It's Time To Move On - A BugsOnMyFace Global Sidecar Adventure

Hey guys,
Your ride reports are among my favorites. I always feel like I'm reading something posted by some old friends. It's amazing how a few poignant words and some beautiful photos can just draw you in... I wish you guys the best of luck in your travels!

So sorry for your loss but..... I've always found something incredible comes from every loss in life. This is an amazing trip so far and I'm sure it will only get more amazing. Travel safe and continue to celebrate life !! ( and thank you so much for letting me tag along !! )

All the best for your trip!

Great photos and RR!

travel safe and enjoy your time!
this is probably the best idea to honor him

Thos are some gorgeous photos and a sweet hack build! If you will be passing though Washington DC, give me a holler. My wife and I would love to meet you guys.

If you end up coming through upstate SC (greenville) area let me know. would be happy to put you up for the night and feed you!

WOW, Really great pics of NYC and the 911 memoral.I'm like you NYC is something I want to see,But live there NO!.

Good Luck in your travels, And yea, every place you go with that rig is gonna create a stir.

I'm going to have to go and check out your other ride report,If it's half as good as this is it'll be great.

What an amazing journey the two of you have taken upon. Its crazy how things in life change our outlook and makes us want to change the way we go about every day life. Its sad to see she lost her brother but I am happy to see you guys decided to make something positive and take on this ride of a lifetime!

Later
John

The Niagra falls video is fantastic. I love the editing done to it. That mansion in the catskills is absolutely amazing!
-Tom

Guitar, maybe this http://www.travelerguitar.com/

Be safe!!

Here's another
http://www.amazon.com/Martin-Steel-String-Backpacker-Acoustic-Guitar/dp/B0002IL37Y

A buddy of mine takes one of these on just about every trip he goes on.

I'm really glad it comes off that way - that's a pretty great bit of encouragement. Thank you.

It has been a trying time but there's nothing to do but move forward. My wife is amazing in that way. Thanks for following!

Thank you - I agree that he would certainly have found doing something like this honoring.

I don't believe we'll be passing through DC again - we actually stopped through several weeks ago to see my family who had a layover while flying home to Texas. Anyway, I appreciate the offer!

We may actually be coming through your area. We're currently in Delaware but over the next couple of days we'll have a much better idea of where we're headed. I'll shoot you PM. Thank you for the offer!

I think you're right - we are finding it harder and harder to make good time due to the amount of people that surround us at every stop. I thought my beard would scare a few of them off... Thanks for following along!

I appreciate your words - we've done a bit of growing by fire over the past couple of months and although life will never be the same without him, we will certainly do our best to make the best with the time we've been given.

You are not kidding. That place in the Catskills pretty much blew my mind. And the video stuff is just fun - I'll have to make sure and continue to post the videos here as well as on our own personal blog.

Very interesting. I'm seriously considering something like this. I thought of maybe just buying a junky acoustic and strapping it on top but this would probably make more sense...

The second half of our time in NYC was a bit more civilized seeing as we were staying with Kristen's friend, Shannon. Everything was a little more shabby chic and little less frat-house.

It was all made clear when we woke up to a watercolor and Kristen's favorite yogurt and granola on the first morning.


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One of the first things we did with Shannon was wedding dress shopping. I understand this is not a wonderful thing to post about but the woman helping her really disliked Kristen and I caught a pretty funny and honest reaction.


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And so, for a couple of days, we just took in New York by stomping around with our new host.



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To whom might you contact by telephone?


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Levain Bakery will change your life. Go there. Immediately.


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Our new friends that took us out to the Queens Museum. Alone, we would have certainly been lost indefinitely to the subway system.


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Shannon and her fiance, Kellen, at an Indian food restaurant that turned out to be one of the most insane meals of my life. Four restaurants were clumped together in one building leaving the hosts from each to attack any possible customers and physically shove them into their establishment. With chili christmas lights covering the entire restaurant we eventually found ourselves in, our waiter ended up eating food off of my plate, I may have permanently lost my hearing due to a speaker blaring Indian music right next to my ear, and somehow the entire restaurant thought it was my birthday and chaos ensued. Awesome.


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We woke up the day before Halloween to a strange cold, wet, white substance falling from the sky.



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We took advantage even though we were ill-equipped to do so:


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I have to say that we were pretty stoked to get to see the city covered in snow. Check another thing off the list.

Next up: Halloween in NYC.​

The only other time I had experienced Halloween in a big city was in Austin, on 6th street, when I was in college. NYC was a completely different animal. We headed down to the annual parade in the Village with our cameras in hand and spent the next 6 hours photographing the mayhem. 80,000 people in 16 blocks all along 6th avenue. Just epic.



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This guy (the Black Swan) was casually standing off to himself with nobody noticing him until we walked up. Kristen began giving him directions to pose in different way until she finally said, "I'm taking video! Give me a swirl!" which resulted in some pretty creepy video and an odd photo. Wow.


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We loved seeing costumed people doing normal things.


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I find it really funny that despite the 80,000 people crammed into a few narrow streets, a construction crew managed to take up the leftover space right in the middle of it all.


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We eventually made our way to Grand Central Station, but not before I got us lost and we ended up in the Bronx.


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I had this piece of pizza, called the Kraken, which ultimately tore my stomach apart. The name should have tipped me off.


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And finally, we made it back on to the subway to go to Shannon's apartment. But not before we had a few more photo opportunities.


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Yes. We wore gnome hats. I know, I know...


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And finally, my favorite shot of the whole night. Thank you, Chewbaca, for taunting me from the subway car in front of us.


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We barely made it back before crashing. Hard.


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Our time in NYC was now complete. Without friends to put us up, we could have never financially stayed as long as we did. Many thanks to these 2 folks...


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We headed out of the city the next day...


...with no idea of the hassle we were about to go through. We hadn't taken into consideration just how bad the power outages were to the north. And so we headed up the cost and into Connecticut before realizing that we were not going to be finding any accommodation anywhere north of the New York City. Many families had flooded south in search of a warm room due to their homes being without power. With the sun setting, we backtracked 6 hours, past NYC, before finding a room in Pennsylvania. And it was 28 degrees outside. My wife is a trooper.

Next up: Philadelphia then back Claude Stanley's shop for new shocks!​

Subscribed!!!! Really inspiring trip you guys are doing. Hope the best for u, God be with you and I wish you enjoy every single day of your trip.

Superb photography and narrative. Thank you very much

Cheers,


Dickyb

New shocks? Testing the off road prows already?
-Tom

Very brave souls, if you're ever through central Iowa, you have a place to stay and you can ride your urals twin.

Great report. Love the photos from NYC.

Get on with it!

+ 1


Great RR guys!

My family met you both last night in the parking lot of the Newberry WM. We hope you enjoy your stay in our town. Sorry all the restaurants were closed. If you need anything while you're here, send me a DM. My garage is your garage, and I can grill with the best of 'em if you're hungry.

Travel in Peace -- but seriously, watch out for the deer!

'fooz