August 22-24 Baseball Tourney / Fire jump

For 8 years in a row I have attended the Engineering Slo-pitch finals and this year was probably the best for multiple reasons. A good weekend of slo-pitch, sun, drinking, campfires and Seventies ball outfits!

Baseball Fun.



Ladies and Gentlemen, Rico Costa.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. S T.

Instead of the coin toss, 4 people relay around the bases to win home field advantage. Each runner has to drink a beer when they get to their designated base, place it upside down on their head when the beer is done which starts the next team member to their designated base. Mine was first base and I got us a nice lead. Practice pays off.

Alex Harms brought home the win and home field advantage.

Injury time out as the butt muscle was still not fully healed.

Campsite fun.

Off to the river for a dip.

Beer darts. NOTE THE SIZE OF THE 4 FOOT HIGH SILVER FIRE PIT BEHIND STEVE.

The object is to puncture the can, not stick it in the tab. Once the can is punctured your opponent must drink it.

And finally the Fire jump. It's a bit of a funny video and the jump isn't that clear, but a good laugh anyway. Enjoy.



Oh yeah and the next day with hang overs galore we won the whole dam thing!

Last Day of the Alaska Trip! August 22/ Day 28

The final day finally came and boy was it beautiful. For a trip full of low temp and rain this day was more welcomed than Sunscreen to an Australian!

Started around 8:30 am from Kelowna with a very healthy hang over considering I only had 4 hours sleep. It really wasn't too bad. I decided to take the long way back to Revelstoke which is 350 km and two ferry rides versus 150 km, so the day was going to be long and hopefully worth it.

Between Kelowna and Vernon.

Hwy 6 from Lumby to the Needles ferry was absolutely amazing and the best ride of the trip. Mostly motorcycles on this piece of British Columbia heaven. A couple of choppy spots and a section of fresh pavement, which was as smooth as a marble counter top. C=9,R=7,T=1,V=8.

Shots taken on less challenge areas of the road. It's always hard to get the good stuff as I usually need to pay attention and there are not very many places to stop.

At the Needles ferry landing.

Fauquier to Revelstoke. Good. C=6,R=8,T=2,V=8. Barely made the 20 minute ferry from Galena bay. Had I missed it the day would have been another hour longer which I couldn't afford.

Revelstoke to Calgary was hampered with traffic and construction (at Lake Louise). I rode a little crazy going up the shoulder in spots to by pass 8 km of crawling vehicles after Golden. C=3, R=6, T=7, V=7.

Rogers Pass Tunnel (one of 5 or 6?)

Wonderful Traffic.

Alberta welcomed me home.


Well that's it! I made it back to Calgary at 7:30 pm, had a quick shower, grabbed my baseball gear and all the stuff off the bike, packed it in to the truck and went to Carseland for a weekend of fun!!!

August 21, Kelowna

Short day as it was raining and the next promised to be beautiful and sunny so I elected to stay in Kelowna, which was only 350 km from Maple ridge.
Maple Ridge to Hope on hwy 7 is awesome. Mountains, Prairie type valleys, and rivers. No pics as it was raining too much. C=5, R=7,T=3,V=8. Oh and Hope is where they filmed "First Blood" with Sylvester Stallone. A classic.

Hope to Merritt on the Coquihalla ($5 toll road). I couldn't believe it. On each side of the toll both which sits in the middle of this section of road there are two completely different weather patterns! Hope to the Toll booth was and is usually rainy and that day was as low as 8 C. From the Toll booth to Merritt starting literally on the other side of the booth it was dry and temp of 13 C. I couldn't believe it and when I asked people in Merritt they told me it's usually like that. Wow. C=6,R=8,T=4,V=7.

Cool Rainbow. Stayed behind the rain for most of this stretch stopping every once in a while and getting some good pics.





That's how I saw it.


Sweeping decline in to the Okanagan Valley. Merritt to Kelowna C=6,R=7,T=3,V=8.


Stayed at Samesun Bakpakers. Really good and got in to some drinking games with another 20 people. Went to Roses with a good group. Me and the Canadian version of Ben Affleck.

Yet another cool French-cdn girl, Ariane.

August 20, Maple ridge, Vancouver Area

Had a nice breaky at Floyd's diner although the food wasn't amazing the place was good and the prices were nice and low. Waitresses may have been a little cute, but I'm not one to notice that sort of stuff.



Went up to Mt. Douglas in Vic to have a look around.

Nice views.Beautiful road running beside Mt. Douglas. Doesn't seem like it should even be in the city.

Shots from the ferry back to Vancouver ($45 me and bike).




Took the FREE ferry from Fort Langley (Vancouver suburb) to Maple Ridge where my cousin Lauralee and her family live. Thank you Germain family for putting me up for the night and nice to meet you all.

August 19, Courtney to Victoria

Little sleep helper.



Rainy day and 17 C.
First stop Tofino which is on the West coast of the Island and there is only one road in and out. It has a major shit section for about 30 km, oh and sucks even more in the rain! Hwy 4; C=7,R=5,T=6,V=7.

Cathedral Forest along the way. 800 year old trees.

I always enjoy lakes and mountains along the roadside.

Got to park my bike on a prier for the first time, that was cool.

Crazy surfers!
Finally got back on track to Victoria after the Tofino detour. Hwy 19 turns into a 2 laner for most of it and actually becomes hwy 1 at Nanimo (C=7,R=7,T=5,V=7). Victoria is the start of Canada Hwy 1 and you have to go through Nanimo and over on a ferry to stay the course of #1 all the way to St. John's Newfoundland. Wow.

Stopped in Chemainus to check out all the murals. Very cool.

The water wheel is definitely one of the featured ones and rightfully so.

Stayed in Ocean Backpackers right in the Heart of Vic, which is a pretty easy CBD to get around. There's no place to park a bike so I sat Akira on the street in front of the hostel. No problems.

A shot of the Legislative building and some of the harbour. Actually I think the Legislative building may be out of the photo to the left? Oops.

Met up with Holly for a couple of beers and some convo. Good times and Happy days. Hope the car is holding up.

Ausgust 18, Day 24 Port Hardy to Courtney

Finally a good day to ride. Temp = 24C (highest of the trip).
Shot from the North Shore Inn in Port Hardy. Still smelt like fish.

Started driving to Campbell River / Courtney and stopped off at Telegraph Cove along the way. Road was good enough, except for a poorly marked fork. I almost took a gravel rd bath, but fortunately I had time to stop as I saw the car ahead of me start throwing dust.

Log train and collection point 2 km from Telegraph Cove.

Port Hardy to Campbell River, C=7,R=7,T=3,V=7.


I was hoping to dive in Campbell river, but unfortunately there were no charters happening the next day. One guy at the shop offered to take me for ONE shore dive for $110! Screw that, considering if there was a charter I would have had two dives and accommodation for $150.

Some great cravings along the side of Highway 19A.

What a dream.Rocky coast line. Campbell river to Courtney on hwy 19A was a little disappointing as the traffic was too thick and it's has such a low speed limit. C=5,R=7,T=5,V=6.

Little clip about getting food in Courtney on a Monday. I ended up going for all you can eat fish and chips to which they only gave me four pieces because I didn't eat the batter. I wasn't going to push it.

August 17, Ferry to Port Hardy, Vancouver Island

Got to the ferry for 5:30 am after packing a moist tent. I rolled on to the boat and already felt the difference between US and Canadian ferries. As I parked the bike the attendant put blocks under it for me, handed me a couple of tie downs and gave me information on where I should go when I got to the passenger areas. A little different than the US boats. Anyhow, the costs for everyone's info is about $150 for a passenger and $200 for a motorbike for a 14 hour ride.


Around the half way point of the trip.

Here's what happens when you put your camera on self-timer and throw it in the air.


What do I have to say?



Stayed with Mike, Jess and Holly in the North Shore Inn for the night in a 3 double bed room. Room was a good size and wasn't too bad after you got used to the fishy smell by the door? Had some Jim Beam I'd been carrying for 5 days and some silly conversations. Good times.