Quit our jobs, sold our home, gone riding...

[Blader54]

Wow! You made the coast to coast run across Canada! Great RR!!! Now you're about to really jump off into the next phase of your adventure. You mentioned leaving the country where you've lived for so many years -- how does that impending "leaving" feel? Like a loss? Or is it freeing? Maybe some of both. Just wondering, 'cause so many of us dream of breaking the shackles and hitting the road like you guys have and of course in dreams this is easy and exciting, but dreams can't convey the feeling of crossing that border and leaving "home", possibly forever, to go into unknown territory - both geographically and to an extent psychologically.

Glad to hear that the shoulder did not stop the ride. Continued best wishes to you both wherever and whenever your journey takes you and thanks for taking us as virtual pillions.

[NotAllWhoWanderRLost]

Congratulations on reaching the west coast of Canada! I have enjoyed following along on your coast to coast adventure and admired all of your photography. Were all looking forward to continuing along with you wherever you may end up.
Thanks for sharing your journey!

[bESS]

Gene & Neda:

Welcomed to British Columbia

Imagine my surprise when I noticed you were here in Vancouver, and I also saw your photos down in Gastown. I thought there was a chance to meet you both, but my heart sank when I went to your blog and found you are posting about a month behind.

I am enjoying your RR and love your photos. I can relate to the detached case. Recently one of our group "dropped" his bike and I immediately grabbed my camera for a photo opp, while others went over to "help".

I mean, someone has to be the staff photographer

bob

[lightcycle]

Originally Posted by Blader54

You mentioned leaving the country where you've lived for so many years -- how does that impending "leaving" feel? Like a loss? Or is it freeing? Maybe some of both.

Hey Blader, for the most part we are very excited about leaving and seeing new places. I don't think we're really going to miss Canada as a place, but more the family and friends. This trip is VERY freeing, I can't begin to explain what a difference it is having absolutely no plan and no schedule vs all of our other trips where we had to fit everything in a small box called Vacation-Time. Not to mention how stressful it was towards the end of the vacation and the first few days back after a long trip.

It took a very long time to switch between feeling like this trip was just another vacation, to feeling like it was a lifestyle. Ironically enough, that switch happened right about the time we hit the west coast of Vancouver Island. We were in Mussel Beach for a couple of days, and I remember standing out in the cold night on the beach outside our tent just staring up at the sky, watching the Perseid meteor shower thinking this is all I need and have to do right now. Absolutely nothing else. I think that was the moment for me.

Good question, I'm going to put that in the blog...

Originally Posted by bESS

... but my heart sank when I went to your blog and found you are posting about a month behind.

Yeah, even though there is no schedule, a lot of time on the road is taken up shopping for groceries every day (not much storage space on the bike), finding campsites, setting up and tearing down the tents, unpacking and packing the bikes, preparing our meals, doing laundry every few days. Plus wi-fi and electricity is sometimes spotty and being hunched over typing in a tent is really, really bad for your back! :(

But the goal is to eventually catch up and have the blog be real-time.

This how glamourous the blogging experience is:



I normally blog late at night. That's Neda asleep in the background. My gorgeous wife remains that way because of the sheer amount of beauty sleep that she gets.

Recently one of our group "dropped" his bike and I immediately grabbed my camera for a photo opp, while others went over to "help".

I mean, someone has to be the staff photographer

A-ha! Someone who understands! :)

[Vinbowie]

This is wonderful.
I am along for the ride.
Thanks
I was born in Toronto.
Still get nearby to visit family.
And my parents have been to Banff.
One day, Lord willin', I will make an epic,
see everything, take my time, motorcycle adventure.

[Scootard]

Originally Posted by lightcycle

We came back from walking around downtown and noticed that we got stupid parking tickets after paying for parking on the street. The cause was parking too close to the parking lines. There were no bloody parking lines! We took pictures of our parking spots, but it's going to cost us time and more parking money just to fight this thing. We feel so ripped off, and it took us a while to get out of this foul mood.

Neda's favorite TV station is The Food Network, and one of the shows she watches is called Eat Street. She saw an episode called "Red Fish, Blue Fish", and she told me, "If we're ever in Victoria, we *HAVE* to go there!". So here we are:


Red Fish, Blue Fish, Orange Sunset

So Gene and Neda, did you have One Fish? Two Fish? (just ripping off Ted Geisel). I would not have been able to resist either, and I'll have to stop on your recommendation next time Scooterchick and I are on the Island.

Oh yeah...a pox on all Parking Nazis and their progeny. Tha's just rude! They could see you were from out of town and wouldn't stick around to legally rankle at their injustice.

Don't miss Goats on the Roof market in Coombs. Great baked goods!

[lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/20.html



After having spent almost a whole week on Vancouver Island, we took the ferry back to the mainland and decided to ride north into the mountains. Vancouver to Whistler is a route we have driven many, many times on our snowboard trips. We haven't been back since the 2010 Winter Olympics and it was very interesting to see the changes the province made to accommodate such a world-class event.


Sea-to-Sky Highway from Vancouver to Whistler

Highway 99, or at least the part between Horseshoe Bay to Pemberton, is also known as the Sea-To-Sky Highway and is *the* motorcycle destination highway on the Canadian West Coast. Fast sweepers hugging the coastline overlooking Howe Sound used to be a two-lane undivided highway, and I remember there used to be lots of accidents from motorists either not paying attention or trying to pass on blind corners. We were very surprised when we found that most of the Sea-To-Sky was now a divided four-lane highway! Sweet! Trying to keep up with Neda was a full-time left-lane affair as I watched the bottom of her Touratech panniers scoop lower and lower to the pavement on each turn.


Olympic rings at Whistler Village

The scenery is astounding in the summertime, it was hard keeping an eye on the turns in the road when just to our left, the sheer drop to the waters below and the mountains on the other side of the sound provided constant distraction. Further up the highway, we started to notice other tiny Olympic changes: all the signs announcing the small towns along the Sea-To-Sky were now on smart, shiny, engraved rocks. Very snazzy! When we arrived at Whistler Village, we noticed a hubbub of activity. Lots of young people milling about, which was strange since it was the off-season. We quickly discovered that we were in the middle of Crankworx 2012, the "Colosseum of freeride mountain biking"". So many events were going on, downhill racing, dirt tracking, trials, etc. But the event that caught the most attention were the tricks and jumps.


Crankworx 2012

We must have spent half the day watching the mountain bikers launch themselves off a platform 50-feet from the ground, perform physics-defying feats of acrobatics and then land on a huge downhill dirt ramp, all against the backdrop of the magnificent Rocky Mountains. I don't know much about mountain biking, so I'll do my best to provide commentary from my point-of-view:


I'm sure this wouldn't be too much harder to pull off on a fully-laden R1200GS...


25,000 people in attendance for Crankworx 2012


This was a popular trick. It must be easy or something...


At the bottom of the landing ramp, the large crowd screams their appreciation for each trick


Most of these athletes were performing while not feeling very well. Many young people commented that they were sick. I felt sorry for them...


This event was like synchronized swimming, but with bikes. And without the water. And not at all very synchronized...


I was told this one is called a Superman, not sure why.

Crankworx is a 10-day long event at Whistler mountain, and we stayed to watch the events for two days, commuting back and forth from our campsite less than 30 kms north in Pemberton. Although motorcycle parking was free in Whistler, the food was far from free...


Sea-to-Sky Highway north of Whistler to Pemberton on the way back to our campsite

On a sad note, the province's Olympic committee must have ran out of funds for the smart, snazzy stones announcing the towns north of Whistler, where tourists rarely ventured. Our arrival in poor ole Pemberton is heralded by the same old metal sign that's been there since before 2010...

[lightcycle]

Originally Posted by Scootard

So Gene and Neda, did you have One Fish? Two Fish? (just ripping off Ted Geisel).

Definitely 2 Fish! :) We had no idea it came from Dr. Seuss, LOL!

[John Nash]

I rolled into Whistler on the Sunday.. Aug.19th the last day of Crankworks.I rode out there from Baltimore on a three week cross country MC trip.Whistler was awesome to say the least.I stayed at a hostel about 5 miles south of the main area that was built for the 2010 olympics.Rode the Sea to Sky hwy.early the next morning to Horseshoe Bay to catch the ferry to Victoria to visit my two nieces who live there.Thanks for the great pictures and RR.Have a safe journey.

[Patrick46]

Originally Posted by lightcycle

Trying to keep up with Neda was a full-time left-lane affair as I watched the bottom of her Touratech panniers scoop lower and lower to the pavement on each turn.

It must be those GS800's that are the root of all this!!!

[drsogr]

Pretty awesome stuff! I appreciate you work on letting us along for the ride. I have been following for quite some time, and have definitely enjoyed the updates!

[Bluebone]

perhaps its time to invest in a couple of these:

http://www.kermitchair.com/

just having a place to sit comfortably can be quite a luxury for folks with your lifestyle.

[BullShatter]

Gene and Neda,

Not sure where you are at in your trip, but if you pass through Phoenix, AZ let me know, I'll be happy to show you the sights and give you a cool place to sleep.....yep, still hot here!!!

[Jamie Z]

Originally Posted by Bluebone

perhaps its time to invest in a couple of these:

http://www.kermitchair.com/

just having a place to sit comfortably can be quite a luxury for folks with your lifestyle.

I don't think they need even MORE stuff to haul on the bikes.

Jamie

[Patrick46]

Originally Posted by Jamie Z

I don't think they need even MORE stuff to haul on the bikes.

Jamie

You WOULD be the one to say this!!!!