shocauto.com Blog

Cars I’ve owned
1973 Ford Pinto station wagon (1989)
1978 Chevy Malibu sedan (1990-92)
1986 Mazda 323 sedan (1992 – 1997)
1985 Ford EXP (~1993 – 1997)
1977 Jeep Cherokee Wide Track (1996 – 2005)
1992 Toyota MR2 (1998 – current)
1987 Toyota MR2 (~2002 – current)
1982 Jeep Wagoneer (~2002)
1970 Chrysler New Yorker hardtop (~2002 – 2004)
1967 Ford LTD hardtop (~2004 – 2005)
1999 Ford F250 Diesel (2004 – 2006)
1989 Chevy Blazer w/ 350 CID V8 (2004 – current)

These are all personally owned cars, not cars I’ve owned through a business.

Motorcycles I’ve owned
1974 Honda CB360 (~1993 – current)
1972 Honda CB350 (~1996 – current)
1980 Suzuki RS250 (~1995 – current)
1985 Honda Spree (~1995 – current)

For those interested, I have created a basic map of the stops in our China trip. You can see an interactive map at: Live Search Map

Or click the image below to see a non-interactive map:

I’ll be adding more detail to this in the future, but for now this gives you the basic overview. 

Also, feel free to leave comments, I don’t bite. At least not through the internet.

Things have been busy for the last few weeks as spring has finally settle in, I am starting to look for a new job (my current contract ends next month) and I am preparing for a very cool trip right after I finish up my current assignment at Cummins.

That cool trip will be three weeks in China. A freind, Fritz, who lived there for several years, and his wife, Rain, who is Chinese, are going over and I, along with a few other people (Peter, Rick, Brian and David), will be tagging along to utilize their language and cultural knowledge. I will be leaving on May 16th, and returning on June 6th. Here is my basic itinerary:

May 16 – Flight from Minneapolis to Beijing
May 17 – Arrive in Beijing
May 18 – Beijing; Forbidden citiy, temples
May 19 – Beijing; Great wall
May 20 – Beijing; Overnight train to Zhengzhou
May 21 – Travel from Zhengzhou to Pingdingshan on to Yexian
May 22-23 – Yexian
May 24 – Longmen Caves, overnight in Zhengzhou
May 25 – Travel from Zhengzhou to Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou
May 26-29 – Hiking in Jiuzhaigou
May 30 – Travel from Jiuzhaigou to Guilin
May 31 – June 3 – Guilin – Hiking around the Li River
June 3 – Travel from Guilin to Beijing
June 4-5 – Beijing
June 6 – Flight from Beijing back to the USA

Yexian is a small farming town where Rain grew up. It will be interesting to see real, rural China, something that most people cannot see while there.  Jiuzhaigou is a natural reserve that is considered one of the most beautiful places in China. It looks like it is similar is some respects to Yellowstone N.P. Guilin is a small villiage on the Li river not too far from Vietnam that is home to Karst, which are huge limestone pillar mountains. It’s also the reason I’m bringing malaria medication.

I’m hoping to update this blog while I’m in China, but at the least I will update it afterwards. I bought a new camera for this trip, and I expect to take lots of pictures.