, and just watching. The balconies of the houses/apartments on the beach are even full of spectators. What have I just stepped into? 

After the first game, Andre's back started to hurt, so I stepped in for him. We had a rag tag team with most of the people replacing the actual players. Even though we lost, it was still a lot of fun! We hung out on the beach for a bit and then headed to one of Andre and Jessica's friend's house that was close by. We hung out there for the afternoon, then made our way to a slamming burger joint; I enjoyed another good American meal!

Later that day, we made our way back to Andre's house. From all the sun and fun, I called it an early night.

Day 201: San Diego

Day one in San Diego, time to do it right! We grabbed some mega burritos for lunch. Have an American sized meal: check!

I then headed off to do my own thing for a little. I mailed my heavy winter stuff and some gifts home, got a haircut, and bought some camping supplies. After that, I met up with Andre and his friends at Pacific Beach. I enjoyed an afternoon of Bocce Ball with a new group of friends. 

Afterwards we headed to one of their houses that was close by, spending the afternoon playing drinking games in the front yard and grilling up some hamburgers and hot dogs (what they would consider a barbecue). 

Later that night, Andre and I headed back to his place. We grabbed some dinner and just hung out at his place for the night. 

Day 200: San Diego

I woke up very early by a call from AA saying that the flight was full and I had to catch the 6:30pm flight out of Miami, so I enjoyed a good slumber through the morning.

I then made my way to the airport and waited all afternoon for my flight. I spent some time at the Corona Beach bar kicking back an $8 beer, enjoying the ease of communicating with my friends.

The flight was delayed a little over an hour, so I got into San Diego around 10:30pm and then made my way to the rental car company, all the while, Andre, a friend I made in Bali, Indonesia who I am staying with, is texting me wondering where I am and that they are trying to go to the bars. I get to the rental company and the tell me I have to us a credit card to rent the car or I have to have my exit flight booked to use a debit card. Well, I'm 24 I barely have a credit cad with a $1000 limit, so I sat down, charged my dead phone and searched. I got my flight booked up by around 11, got my car and was on my way. Was a pain in the past two days have been, but now I'm here and I'm free! It was a bit nerve wrecking driving a car at first; the last time I was behind a wheel was in Morocco around 8 months ago. I finally got to Andre's house; now it's time to find a parking spot. About 30 minutes later I found a spot 9 blocks away. I got to Andre's a little after midnight. I just waited for him at his place since he told me he'd be back in a little under an hour. 

It was great to see him after about two months since Bali. It's crazy, I knew him for less than a day and he has opened up his home and his life to me for as long as I want. Now you see how fast you can become good friends when backpacking. Lets put it in perspective. Say you go have lunch with a friend from out of town and his friend. After lunch you hang out for a couple hours. Would you open up your home to your friend's friend, who you don't know, two months later? Probably not. But in this scenario, we are already great friends. 

Dy 199: Miami

I had a rally early start to the day as I made my way to catch my American Airlines flight from Sucre, Bolivia to San Diego, USA. It's weird to think that in 7 hours I will be on US soil; it's been 199 days!! All the normalities and comforts of home have been forgotten and I will almost have to re-learn a lot of things. Being gone for that long, I have also missed out on a lot of things, new trends and what not. People would ask me questions like, "Did you watch the NBA finals?! How could you miss them?" Yea sorry, I was trying not to get myself killed in a volcano. "Did you party for St. Patrick's Day/Valentine's Day/ Cinco de Mayo??!" You mean all American made up holidays? No, they are no celebrating Cinco de Mayo on the middle of nowhere China.

So many things are going to be odd for me: clean public bathrooms (compared to what I have been using), Internet almost everywhere, driving a car (that will be scary), and speaking English all the time. 

So, am I ready to come back to the States. I'd say the answer is a biased yes. If I was in Bolivia and still had a couple months worth of travel, I wouldn't even be thinking of the US, I'd be dreaming of the jungles of Peru or Colombia. However, the US is on my mind, who lives in California? how long can I spend in each place? what should I see along the way... I was always anxious to the to the next country, and now that country is home, so I'm ready to get back. Now how soon before I'm ready to leave the States again? Well that's a whole nother question...

The plane ride was rather boring. Now that I'm back on a US airliners, there's no real food, no TVs in the back of my headset, crappy seats, and a staff that complains at every request. I went from watching new movie releases to some crummy NBC programs; I wonder how much NBC paid AA to be the sole provider of entertainment on their flights??

As we fly over Miami, I knew I was in the States. Highways stretch across the vast landscape, uniform suburban neighborhoods, schools with amply athletic fields (real football and baseball!), and nice houses at every turn. I exited the plane and gave a not so serious thank you to the staff, the first time I have exited a plane and not said thank you in a foreign language; that felt good. I made my way to immigrations and for once, headed over to the local's line. Quickly made my way through the line, then, "sir, you passport has been flagged. Just wait here and someone will be right over to clear this up." I couldn't help but laugh a little because I felt that something like this would happen. I was escorted to some holding room with a couple other foreigners and waited, and waited, and waited. After about a hour, my questioning began. This young guy, probably around my age, started to ask me everything, where have you been, how long in each country, how much money did you spend... Before answering the question about money, I asked him what was going on. He said that a black man with the name William Bailey was wanted by immigrations, since I have the same name, I have to go through these questions. About 30 minutes later they started questioning me about the Middle East. This is what I feel like they were really questioning me for. "Why did you go there? How long were you there? Give me a day to day description of what you did in Egypt. Did you make friends with Islamic locals? Where you scared? Why were you not scared? What religion are you? So you are a practicing Christian? Why are you Christian but don't practice? Did you participate in the protests in Cairo? Why were you not scared? Ok sit down." This went on for about a hour. By this time, I had already missed my flight to San Diego. 

AA put me on standby for the 5am flight tomorrow morning and recommended a hotel. Since I was stuck with TSA not AA I had to pay for my nights sleep. The US sure does know how to welcome its citizens back home after a long trip.

I didn't really do much with the rest of the day (it's around 7pm now). I got settled into my hostel, grabbed some food from the gas station, pulled out some US bills from the ATM (it was weird seeing that for the first time in 8 months) and grabbed some dinner at a Cuban restaurant. 

Even though I'm in the US, I feel like I'm still in South America. Everyone speaks Spanish. The TSA would ask me a question and then consult each other in Spanish, my waitress spoke very little English, and the staff at the hotel also spoke Spanish. 

I enjoyed a long hot shower and a comfy be to sleep in.  

South America Wrap Up

Well South America was rather hard to navigate since I know very little Spanish. A good amount of the backpackers are either from South America or Spain; I also met a good amount of US Spanish teachers who were taking some form of a sabbatical in South America. So for someone who's knowledge of Spanish stems only from three semesters in high school, I was a little out of my element. Of course there were tourists who were like me or couldn't even speak Spanish, we would tend to stick together, combining all of our terrible Spanish in an attempt to get by.

I'll be honest, (aside from hunting) I would have liked to just go ahead to Bolivia. I spent my time in Argentina and Chile mainly in transit/resting; aside from Mendoza, I didn't really do much. However, I not losing sleep over it, I enjoyed my time in SA and was happy to see the places that I saw.

Bolivia Wrap Up

Alright, so I have finally completed my amazing trip in Bolivia. Even though it may not seem like it, main because backpacking in Western Bolivian is pretty cold and miserable, but I really liked Bolivia. The main reason why I liked Bolivia was because it was everything that I expected South America to be: old, traditional, poor, and run by an unfavorable form of government.

A lot of people would say that they think Bolivians are rude, I didn't really see too much of it; other than the ordinary rudeness that you come across day-to-day.

I started my venture in Bolivia in the south and made my way north. Bolivia is basically split right down the middle; to the west is the high elevated Andes Mountains, to the east is the blistering hot Amazon. I spent all of my time in the west; while yes it was a bit miserable, it was worth it. The landscapes are unlike anything you can even imagine; you will want to take a picture at every turn.

Speaking of turns, Bolivian bus drivers are crazy. All of the long bus rides (at least in the west) are during the night, and bus drivers are notorious for drinking and driving at night. There are signs everywhere that say something like don't drink and drive, showing pictures of crashed busses. There are also crosses and burial sites all along the highways where vehicles have crashed. The main reason for all the crashes, aside from the drunk driving, is that Bolivians are madmen behind the wheel. Its almost like the harder it is to pass a person, the better. We would be coming across to a sharp bend to the left and now its time to pass... I don't understand it..

La Paz was my favorite city in Bolivia, there was so much fun stuff to do. I really took a liking to downhill biking; however, I was always deadly sore afterwards, it so much fun. I will say that I can't do it on a daily basis, mainly because I could hardly move afterwards. It took several days for me to recover from the circuit.

One of my favorite things about Bolivia is all of the large women wearing the traditional attire; I really liked seeing that the Bolivians are still rooted in their ancient culture.

One odd thing that I found pretty funny in Bolivia is the advertising. In a lot of the commercials and poster advertisements there are females that are barely dressed. For example, there was a commercial for a furniture store and walking all through the furniture store, laying on the couch, chairs and tables, was a girl wearing a thong bikini. I don't really understand it, nor do I mind it!

While there are a lot of beautiful things in Bolivia, there are some rather not so beautiful things. The country is rather dirty with trash lining the streets and there are tons of wild dogs roaming the streets, sleeping in garbage and sleeping in trash piles for warmth; its a pretty sad sight.

All-in-all, Bolivia was great

Day 198: Santa Cruz

This morning, I woke up early again and got packed up before my flight to Santa Cruz. So, Bolivia has two very diverse geographies. On the left side, is the high cold Andes, on the right is the hot humid Amazon; in the middle is Santa Cruz.

Once I got backed up, I headed to the airport to catch my flight. My plane was a small puddle jumper with about 5 other people one it. Pretty freaky. The flight out was amazing! The city and the snow capped mountains surrounded us. However, the coming into Santa Cruz was not as beautiful. We were flopping around like a fish out of water, I was certain we were all going to die. We approached the runway and didn't slow down one bit, still tossing and turning. We landed on the runway, still at cruising speed, at an angle as if we were drifting down the runway. This past two minutes was the most scary experience I have had while traveling around the world. No lie.

Wow, it is really hot here. I showed up wearing two long sleeve shirts and a jacket; definitely need to de-layer!

I got to my hostel, relaxed off the near death experience and explored the area. There isn't much to see in Santa Cruz, it is just used as a jumping off point to either side of the country or into or out of the country. For some reason, Bolivia's largest international airport is in Santa Cruz, not the capital, or the most popular tourist destination.. Santa Cruz. Like a lot in this country, I don't understand it.

Santa Cruz loves their chicken, I was unable to find anything but chicken restaurants. I had a very sketchy chicken sandwich. After doing some exploring and grabbing some "lunch," I headed back to the hostel. I didn't really do much today aside from write my blog which I am over a week behind in. Sorry about that. 

I have an early flight out of here tomorrow morning to Miami, then to San Diego. I have allotted myself one month to make my way from San Diego, California to Seattle, Washington. I have never been further west than Las Vegas, Nevada (if that even counts), so I am very excited to see the other side of my country

Day 197: La Paz

So, I got up really early and got to Gravity Assisted's warehouse at 6am because this is what the lady at their office told me to do. Marcus was a little confused as to why I was over an hour early! Wow, I was pissed, I could have definitely gotten some MUCH need sleep eye, instead, I am just walking around in their warehouse for an hour. Eventually, we pick up the other guy that is going on the trip, an Australian who was actually on my Death Road tour; what are the odds?? We stopped off and grabbed some breakfast then headed off to begin our circuit for Size Matters.

We started off at 16,710ft above sea level and we were going to end in about 4-5 hours at 3,000ft above sea level. So yeah, quite a drop in a short amount of time. We started off at an old ski slope that has been abandoned because the glacier has melted away twenty years earlier than predicted. I was so excited to get started, my heart was racing!

This was a much more advanced course than Death Road; Marcus was always stopping and teaching how to approach the obstacles ahead. At one section, I couldn't even see where the ground was in front of me because the hill was so steep. While some parts were a bit scary, I never had a problem.

We eventually dropped from ice capped mountains to green filled valleys. It was so amazing! At one point the mountains almost surrounding us and the clouds were covering just the top of the mountains, so it was almost like we had a roof over us. This one view was arguably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!

We stopped for lunch at the the local soccer field and had lunch. Since today is Bolivia's National Day, there was a big celebration going on and all the locals were out having fun. It was such a great midway stop for our trip.

After lunch was over, my arms became extremely sore. The downhill bumpy ride, became worse and worse on my body. luckily, before I knew it, the circuit was over. Man, It felt so gratifying to have completed that circuit! Once we got done with out celebratory beer and got piled into the van, Marcus told us he had a surprise waiting for us; we are riding into La Paz. Wow, I can't wait!

http://youtu.be/dV3mN3SO6N4

We got set up right on the outskirts of La Paz and headed in, using the speed bumps as a chance to grab some good air! I could not think of a better way to end our circuit and I definitely couldn't think of any other way to end my trip in Bolivia, or for that matter, outside of the US. Once we got into town, we loaded up the bikes and made our way back to the Gravity Assisted warehouse to exchange photos and stories.

Later that night, I headed back to my hostel. To explain how exhausted and sore I was, I slept in the bed with all my clean clothes, too lazy to push them into my locker.