August 2005: Hurricane Katrina had just demolished the southern coast of the United States, and Rita was lining up off shore to finish the job her bitchy sister had started. The flood of refugees had impacted southern Arkansas, bringing with it not only the unfortunate souls displaced by the flooding, but also the predatory gang members looking to expand their territories north from New Orleans. These parasitical bottom feeders started a cycle of mayhem that…

This. Means. War. I was ready to let bygones be bygones, to forgive and forget. Live and let live. To put the scars of our last encounter behind us, and be able to live the rest of my life in a state of armistice. But that time has passed. I was just minding my own business, blissfully unaware that a forthcoming attack was being planned to bring about my absolute demise. And I'm talking about…

Back to the trip; Chama, NM After the night that Duff and I had on the Road from Hell north of Dulce, we elected to wimp out on the whole camping thing and instead splurged on a motel room in Chama. Macduff was so tired that he refused the can of kibble that I made a special trip to retrieve. Chama is the home of Fina's Diner, known across New Mexico for their breakfast menu;…

Durango to Dulce', or why I will never trust Google Maps again. Due to reports over the years of excessive UFO activity at Archuleta Mesa as well as my own experience in the area just south of there, I decided that Dulce, NM was to be on my itinerary. So I checked Google for possible routes out of Durango. One was east to Pagosa Springs, then south; problem is, I hate 160 as much as…

The Honda 750 Sidehawk. Many of the things that have little worth to others seem to find their place at the Casa, and this applies to motorcycles as well. Bikes have always played a big role in Charlie's story, as it was a motorcycle incident that put us on the right trajectory to find her, and she actually chose her name, Charlie Bravo, based on the Honda CB motorcycles that we were riding at the…

Unless you count old Kung Fu episodes from back in the day, my exposure to Buddhism while growing up was severely limited. But on a very superficial level, I was always attracted to the architecture of the temples and the stupas. On a somewhat deeper level, it seemed to be a belief system based on turning the other cheek until cheek-turning time was officially finished, and a religion that didn't seem to spend a lot…

Crestone, CO is one of those places that I didn't even know existed, but I still needed to experience. Tucked away at the base of Sangre de Christo mountain range, the tiny town of 187 pilgrims is located in the largest alpine valley in the world. It is also home to many major world religions; more than two dozen ashrams, monasteries, temples, retreat centers, stupas, labyrinths, Catholic, Protestant, and on and on. While many religions…