August marked my 10 Year Anniversary beginning a life a little different. August 28, 2005 was the date when I officially left my Engineering job and began riding the world with a motorbike searching for a place to hang my hat for good. Although I haven't locked in a permanent place I have truly enjoyed the ride to this point!
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First motorbike the day before it was shipped to Nova
Scotia to begin my first adventure. |
Across Canada and some of the USA 2005.
Around Australia/New Zealand 2006
West Coast Trip to San Francisco 2006
Thanks to all who have visited this site (and above sites) enjoying some stories, photos and the things I've learned over the past 10 years. And an even bigger thanks to the people that have been in the blog giving my a place to stay, having a meal with or a few too many beers. With out you guys I wouldn't even have left my house!
August 2015 I took my 2011 Vstrom "Turbo" for a rip through Alberta and British Columbia hitting Red Deer Lake, Golden, Shuswap Lakes, Castlegar and Fernie in a 10 day whirlwind. Expo Latino, garage sales and some extra bits to round out the month as well.
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Ready to go with the Value Village
Joe Rocket find ($25!) |
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Best way to start the month is to already be 1 day in to a great
road trip through Alberta and BC.
A nice invite to enjoy Brendan and Andrea's cabin near Red Deer Lake a few hours North of Calgary.
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| Open road for sure |
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| Double decker train about 1.5 km long |
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| Lost, but we are close... |
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| The classic 80's A-Frame |
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| Found the lake |
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| Where the lake used to be |
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Just like I had when I was a kid, ah,
not really |
Chopping Wood! Apparently this was a tough piece according to Brendan.
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| That's a perfect shot! |
After a few relaxing days near Red Deer Lake it was off to the Ice Fields and a night stay in Golden, BC with a good friend's dad, Fernando and his incredible pasta.
Cruised from Red Deer Lake to Nordegg for gas and lunch (grabbing a lunch to go in Rocky Mountain House). Pretty straight up to that point. C3R7T2V5. Then up to the Saskatchewan River Crossing and on to the Icefields. C5R8T3V8, Riding along the river through the Rocky Mountains.
The Columbia Ice Fields - are the largest icefields in the Rocky Mountains of North America. Jessy and I visited the Athabasca Glacier which continues to shrink over the last 100 years and has sign posts to let you know, incredible change.
Unable to trade my bike for his corvette, we hit the road once Jessy was done fondling some big tomatoes in Fernando's garden. We set a course for the Shuswaps for 3 night at the Casa de Harms. Highway 1 the whole way for 4.5 hours. C3R8T4V5, Rockies and quaint small towns along the Kicking Horse river.
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| Nice Tomatoes Fernando |
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| "No Jessy we are not taking the corvette." |
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| Rogers Pass, weeeee |
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Got close to this guy to take a photo of his cool classic...
He gave me "the Finger" so of course I put this photo up. |
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One of the best marketing
strategies I've ever seen! |
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| Near Three Valley Gap |
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| Hey |
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The throat of Houseboat country,
Sicamous |
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| Lunch break in the heat. |
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Nice Tourist Prank...I didn't tell Jessy
the trick to Bear Protected Garbage
The struggle was hilarious. |
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| Lots of warm water in our immediate future |
A little RnR at
Casa de Harms. A good 3 days of rest and relaxation between moto rides in Anglemont, BC on the North side of the Shuswaps. Lots of family with Harms cabin 1 and Harms cabin 2 a few doors down from each other. I need to get Costa cabin 1 going in this restful place. Well, restful enough until Jessy and I crashed a jetski that is. Good news is we survived a 85km/h dump off with only a cracked rib for me and both pairs of sunglasses at the bottom of the lake.
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| Hundreds of snails roadside |
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| Perfect accommodation and nice parking |
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| The Harms Compound |
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| Nice form Bradski, yikes... |
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Minutes before the big
crash... |
Off again. Taking my buddy Luke up on a self invite we set off from Anglemont to Castlegar, BC. This, one of the longer days took us South to Vernon (C4R7T4V6 Vineyards, rivers) then East to Nakcusp (C5/6R8T2V7 beautiful foothills and mountains, rivers, back country motorbiker's road - Hwy 6) and South again (C5R7T3V7 river valley, Columbia river) to
Luke and family's new home in Castlegar.
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| Starting with a cloudy potential |
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| Dude, Girlfriend and Dog. Nice |
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| Full Frontal Foliage |
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| Lots of roadside fruit stands |
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| Helmet too tight or glasses too big? |
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| Before the ferry to Nakcusp |
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At Needles crossing
Upper Arrow Lake |
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| Lower Arrow Lake |
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| FOMI's Bakery 30km from Castlegar |
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| Columbia River |
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| Nice place guys! |
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| Tired, 10 hrs on the road |
A great night with Luke, Jess, (and kids for a little while) and Jessy chowing down on some Chinese take out on their huge patio of their beautiful home. So nice to have a place to stay in a beautiful area of Canada. Thanks again guys and see you next year.
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| Wasp trap and Disc golf basket |
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| Jessy, Me, Zaydyn, Jess, Gabby |
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| Starter up big guy |
Fernie, BC bound. A short day that we got to enjoy, stopping in for fish and chips in Creston and cruising along the USA border as close as 4 km at points on highway 3. C3R7/8T2/3V7 fruitful lowlands climbing mountains and riding beside forest lined rivers.
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Up in the mountains just out of
Castlegar |
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| Great section of Hwy 3 |
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| Break with a view |
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| Kootenay River just out of Creston the home of Kokanee |
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| Tim's Fish n' Chips, Creston |
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| Good old CP Rail |
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| Hwy 93 |
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| Saving on dog sitting? |
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| Lovely town of Fernie |
One night in Fernie at my buddy Pete's place. Great spot, great dinner and fun card games with the Dudes. Fernie is definitely a place to stop for a night or two, especially if you are a mountain biker or skier in the winter.
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| Gorgeous views |
Final day, back to Calgary. Approximately 2300 km in 10 days, road wary, but happy to have made the trip Jessy and I got back to Calgary after a pit stop to see Rachel and Ian my Moto instructors from 2005. A fitting way to end the trip and cap my first 10 years riding around by moto.
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| Breakfast with Peter and the dudes |
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| What's this? |
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| That's a big dump truck |
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| A lot of mining in the Crowsnest Pass area. |
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| Back to AB |
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Cork screw pattern from mining
truck roads |
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| Ian and Rachel's for lunch |
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| Canadian Flag glass work at the Bellevue bank |
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Frank's slide. The town of Frank
buried below the rock in early 1900's |
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| The Crowsnest Pass, one of the windier spots in Alberta |
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| Nice rest stop, on a little chillier day |
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| Classic small town grain elevator |
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Chalk up another successful
Moto trip! |
Expo Latino, a chance to check out some of the local latin restaurants and food trucks, watch forms of dancing and listen to a bunch of people speaking spanish in Prince's Island Park on a beautiful day.
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| Brazilian dancers |
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| Nice Grill |
Check out this older fella, 80 something and he is using shoes bought at my garage sale earlier that day!!!
OH, the amazing Peace Bridge (and my rant). You can have one too for $30,000,000!
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| Peace all |
Garage saling. Don't knock it, it pays for the Vietnamese lunch and beer. Plus it's a great excuse to stay around the house to fix little bits and pieces, etc.
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| Looks like some potential |
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Sold this to the same guy that bought
the Expo Latino dancing shoes |
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| Hard workers are tough to find |
Other Stuff
Karaoke Jessy. Although I was quite nervous for her singing in English, I thought it was pretty fantastic.
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| A family of deer right outside my office |
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| Incredible Ceviche by Gino |
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Wow! Tuna salad at
Murrieta's |
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| Big bag of donations, so big it popped |
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| Surahi Restaurant, YUM! |
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| Crokinole |
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Smoked out Calgary from all the
BC Forrest Fires |
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Anthony, Mike, Brendan
25 years of Penny Poker nights,
now $20/guy |
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| Mike's condo in Canmore with a view |
1 comment:
I have been gone since 2008. So I know the feeling! Glad you are enjoying life :) take care bud.
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