Rain rain go away...

My neighbor in Summerside (next door to our apartment) tells me, "this is the wettest spring I can remember in my life."  

Considering that the town has an elevation of approximately 33' above sea level at that point, its no wonder that water pumps, wet-vacs and mops are sold out!  I've spent numerous hours especially in the previous two weeks making sure that our lower floor stayed as dry as possible.  The two sump pumps are going steady and still there is some water seepage.

Not as bad as some, we hear people with two feet of water in the basement, even the Kent store in Kensington had water flooding their kitchen and bath display floor.

Friday morning, April 25th 2014

Needless to say, it hasn't been motorcycling weather although I have seen a few people out.  It's wet, cold and windy.  In fact last Thursday I drove Brenda to C'Town in freezing rain that turned into a snowfall on the return leg and by next morning there was 2-3 inches coating everything once again.

I registered several of my bikes last week in anticipation of the eventual arrival of summer like weather, maybe the was a mistake... with daily highs around freezing!

Gotta get better eventually, but makes a typical short Canadian riding season even shorter. 

I have my VX prepped for a little mechanical work.  I'm replacing the steering head bearings.  When I bought the bike locally last year I noticed a tiny little weave at parking lot speeds.  At some point the bike was tipped and no doubt the bearings have a wee flat spot. 

All my batteries are charged, and most of my regular bikes are ready to ride other than the freezing rain and cold temps.  Some of my friends have been out but for moi, living a mile off the main secondary road, and my lane being less than dry, I have yet to get out on the road so to speak.

The little "creek" running through our property which is typically just a valley, is still running although only lightly.

All I can say is "C'Mon summer! Whatcha waitin' fer?"

Sunday, Sunday... so good to me.

Home sweet home!

I love waking up to a beautiful Sunday morning.  By 7:30 the sun, which hadn't risen yet, was illuminating the hill just to the west of our yard.  I make the rounds of the house, only three cats for company.  They get fed in turn each eating somewhat differently.  I let Phoenix outside.  For a cat born in Glendale Arizona, he loves getting his fur coat out on winter days.

Phx and our little resident female red fox, playing  "Whose the boss?"

I spent the morning sending out emails to old friends past and present far and wide.  Great thing this internet ain't it...

Just another fine AZ day

Was reading editor Campbell's page in my latest Canadian Biker.  Seeing John sitting on an old AMF Harley (I'd bet most current Harley riders, haven't a clue who/what AMF was) brought back many memories of my mis-spent?! youth riding around on motorbikes.  Sigh... what great company motorcycles have been to me.  Cats, girls and bikes, in that order... still hasn't changed much.

Somewhere in the desert

Nearly fifty years have gone by since my first ride, banging into the garage door during an unintentional wheelie...

Tuscany

All those years in the business, nearly two decades teaching folks to ride... the places I've been and seen on two wheels.  I even carted my kids around in a Velorex (anyone know what that is?) for ten years, long before three wheels were in fashion.



I'm pushing sixty now, nearly time for another epic ride. 

Yup, the deserts, the mountains, the desert mountains.  The coasts of Canada, Baja, Portugal and Italy.  The long boring straightaways of Montana and Saskatchewan... the switchbacks of Wyoming and the French Alps.  Getting stuck in a ravine with one of my trials bikes.  Down to the axles on my XT 600 in desert sands.  A tire going flat south of Wendover with Lisa (then 16) on the rear seat of my Seca II.

Forestry Trunk Rd

Nobody will ever mistake me for that guy sitting on his arse except when on a motorbike.

On the Cabot Trail with Ron and my T Bird and VX 800

Keep smiling :)

Like Clive Cussler always said after an episode of the Sea Hunter's... 

Home on a Baja beach

"get up off that couch... explore the World"

 

Flashback

Germany, at last.

The sign said Dresden... 91 km.  But then again, it was only 263 to Berlin. 

I'd planned a short loop, an over nighter into the Republic of Slovakia.  That was several days ago! 

True, I had limited clothing and money, but so far neither had been an issue, bank machines were easy to access and everywhere. 

The autobahn I was riding dried out from its earlier rains, but it sure didn't look positive ahead.  I didn't have a rain suit, in fact I didn't even pack one when I left Canada.  No idea why, after all I was going to be "over there" four and a half months had to be rain sometime... 

After my first fuel stop in Germany, I decided to stick to the plan and head to Dresden.

The closer I got, the more I thought to myself (and you have lots of time to think traveling by bike) 'what am I thinking?' 

I have no plan!

The idea was to cross the northern Hungarian border into the south Slovak and then ride west till I got tired.  The next day I would be back in Jaszkiser.  A simple overnight shakedown cruise.  This was already my fourth day, so truthfully, I was just riding.  Isn't that the best way to do it?  Go where the road takes you.



I headed north to Berlin. 

After all, this is why you ride Europe unescorted, I was finally here on a 600cc motorcycle, just like I'd dreamed about it 35 years ago. Only thing different was the two additional cylinders, and my ride was a bright red Yamaha instead of a metallic green BMW. 




The weather threatened rain all day and indeed we rode through several short squalls.  Never enough to soak me, but just enough to dampen my gear but certainly not my enthusiasm, which had been reaching one high after another, since I'd left HU days ago.

Reaching the outskirts of this world famous city I was in heavy traffic and low on fuel on a Friday evening. 

With no plan, I saw a large white building with a very large HOTEL sign visible from the autobahn, and peeled off at the very next exit.  Urban Berlin was even more congested than the highway! 

Of course, the traffic was very orderly and I had no problem navigating to a gas stop where I had a Snickers while contemplating my road map.  English was no problem, and a helpful attendant pointed me back the way I came so I could find the hotel I had seen from the highway.

Backtracking through city streets, brought me to the appropriately named Hotel Berlin, where I was able to get a room for the night.  It was small, but as I had been finding throughout my trip, quite adequate. 

True, there were no paintings of large breasted Slovakian princess' this time around above my bed, just a simple TV, a tiny desk and a shoebox bathroom.  Sparse but neat. 

Waitress, chef and owner.

Once the bike was tucked away and locked up, I walked to a local restaurant the desk clerk had suggested.  It was quite a hike I must say, well over 5km but I did manage to find the street name scribbled on my little tourist map and sure enough there stood the family owned eatery.  A very good meal washed down by a healthy and ice cold German Lager, had me satisfied and glad to be walking!


I'd get a chance to work off some of my meal. 

The evening was pleasant if cool and I couldn't help but glow with the knowledge that I was here, riding my bike, in this famous city.  This famous country.

I had the desk arrange a very early wake-up call so I could get into the heart of the city before the traffic began.  I wanted to be able to visit several locales on my little paper map, and then head back south before noon the following day, Saturday.

The SMART car they should have imported to N.A.

to be continued.

Hey... it's Spring!

I write this April 4th, 2014 from my desk in beautiful Spring Valley, PEI.

Yes, that is April fourth, not first, and its no joke!

March 26th, last week Wednesday, we were socked by a major late winter storm in a winter of many.

The entire eastern provinces were hit by winds as high as 105 mph, tons of snow followed by rain and then more snow.

This combination created some difficult problems in snow clearing and driving.

Monday, March 31st, at 10 am local time, we lost our power, like many communities in the path of this big blizzard.

Having been a resident of PEI during the eighties, I was familiar with the pattern.  Mild winters that lulled you into a distinct sense of global warming, only to be hit with vicious ones plagued with storm after storm after storm.  Our first two winters here have followed that pattern.

Fortunately the temperatures were relatively mild, averaging on my thermometer around -5 to -10C. In the design of this house I also planned for the ultimate "bad" winter by installing an auxiliary power device.  I wanted (and still do) to have our own wind turbine to take advantage of wind typical of living on an Island, even one as sheltered as this one.  Unfortunately in the shuffle of bureaucracy and poor service from our construction people that lived down to a reputation, that didn't take place... yet.

I do however have a large capacity, 7KW gasoline generator.  At around $6.40/gallon and with a consumption of approximately one gallon per hour, I use it sparingly.  We deliberately did not build in oil fired heat, nor propane as they are both fossil fuels.  We did plan on a wood burning stove in our central living room but as many things during the construction phase, Doc's neglected to build the support requirements according to the original plan, and to retro fit this is cost prohibitive.

So we rely on electricity and for the short term, the gen set.  I'll include more about my turbine idea in the future.

A n y w a y... I digress.  As of mid morning Monday the 26th... we had no power.

We were not alone, much of the Island and indeed the Maritimes were in the same dory so to speak.  Despite many calls to the single utility that "services" Islanders, the many csr's I eventually got through to, regurgitated the same corporate double speak that has no place in today's information society.

We are not peasant farmers, we are intelligent and mostly informed individuals.  I've met many of my neighbors (there are ten homes on our little lane) and without exception, they are literate, educated and articulate.  

The steady "a repair ticket has been processed and work crews dispatched" may work for the first few hours but after a day, simply do not cut the mustard.

Islanders pay the highest electric costs in Canada.  We are even higher by approximately 10% than Alberta, the rich province, and indeed about 50% higher than I pay for my all electric Phoenix home!

Tales of utilities that have a monopoly over their customers, are alive and well at Maritime Electric.

Don't misunderstand me here... I'm not stating that these people are above the laws of nature by any means, after all, work crews for the most part, get the job done with little fanfare.  What I am saying is for those people that have freezers full of food (we do after all live in the country and Pizza Delight does not deliver...) or whom there is a requirement for electricity to stay warm, there are decisions to be made.  It was obvious to me by the second day in my calls, that the live person on the other end of the line, had no interest in us, they were simply stating the party line.

It wasn't until the evening of the third day without power, that "Robbie" at my determined insistence, who finally took the step, after I explained what our problem was (a downed pole about a half mile in) and by early morning Thursday, a single pick up truck made a pass and by mid afternoon, the pole was replaced and once again, we were paying those exorbitant electric rates.

Our neighbors to the north, have a wood fired furnace and plenty of wood of their own, they don't need to buy truckloads from some woodlot, our neighbors to the south have geothermal and farther down oil fired furnaces... unfortunately all these systems require fast moving electrons to work.  When you have NO electrons, you can be in trouble real quick. 

I feel like charging the utility a reverse service charge!

The message in all this, is two fold. 

One, be honest.  People deserve that.  If you haven't a clue, if you don't have the staff, if you simply don't know... just say so.  Don't try to continually dupe your customers, even if you do have a monopoly.  We hate that.

Two... Mr. Murphy is always lurking and he strikes at the most inopportune times.  Like the boy scouts, be prepared.

For myself I spent many long hours in the dark these past few days, re-thinking my turbine idea.

It's coming...