Time again for some riding!

Well I spent a week with Steven, Rebekah and Esmond, that boy is a hoot. He doesn't talk yet, well nothing that is distinguishable, but is chattering something almost constantly. He really works the crowd, constantly trying to do something funny to get people to laugh, he loves the attention. It was a good week and a nice visit as I helped a little with the move and getting things a bit organized. And of course there was the bonding with my youngest son while installing a new toilet in there place, what more could I ask. Love fixing stuff!.

Yummy Breakfast made by Steven

So off I go Wed. morning all packed up and ready to ride with one short stop to help a long time close friend with there computer, unfortunately without success. The weather was great as I headed towards Port Renfrew, enjoying the familiar smell of that ocean breeze. The road was much better than the last time I road it some 5 years ago and I enjoyed all those corners at a somewhat exhilarating pace but without getting carried away. Was following a Yamaha R6 for awhile and pulled in at a view point to have a little visit with him. He seemed somewhat surprise that I was keeping up with him on my fully loaded touring bike. I didn't let him know that I just riding a mostly leisurely pace, although he was 74 so he was doing pretty good and I hope I can still be riding at the age too.

The road from Port Renfrew to Cowichan lake is now paved so I went that way and enjoyed lots more curves and nice warm sunny weather. I was aiming for long beach on the west coast of the island so headed up to Parksville and then on to Port Alberni and the west coast of the Island. It was another nice curvy road with only few occasional problem slow vehicles so was quite enjoyable. It was cooler as usual on the west coast but really not to bad. Very little wind which was nice as far as not getting to cold but there was very little wave action as a result, but it was still enjoyable walking barefoot in the sand, which I love.Went to the beach in the evening and again in the morning and then headed back to Parksville on the lovely curvy road once again.

I got all set up at Rathtraver Park and then went to visit my Dad again in the hopes he would be having a better day and recognize me. It was a good visit. As soon as he saw me he focused on me with the look that he was happy to see me and he appeared to know I was someone close to him. He was saying somewhat more complete sentences although not enough to really understanding his thoughts. When the nurse came in he said something to the effect that she was his number one son and gave her a hug, so I knew the thought was in his head somehow that his son was there.

Tomorrow I will be heading of to see long time friends of mine in Sechelt.

Well it's been way to long since I have written anything here. I am reserving this blog for when I am away alone on my bike.

The winter/cold spring has been way to long but it is finally time to forget others in my life and take care of myself, and what better way than to get away by myself on my bike. I used to hate being alone but now it seems to be the best thing for me.

Left home kind of late Mon. morning, but it's sure nice not having to meet a schedule like I always had to when living where the ferries have control of the times you travel. I was feeling still feeling pretty sick this morning but am on my way regardless. It's sure good to be on another journey by myself, go at my pace stop where I want and do whatever I feel like doing. The weather is not as warm as I would like it but not to bad either. Quite a few rain events but they were all short.

I am on my way to visit my son Steven in Nanaimo and my Dad in Parksville. My Dad is in a home and may not be around much longer, just hoping he can recognize me as his memory is fading fast.

I am riding the #3 to the coast and the scenery beautiful as usual. On the ride from Osooyoos to Keremeos the air was filled with  sent of  sage, it felt so refreshing, I love this kind of climate. The road from Princeton to Hope is always a favorite of mine as I love all those curves, although it's a sad thing that they are working on straightening the road. I landed for the night at a forestry campsite on the other side of Stemwinder Provincial Park. It was a little cool at 3 degrees by morning but I still had one of the best sleeps I have had in months. It's time for a new sleeping bag as this one has many, many miles on it but I just can't seem to find one that is similar to the one I have.

Tue. morning and thankfully this will be  a shorter day than yesterday as my body is pretty beat up and in lots of pain. It scares me to think that I may have to stop riding, but hopefully I will heal and the trip will get easier. Stopped more often today to try alleviate some of the pain. Arrived at the ferry about noon and visited with several other bikers, a couple I could relate to, but as for the Harley riders and there loud pipes, I'm afraid I just don't get it. It was good to arrive at Steven and Rebekah's, I haven't seen them in a year and it will be good to get to know my grandson Esmond. They are expecting my 9th grandchild in 3 weeks, sure is exiting to have so many grandchildren already, with lots more to come! Wed. morning and I just had an even better sleep than last night. Hopefully sleeping better will help the body heal a bit.

A few pictures of Esmond. Took him to the park so Mom could pack in peace. This was on Wed, In the  afternoon I went to visit my Dad who is in a home in Parksville, he is in pretty rough shape and had no idea who I was, and doesn't even seem to know Marnie these days so it was pretty sad to see him like that, hopefully he won't have to live much longer and will soon be released from this mortal life to be reunited with my Mom who passed away this time last year.

Today is moving day for Steven and Rebekah, things should go well as there isn't to much to move. I'll be off to Victoria with them tonight so will get a little time on the bike. Next week I hope to do some riding over to the west coast of the Island to port Renfrew and up to Duncan, and hopefully before I leave the Island I can get over to Tofino.

I'm Back!

It's been a  hard month since I last posted, as the ones that are following this blog know I had to cut my trip short after hearing of Mother passing away. As I was about as far away as I could get in the U.S. from where my parents live I had a long journey home of about 5000 kms. which I managed to do in 4.5 days. Ya I am a little obsessive and when I decide I am heading home not much stops me. I must say though I hope I never do that again, I do not like the interstates to begin with as they tend to be very boring plus the many sleepy moments and the pain I was in was a bit too much. After I got home I rested for a few days and then off to Vancouver Island in Beth's Van to my Mother's Funeral. I must say I do a lot better pain wise on my bike than in the Van but glad we took it as the weather was nasty and I brought a lot home from my parents home as my Dad is also in a home I now have a lot of his tools. It's nice to keep things in the family but also hard to see my Parents things.

I have a few days of my trip that I didn't write on so I will try to remember a few things here and post some nice pictures I got.

Off to the Everglades. The weather is warming up now. Apparently I am at the end of the tourist season so they have closed a lot of the campsites in the Everglades as the rainy season will be starting anytime so I am lucky to miss the rain. On my last trip I didn't get to see Alligators so that is a high priority for me this time. Apparently they have panthers also in the Everglades but they are seldom seen.

I camped in a campsite that surrounded a small lake hoping to find Alligators but couldn't see any. There was one other person camping there so I talked to them and they said there was there were lots of gators in the canal along the road, so off I went to get my pictures. I see why they live there, the amount and size of the fish in the canals were amazing, lots of food there for sure.

It was very warm over night so I left the fly off, by morning everything was soaked due to the humidity. So here I am at my pick nick table having some breakfast and I look up and there is an Alligator not more than 30 ft. from me crossing from the bush behind my tent over to the pond, he was so quiet I almost missed him, but I did get some awesome pictures after hurriedly scrambling to find my camera.

    

The other sunny side of the lake was his destination, apparently after they eat they lay in the sun to warm up as it helps digestion.

On to the Florida Keys.

Well I thought $36 was expensive for a campsite, here it $43.

These crabs live in holes on dry land, not sure what they eat or if they even go into the water.

The weather was finally getting nice and hot and I am starting to relax and enjoy the warmth after riding far to many miles in less than warm weather. The Keys are not known for and abundance of sandy beaches, although I did find one and was just heading there as I got the call from my sister about my Mom passing away.

A  few pics from my trip to Vancouver Island at the end of May.

The weather was a little extreme for the end of may, it might have been a little difficult on my bike.

The home where I grew up as a child. For sale - only 1.28 Million!

Well as far as continuing my trip to complete the U.S. states on my bike, I'm not sure at this point as it is getting a little late now, I have a father and son camp out next week with my son and grandson and then that would only leave me a month before the BMW national rally in Salem Oregon which I wanted to be at. I may try head out in Sept., go across Canada and then down the east coast and across the south into Arizona for awhile, just not sure how I would get back home with my bike in Nov.

Journey to Paradise.

A sign posted at the first rest stop a came to in Florida.

I just assumed that there would be lots of beach campsites along the west side of Florida, apparently not. After a few campsites not being open or where they were supposed to be I found one just before dark at a State Park inland. It turned out good as I was camped right beside a couple and there two little girls who were visiting from Switzerland. I had a nice visit with them and even got fed breakfast. I love meeting people from other countries.

The park ranger at this site told me about a campsite on the beach, and it turns out the Switzerland couple had been there also. So off I go to find my Beach campsite.Well I finally found paradise.A little pricey but nice. Supposed to be #1 beach in America, ( I guess they mean in the U.S  )

It's still not all that hot, my bike says 25 but with the breeze still a little cool in the shade.The raccoons around here are brave, one just walked up to within a couple of inches of me while I was writing this.

The rally and on to Valdosta Georgia

Huge wind storm Fri. Night at the rally, two trees fell, one on top of a tent, luckily the guy wasn't injured but had a hard time getting out. The rain started pretty seriously Sat afternoon, in time for the steak barbeque. By this time lots of people had left and lots moved to motels. The food was good and lots of it, more so as so many had left. I ended up with the long distance award for traveling over 2500 miles to the rally, but missed out on any of the big prizes.

 So Sun. morning it's all over and time to pack up. It was still raining and had rained all night so it wasn't much fun packing up. When I left it was 10 degrees C. and continued to rain a good two hours as I headed south. But I must say even with the poor weather it sure felt good to get on the bike again and head down the road after resting for a few days. Crazy that it was colder than at home, way up north. The sun came out eventually and it warmed up to about 25 by the afternoon. Stopped along the way to go to Church and then ended up in a motel again as the Campsite and Motel were both $30. By supper time it had clouded up again and looked a little threatening. On to Florida tomorrow and hopefully warmer weather.

Greers Ferry Lake to Nashville Tennessee to Hiawasee Georgia

Don't quite know why I ended up in Nashville (where I stopped for the night ) when I was aiming for some where near Chattanooga, but I did. After leaving Greers Ferry the twisty roads ended and it became a lot flatter but still lots of trees. Something to note on the pictures I took in Arkansas is that the trees are only about half in leaf so it would get even nicer when all the leafs are out. As I got into Tennessee the roads got more curves to them and there's lots of great roads in this and North Carolina area but I need to rest for awhile so I'm headed straight to the rally in Georgia.

These are at the camsite near Nashville, nice but too many trees for my liking, even though I was near the water I couldn't see out as there were trees in the water as well, so no way at all to see out from the trees or to get any direct sunshine.

At the Rally in Hiawasee Georgia....................4722 kms. so far or 2551 miles.

I thing that's all you'll here for awhile, at least until it warms up a bit.

Harrison Arkansas to Greers Ferrry Lake Arkansas

Arkansas..............Motorcycle heaven. A person could spend 2 weeks just in the west side of Arkansas and ride wonderful twisty roads all day long. It been fun but this body of mine just can't keep the pace I would like on these roads for very long. Beautiful scenery, beautiful roads.

Stayed in a campsite in Greers Ferry Landing which wasn't actually open yet. Had a nice visit with the person taking care of it. He is a Vietnam Vet and pointed out that there were also Canadians there. He gave me a patch saying Canadian Vietnam Veterans.