Summer Come Latte

Believe it or not, Latin was still being taught when I was in Junior High School.  Fortunately for the teacher, I was plugged into the other class, which was Typing.  It took awhile to appreciate that my Dad knew what he was talking about when he insisted that I take typing.  I was somewhat reluctant to be in a class composed almost entirely of girls, but that soon changed.  Obviously typing has impacted me more than what I figured was a dead Language...I can't read my prescriptions and I don't have to fight with my English professors any more.

Since my last post, the extent of my travels have been limited to Beautiful British Columbia, and prairie cousin to the east, Alberta.  I still have those travelling urges, and the reverse culture shock is still evident as I readjust to my hometown and the double whammy of retirement from the job.

It has been a good summer for me to return to Canada and to see my family and to act on some of the plans and helmet discussions that I held with myself as I rolled through my journey.  Blondy has had some major surgeries and face-lifts as she recovers from 70,000 kilometers of rolling in a little over 11 months of almost daily riding.  I am beginning the huge task of organizing and editing the 9,000 photos that I snapped during my absence.  In order to accomplish a bit of a more organized photo library, it is becoming an exercise in patience for my eldest son, as he guides me through the maze of issues surrounding consolidating and finding photo files stretched across a number of hard drives and cameras, all with different dating systems of course

The weather in BC has been wonderful this summer, and therefore any indoor tasks have been neglected as I made a point of travelling to visit family and undertake a couple of riding events as well.  I left my last post with a discussion of the North Island Ride, which encompassed a great deal of the northern end of Vancouver Island.  That weekend was a wonderful event to return to the fold of riding on the Island, and I enjoyed it immensely.

 I hope that my friends in Europe, Central and South America, and elsewhere who have not yet visited Canada and the Island in particular will get a better feel for this great land as I relate some of my rides during the past two months.

I met this guy as I was visiting a camping

store in Campbell River, which is on the north eastern side of Vancouver Island.  The high end store caters to hunters and fishermen, and I guess this guy was there to donate some of his fur for the highly valued salmon flys which are made at the shop...I wouldn't want that job..


Our Family has some Eagles flying on our behalf. In my case I think that those Eagles look after the Guardian Angels who have been looking after me for most of my adult life.  The north-west coast of Vancouver Island and British Columbia is filled with Eagles.  Now that the salmon are hitting the rivers, we will be seeing more and more of them diving for the spawners.

 Did I mention that Australia is banging around in my brain?  I just can't imagine the size of the Kangaroos that these lights are meant to blind...or at least dazzle...

 While not quite up to Cuban standards, it is always good to see a car built like a car and running after all of these years...

After the North Island ride which passed through Woss, Port Alice, Port McNeil and Sayward, I travelled south to Campbell River, which is also on the eastern side of Vancouver Island.   Campbell River is the site of one of the world famous chain saw carving celebrations held in British Columbia.  I stopped to have a look at the most recent creations and marvelled at the intricacy of these creations, carved with chainsaws and lots of artistic talent...

 Behind the bears is the strait of Georgia with Quadra Island showing in the distance.  The bears are debating the quality of Spring Salmon versus Coho salmon....

This guy looks like something out of somebody's nightmare.  Yet again, hard to imagine this intricate face being carved with a chainsaw...

 I figure the guys carving these two must have been sampling some of Walter Whites' product....

Now, isn't it good to be home with a good old homey gnomey???

Rolling further south on the Island, I stopped at my favourite BMW dealership, Island BMW in Victoria.  Blondy needed some wiring work.  A few hours work turned into a full day and more of rewiring and after I was finished, I felt like I was better off owning one of these rigs, which had stopped by the shop while I waited...

 The shop was full on about selling new bikes to folks, and the new F800's were being uncrated and rolled out as I watched and waited...

My Clearwater lights were finally wired up again, and I was ready to tackle the Interior deer. While not quite of the Kangaroo killing lights of the KTM, I was okay with some late night riding in the interior of BC and Alberta.

 I headed across on the BC ferry to attend a wedding and to see some more family that I had not been with in over a year..

My son the plumber was in Chilliwack for the wedding...

 My Grand nephew, part of the Armstrong Bike Crew, is working on his Strider and other mischief...

 And his brother is also considering which ride he wants to start with....

 I had a good visit with my niece and her family.  She has doubled the size of the bike crew since I last saw her...

I headed east towards Calgary and then north to Edmonton

 Some of the boys are scaling the rocks from the roadside cliffs: a good thing for moto riders and others....

My son is installing a better muffler on the Honda 650.  The deal is that I ride the Honda, and he checks out Blondy.

My grandson teaches me how to use an Ipad.  Only a year away, and the technology has shifted and I am an old phart with a laptop....

My daughter-in-law is reading to knock it out of the park...

And my son too....

We went to a local gathering of the Alberta dual sport guys, hoping to get some leads on a ride which we had planned up into northern Alberta.  This grand old bike caught my eye...

And this one too...

My daughter and her kids showed me the sights of downtown Edmonton...

 Honda is ready to go....

I have been thinking about a road trip with my son for months.  We head towards Lesser Slave Lake in northern Alberta..

My son's Grandmother is from Westlock...

We ended up camping at the west end of the lake and visited an old friend working at Shaw's Point Lodge.

We could see from the gathering clouds that it was going to be a wet night.  I wondered if my Nemo tent was going to stand up to the wind and weather...

The winds blew and the rain came off the lake in huge buckets...

After a wet night and a good visit, we moved westward to the Swan Palace in Swan Hills..

After another day of very wet riding, I made an executive decision to hit a motel and dry out our gear and ourselves.  I wasn't used to all of this water....

The canola fields of Alberta are a fantastic yellow which contrasts the darkening skies of what appears to be a wet summer east of the Rockies....

Gord looks pretty confident with Blondy, although we have determined that her clutch is going....

We debated about visiting my niece in Grand Prairie, and decided to try and get out of the rain by travelling south towards Grand Cache.  We had decided that the Alberta Trunk Road was going to be too muddy and slippery...  Near Grand Cache we met this fellow from Philadelphia, riding a brand new F800.  He was from Shanghai, China, and on his way to Montana to visit his family.  We decided to ride together for awhile, as we headed south towards the Icefields and Jasper.

Down the road, at a Timmy's stop, I had a conversation with these guys.  They weren't worried about the rain, and seemed to be enjoying their ride...

They seemed to enjoy their take out too...

It was a great feeling for me to be riding with my Son and to be firmly placed back in Canada.

Gord was the navigator, and I was happy to follow along...

I had not been down this route since I rode the Parkway with my sister and her crew a couple of years ago...

Further south, we found another campsite.

The glaciers are retreating.  I remember taking the boys onto the glacier almost twenty years ago, and the retreating ice path is quite apparent...

Damp Camping....

We ended up in Southern Alberta, west of Calgary...

I liked the sign: "The early way of Travel"....

It looked as if the dark clouds were following us.  The roads south, where we had hoped to travel, were closed due to the recent flooding.  It was time to head back  towards Edmonton.

Back in Edmonton, my grandson had some difficulty understanding how his Mom fit in the papoose carrier  when she was a baby....

 My daughter in law and Gord's Mom enjoyed a visit to the Edmonton Market....

 I headed for Victoria to get a new clutch for Blondy, and met this guy on the ferry.

 My friend Pat's watch cat....

And Blondy gets some new clutch plates...

And a new rear rotor...

 This bike was in the shop for maintenance...

 I travelled back to Tahsis and prepared for a visit from my daughter, her hubby, and my grandson.

Willy opened his eye in greeting...

 Boat is prepared for some salmon fishing..

 My Grandson views someone elses' catch at the local marina..

 It has been 25 years since my daughter has been to Tahsis...

 We picnicked on  the outer islands

 checked in on a grave-site...people have been respectful over the years, and I seen little disturbance....

And did some fishing.  I had to explain to my grandson that there is "fishing", and there is "catching."  He seemed to think that one went with the other....

After the Edmonton crew's visit, I took a night ferry to the mainland, and headed for Nakusp and the Horizons Unlimited meeting.

 There were over 250 folks attending this meeting, making it the largest ever held in Nakusp. Many travellers and wanna be travellers interested in moto travel gathered to share information and stories...

I met up with Bruce and Anne, whom I had not seen since we parted paths in Bogota.  They had ridden over from Kelowna with their daughter.  Bruce had prepared a presentation on their different travels, beginning with their tour on Europe and North Africa in the early sixties.  I was looking forward to seeing this tale of their journeys together.  It was great to reconnect with a a great couple.

 A new F800 from Calgary showed up...

 An even newer water cooled 1200 from the Island...

Guess what bike this was on???

 Some wild paint schemes...

 Grant Johnson giving a presentation on tires, flats, and the right way to deal with them..

The food was excellent and a huge cake was part of the closing ceremonies.  I also met up with my friend Garth, who had travelled in Africa this year.  He managed to get himself and his bike out of Egypt on June 30, the day before everything went sideways there.  It was great to see him again and share some travel stories...

I always like coming to Nakusp.  It is a laid back town with good coffee shops, and most importantly the people are motor cycle friendly...

We took over the municipal campsite, will well over 200 riders.

Lots of bikes throughout town.

After the weekend meeting, I rode with Bruce, Anne, and Jaime as far as Coldstream, which is near to Vernon.

 Crossing on the ferry to access Highway 6, which was a great ride..

I stopped in Coldstream, to visit with my Cousin Maureen.  She works with a local rescue outfit to save feral cats.

 This guy looks like he is pretty content and healthy...happy to give me the hairy eyeball and go back to snoozing...

I headed off to Calgary to see if my nephew the pilot had landed from his latest pairing...and sure enough he was ready with a barbecue, bike maintenance, and a tour of Westjet's facilities.

Not to mention an opportunity to checkout some of the Calgary hot spots...

He got his green thumb from his Mom and Grandmother...

We had a great conversation with one of the master mechanics in the shop, and I was able to see the tungsten fan blades up close and personal..the mechanics are the unsung heroes within the airlplane industry..keeping those birds aloft and safe.

Speaking of maintenance, my nephew just had to get down and work on Blondy, giving her a clean chain and an overall tightening...

 Those pilots seem to have some neat toys...

 I like my nephew's choice of saddlebags...

 He has two paired Kawasaki's......

After a great visit, I headed off to Edmonton, as my destination was northern BC.....

 Hey Grandpa, didn't I just see you in Tahsis???

 Road food, courtesy of my nephew, the jerky addict

 A great Edmonton barbecue, courtesy of the President of the Beer Hunter League, Edmonton Chapter.....

Back at work....

I think I will see how many Timmies I can hit between Edmonton and Chetwynd....which was my destination in order to complete my reintegration with my tribe...adios Edmonton, again

 Hello Chetwynd....my brother in law was riding in the sixties on this hard tail.  He is holding it for his Grandson(s), I think...

 My sister has a new ride...

 Blondy likes the peace and quiet of B.C.'s north...

 Northern B.C. is where everything is big and bigger.  These are some local wrenches....

Of course they are meant to deal with the inner workings of the WAC Bennett dam. It was quite awhile since I had visited the dam...

Cruising with my Chetwynd family...

 Good to see my Sister again...

 A golden oldie, Evinrude I believe...

 Open skies of the northlands....

 What?  Another chainsaw carving contest....

 A fish?

 That Walter White is getting around....

 A great visit with my Chetwynd family, and a wonderful ride to Hudson Hope, too.

Going to be a long winter, if the woodpile is any indication....

 Keep that green thumb up, Sis...

I had another date for Blondy at Island  BMW in Victoria. I headed down Highway 97, over the Pine Pass, through Prince George, Quesnel, Williams Lake and Clinton.  I headed through Marble Canyon to Lillooet and then Pemberton and Whistler.

 Sure enough, Blondy needed some work on her top end, including a valve tensioner spring...

A visit to Island BMW is not complete without a tour of the front, where new and slightly used bikes are always interesting and appealing..

This West Coast chopper is something that would appeal to my younger family members, perhaps....

A touch too loud for my liking, however and probably really hard on the back....it was time to ride north on the Island and feed the cat again.  Also time to settle down, mow the lawn, stack some firewood and get ready for the rains to come...

Mowich is thankful for the years' absence from mowing down the salmon berries.  She is having a good feed...

 Eagle couple planning the day....

 The rains are coming.....

 The local Salmon Enhancement volunteers are busy gathering eggs and milt for the salmon hatchery...

Summer is over..there is still some riding to be done.  I hope my European, Mexican, Central American and South American friends have a better sense of western Canada from this posting.  Vaya con Dios....