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All you need is love!

Jimmy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:43:44 +0000

I’m finding the saying “All you need is love” pretty spot on. Everything in my life right now seems to be going in every other direction then I planned other then my love life. India is proving to be one interesting place to live and “try” to start a business. I will save you all from the negativity and just say that things here in India can be challenging. But like they say “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

I love the fact that when you’re in love… nothing else really matters. All those little things that make your life difficult all seem so small and pointless in the bigger picture called “life”. The fact that just thinking of someone can bring a smile to your face and tingles to your toes is proof that the human bond is what life is all about.

So other then having tons of love love love crazy love in my life, I am dealing with the normal stuff… monkeys, crows and sidecars that ride like bucking broncos that like to break your ankles!

The Sidecar Rally is taking shape… slowly but surly. I feel that the watches here in India have extra gears in them to make things seem to take years to get anything done! I am hoping to have the first race March 28th leaving from Goa with who knows how many people… it might just be me and my pet dog Loveheart.

I have finally sorted out my house. I have a maid/cook/comic that comes everyday to bring me grief and laughter. She likes to drive me crazy always asking what she can do and talks and talks but in a language I don’t understand. She sort of babbles on and on and I just say, “yes yes”. She has planted me a garden with something in it, im not sure what it is… but it’s growing. She’s also teaching me to cook, which is kind of rough since I can’t really understand much of what she says. But that said it’s nice having her around, we make a good team. I even help her fish a dead crow out of my well.

The monkeys and crows are getting bolder and are moving in closer and closer each day. The other day I woke up to a monkey sitting on my motorcycle. The crows better watch out because in a few days I going to head into town and get some sort of gun, most likely only an air rifle… but I’ll take something bigger if they’ll give it to me.

I’m used to writing about traveling and taking photos, but right now I’m not doing either. I picked up my camera yesterday for the first time in a while. I will be heading to northern India next week for business so I might bring it to document the trip.

Here are some photos of the two things that are on my mind the most…love&sidecars!

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Looking Back

Jimmy — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:25:57 +0000

I’m not sure how you can possibly sum up a decade…. I’m having trouble trying to sum up this last year, let alone the last 10 years.

I started the 2000’s as a 21 year old boy fresh into the world without a passport and unaware of the world that surrounded me. I now find myself 10 years older and have been fortunate enough to have visited over 100 different countries and now have friends in almost every city in the world.

I’m not sure where I will be in 2020, but wherever it is I’m sure it will be great. Life is one amazing journey and I’m enjoying the ride!

I wish you all a Happy New Year….. 2010 is going to be one… awesome year!

Here are a few photos from New Years and also some photos from the ealry days of the Sidecar Rally!

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Work in Progess..

Jimmy — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:18:09 +0000

Here are some pictures of my new house in Goa. I am in the process of building a bamboo hut on the roof that will act as my office and party place. I am finding that getting workers to actually work here in India is like pulling teeth! Hopefully this will be done before 2020!

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Reality…

Jimmy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:02:59 +0000

I never thought living in India would become such an adventure and so rewarding!

The last month has flown by leaving me thinking at this rate life is going to be over fast… but i wouldn’t change this moment, this place or anything else for the world!

A friend of mine comment on my facebook saying that she believes i am living in some Motel 6 in Cleveland and stealing photos from the internet! Growing up i would have never ever guessed my life would become interesting enough for people to think i was lying or faking it…. i guess that’s a good thing. Life is good and i am 100% enjoying it…. this is my reality take it or leave it.

I have been focusing a lot of my time here on the future and success of my new project/company here in India. The Sidecar Rally is taking shape nicely. I am in the process of building/pimping the Sidecar Rally house/headquarters where i will live/work. I have also been finalizing the deals for all the Motorcycles and Sidecars, along with setting up meetings with the charities that we will be raising money for, also the small stuff like: making a website, flyers, logos, business legal stuff, bank accounts, insurance, painting the motorcycles, picking the routes, researching the routes, promotion, marketing, meeting with sponsors and the most important thing… learning how to work here in this crazy place called “India”!

The future has never looked so good! I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be one…. AWESOME year!

Here is a “Before” panoramic view from my roof top. After photos to come!

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Week 1 - India

Jimmy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:00:37 +0000

People think that living in Goa India is all beaches, sand and sun…. but there’s a lot more to this place then you would think.

Once you step a few feet off the beach you enter a whole new world. A place filled with pigs running around eating trash, cows eating trash, water buffalo doing whatever they do (which I’m still not sure what that is?) monkeys jumping from tree to tree and breaking into peoples houses to steal stuff, kids playing and local man just sitting around waiting for something to happen, and for someone to do their work for them!

I kind of feel like Ace Venture the pet detective. There are all sorts of animals wondering around my house. Last night when I came home I found a white cow in my yard eating leaves off a small tree and some stray dogs sleeping on my doorstep. Today some monkeys broke into my house and trashed my kitchen and threw my brand new masala cooking spices all over the floor, not that I ever would have actually got around to using them since I don’t know how to cook. Also as I was taking a shower a water buffalo with their normal stupid face expression stared at me through the window as I took a shower. This place is starting to grow on me in a good way. Nothing here is what we would call “normal” and I love that!

In the first week of being here I have got myself a 2-bedroom house with a kitchen, Internet, cell phone, car and one nice tan! Not bad for one week!

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Return to Paradise…yet again!

Jimmy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:42:46 +0000

Day 1 - 1:30pm

After a few flight delays (a poor old man had a heart attack and died during the flight), I finally made it to Palolem Beach Goa! My plan was to make it here right before sunset, but unfortunately due to the delays I made it here about 20 minutes after the sun went down. So after a long long night of rest, this is my first sight of the beach. I just sat down at my favorite restaurant on the beach.

“Hello Sir”… no response “Hello, what would you like to eat?”… no response “Are you ok sir?” It took me a while to realize the waiter was talking to me, I completely zoned out and got lost in the sound of the waves crashing against the shore and the way the sun light flickers of the water and the feeling of the cool ocean breeze against my face… this place is truly magical!

Even my pet cow Betsy is out enjoying the lovely weather while trying to scam a free sack from the new tourists that find it interesting to have cows on a beach.

I’m not sure if it’s the fresh earthy air here, but I woke up today feeling healthy and alive, so I decided to start my day out right with a nice workout that included the dreaded 8-minute abs!

I now just finished a somewhat healthy breakfast of Muesli, yogurt and fruit with fresh orange juice. The only thing that’s left to do now is get some much needed sun and a long walk down the beach!

Return to Paradise is now in full effect!

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Pushing Back

Jimmy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:44:04 +0000

I wrote this blog 4 days before I left Africa… so here goes.

10/29/09 Mali, Central Africa

A week and half later we are finally in real Africa… or at least what you would think Africa would look like. We have left the deserts of northern Africa and its Muslim brothers behind and now are officially in sub Sahara Africa!

West Africa is whizzing by at an alarming pace as the kilometers tick away. The smiles are getting bigger and brighter the further we push south. After spending the last 5 years traveling as an American under the Bust administration… I must say I need to send a personal shout out to Obama…. “Thank you!”

Obamamania is in full effect here in Africa. Never before has it been such a cool thing to be traveling as an American… but before I go too far, this is still only Africa… the rest of the world is still on the fence!

Tensions are running high… the group is now splitting up. Nico and Kim are going their separate way, leaving Sam, John and myself in 1 car to continue on this ever growing pointless mission.

UPDATE 11/6/09 Barcelona, Spain

After coming to grips with where this trip was headed, I finally made the decision to cut the West Africa trip short and save it for another day when the time and friends are right. It’s now time for India and some much needed good food and friendly faces! But before India I had to make a stop off in Barcelona to meet with my designer and sort out a few things before I leave for mother India.

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TIA

Jimmy — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:53:10 +0000

The sight of dead dogs and cats on the side of the road is nothing new, but a dead camel… that’s a first!

Old tires litter the side of the road. I think about those tires and the stories they must hold about how they came to rest here in the middle of nowhere. As far as the eye can see there’s nothing but sand. Every now and again I see a silhouette of a camel on the horizon. The desert heat today was intense, it felt like someone was putting a hair dryer in my face. Driving through the Sahara desert with out A/C was definitely a bad idea. I feel like god must be listening to my thoughts, as a big grey cloud has just moved in and is now giving us some relief from the suns rays.

Crossing the border from Morocco to Mauritanian proved to be an interesting 5 hour adventure. Morocco and Mauritania have all but recently been at war, so the border is filled with landmines. If driving across the 2km stretch of rocky dirt road wasn’t bad enough, the thought of landmines loomed in the back of my head. Fortunately the only major problem we had was getting stuck in the sugar sand and having to push our cars out and also beating the shit out of our cars. The actual border process was much easier on our nerves, it just ate away at our time. It took us 5 hours to get our lovely Mauritanian visas. I wont go into detail as I have no real explanation why it takes so long… but lets just say things in Africa take forever. As Leonardo Dicaprio says in the move Blood Diamond…. “TIA”….. This is Africa!

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Get me out of this desert!

Jimmy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:57:45 +0000

I feel like im stuck in the movie Ground Hog Day, where everyday is the same. The Sahara desert seems to go on forever!

These sand duns, camel signs and dead patches of desert grass all look the same, the smell of stinky dried fish and even the police check points (which are every 50km) seem the same. The policemen’s faces look the same… maybe it’s the malaria pills or maybe I’m just losing my mind.

The only major thing that has happened today that made it different from yesterday, was blowing 3 tires and getting stuck in the middle of nowhere and forced to camp without food. At least we were able to light a fire. It’s amazing how burning things can lift your spirits. I spent most of the night burning every dry bush I could uproot. I guess I am a little bit of a pyro.

The road ahead keeps unfolding like a never-ending book with a billion pages. I guess the same goes for my life… I’m just following the road in front of me, hoping it never ends… like the sun that just set off to my right.

My best investment in the past few months has been this 50-cent note pad so I can write in the back of the car. The group has been pretty quite, not a lot of talking going on. I guess after spending a week driving together for 12 hours a day… what’s really left to talk about? I am loving the free time to let my mind wonder, it brings me back to when I was a boy and had no real problems or responsibilities and I would just sit and daydream about far off distant lands. For some reason I was always fascinated about time, and how if it was 8pm in Florida and it was getting dark that somewhere else in the world some kid was just waking up for school. But with all that daydreaming I still never ever dreamed that I would make it to all those places.

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Back to Basics

Jimmy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:38:36 +0000

It’s been months since I have been able to get inside my head. The constant distractions and lack of free time “me time” have left me at odds with myself. I have neglected my best friend in the world… me!

The vast African continent and its never ending dirt roads have given me back the most precious thing in the world… the time to get inside my head and think and look at this crazy world from the outside. It’s easy to get sucked into the chaos we call “life”.

We have all been taking malaria pills for the last 2 weeks, and I think they are making us all crazy! One of the common side effects is wild dreams… my dreams have not necessarily been wild, but just recurring ones centered around Barcelona. They feel more like visions of the future rather then dreams… I now only wish I could see the winning lottery numbers.

My days have been filled with endless driving, hunger, lack of water and the constant search for directions, food and a place to sleep. We haven’t been making too many stops, as there is just too much freaking ground to cover in such a short period.

About the cars… well I guess you could call us “African Overlanders”. The term pretty much means someone that drives long distances overland. It’s funny when you see other overlanders in their big Land Cruisers/Land Rovers with their fancy GPS units, massive tires and extra gas tanks on the roof. It’s hard not to laugh at how under prepared and ill equipped we are.

Two things are either going to happen.

1) We breakdown or get to a place where we cant go any further because our cars were just not built for it.

2) We make it all the way and realize in the end you don’t always need the biggest and most expensive toys to have fun!

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