There and Back Again

It started a year ago about this time of year. My brother Doug, myself, and Dad planned out a short trip down to Kentucky to enjoy the Shawneetown Rally. It didn't take long for me to get hooked. From the first days of me owning my 2009 Harley Street Bob I dreamed of going on adventures with only my motorbike and some friends. I haven't traveled much in my 35 years, and I've never been further west in the U.S. than Illinois.

With all that said, the first time I pitched the idea to Doug and Dad about a much longer trip I think they thought I'd lost it. It took some time for them to open up to the idea. Many times during the winter we'd talk about a summer trip, but mostly during tough times when we needed a moment of levity. It's only been in the last few weeks that we've really talked about it seriously, at least serious enough to sit down with an atlas to plan out some sort of route.

So now I find myself less than 24 hours away from kicking off the trip with the furthest point away from home being San Diego, California. The goal is simple; two pictures, with one being of me, my bike, and the pacific ocean and the other being of me in the pacific. The sights that we will see along the way will be amazing, the stories that result will be epic and shared for years to come. Tomorrow the trip begins at 7am, and for some reason beyond my understanding we'll be leaving from the parking lot of the Portage K-Mart.

We plan on camping out at least once during the trip, so yesterday Kari helped me pick out my tent, mattress, and odds and ends I'll need along the way.

Inspired by movies by Jesse James and Ewan Mcgregor we begin our journey. I tested my bags during my trip to Grand Rapids earlier this month, so I'm as ready as I can be I suppose. I plan on updating on a regular basis along the way both here on the blog and on Facebook. I have a 4gb memory card that I intend to fill with pictures and experiences. I hope you'll join me on my adventure,

Our day one goal will to travel from Portage, Indiana to Springfield, Misouri.

Summer Plans

The summer of 2010 is pretty intimidating when I think of all of the things we have planned. I'm really not sure how all of it's going to get done! Here's a brief version of the TO DO list:

• Going to Wisconsin Dell's with the Lady Warriors
• Working both the Porter County and Lake County Fairs (11 days a piece!)
  
• Family trip to Georgia
• Motorcycle road trip
• Basketball camps galore!
• Softball umpiring
• Kid's baseball season
• June 21-25 Calumet New Tech Training in Indianapolis, IN
  

So, here I was on a Sunday morning when it struck me that my time on Facebook book and a direct connection to the premature death of my little corner of the blogging world. Well, we Nelson's often lovingly consider ourselves too stupid to stop when it comes to the persistence side of things. That being said, it's going to be my personal mission to get my Amazing Nelson Adventure blog back up and running! There's way to many cool things that happen to us without getting a chance to share it with the friends and family that we've attached ourselves to along the way!

Whoa Baby!

Rather than trying to go on and on about how busy we've been I thought it better to get right to work. I've been a bad, bad person when it comes to updating the blog lately, so it's time to get back at it. Basketball season is now full underway and we've managed to be horrible and 3-1 all at the same time. It's a gift that I've passed along to my athletes, no doubt about it. Santa and Christmas has been the theme around the Nelson household for a while, Kari went as far to buy our first "real" Christmas tree. I'll have to get a picture of it, she did a real nice job. We have one more week of school before Christmas break, and if you ask me it isn't coming a moment too soon. :)

Jaecy's Birthday cake in November. Happy B-DAY!!

Jayden's New Fancy Wheelchair. If you look close his name is stitched on it!

Jayden in the new ride!

Jayden working with his walker aid.