LAKE TAHOE WAS PRETTY NICE TOO

I don't think I've ever been to a lake that has the coloration of a tropical ocean. I also don't think I've ever been to a lake that I deemed, "too clean to urinate in". The rich folk in Lake Tahoe have a pretty nice body of water to enjoy with their butlers, maids, and for the slightly more progressive, their house boys. For all its aesthetic beauty, alas Lake Tahoe is not a perfect lake. In the middle of the summer it is still too cold to stay in for extended periods of time. On the flip side locals claim you can drink straight from it.

LAKE SHASTA WAS HEAVENLY

Julie and I spent a few days at beautiful Lake Shasta in northern California. Even though the lake was 60 feet low, it was perfect. We rented a little fishing boat and tooled around, stopping every so often to swim. The boat had no ladder or discernible method for re-entry, so Julie and I invented the "beached whale" method, which was ridiculous looking but effective. We have both been overwhelmed by the beauty of America having spent a year in what can only be termed, "The Wasteland". One of the most over the top differences was when we spotted the floating bathroom shown above in the middle of the lake. A lake is for all intensive purposes a giant toilet bowl, yet our government still allotted funds to engineer this floating relief station (actually called the "USS Relief") to keep it pristine. Julie and I saw bald eagles, owls, and not one floating turd in all our time there. Needless to say, the bodies of water near us in China were far from swimmable as raw sewage was pumped directly into them.     

HOW THIS BUILDING CHANGED MY LIFE

I almost didn't make it here. The year was 1996, and I had spent the summer living in Ocean City, New Jersey with my Grandmother. I had been accepted to Montana State but had been dragging my feet about sending in all the paperwork. After two years of community college education, I was pretty sure that higher education was a complete waste of my time. It was about this time that my cousin Scott and his girlfriend came to visit. It was his girlfriend that completed and mailed all my paperwork to enroll me at Montana State. A few weeks later I arrived in Bozeman, MT and learned that the building above, Roskie Hall, was to be my new home. I met some of my best friends in Roskie that first semester. And knowing those friends is what took me out to Jordan to pursue a career in photography thirteen years later. I think everyone should pick colleges based on geography.  

THE BEST SCOOTER FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS CAN BUY

This is my beloved scooter that I illegally drove everyday to work in China (I had no license and it was not registered). I bought it brand new for $500, and ended up putting 7105 kilometers (4415 miles) on it. In all those kilometers I never saw any police officers actively engaged in traffic enforcement. Because of that, people who drove scooters in China disregarded all traffic laws, and I excelled at breaking the law. I ran every traffic light, drove the wrong way on one way streets, and generally drove like an aggressive a-hole. When in China.    

For something made in China, my scooter was remarkably reliable. It started right up everyday even in the winter and after sitting for a month while we were in Bali. It cost $5 to fill up the tank with gas. Driving it around was one of my favorite things in China. I will miss driving like an a-hole.