After looking at many homes in Billings, Columbus, Red Lodge, Livingston and Bozeman, I finally ended up on my little acre about 10 minutes from downtown Bozeman. In spite of all of my international travels and life in LA, I always said I am really just a ‘jeans and boots’ kind of guy – I have been here now for 3 months and feel right at home. Bozeman has a great vibe to it and I’m glad I found my way here.
I have learned a lot over the summer as I have gotten moved in to my new house. I am outside the city so I am on a septic tank and a well – both new experiences. I bought that riding lawn mower that I always wanted – and quickly realized that 1 acre is a lot of yard to take care of. But that said, I love having all of the space. And, a big bonus, I often have deer in my backyard!!
As I got settled into my place, I also started bicycling on the roads around Bozeman. I found some great places to ride – little traffic, great scenery, and, in general, pretty courteous drivers. The training was going pretty well until I crashed about 4 weeks ago and really screwed up the tendons in my left forearm. But, thankfully, time and physical therapy has me almost back to 100 percent.
So, now I find myself one month from when I shove off for the drive to LA and the subsequent flight to New Zealand. So, I wanted to get this blog up and operational again and begin to chronicle this whole adventure. I am getting excited but also apprehensive. Excited because from everything I hear, New Zealand is a spectacular place – and I’ve not been there before. Apprehensive because there will be some very long days including a couple of days with 6,000 to 7,000 feet of climbing – that’s a lot! Hopefully my legs will be up for the challenge!
I will be posting more details about the trip, the itinerary and my preparations in the coming days and weeks and will try to post regularly from the road once in New Zealand. So, come on along – here we go! But, for me, it’s off to the gym because this is what my backyard looked like this morning!
