Summer 2009

Summer went too fast this year. Lots of friends and family, lots of work, and lots of sun. This is what our summer looked like.

We drove to great heights with Kens' Mom and Dad, up Nickleplate road.

We hiked to great heights with my aunt Rose up Pincushin mountain for a fantastic view of Peachland and the Okanagan Lake.

Oh yeah, did I mention my 30 year grad reunion!

Friends from Germany take a look at Kelowna far below.

While in the Kootenays for my Grandmothers' funeral we took a hike up into Kokankee Glacier park

My sisters Karen and Sharon and her man Lawerence, Ken and I at Kokanee lake, we never did see Kokanee Glacier

I always have to have at least one picture on flowers along the way


Karen and Sharon show off some of the blueberries and Huckleberry we picked when we hit the mother load along the side of the road on our way home from our hike

Ken and I took a few weekend camping trips with the Vstrom and a tent.

While camping at

Whiteswan lake we tried out a local

hot spring right on the river, the cold glacier water of the river was the

only thing that cools down

the water

We have been to Mt Robson several times but never have we had such a clear view as the weekend we rode the loop through Jasper National Park

Ken checks out the Columbia Ice fields, they have receded quite a bit since my first time there in the 1970's

More beautiful views along the way

Smoke makes for a very colorful sunset looking over the Shuswap lake, from Kens' brother Rons place

Kens brother Ron, Roseanne and Mercedes took us out fishing in their new boat, no bites but good times!

Mercedes and I pose for pics

Ken sits and eats huckleberries until he can't eat no more

We tend to gravitate to places of high altitude! This is the view of Kootenay Lake from above Kaslo

The last ride of the 2009, Chris and Gerry, Ken and I go for a afternoon ride on a chilly but sunny afternoon in early November

Firestorm 2009

2009 Glenrosa Fire

The fire in the early stages

Crews work tirelessly

The view of the mountain by night

Firestorm 2009, I think the media is a little over the top for me. But for argument sake I guess the memory of the Big Firestorm 2003 is still too fresh a memory for a lot of people around here. The Glenrosa fire started all too close to "Fickeville" (my families 4 houses). Just a few km away the fire was gaining ground and quickly grew burning two houses ,jumped Glenrosa road and scorched many other surrounding yards before the wind changed and sent the fire back running away from Glenrosa in the direction of Peachland. When the wind turned it did indeed turn...wind gusts up to 70 km/hr sent the the fire heading for German's mill and Hwy 97. Employees of the mill fought hard wetting down the wood so the fire skirted the mill without too much damage only to jump the highway, burn a third house in its way and head down thru an old orchard to the Okanagan Lake. The highway was closed and all of Glenrosa was evacuated along with areas in Westbank near Powers Creek canon, including Save on Foods where I work, Kens parents complex.





Thousands of people were evacuated including my entire family-13 people, and just to round off the numbers, Sharon (my sister) and Lawrence along will hundreds of others were stranded because the hwy was closed to Peachland. A family birthday party was cancelled at the last minute when Uncle Henry's building was evacuated so we took the party down to Ken's and my place, the only family house not anywhere near the fire. Here we continued on with Patti's 50th birthday party, played a little bocchi and drank a fair share of wine. The first night there were 14 of us sleeping in various campers, on the couches and on floors of our 1300 sq ft house. For five days we continued on in this fashion, I actually thought it was quite fun having the inpromptue family reunion but then I didn't have to worry abut my house burning in a fire. From our place you can see Glenrosa very well and by the second day we could see that the houses were no longer in danger, really, and everyone was just looking forward to going home. Everyone had gardens and yards to look after that were surely fading fast in the heat of July and Ron had close to 80 chickens at his place that need food and water twice a day. This is where Ken jumped to the rescue, donning his trail patrol shirt he jumped on his KLR and went around the back road into Glenrosa to feed and water the chickens, once again my hero and the chickens'.






After 5 days everyone went home to attend their places and I returned to work a day early from my weekend off to help with the pile of work that accumulated during the closure. Life as we all know it has returned to normal. Ken may not be back to work full time for a bit (he has been building dirt bike trails) because the bush is so dry and there is still too great a chance of fire, even though we have had a bit of rain the last day or so...just not enough.




In retrospect, it is great how family and friends can come together in a time of crisis. And I am thinking we should have maybe a 2 day family reunion (camping or something, not necessarily at my place) each year. I could be fun as long as we had enough wine!

A few of us enjoy dinner in our back yard

Ken points out the smoke from the Terrace Mountain fire. After being 90% contained a wind picks up the flames and the fire takes off again.

Terrace Mountain fire, August 1st. Amazing but not a pretty sight for all the people living closeby.

Home

Century Plant in bloom.

The flower of the Century plant. I just can't help myself when it come to taking pic's of flowers.

Miles of beach at Vicente Guerrero.

What's this? Canada or something?

We always seem to get in the middle of a cattle drive. I guess it goes way back to my roots.

Again, I can't help myself.

Jumping cactus!

Taken from the view point in the Joshua park you can see (if you carefully through the smog, and this is relatively clear day)the San Andreas fault line in the middle of the picture and you can imagine Palm Springs at the base of the mountain topped with snow.

A Joshua forest.

It is amazing where these will grow!(another excuse for a cactus pic)

Skull rock, use your imagination.

Ken laying across the Bridge.

Our very cool camp spot in the park.

Big rocks all round the campsite to reflect the light of the campfire.

Well here it is the beginning of March, winter is still in the air and snow is still on the ground can it really be a fact of our lives that vacation time for this year is over (except for one short week in July).

Since our last post we have put on the miles. 4800 km to be exact. Nice and windy weather took us the Baja, I'd like to say that it blow us home but unfortunately we had a head wind most of the way, winds so strong they actually moved the camper back about 2 cm in the box of the truck. We stopped along the way to take a side trip up into San Pedro de Martin del Sierras. Good news the road is paved the whole 100 km to the park, bad new (for us) there was too much snow for us to make it all the way. We were able to make it up into the pines though, and riding in snow is always interesting.

Crossing the border was non-eventful, ask us about our agriculture check on the US side. After the border it was straight to Yuma to visit with my Mom and Dad for a couple of days, they were parked on a lot with full hookups, very convenient for watching the Tournament of Hearts. We were there for 3 days and Karen and Matt (my sister and brother in law) will be down the second week in March, no chance of them getting home sick.

For Yuma it is only a hop, skip and a jump over to Joshua Tree State Park so off we went with a few days to spare before the true duties of work call. This park is amazing, good hiking, great camping in amongst the coolest rocks, cactus, Joshua trees(not really a tree but a relative to the Yucca, interesting) and vistas abound. Ken's back was acting up a little so unfortunately we didn't do too much climbing around on the rocks, people come from all over the states to rock climb here, but I guess that is one good reason to come back again!

After leaving the park we still had an extra day on our hands so... Why not swing by Grass Valley, Cal. and visit our friends Lew and Ramone? Pizza, margaritas and an evening of Mexican train( I was so hot, I couldn't be beat!) Super! Off again, this time with the distinct feeling of impending doom. Work and responsibility!

The Canadian border showed us no signs of discouragement when it came time to cross so we were home Monday the 2nd by 1:00pm with the camper unpacked that afternoon, the camper unloaded and laundry done(over 10 loads, 2 months in a long time...even if you are wearing the same bathing suit) by the afternoon of the 3rd.

And now I sit in wait for the end of this day and for the morrow to begin another cycle of waiting for that next vacation! Too exciting!

Setting up camp on our overnight camping trip to Parisima and Commundu.

Overlooking La Parisma. An oasis of date palms and farms in the center of which is, of course, the mission.

Ken gets gas for the bike at an out of the way station.



The road (what road?) is a little washed out from the hurricane in October, it is probably the worst road he has had to double me over. I'm just glad I decided not to ride my bike!


An Orielle feeds on an orange at our camp.



The view down to the Sea of Cortez from the top of the climb on the mountian bikes, on our way to San Javier mission.

San Javier in the background, just to prove we really did make it.

Oh Crab!

Ever have that feeling someone is watching you?

Captian Ken kicks back.

Yellowtail tuna, caught and sushi that very same day.

Ken gets his first ride ever in a helicopter. Yes, he was excited.

Below, Ken had great of views of rattlesnake beach, the port of Escondido, and off in the distance Juncalito beach.

Juncalito beach

Getting the vegies ready to go with our goat.

The 3 cabritas on the fire.

Sitting around the fire with a belly full of good food.

Ken climbed a little higher than us on our hike up the chimney canyon.

Our campsite at Juncalito.

Isla de Carmen, off the coast of Juncalito in the Sea of Cortez.

Dolphins looking up at us.

Dolphins swimming under our zodiac.

More dolphins, they are way too cool!

Bouganvilla at a ranch we drove through on one of our bike rides.

Which way do we go?

Can you believe time is going so fast? Juncalito is about to be nothing but a memory for another year…again. We absolutely love it here with the Sea of Cortez at our doorstep and the Montanas de Gigantiga nestled all around us, it is no wonder we continue to come here year after year.

A few things have changed a bit since last year. The City of Loreto has started to charge the campers on the beach (we always wondered when that would happen), they pulled up onto the beach and asked each rig for 196 pesos, that’s about $18 Canadian per night. Yikes!!! From free to extravagant. However, here was the catch, if we paid the guy there on the spot we could pay for five nights and stay for 15, what a deal that works out to about $6 a night which is not a bad price and the stay on the beach is worth all of that. If we chose to go into Loreto to the office it would cost us the total 196 pesos per night, a much better deal on the beach. He gave us a receipt for our payment and said he would be back everyday and not to worry he would get to know who paid and we would not be bothered. Of course we were not bothered because he didn’t show up again for 2 weeks. Free beaches here in Mexico are getting harder and harder to find, we don’t begrudge the Mexicans free enterprise we just hope the money is going to the right people.

We have been very busy since we arrived here in Juncalito. The weather, some say, is warmer than usual but the nights are still down to around 8 C. We have been walking a nice little 40 minute loop every morning after the sun is up and has warmed the beach a little, we seem to pass everyone else coming back…there are a lot of early risers around here.

The waters have been pretty calm so I have been out in the kayak a few times including a little excursion to a little restaurant for tacos and ceviche, with Elaine and Linda. Ken and I have been out in the Zodiac a few times, one morning we happened upon a pod of dolphin which swam with us and did what seemed like a dance with boat a we skimmed along the water above them. I attempted to take a video with my camera but the sun was at the wrong angle and all that recorded was a great shot of the sun and cloud reflected off the water. On the same trip we spotted a blue whale and watch it for a while, the sea life in the Sea of Cortez is amazing.

The fishing has been so-so, Ken has not even bothered to get a fishing licence. Teresa and Avery, out fearless fisherpeople from California, have had few good catches and have fed the beach with Yellowtail Tuna a few times, not to mention the clams they have supplied for our Juncalito pizzas (clams halved and topped with chipolte hot sauce and cheese, cooked over an open fire, yummy). I brought the fixin’s for sushi with me this year so I made some for an happy hour and a few days later gave Linda and Teresa a lesson on Heather’s style of making sushi, right or wrong as it may be it is still too good when made with tuna caught that day. We are so spoiled!

Today we leave...north. I will have to add pictures later as time permits.

Northernly Flow

Well here we go again, heading north for the 49th parallel.

La Paz has been great; meeting again with friends, days filled with mountain biking (with our bike gang "The Caca fuegos"), bachi, horseshoes, dinner parties, motorbiking, movies and many fish tacos.

We always hate to leave,but Juncalito here we come!

How to Make a Successfull Pig Roast, Baja Style

Pick an appropriate size pig, we were having approx. 40 people so our pig was about 60 lbs. At around 9pm Friday after stuffing the pig with oranges we wrapped it in burlap.

10pm we started a fire in a pit about 3ft deep and kept it going until we had a good foot of hot coals. Gene and Mike took shifts sleeping by the fire all night.

At 3:30am Saturday we added a thick layer of Napal cactus on top of the hot coals.

On top of the layer of green Napal we put in the pig wrapped in burlap, which had been soaking in water, an topped it with oranges.

Poured a couple gallons on freshly squeezed orange juice on top.

Quickly covered the whole thing with a big lid and shoveled on sand, to help insulate and keep in the heat and steam which would cook the pig.

By the time we were finished shoveling it was about 4:30 and time to go back to bed.

At 4pm Saturday we uncovered the pig just as people were arriving.

The meat was separated from the bones, this is probably the moistest pork we have ever had. It is literally steamed for 12 hours.

By 5:30 everyone was there and it was time to eat! Ken can hardly wait.

Of coarse you can't have a fiesta without tortillas and fresh salsa, along with an array of salads and side dishes. Ortensia makes that last minute preparations.

Sunday am, Son looks for any little scrap that may be left on the ground for him (good luck, we cleaned everything up pretty good.

The beginning of relaxation

Sand blowing across the road ahead of us as we drive through Glamis in southern Arizona.

That is one really big, old cactus...or is it just a little mini Ken?

Why does my dinner always look bigger than Ken's?

The full moon over La Paz.

Well, here we are in La Paz after 7 days of driving. We took it easy this year, driving down from Canada, the roads were not the best in northern USA but we have to say that the roads in the Baja made up for those up north. Any new road they putting down on the Baja is at least a foot wider (doesn't sound like much but it makes a huge difference) and for some reason the roads are quieter this year with fewer RVs on the road. The beaches are quieter also, lots of room on most for more campers. The winds were very bad around Cantvina, blowing the truck and camper around quite a bit. Semis were actually blown off the road.

But here in La Paz the weather is warmer than usual and we are liking it. We arrived in Comitan around 3 and by 6:30 we had the camper off, were unpacked,visited a few friends and were sitting down to our first Mexican dinner of tacos. We had to take the camper off the truck because we had a broken water line in the camper, that Ken neatly fixed in Lake Havasu, we will have to let the bottom of the camper dry out for a few days. Besides that one little problem with the water everything is great and now we are looking forward to getting out the bikes, doing a little mountain biking and motorcycling.

So much to do and so little time, only 7 weeks this year.

Three days on the road

Ken, along with the other truckers, put on the mandatory chains before he goes over one of the passes near Pendleton.

Ken is trying to skype people back home on Thursday morning...where is everyone? Looks as though we should be washing the rig don't you think?

At last we are on the road again, loaded up and headed out to Baja, Mexico. After a busy Christmas and New Year at home spent with friends and family Ken picked me up at work and we were off. Truck and camper towing our trailer complete with 2 kayaks, 2 motorcycles, 2 mountain bikes, and a zodiac. Everything you need for 7 weeks in the sun, on the beach. What we have to conquer first is the 4400 km that lay between home and THE BEACH.

So far this winter mother nature has dealt a hard and cold card to north America and the roads can tell the story. We had hard compact snow and deep slush to drive on straight through the first 2 days. The pass at Pendleton was nasty and chains where mandatory, which was not a problem with us after a couple of adrenaline rushes. One car driven by a woman sped past us, and as in slow motion, she spun around right in front of us and landed in the center slow bank. Latter we noticed her flying past us once more.?!? some people. Soon after, we and the semi in front of us went a little snaky on some ice, I had a large adrenaline cocktail... time for chains. Day three the roads dried up but there is still plenty on snow on the sides left from the storm that was right in front of us. Finally in Vegas temperatures have started to warm up (I finally took off my winter snow boots) but the temperatures are still low for them here. We stayed at the Las Vegas RV resort last night, checked out Sams Town and donated a few dollars. It is hard to win the big one when you are playing nickels!

Wouldn't you know it! After gas prices going down around North America for the last 3 months they are going up again down here now that we are on the road. 12 cents over night, just our luck! The gas is still a little cheaper here than in Mexico so we will fill all the tanks before we cross the border.

We just turned on the water in the camper last night because the weather has been just too cold until now and we didn't want the lines to freeze. We woke this morning to a puddle of water under the truck, yes just what we didn't need...a water leak. Better here than in Mexico, we will fix the problem in Lake Havasu and the same time drop in for a visit with our friends Bruce and Vicky.

A bad day on the road is better than a good day at work.

September vacation time

Let's just say another year has gone up in smoke!

Ken decides to sell the 950...only to replace it with the all new improved KTM990.

Two weeks vacation in September (I know, how do I get vacation time after over 2 years off and only being back on the job for just 4 months? Just lucky I guess.) we started with a trip to Vancouver. A walk along the sea-wall is a must.



Tony sets his crab and shrimp traps. We gorge ourselves until we can't seafood any more!



Friends Lew and Ramone from Grass Valley, Cal. visit for a week. A must do is the Kettle Valley Railway by bike. 18 trestles with a great view of Kelowna. This one is the longest, notice the burn from the big 2003 fire.

Music on the patio with the Armpit Orchestra.

From view of Kelowna to walks in the woods where we camped at the Nakusp Hot Springs.

After hiking Ken takes a little dip in "the old Nakusp hot springs", Lew was going to join him until the sludge on the bottom of the pool came loose...yuk.

A very calm Arrow Lake at Revelstoke. If you look close maybe you can tell the water is the sky and the sky is the water. (I downloaded the picture upside down)

Jim took us Chantrelle mushroom picking. Here he stands with all and chantrelles and the one pine mushroom we found.

On a dual sport ride up into the Selkirk Mountains we came across a beautiful bull moose.

Fall lupin against the Selkirk Mountains.

The view from our campsite along the Revelstoke lake...hard to take. A great time for kayaking.

A ride as far as we can go up a fire service road bought us to the foot of the glaciers.

A sculpture of an native warrior making an offering to the mountains, in Revelstoke National Park.

With 2 weeks vacation in September and the most wonderful weather in months we decided to take to the road in B.C. and and discover and uncover some of the places we had never been before and some that we love to revisit time and time again.

We started off with a trip to Bowen Island to visit Joanne (Ken's big sister) and Bruce, always our favourite, they are such gracious hosts and their place is THE MOST RELAXING. Thank you!

Rejuvenated, it is back to Vancouver, Stanley Park, MEC and Tony's parents place in North Vancouver for more seafood than we could imagine. Yum, yum.

Thank You!

By the time we make it home Lew and Ramone are not far behind us. It is their first time in B.C. so Ken and I tried to show them the best of Kelowna and then took them up to Nakusp and the hot springs. After that on to Revelstoke to visit Jim, a mutual friend from the Baja and fellow wild mushroom enthusiast. Jim took us to his secret spots (he must trust us because he didn't even blind fold us) that he always finds chantrelle mushrooms in, and we were in luck. Lots of chantrelles a few lobster mushrooms and even one pine. Diner... mushroom pasta, breakfast...mushroom omelets, lunch...mushroom soup. Cook them while you can.

The West Coast Trail

The four happy hikers Me, Rose Julian and Ron

Right off the start we are faced with a set of ladders to warm up on.

Picking our way across the ocean shelf.

Cable cars are supplied to carry you and your gear across the larger rivers. No motors on these babies, it's all overhand drive.

Some of the ladders up cliffs, others steep banks where you wonder how the trees even hang on.

A trip isn't complete without a little flora and fauna.

Winding boardwalks meander through the ferns and century old growth cedars.

Rose and Julian enjoy a R & R under the waterfalls.

The coastline is made up of many different terrains; shelves, beaches, cliffs, rocks and boulders.

Every once in a while you just have to take a look up from watching your step to enjoy and appreciate what Mother Nature has to offer.

Beaches where sometimes you think yours are the only footprints around, beaches that go on and on.

One days supply of food for 4 people. Granola for breakfast, trail mix for a high energy snack, humus and crackers for lunch and soup and bulgar or couscous for dinner. Rose and I even snuck drip coffee in for the mornings.

The Logan suspension bridge, everything feels a little different when you are carrying a heavy pack on your back. We're just a swingin'

Buoys mark the beach and trail accesses.

Sometimes Mother Nature supplies her own ladder of roots you have to pick your way down.

More boardwalk, steady as she goes, the planks get slipperier as they get wetter.

There is no disguising what you are doing in here!

Setting up camp amongst the driftwood at Carmanah Creek, cable car in the background.

Things start to get a little muddier and slipperier.

Km 75 the end of the trail where the boat picks you up to take you back to Port Renfrew is just over the hill.

There it is, I can cross off another off my "top things to do in this lifetime" and I can honestly say it was well worth the sweat, and tired muscles. After the first 2-3 days I just hoped I would make it to the end of the trail , I honestly don't think I have ever been that tired in my life...and we started at the EASY end by Banfield!

Having donned my 45 lb backpack for the first time (someone even lifted it into the vehicle before we left) I wasn't quite sure what I had got myself into, but Ron, Rose, Julian and myself set out after waiting standby to get on the trail until 2:30. We hiked 12 km to the Michigan camp site the first day, I was exhausted, the first ladder was only 1/4 km into the hike and muscles that I wasn't quite sure I had were crying for help. The second day we hiked another 13 km to Tsusiat waterfalls where we decided to spend 2 nights, thank God! Now everything hurt, it even hurt to think about it! The falls were refreshing but warm enough to jump into to clean off the sweat and grime. Not bad 1/3 of the trail done and we still had 8 of our 10 days to go, little did I know what was to come, remember we started from the easy end of the trail.

Night 4 was spent free camping on the beach around km37, who really reads those signs warning of bear and cougar in the area? While the first part of the trip was flattish, with lots of beach walking (not easy in itself) and not many ladders the second part quickly became increasingly difficult with many ladders, the highest being 204 rungs ( I counted every one), and lots of wet and slippery roots, walkways and bogs (and I repeat the word wet as mother nature decided to make our trip a little more challenging by adding a little rain and morning mist.

Day 5 found us trudging along in the rain for 9km to Carmanah camp, we hiked a little inland and trudged through a lot of sand on the beach , past by a wonderful lighthouse and shortly there after we were tempted to stop for a $20.00 burger at Chez Monique's but we decided we would rather eat the food in our packs (extra weight) than carry it out.

Night 6 found us at Walburn Creek visiting around a great fire with a family of aunt and uncle with 2 nieces, the company was great and it was a very nice finish to a beautiful day hiking along the sea shelves. Oh yes the sea shelves, they can be very deceiving...the ground is much harder and easier to walk on than the sand but the algae can be very slippery. It was on one of these sea shelves I found my self "turtled", a term I use to describe having your feet slip out from underneath you, landing on your pack which is strapped to your back and being unable to stand without first taking off you pack or gathering assistance from nearby hikers. I was lucky, I wasn't hurt and Ron was close enough that he was able to help me flounder to my feet! Not so gracefully! All the campgrounds on the West Coast Trail are on the beach with just a few sites in the trees, the site at Walburn had a cave on the opposite side of Walbran river from where the camping was located, as it turned out a single camper decided to spend the night in the cave without a tent. We all watched him as he set up his tent and went about his business building a fire and having dinner, it was almost like our own reality t.v. The tide was scheduled to come up quite high that evening and we all wondered if he would be found floating downstream in the morning (the tides flood the mouth of the river when they are really high). The afternoon cleared up nicely so Ron, Julian and I took a extra 4km hike down to adrenaline surge and back, a surge channel hikers used to attempt to cross hanging onto the rock sides or by jumping across, needless to say more than a few didn't make it and now know one is allowed to try. Personally, I got an adrenaline rush just imagining it. Sometime into the evening it started to rain (west coast style...it goes on and on and on), Rose and I woke with a swimming pool at our feet and semi-soggy sleeping bags. A quick breakfast and we were on our way...the guy in the cave? he was gone by the time we got up but I'm sure he was fine and probably the only one dry.

Day 7 continued on drizzly but warm. I think maybe it was a good day to be hiking inland, the huge cedars sheltered us from some of the moisture and kept our mind on the trail. With the rain came the mud bogs and the every increasingly slipper boardwalks, you find yourself having to stop to look around and enjoy the scenery because you just can't walk and look at the same time, just too many obstacles. Even if I tried to be as careful as ever one of the boardwalks jumped up and tripped me and I ended up in the splits, again Ron to the rescue, you just can't move with that pack on your back. There were a lot of wind falls in this area due to a big storm they had a couple of years ago, huge trees you had walk around, over or if you where lucky the maintenance crew had cut the trail through. Nothing seemed to dry during the day and in fact Ron's sleeping bag got wetter, lucky for us when we arrived at Cullite campground the Flemings were already there and we proceeded to build and share another fire that night with all of us standing around trying to dry things out...their fire building skills were a life saver. By this time Rose and I had figured out situation and decided we needed to use our ground sheet, wimpy as it was, for a tarp over our door. The door was where the water was getting in and it needed to be stopped. We found a sheltered spot in the woods and kept warm and dry as we listened to the stormy waves pound into the cliffs and beaches around us. We found out later that the storm that blew through took a tent of two with it and kept lots of campers up half the night waiting for the waters to recede enough to put up a tent.

Big day, day 8...4 km...in about 5 hours, we were in early enough to Camper creek again we attempted to dry out, this time with all our gear laid out over the beach. So why so slow you ask? It is slow going in the roots and climbing ladders, and ladders, and more ladders, some literally went vertical up a cliff. Did I mention that here you are in the midst of the difficult end of the trail, I can't imagine starting at this end and hiking these gnarly trails with a much heavier pack.

Day 9, still raining, and our spirits are a little wet as well. This trip is Rose and Ron's 5 th time on the trail and the first time with rain. Not to worry, we will survive! and actually, I was liking this end of the trail now that my body was a little more broken in to the pack and weight, I liked the technical aspect of the trail it always kept you thinking.

Night 9, the last night on the trail. Can you believe these people? they make you hike an extra 1km down into the campsite...more slippery boardwalk and ladders. Luckily, again we are the early hikers into camp(only because of our short km days) so we got a great sheltered spot off the beach away from the HIGH tide. Not so luckily, the rain continued all night and through our last day on the trail. I really could not believe people did this regularly in 6 or 7 days and some have done it in 2!!! The last day truly was the most challenging day, even though our packs were lighter than those carried by the hikers we met going in the opposite direction just starting out. Our muscles were tired, the trees we had to climb over were a little bigger, the roots a little slipperier and our footing just a little more questionable. About the time we caught the boat back to Port Renfrew the only thing we could think of was the drive that day back to Vancouver, drying out, a soft bed, and french fries with ketchup! Oh I guess the thought did cross my mind that this had been one of the best and most rewarding tests of my strength and endurance that I've ever done. Pretty cool. I think I really liked it, after the pain went away. I would probably do it again, just give me a little time to plan out all the details.

July 1st long weekend

Mnt. Rainer, over 14,000 ft. high, towering above us.

Just a little snow left, do you think it will all melt by next winter?

Ken takes a bit of a canoe ride in La Comba Lake, I don't think that paddle will take him far.

Rose and Ken overlooking the valley, and Trapanier Creek running out of La Comba Lake.

Ah yes, the July 1st long weekend, Canada Day, four days off for Ken and I and what would any patriotic Canadian do but head south to Spokane to visit friends and find roads that are not as busy as they are in Canada.

We haven't had the warmest weather here in B.C. this year but you would think that by July 1st the temperature would be warm enough to do some camping. We packed up the KTM950 and head out on the open road Friday night. Midway, just on the Canadian side of the border seemed like a good spot to camp for the night so we set up tent and went for a light dinner. Climbing into our bags at 11:00 pm we noticed it was a bit chilly by the river but we had no idea how cold we would get. Waking up shivering we cursed the Argentinian sleeping bags we had brought and longed for some good old Canadian bags rated to O or -5 at least. Needless to say we were up early and at the border ready to head south. Did you know there are actually borders that keep 9-5? well Midway is one of them so we ended up waiting for the gates to be lifted and the guards to interrogate us (we look so terribly shady!!). As the day progressed the temperature climbed. By the time we got to John and Janet's we were more than ready to gear off, kick back and exchange stories of our trips to the Baja this past winter. A great dinner, a soft bed and a hardy breakfast sent us on our way west to Mnt Rainer National Park.

Now I have mentioned that our sleeping bags were not the warmest and even though the temperature reached the high 90's the temperature at night it cooled of quite nicely high in the park. In fact, as the thunderstorm rang out all around us, we cuddled up inside the tent to keep warm and dry. Halfway through the night however, our air mattress deflated and we found ourselves on the hard ground. Another early morning! We were glad of the early start, Mnt Rainer was open to the blue sky and looked tremendous...and the day turned into a 12 hour ride due to the fact we couldn't find another air mattress and we rode all the way home.

The weekend away turned out to be a day short, so... what did we do with one more day on a 4 day weekend? We rounded up Rose (who is doing the West Coast Trail with me at the end of this month) and we hiked up to La Comba Lake and back, about 22km round trip. Training continues, no blisters and the leg felt good the next day. Now to try it carrying a 45 lb pack!

One month of training

My tent setup in the back yard, airing out before the big hike. What a great sunset in the background.

One slightly used, dusty pair of boots ready to do some walking!!! "These boots are made for walking..." that really is starting to become a habit...singing and hopefully not in the rain.

Well here it is the 23rd of June and in one month I, Rose (my aunt), Ron(my uncle) and Julian(my cousin) will be starting out on our big adventure called "The Westcoast Trail". The WCT is 75 kilometres of trail on the southwest end of Vancouver Island, it winds its way through tall old growth rain forests along beaches that run for miles, through fresh water creeks and up and down a series of ladders with (from what I've been told) up to 160 slimy rungs, and all this while carrying a pack 40-50 lbs in weight. Sounds like an idea for a new action movie. Everything you carry in you carry out, and hopefully I will not be one of the things being carried out.

Yeh, this is a one of the things on my list I absolutely had to do in my lifetime. Why? The scenery is fantastic, it is a physical challenge and is (in my opinion) one of the things that says "Oh Canada!" ..."This land is my land, this land is your land..." Sometime doesn't life just make you want to breakout in song?

Just because I am willing to do the WCT doesn't necessarily mean I am ready or able to do it. Coming off a two year trip where I sat ALOT on the back of a motorcycle makes me wonder if I should have started training for this hike before now. However, train I did not and now I start! Dawning boots and occasionally my pack I am now starting my training regime...I think, maybe, when I have time. Well I have my boots ready and I bought a new pair of socks, it's a start and you have to start somewhere.

Stay tuned!

Life at Home

Ken takes a moment to look over the Okanagan valley, taking in the lake, vineyards and yes cacti in bloom.

While hiking the Rosevalley rim trail you have a great view of Kelowna and the Okanagan Lake below.

Well here we are back at work now, Ken doing masonry work with a friend and me...well it is no surprise that I am back in the rat race at Save On Food. A full month back at work and it truly feels as if I have not been away and I am already dreaming of our next escape, Ken on the other hand is enjoying his new occupation learning the ways of building rock walls ( a switch from the years gone by when he used to blow them up working with explosives with CIL).

The top two: questions that is!
How does it feel to be back home? You must be glad to be back?
I guess sleeping in my own bed does fell rather good but Ken and I both seem to be rattling around a bit in our house (all 1300 sq ft of it), after living on the bike and in the camper for the last 2 1/2 years the house is more than enough room and there is always something to clean or dust not mention the yard and the lawn that needs mowing twice a week. Life on the road somehow seems much easier. Even if you don't know where you will lay your head each night or what will dinner will consist of a day on the road was never mundain or overwhelming. As you can tell I miss it already.
What was your favorite place you travelled on your adventure?
And I ask, For what? Beaching it? Hiking? History? Food? Culture? I couldn't even start to pick just one. Nicaragua had miles of amazing untouched beaches, the hiking in the mountains in Austria and Bulgaria...breathtaking and along the coast on Crete the views went farther than the eye could see, Prague was a maze of unbelievable stone architecture, riding the hills along roads that you know were just goat trails at one time is a bikers dream, and do I really have to say anything about the pizza in Italy, the tacos in Mexico, the Bratwurst...the Cognac...the BBQ...the Greek salads...I could go on forever. When we travel we embrace all the people, their food and drink, their culture and their way of life. It is impossible to pick just one.
Why did you come back?( to work, to Westbank, to the same way of life?)
It really is beautiful here in our little corner of the world, and after all is said and done it is home, it is the place I want to come back to in the end. And as for work, well...we are not independently wealthy so in order to finance our next trip we do have to work on our financial standing. Back to work, back the putting money in the back, back to spending money on travel, it all makes perfect sense to us. So meanwhile, we will mow the lawns and enjoy a game of bocchi with friends, we will enjoy sleeping in our own beds and doing the laundry that comes with that. It is all part of the big picture and you know I love life's little photos.

Mother Nature, someone tell her it is near the end of April

Ken sweeps snow from our Toyota first thing Saturday morning.

Mother Nature can be so cruel or maybe it is just her idea of a joke, when we woke up on Saturday morning after over a week home with warm weather and hours working out in the yard getting it back in shape after over 2 years with little attention, we found over 2 inches of snow on the ground and temperature looming around zero. I guess it was harder for Ken and I to handle the sight of snow because we have not seen it in a long time and we were already struggling with the adaption to the reality of life back at home. Today however, the skys are sunny even if the temperature is still cool (0 deg. Celsius) and I think we will live! Now lets see...where did I put those long johns...

All good things....

One of the last sights to see before leaving the Baja is miles of desert flowers and cacti in bloom.

A full moon rises of the Arizona desert.


Home sweet home, camped at Quartsite in our camper and Mom and Dad in their fifth wheel.

Joshua tree in bloom.

That's what they say "all good things must come to an end", I say they are wrong!!! All great things may temporarily be put on the back burner to be kept warm with thoughts and plans for another day.

After leaving the Baja, we met up with my parents in Arizona and spent two relaxing weeks in Quartsite and one in Lake Havasu. Daily walks with dad, oh so happy hours and evenings filled with the sound of the Mexican train (I just couldn't loose) kept us occupied and up until at least 9:00 pm, I think Ken and I may have a problem raising early when we get back to work. All the way home Ken looked for a 1993 or older Toyoto 4by4 (vehicules 15 years or older are easier to import) he also had his eye open for a mountain bike, he didn't find either until he got home. Now you will find him riding a black Santa Cruz or driving a maroon 1990 Toyoto, unless he is out in the bush riding his KTM 300...toys.

Don't get the wrong idea though, the weather has been cool since we got home a week ago and we have not had too much time for r&r and playing with any of those new toys. Moving back into the house and getting ready to go to work have kept us busy, I have been painting and unpacking boxes and Ken has been clearing out the yard of some very overgrown trees and shrubs. It is amazing how much things can grow in two years. Save on Foods has me back on the schedule April 29th and Ken is off to work with his buddy Shaun on the 28th doing rock work.

Two and a half years, can you believe it? We have really been lucky. The only thing is we would really rather be out discovering new places and roads than returning home. We have met a whole lot of great friends on the road, and many we will see again in the future. 33 countries: Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Moracco, Monaco, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Rep, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece. It may seem like a lot but the time has just flown by way too fast, and we still have a few places we want to visit. First, back to work to make some money to ensure all things do not come to an end!

Los Cocos Beach

Los Cocos beach, we were here two years ago, met the Starks and had to come back again and I am sure it will not be the last time. This beach is extremely conducive to kicking back and chilling out.

We have done a ride on the KTM and a few small hikes but all in all our days are spent kayaking and just hanging soaking up the last of the rays before we head north. The water is cool but picturesque and many an hour has been spent gazing off into the horizon.

The view of Los Cocos beach, our camp is about in the middle of the beach.

Ken rips up a little dirt on a ride into the mountains behind Mulege.

We just can't help it...can't you see why?

A afternoon playing Mexican train with, Lew and Ramone and Charlie and Lynn.

The cacti are in bloom.

Cave paintings.

Pyroglyphics just above the beach.

Juncalito

The beach at Aqua Verde. Lloyd, Jim, Ken and myself park on the beach while we enjoy a light lunch in the shade of a mesquite tree.

Looking up 10 ft in THE CHIMNEY

The view from near the top of the hike, cool pools of water and the Sea of Cortez in the distance.

Ken and my washing machine, add clothes, soap and water and hit the bumpy road to agitate.

Looking down at a dolphin below the zodiac on a rare calm day of boating

The whole gang at the beginning of THE LADDER hike.

The walls of the canyon stretch high above us.

Ken enjoys a little wave surf time!

Juncalito, how quickly our time has gone here! We have had happy hellos and shared many stories with friends from previous visits and made a few new friends as well, Lew and Ramone from Grass Valley even joined us for a week and now we will rejoin them at Los Cocos beach 2 hours north of here.

I think the time goes so much faster here because there is so much to do. Ken got the boat motor impeller fixed so he has been able to get our fishing a few times, we got out a few times to watch whales and play with the dolphins. The kayaks got used also, Elaine, Linda and I paddled down to Vista al Mar for lunch (the wind picked up on the way home and I thought we might be blown back to the restaurant for supper) we did a few paddles looking at the sea life and I enjoyed workout paddling out and around the island. Ken has the kayak out surfing the waves when the winds are up and had a great time helping Hayley, a young girl and beach, kayaking for the first time and some pretty big waves as well.

There are a few bike here on the beach this year, James is here again from Revelstoke and Lloyd and Sandy from Maple Ridge. We took in a few rides into the desert, up to San Javier and one down to Aqua Verde a ride on which I took my bike. Most of the rides in this area we have been on before but with the hurricanes and winds it always a new ride every year, many of the ranches are deserted but we found many new ones along the way as well.

Clamming has been pretty good this year and we have had a few good feeds of Juncalito pizzas (halved clams topped with salsa, cheese and lime cooked on the fire). Tuna fishing has been great, one trip out the boys caught 10 yellow tail. The whole beach was eating tuna that night. I have made sushi a couple of times, but I am still waiting for Ken to catch some trigger fish for ceviche. Our only trips into town have been on Sunday for the market, lots of great fresh veggies, prawns and scallops. Need I say more, life is good. Linda and Al have had a few great happy hours that (with all the food and drink) turned into dinners and an evening fire.

As usual we have done a few hikes here (2 in particular that we enjoy), the chimney hike and the ladder hike. The chimney hike was challenging this year but we made it through the chimney and to the top where everyone stripped to the undies and went for a swim, our legs were complaining for a few days but the hike was well worth the pain. The canyon were we hike the ladder hike was quite full of water this year and a few people had to swim in places they did not want rock climb around the water. We were 18 people at the beginning of the hike, with John and Janet our fearless leaders they were the first to jump in and get everyone going!

The weather is still a little cooler than what we think is normal and the wind ,it seems, is still blowing at least 3 days of 7 but in general we really cannot complain. Tomorrow we head off to Los Cocos beach to rendezvous with Lew and Ramone, again we have to rip ourselves away from here kicking and screaming. Man I hate good'byes.

Quite Ordinary

You are not going to believe this but Ken and I are still in La Paz at Gene and Elaines place. We have settled into an almost normal routine around here with friends with lot of things to do. Adding to our spanish vocabulary is not something we have been working on here because it just isn't needed, everyone (just about) speaks english or at least a little. Here are a few pics that tell the story, we have kept busy and just haven't started north...until tomorrow. We will miss everyone and have alot of good memories of the last 2 months (along with a few scrapes and bruises from our bike rides).

With the cooler weather and a little rain the cactus are breaking out in color.

On one of our hikes into the mountians we came across this series of ledges and saddlebacks, Ken is in the background sittng waiting for me.

A full moon, on one of our camping trips created a great backdrop.

You can see the arroyo below that we followed back to our camper in far below. After going up and over a few mountains trudging through the sand was not easy even if the terrain was flat.

Ken found this little amigo under a log. The scorpion measured about 3 inches head to tail (although we didn't stretch him out to see).

A look back down the coast north of La Paz and San Juan de la Costa.

We built a karin on top of one of the mountains we climbed.

Me and the boys are out on horseback, riding up an arroyo, over a mountain and back to the ranch. A few days later Ken and I hiked the same trail, it was great either way.

The gang on our last ride before we leave, Ken (behind the camera) and Ralph (must have taken a trip into the bush) are the only ones missing.

Ken and Ralph entered a horseshoe tourney. Even with Ken's great form they were knocked out in the semi-finals. I think the whole thing was stacked with some semi-pro shoers just off the curcuit.

Thanks to John and Ingrid for a few great days fishing, to bad the luck wasn't good. Speaking of luck, Ken has been out of luck with our boat motor. It looks like we will have to wait until we reach Juncilito where we will meet Lew and Ramone and they can bring us an impellor from the states.


With all the Americians down here in this neighbourhood the Super Bowl was a very big event, Elaine made and decorated this cake. I, on the other hand, had no interest in the game so I kept busy playing Bulla (a type of poker game) and even won myself 8 bucks, thats at least 6 tacos...yum yum!

Bye Bye La Paz

Feliz Ano Nuevo

Ken, Mike, Hortensia and Ralph hanging out at the bombfire on the beach New Years Eve.

After a neighbourhood pizza party we all headed down to the beach for a bombfire and fireworks. A good time was had by all, a better time by some than others that evening but New Years morning may have been a different story (not mentioning any names, Ralph).

Happy New Year!

All Philosphical

This little buffer fish may have a cute little face but its spines are down right nasty.

Even the Pelicans aren't fishing on this warm and calm day.

Larry and Betty hosted a pig roast in their back yard, umm umm good.

New Years Eve a dozen or so of us got together for a pizza party. Elaine and I made the crusts and everyone brought their favorite toppings and made their own pizzas.

The Whales Tail welcomes everyone to La Paz, if you look very, very close you can also see a flying dove.

Well here it is the end of 2007, I can't believe the year has gone by so fast and that we have seen so much and met so many fantastic people. In reality, as i sit here preparing for our New Years Eve festivities I can't even reflect on the whole year it is just too mind boggling.

Last year at this time we were in Columbia and have traveled South American, visited home in B.C. for the summer, explored eastern Europe and have travelled full circle back to where all our travelling dreams started, while we sat on the beach and looked out over the desert and deep blue sea, the Baja. We have been here for over a month and roots are already starting to develop but I find I am starting to long for the open road and places not yet visited.

2008...more open road? new countries? We have decided not to make any New Years resolutions or any major plans carved in stone but there are a few places on our list of places to see that we haven't hit yet. But, first back to work for a while$$$.

Back in the Baja, this year has been a little windier and cooler than what we remember in the past so we have not been doing much camping or fishing (Ken had a little mechanical difficulty with the boat motor, namely the impeller) and have hanging with Gene, Elaine and Ralph in Comitan. Biking is still on the agenda three times a week and I know when we do leave here Ken and I will both miss it a lot. The kayaks haven't been of the roof of the trailer in weeks but Elaine and I have a daily walking route. As usual lots of great food with Elaine and I cooking southern style in her kitchen, community parties and not to mention our favorite fish taco stand "Mr Taco". Christmas was spent with a few friends over for ham dinner and cocktails, and I have to say I missed the Christmas carols that are usually sung around the Ficke Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.

La Paz has grown leaps and bounds since we were here last in 2006, you can find anything you need in the grocery stores, there is multiplex theater where you can take in a movie for $3 and lots of restaurants to choose from. We plan on tearing up roots here in a few days, after Gene's 80th birthday on Jan. 3rd to be exact, at that time we will be heading to the Pacific side to camp on the beach for a week or two...that's what the plan is now, but that could change.

Winter in the Baja

Lew and Ramone standing in their garden in front of, you won't believe this, their tomato plants. We just about needed a latter to pick a few from the top!

Cerreo trees look like upside down carrots growing out of the rocks along with other cacti.

It is hard to tell which is a bigger piece of junk, the truck or the stuff in the back of it. Maybe they were on the run from the scrap metal man.

Here is the gang out on a bike ride. This year I am just about the youngest however I am in the rear sucking wind...big time!!!

Hortencia and I are out for a paddle in the sit on top ocean kayak, the guys took the easy, streamlined kayak but we still had a smile and a good time paddling in circles.

Well, here we are back in the Baja, a place we have seen many times before and it feel somewhat like home after close to 2 years of travelling and seeing new roads every day. The drive through the states was very relaxing, driving the truck and camper and having our own bed every night, travelling before the winter snow hits hard in the mountains, and stopping along the way to visit friends always makes for a pleasant trip.

We made two stops to visit friends in California, Lew and Ramone in Grass Valley, friends we met on Cocos Beach in the Baja a few years ago, and Mike and Amie a couple of fellow adventure riders we met on our South America trip. We had a great stay with both and really enjoyed talking about recent travels. Mike and Amie had a diner while we were there and invited a couple other people they had met on their trip south and we compared stories, looked at pictures and reminisced bike trips.When got close to the Mexico border near Tecate we started to see the remnants on the last California fires. One fire had burned from San Diego to Potrero and just about got the state park we usually stay in the night before we head across the border into Mexico, that fire had just started on October 21 the ashes were barely cold.

We crossed the border into Mexico on November 22 and for the first time since we have been going to this crossing (usually a very sleepy crossing) we got pulled aside and a small search was done of the camper and trailer. We were on our way in no time at all but within half an hour we were pulled over by some cops that reminded us too much of the not so pleasant cops in Peru. The cops in Tecate told us we were being charged with driving in the left hand lane while driving through town (yes, we were guilty of this charge but who knew it was against the law?). We would have to go downtown to see the judge and pay a fine. We asked how much the fine was and maybe we could pay him instead but then decides maybe we would just take one of our motorbikes out of the back and go see what the judge had to say. Well, when he heard we had a bike in the trailer and would actually go see the judge the cop handed back Ken's licence and registration and told us to drive safe and stay in the right hand lane. I hate to say it but sometimes it sounds better to just be getting pulled over by the RCMP for a speeding ticket at home!

The rest the trip to La Paz was relatively uneventful (except for just about being run of the road by a semi going wide around a corner, thank goodness the roads are a little wider in spots than they were a few years ago) and we are safe and sound at Gene and Elaine's place in Comitan. Here we are already fitting into a regular daily regime with the people who live down here; mountain bike rides on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, horse back rides and of course enjoying getting out for walks every morning before it gets too hot and kayaking in the Paz bay.

Ken is looking forward to doing some fishing for dorado, they run when the waters are warmer now than in January when we have always come down. Tomorrow we are heading down to Cabo San Lucus, Willie and Val are there on vacation, on the way down we will check out Los Cerritos and on the way back the east cape. Boy oh boy I think I may need a siesta, I'm getting tired just thinking of everything we have to do!!!

Cretian Gorges

This gorge runs by a couple of Minoan ruins, it is named for the dead people buried in the caves along the sides of the gorge not for the hikers who have tried to hike it.

Samaria gorge, look up...way up! I was able to lighten up a few pictures taken in Samaria but the gorge is go deep that if you don't time your pictures to high noon or pack a super duper light into the gorge it is hard to get a great picture.

Check out the ledge of the gorge in this hike we did to Lissos, the top of one side is actually overhanging the rock wall on the other side.

A gorge running to the sea, a lot of the gorges on Crete you can only access by boat. This picture was taken from the ferry from the mouth on the Samarian gorge to Sfakion.

Home a little early

Well here we are back in Canada a little earlier than planned! In retrospect, we should have moved this trip up about 2 or 3 weeks and left in the middle of August but...next time we will know better. And there will be a next time. As it turned out the last week of this trip was a little cool but dry and the colors in Germany were even nicer than at the beginning of our trip. We took our time riding up to Weisbaden from Austria taking some very scenic roads and enjoying our last few days on the other side of the Atlantic.

Returning the bike was easy. As I said before, we bought the bike from a dealer in Maines for 6500 euros and when we return (with the bike in good shape) he bought it back from us for 4500 euros. The owner of the shop had the Euros ready for us the day before we left for Canada, the only hitch was that the Canadian dollar has gotten stronger in comparison to the Euro so we will loose a little $ on the exchange back to Canadian dollars. While we returned the bike we visited with Franz and Sabine in Weisbaden again, aways a good time...see you in Canada!

Now back at home 2 weeks early we are back at Mom and Dads place in Glenrosa busy getting the truck, camper, trailer, bikes...all the toys ready for the trip down south to the Baja.

The colors along the Rhine River were absolutely fantastic.

Oberwessel from the vineyards above.

Even in the rural areas the the tank speeds are kept under control so Kimberley don't even think of speeding and forget about the autoban!

Dropping off the Varedaro, another successful leg of journey finished.

16 hours after leaving Frankfurt we arrived home in Kelowna, thanks Air Canada and Avion.

From Crete to rain

Mama goat guards the door where she has her little kid.

Lissos, a Roman and Minoan site, do you think our homes will still be standing in 2000 to 4000 years?


A small church made from Roman ruins at Lissos.

All over Crete the olives they are preparing for a bumper crop of olives.

Our only look at Albania, soon after this shot the rain started falling.

Don't let the sign fool you, I think these are the minimum speeds allowed on the roads in Italy.

The weather riding up thru Italy to Austria was not the very best.

Georg and Christine, our Austrian friends we met at Buck Lake, took us on a great hike up to the top of a ski hill near Innsbruck.

Well that last dip into the Mediterranean never did happen. When I emerged from the Internet cafe the skies had clouded over and the wind had started to blow, the locals were busy getting ready for gail force winds and rain. And it did arrive! That night I slept with one eye open while listening to the wind howling and the rain hitting the walls of the hotel. I had images of the bike flowing down stream to the sea or lying on the street, Ken says I have much too active an imagination! The next two days we spent time waiting for the skies to clear and the rain to stop long enough for us to head out on the road again.

The weather happened to clear long enough on one afternoon, before we left, for us to take a hike to Lissos, an archaeological site. The buildings there are 2000 to 4000 years old and still in pretty good shape, on some of the floors there is still intricate tile work and on some of the walls Roman writing. We got caught in a short rainstorm on the way back to our hotel, but we are not made of sugar(ha, ha).

We decided to make a run for the north coast of the island and by midnight on the 23rd we were on the Olympic Champion ship headed for Athens. The trip from Crete to Athens is only 6 hours (from midnight to 6 am) so we opted for the deck seats...I think we got about 2 hours of sleep curled up on the floor of the lounge. Needless to say, the 33 hour trip (11pm Oct 23 to 8:30 am Oct 25) from Greece to Italy was spent on a boat with a cabin and beds to ourselves. The first morning as we sailed past Albania I was a little upset because the weather had cleared and it was a beautiful sunny day, I kept thinking we should be riding, but within a few hours the rain was falling and I was very happy to be dry on board the ship and not on the back of a motorcycle.

Italy was wet, very wet, so we got off the boat and headed north to Austria and to our friends Christine and Georg's house in Innsbruck. The weather was not exactly warm there, 3-8 degrees in town, but they took us on hike up a local ski hill where the sun was shining and the temperature was fine. The view from 2000 metres was amazing, a sea of clouds below and mountain tops everywhere, we didn't even mind the snow on the ground.

Neither Ken nor I am looking forward to leaving Innsbruck tomorrow and heading north again but we have changed our tickets home from Frankfurt to Nov 4th so we must head out...long johns, riding gear and rain gear all on and hopefully warm enough.

Greece, or should we say Crete?

We crossed into Greece with rain hot on our tails,

Our first town on the water.


Crete is an island of rock, olives, goats, and beautiful coastline.



A trip to Greece wouldn't be complete without Greek ruins. Here is Phaistos.

On a day hike along the E4 we found a remote bay we could call our own for a swim and to soak up a few rays.

Sweetwater beach, a beach with fresh water springs all along the sand a few meters from the water. We went for a quick swim and moved on, those darn Europeans just can't leave their clothes on.

You always have to look out for these guys on the road as you go. What a view,

Chora Skafion in the distance.

We took a little climb into a cave near Kato Zakros, we forgot our flashlight so it was a good thing Norbert and Andrea from Bonn came along with one.

A lovely little boat anchored in front of our room.

A beautiful moonscape.

Just a warning before you start your decent into the Samaria Gorge, no high heels or old people with canes who have been drinking.

Looking down a part of the gorge.




The roughed landscape along the E4 trail near Sougia.

Sure we make tentative plans or a route that we want to travel but nothing is written in stone and that is good thing because as we crossed the Greek border from Bulgaria with rain hot on our heels it didn't take us long to decide to head down into Greece now(instead of flying back in Nov.). Also after a couple of nights heading over the Greek coast the decision was easy...head for Crete now and see what the weather would do up north in a week or so. The rain had to stop sometime...didn't it?

So that night, only 24 hours after making the decision to head south we were in Athens and by 8:30 we had set sail south, headed for the Greek Islands. Here we are in Crete, possibly the cradle of western civilization, definitely the land of volcanic rock, roaming goats and sheep, olive groves that seem to cling to unimaginable hillsides and unfortunately a lot of road side garbage. All in all a beautiful rugged island with fantastic, twisty and paved roads for riding thru enchanting villages of old rock and white washed buildings. Every town has at least one quite little church if now 5 or 6 and there are many more dotting the hillsides and mountain tops.

We headed straight across the island after disembarking from our ship at 7:30 am(the boat arrived at 6 am but opted for a little more sleep in our private cabin). On the south coast we discovered the little town of Chora Sfation with a room we could call home, hiking trails to beaches, and even a pool for a little afternoon dip. Here is where we met our new Aussie friends Jenny and Ioannis, Ioannis was born on Crete and later moved to Austrailia with his family, he was a wealth of information about the past and the people of Crete. We are very thankful he was willing to share his knowledge with us, it gave us a totally different prespective. It was nice.

After a couple days of hiking and discovering we headed out to ride the south coast of the island, so many twisting, tiny roads. At this time we realized how true thankful we were that we had come to Crete now and not at the end of Nov., one night we rode into a beach town and found the only hotel that was still open and even then the owners made a point of telling us that breakfast was at 9am sharp then the doors were closing for good for the season! First thing in the morning we were off... and a good thing too,because we found another gem of a village on the far east coast, Kato Zakro.

Kato Zakros is nothing more that a few hotels and restaurants that were mostly open, a nice beach, and a few good hikes-thru a gorge and and along the coast to a cave (we did both, I love this island!). The room we found had a deck that hung over a small cliff onto the beach, a beautiful place to watch the sun rise. It was going to be had to leave this place, hopefully if was still raining up north! Guess who we ran into here? of course, Jenny and Ioannis. They made us a great Greek dinner in their villa and we watched an amazing moon set over the mountains.

Next day off we go again, off to Chania (pronounced Hania) a city in the north west of the island with the most amazing "old port" full of hotels, restaurants and shopping but that is not why we are here. Thanks to recommendations from friends and travel guides to Crete "The Reinelts" we were here to hike the Samaria Gorge, a grueling gorge hike 15km downhill with mountain sides of 2400m and at the narrowest section it is 3m wide and the walls are 300m straight up. Breathtaking, a sight we will never forget and a good thing as the camera didn't take very good pictures in the limited lighting(it couldn't have been my fault). As luck would have it we had the most beautiful weather that day, Oct 19th (the gorge officially closed on the 15th but was open day by day weather permitting) the next day rain was predicted and the gorge would be closed for the year.

The next day, under cloudy but not rainy sky's, we set out west and across to the south side of the island again. A few more days in Sougia soaking up some rays, swimming and hiking before we head to the ferry and trip north, however that looks.

Crete has a great hiking trail called the E4, it runs across the middle of the island thru the mountains or along the shoreline, either way you like. We have been lucky enough to find different sections of the trail in a few towns we've stayed in along the beach. The weather this time of year here is perfect for hiking, I don't think I would like to do it in the middle of summer.

Well it is our last afternoon here in Sougia, the sun is shining, we hiked this morning now it is time for our last dip in the Mediterranean. Huh, so sad!

Bulgaria

Entering Bulgaria over the Danube River

The highway tunnels under the city in Veliko Tarnovo.

Life's a beach at the Black Sea, and just to note the water is very blue.

The strange alphabet makes for a bit of language barrier, which way do we go?

Ken takes a ride back in time in Shiroka Laka, as he tests his skills riding up cobblestone roads.

The landscape is beautiful, and the many trails are well marked.

We arrived in the forest at mushroom picking time, this lot brought the picker 6 dollars an average days pay for many Bulgarians.

Traditional dress and musical instrument (a bagpipe made from sheep hide) of the country folk.

We didn't pay for much water because there were hundreds of roadside mineral water taps.

Nothing like a good hike on a fall day!



You know those vacations you take where you are looking forward to something for a long time building up an anticipation only to be let down when you finally get there? After talking to our friend Ivo (from Bulgaria) in Brazil last year we were looking forward to a week or so in Bulgaria of eating, drinking and enjoying a lot of friendly folk and we were definitely not disappointed.

Our first stop in Bulgaria was Veliko Tarnovo and the Pink Bakery (a real bakery before it bought by an Brit and renovated into a guest house) with a garden patio, and a room overlooking a town square and the gorges surrounding the city. We spent a good couple of days here wandering the city and the huge castle over looking it. While we were at V. Tarnovo it was getting geared up for the Worlds Arm Wrist Wrestling Championship. Wouldn't you know it, we ran into a few guys from the Canadian team so they and Ken swapped a few stories (you know Ken used to "pull", as they call it, back in his younger years). We also met a great Aussie couple, Val and Shane, a couple around our age doing a world travel thing for about 2 years via train, busand whatever...We had a couple of dinners and talked about our travels- past, present and future-Australia is definitely in our plans.

Next it was off to the Black Sea, where the water is really quite blue not black and is not near as salty as some. We had a bit of a dilemma here because we found an all inclusive resort offering a nights stay for 50 euros...for two, and we were spending about that much on a regular daily basis. It was very tempting to stop for a few days and over indulge but a quick rock, paper scissors settled it for us and we were off. We probably would have been to stuffed and hungover to ride for days anyway!:(

A day or two after leaving the Black Sea we stopped for lunch at the quite little town of Shiroka Laka and left two days later. Cobblestone streets patched with cow pies, awesome hiking, and on our last night we stopped at a restaurant that had a folk singer and musician playing a bag pipe. What a hoot! We ate, drank cognac (pliska) and danced a jig with the Bulgaria tourists. I guess the entertainers were actually famous and had writen and recorded their own music, one song had actually been played on a pace shuttle?!!?

Next it was south into the Perin Mountains where we spent the night in a retro 70's hotel at the summit, because it is the end of the season here we had the whole place to ourselves. The hiking was great! Bulgaria has a fantastic hiking system with thousands of trails, all well marked, and many have huts along the way in the mountains where you can spend the night or just have a meal. The room was 18 dollars, the dinner was 7.50 (including beer) and breakfast was 3, all for two people!!!Crazy!!! Even the rain that had started couldn't dampen our spirits. As we rode out of the mountains and down into Greece we looked over our shoulders and waved a fond goodbye to Bulgaria and knew we wouldn't forget it soon.

Hungary and Romania...duely noted

Crossing the Hungary border.

It never ceases to amaze me the work that goes into the churches, especially the ceiling.

View of Egar from a canon hole in the castle above.

Ken tries a little of the local wine in search of the Bull's Blood (history says the Turks were scared away during an attack after seeing the Hungarians beards stained red from the wine, thinking it was bulls blood that was being drank). The plastic bottles you see behind Ken can be bought and filled with the cellars wines, or you can bring your own bottle if you like.

Romania here we come, this border crossing is the only one that has questioned our German licence plate so far.

The cutest little towns,

with the prettiest landscape.

Did I mention the cutest little towns?

We happened upon a wedding party going down the road, complete in traditional clothes and tack.

The view from the top of the Transfragarasan pass.

We are having a heck a time finding internet facilities here so here is a condensed version of Hungary and Romania a few things that we found memorable...I don't know maybe you had to be there.. and worthy of being written down.

Hungary

1. great breakfasts, too big to eat. In Egar we had to ask for a smaller breakfast after the first day getting an omelet with 7-9 eggs!
2. souvenirs...pens, t-shirts, calendars, cokes, cd's
3. not quite so handsome people, you might say they haven't quite aged gracefully.
4. an abundance of underground wine cellars, in the valley of beautiful women we spent an afternoon tasting wine and looking for the red wine they call the bulls blood.
5. a language that is unique to Europe...just nod and laugh.

Romania

1. the worst secondary roads, a good support bra is highly recommended.
2. too cute little towns with small house fronts and gates hiding barns with geese and cows, gardens with potatoes, cabbage and who knows what else, each house a bench in front so the people can sit out and watch the local goings on.
3. ugly cities, concrete apartments built during the time of socialism and are now rundown and dilapidated or deserted.
4. one of the highest roads in Europe, the Transfagarasan pass (breathtaking at 2034 mt).
5. Audis driving along side horse and wagon
6. little roadside bars with men gathering at 8am for a local beer.
7. while we were here a world record of the larges batch of Mamaliga (a cornmeal mush that is boiled or fried, something like polenta, that is served with most meals) 500 kgs.

Slovakia

A 700 year old castle now made into a hotel.

The Gerlachovsky stit the highest mountian (2654 m) in the Carpathian range.

A photo op, just in case you forgot what we looked like.

Slovakia has a few more mountians and what a beautiful view with the colors of fall that we haven't seen in 2 years.

Solvakia was a whirlwind tour. We headed up into the High Tatras in the north because we were ready to see some mountians and we heard the hiking was good.

The first (and only) night in Solvakia we got a pension across the road from a 13th century castle that had been made into a hotel after the denationalization of the country. The kind owner of the pension we were staying at was more than happy to give us a tour of the hotel which included climbing a 400 year old carved wooden staircase that has now turned almost petrified. We looked into a room in the tower that rented for at least 125 €/night, a bargain but not quite as reasonable as our room at 28€,plus we had the whole place to ourselves (we even had to lock up the doors when we left in the morning).

The weather is still great, blue skies but cool enough for comfortable riding. In fact the riding was so good we kept on riding all day and blew off the hiking. By the time we started to look for a room we were in Hungary. Oh well, Slovakia is a small country and we just got carried away.

Czech Republic

Ken gets ready to ride Czech

Along the trail on our 16 km hike in Hrensko.

A 1 km ride up a river with sides 150 m high.

The hike included views of cute little mountian towns.

Europes largest natural bridge.

A stunning view of Prague from the castle.

A night view of Prague castle.

Bikes galore at a Moto Museum, it features mostly Jawa motorcycles.

Miles of Czech farmland and forest, a nuclear powerplant in the background.

A funny thing happened onour way to Czech from Germany. We were following a nice meandering road, which was maybe a little busier than we would have liked, that wound thru a forested area. We were not surprised to see a lot of motorhomes parked along the roadside in every space available and we were kicking ourselves for leaving our camping gear at Franz and Sabine's place in Germany. The thing we started to find a bit funny was that in every motorhome, sitting in the passanger seat, was a woman very scantily dressed........uh huh...yes....working girls! Have wheels will travel.

Crossing the Czech border was easy, all we needed was a quick stamp in our somewhat full passports. What a breeze compared to Central and South America. We really didn't do much homework of Czech so while Ken was getting a Krones, I dug out the Lonely Planet for a quick low down on the area we were going into. It turned out Hrensko is the gateway to the Bohemian Switzerland National Park, with lots of trails for hiking. After finding ourselves a quite little room we headed out on a 16 km hike which took us along a river (we actually had to take a pole boat for close to 1 km) up stairs along a rock bluff, out through farmland and back into the forest along sandstone pillars and arches. All this and more packed into just 5 hours or so!

After a great dinner and a good night sleep we decided to head off to Prague. I know...not our style heading for the big city but everyone we met said we had to see it. We got a room at a pension on the outskirts of the city and rode the metro downtwn for less than a dollar (what a breeze and no headaches finding parking). The only way to go! Anyway...I think I've found my new favorite city. I can't even start to to put it into words...the architecture, Charles bridge, the narrow streets, Prague Castle (the biggest in Europe) and the overall feeling of a this ancient city. As usual the pictures just don't do it justice.

The countryside in Czech is mostly rolling hills, farmland, and the odd bit of forest thrown in. Great riding and we have seen quite a few dirt bikes and tracks along to way. We also stumbled on a motorcycle museum that was very cool and had a lot North America. Ken says the beer is good here, you know this is where pilsner beer got its start. The people are nice once you get them to warm up to you (I guess they have had some tough times) Ken gets them going with motorcycle talk and before you know it we are old friends.

Friends in Germany

Here it is at last Ken and Sabine's new Honda Varadero 1000

We are ready to ride, a short day but on the road at last.

The Kellers in Overath. Martin, Dagmar, Nikolai, Alicia and Timo.

Heinz, Martina, and the boys Jonas and Lukas.

Ken and Lukas are very serious about a game of chess.

Knights of iron guarding the Rathaus in Bremen.

We are standing with a statue of a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster. The four animals in a fable.

Ken sitting proud on Heinz's Africa Twin.


A quick note as Ken and I set off on our own, east to Czech. We have spent the last 12 days visiting great friends here in Germany. Before we left Weisbaden Vitor took Ken for a ride in his Opel special project car, they hit the autoban and before you could shake your head they were up to a speed of 265 km/hour (ken still has smile on his face, I think it may be perminant). From there is was north to Overath to see the Kellers. We had a short stay with them, it was great to see them again after 2 years. The kids have all grown like crazy. From there it was even farther north to Asendorf to visit the Dieterings, who we had met last trip, at the motorcycle hotel in France. After two great days of visiting and riding with them through some beautiful countryside it was time to move on and discover new territory...and languages. We are well rested and well fed. Eastern Europe here we come!

Our first week....without a bike.

Always a warm welcome.

One of the castles along the Rhein River.


A charming street in Rüdesheim.

Germania, this statue commemorates the fall of the French and the beginning of the new German empire.

A casual drink with our gracious hosts Franz, Sabine, Melly, Bernd, and Heidi.

Uh yes...Bratwurst!!

Ken infront of the worlds largest coo-coo clock

Flight truely is an amazing thing, one minute you are sitting in the sunny Okanagan and the next you are over the ocean a world away in Germany sitting sipping schnapps and eating gulasch, red cabbage and klösse (dumplings). Thanks to Air Canada our flight was enjoyable and uneventful; thanks to Visa Avion points it was cheap.





Franz picked us up at the Frankfurt airport and he and Sabine have been unbelievable hosts. Much to our surprise we found Mark and Cara arriving here from Kelowna the day after us so Franz and Sabine have a full house so we celebrated with a Canadian party.





Buying a bike here has turned out to a little more difficult and is taking a little longer than we planned (maybe that is part of the reason we shipped our bike last time). Although the Internet is full of bikes for sale they are either sold, halfway across Germany or the people who placed the ads have fallen off the face of the earth. As foreigners we can't buy a bike here, the bill of sale is made out to us, Franz and Sabine must register the bike and insure it. A kind of complicated procedure and much easier done if we find a bike around Wiesbaden. As it turns out the bike Ken was hoping to buy, a Honda Africa Twin, is a very desirable bike here and we can't find a single one so after several days of searching we have decided on a Honda Veradero 1000 that is for sale at a local Honda dealer. We will buy the bike for 6500 euros and the dealer will guarantee a buy-back for 4500 euros. We could take the time to sell it ourselves for more but this way it is easy for us and the 2000 euros is still cheaper than the cost of shipping our bike both ways or renting a bike while we are here. Ken is happy with his final choice of bikes as it is the new big brother of the Africa Twin. So as it turns out, exactly one week after landing Germany we will be set up with a bike complete with bags, new tires and new oil. Ready to ride!





Our days here have been busy touring Wiesbaden and the surrounding areas. One of our highlights has been a boat trip up the Rhein River to St. Goar had lunch and then took the train back, a great day and from the boat you get a clear view of the castles and vineyards that line the banks of the river. Unfortunately our nights have been a little long and sleepless, it took us 5 nights to recover from the jet lag.....5 long nights of staring at the ceiling and thinking about the bike and traveling plans. Heinz's schnapps in the evening didn't help us out but we do appreciate his trying.





Now that we have the bike thing settled and we are sleeping thru the night we can sit back and start to truly enjoy our time here in Germany, the land of castles, great cheese & wurst, and wine & schnapps. Prost!!

On the road again....Europe

Where the heck has the summer gone?

Ken and I had such big plans for this summer because it was the only summer either of us has had off, we had a list of things we wanted to do a mile long. We got around to some and some we will have to do some other time. The days just don't have enough hours in them. We did some camping, did a few rides around B.C. and the northern U.S., Ken did some riding with the boys and I did some hiking with the girls, we did some sailing, I got my motorbike licence (at last) and we both caught up with friends we were glad to see again.

When we were home, we stayed at my mom and dads place (thank you, thank you, thank you) which was complete with a new mattress (what a treat after some of the taco beds we have slept in on the last trip). No wonder we stayed for the summer! Caution! Just when you think your kids have grown up and left home......do they ever really?

Today we are leaving on the next leg of our adventure. The Central/Eastern countries in Europe. Our plan is to buy a bike in Germany and go from there, visiting a few friends along the way before we head east to new countries we haven't seen yet. We are not quite sure where that is exactly or what it will look like but "Do we ever?". All I know is our bags are packed (60 kilos) and there is a road out there with our name on it!!!

Here we go again.....

Big Boys Bike Ride North

Ken is ready to ride. The only thing missing on the back of his KTM this trip is me! They say a picture is worth a thousand words and the pictures will have to do as I was not on this ride to document the events. Enjoy the photos, the North truly is a beautiful place to visit.

The boys on the ride, Ken, Shaun, Kenny D and Dan

You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd!


The sign says it all.


The U.S. border let us thru without passports to complete the loop.

Mama Grizzly on the side of the road had two cubs as well.

The North Canol Road

The biggest black wolf any of us had ever seen.

Trucks left on the road during the war.

A few obstacles on the road.

Old mine site. Many more in the hills.

8200kms in 15 days. No problems as the big KTMs prooved their toughness again! Dawson City was a 2 day rest so the boys partied it up with 140 other adventure riders on the Dust to Dawson annual ride. Love the land of the midnight sun! Weather was great with 30 degree temperatures and only a few hours of rain. Still didn't have time to ride to Inuvik so will have to do it with Heather next time. Retired my faithful 2004 950 after the trip as saw a shiney new black one to take her place!

Home in Canada...for a while!

Yes, back in Beautiful British Columbia, Canada! What is it about being home and all of a sudden things that were important like letting our friends and family know what was what via our Blog get put on the back burner.

We arrived home (we are hanging our helmets at my Mom and Dads' place in Westbank for the time being) on May 18th after racing and dodging the weather through the northern states. We made our way through Yellowstone National Park stopping to check out the bison and the thermal geysers, we laughed as we toke note that in the States the whole area around the geysers is blocked off and you can't even walk in the general vicinity while in Bolivia you can walk up to the rim of a geyser, if you dare, and look down into it. Ah, liability!

Since we have returned home our days and nights have been full of visiting friends and family here, finding out the latest gossip, and getting back to real life; insurance, alternate forms of transpatation...i.e. truck and camper, and taxes. Oh please take me away again, I think I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting.

We have a pretty full summer planned with Ken going on a wilderness adventure via KTM to northern Canada and Alaska with 3 other guys, Shaun, Dan and Ken. They leave June 13th, 2 weeks, 1500 kms of gravel and another 3500 km of pavement...this one is a guys ride! I plan to do a little camping and hiking with girls, you know to get back in the loop and when Ken gets back we will start planning our next leg of our adventure...hopefully the eastern countries in Europe at the end of August through November (I have to be back to work :( November 24th ). Meanwhile, we plan to kick back and enjoy an Okanagan summer, which is something neither of us has ever been able to do because we both started working summers at the age of, what was it 6?

We will be doing our best to keep up with correspondence with friends we made along the way on our travels south and the blogs and websites we know you work so hard on. Please keep in touch, keep travelling, and

keep the rubber down!

Last Leg Home

Shari and Ken enjoying a great view overlooking Denver.

If I sit real still maybe they won't see me!

It's a good thing Shari has a big deck on which to set up the new BBQ, they used every inch....and only one screw left over. Is that new patio furniture I see, too?

Well, today we leave Shari and Denver, the last week has been a great rest. We did some hikes with Shari, a few rides around Denver checking out the city, went out for some great dinners, helped Shari spend some of her money and met a few of her friends. But, now as always it is time to move on and the weather is dictating where and which way we will go. Our original plan was to head up to Calgary to see my sister, Karen and her husband, Matt, however after checking the forecast, once again it looks like we will have to take a drier and warmer route to the west. Three maybe four days and we should be home. So until then.....

A few parks in Texas and on to Colorado

Springtime in Texas is really a great time to ride.

Ken finds new friends where ever he goes.

Springtime....what else can I say?

The Enchanted Rock in the Texas State Park of the same name.

Bikin' buddies Chris and Myrna, Reid and Dawn along with Ken (I'm taking the picture) walk along the top of The Enchanted Rock.

Ken finds himself another new friend, is it a frog or a lizard?

We took a day hike into Palo Duro State Park, Texas.

Ken and I with amigos Chris and Myrna. The Lighthouse monument in the background.

Lighthouse monument

A quick hug on the top of the lighthouse.

Very cool wall of rock.

The Rocky Mountains loom off in the distance.

Unusual sights on the top of Cordova Pass, Bishops Castle and snow!

.....I don't know. It takes all kinds....interesting.....




I hate to say it again but the weather has been so good to us, that is until we got to approximately 20 km outside Austin when the skies opened up an it rained on us harder than it had during our entire trip. Thunder, lightning and down to the skin drenching rain. After arriving at Chris and Myrna's place and making ourselves comfy we turned on the weather channel only to hear about flood warnings and tornado alerts. We were very glad to be warm and dry. The weather continued to be if'y for the next few days so we just waited until the weekend when Chris and Myrna could jump on their VStrom and join us for a few days on the road riding north. Springtime in Texas is beautiful, wild flowers line the country roads and bikes are plentiful (from what we hear the summer is just too hot to ride much). The first night we met up with Reid and Steve at the Enchanted Rock State Park, they are a couple of fellow bike enthusiast we met in Creel last October. The park had some nice hikes so we did a short day hike and later a night hike and talked bikes, hikes and what have it. The wind picked up just after we hit the sack and the rain was threatening so unfortunately we didn't sleep well and as Chris and Myrna, Ken and I left the next morning we vowed to sleep that night, even if it meant getting a hotel. Before sleep however comes dinner and we found the dinner specials of all dinner specials. Pizza Hut. We ordered one large pizza and salad bar for the four of us, we ended up getting three medium pizzas, four salad bars and a coke all for $13.49. A mistake on the bill? The waitress said "forget about it", needless to say she made herself a nice tip. Day three with Chris and Myrna, we arrived at Palo Duro State Park ready to do some more hiking (after 7 months on a bike you really have to take it slow incorporating exercise into your day). The 6 mile hike through red earthen trails took us to a natural monument they call The Lighthouse, two gigantic red hoodoos. Pretty cool. A great contrast to the green foliage in the valley. Four great days of riding including two great parks with day hikes and it was time for the four of us to part ways, Chris and Myrna headed home and to work ( oops sorry for using that four letter word) and we headed into Colorado and the Rocky Mountains, complete with snow.
Snow, "It's unusual for this time of year" or so they say but any way you look at it we are back in long johns and winter gloves. Cold? Yes, but only at the top of the passes and even there the snow isn't actually on the road. We could have played it save and stayed on the interstate but we decided to live on the edge and take some side trips into the high country. The skies have cleared substantially with storms only off in the distance and the sun is really quite warm. At the top of one of the pass we found a rock castle hand made by one guy named Bishop, a statement about life, liberty and justice! Interesting is all I can say about it oh, and maybe weird!
Colorado, snow capped mountains, hiking, fishing, kayaking and canoeing, every Coloradoan drives a SUV with a bike rack on the back. Ah yes, the great outdoors. It reminds me of B.C. I love it. Oh and speaking of B.C. Happy Birthday to all the Fickes having Birthdays in May:)

The Chainmaster says "ELF is the way to go"

Some call him "The Chainmaster" some call him anal, call him what you will but the results are back in North America....ELF chain paste and a strict regime can keep your chain looking like new after 30,000 to 40,000 miles. ELF has what it takes...do you????


Step by step instructions to keep your chain looking like new:

1. Clean off all old dirt and grease from your chain with a clean rag.

2. Distribute paste on the entire inside of the chain.

3. Brush into chain with a toothbrush or other small firm bristled brush. Apply paste to the outside of chain and brush into links.

4. Using a grease rag to press paste into o-rings. With a clean rag wipe chain to remove any excess paste so dust and dirt will not stick.

33,000 miles and this chain has only been adjusted once. It still looks like it has a few more miles on it!

ELF are you looking for a spokesperson?

Miami to Tennesse

Ken and I with motorcycle buddy and Miami tour guide extraodinair Martin.

A common site in the Everglades

Alligator Alley is right beside the highway, yes these alligators are wild!

Seven mile bridge in The Keys as seen in the movie "True Lies".

South Beach, lindisimo!

Miami, cruise ship head quarters.

Friendly people here in Southern Florida.

Sunset over the Keys.

At O'Leno State Park in Alabama swimming was definitely not on our minds.

Waiting on dinner at the Catfish Hotel, home of the all-you-can-eat catfish and hushpuppy dinner. It is a very popular spot in Savanna, Tennessee.

Here we are back in the States starting the return leg of our great America adventure. After a two hour delay sitting on the tarmac in Buenos Aires we survived the red-eye flight landing in Miami at 8:00 am Friday April 20th. Martin our Argentinian friend who we met last year in the Baja, he was on his BMW 650 riding from California to Buenos Aires at the time, met us at the airport in Miami and between the three of us we had the battery reconnected, the windshield and the mirrors put back on the bike, and customs finished in less than three hours. Thank you Martin! Martin took us on the condensed super tour of Southern Florida, we took a ride every day we were in Miami, the everglades and alligator alley, Key West and Key Largo, and a tour of the city that included South Beach where anyone and everyone must be seen.

Miami was a must stop for Suzie, she needed an oil change and a new front sprocket, Ken changed the sprocket from a 15 to 16 tooth to gear it up for the interstates we would be riding on the way home. Do you believe it 31,000 miles and the original chain (hopefully it will make it all the way home) and sprocket, Ken is the Chainmaster.

After our goodbye to Martin we headed northwest toward Tennessee. The weather has been pretty good so we camped in state parks along the way and did a couple of small hikes. We arrived in Counce Tennessee at Jean and Elaines place in time for the weekend which means happy hour down at the Baitshop, where the local boy meet for $1.25 beers everyday after 4:00. Elaine has been cooking up a storm while we have been here, some good home cooking, southern style, that we haven't had for a long while. A stop in Tennessee just would not be complete with out going to the Catfish Hotel, all-you-can-eat fried catfish and hushpuppies along with all the other southern greats.

People here in the south are real nice but many haven't left their home county so they just can't believe what Ken and I have done in the last year or so. We have to move on soon, the longer Ken stays here and tells his stories the more he is starting to talk with that southern drawl. I reckin I won't be understandn' him soon!

Bye fur now...Y'all come back now, ya hear!!!

The Good, The Bad, and The Wild

Big rain in Buenos Aires

Suzie is wrapped up and ready to go.

While travelling you can learn many things from people from all over the world

The Good:
Yeh, we´ve got Suzie off to the U.S.A. As a matter of fact she left last night on American Airlines, exactly 24 hours before us on the exact same flight. Shipping out of Buenos Aires was a breeze thanks to Sandra and Javier at Dakar Motos. Javier let us store Suzie at the the shop the whole time we were in B.A., which saved us a whole lot of money on parking fees down town, so we didn´t have to worry about her (a big relief). Sandra helped us out with getting the crate and all the paperwork done without a hitch, which is a major thing down here when you can´t really speak the language. We just showed up at the airport, Ken took off the windshield, mirrors and topcase, the airport guy zapstrapped Suzie to the crate and wrapped her up nice and tight with shrinkwrap. Off we went with big smiles on our faces and a big weight off our shoulders. I have to say we are more than a little sad to see this part of our trip come to an end, we will both miss South America a lot (maybe not the drivers). In the end our bill in B.A. came to $1217 US for Suzie´s flight to Miami there may be charges at the other end but nothing too drastic (we hope).

The Bad:
Sunday we are walking down the street when all of a sudden we are covered with mustard! Two people who were walking behind us pointed to an open window above us and said someone had sprayed us from there. Luckily, they had napkins and helped us clean up the mess on our clothes and we were able to return to our hotel (which was close by) to change our clothes. What nice people here in B.A.! Well, as Ken was changing he noticed his wallet was gone, with Visa card, debit card and drivers licence! As it turned out these nice people were cleaning us out not cleaning us up! Shit!!! We reported the Visa stolen immediately and found out "our nice people" had already tried to use the cards but had been refused, this couple was slick. The rest of the day was spent at the police station where they said this was a classic case, boy did we feel stupid. Oh well, a new card is on the way and it should be here before we leave for the States, Ken has an international drivers licence, and I still have my Visa and debit card. The school of hard knocks teaches us a lesson....

The Wild:
Tuesday April 17th, 6:00 pm. Nasty, nasty storm for about 1 hour maybe 1 1/2. 4 inches of rain. Water was running down the streets like a river. The subway was closed in B.A. for the first time in 23 years. A lighting show better than any we have ever seen. Half of the city looses power. Alas, ever more excitement for the Gassmans in the big city.....

Brazil and Beyond

Lots of fields ready for harvest, makes me feel a little melancholy.

Ivo and Shirei, what great friends you meet on the road. See you in Canada!

Fabio and Patricia, great ambassadors to Brazil.

Way too generous!

Yeh, swimming in the beautiful, warm Atlantic waters.

Life's a beach!

Getting ready for a hard day at the beach, with rental chairs, umbrellas, portable showers and cold drinks.

Cristo Redenter

Rio de Janiero

Vistas

Day and Night

Rio de Janiero, dazzling city that still has the old time pastimes of fishing off the rocks but also the modern day problems of people living without homes on the beach.

Magnificent views of green islands amidst blue ocean.

Ken likes it when he gets special treatment and can park in the restaurant.

It is harvest fall harvest time. Squash, garlic ropes, bags of onions and potatoes.




If you ask me I´d say our start into Brazil was a little rocky. With the trouble we had in Buenos Aires trying to get our visas and then having everyone we talked to say we were crazy to go to Rio De Janiero because it was way to dangerous. But after finally getting over the border into Brazil we found the countryside stunning, dramatic, and vast also the people warm and very enthusiastic. The cost of living in Brazil is pretty high, relatively speaking, everything is 1/3 to1/2 more than in Argentina. The gas is double the price and that is one of the reasons we decided to throw our budget out the window for the time we were in the country.
On our first night in Brazil Ken and I found ourselves deliberating over the prices of the hotel rooms when we heard a voice behind us in an accent that was anything but Portuguese (did I mention we don´t know a word of Portuguese) ¨You are here from Canada? Either you are crazy or I am crazy¨. Ivo, a big Bulgarian guy who, as we found out later, had lived in the States and is now married and living in Brazil with a very nice Brazilian lady. Both are trying to get visas to move to Canada. Ivo was so excited to see us he invited us to stay with him, Sirlei, and her parents in a suite they have in their home. How could we refuse? That night Ivo introduced us to a Churrascaria Rodizo and we talked and laughed about his life , ours and Canada all evening long. Chirrascaria Rodizo; a buffet salad bar with many side dishes from which to fill your plate, then the waiters constantly stroll the dinning room with swords containing every variety and cut of beef and pork you could ever imagine. We ended up staying two nights with Ivo and Sirlei and waved goodbye vowing to see each other again in Canada.
The first couple of days of driving in Brazil were through miles of farmland. Big farms that are as big as many we have in Canada, co-ops. The fields were golden brown and ready for harvest. After a night in the quiet farming town of Itapetininga (you really have to love these names) Ken checked the mileage and decided it was time to do an oil change. We found ourselves a moto shop, Ita Moto Honda/Yamaha, and what a shop it turned out to be. Fabio and Patricia Carrea and their staff welcomed us and were more than helpful. As it turns out Fabio was the South American 125 motocross champion 6 years in a row and now had his shop, and with this parents, and a clothing line that he makes in a building next door (they also make a lot of other shirts, jackets etc for a lot of other company's). After spending about four hours and having lunch with them we left with our arms full of shirts, jackets, and t-shirts all embroidered with the Brazil flag and our names. Another day full of people we won´t forget soon. It was big day, the day we met Fabio and Patricia. After leaving them waving goodbye in front of their van we headed off to face the big city of Sao Paulo, 18 million people. We drove through this city for over an hour and a half, splitting traffic and going over and under passes. An hour and a half of skyscrapers and sweaty palms, we were in awe of this city.
Well, now it was off to Rio De Janiero. We had a few reservations about going to this city. You know the stories...robberies....they would rather shoot than ask for your money twice, motorbikes stolen from right under your seat if you stopped at a red light...¨just go right through without stopping¨they said....holdups at the front desk of hotel than the robbers would go room to room robbing whoever was in the hotel...whole buses being robbed as they drove down the street. Oh the stories!!! None the less I had to see the city, how could we be so close and not go? (I think Ken could have gone without, but again he is the one who has to do the driving) We were both blown away (bad choice of words), I mean Rio is by far the most beautiful city we have ever seen and beaches there are astonishing. The city sits at the bottom of Corcovada (Hunchback Mt.) where Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) stands arms outstretched overlooking the city. On the water other side of the city stands Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf Mt) a virtual chunk of rock standing 396 meters high. We took the two gondola rides to the topto see a view like we have never seen before, green carpeted mountains plunging down into the city and on to beaches lined with aqua blue, our luck would have it that a full moon was rising which made the view all that much more impressive. We stayed on top oh Sugarloaf for a few hours waiting for the sun to set behind Cristo and the lights of the city to start sparkling for miles on end.
Our time was short in Rio, after only a couple of days we decided it was time start our trek south along the coast, our return trip to Buenos Aires or Montevideo or from wherever it was we were hoping to ship the bike home. We could help ourselves, on the way down the coast we had to stop at a few more beaches, Florianopolis and Catarina Island, to soak up a few more rays and enjoy the heat. We booked our flights for April 19th to Miami and from there we will ride home with a few stops along the way to visit our friends ¨The Hillbillys¨in Tennessee and Shari, Kens sister in Denver. That should put us home around the middle of May!!! But first Martin and Miami ¨here we come¨.
Meanwhile the ride down the Brazilian coast just doesn´t let us down, beautiful beyond compare. If it was a little cheaper I could stay here for a very long time.
As we reached the Uruguay border from the north the weather starts to change and the rain starts, we were just saying how luck we had been with the weather. That´s the way it goes I guess, we end up getting good and wet while we are looking for a hotel in Chuy, a small but busy tax free shopping zone border town on the Saturday of Easter weekend. Chui Brazil or Chuy Uruguay, one side of main street is Brazil and the other side is Uruguay. We got settled and set out on foot to see the sights and get a little dinner. It just so happened there was a bike rally in town over the weekend and the Factory Honda Stunt Team was there is put on a show. Thank goodness the rain stopped because they put on quite a show with brake stands(5 men on one bike), wheelies (5 men on one bike, figure 8´s on one wheel), pyramids, riding backwards, no hands-no feet, and lots of squealing tires. Man those guys had control! Wouldn´t you know that it was the one night I forgot to bring my camera with me. The next day, as the rain continues, we set off down into Uruguay. Easter Sunday, lots and lots of traffic. I guess that the Easter Bunny must have got stuck in all the traffic because it didn´t find us here.....

Fifty

Kenneth Allan Gassman

Have you seen this man lately?
Latest known where abouts; South America, but is expected back in Canada in May.
My be on motorcycle accompanied by MWF.
Not considered dangerous but can be a little wild at times.
If you come across this man approach with caution and offer a beer to calm his nerves, as he is taking the big 5-0 rather hard.

Northern Argentina to Foz de Iguazu

Those Damn Cops

Ever since Ken and I have come into South America we have been hearing about the crocked cops, first in the area of about 200 kms around Lima, in Peru, and second in the province of Entre Rios in the northeast corner of Argentina. Everyone who travels in these areas knows about the cops but still nothing is done to solve the problem. Rotten cops, they are a sore spot with me and I guess I really haven't got over the couple of times they dinged us in Peru, we were not looking forward to crossing into Argentina, the province of Entre Rios and the ride up to Foz de Iguazu. As the day approached we readied ourselves for combat, Ken would strictly abide by all posted speed limits and road signs, I would have my camera and little black book ready to take a photo of the culprit and record his name and badge no. along with his signature. We hoped if maybe it all looked very official the cop would back off. We crossed the border and headed north into enemy territory, 20-40-60-80 kms still nothing. One check point and we slipped through that behind a semi truck without being detected. From here on clear sailing. We made it through with our pocketbooks intact.

Well, one more crossing into Argentina, that's six times so far, it is a very long country with lots to see. The countryside is still beautiful; at this time of year the crops are being harvested (the biggest crop being matte te, a hot tea that the Argentinians and Uruguayans drink morning, noon, and night) and the cattle are being driven home (believe me with all the BBQs here there is a lot of cattle). We stopped along the way to buy some oranges from a family selling them at the side of the road, 15 oranges for one peso or .33 US. We were so distracting to the whole family that the boys didn´t realize they were late for school. Ken put them on the back of bike and gave them a ride the 5 kms to school. I guess the boys tryed to look pretty nonshallant about the whole thing, like it happen everyday, but when he took a look in this rear view mirror he saw the boys surrounded by all the kids in the school, the biggest grins on their faces. Cool.

Puerto Iguazu, a small tourist town where the Rio Iguazu and Rio Parana join, and the cornerstone of Argentina, Brazil and Paruguay. It is also the place to stay if you want to see the Foz de Iguazu, the widest waterfalls in South America. We stayed 3 days and took in a tour of the falls that was truly amazing. The amount of water that goes over the falls is huge and the park has catwalks built over a lot of it so you can literally walk on water to the edge of the waterfalls and look over Garganta del Diablo ( the devils throat) the biggest part of the falls. Our tour took us up the river to the base of the falls but it didn´t stop there, under the falls we went and got soaked to the skin. Not once, not twice but four times. Good clean fun. There is a lot of wildlife around the the falls including millions of butterflies and about 500 different types of animals and birds. Ken says the falls are not as tall as Niagra but maybe prettier because of the green foliage. I will have to make the trip to Ontario to see for myself.

We finally got our visas for Brazil after being turned away four times in Buenos Aires for any number of things from not having photos, or an address where we could be contacted in Brazil with a land line phone number to the way we did our hair that day. Then on top of all the info they wanted it would take up to a week to process. We got the visas in Puerto Iguazu, all they wanted was 144 pesos and they handed it over in one hour and with a smile on their faces.

Tomorrow Brazil.

A cattle drive down the middle of the highway.

Matte


Buying oranges.

Yes, we are going under those falls, too!

A different angle, the falls are huge.

The view from the Garganta del Diablo.

One type of the millions of butterflies.

Tucan.

The last photo before the battery died at the park.

Pollo, chicken on the grill.

The cornerstone of the 3 countries.

Uruguay

Uruguay, people call it the little Switzerland of South America because it's clean and it's rich. It almost seems criminal when you see the wealth in Uruguay and compare it to Bolivia or Peru, how can this difference be so extreme on one continent? The people if Uruguay are absolutely the most friendly and helpful people we have met so far, we got waves and thumbs up the whole time we were there. They go out of their way to help you, always! Our first stop Colonia del Sacramento, a cute little tourist town. The first thing we noticed were all the old vehicles, some in mint shape some not quite, and a lot that we don't have in Canada. Brian you would have a hay day down here!

The country itself has only about 3.5 million people and a third of those live in the capital, Montevideo a clean and modern city that stretches along the beach front, about 20 km of it to be exact. Farther up the beach is Punto del Este, the who's who place on the beach for people in Uruguay and Northern Argentina, again modern and clean. We didn't take the time to sit and enjoy the beach for to long but walked and walked and rode and rode along it, Uruguay has over 350 kms of beaches. Loads of beach and barely a person on them.

In Punto del Este we stopped in at the Kawasaki dealer to say hi and see how easy it would be to sell the bike in Uruguay, as it turns out is impossible to do. Foreigners can't sell used bikes, so much for that idea. This is where we met Fernando, the owner of the shop, who he set us up with a shipper/broker in Montevideo who can help us ship the bike back to Miami, when we are ready to go. With a few hours notice we met with Maria and she dropped everything and had a quote ready for us, amazingly helpful. We still aren't quite sure what we are doing about returning home but it fells good to know our options.

We headed inland from Montevideo and rode through a few days of farmland. We thought of home as we munched on freshly picked apples and watched as they got ready to harvest grapes. The whole center section of the country is farmland, beautiful rolling fields of cattle and crops, and quaint farming towns. We stayed in an old hotel dating back to 1872 in a little place called Santa Lucia 15 ft ceilings, a footed tub, and a beautiful garden you could just imagine the people sitting in and sipping tea. Again here, met some terrific people who invited us into their home for a beer and to show us some old antiques they had. We would definitely come back to Uruguay!

Beach in front of our hotel in Punto del Este

Life can be a roller coaster, or at least the bridges can be in Uruguay.

Old cars everywhere.

Cute street scape in Colonia del Sacramento


Kens doing the cooking, leftover pizza.


Harvesting apples and getting ready to pick grapes.

Buenos Aires

How can a city so big, over 13 million inhabitants, be so nice? We have asked ourselves this question everyday for the last week. The city is very accessible, with a 6 lane road circling the city and arms going off to every district you can get to where ever you want to easily, even if you absolutely hate driving in cities. The truth is we only had to drive one day to look for Dakar Moto, a bike shop with people we wanted to talk to about shipping the bike to the U.S. by plane or boat.

We found ourselves a cute little hotel in the center of the city (for a lot less than we expected, in fact the parking cost us just about as much as the hotel) and set out to explore the city, parks and green space everywhere, little sidewalk cafes, a great mix of old and new architecture, and in the evenings, great restaurants, street musicians and tango shows. We didn't find Evitas' grave but we did see Casa Rosada where she used to wave to her many admirers in the 1940's. We are kicking ourselves now for not taking in a futbol game (aka soccor, in Canada) but we did go and checkout the Boca Stadium which was pretty impressive in itself.

The first weekend we were in the city we looked up the friends we made while camping in Chaos Milal, German and Gracie. They invited us to their weekend house outside the city where German prepared an awesome parrilla and Gracie gave me an Argentinian cooking lesson. What a great time we had with them, drinking wine, bike riding and practicing our Spanish (remember they don't speak a word of English). Many, many laughs! Hopefully we can return the hospitality in Canada.

We decided a week in Buenos Aires was a enough for us so we booked passage on a ferry to Uruguay and waved goodbye as we sailed away.

Ken and Gracie displaying our new favorite wine, Colon Malbec and a serving of Berengena (marinated eggplant) recipe to follow.

Berengena

1. 3 eggplant
2. 1/3 c. minced garlic
3. 1 T. oregano
4. salt and pepper
5. 1/3 c. olive oil
6. several bay leafs
7. 1/3 c. red wine vinegar

Peel and slice eggplant into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 30 minutes than pat off excess water. Boil eggplant in 1/2 and 1/2 water and white vinegar for about 20 minutes and let cool. Layer eggplant and of remaining ingredients 3 times and let sit overnight in the refrigerator. Mix and serve with sliced french bread. Caution; extremely garlicy therefor everyone must sample at least a little.

Serve with your favorite bottle of wine and good friends!

Argentinos know how to B.B.Q.

Cabra at a Parrilla

Beautiful architecture

Stadium home of the Boca Juniors

Colourfully painted houses in the artsy Boca distrist

Tango street dancers

Wall mural in the microcenter in the new area of down town

The whole mural is made up of smaller murals

Good bye Buenos Aires,

our view as we leave on the Buquebus for Uruguay

Re: Roadside Monument

After a little research I have dug up the answer to my unanswered question as to all the roadside monuments enveloped in plastic bottles of water.

According to legend, Deolinda Correa followed her husband, barefoot, through the dessert during very hard times in the mid 1800's. It was here that she met her demise and died of thirst. Her body was found with her newborn infant still suckling at her breast. A shrine was erected on the spot she was found but her death has turned into a near cult her in Argentina with shrines being placed everywhere along the roadsides. Bottles of water being left in her name to quench her thirst, her biggest follower being the truckdrivers.

Just a Wondering

Incognito!

The infamous but not all that impressive Inca Bridge.

Looks close but can take days.

He flies through the air with the greatest of ease.

Bocchi game out of control?

No, round rocks formed by a very long roll along the bottom of a river bed.

Look up, way up!

It takes thousands and thousands of years for the wind and rain to carve out these columns. Echos go on for ever..........

George, the amazing dueno of La Posta. A great guy and a very different biker experience.

Alfredo and Karena, thanks again. Reminder: Canada has great wines you would love too, come try them out.


Plata Del Mar

The population in Jan. and Feb goes from 600,000 to 1,200,00 and you can't find a spot on the beach. We arrived the first week in March and we couldn't find a person on the beach.




Ah, a life of leisure! Since paying our dues on Ruta 40 we have been kicking back enjoying an easier pace. We have visited a few National Parks, Natural Monuments and have cruised miles and miles of farmland. The parks here are good but they don't have anything over the ones we have in Canada: Parque Prov. Ischiguatasto or the Valley of the Moon, known for its fossils, dinosaur bones and lonely rock formations is a smaller version of Drumheller's Badlands, Parque National Talampaya exhibits walls, pillars and rivers of terra cotta red that glow in the sun (or so they say, it was cloudy and dull when we were there), and The Inca Bridge, a natural bridge across a small river that was used by the Inca and the Spaniards while crossing S.A. (it looked way bigger in the the publicity photos, but still better than getting your feet wet).

We have been lucky with the weather so having purchased our new camping equipment (that we do find more comfortable than the lumpy, soggy or taco-y hotel beds), we have been spending our nights camped out at lakes or in small towns which mostly all have a municipal campground with baños and good hot water showers all for about $3. The only time we have splurged for a room was when the room cost $7 and it just wasn't worth opening the tent and when the rain was just too bad to camp. Last night was one of those nights, after a long debate as whether it looked like rain or not we decided to take a room. Good thing as this morning we woke to thunder and a river of water running down the inside wall of our hotel room. Our poor tent along with us inside would have been pumbled during the course of the night and early morning hours had we decided to tough out the weather.

We are still busy wine tasting, as per strict orders from Shaun and Iris. Plata Del Mar found us with new friends Alfredo and wife Karena, at their friends wine bar, tasting the local fare and trying to talk them into coming to Westbank, to try the best we have to offer. When the rain stops( it had better be tomorrow), we are on our way to Buenas Aires the biggest city for us yet, a whopping 19,000,000 people, half of Argentina's total population.

Kens' FYI about our trip so far:

• 40,000 kms or 25,000 miles
• 2,000 litres of gas
• we are averaging close to 5 litres per 100 kms
• average .90 per liter with the cheapest gas in Patagonia Arg. at .40 per litre and the most expensive in Peru at 1.50 per litre
• we have purchased 4 rear tires and 1 front tire, Michelin Anakee seem to be the best
• no valve or engine adjustments
• 7 oil changes, uses no oil
• original chain, sprockets and brakes are still in good shape

Kens' pet peeves about driving here in Argentina

• most cities have no lines on the roads so anything and anywhere goes
• many cars have no lights on at night
• people here don't respect motorcycles or pedestrians, look out!!! for your life
• where are we.....no road signs.....and if they do they are after the turn you were supposed to take

Ushuaia to Mendoza

After reaching our main goal of making it from one end of the Americas to the other, Ken and I both felt a little lost. Which way did we go now? But after a short time of reflecting on the last 35,ooo kms we decided that this was not the end, but the beginning of another leg. We could slow down a little and enjoy the rest of our time in South America.

Ruta 40 is not a road to ride and enjoy. As we headed north up the highway we had heard so much about we realized it was time to buckle down and do some real riding. With nasty 80 km per hour winds and gravel and rock 3 to 4 inches deep it was like riding on ball bearings. This was the hardest test yet for the pavement loving V Strom. The KTM 950 would have been the preferred bike for this road but Suzie handled it better than we expected. She didn´t come away unscathed as both rims got dinged up and the rear tire got cut up so bad it had to be replaced in Mendoza after only 3500 kms.

Ruta 40 is well worth the hardships of the road the scenery was far better than any we had seen lately. As we made our way north into Chile we stopped in at Punta Arenas to visit the Penguins. A must for me, you just can´t go this far south and not see these one of a kind amazing birds. They waddle along on the ground but when they reach the water they are faster than you would believe. Farther north in Chile, we stopped at the Parque National Torres Del Paine but we were both too sick to see the park and do any hiking. Next time!!!

Ruta 40 crossed back and forth across the Chilean-Argentinian border several times and as we headed back into Argentina I couldn´t help comparing the idea of travelling Ruta 40 and travelling the Alaska highway 25 years ago. A trip for the adventurous and one not all that easy. Long distances between gas, food or another person. Not many travellers set out on this road, and many that do leave the remnants of tires and car parts along the roadway. The landscape turns arid and flat again with lots of sheep, rheas and guanacos until we make the turnoff into El Calafate and the Moreno glacier. The glacier is the most impressive either of us has seen, it is so close you can almost touch it. El Calafate was our first attempt at camping. Ken invented a device for blowing up the air mattress with the super clean, no emission exhaust from our Suzie. I think he will patent the invention when we get home! The two nights we spent in the tent were the coldest is history and we decided we had to invest in sleeping bags as we were only using the cover for the bike and a mosquito net for covers. We don´t have much room for extravagances like sleeping bags but.....it must be done, it is high season here and the price of hotels is out of our budget (we are trying too keep to $60/day).

As we get father north we start to see a little pavement which is more than a welcome sight and the wind starts to subside a little. Our necks are getting sore pushing against the wind that insists on blowing only from the west. Ruta 40 hugs the snow capped Andes as we head into Bariloche. The weather has brightened up a little but it is still cool (I still have to wear my long johns during the day) and we are looking forward to warmer weather. Camping is fun and we have met some great people but it is too cool, even with the bags.

As we got to Malargue, our wishes came true. The temperature rose and the long johns came off. The weather was so nice we camped in Choa Malal for two days and made new friends Graciela and German from Buenos Aires. Neither of them spoke much English so it was an immersion lesson in Spanish, after our time together my brain needed a little rest (but I think my Spanish is a little better off). We plan on visiting them at their home when we get to Buenos Aires in a few weeks, parrillada (Argentinian BBQ) and good wine on the agenda.

Speaking of wine Mendoza, our latest stop, is the heart of the Argentinian wine belt. I like it here! Warm, a abundance of street side cafes/bars to stop in at and enjoy a cold beer and a cup of coffee (real coffee), many parks with shady benches and lots of good wine. It is harvest time here now and yesterday we took in a tour of several wineries, including a wine museum that dated back to the 1800´s. We found it interesting to compare the old wineries here to the young ones at home. After a long afternoon of wine tasting, last night was the first night I was in bed before midnight. Argentinian restaurants don´t even open until 9 p.m. and on the weekend the party goes on until 5 or 6 in the morning. We are getting way to old for this (Ken turns 50 in less than a month, oops I wasn´t supposed to tell anyone!). Well here we are in Mendoza for 2 more days (at least I have 2 more bottles of wine to drink and they won´t fit in the bags on the bike) until we move on, it is a beautiful city and it reminds us a little of the Okanagan.

Ruta 40, the infamous highway from hell. Over 1000 kms of gnarly, rocky and treacherous road, only for true adventure riders.

Penguins are soooo cooool!

Roadside monument to ???

Rheas, birds as big as sheep but run faster.

Moreno glacier, the most accessible active glacier in the Americas.

Dry but interesting vistas.




Another dead soldier on Ruta 40.

Vista over Lago Nahuel Huapi, Bariloche.

This hotel was a little out of our price range, but beautiful all the same.

Kens new invention.

Our campsite was homey but still a little cool.

Lots of volcanos off in the distance.

Central Parque in Mendoza.

Fin del Mundo, Tierra de Fuego

Town square just across the border in Argentina

The countryside is flat but scenic

It doesn´t matter how you make the journey, as long as you ride


Did I mention the road was flat, watch out for the killer corner!

The weather is getting cold and nasty. Snow is flying!

Cold and Windy!

Ushuaia, the end of the earth and cruisers domain.

Hey!!!! We made it to the¨fin del mundo¨
Close to 27,000 kms from home

After four days of sitting back and letting someone else do the driving Ken took to the last 100km of dirt road before the Argentine border like a man possessed. Back in the saddle again.
With the Argentina border came pavement, almost immediately you could notice more prosperity, houses with tile roofs (not straw), cars (people actually own their own vehicle), and everything became more expensive. But we like it, it´s almost like being transported from the the 1800´s back into the 21st century. We decided to take the fast route down to Ushuaia via ruta 9, 35 and 3, leaving the ledgenary ruta 40 for the way north.
Rolling hills and farms dominate the landscape for the first few hours of the ride, until Salta. Another must see colonial city. We decide to stay a couple of days, do laundry and get cleaned up and ready for the last 5000 kms thru Argentina (and a bit of Chile) to Ashuaia, the end of the earth. It´s as far as we can go anyway!
The road after Salta turns flat.....and straight......and I am glad I´m not driving. I think I slept through the whole first day or two. The road just goes on and on, sometimes without a turn for an hour. 5000 kms in 8 days. Across the Chilean border and back to Argentina within an hour or two (they should really figure out who has what down there, join forces or something just on the tip). From 45c degrees to snow in a matter of days. Yes, I said snow and wind. On the last 200 kms before Ushuaia the plain turned to mountains with snow. Man, it is very cold, we are wearing every bit of clothing we have. I have on long johns, pants, rain pants, 3 shirts, 2 jackets, 2 pair of socks, gloves and a hoody under my helmet and I´m still cold! I don´t think I signed up for this! But is is worth it, we have made it to the southern most city in the world!
Ushuaia, not much to the city itself, really. Alot of over priced hotels, restaurants and shops. Oh yes we did shop and bought a new rear tire for the bike and three liters of oil, we should be good to go until Mendoza. Ken is not too happy with the last Dunlop tire as he only got 10,000 kms. The new tire is a Brasilian made Metzler Sahara so it should be good for the gravel on Ruta 40. We had to pay for the most expensive room yet on this trip. But we fork out he cash for 2 nights, take a good look around the city and then head our sights NORTH. We want to see the penguins. Punta Arenas is our last chance along the way.
Chile, Argentina again, and Brazil. Home...when and how???

Salar de Uyuni revised

Too many people we have talked to in the last while who have tried to drive into the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia have had horror stories to tell. Damage to their bikes, stuck in mud, which way do you go "lost" and just plain didn´t have a lot of fun trying to see the salt flats solo, without a guide. So what do we do? We hired a guide! Took a tour! And it was worth every penny. 1220 km in 4 days, a driver, a cook, Ken and I and 4 other people ( Valentine from France and his girlfriend Gisele from Brasil, and 2 girls from Austria, Ava and Liz) . What a luxury! Someone to look after all the little details like your bed, meals, and luggage. And to top it all off we actually got to drive in the Salar de Uyuni flats the largest salt flats in the world, 12,000 sq. km. and 11 meters deep. During the rainy season the flats are submerged in water, in the dry season you can get lost in immensity of it all. We sat back and let Don Felix do the driving. All meals awaited us with nothing for us to do but enjoy them. All we had to do was get up at 6:00 am everyday and sit and enjoy the scenery. Every night our bed was made and ready when we were. I have to mention here that the accomodations were fairly basic (Ken´s first experience in a dormroom and shared bathroom) but on one night we actually slept in beds made from salt from the salt flats and they were pretty comfy.

Mountains, lakes of many colours, volcanoes, geysers, hot springs and wildlife such as flamingos, guanacos, emus and vicuñas (rock bunnies). Breathtaking!! And talking about breathtaking, the second night on the trip we spent at 4400 meters, and the geysers were just short of 5000 meters. What a trip...see for yourself.

The first views of the snow capped mountains

Ken can´t believe the things you find in the middle of know where, sweet ride!

Ahh! A little soak in a desert oasis... is that dinner bell I hear?

Laguna Verde, what a colour.

Letting off a little hot steam, don´t get too close.



Flamingos, too many to count.



Arbol de Piedra, Tree of rock



Laguna Cañapa, calming.

Partly under water. It didn´t stop us!

Kiss me Ken!

Still a happy couple.

When we arrived at Uyuni the 4 other people left the tour to catch a bus north, what luck we had the jeep it ourselves. Well not quite. The driver and cook decided to stop for dinner before we started the last 220 km back to Tupiza ( leaving us in the vehicle wondering what was up!). This little stop put us a little behind schedule and we ended up driving the last 150 km of the 220 km in the dark. To Ken and I this wouldn´t have been a problem except it seemed the driver had night blindness. This was a road you had to be able to see to drive on, riverbeds for roads, part of the road was steep and sat on top of a ridge with cliffs on both sides. After loosing control once or twice, missing a head on with another vehicle by cm., ( we both saw the other cars lights coming) stopping only meters before plunging off a bank into a river because he didn´t see the detour and last but not least taking a wrong road and getting lost for a short time....We were more than happy to see the tour come to an end and have Ken at the helm again.

A great tour though, we´d do it again in a heartbeat. But maybe write another ending .

Bolivia

Small towns welcome the odd motorcycle enthusiast

Traditional dress still rules amongst the woman... nice top hat!

It´s a long, long road with only the odd truck or passing vehicle

Ken keeps his eyes peeled for the unexpected

A storm brews as the road turns to gravel

Suzie handles every type of road, as does Ken, he loves this stuff

It is always the countries you don't hear about that surprise you the most. The crossing into Bolivia was the least painful yet. Down to our last soles on Peru, we gave our young guia the last of our money stash, saving just enough for the photo copies of the bike documents we would need upon our arrival in Bolivia. Ken runs to get the copies he needs only to find out this last 5 soles...are counterfeit!!! again!!! He frantically searches for that young guia and takes back the change we gave him for a tip, not the poor guys lucky day. Better luck next time.

The weather is great, not to hot. Clouds on the horizon but still a good temperature for riding. Bolivia is one of the highest countries in the world, most of the country lays between two ridges of the Andes, the AltoPlano. Mountains, plains, and salt flats all falling east into the jungle. The road is literally empty except for us and a few farmers on wagons. We both are very relaxed as we settle into the drive to La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia. As we reach the city limits we realize it was all too good to be true. Apparently, the country often is apart to demonstrations and today all the highways into the city are blocked by demonstrators, rocks, fires and people block the highway. Know one is coming or going into the city and neither are we! ( It should have been a clue when there was no other traffic on the road) We made our way through backstreets in neighbourhoods I´m not sure we should have been in, and through fields and ditches that made me happy we were travelling on a motorcycle with Ken at the helm. After about an hour and a half we made it around the city and were heading south again, we didn´t really want to see La Paz anyway. And the worlds most dangerous highway...well we think we have travelled some of those already!

The roads truly are tranquil because not many people here can afford cars, collectivos jam packed to the roof rule the road. Once again, I am happy to be travelling on the bike with Ken at the helm. The altitude has been getting higher and higher, heavy breathing is nothing unusual for us now. The first night, the owner of the hotel we stayed at gave us coco leaves to chew on and I think they worked because we both slept pretty good. Good thing, the altitude will not get lower for a while. We are off to the Salar de Uyuni next and that will take us to 5000 meters, we better take a good supply of coco leaves with us.

The road out of Bolivia, for the last 300km, is gravel and Ken was looking forward to it. A little fun in the dirt. The road was good, thank goodness it hadn´t rained in a while. Ken had a grin on his face and the only thing that could have been better was if he had had the KTM950 to ride the last of this road. 100 km before the Argentina border, Tupiza and salt flats. Yahoo!

Southern Peru

O.K. we've dealt with the fact the garbage is not going away, it's just the way it is down here (for now), and we've come to terms with the idea the lousy cops have families to feed and they don't make enough on their puny salary down here ( I refuse to think they are all into the drug trade). After spending a little more time here in Peru we have decided we like it alot. Here are a few reasons why!!

Ken can't wipe the grin off his face, anything this much fun just can't be legal! Dune buggy rides at Haucachina with the driver straight out of the Dakar. Hair straight back!!

Stand on that board? Not a chance, who was I kidding? But going down face first at 70 kph, no problem!

It's a bird, it's a plane no it's a tree!

Nasca lines, 800 lines, 300 figures and over 70 animals. What are they? Who made them? Calendars and stories of life made by people living 700 ad? Ancient walkways and paths made by extraterrestrials? Or a little fun being had by those guys on those hallucinogenic drugs? We don't know but they were cool man!

They are just too cute to look at but don't get too close. These little guys and their hurders were the only thing we saw at 14962 ft.

Suzie didn't miss a beat at this elevation, lacked just a tad of power but all the same she made it to Cusco for her oil change and was ready and rareing to go.

Ready and rareing to go until the hail storm, that is. It came and went within a few hours, thankfully. It left a mess in the streets, created kaos with the taxi drivers, and broke the waffled plastic roof on our bathroom in our hotel room but...nothing like home.

You can't go to Peru without getting the famous picture at Machu Picchu. A little rain, a little fog but the day was perfect for a walk around the ruins.

It's always nice to run into fellow bikers.

Three guys from Brazil, and a girl from Australia (hey where is here boyfriend? a mile up the road?)

A tour to villages built out in the middle of Lake Titicaca. The islands, houses and boat transportation are all made of reeds, they float.

Peru is definately more than garbage, rock and sand. I want to come back and do some hiking in the Andes, maybe the Inca trail, another time. Now it is time to make tracks south to Bolivia and one more country closer to Ushuaia.

Northern Peru, the jury is still out¿¿¿

Dry!

Fishing boats or Peruvian slippers?

Bad hair day! No really, sugarcane being taken to be processed

Did I mention it was dry?

Friendly locals, going who knows where

The happy couple enjoy an awesome view of the Castillo Blanco

Just another beautiful vista!

I even feel odd writing this entry, you know that most times I try to keep a positive attitude about just about everything but something happened when we crossed the Peruvian border. I think we were beamed-up and transported to a place of only sand, rock, garbage and chickens. Peru is definately the poorest country we have travelled in yet, and usually I´m o.k. with that but it is just the.....smell. Garbage is everywhere. In their defence I have to admit, I think they are trying to contain it as some piles are definately bigger than others along the PanAm as if they are kind-of makeshift garbage dumps. The trouble is many people have come down to the coast from the mountians to try and scratchout a living selling goods; fruit, shoelaces, candies or ???? anything to make a sole ( three soles=just under a dollar). Shanty towns line the PanAm Highway and most don´t have sewer of even running water. The people are very nice and helpful but maybe a little sceptical of foreingers.

The landscape consists of miles apon miles of sand and rock interspersed with rice and sugar cane fields (along with the garbage), and where nothing will grow they have constructed huge chicken farms. After all there is A LOT of chicken consumed here, but again a little smelly. And if that isn´t enough and you think the smell can´t get any worse there is the stench of dirty cops! They can spot a tourist a mile away and when they find our your spanish isn´t fluent (damn! I should have taken those spanish lessons in Guatamala) it is game over. If they can´t think of a traffic infraction you have committed they want "money for a coke, mi amigo!!" Oh, and while I´m on the topic of money, we were given a conterfiet 100 sole bill at the boarder by the money exchange. Only about $33.00 dollars but to us poor travellors it´s alot of money, close to a days budget in Peru.

I really have to lighten up a little! After a few days heading south on the PanAm we found ourselves tired of sand and garbage and decided to head for Huarez in the Castillo Blancos. Huarez is a city of about 70,000 nestled in amongst 50 of the worlds highest mountians, of 5700m or more, the place to be if you are a hiker or as in our case a rider. The road over the summit took us to an elevation of 14,000 ft., it was definately the most spectacular ride we have had yet. The road wound up into the mountians thru terraced hillside covered with corn, cows, mangos or whatever could take root on the near vertical slopes. Now we love Peru for it´s fantastic mountian vistas and roads with no dirty cops.

After the ride in the Andes it was with regret that we headed to the PanAm and the continuation of our ride south through cop infested territory. I´ll mention that so far we have paid a total of just over $15.00 U.S. for 2 fines we are still questioning but we are sure they are bull crap. The road into Lima and in the city itself are suppost to be the worst, so we set our alarm for early hoping to be through the biggest part of the city before anyone wokeup. It was not early enough. Although we alluded the cops we ended up in the heat of early morning rush-hour. Let me also note here that bike have absolutely no rights on the road in Peru. We were pushed and cut off for about an hour as we made our way through the city. Reaching the south side of the city we gunned it on the four lane highway and headed for our next destination. Huacachina, here we come to take advantage of the sand and try our hand at sandboarding and dunebuggy riding.

Ecuador

We made it to the middle

All of 4 ft tall and proud of it

Grandma in traditional dress, sells her goods and looks after the little one

lunch anyone?

lunch anyone?

lots of potatoes grow around small towns

Panamerican highway, a little foggy and a little muddy

Cathedrals in Cuenca, we love this city!

more beautiful countyside

Ecuador is a country we hadn't heard alot about so we didn't know what to expect or what to look for. I think this is a good way to go, no expectations, no regrets. We liked everything about Ecuador. The people are friendly and always laughing, the countryside is beautiful and refreshing, and the cost of traveling is very economical.

In the course of one day you can go from beautiful beaches to majestic mountians, to the tropical amazon. Ecuador has many dominating churches, a fury of markets, a handful of active volcanos and if you look hard enough you can even find a new tire for your V Strom, although not without a little help from the locals. ( maybe not the exact one you were looking for, we settled for a Dunlop 140/80 instead of a 150/80). O.k. alot of help but we did it and now we should be good until the end of the trip.

We said good-bye to our travelling buddies again, Kelly and Della, they will spend a little more time here and Ken and I feel the need to get moving on our trip south to the tip.

A quick reflection of what we liked most about Ecuador:

Tulcan; for allowing us to import our bikes into the country even after the Aduana office was officially closed.

Otavalo; for its´ fantastic market with fruit, vegies, meat, hand knit sweaters and hats, alpaca rugs, jewellry and much much more.

Baños; for our cheapest room yet, $4.00 p/p. A small town sitting at the bottom of an active vocano. The last eruption was in August 2006. A friendly little tourist town with hot pools and lots of hotels and restuarants.

Puyo; for the ride down to the small town on the edge of the Amazona on a road through tunnel after tunnel. What a great ride over the river and the waterfall on the other side.

Cuenca; we love this colonial city full of huge cathedrals and cool narrow cobbelstone streets that we explored on foot. And thanks to The Faster Pastor ( the name we gave to our pastor friend because of his crazy driving as he lead us around the city looking for a tire for Suzie) we couldn´t have done it without you.

Hello Ecuador

One of those long lines

I can't remember who told us that the border crossings in South America were a breeze but....after 5 1\2 hours at the Columbia-Ecuador border we were more than a little fatigued with the whole situation. The root of the problem was the Carnival de Blanco y Negro in Columbia, a weeklong celebration that dates back to the era of slaves and the Spaniards etc., it seems lots of people cross the border from country to country to partake in the festivities. When you are going to party your face off for a week, what is another 5-6 hours? Party on dude!!! I'm not quite sure if the guy that works at the Aduana at the border was at the party or what, but he wasn't where we needed him to be to import our bikes. The only place we could do that was a 10 minute ride away in Tulcan and that Aduana was closing for the weekend at 4p.m. an wouldn't reopen until Monday morning. Yiks! in only 20 minutes. We pushed through the line and tried to explain the situation, not an easy task in our broken Spanish, to the custom officers "This is an emergency, we need out!" It was now or never the thought of spending another night in Columbia in a border town didn't appeal to us. They obliged and off we went Kelly, Della, Ken and I, hair straight back and passports in hand into town. After a few attempts to find the building we finally got there, 4:02, crap! We noticed that the people in Ecuador are generally more friendly, happy and helpful than they had been in while and our Aduana guy was no exception. He signed and stamped, smile intact, even if he had to reboot his computer that he already turned off for the weekend. We were all more than grateful and gave him a little something (for his kids' education you understand) and rode off the find our hotel for $8 per person and dinner for $3 each. A rough day, but a smooth end that was easy on the pocket book. It's o.k. it was nothing that a good night sleep won't fix, it's exhausting standing in line all day.

Columbia, Sit down and get comfy for this one!

Too cute!

Just more beautiful countryside

Big city, bright lights

¿Where's Waldo?

Ken looks for a little help

And baby makes three

New Years...B.Y.O.B....(bed)

Small towns dot the farmland

Starting to see some more roughed mountians

A new year and a new continent for us. At last we have made it to Columbia safe and sound and without any problems at the border for ourselves or the bike. In fact we said to each other "is that it-nada mas?". The people at Girag, the company that shipped the bike, were a little confused about whether we needed the bike inspected or not but we rode the bike out the door and down the front steps with a smile on our faces and without paying an extra cent for importation, yeh!

We rode off into Bogota, population 7 million plus ( did I mention that we hate big cities?) to try and find a hotel and our moto vests. Every motorbike rider has to wear a reflective vest with the licence plate # on the back and also have the # on the back of his helmet, passenger includes. The only place in the world, as Ken keeps telling everyone. In a city this size we decided to hire ourselves a taxi to help us out and believe me he was worth his weight in gold. Oh by the way, he happened to know someone who had a good hotel. So money in hand, vests on our backs and a bed for the night we figured life was good in Columbia. Prices may be a little higher than we are used to but but "better safe than sorry".

First thing in the morning we are up and headed north out of the city, did we mention how we hate big cities...but after we are out...what a ride! Beautiful farmland in a valley that eventually disappears into hills, canyons and at last the spectacular scenery of the very northern end of the Andes Mountians. Is this any kind of perview of what is to come? I am going to like Columbia!The food at the place we found for lunch on the side of the road was delicious, a collection of typical Columbian fare, thick tortilla like patties stuffed with fresh cheese and then fried, chiriso sausage bbq´d over a flame and empanadas stuffed with some kind of meat and rice. Food doesn´t have calories when you are on the road. Wash all this down with a diet coke and a beer and you have a filling lunch for under 5 bucks.

On to Medellin and New Years! Crap...another big city and everyone who doesn´t live there is there for the holidays. After the local policia got us pointed in the general direction we wanted to go, but not quite, we ran into Freddy our private Guia. Freddy saved us money, time and probably our skin leading us through the traffic and some shady areas on his Yamaha 90 scooter, to a reasonably priced hotel with secure parking. All three bikes made it there together and in one piece. Thank you, thank you, thank you Freddy! As per Freddy´s suggestion we hired a taxi that night to drive us around the city to look at the Christmas lights ( oh how it reminded me of the old days). I swear Medellin looked like a Columbian Las Vegas, every square, park and cathedral was lit up. The river that runs through town had lights suspended across it. Thousands of people walked the streets enjoying food from all food and drink vendors and listening to the music, every once in a while the taxi driver would let us jump out and take pictures. What a city, I felt bad for cursing it earlier that day. The next day we still had more to see so we jumped on the metro and for the price of a ticket rode from one end of town to the other, including a ride up the mountian on a gondola where we was a great view of the city. Home to the hotel, a quiet dinner with Della and Kelly, and a toast to 2007 with a local apple wine at midnight. At little reflection of the year gone by...it´s been fun, it´s been an adventure, it´s been exciting, it´s been life at it´s best and I don´t think we would change it for the world. Life is good on the road.

We found the best time to get out of town is early in the a.m. and New Years day was even quieter, so off we went Cali bound and I´ll say it again....a beautiful drive. Cali, another big city but we need tires and Cali is the place to get them so here we go. All I can say is "I don´t know what we would do without taxi drivers", $2.00 got us a guide to the hotel we picked out in The Lonely Planet. Again a little more money than we are used to but definately the nicest hotel this couple has ever stayed in. Owned by a Swiss couple, the hotel is right out of Europe, a castle-like mansion with suites Ken and I feel small in ( and the price includes breakfast, internet, and free coffee all day...I can just about drink 50 bucks worth of coffee!).

Ken´s got the front tire for Suzie (we felt obligated to name our bike as everyone else we have met on this trip has!), a new Michelin Anakee. Same price as in Canada and about half the price they quoted us in Medellin, it should be good now for the rest of the trip but we will need a new rear tire before Chile. The tire balanced out and brakes and wheel bearings are like new. We still haven´t had to adjust the chain thanks to the Elf chain paste with toothbrush application. Thanks Shaun!

Columbia definately is every bit as beautiful as everything we heard, and personal safety is not an issue. The main highways are patroled and watched continually by friendly military, and as we found out the local police are always willing to help you out. Of course there are rough areas as there are in every country but we have not felt personally threatened at any time. When the locals recomend you not go to different areas however, it does make you think twice about how easy life is at home. People here are not quite as friendly, at first, as they are in other countries we have been in but after they warm up to you they truely are genuine.

Time to head for Equador, Columbia has been great and a fantastic introduction to South America.

A continuing saga: Christmas in Panama

Entrance to the Miraflores locks

Japanese car hauler on the canal

A Great ride to Colon with friends Juan Carlos on a 1200 GS BMW and Manuel on a 950 SM KTM

and Ken on our 650 Vstrom Suzuki

Beautiful farming countryside on the Azuero peninsula

Too bad the street drainage goes into the bay

A beautiful view over the beach at the tip of the peninsula

Christmas in Panama City what an experience. Can you believe we spent the total day of December 24th in the mall. Walking around watching all the people buying those last minute gifts, happy we didn´t have to worry about it. We couldn´t get away too easy, we found an awesome deal on a camera. I´m sure it is the answer to all my problems downloading pictures onto the Blogsite, a little late but better than never. After an exhausting day of shopping we took in the new 007 movie ¨Casino Royale¨. Great movie, action packed. After dinner, a trip to the store to pick up a bottle of Xmas cheer, and to the phone to make a call or two to friends and family. With the day drawing to a close Ken and I, along with our travel buddies Kelly and Della, headed to the rooftop to watch the crazy Panamanian fireworks show. Every Juan, Pedro, and George was setting off fireworks in every which direction, including under a car directly beneath us. Crazy but fun.

Hah, Christmas day. We can sleep in, have quiet leisurely breakfast and go for a ride on Christmas day....no snow! After a short distance we decided to stop for a walk and enjoy a little needed exercise before our big Christmas dinner. When what off in the distance do we hear??? That all too known sound of thunder! Within seconds, and I mean literally seconds, it is raining so hard cars are pulling because they can´t see where they are going. A quick look around and the only place to hide is under a huge tree, not a very safe place to be in a lightning storm but it will have to do. After 20 minutes or so we decided the rain was not going to let up and we had better salvage our new camera from the weather and ran back to the bike to stow it safely away. Us on the other hand was going to be bit harder as there are no building in site, only a bus parked on the side of the road behind us. Ken checked the door, yes it was open (actually half of it was missing) so we jumped in and wondered when the owner would return. Not too soon, if he was caught in the same storm as us. After about 30 minutes in the bus the owner did return and much to his surprise founddrowneddround rats inside. Nice man, let us stay for a while longer, until the rain letup a little. We were off the the hotel to find a hot shower and dry clothes. This trip would have been much faster had all the streets been open and not flooded, but Ken made his way around as best he could. Thank goodness it is Christmas day and the streets are much quieter than normal, it makes uturns much easier.

Christmas dinner, at last the moment we have been waiting for all day. We found an excellent buffet aMarriottarriot Hotel and we sat down for a feast. Turkey, ham, seafood and the fixins, even a glass of chilled white wine. All this for $70.00 for the two of us ( to us a deal, to a Panamanian...a weeks wages at least). We enjoyed and Della and Kellys company was great.

What a day. It was fun and to us Christmas is about friends and family, it was a great day!

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Panama City

Kuna Indians selling their colorful clothes, all hand stitched

Casco Viejo

Ken likes big boats

Panama city taken from Casco Viejo

Christmas time in the old city

We arrived in Panama City looking forward to a bit of an extended stay at Hotel Montreal, a little time to see the sights of the city while we arrange transport to Bogota Columbia, of ourselves and the bike. What we thought would take us about 5 days has ended up being just a tad longer, 17 days to be exact, because we can´t get a flight out until after Christmas. All fights are full. Seems a lot of people live in Panama and go home to Columbia for Christmas. Well there are worse places to get stuck.

As you might know Ken and I are not big city people, we enjoy more the quiet and friendly atmosphere of the countryside. Panama City with its 700,000 plus inhabitantsdefinitelyy falls into the rather large city category but we do seem to be enjoying all that this amazing city has to offer. The skyline of the city can be seen from afar as you come east into town, more skyscrapers than Vancouver, and as you get closer and cross the Bridge of the Americas over the Panama Canal you can make out the distinctly different parts of the city. Casco Viejo or the old city in the forgound and the dazzling new ultra modern city in the rear. Casco Viejo is a blast from the past with many of the buildings dating back into the late 1600´s. Many are dilapidateded and should be condemned but instead they are still occupied, meanwhile the city has put forward a full scale attempt to restore others and promote tourism in the area. There is a wide range of museums, restaurants, open air cafes and the largest market in Central America, with nearly 1 km of pedestrian only streets full of vendors and liquidators. Prices are said to be the cheapest here. Our walk through this seccion of town wore a bit of tread off the sneakers. I love to look but no room to buy.

The contrast in the old and new parts of the city is so great I often ask myself how a city can be a hub of international trade and banking, I have never seen so many bank in my life, and at the same time so carefree. How do so many businesses here survive on panama time.

The biggest and oldest business here ( beside the drug trade) is the Panama Canal and a visit to the Miraflores locks opened our eyes to what a construction marvel the canal really is. Built in a time when none of the modern machinery and technology that we have today was available. The 80 km long canal took over 10 years to build using more than 75,000 workers, many of which died from diseases like malaria. The canal has 2 sets of locks on the pacific side which use water to elevate the boats 26 meters to Gatun Lake where they can motor the 38 km across the continental divide to a last set of locks on the east coast which lover the boats back down to sea level and the Atlantic Ocean.

A few canal facts:

• it takes 8-10 hours on average to traverse the panama canal
• boats pay by weight and volume, the smalles toll was paid by Richard Hallibum who paid 36 cents to swim the canal, it took him 9 days
• first crossing was on Aug. 15,1914
• fasted transit was 2 hours 41 minutes by a USA Navy hydrofoil boat in 1979

Eating and drinking, a couple of our favorite past times. Like in most big cities there are many restaurants here offering any type of food you could think of, but we have distinctive tastes...cheap. Panama City fills that bill nicely. We have found a great little vegetarian place where we can both eat for about $3.50, they don´t serve a lot of vegies with meals down here so this is one of our favorites. (Sorry dad no bbq steaks or ribs only tofu). We also found a pizzeria that makes great freshly made pizza with real crust not cardboard, a little place owned by people from California. It´s not as inexpensive as other places but it is good, a compromise we are willing to make, and happy hour is always from 4:30 to 7:30. For our breakfast experience we are off to Rays Grocery for yogurt and fruit, and maybe a treat from their bakery. Brenda coffee in Panama is excellent, not a cup of nescafe to be found, expresso machines abound. Yeh!!!

At last I can get a regular workout, we are on the 7th floor and the stairs are the only way to go. From our room it is only one floor up to the rooftop pool. This is also a great place to view the comical driving habits of the Panamanians. What would they do without horns? We can´t quite figure them out, they honk when they want to turn, when they want to stop, when they want you to go or want you to turn, just to say hi or goodbye, what the heck gives!! But it sure makes driving interesting for Ken.

Costa Rica

We are always making new friends

View from our room at Arenal

Because Ken and I had been to Costa Rica before and enjoyed it very much we knew what we wanted to see, what we didn't and what we wanted to see again. The border crossing was easier than most and the bike was running without a glitch(hope I didn't just jinx that). We went back to Potrero (and stayed at the same hotel as last time, Brenda and Walter, it is now finished and great, 2 pools and a great breakfast of dry bread and jam with coffee and juice to wash it down with). Dengue fever was going around the area so we stayed only for three nights and moved on to the interior with hopes of seeing Volcano Arenal and we were in luck. We arrived with the skies clear and Arenal out in all it's glory, smoke and lava popping out the top. We got a cute little cabina just below the volcano and we layed in bed all night listening to the sound of rocks rolling down the side of the volcano and to the sight of the red lava flowing. Yes, that close and no, I didn't get much sleep. The next day called for a river tour on the Rio Negro in the north, lots of birds, caiman, and monkeys. The rain set in however the next day and that was it for Costa Rica, it didn't stop raining until we left and crossed the Panama border. We had big plans to go the east coast but the rain and a malaria outbreak changed our minds. We wanted to do a little hiking in the rain forests (unfortunately our rubber boots didn't fit on the bike)oh well next time. We did happen to see a flock of scarlet macaws and several tucans which was a real treat, they just don´t look real.

Looking forward to Panama and drier weather.

A Diamond in the Rough

Can you guess what this is?

Top: View over Granada

Bottom: View over Laguna de Apoyo

In southern Nicaragua you will find the Laguna de Apoyo set conveniently between the cities of Masaya and Granada. An area rich in history, beauty and geology.

Ken and I went to volcano Masaya for a day trip thinking it would be very cool to look down into an active volcano, which it was, and ended up staying a week in the area.

Volcano Masaya was refered to as ¨the gates of hell¨by the spaniards in the 1600´s so they placed a cross on the top of the volcano to help ward off the demons. Today there are 5 craters and one of which is still active, it smokes and chokes daily. We took a night tour into the crater where we watched green parrots return into the crater at dusk to nest safely from predators, decended into lava tubes filled with millions of bats, and looked down into a glowing red betching mass of molten lava. There is a constant stream of sulfuric fumes from the crater and we were given gas-masks just in case the fumes got too bad to breath.

It was on the top of Volcano Masay that we met ¨Ken¨of Ken and Carol and the Guest House La Orquieda. After a short exchange about how beautiful and pristine Laguna de Apoyo was we had to see for ourselves if it was as clear, clean and blue as our own beautiful Lake Okanagan. Wow...it´s a lake that sits in the bottom of an old inactive volcano. I don´t know where the water came from but it really is clear, clean, warm (there is a hotspring or two locatted on the lake, that makes me question weather it really is inactive or not) and bonita. La Orquieda Guest House...ah yes...a private beach, a beautiful garden with its´ own hammocks, and a fridge full of cold beer for Ken. We had to tear ourselves away from it after.....solo uno dia mas!!! Just one more day!!!

A half an hour in either direction of Laguna de Apoyo is Masaya to the north and Granada to the south. Masaya is ¨the market place¨in Nicaragua, it actually has 2 markets places, an old market located in the ruins left behind by an earthquake where artesanias show and sell their crafts, and a new market that is larger in size than a city block with everything from meat to souveniers to Calvin Klein jeans. Granada, like Antigua Guatamala, is a colonial town with many ancient churches, palm lines squares, tiled roofs and lots and lots of great restaurants and cafes.

Returning to the Pan-Americian hyway, headed south to Costa Rica, we both agree (even after paying our first bogus $6.00 trafific fine) that Nicaragua is our favorite country, so far! But, many more to come.

By the way the first photo is looking down into the hole in the crater, full of lava.

A New Week

View overlooking San Juan del Sur

A new favorite country and a new favorite beach. Nicaragua, you have to love the people, the food (if for no other reason than the price), the beaches, the rainforested mountians and the relaxed easy going way of life. You don´t have to look far to find a beach front palapa to sit in and enjoy a hammock, a beer or a ¨Flor del cana¨ rum and coke.

A 25 ft cross stands guard on the top of a hillside overlooking the town of San Juan del Sur. A cobblestone road so steep that it is a challenge to hike the 30 minutes to the top leads you to a rewarding view of the town, beach and surrounding forest and farmland. The breeze off the sea is a welcome repreave from the heat of the day and the hike.

18 km south of town lies ¨Playa Coco¨ (yes we have found yet another beautiful coco´s beach). At least a km of beach lies stretched out before you with waves that are just crying to be rode by board or body. A few scattered homes, a hospedaje, restaurant, a small store and couple of local pigs and chickens, you know just the nessessities, make a day at the beach a pleasant affair.

Alas, after our 9 day layover here, it is time to move on to a few more volcanos and Costa Rica. Will we be back? You bet, Brenda start looking for those cheap flights.

Speaking of cheap, our hotel here cost us $100 for a week and food averages 35 to 70 cordobas or $2 to $5 a meal and drinks run about $1, makes for a pretty inexpensive beach vacation. You know us we always like a deal!

Guatemala

Volcano St. Maria

Ken getting ready to cross the Guatemalan border

Marketplace in Antigua

The time has come to say goodbye to our friends and fellow adventure riders Della and Kelly, as they continue on to the Yucatan and family, and we step out of our comfort zone in Mexico and into a new frontier, Guatemala.

The weather continues to dictate our direction as we don't particularly like riding in the rain. We bypassed Belize because of the rain and the gravel roads, a lousy combination for us at this time. Guatemala is beautiful, we rode mountain tops to an elevation of over 9900 ft. Sights from our seat include small farms, cornfields to numerous to count, and indigenous people dressed in bright colored clothes wandering the roadcarring heavy loads of wood and goods for sale. Trucks and buses are so full arms and legs are often sticking out windows and over the truckbox. We often wonder if they will make it up the next hill or around the next blind corner that they insist on passing on.

There are many volcanoes here in Guatemala and we have had a chance to see one coughing smoke and ash, too close for us but an everyday occurrence for the people here. The best time to see the volcanoes are in the morning, the clouds start to form around the cone early in the day and by afternoon the rains come (it is still the rainy season for a couple of more weeks). The up side to the rain is that everything is green and lush and all the wild flowers are out.

The town we are in now is Antigua, it sits in a valley surrounded by 3 volcanoes, it was partially destroyed by a volcano in the 1700's and rebuilt. Today it is a sweet little pueblo with a colonial flare, cobblestone streets and old churches and monasteries built by the Spaniards. It reminds me a lot of our trip to Europe last year. We have stayed here a day longer than we had planned, there goes our schedule....what schedule? Oh well, manaña El Salvador...maybe!

Tequila

What trip to Mexico would be complete without a little tequila? We spent a couple on days in the small pueblo of Tequila, tasting a few house varieties and touring the Jose Cuervo plant. We found out that tequila is made in quite a similar way to wine, the blue agave plant is harvested, the heart is steamed and shredded, after the fiber is discarded the nectar is fermented then distilled. At this time the alcohol is too strong to drink and it is watered down a little, although it is said that it was at this stage that the Mexician Indians would drink the liquid (but only the men's men). Today they water the tequila to the correct percentage of alcohol they want, this is called tequila blanco. Reposado, or a finer quality of tequila is aged in wooded barrels for anywhere from 3 months to 1 year, and the finest tequila, anejo tequila (a darker, smoother, and sometimes sweeter variety) can be found in cellars being aged for many years. We found this tour interesting and now we will look at our favourate drink in a different way.

After Tequila it was off to Guadalajara to visit a new friend Humberto and his wife, Billy, their hospitality was fantastic and they showed us around the city and the surrounding countryside. Beautiful as it was we decided that the big city is not where we want to be and opted out of Mexico City and an invite from another friend.

We decided to check on the weather before strikeing out and we found that it was not in our best interest to stay inland because ALOT of rain was being forcast, so it is off to the coast and the humidity we go! Did you know that you can break a sweat just thinking about going for a walk? And as you are riding you just want to go faster to accumulate more wind. Staying with our plan to avoid bigger cities, we bypassed Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa, and skirted Acapulco, and we are looking forward to Puerto Escondido for a little R&R.

The ride down from Zihuatanejo consists of miles and miles of beaches lined with coconut and banana palms. Rivers flow from the mountains and because of the amount of rains this time of year they are swollen and sometimes at the break of the road. Some of the small towns we passed were mostly up to their doorsteps in water, and it is not beautiful clean water either. Still life goes on here for the Mexicians, selling what goods they can and going about daily business, and all that with a smile on their face. You have got to like it!

A quick note about pictures, there are none. Well I'm trying, I am having a little trouble getting them to post, but back check post as I plan on posting them when I am able.

TTFN

Bruise and Boast

This week at Creel the town was to adventure riders as Sturgis is to Harley riders. Horizonsunlimited, a internet based type of bike club for adventure riders, orginized (or in this case unorginized) a ride where members and nonmembers came together to ride, exchange stories, make connections, and network. We called it the Adventure Riders Buise and Boast. Lots and lots of bikes...KTM 640, KTM 950, BMW R100GS, BMW R1150GS, BMW R1200GS, 650 Dakar, Suzuki 400DR, Kawasaki KLR650, Honda Trans Alp, of course the Suzuki Vstrom (like ours) and Ken's all time favorate the Honda Africa Twin. We talked to people who gave us some advise and some who graciously extended invitations to visit them in Mexico City, Guadaljara and Columbia, and as we have said before "Be very careful because Ken and I usually show up on the doorstep sooner or later". During the last four days we were in Creel, three people had some bike trouble while out rideing off the beatin track in the mountians. They where found two days and three nights later cold and hungry but basicly o.k. It was a little of a reality check, getting lost happens fast and it happens relatively easy and you don't want it happening to you down here.
While checking out the local grocery store in Creel, a habit I still find hard to break, I met Kelly and later his wife Della. They are a great couple who, you guessed it, are headed to Tierra del Fuego, they have sold just about everything and are travelling Central and South America and then on to Africa and maybe Europe. Although they have a little time then us we are going to travel with them for a while, at least until Mexico City (look out Garry here we come).
The four of us, Kelly, Della, Ken and myself left Creel early on the 12th of Oct. and more than ready to get on our way and to continue on our own adventure. Riding in the Sierra del madre mountians in northern Mexico is beautiful with an abundance on twisties (technical term for a road with alot of turns) including the Devils Back Bone which is the name of part of the road from Durango to Mazatland. This road winds along the top of the mountains and in some spots you can actually see off the road on either side. Little towns and local roads c