Category: Adventure
Right Bike, Wrong Trail – an Alpine Adventure: Part III
In my last installment, my bike and I had just encountered two Spanish hikers who advised me to turn back because the trail was too dangerous to ride down. I brushed off their comments because […]
Right Bike, Wrong Trail – an Alpine Adventure: Part II
In the last installment, I was descending my first Swiss Alpine mountain bike ride, and things were not going as planned. Eventually I popped out near the hotel where I had initially caught the bus. […]
Right Bike, Wrong Trail – an Alpine Adventure: Part I
My summer vacation this year was a trip to Switzerland, with a side trip to the Netherlands to visit some friends who live there, and a side trip to Barcelona to spend time with friends […]
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part XI, the Wrap
In the immortal words of Jim Anchower, holas amigos, I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya. At the end of the last installment I had sampled the unfortunately named Pocari […]
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part X
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part X By the end of the last installment, we had departed Manila and were on our way to Tokyo (actually Narita, a suburb of Tokyo). The check-in […]
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part IX
In my last installment, we had made it to Manila on Thursday, but would need to wait until Saturday to fly out of Manila, and, we hoped, on to the States. We had spent a […]
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part VIII
Hello readers, I’m back with more of my Philippines tale. In the last installment we had traveled from my brother’s village to the airport in Cagayan D’Oro and were waiting for our flight to Manila. […]
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part VII
In the last installment our brother had decided to come with us, we had worked out travel plans, and were getting ready to embark on a “tour du village” so he could say goodbye to […]
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part VI
At the end of my last installment we had traveled to Illigan City and procured cash and produce. The trip back was mostly uneventful. Night fell as we traveled back, but under the auspices of […]
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part V
In last week’s installment, we had just talked to our brother at the mayor’s office, and then received a ride back to our guesthouse, courtesy of one of the mayor’s drivers. I’ll segue here and […]
My summer vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part IV
Picking up where I left off (almost 2 weeks ago – sorry!), my stateside brother and I had just had a meal of fish and rice, followed by with some delicious pineapple pie, and were […]
My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part III
In last week’s installment, we had just wrapped up our brief adventure in Narita, Japan and were headed back to the airport to fly to Manila. After a leisurely and somewhat circuitous trip to see […]
My summer vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part II
left off I left off as my stateside brother and I finalized our plan to travel to the Philippines to retrieve my Philippines-dwelling brother from near a war zone. I have flight benefits through my […]
Your Standards Will Save You
Very many years ago, in the early days of the internet, I got semi-catfished. The guy was real (truly, some friends met him at a later point) but was not at all what he claimed […]
In the Soup
I’m working on a post about how to think critically and evaluate the sources of information. It’s taking some time, so in the meantime I’ll tell a story about some soup I tried to make […]
Motorcycles in April, Part II
A few weeks ago I started a yarn about my recent trip to Germany and Prague. When we left off I was just entering Wurzburg but wasn’t quite sure where my hotel was. Because I […]
Motorcycles in April
The one positive thing I can say about my tendency towards travel mishaps and misadventures is that it gives me almost unlimited blog post fodder. With that, I present the latest chapter, in which my […]
Tales from the Trenches of Standby Travel
A couple of weeks ago I was trying to get out of town on standby. You know how sometimes there will be a perfect storm of glitches? This was one of those days. One advantage […]
Empowerment in the Age of the Supermodel
When I was in college I had a conversation with a guy once that went like this: Him: “It’s so strange, XXX (a mutual friend) knows who all the fashion models are. She knows their […]
To Be Young Again
I’m told I have some funny stories in me, and so begins a blog series of funny/poignant/ridiculous/illuminating stories from the archives of my brainpan. I’ll start with this one – in which my sister and […]
How to Do a Live Story
I missed my Wednesday post this week, but I have a reason. I was hard at work on a story for the Moth Story Slam. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s an offshoot of […]
Postcards from the South – Part IV
Continuing the story from last week, after consuming half the contents of an Applebee’s I visited the Publix for snacks to get me through the next day’s ride, then returned to my hotel room, which, […]
Postcards from the South Part I
My new job has sent me to a city, far from my home in Seattle, to learn about the Airbus 330, one of the planes in the fleet that I see frequently in Seattle. I […]
Top 5 Reasons Why Being a New Airplane Mechanic is Awesome
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I was recently hired as a full time line mechanic at a major airline. Yay! This week I’m spending some time at the mothership getting fleet training on […]
Random Thoughts of a Jet-Lagged, Newly Minted Night Shift Worker
I just started my night shift hours hot on the heels of 2 weeks spent 9 time zones away. I’m adjusting, but barely, so here’s a collection of random thoughts. I spent most of my […]
As the Propeller Turns – That’s a Wrap Edition
I survived the quarter! It doesn’t sound like that much of a feat, but given the drama of the past few weeks, there were a few times when I really wanted the end to come […]
Decisions, Decisions – More from the Trenches of Indie Pub
After 10 months of DIY book marketing, I’m ready to try something new, I think. I have been given the chance to republish my book through a hybrid publishing service and let them direct my […]
Traveling, Writing, and Following Your Dreams
I wrote this in response to the question, “How has travel influenced your writing?” Some people know where they’re going in life from a very young age. When I was in first grade, I planned to […]
As It Turns Out – Writing the Book Was the Easy Part
(Corrected from the original to reflect correct Amazon ranking. I originally stated my best was 2582, but it was actually 1287 for e-books. The lower ranking included my print edition.) As many of my readers […]
Best Day Ever
In life, you can go with the safe option, and know that you’ll be able to predict how most of your future days will go. Or you can toss the safe option out the window, […]
Let Me Tell You How Much I Hate Painting
I’m kind of phoning it in this week because I have used up all my free time painting my living room and hallway. I hate painting. It always takes longer than I think it will. […]
A Master Class in Travel: Kampala, Uganda to Maputo, Mozambique Overland -Final Exam-Part I
This week we have a guest poster, my Africa travel companion, Mr. K. If you think you know the answers, please post in the comments. I’ll post the key later this week. Choose the one […]
Africa Overland Part XIII – Flat Tire in Malawi
At the end of our last installment, we had just gotten past a road blockage on the way to Senga. Not too long after we stopped for gas and cash in Mzuzu. Getting the gas […]
Africa Overland Part XII – The Shores of Lake Malawi
At the end of the last installment, we had stopped for the night in Karonga, Malawi, a good-sized town near Lake Malawi. There wasn’t much to see in this town so we were up and […]
Africa Overland Part XI – Karonga, Malawi
At the end of the last installment we had made it through the Tanzania/Malawi border crossing at Songwe, with about an hour to spare before dark. We set our sights on Karonga, a town on […]
A Story About an Amazing Thing I Saw With Birds
This story doesn’t have a life lesson, or a clear narrative, or really any point at all, except that I saw a birds being amazing and I want to share it. Also I’m a little […]
Africa Overland – Part X: Into Malawi
At the end of the last installment we had successfully fended off a pack of currency exchange jackals, just on the Tanzania side of the border at Songwe. Next stop, the border crossing, which we […]
Africa Overland – Part IX: Last day in Tanzania
At the end of our last installment, we were ready to depart the Utengule Coffee Lodge with plans to cross into Malawi at Songwe before nightfall. We passed through Mbeya on our way south. As […]
Africa Overland – Part VIII: Lodging at the Coffee Plantation
At the end of our last installment, we had just experienced our first checkpoint bribe, as we traveled from Itigi to Mbeya. As we drove south we went from red-dirt lowlands to alpine terrain and […]
Africa Overland Part VII – Itigi to Mbeya
(Correction: in my last installment, I said we stopped for the night in Izinga. After more careful review of the maps, I realize we were actually in Itigi. Carry on.) At the end of the […]
The Biker’s Story of Job
Dear Readers, I am knee-deep in revisions of my fiction manuscript, so I’m reaching back into my personal archives for today’s post. I wrote this nearly 15 years ago in an attempt to capture the […]
Africa Overland – Part VI: Bihamuralo to Itigi, Tanzania
At the end of the last Africa Overland installment, we were just departing Bihamuralo, Tanzania, where we spent our first night on the road. K had examined the map and suggested that for this second […]
A Novel’s Worth of Blog Posts
Dingdingdingdingding! I have reached a milestone. This is my hundredth blog post. Do I get a prize? Does the International Blog Registry hand out plaques or commemorative clocks for this achievement? No? OK, I’ll just […]
My Two-Wheeled Friend
I owe a dear friend an apology. I neglected this friend for far too long. I hope I will be forgiven and we can go on as before. Back when I was working long hours […]
Africa Overland Part V: Biharumulo, Tanzania
(Correction – my traveling companion, K, reminded me that our friend in Biharumulo was named Daniel, not Patrick as I remembered.) At the end of the last installment we were making for Biharumulo, Tanzania, hoping […]
Africa Overland – Part IV: Tanzania
At the end of the last installment, we had just stopped for a photo op at the Equator, a couple of hours from our first border crossing, into Tanzania. Next to the acquisition of the […]
Africa Overland – Part III: South from Kampala
At the end of the last installment, K and I had, by dint of persuasion and gratitude, procured an important certificate from Kampala Interpol. By this time it was close to 6:00 PM and we […]
Africa Overland – Part II: More Red Tape in Kampala
We left off as K and I stood in a very long line outside the Kampala Interpol, a concrete building containing numerous cell-like offices. We were waiting to get a certificate that would affirm that […]
Africa Overland – Part I: Red Tape in Kampala
Once upon a time, not too long ago, I road tripped through the lower third of Africa. It all started when a friend left a job in Uganda for a job in Mozambique. She moved […]
In Which I Bond With a Small Conifer
Airplane school is taking up all my mental energy right now, so I am posting from the archives of my life’s odd happenings. Once upon a time, I skied at Mission Ridge, in Eastern Washington. […]
The Smelliest Catch – Part VI
We resume the story as I report for work on the Ocean Phoenix and wait to hear whether I passed the pee test. On the second evening, just as I was starting to think I […]
The Smelliest Catch – Part V
At the end of the last installment, I was winding up my visit to the Kalispell, Montana area and heading back to Seattle to seek my next fishing gig. I was better equipped for the […]
The Smelliest Catch, Part IV
We pick up the story as our hardy work crew is given the gift of 2 more hours of sleep a day, courtesy of a slimmed-down 16-hour-a-day work schedule. It doesn’t sound like much, but, […]
The Smelliest Catch – Part III
The story resumes as I try to describe what it’s like to work for 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. Because the sockeye season is so short, and the boat has so little […]
Ten Pounds of Living into a Three-pound Life – Part II
I have a bad habit. I schedule optimistically. Especially when I’m on vacation and I want to do more than there is time for. So, optimistically, I believed I could ride all the way to […]
The Smelliest Catch – Part II
We pick up the story as I try to explain how job hunting for a fishing boat job is different from looking for a job in say, the air-conditioned offices of an investment firm. You […]
The Smelliest Catch, Part I
It was the worst year of my life. When people ask me, “what was it like” that is my first response. Worst. Year. What experience prompts this outpouring of negativity? For slightly under one year, […]
Jennifer’s 2012 in Review:
Went to Kenya – Y Saw elephants, giraffes and zebras – Y Got eaten by a lion – N Met an authentic example of a bitter, pickled, post-colonial European – Y Visited some classic Olympic […]
Impressions from an African Road Trip
I recently had the unique opportunity to drive a car through 4 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. The route was from Kampala, Uganda, along the west side of Lake Victoria, into Tanzania, more or […]
Ten Pounds of Living into a Three-pound Life – Part I
One time, not too long ago, I spent a Thanksgiving weekend in Maui. It was my first time there and as much as I would like to think that I will have numerous future opportunities […]
A Refreshing Foot Bath in the Land of Smiles – Part IV
When we left off, I was standing under a street light on an unfamiliar residential street, trying to glean information from an increasingly soggy map. From behind me I hear a voice ask me if […]
A Refreshing Foot Bath in the Land of Smiles – Part III
We pick up the story in at 7-11 outside Chiang Mai, where I have stopped to buy a map and ask the staff to show me where I am along the road that runs in […]
A Refreshing Foot Bath In the Land of Smiles – Part II
We resume the story as I head back to the hotel after my fish pedicure. I walk out of the spa on my bloody stumps after a one-hour treatment stretches to about 2.5 hours. I […]
A Refreshing Foot Bath In the Land of Smiles – Part I
In 2011 I went to Southeast Asia for the first time; the trip was a large group effort to help a friend celebrate a milestone birthday. We met in Bangkok then took a train to […]
Bike Race
This post is based on an article I wrote in 1999, on the occasion of my first (and almost last) solo bike race. Back then, I submitted it to Dirt Rag, but they weren’t interested. […]
Jennifer Lesher’s Day Off
One of my most faithful readers requested a post on this topic, so here goes. In the spirit of Ferris Bueller, I am going to describe my ideal day off. There are two ways to […]
Why Getting Older Really IS Better than the Alternative
Aging has been a popular topic lately among my peers. Many of us are about halfway through our lives and we’re noticing and bemoaning the effects of the years that have gone past. Creaky joints, […]
A Refreshing Cocktail in the Land of Smiles – Part III
We pick up the story as I am drinking an iced coffee, with a plan to turn the cup into a gas funnel. Alas, it’s not that simple. I have encountered the world’s strongest plastic […]
A Refreshing Cocktail in the Land of Smiles – Part II
The story left off as I approached a gas station in Pattaya, Thailand, hoping they might fill a bottle with gas for my pooped-out scooter. As it turns out, while everyone seems inclined to be […]
A Refreshing Cocktail in the Land of Smiles – Part I
Recently I took a short trip to Thailand, which included a couple of days in Pattaya. When I was invited to Pattaya, I was intrigued, imagining a few ramshackle cottages at water’s edge, delicious food […]
Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls – Part V
We resume the story as I am driving the route to the purported waterfall – the one that I was unable to find on the bike. As I drive this road, I pass a couple […]
Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls – Part IV
The story picks up once I have arrived back in town after aborting the waterfall ride. I drop the bike off at the shop and decide to drive my rental car around a bit. I entertain […]
Low Context Stranger in a High Context Land
I recently took a trip to Africa and the Middle East – specifically Kenya and Dubai. In Africa, one of my companions, who lives in Uganda, commented that Uganda and Kenya are very high context […]
Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls – Part III
We pick up the story as I stand in the midst of what is either a ranch or the entrance to the waterfall I have ridden out to see. I’m surrounded by dogs, chickens and […]
Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls – Part II
We resume the story as I am riding up into the hills above Puerto Vallarta. After the turn the road indeed gets steeper and climbs away from the river. This fits with what I was […]
Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls – Part I
Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls – Part I The setting: Puerto Vallarta. I am there on a 48-hour turnaround, as part of a mileage run. I have been experimenting with unstructured vacation lately, so I don’t […]
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Africa: Part II
(In the last installment, I had just gotten a flat tire on my car.) The next day the tire shop called to say that I would need a new tire. Later, when I picked up […]
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Africa: Part I
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Africa: Part I For 4 years I have had a Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa card* (I applied for a Bank of America Cloven Hooved Rewards […]
2011 in Review
Y Invested in the future of container housing Y Became a faster cyclist N Became a fast cyclist Y Experimented with outsourcing some drudgery Y Discovered the joys of root vegetable soups N Discovered the joys of […]
Jennifer Lesher 