across the country on a vespa with a 360-degree camera
A large part of Paez’s work toward realizing a dream has yet to be accomplished. A trek across the country can only get you so far
Thanks for the reminder…
I filmed this interview with WCSH in Portland, Maine just in time for the rain to really pick up for my drive down to the Boston airport.
by the numbers…
3,880 miles traveled
10 mostly clean hotel rooms
3 terrifying rainstorms
36°F lowest temperature
16 million pixels in every frame of video
16 hours of driving on the longest day
$249.63 of premium gasoline
Day 11: WE MADE IT!!
Anonymous: was your programming the video unit very difficult and when can we expect to get a sample of your incredible endeaver ?
Programming the camera rig was quite challenging. When I get home I plan to make a video that describes the application and process to fill in anyone that is interested.
I have had many requests to see some of the footage. It will likely take me a few weeks to get a sample online. I still don’t have my pipeline for producing the footage setup and that is going to take some programming and effort. I have literally terabytes of footage to sort through. In many ways my journey has just begun. I will definitely post a sample as soon as I can. Thanks for following.
The Canadian highway patrol pulled Pucho and I over to see if we had a license to look that good. Naturally, I told him yes and then tried to steal his bike. I Love Canadians!!!
Day 10: Every night I sift through bags of plugs to arrange the array of chargers and data transfer gear that keeps me running. Unfortunately, last night I fell asleep in the midst of my ritual and forgot to plug in two key battery packs. I will have to be economical in my battery usage.
Yesterday, was beautiful traveling along the northern border of upstate New York and then swinging across a terrifying grated bridge that had my 10” tires swerving back and forth into Canada. From there it was a long zip up a freeway to finally land in Montreal around 5pm. I had some camera trouble last night as I tried to capture the Basilica de Notre Dame and the plaza in front of it. A switch on the network router had been inadvertently flipped and all settings were lost so I had to spend 20 minutes restoring with a laptop on the edge of the street.
Today is the day to jump over to Portland, Maine. It is already 7 AM so I am already a bit behind schedule. With a little luck my next post will be from the coast!
Anonymous: are you flying back? What are you doing when you get to Maine? So cool to see so much interest!
It looks like I will be meeting up with the local Portland, Maine scooter club who will ride in with me. I hope to film my final scene on the beach on Wednesday morning. I had a sunrise in mind but the weather is looking like it is going to dump some rain on me so it will just have to be one of those endings. It has been exciting to see how all of these natural events have conspired to shape the story that I am filming. This isn’t a documentary but I have had such little control over the weather, scooter, and daylight that the real world has shaped my story dramatically.
I am flying back from Boston. It is difficult to describe my level of excitement for laying back in a padded airplane chair, ordering multiple beverages, and falling fast asleep. Most people find airplanes miserable but after the intensity of this cross country ride the thought alone is complete luxury.
Day 9: Oh Canada… thank you for allowing us to shortcut above Lake Eerie and then back into the US at Niagra Falls. The falls were beautiful and I had the great opportunity to answer that I was not with Google street view about 30 times in my short time passing through. We rolled into Rochester, NY well after dark last night in some very chilly and slightly rainy air. Today we are jumping back into Canada to enjoy Montreal and then it is one day over to Portland, Maine. I can’t believe that we are getting so close… All day as I struggle to hold the weight of my helmet up and breathe deep to suppress shivering I have visions of the Atlantic Ocean. We are on our way!
ezrider1je: Will you be riding pucho back across the country? How is the bike holding up? Have you been filming people's reactions to the sight of you coming down the road?
Pucho is doing pretty good considering… :) Every morning he starts up no problemo and sounds pretty good on the road. I have been diligent about maintenance on the road and we have had a couple of issues but we are still moving forward.
I have inadvertently filmed many peoples reactions both driving around and walking. I am excited to watch it all back and see what was actually captured.
