Nelson, B.C.

KM = 306

An easy ride brought us safely home after a trip total of 4285 km. The only hitch was that we had a rookie customs officer who decided that we should declare the cost of the new tire we had installed in Sparks. Got quite huffy when I suggested that it was a necessary "repair". Guess we should have ridden home on a bald tire. . .

Worley, Idaho

KM = 656

Today was as close as you can get to a PERFECT motorcycling day. The temp. ranged from 12C to 30.5C with most of the day in the mid 20s. There was no wind (the windmills in the Columbia River wind corridor were stationary). There was a high scattered cloud cover to reduce the glare. We rode highway 395 through Oregon (including the famed Ukiah-Dale scenic corridor) and it was wonderful as usual. This was further topped off by a ride through the curvy highways of the Palouse country of SE Washington, one of our favourite areas and it was all new pavement to boot!

Saw some interesting sights today:

1. A crop dusting helicopter flying very low.
2. All trucks in Central Oregon come equipped with at least one dog loose in the back.
3. A couple of the good ‘ol boys in Plummer, ID loved Raindancer: “Sure is quieter than them durn noisy Harleys”. Of course they were all liquored up and at the general store looking for more.
4. Vultures feasting on road kill.
5. Numerous motorcycles out enjoying the day.
6. Some pretty full creeks and rivers including water nearly running onto the road at the bridge just outside of Burns.

Our latest adventure is coming to a close as we will be heading home tomorrow. Tonight we are at the Coeur d'alene Casino.

Burns, Oregon

KM = 587

Raindancer rested quite nicely last night with his new rear tire and his Harley companions. Was interesting to watch the many rally goers last evening in the Casino. Looked like everyone was having a good time. Also at the Nugget was the National Search and Rescue convention complete with search and rescue pooches. Wonder if the sight of a uniformed dog handler put the chills into some of the bikers. Some of the crowd from last night were still or again into the beer by 7 am.

First leg of the return trip today: Sparks to Burns was done under cloudy skies with comfortable temperatures (even saw 24C on the dash today!). Witnessed the drastic changes in geography from the Oregon coast to inland state with the miles and miles of sage brush, cows, partially dried salt lakes (blowing, swirling dried white salt looked like smoke), antelope and lots of birds, not to mention the wind and rolling hills. Not much traffic and at one point you could see the highway stretching for miles – straight miles even!

Many highway patrol cars out today with speeders pulled over. It seemed we saw more motorcycles on HWY 395 than cars today. At the motel there are 7 bikes already. One of the bikers is richer by the 3 beer we found in our fridge (gave them to him).

Sparks, Nevada

KM = 125

Woke to a very heavy frost in Lake Tahoe so waited for it to warm a bit before setting out. Poor Yakky had frost on his back – see picture!Once it warmed, it turned out to be a very pleasant though short ride under sunny skies.

Stopped at a mall in Carson City so Norma could buy a purple shirt as she had read in her horoscope that purple was going to be lucky and it was – up over $175 in just ¾ of an hour of gambling – fun money to spend for the rest of the evening.

Stopped at the customary Harley Davidson Dealer in Carson City to check it out. Also trying to kill time so we wouldn’t be too early for check in. Got talking to a fellow from California who was warning us about a motorcycle gathering in Sparks and lo and behold it is here at the “Nugget” where we are staying. Once we checked in Doug took Raindancer to the BMW dealer just down the road for a new back tire. They said there is still wear left but we don’t take chances with the rubber.

The gathering is called “Street Vibrations” Had a look around at the numerous tents selling motorcycle gear, some of it pretty coarse and making a statement. The live band was very good so listened to them for a bit. Had a bit of a chuckle at so many of the riders still in chaps, etc. in the casino (making a statement?). It’s usually the first thing Norma takes off after a days ride. As Doug says we probably have put on more miles in one of our bigger trips than many of them have or will have in their motorcycling lifetime. May prove to be an interesting evening with all the drinking and partying already underway and yet to happen. This event apparently goes on for the entire weekend. Raindancer is hiding among the Harleys under the covered parking provided for the participants (hey, why not free parking).

Had dinner in the buffet. Being Friday it was seafood extravaganza – excellent. Now we need to walk a few miles to wear it off!

Check out the stretched SUV we saw today.

South Lake Tahoe, California

KM= 400

Actually got to ride in the California sunshine almost all day for the first time. The Golden Hills of California are unusually green due to all the rain they have had this spring.

Had another leisurely and pleasant ride through an agricultural area – wheat fields, vineyards and fruit orchards. After having such a big breakfast with our room this morning we just stopped at one of the road side rest stops for apples and nuts. We are looking forward to the buffet dinner at Harrah’s as well as some gambling.

Unseasonably cold in Lake Tahoe, they say. We would agree. The highway cam showed fresh snow this morning, melted by the time we got here but there is plenty on the side of the road in the pass and all the summer cabins along the river are still so buried it will be months before people will be summering in them. Raindancer read +1.5C there this afternoon as we came over, hence the rain gear – didn’t need it for rain but for warmth and the odd snowflake. It is supposed to freeze tonight here.

Just returned from a walk down to the lake. The trees are yet to fully leaf out. Tour boats docked at the marina with a beautiful backdrop of blue lake and snowy mountains. The lake is one of the world’s most beautiful. The organization Keep Tahoe Blue has been an environmental watchdog in the Lake Tahoe Basin for 50 years. The League embraces responsible and diversified use of the Lake's resources while protecting and restoring its natural attributes.

Ukiah, California

Km = 393

Immediately upon leaving Crescent City this morning we were into the rainy Redwood forests of California. It was a lovely drive through these mighty towering trees. We would stop and read the info around them, e.g. the one that was saved after much protest as the stump was destined to build a dance floor (Doug in front of it). Interesting that the California tree huggers were in business in 1918! Then there was the Chandelier tree with the road cut through it. We understand there are three drive-through trees to be found in California. Everyone seems to be trying to get on the Redwood bandwagon with single tree houses, etc. We did meander back to the coast a few times and noticed an immediate change in the coast line (less rugged) and the wave activitity - much calmer in California.

We had another leisurely day just stopping when we wanted and enjoying the sites. We are not putting near the amount of kms we would have in the past and are feeling pretty relaxed about it all.

We had repeatedly seen signs to watch for the Roosevelt elk and finally today saw a fairly large herd in one of the Redwood parks.

There has been an unusual amount of rain here as well as was witnessed by a land slide on one of the roads today. Everything is very green and everyone refers to the amounts of rain they have been having.

As it was raining for the last hour of riding we decided to stop earlier at Ukiah. Had a Safeway dinner in the room. Tonight is the first game of the Stanley Cup finals and Vancouverites are pretty excited about the upcoming Canucks game, I'll wager.

Crescent City, California

KM= 351

Another lovely, leisurely day riding along the Oregon Coast Bike (as in bicycle) Trail. The bike path is very well maintained and when you enter one of the many tunnels or bridges the bicyclist pushes a button that sets off a flashing light to warn motorists they are in the tunnel or on the bridge - a good safety feature.

We started our morning by watching a big bald eagle hunting on the rocks outside our room. We went for a walk to explore the tidal pools and saw sea anemonies, rock crabs, star fish, billions of mussels and lots of other neat things. Most forget that Doug is actually a marine biologist by trade and enjoys refreshing his memory.

This portion of Oregon is famous for its coastal sand dunes. Many places to rent ATV style dune buggies to play. And many places to buy seafood!

The weather was ever changing in the morning but as we had seen written in a few places just wait 15 minutes and it would be totally different, which it was. The afternoon was nice and sunny. Our faces are taking on the usual wind burnt bikers look!

More spectacular scenery as we rode along the coast. The waves at some points are so powerful it is very obvious why they say NO swimming. We stopped at Bandon, another neat little coastal town. The local school children had done all varieties of paintings to commemorate the year of the Rabbit and these paintings were posted along the dock for all to enjoy. We watched people pulling in their crab nets - dozens of crabs in each one but only a few keepers that met the right sex and size.

Talked to some bikers from Oregon a few days ago and they recommended this quaint motel in Crescent City so here we are a the Curly Redwood Motel, which was built in 1950 from one very large redwood tree. It is definitly back to the 50's. While we were musing on this, a whole group of Model As drove in to stay. Perfect! The ambience is now complete!

By the way, have a new additional to our tour company. His name is Yakky. He is a sea otter from Yakalts, Oregon.

Yachats, Oregon

KM = 295

Had a bit of a lazy start this morning – after all we are on holidays!. Forgot to mention that Long Beach, WA is very pooch friendly – dogs everywhere – after all it is the site of the “Annual Doggie Olympics”. They even asked us if we had a dog when checking in, like it was almost a requirement even though we were obviously on a bike (although, we admit there are canine bikers). We even watched some people on a go cart track in carts with their dogs stuffed in their jackets.

Proceeded to Oregon via the Astoria bridge over the Columbia River, It has 3 sections: a regular bridge section, a water level section and a huge bowed section to allow large ships to pass.

We rode through various Oregon coastal communities including Seaside, Canon Beach, Pacific City, Tillamook and Newport, stopping to investigate as the whim took us. The only down side was the heavy Memorial Day traffic. Weather was mostly OK, with the occasional misting.

We stopped relatively early at Yachats, Oregon as the weather was closing in and our Memorial Day traffic resistance meter was approaching “0”. We found a motel, with a fireplace in every room, on the ocean (check the view from our window) and are comfortably ensconced. There is a large blow hole in the rock right below our window that has been hammering away with the waves.

We decided to make the 11/2 mile walk to town for dinner and had our hearts set on Mexican after seeing the restaurant advertised only to discover it was closed for Memorial day so we did then next best thing and visited the grocery store for some frozen. Our room has a microwave and fridge as well as the fireplace. As we started our walk back it started to rain and has been since. We hope to get out on the rocks to do some exploring if it clears a bit this evening.

Long Beach, Washington

KM = 440

Woke to a beautiful sunny day, though pretty cool. Got a fairly early start and soon found ourselves in the cloudy coastal area but other than a very few rain drops we got away luck today.

Stopped in the rain forest area and took a short walk in the woods. Had a nice chat with another motorcyclist who was heading to Alaska from Los Angeles. Gave him a few tips from our trip a few years ago.

Following the coast along. Spectacular rhododendrons in peoples yards with blossoms ranging from reds to pinks and mauves.

Stopped for the night in a very tourist seaside area, Long beach Washington. I think every state and province has a Long Beach and they are probably all as touristy. They claim to have the longest beach in the world and it is pretty long allright. No swimming as the current is pretty violent. They do allow vehicles to drive along the beach and have a hard packed road but as you can guess the young ones think they can get away with cars in sand with the usual results - thoroughly stuck! Quite humourous as the bunch of teens sat in the car expecting one to be a pusher. They eventually all got out to push once it was up to the hub cabs in sand! Skies are clearing this evening so we are hopeful we may see some sun in the morning.

Enjoyed a nice crab dinner. Went for a long walk to the "Crab pot" for a fresh catch. Yumm!

Port Angeles, Washington

KM = 10

A beautiful sunny day though the breeze was pretty cool.

Doug finished his meetings at noon and after a very lovely lunch at the Marriot we set off for the next leg of our journey. We had a bit of difficulty getting through the streets around the parliment buildings as there was a big bike ride/race this morning (in fact one of the women from Doug's meeting rode it - only took her 5 hours and 16 minutes!) We eventually got around it and into the ferry parking lot. We went through the US customs on the dock before boarding the Coho.

It was a very pleasant ferry ride, pretty calm but no whale sightings.

Just finished a Safeway Deli chinese food dinner ($9.99 for 2 served a la carte in the motel room - we did bring our dishes!). Very sunny evening - tomorrow - who knows?

We are booked at Long Beach, Wa. tomorrow night. Looking FWD to the ride through the Olympic Penninsula.

Victoria, BC day 2

KM = 0

Raindancer is resting in his parking stall in the basement unitil tomorrow.

Rained all night but then turned into a beautiful sunny day. Doug went off to his meetings and after walking around and taking some pictures Norma met up with old friends from Nelson, Janet and Kent Preston and had a great lunch reminiscing and catching up. They rode in on their Gold Wing!

After lunch another walk to a fabulous wool shop to pick up patterns and yarn for - you guessed it - knitting for the grandchildren. This has been a great find and they will even ship orders placed on line. There isn't much available in Nelson for the knitter any more.

Tomorrow we will catch the 3 pm ferry to Pt. Angeles, Wash. The morning will be occupied with more meetings for Doug.

Victoria, BC

Total KM = 78

An easy short ride today from Langley to the ferry at Tsawassen then into downtown Victoria. It had rained all night but then only minor sprinkles for our ride. It was the first Victoria ferry trip for us both in about a decade. Was neat to go through Active Pass again.

We are at the Harbourside Marriott - met by the doorman with the red suit, very chatty and had gone to school with someone from Nelson.

First afternoon of meetings finished for Doug, afternoon of catching up on emails for Norma - working vacation as you say.

Found a Greek restaurant just around the corner from the hotel so went there for dinner then back to the hotel for a wine and cheese reception with the Health Educator's Group.

Langley, B.C.

Total Km = 643

Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?

I see a nice plump tourist taking a picture of me

Mama black bear, black bear what do you see?

Lots of crazy tourists stopping their cars right in the middle of the highway taking pictures of me and my two babies eating lunch.

That's right - not one but three separate bear sightings in Manning Park today. That makes a total of 6 bears we have seen in two days. Now where are they when you want to show them to visitors?

Also saw two MVCs - Motor Vehicle Crashes - one on the Hope Princeton where it looked like the driver took one of the hairpin curves too quickly striking a concrete retainer (hard hit) and one on the freeway near the Langley turn off where the driver took out a power pole. This one had the traffic backed up for miles just as the rain started.

Stopped for a short break in Christina Lake and had lunch in Osoyoos. Mostly OK weather - cloudy but only a few showers, then a little drizzle until the last 20 minutes or so when it started raining. Here we are in Langley for the night. Now it is really raining but Raindancer is tucked under the entrance roof of the motel so will be dry in the morning.

This was a longish ride for our first day out but we wanted/needed to be closer to the ferry to make it to Victoria in time for Doug's afternoon meeting.

Bermuda #4

Bruce and Doug started out the day by getting skunked fishing BUT talked to a fisherman who was successful and got some valuable tips. The bread and squid just didn't cut it. He suggested drilling a few holes in a muscle shell and putting it on a hook, then the "juices" attact the fish. Next time for sure!

A minor rain shower just before noon then it cleared into a beautiful sunny day - just right for outside entertaining.

The birthday boy had a post birthday mini celebration with some of Bruce and Holly's friends and their families. What a lucky boy! Cupcakes acted as mini birthday cakes. Once again he enjoyed the celebration and running and playing in the yard with his little friends He is going to wonder why tomorrow is so dull. . .

We will be flying back to Canada tomorrow afternoon to start the next stage of our vacation - a few more weeks left. Will not add to the blog until we get underway on Raindancer on Wednesday.

Bermuda #3

Happy Birthday Ciaran!

Today was the special day for little grandson, Ciaran, who is now two! A celebration was held at Holly's parent's home consisting of an excellent lasagne dinner and, of course, birthday cake, presents and lots of running around in the yard with cousins. Holly's two brothers, Tommy and Michael and their families all joined us for dinner and the evening.

His little soccer ball and net were a big hit as was the remote control car once he realized it wasn't going to run him over!

As you can see Ciaran loved the chocolate icing on his teddy bear cake.

Bermuda #2

Another beautiful Bermuda day. Sunny, warm (75F) and semitropical. Humidity isn't bad for Bermuda but we are feeling it anyway.

We were serenaded by the island tree frog population (they are so small you can hardly find them but make such a grand noise) and the yellow breasted Kisskidees (named after their call) last night. We spent the evening visiting with Holly's parents, Robbie and Bernice, who shared some Bermudain information as well as info on Saba, the small Carribean Island where Robbie' mother was born. The entire family will be going there in July to celebrate Robbie's 80th birthday.

Today was spent with Holly and Ciaran (she took the day off but Bruce had classes to teach). We went to the Botanical Gardens and looked at the flowers, etc.

The big Birthday party is tomorrow. There will be a family dinner at Spanish Point - Holly's parents place.

Bermuda

Today's travel started with a 6:00 am shuttle from the hotel in Baltimore to BWI airport to catch a 7:59am flight to Philadelphia. Airport security was VERY tight with everyone getting X-rayed and "patted" down. Everything went without a hitch and we landed in Philadelphia at gate 22 to connect with our Bermuda flight which was at gate 23 (very convenient). After queueing for takeoff for 25 minutes (busy airport!) we had an uneventful trip and landed in Bermuda at 1:50 to be met by Holly's mom.

Had a great dinner at Bruce and Holly's and have just put the soon to be birthday boy to bed. No pics today as we have left the camera's umbilical cord at Holly's mom and Dads, where we are staying.

Baltimore MD #2

Same routine as the past couple of days - grab the 9:22 MARC train to Washington (museums don't open 'til 10), then walk down to the "mall" (its not really a mall - it is that famous place where various marches on Washington have taken place) to the museums. Today we were at the Museum of American History. Certainly worth a visit to see many American artifacts and excellent displays dipicting historical situations and events. It does give you an appreciation of US patriotism. Even got to see Archie Bunker's chair - pictured here and Fonzies jacket, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz shoes.

On the way back we stopped at the Canadian Embassy Building which seems to hold a special place close to the American Capitol building (e.g. the Mexican embassy is in the Foggy Bottom section of Washington). Even the bus driver yesterday commented on that. The site is decorated with the large sculpture Spirit of Haida Gwaii by Bill Reid.

We have come upon an ideal dinner solution. Union Station is the Washington railway hub and besides trains contains 130 shops of all descriptions including a food court. Prior to catching our commuter train back to Baltimore we purchase dinner (Indian last night, Greek tonight) and take it back to the hotel for dinner. In the American way it has proven to be too much food but very good even though some ends up thrown away each night. We have a fridge and microwave in our room so meal heat up has been easy.

In the morning we leave the good old US of A and fly to Bermuda for Ciaran's second birthday. This means an early start to the day.

Baltimore, MD

Apologies to Raindancer as he did not make this trip. We will, however, take him with us in about a week when our next motorcycle adventure will begin. The present trip began in Calgary where we attended the first birthday of a very special young lady, our granddaughter Teagan. It is hard to believe a year has gone by since her birth.

We then flew to Baltimore via Toronto. We have been here for a couple of days and are using the Baltimore-Washington airport area as our home base while we explore the capital of the USA and, more importantly, the Smithsonian Institute.

We have found the train system to be very user friendly and the hotel provides a free shuttle to the train station and airport any time we want. It is around 1/2 hour into DC via commuter train.

Yesterday, May 17, we toured the Museum of Natural History. Their Human Origins section was particularly well done with excellent fossil reconstructions. Also an interesting archeological investigation of Jamestown, the original American Colonial settlement. Check out the syphylitic skull (maybe we should not have included it so close to the US Capitol Building picture)!

Today we took a bus tour of the Washington city core and toured the Air and Space Museum. An Apollo command module complete with re-entry scorch marks and the Spirit of St. Louis were just some of the attractions. There have been lots of school kids everywhere we have gone. There is so much to see it must be one of the highlights for them.

Tomorrow we plan to go back on the train to Washington for our final day and tour the Museum of American History. I mean, Archie Bunker's chair and Fonzies jacket are not to be misssd!

We have see a real variety of weather - sun, drizzle and heavy rain.