Travels

I thought this would be a better media for me to express myself. To talk about some past experiences and my upcoming travels and keep you abreast of my whereabouts.

There is a saying that I took out of the book called "Vagabonding" that I live by;

"Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I am... stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating"

That is the difference between a "traveler" and a "tourist".... A traveler sees what he sees, a tourist sees what he came to see.

I will leave this here and see how this Blog flies....

Cheers!

2018

The first thing I did at my retirement in 2018 was to buy a motorcycle. I knew buying a Harley was not in the cards for the type of riding I wanted to do. Don't get me wrong I love Harleys as I owned and drove the FXWG for over 20years.

Unsure if I was ready for an adventure style bike, I bought the 650 V-Strom. Great beginner Adventure bike.

Needless to say I was nervous when I first started to ride again as an Adventure Bike is much taller with the center of gravity much higher then most other motorcycle styles. It was almost like learning to ride again.

I went for my first weekend ride with a good friend of mine, Dinesh.

We headed to Rice Lake, where there was to be an "Horizon Unlimited" meet. Many people who attended were world travelers, mainly on motorcycles. All great fascinating people with countless of great stories. A few were book authors who wrote about their experiences.

On our way back we took a different road and wound up in gravel, which I was bit nervous about but was handling it pretty good. But the gravel road came to an end and narrowed down to a trail of beachy white sand. I was not comfortable at all with this, but Dinesh assured me it was less than 1km to the next road on this trail. Dinesh went first and I followed. I didn't do 300m when, not having a clue of what I was doing, I tightly clinched the handle bars making the bike flip out and fell on my leg, pinning me under.

Dinesh was out of site and I was alone. My leg was pinned and twisted underneath the bike., needles to say I was yelling for help!!

From another trail up higher then where we were, two Enduro motorcycles riders appeared. They quickly rode down the steep hill, dropped their bikes, ran towards me and lifted the bike up. They were a father & son couple. Shortly after Dinesh return. The picture tells the story.

I stood up, unsure and with little confidence of being able to ride out of the sandy dunes. My rescuers gave me basic advices that I still follow to this day, "get on the bike, shift your weight to the back of the bike, give it gas slowly, stand up on your pegs, hold the handle bars ever so lightly as if you were holding cactuses, let it do what it wants to do, no need to steer, just direct the bike." I got out of the sands and back to gravel very easily.

Needless to say, I rode home in a bit of pain.

At the end of summer of 2018 , I enrolled in a day long training with "SMART Adventures" ran by Clinton Smoot, up in Horseshoe Valley, One It was the best training courses I could have have taken. I learn so many things about dirt, gravel and sandy roads riding. In the afternoon, it was one on one, so you had the instructor's full attention.

2019

In 2019, after a few Rides up North via Kapuskasing and Sault Ste. Marie from Windsor , I embarked on a ride East, my longest ride yet, destination, Shediac, NB, The plan was to ride my V-Strom to the east coast and meet up with my wife Diane in Shediac during the famous Lobster Fest. I was to ride, and Diane was to fly.

I rode the Northern shore of the St Lawrence River, up to St Simeon. It was whindy, windy and fast! Spent the night there and took the ferry in the morning for New Brunswick. I followed the St Lawrence river on the Southern shore past Rimouski, through Bathhurst and finally to Shediac. We spent three (3) days in Shediac, we had a blast. Diane flew back and I f=drove back cutting through NB and Montreal.

2020

2020 was the year I traded my V-Strom for the Triumph Tiger Rally 900. Wow! what a beast compared to the tame but dependable V-Strom. My confidence was improving every day as I continuously kept improving my riding skills in parking lots and church yards using cones and spotters.

I also was slowly getting better at packing my bike. Knowing what to bring, what was necessary and what was "luxury".

I had a vision of doing the TransLab Highway, intentionally doing gravel roads. My skills and confidence were gradually improving.

2021

2021

In July of 2021, I embarked on an Eastern trip, heading from Ontario, and hitting the TransLab Highway. 26days, 8,400km, solo at age 65. I had traded in my 2018, 650 Vstrom for the 2020 900Triumph Tiger Rally.

What a great beast and a great ride! We hummed through rainy gravel roads, from Baie Comeau to Happy Valley Goose Bay to Port Hope Simpson where I went Cod fishing, to Blanc Sablon where I crossed to the Big Rock. Hit St. John's and made my way back to Port aux Basques and ferried to the mainland where I made it home in two an a half days.

In mid-October I decided to impulsively hit the road again, this time heading for for Kapuskasing, my home town. I left Grand Bend for Tobermory where I got on the ferry for Manitoulin Island. I continued to Espanola where I spent the night. From Espanola I made it to Kap. (500km).

It was a short visit with some family members and friends as I had to take advantage of the nice weather.

I left around noon and drove to Marathon where I spent the night with Mick & Joan, Diane's cousins, great...great people! Mick has been making his own "Jack Daniel's" for over 20 years, I'm not a connoisseur of Tennessee Whisky, but man this was amazing shit!

I left Marathon on a sunny morning, but -3C. I had to admit, it was cold! Even Mick asked me.. "are you sure you want to leave this morning" it was a snappy cold that just went

through you. Now I'm well dressed for the cold, my base layer is 100% merino wool.. I wear two (2) mid layers and finally my riding jacket with a thermal layer.

I drove to Parry Sound where i stayed overnight. Hit a couple of bar & grills.

Next morning I was heading for home, and started off in snow. While packing up my bike, a couple asked if they could take a picture of me... they couldn't believe I was going to take off in snow! The highways were only wet, didn't encounter any slippery patches.

2,700km round trip , I made it home.. great ride overall!!!

2022

We're now in January of 2022... and I've started planning my Territories and Alaska trip for this year. Never rode there and I personally don't know anyone that has completed the trek that I am planning to embark. I was seriously thinking of getting myself a lighter motorcycle, something more like the Kawasaki KLX300R or the Honda CRF300R. However I just couldn't betray my "Big Girl" (that is what I call my bike) as she has carried me through hell and back on some of those dark evening during down pours, on clay like dirt roads. Many times I would pat the gas tank and say.. "just get me home big girl".

During the winter I completed my haddock plan to my North Western Destinations. My motorcycle will be shipped to Edmonton, where I will fly to and meet up with the bike on June 16.

The goal is to ride through Banff and Jasper, make my way to Fairbanks, AK and on to my first major destination, Prudhoe Bay AK.

After Prudhoe Bay my intentions are to back track, make my way Inuvik, Yellowknike then home. roughly 12,500km and 35-40 days