New Casual Boots by Tsubo

Since I'm not riding, I have to share these casual boots which I can't wait to get next week!

I discovered the company Tsubo a few months ago when I bought these awesome wedge heels that have amazing foam support. These particular boots are called the Loe, and have a nice layer of comfort foam and a breathable lining which supposedly keeps your feet comfy and dry. Unfortunately not waterproof (hey, Tsubo, that would be AWESOME) but still cute.

You might be wondering why I can't wear these while riding? Well, I guess I could do anything I want, theoretically. But here are the main reasons:

1. I would quickly scuff and wear out the toe box from my shifter
2. Poorly articulated for riding position (think knees bent, heels back, flex to point toe up and down)
3. NO ankle protection or impact protection if my foot hits anything solid
4. NO internal support to keep my ankles from twisting
5. NO anti-slip soles (us short folks need STRONG, grippy soles to handle 300-500lbs of motorcycle weight)
6. NO reinforced toe box or heel cup

Oh how I wish Sidi would come out with something similar to this with all the protective elements, but something tells me we'll be waiting awhile.....

Follow me on all of my social feeds to see pics of these boots when they arrive.

Leaving San Francisco for Philly

Finally, I can sit down and write this Drive report. (Too bad it's not a ride report. *sigh*) In 8 days we drove from San Francisco to Philadelphia and here's how it went.

First off, let me say that the decision to leave was a difficult one. Leaving our friends, family and the only state we've ever lived in for an unfamiliar, imaginary place called Philadelphia was hard. I have to thank my husband Evan for being the most supportive, incredible partner a woman could ever have. Lucky for us, his job is literally mobile, as he is knee deep in mobile app development with a startup he founded called Dazzmobile. (if anyone needs a kickass mobile iPhone / Android app for their next event/conference, let me know!)

Our trusty ride, a Scion XB aka Buster, was packed as fully as possible (see above). We needed a few weeks worth of clothes and what not to keep us going, as well as some things to drop off in Southern California. I don't know how it got so full.

Sadly we had a mishap with our Uhaul box and delayed our trip a day. Our plan was to pack our box on Tuesday evening, 1/14. They switched our location without telling us and we ended up having to leave Thursday afternoon since we had to pack our box that morning.

Here's a little summary of our drive including all the pet friendly hotels/motels we stayed at as we drove across the country. We had to find all pet friendly motels and I also wanted smoke free. And knowing we were driving in the dead of winter, we picked the logical choice. South! As far south as possible without going to Mexico.

1st stop: Oxnard, CA

Distance: 350 miles

2nd Stop: Palm Springs

Distance: 170 miles Route: Hwy 101 to 10 East. Motel: Monroe Hotel  $76/night + $15/night pet fee This was such a great hotel. Very pet friendly, clean, easy to find and just a really nice place to stay.  I highly recommend staying here.

3rd stop: El Paso

Distance: 697 miles Route: 10 East. Hotel: Guesthouse Suites El Paso, $72/night This was also a nice, clean hotel. Inexpensive and great if you're looking for an all suite hotel.

4th stop: Austin

Distance: 576 miles; LONGEST drive ever! So flat, just so flat. Route: 10 East Hotel: Hyatt Austin, a fabulous hotel, right downtown. We used Hotwire to book a nicer hotel (at half the price!) since we ended up staying 2 nights instead of 1 like the others. Austin was awesome. One of the few suburb like cities that I would definitely live in. The stores were cool, the food was delicious and everything about Austin is just cool. See my pic for Breakfast Taco!

5th stop: New Orleans

508 miles Route: 10 East Hotel: Clarion New Orleans, 1300 Canal Street. NOT the best spot to stay. It was cheap so I booked it since we went all out in Austin. I would stay in the French Quarter next time, instead of saving money to stay outside of it. Hotel room was fine but the area was just too iffy. Not right in the fun part of town if you know what I mean.

New Orleans was awesome. A beautiful city, delicious food and such a cool place to hang out. I just wish we had more than 2 nights to spend there. It's definitely on my list to go back and take 3-4 days to see more of the city. While you're there, be sure to stop at District Donuts for sliders and super tasty donuts.

6th stop: Charlotte

713 miles Route: 85 North Hotel: Quality Inn & Suites Spartanburg. Really nice, clean hotel. Very pet friendly and free breakfast!

Sadly this is where the weather turned on us. It went from 70 degrees to 40 :( It was also on the way to Charlotte that I my iPhone 5 decided to take a swim from my back pocket into the toilet at a brief gas stop in Alabama. As I walked out of the bathroom, I saw this bag of rice and immediately bought it, shoved the phone in and prayed. After 3 days submerged, it came back only to live the rest of its days as an iPod, since it wouldn't connect to the ATT network anymore. Luckily I brought my iPhone 3 to load up audio books and music so I begrudgingly used that until we got to Philly. (btw, if you have 14 hours to kill, you must listen to Marcus Luttrell's book Lone Survivor. The audio book is great (from iTunes), his story is amazing and something every American should read or listen to.)

We also ate a delicious southern restaurant called Martin's Restaurant. Best fried chicken I've ever had an unlike any others I've had as well. Just SO good.

Temp Housing #1 and #2

So after 8 days on the road, we rolled into Philly late on January 23rd. For some reason, we decided to pick the cheapest option by the airport, since nothing was less than $100/night. Looking back, we should've splurged which would've saved us SO much time and money. We ended up at the Extended Stay and it was the Worst experience ever. First we arrived and they made us wait 40 minutes to check in. Something about computers updating or whatever. Then after overbooking their hotel, they put us in a smoking room because it was all that was left. Unfortunately they failed to tell me that until after we got to the room. For some reason we decided to give it a try but after 2 hours we gave up, got online and tried to find another hotel nearby that would take us asap.

At 2am we moved to the Aloft down the street, an outstanding hotel AND they didn't charge us the walk in rate of $180. I told them what happened down the street and they graciously accommodated us for $90 night!  The Aloft was great. Clean, comfy beds and a huge bathroom.

Lesson learned. When your room smells like tobacco and cigarettes, leave immediately, no matter how late or tired you are. There's just no point. You won't be able to sleep because it smells like shit and your sinuses are burning. That is of course, you enjoy the scent of dried, disgusting tobacco smoke in everything you're touching.

Temp Housing #3

The following Sunday we rolled into our next piece of temporary housing since we didn't have a place to live yet. Our idea was to stay somewhere for a week and find a place to move into. Here's the little studio we found for $500 for the week on Airbnb.

Settling into Philly

It's been interesting. Of course when we rolled in, it just happened to be part 2 of the arctic/polar storm so temps were between 10-20 degrees. From watching the news, it seemed like we might be heading into the storm of the century. But really, it wasn't that bad. A little chilly but not too bad.

One of the many fantastic things about Philly that I'm loving so far is the FOOD. So.much.food. I'm going to do my best to not gain 100lbs over the next year. I could easily eat my way through this city and double my width. But I just have to avoid that at all costs. Philly is a food city, not just cheese steaks either. So far, Paesanos has impressed me with their unique, creative sandwiches. They make amazing hot and cold sandwiches that aren't your usual hoagie or sub. Delicious ingredients, toasty bread, just fantastic. Probably the best sandwich I've ever had.

Finding a New House

A little ambitious I suppose, but we found it! Unfortunately the existing tenants and owners of the condo we're moving into couldn't leave until closer to March 1st. But the good news is it's totally worth waiting for.

Something that is really difficult about living in downtown Philly is that garages are extremely difficult to find, unless you have San Francisco money to spend. About $2500-$3000 for a dedicated, private attached garage to your rental. Not bad relative to SF, since large 2-3 bedroom homes with garages are renting for well over $3,000 these days.

I just couldn't stand the thought of moving into a high rise apartment or a cute brownstone without a garage! I am dying to ditch this car commute and get back on two wheels. And if we didn't find a place with a garage, I knew it would make buying bikes all that much more difficult. I didn't want my bike to live outside and I just knew there had to be something.

How Not to Design a "Women's" Product

 

So many parallels to the motorcycle world in this article by arstechnica, "Flowchart: How Not to Design a Woman's Tech Product"

I find that it's a constant struggle for manufacturers of motorcycles/accessories/apparel to properly market to women. It's still a man's world, in that there are too many men at the top making these decisions. Instead of real women who ride and know what other women riders like / want / need.

Here's to a better 2014....

Wanna Ride a Motorcycle? GTFO of Your Comfort Zone.

 

You may need to google GTFO :D. If someone told me a few years ago that I'd be up and moving all the way across the country to a city I've never visited, I would've told them to GTFO!

A few years ago I realized that I wanted to really pursue this hobby and try to incorporate it into my 'career. It's been a difficult journey, especially after losing the one job I thought was going to make that dream come true.

I pretty much gave up on the idea of having a 'real' job in the motorcycle industry, because if you work in the industry, you know how difficult it is to find a really good one that actually pays you real money. I didn't start this website to make money, god knows it's not how I've supported myself.

But I thought there must be some way to do a little of this and some 'real' work on the side. Fortunately, I found Revzilla.

I'd never consider moving across the country for a job I wasn't already in love with. And although this means relocating to a completely foreign city, on a coast I've never lived on, I had no choice. Because I'd rather live in Philly and have this awesome job, than stay in San Francisco and not be completely in love with what I do.

One thing I've figured out so far is that no matter how difficult this journey might be, I know it'll be one of the best experiences I've ever had. But if I didn't put myself out there first, it never would've happened.