Back From The Fingerlakes BMW Rally

Every year, on Labor Day weekend, the Fingerlakes BMW Riders Club, has it's annual rally, and this year was no exception. The weather started out a bit iffy on Friday, but improved as the weekend progressed. A bunch of us from the Western New York BMW Riders Club, went down and set up camp for the weekend in our usual location at Watkind Glen State Park, and proceeded to have a great time, as usual. There where all kinds of BMW's from all over.


On Saturday, a group of us headed to the Keuka Lake area to visit some of the local wineries and do a little wine tasting. The ride to Hamondsport was just beautiful, warm and sunny. We had a great time at the wineries, and most of us came back with a bottle of wine or two. More pictures here.

The S.P.O.T. Personal Emergency Locator

Test Track

S.P.O.T. Personal Locator

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I will be taking the S.P.O.T. Personal Emergency Locator with me to South America in January. I now have the unit, and have had a little time to try it out to see how it performs. I received the unit when I was in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at the EAA Airshow. On my return trip, I set the unit to the "Track" mode when I left Oshkosh, and headed to the Mississippi River. I left the unit running most of the time until I reached Cleveland, Ohio. As you can see from the composit picture above, the unit worked as advertised, saving my location every ten minutes, and if you look at the location of Oshkosh, you will note that the unit also sent an "I'm OK" message home, as well. (green OK logo)

The software to manage the messages is all Web Based, and it is not the most user friendly software around. There may be a learning curve here, if any of you want to use it to keep track of my progress on next years motorcycle trip to the southern end of South America. If you are interested in using it to follow me down, send me an email to rguzman@rochester.rr.com , in advance, and we will practice with the software together.

What A Beautiful Day For A Ride

Finally!!!! Mike gets his long awaited "Peach Shortcake"

The Whole Group: from left to right, Me and Sharon, Howard (AKA Harold) Joe, Rick, Paula, Mike, Penny and Don

Howie and Joe came over to the house early this afternoon and sat out on the deck until Mike and Paula and Rick arrived, we then rode over to Don and Penny's house in Medina. Leaving Don and Penny's, the whole group headed to a near by ice cream stand where Mike, after waiting seven years, finally got to taste the "Peach Short Cake" that he waited so long for. It seems Don had mentioned to mike how good the Peach Short Cake was at this place, but never invited Mike out to try it. Well, today it finally happened. Mike got his Peach Short Cake, and I must say, it was very good.

After the stop at the ice cream stand, we all mounted up and took a very nice ride down the back roads to Batavia to see the big muscle car show. Batavia closed down Main Street and lined it with some of the nicest cars around.

After a great afternoon at the car show, we all headed over to the Log Cabin Restaurant on Route 77 for a great meal. A fitting end to a great afternoon of riding.

Day 3: Off To The Mississippi River

Entering Minnesota

Entering Iowa

The Mississippi River

Lock and Dam on the Mississippi River


On Wednesday I decided to head west into Minnesota and Iowa, two states that I had not bin to by motorcycle. I packed up the camper an headed toward the Mississippi River. My plan was to cross the Mississippi at La Crosse, Wisconsin and then head south along the rivers west side. Well, just my luck, I stopped at the No. 7 Dam and Lock and was told that route 16 south along the west side of the River was closed due to a train derailment and a spill of Methanol. Now I had to re-route and got to see a lot more of Minnesota than I had planned. Then once I made my way into Iowa, I found that Route 76 South was closed due to resurfacing. Now I had to re-route and got to see a lot more of Iowa than I had planned. I finally made my way to Route 80 East and started for home.


On Thursday, I was about two miles from the New York State border when a tire on the trailer blew. It was about 4:30pm, and I had to hustle to find a replacement tire, which I did find. When I returned to the location where I had left the trailer, I called AAA to get someone to come and change the tire since I didn't have tools large enough to remove the lug nuts. I was shocked when the person from AAA told me they would not help me, because although I have the "Premium Plan", I did not have "RV" coverage. I was livid when I realised that AAA would be so petty, and had the nerve to leave me stranded far from home with a broken down vehicle. Needless to say, I gave AAA a piece of my mind and then hung up the phone. By a pure stroke of luck, just about the time I started to figure out how I was going to change the tire without tools, a gentleman in a pickup truck came by and asked if I could use a wrench to change the tire. Thanks to the gentleman in the pickup truck, I was able to change the tire in less than five minuter and get back on the road. I arrived home at about 9:00pm about three hours later than scheduled. I want to give a VERY BIG THANK YOU! to the gentleman that offered to help me.



More pictures of AirVenture can be seen at "My Picture Album", area on the right side of this page.

Day 2 at AirVenture

AirVenture opened to a first day attendance of over 200,000. The weather could not have been better, it was warm and sunny all day and not a cloud in the sky, perfect for an airshow. This guy tried all day to get this thing off the ground, but never succeeded. The craft below had better luck.

The huge converted Boeing 747 called the “Dream Lifter” arrived late Monday afternoon for a 24 hour appearance. The Dream Lifter is a converted Boeing 747-400 designed to transport major assemblies of the “Boeing 787 Dream Liner”, the next generation “Jumbo Jet”. The Dream Lifter can hold more cargo than any other plane in the world.

Mr. Jack Roush owner of Roush Racing as well as Roush Performance Products. A racing legend.

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Another happening today was the appearance of race car building legend Jack Roush owner of Roush Racing. Mr. Roush, a former Ford engineer, established Roush Performance Products in 1988 http://www.roushperformance.com/. The company produced after market performance products mainly for Ford Mustangs. Mr. Roush spent some time signing autographs and having pictures taken with many of the AirVenture goers. Like me :-)

Update From Oshkosh

Well, the start of the trip was delayed by one day due to the deluge last Thursday, but I got away early on Friday and headed up to Toronto and made it all the way to Sault Sainte Marie the first day. I crossed back into the USA late Friday evening and found a motel since it was raining quite steady. The ride up 'til then had been very nice. The weather all up thru Canada was sunny most of the time. I arrived at Oshkosh at 3:oopm on Saturday and got registered for AirVenture and then went and picked out my camping site. As you see from the picture, I am updating this blog from inside the camper trailer, thanks to the people at EAA for providing the FREE WiFi in all of the campground. That's a BIG area! But it works very well.
Things in the display area of AirVenture are proceeding at a feverish pace. All the vendors are working hard to get their displays up before the opening bell in the morning.
I understand that Harrison Ford and John Travolta will be here this year as masters of ceremonies at "Theatre In The Woods". Both Harrison Ford and John Travolta are very experienced pilots. I hope Captain Travolta flies in on his Boeing 707!
More later.

Volcanoes In Southern Chile

This astonishing picture shows the Chaiten volcano erupting in the middle of the night during an electrical storm. (May 2008)

The volcano triggered earth tremors, and shot an ash cloud two miles into the sky.

Here, the ash plume reaches all the way east to the Atlantic Ocean, crossing the entire continent of South America.

That is not snow behind these residents of the town of Chaiten, Chile. It is ash from the volcano that has blanketed everything in the region.

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In Chile, volcanoes are pretty much a fact of life, but this year they are making their presence felt in a big way. Chile has some 2000 volcanoes of which a large number of them are considered "active". Last year the Llaima volcano suddenly sprang to life and started to spew lava and ash into the sky, threatening nearby communities and generally disrupting normal life in the surrounding area. Llaima volcano is plainly visible from the front door of my Aunt's ranch in southern Chile's Lake Region. This year the volcano has again erupted threatening the area.

The pictures above are from the volcano near the southern town of Chaiten about a day's drive farther south from the Ranch. The Chaiten volcano suddenly erupted back on May 2, 2008. The last time this volcano erupted was back around 7400BC! It has since devastated the entire region and continues to do so keeping all the inhabitants of the town of Chaiten away from their homes for months since the Chilean government imposed a mandatory evacuation of the area. Some very good information on the Chaiten volcano and the surrounding area is available here: http://geology.com/events/chaiten-volcano/

I will be riding my motorcycle to the southern tip of South America this coming January and February (2009), and I will have to pass thru the area of the Chaiten volcano, or as close as the authorities will let me. I am very interested to see just how much impact the ash cloud has had on the area. This past February (2008) I was in the area surrounding the Llaima volcano and police and military had all roads leading to the base of the volcano blocked to all. I wanted to go to the Conguillio National Park, but was stopped about five miles from the area due to the activity of the Llaima volcano. We'll see what happens this year.

Dakar Rally 2009 To Be Held In Chile And Argentina

The Paris to Dakar Rally http://www.dakar.com/index_DAKus.html that has historically been held in Africa and Europe, will be held in the South American countries of Chile and Argentina. The reason for the change is due to security concerns after the death of four French tourists last year in Mauritius. Since I will be in Chile for the entire race, I will try to report on what I see, so keep watching this space.
Here is what Reuters had to report:

SANTIAGO, July 17 (Reuters) - Preparations for next year's Dakar rally in South America, staged for the first time outside Africa due to security concerns, are on schedule, deputy secretary of Chile Sports Jaime Pizarro said on Thursday..
"Preparations are progressing as planned," Pizarro told Reuters.
The 6,000 kms coast-to-coast race will begin and end in Buenos Aires with the Chilean port city of Valparaiso at the midpoint.
Organisers decided to move the event to South America after receiving what they believed to be terror threats and also the deaths of four French tourists in Mauritius in January.
Some 570 vehicles and 950 participants from 50 nations will drive along the route beginning on Jan. 3 and ending on Jan. 18. (Reporting by Claudio Cerda, writing by Lisa Yulkowski; Editing by John Mehaffey)

Annual Trip To EAA Airventue coming up

Time is getting short, and soon I will be pointing my K1200LT toward Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the largest Air Show in the USA. The week long event brings together thousands of people with thousands of aircraft of all kinds. From the smallest to the largest and everything in between.

The yearly event is held at the Whitman Regional Airport, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Whitman Regional Airport is the home of the Experimental Aircraft Association, and AirVenture is their largest yearly event. During the week long event, the control tower at Whitman Regional boasts "The Worlds Busiest Control Tower". If you go to AirVenture, don't forget to visit the excellent Aircraft Museum on the airport grounds as well as the Pioneer Airport. There is also a float plane base on nearby Lake Winnebago. If you enjoy camping, then the only place to stay is Camp Scholler, which is right on the airport grounds. The campground has just about every thing you could possibly need, from clean showers to a camp stores. This event is VERY well run! The event runs from July 28th to August 3rd. More info here: http://www.airventure.org/

This year I plan to take the same scenic route I took last year. Up to Toronto, Canada, then north toward Perry Sound, and probably find a campground there for the night. The following day, I will keep heading north toward the northern end of Georgian Bay. Last year I made it to Newberry, Michigan on the second day after crossing the border back into the United States at Sault Sainte Marie. The third day should find me going thru Green Bay, Wisconsin and finally in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It's a beautiful ride.

A Great Excuse For A Bike Ride...as if I needed one

A great night for a ride! At the last moment I found out that there was a car show and chicken barbecue at the Orleans County Marine Park not far home. So, Sharon and I jumped on the bike and headed to the show. There was a very nice turn out and some beautiful cars to boot. It was a beautiful evening to take a ride along the shore of Lake Ontario.

See more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/TheBMWrider/CARSHOW

Part 3: Argentina By Bike

Great journeys: Argentina by bike
In the final instalment of his three-part adventure, Mike Carter travels through the Valley of the Butterflies towards the home of South America's most famous biker Che Guevara
Mike Carter
guardian.co.uk,
Thursday June 19, 2008

Pictures: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/gallery/2008/jun/17/southamerica.roadtrips?picture=334985869


Gaucho country ... on the road in Argentina. Photograph: Julia Sanders/Mike Carter
The Argentine conscript border guards were as charmless a bunch of fellows as you'd expect to find dispatched to a deserted road on top of a freezing cold mountain. I imagine they are still there, which makes me feel better.
Shortly, we were plunging down again, every 100-metre drop bringing air more syrupy and rich; every degree of temperature raised bringing back the real prospect that one day I might be able to straighten my fingers again. I was breathing extra gulps just for the fun of it.
We pulled over at a cafe for coffee. Having coffee in Argentina after being in Chile should be the first thing one does, like the Pope kissing the ground at the foot of the aircraft steps. For coffee in Chile means a sachet of Nescafe and tepid water producing a lumpy gloop of extraordinary vileness. Great dogs, rubbish coffee.
In Argentina, it involves a loving process of alchemy with freshly crushed beans and warmed milk and an end product of such ambrosial ecstasy that you instinctively close your eyes as it slides down your throat and sigh loudly.
As in San Pedro de Atacama, things felt like a Paramount set. Gauchos tethered their horses to the hitching post and walked past us, ponchos and all, raising a finger to the rim of their cowboy hats, Cuban heels click-clacking on the ancient wood floor as hard as granite. Chevy and Dodge pickups circa 1930 filled up at the single pump, its dials whirring round.
We spent the next few days riding through north-west Argentina. First down intestinal tracts of roads – the kind of roads that fill bikers' winter dreams – that wound their way around bald, crumpled hills that changed colour at every bend – green, pink, yellow, even aquamarine – like your TV being on the blink. Then along arid valleys of sandstone, with fluted columns like giant organ pipes and eroded rocks forming fantastical sculptures.
We rode along the Valley of the Butterflies, millions of them forming fluttering clouds that we passed through, like riding in a kaleidoscope.
Down from the mountains, we hit the plains. Mile after mile of vineyards, then brilliant yellow tobacco crops, their leaves drying on the walls of the pueblos we passed through, each with a whitewashed church and a dusty football pitch, the twin obsessions of Argentina. In the middle of nowhere, we passed processions of devotees, walking who knows where, carrying aloft the Virgin Mary. And always the waving and the smiling. Surely, if there was a country to steal your heart, this was it.

Part 2: Great journeys: motorbike mayhem in the Andes

This is a very interesting, three part series of articles, that I discovered while reading my “Google Alerts” that I receive every day via eMail. A group of British riders on “Holiday” riding across northern Chile and Argentina.

In part 2: Mike Carter hits the great gringo trail into the High Andes

Pictures: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/gallery/2008/jun/17/southamerica.roadtrips?picture=334985869

Mike Carter on a motorbike journey across South America. Photograph: Julia Sanders
We flew across the Chilean Alto Plano until, like the world had been bleached, there lay ahead of us nothing but white. We hit the salt flats, riding fast, which felt very wrong, as our senses looked at the big slab of white and told us it had to be slippery, treacherous, no place for a motorcycle. But the tyres bit and gripped as sure as on concrete, and the crust crunched under us. Flamingos looked on.
We passed through the Valley of the Moon as the light faded and the sun went through its valedictions, washing the rocks vermilion then gold then ochre. In the distance, a string of cartoon volcanoes, perfect calderas, and beyond, like a chimera, the High Andes, the brilliant white bonnets fading to grey.
We rolled into San Pedro de Atacama, kicking up a trail of dust. San Pedro was once a major staging post for the great cattle drives of yore, but is now a staging post on the great gringo trail. It's the Dodge City of one's imagination, a Paramount backlot come to life, albeit with internet cafes and poncho shops. Upon entering a door I was surprised to find that there was actually a restaurant beyond, and not just wooden joists holding up the walls.
We ordered some food. Tamales and llama steaks and beer that came in litre bottles. I was loving South America. In the middle of the room was an open fire. Above it a large circular hole in the ceiling, through which we gazed at the stars like diamonds. I asked the waiter what happened when it rained. It doesn't, he said.
I spoke to Dave, who was on the trip with his wife, Liz. Dave worked in a Lincolnshire warehouse and had been saving for five years for the trip. It had been a fantastic introduction to riding in South America, he said, what with Globebusters taking care of shipping the bikes and visas, and next time he thinks he might be confident enough to go it alone. Mike, who was retired, had taken a few trips like this and loved the camaraderie and support. Similarly Resh, formerly known as The Raggedy One, who ran a care home for the elderly. Paul, from Coventry, worked for BT. His nickname was Gargoyle, he said. I asked him why and he stuck out his chin and held the pose. He looked a bit like a gargoyle.
Most on the trip are Bambis – Born Again Mid-Life Bikers – returning to two wheels in middle age when family constraints and budgets allow.
Very early the next morning, we headed off to see the El Tatio geysers. They pop their boiling spumes at exactly the moment the sun rises over the mountains, as surely as someone dropping Mentos into Diet Coke bottles, the physics of which was explained by our guide, but which I didn't fully take in owing to the fact that it was minus 50 and my brain had frozen.
Then we were off to Argentina. Climbing slowly at first, more llama, then some weird-looking rabbits the size of wallabies, and then some things that looked like alpaca but with a certain skittishness. As if they might jump out in front of you and get you repatriated before you could say vicuña. Vicuñas are not a good thing, as I had learnt on day one. I gave them a wide berth.
Still climbing. Then suddenly there was nothing. No scrub, no cactus, no vicuñas, blessed be to God. Just an endless plain with the High Andes cradling and looming over it, like a proscenium arch. My ears popped. The motorbike's console flashed alarmingly. Minus two. Minus four. Minus six. That's the ground temperature. At 80 mph on a motorcycle it's more like minus 30. I lifted my visor to squeeze my nose. My gloves almost fused to it. I had my heated grips on, but I could have been clutching vials of magma and still I wouldn't have felt them.
Still, it could have been worse. At least the asphyxiation-by-helmet I was suffering as we went over the 4,600-metre Paso de Jama took my mind off the cold. To fight off oedemas and to keep myself from slipping into a hypothermic coma, I repeated my mantra: "This is not a holiday it's an adventure; this is not a holiday…"
The border with Argentina lay somewhere up ahead. I just hoped that they had the space blankets ready.
Tomorrow: Into the Valley of the Butterflies
Getting there
Globebusters' High Andes trip lasts for five weeks and costs £5,895pp. The price includes all shipping rates and accommodation. The next High Andes trip runs from 21 April to 25 May 2010. For details of this and other Globebusters guided expeditions, including their 135-day Alaska to Patagonia trip and North and West Africa, see globebusters.com; 08452 304015

Part 1: Great journeys: motorbike mayhem in the Andes

This is a very interesting series of articles that I came across while reading my "Google Alerts". A group of British riders on "Holiday" riding across northern Chile and Argentina.

Picture Gallery Here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/gallery/2008/jun/17/southamerica.roadtrips?picture=334985869

Part 1

Tuesday June 17 2008
Great journeys: motorbike mayhem in the Andes
In the first part of his three-part adventure, Mike Carter rides with the condors across the Chilean desert.See images of Mike's trip in our gallery
Mike Carter
guardian.co.uk,
Article history
Long way down ... Mike Carter takes in the spectacular views of the Valley of the Moon in Chile from a precarious vantage point. Photograph: Julia Sanders
I watched them ride along the corniche, headlights blazing through the swirling dust and the fading light. I started counting. I'd been alone in Arica, an out-of-season beach town on the Chile/Peru border, for over two days. Counting motorcycles felt like great excitement, all things considered.
There should have been 10. There were just eight. By the time I'd left the beach and walked back into the hotel lobby, the riders, caked in grime and sweat, were presenting their passports to reception in the careworn manner befitting those who'd been on the road three weeks.
"Where are the other two?" I asked a man.
He looked tired. "Crashed," replied Brian, for that was his name. "In Bolivia. One hit a police barrier. Almost decapitated. Ducked just in time, but smashed his sternum and two vertebrae. The other one hit a vicuña. Broke his shoulder and his arm. Both repatriated."
Decapitated. Repatriated. Now there's a couple of words.
"What's a vicuña?" I asked. It was an odd question, really, but the first thing that came out.
"A kind of alpaca," he replied. "Very skittish. Watch out for them."
"What room you in, Ribby?" said another man. His riding suit was torn to shreds, like somebody who'd been in a comedy explosion in a fireworks factory.
"Ribby?" I said.
"Oh, hit some sand. Fell off. Broke two ribs. But I've got good painkillers," said Brian/Ribby.
"And you?" I asked the raggedy one.
"Lost it. First day in Argentina," he said. "One minute I was riding along at 80mph, the next I was on the Tarmac. "
Great. I confess I'd been a tad nervous about joining my first motorcycle expedition in South America, planning to stay with them as far as Cordoba, Argentina. But now, surrounded by a cast of extras from Casualty, I was, to use the technical term, bricking it. Suddenly an out-of-season beach resort in northern Chile seemed like a good place to put down some roots.
Kevin Saunders walked in. Full-beam smile. Kevin owns Globebusters, the company that runs the tours. I'd first met him a couple of years ago when he taught me to ride at his training school in Wales.
"Sounds like quite a holiday so far," I said to him.
"It's not a holiday, Mike, it's an adventure," he replied.No shit, Kev.
The next morning, we set off. I was riding Kevin's wife's bike. She took up the pillion seat behind Kev.
The group fell into their established riding pattern. I followed at the back, scouring the landscape, like Eagle-eyed Action Man, for vicuña. Of course, I had no idea what a vicuña looked like.
Wednesday June 18 2008
Great journeys: From Chile to Argentina by bike
Mike Carter hits the great gringo trail into the High Andes
Mike Carter
guardian.co.uk,

A very sudden end to Eric Cleaveland's trip

Due to personal family matters, Eric has ended his journey from Ushaia, Argentina to Deadhorse, Alaska just short of his goal. Read what Eric has to say here.

Americade

Sharon and I left for the Adirondacks and Americade in Lake George on Thursday morning. The ride was great, as the weather cooperated all the way. On Thursday night though, the weather got even with us, as it rained, cancel that, POURED all night long until 11:00 in the morning on Friday. Friday was overcast, but at least it didn't rain and we spent much of the day visiting the many vendor displays at the two locations.

One of the vendors that I wanted to talk to was Garmin. I recently had a problem with the Garmin Zuno 550 GPS that I bought THREE YEARS AGO. One of the buttons on the unit has come out and I've had to put it back in with Silicone to keep from loosing it. Well, the short story is, I spoke with the Garmin representative and explained my dilemma, and he quickly gave me his business card and told me to email him and he would see to it that I received a NEW Zumo 550! Now that's what I call customer service! I wish they would have done that when I had the problem with the brand new Zumo cradle, in South America, but that's ancient history. Way to go Garmin! Thank you.

Back to the trip. Late Friday afternoon, we went for a ride and wound up in the quaint town of Poultney, Vermont for dinner. A local gentleman directed us to a local eatery called Perry's for a good meal. After a nice meal we headed back to the campsite which was near Schroon Lake, NY about twenty minutes north of Lake George.

The following day, Saturday, dawned bright and sunny so we planned to take a ride to the new Adirondack Nature Museum in Tupper Lake and then find a motel. The Nature Museum was worth seeing once, but it did have some very nice large fish displays and the location of the museum was very nice. After the museum we headed to Long Lake and found a motel. The Black Flies where still out in that area and Sharon got eaten alive. Me, not one bite!

Sunday was another great day for riding which made the trip home very enjoyable.

You can see more pictures here.

Now lets talk about the Town of Lake George, N.Y.

This is a warning to future goers to Americade.

The town of Lake George, New York hosts the Americade Motorcycle Rally each year, and the town of Lake George takes in somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 Million dollars (an estimate from a volunteer of Americade) from the people who participate in the event. People spend their money in Motels, Restaurants, Gas Stations, Stores, Campgrounds, Super Markets and many other places in Lake George, I'm sure. Still, the town has come up with another way to suck money from people. During Americade there are thousands of motorcycles in the town and many of them park side by side on the main street, as far as the eye can see. Along the main street, there are parking meters. In each parking meter space there are usually five or six motorcycles parked side by side. Now, the Town of Lake George has seen fit to hand out parking tickets to every motorcycle that does not display a "Pre Payed Parking Sticker". No Warning, No Signs announcing you need to feed the meters during an event as big as Americade. When you come into the town during Americade you see thousands of bikes parked along the curb and anyone would assume that you don't need to pay the Quater for Fifteen minutes, but that's not the case. You would think that the Town of Lake George would allow free parking for the bikers that hand over some $40,000,000 , but it looks to me that the Town of Lake George is too greedy to do that.

Welcome To ALASKA

It's been a long ride, about 17,000 miles to be exact, but....Eric is in Alaska!!!!!

Bear with me on this one! YOU MUST READ THIS STORY!!

This comes from Eric Cleaveland's blog. I was so moved by the ending ,that I had to let you read it here. What a GREAT story!

Eric writes:

"Today was a great day of wildlife viewing. It started with a fairly cooperative bull Elk right on the side of the road to Lake Louise. However, when the photographer leaves the flash card in the card reader (tucked safely away in his luggage) it makes for difficult picture taking. Let’s blame it on the TOTAL lack of coffee at that point in the morning. Later in the day I saw three Moose. First was the full “Bullwinkle” . Huge, perfect rack, and not real enamored with the motorbike. He CHARGED into the woods as I approached, quite impressive! A little later I passed two cows just munching away about 20 meters off the road. They seemed totally absorbed in just chewing on the grass.

The total Bear count was 10 today. All Black Bears, and all singles except of #s 8 & 9. But it’s the first three that I’d like to tell you about;

Bear #1 was rooting around on the roadside and I saw him from a long ways away. I coasted fairly close to him and got the pictures with the helmet on, still on the bike.

Bear #2 was scampering across the highway being chased by 3 teenage boys! I only hope that once in the woods he turned on them and munched at least one for breakfast. Remember, I’m the guy that had a “Support the Right to Arm Bears” bumper sticker on his truck. I bought it in Churchill, Manitoba after one of my two trips there to photograph Polar Bears.

Bear #3 was also along the roadside, but between the eastbound shoulder and the woods. I stopped my bike on the westbound side and walked across the road to watch and photograph. After putting on my helmet and gloves I looked over my shoulder before pulling back on to the highway. Heading my way was a lone bicyclist. Figuring that at the very least he might want a warning I did a quick U-turn and rode to him. He was most appreciative of my help, and accepted my offer to ride between him and the bear. The bear could care less about us as we passed, I don’t think that he even lifted his head. The young man and I chatted as we slowly rode west. He was from Quebec and had been riding for 5 days. He was enjoying his trip immensely, but mentioned that he was about to return home as he was about out of money. Safely past the bear we wished each other well and I took off towards Jasper. But I couldn’t stop thinking about my new friend and his financial dilemma. And then I had one of those all too infrequent moments of clarity.

Those of you that have been following my progress may remember a chance meeting I had with a group of motorcyclists from Cali, Colombia. We met at a gas station, they were heading home (south), I was on my way to Bogota’ (north). After some group picture taking and hand shaking they handed me almost 100 U$D (in Colombian Pesos). To refuse their generosity would have been very insulting, so I thanked them profusely and promised them that I’d put it to good use.

See where this is going?

Grinning from ear to ear I pulled my bike back on to the shoulder and counted out the Canadian equivalent of my gift from my Columbian friends. Another U-turn and I was headed east, another U-turn and I was in front of my new cyclist friend.

“I have something for you; it’s a gift from some friends you’ll never know in Colombia. Colombia, the country. They gave it to me to give to you, so don’t try to refuse it. Hopefully this will buy you few more PowerBars and a few more nights camping. Don’t thank me; I’m just a convenient courier. Thank the folks in Colombia, and thank the bear."

Picture is property of Eric Cleaveland

Looks like Eric likes Canada

Eric has made his way into British Columbia, Canada and seems to be enjoying it up there. It's amazing how far Eric has ridden when you look back to the begining of his trip. Go here to read more.

Picture is property of Eric Cleaveland

Back to Chile

With the latest spike in the price of oil, and with NO end in sight to the price hikes, I've decided to purchase my airfare for my next trip to Chile now while it is still somewhat affordable. With the price of airfare rising by the day, I will be staying in Chile for a longer period of time (two months) to make the elevated price worth it. The plan on my last trip, in February, was to explore the possibility of going to Ushuaia, Argentina (The End Of The Earth) next year by riding some of the desolate places in Argentina to get a feel for what it would take to make the trip to the southern tip of South America alone. I knew it would take more time than the month that I normally spend in Chile, so by going for a longer period of time it will be to my advantage. One advantage I will have in preparing for such a trip is Eric Cleaveland, a friend of mine, who is riding right now from the Southern tip of South America (Ushuaia) to the northern most point in Alaska. Eric is in Canada at the moment, and when Eric returns I will pick his brain for advice on riding in that part of the world. I know that riding in that part of the world is not easy, but if you've been following Eric's trip, you'll see that the trip will be well worth it

In preparation for this trip, one piece of equipment that will be accompanying me on my adventure to the "End of the Earth" will be the "SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker". This is a small GPS device that can save your life should you encounter a problem in a desolate part of the world where there is no other means of communication. This unit is capable of alerting rescue authorities in the event you need help, or loved ones to let them know you are alright. Go here to watch the videos and learn more about it: http://www.findmespot.com/home.aspx It's really quite a fantastic little unit.