Kristopher Overholt » Nature

Cape Cod Weekend Escapade

koverholt — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:37:05 +0000

After 18 graduate hours down, another semester, two conferences, my first conference paper, Katie joining me up in Mass., and tons of other milestones for my life, it’s nice to sit back and just relax, reflecting on all that has happened.

On the last weekend in April, the weather went from 30 degrees to 85 degrees for a magical couple of days. Me and Katie capitalized on this and ran a 2 day random trip to the east coast of Massachusetts, to check out all of the hype around Cape Cod. The map below shows our roundabout route from Worcester to Plymouth, Sandwich, Provincetown, South Yarborough, New Bedford, Newport, Jamestown, Wickford, and back home.

To sum it up, it was amazing! Some pictures from the trip show the highlights! To view the full album, click here.

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From Cape Cod Weekend Escapade

Not So Green Hill Park

koverholt — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 23:47:19 +0000

At Green Hill Park a mile or so from my house, where the hills are more white than green.

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The cold wind is here

koverholt — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:26:07 +0000

Here comes this weather that is very foreign to me!

A good day was had talking with the president of a big conglomerate corporation and tons of cheese. Tim Ferriss totally has it down with talking to big CEOs, they are like the hot chicks of the business and job world – i.e. everyone is afraid to talk to them straight and never does, therefore they love to have some informal talk with you and wil remember you always. Also, free beer on campus is cool (hooray private schools without state school regulations)!

Which reminds me, I used to have this statement written in a marker right above my bed when I would wake up in the morning: “Your intention creates your reality.” And I have it on my fridge now. Same idea. It’s true, eh.

Two years ago I quit my job to follow my dream, and each day it gets better and better. It’s amazing what the human mind can do with the help of God. This is exactly what I wanted and there is so much more good to come.

An excellent time was had here as well with my mom visiting Worcester for a week:

And Katie came to visit for a different week as well. We all had a blast here with deliciously cheap happy-hour seafood, bone-chilling temperatures, bland Dominican food in Massachusetts, nuns racing through the park, endless drives along the cliffy coast, and just plain being together. It had been a few months since I saw Katie, and it made it that much better. Many good times were had and many more million to come.

15 days ’til I return to the big Texas. I really miss the people, but not so much the place.

I guess Texas is the home of my heart and Massachusetts is the home of my brain. The two can coexist in harmony you know:

The Lone Star Trippers Return Home

koverholt — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:31:02 +0000

The group (me, Marcos, Rick, and Kim) made it home alive and well last Wednesday from the Houston-Canada-Houston motorcycle trip. It was a lovely, yet determined motorcycle trip that included my Honda Nighthawk 750, Marcos’ Triumph Bonneville, and the two ST’s (1100 and 1300) from Kim and Rick.

The route of the trip looked (very roughly) something like this:

Too many stories happened to put into one blog post, but here are some points for added excitement to the pictures!:

Even a dead bike on the side of the interstate didn’t stop Kim and the crew. She dumped the bike in Rockford, Illinois and bought a new one on the way home to finish the trip!
There is some amazing food in this country in shacks in the middle of nowhere. Country Girl’s Kitchen will get you the biggest whitefish fillet that I have ever seen in my life plus what seemed like 8 other courses for $7.99. And how can I forget the huge and tasty chicken jerk wrap made from scratch by a South American living in Canada for the last 28 years. I need to fast for a few days in memory of these meals.
Highest price of gas paid for – $4.29 in Michigan.
Two unexpected coolest towns on the trip: St. Louis, Missouri and Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
The women in Canada are disproportionately beautiful and I must go back.
We met a motorcyclist who was on day 28 of his trip from Cuernavaca, Mexico and had done over 8,000 miles with his buddies through Florida, DC, Maine, Canada, and was on his way home when he ran into us at the same hotel in St. Louis.
No speeding tickets for us law abiding beatniks. Although I did get one on my way to San Antonio two days later. Ahem.
Over 3,500 miles in 10 days!

On to the pictures! You can view the entire album here at Google Picasa Web Albums.

http://picasaweb.google.com/koverholt/CanadaMotorcycleTripLoneStarTrippers

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MMRC Smithville TX Motorcycle Camping Trip

koverholt — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:09:42 +0000

I went camping this past weekend with the crew from the Montrose Motorcycle Riding Club, and the ride and cabin were awesome! Not to mention the lovely weather. I just wanted to share this video with everyone.

Three Men One Trip

Opening your heart to the world

koverholt — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:40:07 +0000

By the way, two new albums / new pictures posted on my Web Albums:

The Man Who Planted Trees

koverholt — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 18:25:47 +0000

Here is something that I bookmarked December 6th of last year and never got around to watching. Such a terrible way to miss out on something and random experiences; I was probably studying for a final or something. I passed the final, but I missed out on this excellent film.

It is a Oscar-winning animated short film about a man who plants trees. A single soul and human. And how he causes a world of changes. The film’s soft animation fades from screen to screen and the music and sound effects are very warming. It also goes off into small 10 second tangential explosions of thought about creating something, God, isolation, happiness, passion, and so on.

It’s only 30 minutes long, so give it a watch when you get a chance!

You need to have flashplayer enabled to watch this Google video

The Great Texico Tour of 2007 – My favorite images

koverholt — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:10:43 +0000

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the 8-day motorcycle trip through Texas and Mexico:

The trip started with a cloudy but warm day and one of the coolest parts of Sunday’s ride was the stop on Hamilton Pool road over a piece of the Pedernales River. The air was crispy and cool as our three bikes took a rest near the water crossing. The water was a stiff 80 degrees despite the cool air being pushed in by the front. I couldn’t help but wander around the area and ogle at the palette of my favorite natural shades of green to light brown that filled my vision.

After finally getting my heart rate down from the exciting ride and plentiful colors, I couldn’t help but be drawn to a small pile of rocks on a larger stumpy boulder. I invited my father and college mate to join me in interacting with this collaborative work of nature and enjoy the simplicity of a balanced stack of stones.

Before we took off from this wonderful mini-oasis, I couldn’t help but snap a quick picture from the distance. My dad never was one to just give in and go with the human-imposed flow of things:

I jump a day ahead to my next favorite picture: a group of guys just hanging around as we were, looking for different feelings along the trip, facing in different directions, but united by the common blood of exploration and wandering. This is after we had arrived in Ciudad Acuna, just across the border from Del Rio, and tucked away in a restaurant with only one other family partaking in a late dinner in this still but warming town.

Waking up after a comfortable night of rest, I was alarmed by a sound that I need not hear; a sound that would hamper my trip with its natural fury: the sound of rain pouring down outside. I snap up onto the concrete floor, orient myself upwards, and head towards the window, still attempting to establish my balance. As I pull back the heavy curtain/blanket, I realize that the sound is coming from the restroom: the shower. I exhale a breath of refreshment.

I turn on the television and tune into a staticy weather channel as they dictate the wind speeds and air temperatures in slightly familiar packages of Spanish vocabulary. I see ice heading where we should be heading and lists of negative degrees Celsius. After a long walk but a quick breakfast, we head back to the hotel with a looming wonder of where to head next. And before I can even shake the overhanging feeling, we ask the hotel overseer if he can find out when the next bus to Monterrey leaves.

He comes back in about 85 seconds with a small piece of paper that says “Coahuilenses: 10:15 am” and it also has a bus number on it. I look at the clock on the stand right as he calmly tells us, “Esta dejando en cinco minutos. La estacion es una cuadra de esa y tres cuadras de esa.” I look at my friend for a nod of approval, but instead am returned with a look of indecision. The bus is leaving in five minutes and it is seventy-seven dollars for the round trip. My dad gives his regards and gets back on his way to Houston. I excitedly turn back to my friend and ask, “Are you ready to go?” And, well, I’ll let the next picture of the bus bathroom facilities speak for our decision to go or not:

After hitting my head on the bathroom ceiling a few times as I relieve myself, I shuffle back through the tight center aisle on the bus and plop down back in my comfy seat. Three more hours to go. I tire from watching the Spanish dubbed movie at the front of the bus and pry back the heavy curtain separating me from the view outside. Ahh, almost there.

With lots of blanks to be filled in later, after all this is only a best of my favorites picture tour of the trip, I continue on to the next day. After a few good meals and a plethora of broken word exchanges with the locals of Monterrey, me and my friend walk for miles and miles down to check out the mountainside and be immersed in the culture of Mexico. We head off towards the local Santuario de Guadalupe church with no other routes or distractions in mind. Just walking and looking, always having a third eye out for a good picture opportunity.

We notice droves of businesses, banks, and restaurants that are closed on the southerly walk. On a Wednesday? Add this as another odd thought that infiltrates my mind and has to find out the solution by some line of practical reasoning. I keep walking, and thinking. We get closer to the church and just like we crossed into the cold front and had it smack us in the face and torso, we cross into an area with thousands of people lining the streets. Aha, my brain is placing the elementary ideas together in a deductive and airy style: this must be some sort of holiday or festival. We round the corner of the church:

After a fantastic day of pictures, life, travel, experience, culture, food, people… we finally settle down for the night and as I glance in my wallet for our remaining stock of pesos. I pull out six coins and head to the local 7-11 for a round of the night’s entertainment. Paying for a pack of beverages with change has never been so fun, or real, as I realize that we are running down to our last 200 pesos for the trip. Nonetheless, we have a great end to a fantastic day.

The last day leads us between two major roadways in an empty river bed. We walked about 15 miles this day as our brains walked about 1,500 miles as we took in the sights and sounds of this mountainous cityscape.

Soon enough, nightfall comes on our walk back north, and I stop on a bridge to play with the long-shutter speeds on my camera. The massive amounts of vehicle traffic going by make me wonder how people think of these Mexican cities back in the U.S. Sitting atop this pedestrian bridge, I breathe in a cool breath and feel more of my ideas of the world flourishing. I look at the back of the digital camera screen and see how much bright light the aperture has taken in only six seconds, and I wonder how much light and culture the aperture of my eyeball has taken in on that 15 mile walk of the day. My brain and thoughts reassure my heart of the amount as I continue the walk back to the hotel.

Coming back towards the Macroplaza area, I run into a tree lit by Christmas lights and try to capture its fluid glory with the camera as best as I can. The way the lights flow over in a haphazardly fashion is quickly overcome by the soft pulsing and flowing of the blinking pattern. “Why didn’t they wrap the other trees?”, I wonder out loud. But it really serves me well that the one tree there is appearing like it does so peacefully, despite it being surrounded by an inflow and outflow of what looks like 900 cars per minute.

Fast-forward over a six hour bus ride back to Acuna and a long walk back inside the U.S., and I meet a friend while I have my hotel door open to take in the breezy, chilly December air:

On the way back to Houston, we decide to stop by San Antonio for Saturday night and visit with my family. And then, on the way to San Antonio I quickly pull over right before arriving in a small town called Sabinal and their appropriately named river, the Sabinal River. The colors again comfort and appease me. They also remind me whose trip this really was, it was a trip of nature with me just following along as an observer.

Night falls and a cold and clear night sky lights up the great ceiling. I fall asleep in San Antonio on my cousin’s couch from exhaustion and pure vitalization.

The final day comes and I still haven’t had a chance to ground my thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, I can express my thoughts, but my head is in the clouds after so many sources of inspiration on the trip: human and non-human; cultural and intangible. In fact, as I write this on the Tuesday after getting back, I still haven’t really returned to earth. And I love it. Thanks for the trip, Mother Nature and people of the world.

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I’ll be posting more mini-stories and topics of the trip in the coming weeks. And I have lots more pictures to share with you. However, if you just can’t wait and wish to cheat, you can view the full album at my Google Picasa Web Album.

Thanks for reading.

Fronting in

koverholt — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:31:35 +0000

Well, that was most certainly one of the coolest electrical storms and cold front entrances that I have seen in a while. The air was dead silent, then the treetops jolted over sideways and one of the brightest yet most opaque skies opened itself up to chilled rain. The front moved right through and the air temperature dropped by about 15 degrees in 20 minutes or so.

Nature speaks in many ways. Take the time to enjoy it and listen in every once in a while.

The Great Texico Tour of 2007 – My favorite images

Freedom

koverholt — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:25:03 +0000

View the whole album