WhereThehellisMurph, 3 Wheels, 7 Continents, 7 Years

[Aksaz]

What a great story and photos. I can't wait to read more.

[WheresMurph]

[IMG][/IMG]

If you have not already seen Pt II of the build of my BMW Mobec Duo-Drive sidecar, you can see it HERE on the Expedition Portal.








4:45am, my alarm goes off, I was nice and cosy in my sleeping bag, but got up anyway as I always do at that time just to see what Mother nature is setting up in terms of a good sunrise to shoot. if it looks good, I'll stay up, make some coffee and head out by 5:15.
This particular morning was looking very very promising.




I had intended to shoot the sunrise, but the storm cell brewing to the west was much more interesting and intense, so I figured a good soaking was a fair price to pay to get these shots.



The rest of the post and images are available to see HERE on my blog.



Oh, and I also cooked up a little chicken for dinner if you're still hungry.....



MURPH.

[WheresMurph]

Starting today, Sunday, July 22, and open or running until Midnight on Thursday, July 26th, I would like to try to find out a little more about you, the readers, who come here and log on to my blog, so today I'm kicking off a survey of sorts.
I have an average 600 views per day, and depending on the article, this has climbed to 3500 a day on a few occasions, but interestingly enough, not very many comments are left, so I would like to find out what it is that brings you here in the first place and try to make my blog a bit more interactive and appealing to you.
I really have no clue who comes here, and that needs to be changed.
If I have 600+ people taking time out of their day to log on here I would like to know why, and also what it is you like about coming her, and also what it is you don't like.


Honestly, this blog started out by accident, and everything that you see here, photography, narrative etc., I do entirely myself. I really had no idea that my two month motorcycle trip up to Oregon 2 years ago to buy a used 41ltr gas tank would turn into this. So at this point, I need some feedback from those who come here about how to make it better, so I want to know from YOU what YOUR definition of better is.


My little blog here started out as nothing more than a way to photograph and document my trip from Fort Lauderdale in Florida up to Oregon and Alaska, but now has become much more personal and important to me. I put a tremendous amount of time into each post believe it or not, I proof read, go over it and change each post sometimes 50 times, changing a word here, a sentence there.
I take a lot of pride in writing and publishing these weekly articles of my travels and exploits along with the people that I meet, and am very happy that it's of interest to over 500 people per day, and to you I say thank you for very much coming here.
But now it's also becoming a way for me to be able to afford to stay on the road, to help fund expenses by photography sales, contributions, sticker sales and also possible future sponsorship.
I am also being helped out tremendously by Expedition Portal, who are publishing my BMW Mobec Duo-Drive Sidecar Conversion exclusively here on the portal, along with my "In Progress" thread here for over a year now. They are a great source of support for me and I thank them very much for this.
The other website that I get paid to write for is Bikernet.com, a monthly article there is a big help also, so thank you Nyla and Bandit for the support, it really means a lot to me, and I will always give you the best articles I can produce for your excellent website.


So,I couldn't find a set of online poll questions that related to what this blog is about, so I'll try to address them all as best I can, if there's something that I don't please add it in your comments.


There are a few simple guidelines for this poll:


#1. Keep it clean and respectful. This is a a family blog, I intend to keep it that way. If you wouldn't let your 10 yr old daughter read your answer, then don't post it here.


2. If you have a critique or a nit pick about something, try to also have a suggestion on how to improve on it. This blog poll is not a way for you to vent at me, but rather a way to for me make this a better blog for you to enjoy.


3. Please leave all comments and suggestions in the comments section below this post rather than in an email to me.
This way the whole process becomes interactive with all the readers and commenters.


4. Don't hold back, but see #1.




Ok, so lets start with what you don't like about the blog, whether it be layout, content, narrative, photography etc. What bothers you.
Then tell me what it you like, what makes you come here once or twice a week.


I would also like to know what it is you would like to see more of, there are many things I have thought about writing about, but I stop myself as I feel like I don't want to clutter up the blog, I want to keep it as a photo journal, but I am realizing that there are folks here who come for more than just the pictures.
For example I was thinking of doing some gear reviews, I have 2 tents I carry, and even though I still have the same motorcycle and camping gear that I started with 2 years ago, I guess I could review it.
Any thoughts?.


I have also begun a fitness program for myself, having an addictive personality is not easy to control sometimes, especially when it comes to good Dutch or Belgian chocolate, I eat a bar at a time. It's not easy on the road with no access to a gym, so I have to improvise a lot.
I started cycling( since i'm at a location with the use of a bicycle), a little running and my diet plays a big part of staying healthy and in shape.
Thoughts on this subject?


And anything else you want to add, fire away.


If I get 500 views a day, I would hope and request you take a few minutes more and please leave a comment and give me your thoughts.


Thanks for reading and have the day of your choice,


Murph.

www.wherethehellismurph.com

[azken]

Well Murph, you've opened the door. I have a few things I'd like to air.

Your writing style is great! Your words convey experiences as they happened. I really appreciate the conversational tone as it really holds my attention and makes me want to look for more information.

Your photography skill and willingness to experiment with the product is outstanding. The product is stunning.

I like your reporting of interactions with people you meet, the events you participate in, towns/regions you visit, and geo/political factoids that make up local and national flavor. You paint a very nice picture.

The one thing I would like to see is a walk around pictorial of the bike now that it's been painted (it is yellow isn't it?). That was pretty slick inserting a couple pictures in your last post ...kind of a teaser, huh?

All in all Murph, keep doing what you're doing...your attention to detail pays off. Thanks for your efforts.

Ken

[WheresMurph]

Well Murph, you've opened the door. I have a few things I'd like to air.

Your writing style is great! Your words convey experiences as they happened. I really appreciate the conversational tone as it really holds my attention and makes me want to look for more information.

Your photography skill and willingness to experiment with the product is outstanding. The product is stunning.

I like your reporting of interactions with people you meet, the events you participate in, towns/regions you visit, and geo/political factoids that make up local and national flavor. You paint a very nice picture.

The one thing I would like to see is a walk around pictorial of the bike now that it's been painted (it is yellow isn't it?). That was pretty slick inserting a couple pictures in your last post ...kind of a teaser, huh?

All in all Murph, keep doing what you're doing...your attention to detail pays off. Thanks for your efforts.

Ken

Ken, thanks for the feedback, very insightful, I had no idea that folks like you got so much from my blog.

Actually, the Yellow sidecar outfit is the LBS Shop outfit that I'm using until mine is finished, which should be in 4-5 weeks. So don't worry, a FULL walk around is coming, trust me, I'll be like a proud Papa when it's finally done.

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment,

Regards,

Murph

[WheresMurph]

So thank you thank you all.
Absolutely fantastic feedback and suggestions from everyone, I am very pleasantly surprised with the amount of detailed comments that everyone left.
I really had no idea that there were so many attentive readers of my little travel photo journal out there, so thank you all very much for taking the time to answer my survey request.
Very very touched and humbled I am.
I got to hear from a few people I met last year in the US, and I even got to hear from my cousin in Ireland whom I have not seen or heard from in about 30 years. Last I saw her she was my little cousin, she's now a Mom.
Where does the time go.
As Paulo Coelho once said, "Do it now, for one day you will wake up and there won't be any more time to do the things you've always wanted".
Words I live by.

This is a follow up post to "And the Survey Says" on my blog, the rest of which can be read HERE


Murph.

[WheresMurph]

A 1950's Opel Blitz Bus. I came across this while cycling through a little town in Holland one Sunday morning. Very similar to the Opel Blitz Wehrmacht trucks and busses used during WW2.




This was an Opel club that gathered here this Sunday, but by and large, there's a lot of older iron in this part of the country, especially the older Volvos.




More of the bus and the rest of the post on my blog HERE

Murph

[WheresMurph]

RIDE AWAY CANCER is the new direction that my journey is taking thanks to a chance meeting with Nikkie in Eindhoven who 1 year ago lost her boyfriend to bone cancer. Through our meeting in a bookstore where she worked and where I was buying a map of Russia for my trip in November and December she told me her story of Frank and how he would of love to do a trip like this.




More on Nikkie and Frank's story here on the blog.


Murph

[WheresMurph]

[CENTER]

RIDE AWAY CANCER on Facebook








Ride Away Cancer started by accident with a chance encounter with Nikkie in a bookstore in Eindhoven, where I went to buy a map of Russia.
After speaking with Nikkie the Ride Away Cancer came to me because of my friend John Nikas and his endeavor [color=#0063dc]rive Away Cancer./color]
[FONT=Verdana]Originally started by John, again by accident because of his friend purchasing a 1953 Austin Healy off of Ebay and shortly thereafter getting diagnosed with cancer. A phone cal to John ensued, since John is a British Car fanatic and racer, to try to get the Healy running before he died. The Healy was fixed and Drive Away Cancer was born.
While meeting Nikkie and hearing her story of her boyfriend Frank who died from bone cancer in Sept of 2011, she gave me a necklace of his to carry in the sidecar to, as she put it, "Give him a moment of freedom". For whatever reason I asked her would she sign my Drive Away Cancer decal on the dash of my sidecar, and Ride Away Cancer was born.
An email to John to see if he would be interested in letting me start this, and he was ecstatic about it and love the idea.

Before getting my sidecar built I had always had in the back of my mind giving sidecar rides somewhere or somehow to either kids or as the BC Beemers do after their yearly rally in Vancouver in British Columbia, they go to the Elderly Home in the town that hosts their rally and give the older residents there sidecar rides as a way to say thanks and give back to the town. Great idea, and one that I always thought I wanted to do.......once I got a sidecar.


Well, now I have a sidecar, so it's time for me to give a little back. On leaving Germany and on the way up to my friends Kjell and Karin in Vejbystrand in Sweden I googled "Children's Cancer Hospitals in Copenhagen, since I was going to cross over the island of Zealand on which the capitol of Denmark, Copenhagen is.


I didn't go there that day, but two days later I did, and I met a young man called Daniil who was diagnosed with Leukemia since at the age of 10. He is now 17 and after 2 relapses is here in Copenhagen for a bone marrow transplant.
You can read the rest of the post HERE

I would also like to ask as many of you as possible to please go to the RIDE AWAY CANCER page on FaceBook

and help with a "LIKE" and maybe you have a story of your own that you would like to share too.
You can also go to John Nikas's DRIVE AWAY CANCER on Facebook.

I will be leaving Vejbystrand on Monday and will be heading to Stockholm to visit a friend as I travel up to North Cape and down over through Finland and into Russia and Yaroslavl.
A stop in Stockholm to visit and possibly give someone a sidecar ride there would be wonderful too, I have to research and see what I can find.


Murph.

[dwh]

She's a beaut Murph. The bike (trike) looks good as well.

What about water getting up under that cover where it meets the windshield and getting into the sidecar?