For three days in September, during a blustery summer-fall seasonal transition, I drove south to the town of Manistee to spend precious time with my father. I brought my boards to capitalize on the forecasted North swell and perfect wind, hoping to score some surf in West Michigan’s less wave-ridden coast. Manistee is a small, blue-collar fishing town; one of the many rural American towns with a decreasing population and a pride for holding on…
Clamoring workers on fishing trawlers fill the small harbor at Lembar Port. The metallic sound of industry and boat horns fills the air as the ferry docks. The ferry’s large steel doors fall with a thud as the motorbikes and cars incessantly rev their engines incrementally louder and louder until the whistle is blown to signal their exit from the ship. Roaring into the small town, just a few kilometers south of the island’s capital,…
As the ferry docks in the small port town of Gilimanuk, crowds of motorbikes rev their engines and flood out into the main highway. As you and the other bikes pour out into the road, hot engine exhaust at your heels and kretek (clove cigarette) smoke in your face, your last glimpse of Java is the magnificent view of Mt. Raung; its smoking caldera looming like a shadow over the narrow Bali Strait behind you.…
In May 2018 my brother was set to graduate from Humboldt State University so a spring road trip from Santa Barbara to California’s Northwest coast was in order; fueled by the expectation of family time and exploration of the coastal redwoods of the Lost Coast, Avenue of the Giants, Redwood National Park, and my most northern surfing session. The drive is long, 594 miles to be exact, and full of interesting sights along the way.…