As you may have noticed, over the past few months, I’ve been taking 1-2 week-long trips; basing myself out of Los Angeles and exploring the South Western US. Aside from the fun and adventure that these road trips brought about, there was an underlying purpose for my experimentation with various transportation and living arrangements.

From luxury cars and hotels through to renting motor homes of all sizes, I’ve been determining the most suitable way to see the rest of the country in 2010. After getting over the initial fear of driving a 21…25…and finally a 31 foot RV, it was clear that a moderately sized motor home could take me most places and provide me with a home on the road. For all of the places that it can’t take me, I’ve attached a small motorcycle to the back of a Winnebago Outlook. (Until I am debunked, I’m claiming to be the youngest Winnebago owner in the world)

And so, three weeks ago I finished selling and donating most of my non-essential physical possessions and left Los Angeles to spend some time exploring the Central Coast of California in my new Winnebago. I’ve since spent sunny days and windy nights in the deserts of Nevada – and just left Las Vegas after a few nights on the strip.

It is both an odd and invigorating feeling to know that I don’t have a “home” to return to. Everything that I own is with me right now as I set out to see and experience more of the United States from the ground level. Below is a tentative road map of where I’ll be heading; although routes and plans will most definitely change based on interesting discoveries along the way.

Have any unusual landmarks, glorious landscapes or fantastic food recommendations along my route? I’m always appreciative of local suggestions!

Aside from the green, rolling hills and lush farmland, I often find myself daydreaming of the local food that initially brought me up to the small town of Los Alamos 12 months ago.

While reading the back of a frozen flatbread pizza box that I bought at Whole Foods, I was in complete disbelief that the pizza that I just ate was made by hand and was mostly composed of locally grown ingredients. It was a fantastic pizza, a simple cheese and fresh herb flatbread, but my mind imagined machines and production lines. The box mentioned the use of a single wood oven – and that got me curious.

After reaching out to Full of Life Flatbread via their website, I was contacted by Clark Staub. An extremely friendly and open guy, the owner of Full of Life Flatbread invited me to visit on the weekend, when their production facility was converted into a restaurant. I took Clark up on his offer and was amazed to find that not only were his pizzas made by hand in a wood fired oven, but more importantly, the ingredients truly were the product of local farmers. I actually saw the fava beans that were in my dinner salad being dropped off in the afternoon. That was the surprising thing; Full of Life Flatbread pizzas are amazing – even better fresh out of the oven, but Clark and Chef Brian Collins prepare some of the best dishes I’ve ever eaten.

After dozens of meals at Full of Life Flatbread over the past year, I’m still amazed by what’s on my plate each and every time. This weekend, I had the opportunity to shoot (and sample) most of the menu, including house-made ricotta gnocchi with artichokes and garlic butter.

If you’d like to know more about this gem , you can read about Full of Life Flatbread in depth on my food review site. If you’d like to learn more about the Central Coast of California, stay tuned, I’ve got more on this area (including photos) coming soon!

I captured these snapshots of people sleeping while I roamed around the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show and they gave me a good chuckle, so I thought I would share them.

My favorite is the table of guys trying to pretend they are texting and writing (they were both sleeping), with their colleague blatantly giving in to his exhaustion. I also enjoyed the man with heavy eyelids watching an action sequence on a new 3D TV from Panasonic.

I don’t usually get all worked up over conceptual or emerging gadgets and other consumer electronics, knowing that it is going to take a little time for the kinks to get worked out and actually become practical. Nonetheless, a friend from back East was going to the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year and I decided I would attend if I could wiggle my way onto the press list.

From what I read, there were over 120,000 people at 2010 CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center- a massive trade show!

An interesting tidbit – the first CES took place in New York City in 1967 with 200 exhibitors and 17,500 attendees. A few notable products that debuted at CES over the years:

• Videocassette Recorder (VCR), 1970
• Laserdisc Player, 1974
• Camcorder, 1981
• Compact Disc Player, 1981
• Mini Disc, 1993  (that one never quite took off, did it?)
• Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), 1996
• High Definition Television (HDTV), 1998
• Microsoft Xbox, 2001
• Plasma TV, 2001
• Blu-Ray DVD, 2003

What was astounding to me, aside from the sheer number of people, was the amount of effort (and $$$) that electronics manufacturers are willing to put into a trade show like this. A few of my 2010 CES photos below show off how heated the LED TV – and now 3D TV product categories are getting. (pun intended, electronics geeks, the new LED TV’s are actually pretty cool to the touch)

I couldn’t point my camera in any direction without seeing 1000’s of TV screens. For a true technophile, this event was drool-able. For me, I couldn’t stop thinking about the logistics of designing and deploying some of these gargantuan TV displays. (click to expand photos)

I posted a few other videos of a tuk tuk ride through Bangkok, trying out new foods from street vendors and children playing with blown up condoms.

As I explored, as always, my camera was in hand. (surprise, surprise) Here are a few shots from my explorations of Bangkok markets and temples (click to expand):

Last year she surprised and flattered me by starting to paint one of my photos on wood. (finished version)

Always intrigued by her beautifully unique look (she’s part Native American), I asked Kiwi if she’d allow me to photograph her. Without much convincing we found some time to get together over the past year. Incidentally, she showed me around some amazing areas out in the desert east of San Diego where I wound up getting some great landscape shots and returned to on my recent road trip.

Aside from painting on wood, Kiwi delves into a variety of creative ventures – including photography. She is known to pick up non-traditional cameras and films, like the medium-format Holga, which she’s been tinkering with lately. When we went out shooting together a few times, I noticed that she truly has a different perspective when she looks through the viewfinder. You can find some of her photography and other art on flickr until she gets her act together and finishes her portfolio website.

One of the first unplanned stops that I came across was the Desert View Tower in Jacumba, California. It is a stone tower in the middle of nowhere that was built in the 1920’s by a local land owner (Bert Vaughan) to commemorate a route which was once a difficult pass, but was becoming more trafficked as railroads and improved roadways were being constructed nearby. A stone sculptor added some carvings around the tower in the 1930’s, which I came across while hiking across the field of boulders leading up to the tower.

I met the current owner, Ben Shultz, who has lived there for the past 10 years. He has so many pets running around, I suggested that he start a zoo to bring more people in to see the tower.  Being quite a prankster, he sent me on what turned out to be a wild goose chase for the famed “desert springs” up on top of the tallest peak in the area. Here are a few snapshots from that hike up to the springs (click to view full size). The Desert View Tower can be seen in the background of the final shot (behind the springs):

This year, after tossing around a few ideas including the Pacific island Kauai, I decided to stay a little closer to home and skim the Mexican border, from California, through Arizona to Patagonia for a few weeks. Instead of a Jeep, which is great for off-roading, I’ve recently become a fan of RVs, which let me have all of my gear along and many of the comforts of home. If I need to stop and wait for the sun to set in order to get the shot that I’m looking for, no problem!

Another thing that is driving this road trip through Arizona is a new website that I recently launched to host my constant exploration for great food and dining experiences. If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you may remember my tinkering around with tossing in restaurant suggestions from my travels here and there. Well, now I’ll have Hit the Dish to handle my restaurant and recipe raves from across the country. I encourage you to check it out and pass along any “must try” spots, especially Arizona restaurants, in the near term.

As it turns out, Nikolette Noel began building her portfolio (as almost everyone seems to do here in Los Angeles) after graduation and we began to discuss getting together. After several months of back and forth, we finally found some time to see what we could pull off. I called in a favor with a friend that lives in a beautiful house in Redondo Beach, California and asked Nikolette to bring a white collared, button-down shirt. The result…

• Santa Barbara County, CA – September 11-13
• Bangkok/Phuket – September 18-29
• Austin, TX (Austin City Limits) -October 1-5
• NYC/NJ – October 7-12
• Indio, CA (Phish Festival 8) – October 29-November 2
• Philadelphia/Poconos, PA -November 24 – 30
• TBD (Kauai?) -December 23 – January 4