Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Quietest room in the world

12 Sips to Glory

A short documentary about an orange soda enthusiast.

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Rotten meat in Venezuela

I don't know how Maduro is able to stay in power.

Sunday, October 21, 2018

Ugly new Audi




Friday, October 19, 2018

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Three birds with one stone


Three of the four counties I still need to visit (Trinity, Modoc, Lassen) are in extreme northern California. Originally, I thought I would visit them by visiting their county seats. Weaverville for Trinity (to the west of Redding), Alturas for Modoc (to the northeast of Adin), and Susanville for Lassen (to the southeast of Adin).

I intend to take these trips with my toddler son, and keeping him in the car for that long is not fun. So I've changed my route. I'll just step over the border and head back. No need to visit the county seats. I would save a lot of time taking this "shortcut".

So for Trinity, the border is just over the first D in Redding on the map.

For Modoc, Adin is right on the border.

And best of all, in order to reach Adin, I have to drive through Lassen County!

Huell Howser visited the 5 corners of California

I am on another Huell Howser kick. He was a TV personality who visited every obscure place in California over two decades. While doing research for my road trips, I found videos of him visiting the five corners of the state.

1. Northeast corner in Modoc County. It's on a lava field bed.


2. Northwest corner. On the beach next to Oregon.


3. Tahoe corner. On Lake Tahoe.


4. Southeast corner. Along the Colorado River next to Mexico and Yuma, Arizona.


5. Southwest corner. On the beach next to Mexico.




Monday, October 15, 2018

Irish Republican Army sign

Remember when the world just worried about the IRA, Basque separatists, and the PLO?


Sunday, October 14, 2018

I visited three counties today

I had yet to visit seven counties in California. Yesterday, I decided to visit the three closest counties today with my son. This was my route.


I got gas at a tiny town called Knight's Landing. That Bank of America logo was from 1980-98. I was also trying to change my son's diaper at the gas station, but a bunch of sketchy people were milling about so I got out of town ASAP. I was going to have to change him somewhere else.


Just across the border of Knight's Landing was Sutter County. I was on my way to the Sikh Temple in Yuba City. 20% of the population there is Sikh. Along the way, I spotted this Nissan Axxess! It was only sold as a 1990 model (18,000+ were sold). When I took auto shop in high school, Nissan corporate donated a new Axxess and a new Sentra for us to tear apart.


We finally ended up at the Sikh Temple. Once I entered the gate, I felt safe again. It was like a refuge. Whenever I am in the rural American backcountry and afraid for my safety, I always have a sense of relief when I see other minorities. There was a playground adjacent to the temple, where children played. The parents there welcomed us. The park was donated by a Sikh-owned trucking company. There are over 150,000 Sikh truck drivers in America now.


We stopped by at a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. The homemade salsa was perfect.


Next stop, Marysville. Confusingly, Yuba City is in Sutter County and Marysville (across the river from Yuba City) is in Yuba County. There used to be a large Chinese population there and there is still a Chinatown.


The building to the left is a synagogue.


Next stop, Oroville in Butte County. Oroville is famous for its dam, which is the tallest in America. During recent rainstorms, the dam was badly damaged and the town was temporarily evacuated. You can see the giant cranes in the background repairing the dam.


Like Marysville, there was a Chinese community in Oroville as well.


The trip was a success. The boy and I had a blast. Now, we have to visit Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, and Alpine Counties. B said if I visit Alpine, I can grab a Basque meal with him across the border in Nevada.

Eating the Globe: Kenya

I'm running out of local restaurants and I am getting desperate. I ordered some Kenyan potato chips online. It cost over $10 and tasted like spicy tree bark. I threw it away after a few bites.





Countries tried so far:
Africa: Algeria, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Zimbabwe
Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
Europe: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine
North America: Belize, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela
Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

211mph in a Jetta

Traveling hair stylist in rural Russia

If I'm not researching the Darien Gap, I'm researching the Russian Far East.

Monday, October 08, 2018

Visiting the last seven counties of California

California is a large state with 58 counties. Through the decades of living here, I have visited 51 counties. I have seven to go. I used Route XL to figure out the shortest route.

The counties left are Sutter, Yuba, Butte, Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, and Alpine.


If I was really ambitious, I can do it in two days.


Saving the planet with rotor sails

Cargo ships pollute a lot. Here is a simple (partial) solution.

Dokdo belongs to Korea

As far as East Asian propaganda goes, the visual graphics are top notch.

Wednesday, October 03, 2018

I'm bidding on this 1993 Toyota Century


Here is the auction. So far, I am competing with someone called "SuperCarnitas" and "2018trackhawk".

In a genius marketing move, the car was recently featured by Jay Leno.