NOTES FROM THE ROAD


< more recent | 22-28 March 2018 | older >



Rainy Day Departure…


Leaving Paris…


28 March 2018: A grey dreary day to leave Paris, but at least heading somewhere south where hopefully the sun will be shining and new discoveries await…



Faubourg St. Denis…


Vibrant streetlife…


27 March 2018: Its good to see the old neighborhood remains as vibrant as ever, even though place and people come and go, an ambiance holds on…



Cafes and Nightlife…


Evening ambiance in the 10eme…


26 March 2018: Evenings find the cafe terraces full of life and the familiar places remain central meeting points in the old neighborhood…



Street art…


Around the 10eme…


25 March 2018: Spring-like weather is making it easy to enjoy getting out on the streets and exploring. Checking out the street art on the walls around the 10eme and beyond…



Around Chatalet…


The security presence on the street…


24 March 2018: People were out and about enjoying the warmer weather and the security forces were showing their presence after yesterday’s terror attack in Aude. Though far from Paris, the incident once again highlighted the importance of maintaining vigilance…



Last gasp of winter …


Cold weather is finally breaking…


23 March 2018: A bit of sun and slightly warmer temperatures today encouraged going a bit beyond the usual neighborhood. Was a great chance to spend some time in different cafes and just appreciate the Paris ambiance …



Strikes and Demonstrations …


The weather is in flux…


22 March 2018: A day of social action all across France as striking workers demonstrated to protest policies effecting much of the public sector. Getting around was difficult today with only a small percentage of trains running and many flights cancelled. The unions promise to continue a series of periodic actions over the next month …


PREVIOUS NOTES FROM THE ROAD >


THIS MONTH:

Headed back to Paris to connect with friends and favorite places and lay some groundwork for upcoming projects…


COMING UP SOON:

Sahara scouting begins in Egypt, with a brief stop in Cairo to visit the Pyramids and some ancient sites before heading into the Western Desert. The Western Desert is the area of the Sahara which lies west of the river Nile, up to the Libyan border, and south from the Mediterranean sea to the border with Sudan. It is named in contrast to the Eastern Desert which extends east from the Nile to Red Sea. The Western Desert is mostly rocky desert, though an area of sandy desert, known as the Great Sand Sea, lies to the west against the Libyan border. The desert covers an area of 262,800 sq miles which is two-thirds of the land area of Egypt. Its highest elevation is 3,300 ft (1000m) in the Gilf Kebir plateau to the far south-west of the country, on the Egypt-Sudan-Libya border. The Western Desert is barren and uninhabited save for a chain of oases which extend in an arc from Siwa, in the north-west, to Kharga in the south…


Sahara scouting continues in Sudan, focused on the northern part of the country in a loop around the Nile to Khartoum — the place where the White and Blue Niles meet. This journey will offer a unique opportunity delve into archaeology and the preservation of ancient sites while exploring the desert and getting to know some of the communities in the region…


Teaching navigational skills and talking about international overlanding at the second annual Wheelers Overland Adventure, May 17-20 at Anthracite Offroad Adventure Area (AOAA) in eastern Pennsylvania. The four-day overland camping and wheeling event is sponsored by Quadratec and Offroad Consulting, and brings together a diverse group of overlanders for trail runs, skills instruction, and networking opportunities in a festival atmosphere with onsite camping and optional activities the whole family can enjoy…


Participating in the Jeep Invasion and the 8th annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival, June 8-10, in Butler, PA. The Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival is a tribute event to the original jeep, the history behind it, the people who created it, and its birthplace, Butler Pennsylvania. The event provides Jeep enthusiasts with on and off-road experiences that embrace the vehicle’s past and the lifestyle it now fosters. The family-friendly event is held at Coopers Lake Campground, about an hour north of Pittsburgh, PA every year with on-site off-road trails, a Jeep “playground” obstacle course, Jeep History exhibit, huge vendor area with 150+ companies and more…


Trail Guiding at the 10th annual Topless for Tatas Charity Wheeling event at Rausch Creek off-road park 11-13 August. TFT brings together off-roaders from all over to raise awareness about Breast Cancer and raise funds for the American Cancer Society. The annual event raises over $30,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation each year …


PARIS STREET ART

In Paris Street Art is everywhere. The whole city is an open-air museum of sorts, where many concrete surfaces are covered in graffiti, stencils, poetic collages, posters or monumental murals. Street art can be found all around but here is one great guide to a few of the most notable examples…


PARIS STRIKES

An estimated 200,000 striking workers demonstrated across France on 22 March 2018 to protest the policies of the government in a showdown between trade unions and President Emmanuel Macron. The strikes forced cancellation of train service and hundreds of flights, and also effected schools, hospitals and other public services. The day marked the start of a period of labor actions that will include an Air France walk-out and a wave of rolling two day strikes by railroad workers throughout the spring. In Paris and other locations around the country there were clashes between strikers and riot police. The nationwide strikes were a coordinated protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s attempts to institute a series of labor reforms. The public sector unions joined together to oppose a planned loss of 120,000 jobs by 2022, while employees of the state-run railway are fighting to keep their job guarantees and annual pay raises…




Nesconset | Paris | Cairo | Khartoum



MORE NOTES FROM THE ROAD:
16-21 March – Paris
1-15 March – New York
February – Coal Country
January – Vegas to Glamis Roadtrip
December – East Coast Roadtrip
16-30 November – Paris
1-15 November – Florida
October – Rausch Creek
18-30 September – Kyrgyzstan
1-17 September – Rebelle U
15-31 August – Arizona
8-14 August – TFT9
1-7 August – Serbia
July – NY and Serbia
June – NY and Paris
May – Wheelers Overland
22-30 April – Algeria
15-21 April – Algeria
8-14 April – Algeria
1-7 April – AOAA
Archive


SPECIAL REPORT

ALGERIA SCOUTING

A look into south-eastern Algeria on the border with Libya and Niger: overlanding with the Tuareg in one of the most remote corners of the Sahara … [read]


SPECIAL REPORT

INTO THE MAZE

Detailed series on a solo scouting journey into some of the remotest backcountry around Moab. The six day 450-mile off-pavement trip into the Maze district of the Canyonlands National Park offers insight into the challenges of expedition planning… [read]


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