SURFING SOAPBOX:Notes from Michigan

I look outside my window and there’s not a cloud in the sky. Another sunny day and my view is exquisite from the 22nd floor. Directly down below me sits the Grand River and across the way sits the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.

I must admit I’m feeling a little discombobulated here in Grand Rapids, Mich., doing taped interviews for the documentary movie “Eco-Warriors: Guardians of Surf,” a film about the environment and surfers who are contributing in preserving our oceans.

In about two hours I will be jumping into a town car and heading to the airport destined for New York, where I will be meeting tonight with the Kennedy Foundation people, along with David Vaderveen, president of XS Energy drinks, who is traveling with me.

We might even be so lucky as to attend a UN meeting tomorrow morning — will have to wait and see.

In any event, as I sit back and think, looking below as the Grand River flows a dark murky brown, I glance around. I can see for miles and miles up here alone in my room.

I think a lot about the past six months. The ups and downs and the thrills and spills. In some ways, sad ones at that, I feel like I lost a lot to be sitting here today.

My thoughts often turn back to Laguna Beach, wondering what’s going on there. I can always picture it perfectly in my head and I can tell you right now at 9:09 a.m. in the morning that it looks nothing like this.

There are many times when I sit back and think about my life, my family and friends. You get a lot of time when you travel to sit back and think. Some of it’s lonely and some of it isn’t.

Today it is.

I’ve been on the ride of my life and I’m wondering where it will stop.

Peace.