Back at it (finally)

What a winter it has turned out to be!  Since this blog is now closed to the general viewing public I will spare you from a repetitive catching up of events.  Suffice to say it has been one hell of a winter and I could not have ever had predicted I would be writing on this blog again, let alone sitting in the kitchen window overlooking the pristine snow capped mountain wilderness of Southern Alaska! 

From Italy to Southeast Asia, back to Italy for a few weeks before the next chapter is writ, it has been a tough journey for me.  From the difficult feelings of abandonment by the job in Italy, the confusion of not knowing whats next, to the excitement of adventure by bike with someone close to me, from the struggles therein with a bike journey across 3.25 countries and 2600+ kilometers (or Kilos as they are known to me and the missus) to the triumphs and laughter as well, from a difficult two weeks saying goodbye when I just did not feel ready, to a visit on American soil with good friends, to the lonely travels north to where I must live and work for the next 6 month this has been one of the most exciting and emotionally charged few months of my adult life.

Today I went for a tough ride in a strange and amazing part of the world and all that excitement and emotion came rushing out at the top of a mountain pass, roughly 3000 feet above the tiny sea-level town I will call home for the next 6 months.  I pulled over at the summit of White Pass and cried, for all that has been, for the promise of what is to come, for the beauty I feel I have lost and the beauty I felt surrounded by.  An amazing day that makes me feel like getting through this will only make me so much stronger for whatever is next.

Stay tuned for more, hopefully a post or two in Italian as I keep up with my lessons alone, and for more amazing pictures from Skagway, Alaska (which I still say with a sigh).

Most of all THANK YOU so much to all my friends for seeing me through tough transitions and celebrations alike.  I would not feel capable of doing this without the lovely thought of seeing you all again very soon.

ciao for now,
(Yukon) Scotito

Juneau Airport layover

  

My Reading Room and sleeping arrangements for the night

"Italian" all the way in Alaska...I think they mean Giovanni's

ferry boat ride the next morning up the "inside passage" to Skagway.  Did I mention you cannot drive to this town?

Inside passage

First Impressions (sigh)

first impressions indeed.  I dragged two bags strapped together, and a bike box about a mile to the house through deserted streets.

the kids call it the point

 

the view from my window

and then a bike ride today, just out of town...

and up towards White Pass, 15 miles or 24 kilo

Up into the glacier fields

and up through the trees

onto the moon like surface above tree line

past evidence of a long cold winter, that's a 3 meter high cut through the snow

to the summit.  2.5 hours of climbing, for about 20 minutes of downhill.

Loni looks COLD!

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is on the way downhill, I had to unfreeze my brakes, but the mountains in the far end of this pic are the ones out my bedroom window. 

 

 

 

 

 

2013...yes or no....

Should I restart this thing?  I mean I have some pictures to share, and the list of animals I have seen in the wild in 2013 alone is a staggering truth.  But In Alaska?  Should I record my thoughts?  What if someone wants to use them against me, if someone wants to make knee jerk decisions to the words here, someone with a position of power?  Are these not hallowed places for me to voice my opinion?  Do I not have the freedom of speech and press?  Questions questions questions......

all a big maybe....

S

OK, Maybe Just One More Post...

 FULL MOON MADNESS MIDNIGHT RAMBLE #4

If you missed the last three its because... well the last one, number 3 sucked!  I was in the throes of some dark depression, instructed to stay off my bike while my nerves healed, basically just a cold walk around town that ended feeling shitty.  Number 2... Well I think that was in Marche...  And number 1 was basically a ride around the local countryside after too many drinks at the Clan.  if I remember at all only Ms. Meerighrigri (or however you spell it) turned out because it had turned cold...

Only the STRONG will survive!  Well ok, thats not particularly true, and you certainly dont need to be strong in the classic sense to make the FMMMR rides, although being slightly "off kilter" helps.  You just need a bike, the will, some dirty jokes are helpful but not necessary, a flask helps with the cold, and this month... a sleeping bag and some warm clothes cause we aint coming back!

Dont tell anyone I camp here, its super illegal and my visa is expired...

Olmi Olmatello

after a 80k ride during the day, and the ride up over dressed, just a little vin brulee is all I needed to stay warm.

Faenza below...this is about as good as another night at the Clan looks...same same

sunrise in the mariner pines

moon setting

cafe? Si!

Olmi still partying...that guy just doesnt know when to quit!

woke to a day warm enough to forgo gloves!

note the mud trapped under Loni's front fender

More adevntures to come.... stay tuned for the new blog location...
S.

AUGURI! BOUN FESTE!! e Ciao.

So its the day after the day after christmas here in It-Lee and Im still rolling around in the post traumatic binge eating coma.  Seriously!  Between waking up at 7 yesterday hungry enough to make an american breakfast, then doing not much besides a movie, a short card game and an even shorter bet pay off, dancing around in pj's all day and ending it with a one hour "80 crazy cat moments" compilation on YouTube before I guilted myself into town to see some friends, yesterday was the perfect refreshing end to the first half of the winter.  Today I woke up feeling like posting a wrap up in photos on the blog, recapping the past few months and sharing the excitement for the next few months ahead with pictures.  Problem was, when I scanned through the couple hundred images or so all I could find was pictures of me and food!  Much worse, Im usually wearing the same friggen outfit so it appears that I have been doing NOTHING but moping around the house in coffee stained sweatpants making and eating delicious food from scratch. 

ok, so it hasnt ALL been italian cuisine

buttered walnut cookie molds

tis the season for rabbit... unless you are a rabbit I guess

chocolate salami...mmmmm

the one on the left is not for me...its for ...my...um friend...

my friends kid belly up to the sweets table spoon in hand with a heavenly glaze on his eyes

big bucket of vin brulee

another pizza nite!

had to do a little curry

double chocolate gut bomb roll cake...ok I didnt make it, but I ate it!

Not true not true I swear - and the scale can vouch for me.  Like a supreme idiot, I got on it yesterday and was surprised to see less than the end of summer!  Something about the food here man...but I digress.... There have been bike rides in the fog and cold winter wet air, there have been concerts with friends, and record release parties, there have been a ton of trips digging through junk shops trying to finish some christmas presents, and there has been alot of painting in the garage, hours of needed creative work, paint smeared hands, a camp stove and a coffee pot, a piss bottle and some punkrock tunes.  And of course, a week or so ago, SNOW!

 
This closing of the year has been the rebound I needed, and was tired of waiting for.  Life is rarely a round hole and a round peg.  We have those experiences but we rarely hang up on the times where things wen t according to plan.  It is far more common to have to roll up your sleeves and start chewing and tugging, and sawing, and filing, and rasping your way through it till you can force that friggen square peg to fit someplace it does not on the surface appear to fit.  What is it I always say..."Spit on it - it will go in!"

Its been a rough go this winter and Im super glad to have the holidays behind me.  Not to mention the Mayan Prophecies - anyone want to buy some car batteries... bottled water... how about a bow and arrow... gently used loin cloth... no?  fine.  Today feels like the second half, or maybe the 7th inning stretch (which is a baseball reference for you It-Lee'ans) or maybe just that stomach stretching moment between the third pasta and the actual main meat course, before the cheese plate and deserts.... uuuuggh!  back to food... Either way Im SUPER excited to find out what is next.  On the way home from a dinner the other night, stoned out of my gourd actually, I had myself a good laugh at a minimal thought that came to me in the main plaza after a quick look around.  I have NO IDEA what to expect in 2013!  As terrifying as that might sound to some, and indeed to the Scotito of a couple years ago it would be a horrifying thought followed by lists and calculations and solid plans.  But to me now, in december 2012, in a place so far from anywhere I ever thought I would be, in ITALY, with good friends and another dinner, with a borrowed family for the holidays, with a small tradition of my own, and most importantly on a BIKE, the thought had me almost in tears with laughter.  No matter what crazy scheme I dream up, I cannot possibly imagine what 2013 will bring me, where it will find me, what I will be doing for that little bit of money that keeps me free to travel, and the lives I will intersect with by doing so...and thats such a liberating thought.  Perhaps the freedom I have been seeking in this experience, to pay off my debts and to take life at a slower pace, to be free to go and do whatever I want to do was never actually linked to the plan I made back in early 2010.  I still have debt to deal with, and I still have a couple coins in my pocket, and I still have all my wonderfully supportive friends all over the world.  And I have had those things all along.  I have been free this whole time.  A realization that had my mind swimming as I drifted off to sleep that night.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season.  I know there are new babies in the picture, and a few in the oven as we say, there are growing families and all the joy and worry that brings.  There are shrinking worlds as we travel a little and there are experiences expanded by the simple day to day routine we all have.  I hope this message finds you all at the end of a great year, a year in which a quick look over your shoulder finds you dizzy with promises that you made to you.  I hope you are all safe and warm and surrounded by those you love.  I have a wild feeling about 2013...could be the christmas rabbit rolling around in my guts still... but Im not usually wrong about these things. 

Thanks for the love and support through this experience - I could not have done it without you, and whatever I do next, you will be there.

This is the last Blog post for Notes From the Pegboard... but dont worry... there will be another blog, with an even more appropos name, and more pictures, and less bitching, a few swear words for the kids, and a lot of love.  Thanks for coming with me these three years.  lets do it again.

Signing Out,
Scotty.