Motoadventures2up

Friday, November 27, 2015

Another Day

Just the beginning of another day in Baja!!

6:15 and Ken is heading out fishing. A dirty job but someone has to bring home dinner!

And I settle down with a cup of coffee and enjoy the beginning of abrand new day.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Here we have been on the beach for over a week (oops, now it is actually 3 weeks on the beach...time flys) and I still haven't got around to telling you about our trip down to Mexico from Canada. It was anything but uneventful, but in a good way. We took the long way around, visiting friends, via Wyoming, New Mexico and finally Arizona before crossing the border into Baja, Mexico.

Our first stop in Wyoming was to visit John and Ingrid at home in Alto, we usually see them in Comitan on the Baja but it was nice to see their beautiful home situated at the foot of the Grand Tetons. Both are retired from the airlines and still fly their own Beachcraft Bonanza V35 so we flew to Montana and back for lunch. What a treat! Ken had a smile a mile wide when John gave him a ride to the airport in his Porshe, Ken was remembering his Porshe days.

After a couple days with John and Ingrid we traveled south to Bernalillo, New Mexico where Jay and Diane found a nice little corner on their property where we could park our rig and enjoy some of the sights (and food) in their area. New Mexico does have some good and spicy fare! There really is nothing like the flavour of New Mexican chilis. While John and Ingrid have a couple horses, Jay and Diane have four pack mules in their back pastures. They use them for packing into the wilderness and hunting, boy they are adventuresome! We look forward to their company on the beach this year, at Rattlesnake, and a friendly game of bocci or two.

Once in Arizona we found ourselves at Chino Valley and at the home of fellow biking enthusiast Don Short where we rondez vous'd with Carl and the three of them did a little dirt biking before the flood rains came and drove them home. I on the other hand had the common sense to stay at home in the first place. Stop two in Arizona was at Chris and Carls place in Yuma. It is always good to visit them and also a convenient place to get our Mexician visas and our first taco of the season from our favourite taco stand in Algadonas.

Once again this year, we travelled highway 5 down through San Felipe and Coco's Corner on our way to the beach. This year however we crossed at San Luis Rio Colorado and took the toll road #2 to the south of Mexicali and then caught the #5, way easier and it only cost us 62 pesos. What a deal and way less of a headache than driving through Mexicali. We only spent one night on the road at Rosarito and where on the beach at Rattlesnake by 4:00pm just in time for happy hour, and that was even giving us time to get fuel and propane.

Now we are all set up. The beach at our doorstep. The Zodiac, paddleboard and kayak in the water. The bikes are full and ready to go.

Myself with John and Ingrid, and Ken in front of John's plane.

John and Ingrid toys!

The Grand Tetons.

The view of the Grand Tetons during or flight to lunch with John and Ingrid.

Just some beautiful scenery along the way.

A little off road riding around Moab,

The sun sets on the hills around Moab makes the rock come alive with magnificent red colors.

The streets of Vermillion are lined with petunias.

Just more beautiful roadside scenery.

The tracks with Palomas Peak in the background, a very pretty sight from Bernilillo.

The streets of Santa Fe are a showplace for the famous New Mexican chili.

At the Santa Fe farmers market they sell vegetables that have not been treated badly...Cage Free Tomatoes.

Happy Hour with Jay and Diane at the Hyatt in Bernillio.

This food at this place was Udderly Delicious! Lots and lots of famous people have dinned here including the last three presidents.

Dog-gone-it let's get going. Don and Carl are ready to take Ken on a little bike ride.

Well that about rounds it up for the drive down and chances are it may be a few months before you hear from us again...it's busy on the beach! Really!!1

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Summer Just Goes On and On

Looking down Adams Lake on one of the "nice days" while we camped during the September long weekend. The water was like glass, Ron's Kingfisher was in the water with the fishermen on board, I am taking advantage of the calm day to kayak and the Bush Creek campground is in the background.

One weekend we camped with my parents at Davis Lake, just off the Old Colemount Rd, the campground was great but the fishing sucked. While camped there we did a nice motorbike ride via Old Colemount Rd to Brookmere, across to the Coquihalla, down the Coldwater valley and back to our campground on the Kane and Voight Valley forrestry roads. A great ride that took about 2 hours.

Ken's happy being on anything with a motor. The Sea-doo felt a little weird when you're used to a motorbike but fun all the same.

Sue and John rented a cabin on Okanagan Lake for a week in September and invited us for a night. What a treat riding the Sea-doos and having a weinny roast on the beach. The view down the lake at night, looking north to Vernon, was nice and a little different than what we were used to.

One of my favourite rides around Kelowna is the KVR-Chute Lake road that runs from Kelowna to Naramata/Penticton. Gerry joined us one day for the ride which ended up with us visiting Shaun and Iris in Summerland, what a great day, what a great view!

Naramata is home to a whole lot of wineries with some award winning wines. Unfortunately while on the bike we couldn't take in the wine tasting but the view of Naramata Bench was beautiful just the same.

We were so lucky the weather held out for us into the end of September. We decided to take a road trip to Oregon, Ken on the Tenere and I was on my KLR. Along the way, in Yakima we stopped at a restaurant for Tamales, yum yum I can't wait to get to Mexico.

Mt Jefferson off in the distance as seen from the Deschutes campground in The Cove Palisades State Park.

Looking at the Deschutes River down from a ridge on the Tamalau Trail above our campsite at The Cove Palisades. A spectacular view and a great 7 mile hike along the plateau.

The viewpoint at the summit of the McKenzie Pass between Sisters and McKenzie Bridge on Hwy 242, a must for bikers. The pass is totally volcanic stone from the Belknap Crater and the road snakes through the lava field, warning don't try this road in a large RV.

We met Brian and Sandi at McKenzie Bridge, we were tenting and they were with their Tiny Trailer "Miss Piggy". Brian fabricated the trailer with parts from 11 cars, 5 trucks and 2 motorcycles. Sandy made a mean meatloaf in her Dutch Oven...my favorite!

We drove and camped along the scenic Deschutes River. The ride was very picturesque but the trains were a little loud during the night.

The pleasant view of Hwy 97 running along side the Columbia River.

Wild Horses Monument (or its real name is Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies) overlooks the Columbia River. The monument is made of steel and started in 1989 but is still a work in progress. Next time we pass by I'm walking to the top of the ridge.

We timed our trip to Oakridge perfectly, it just so happened that Mike and Hortensia were entered in a pie making contest. I couldn't help myself and had to enter as well. I made a Tailwind Chili Pie and Hortensia made a Coconut Cheesecake (she walked away with first prize in the creme category). The best part was after all the pies were judged we got to eat them all, and there must have been about 15 to sample.

What a summer, lots of camping and fishing while traveling the B.C. northern interior. Lots of visiting with friends and family. However, while I am writing up this post on Oct 6th the weather has turned cool and it trying to rain. Ken is loading the trailer and then I'll finish up laundry and shopping...it is time to head south. It is time to head to the Baja for the winter.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

SUP...paddle-board adventure

Well, I can cross that off my bucket-list. The day after my 54th, Sharon, my sister, and I SUP'ed across Okanagan Lake, around Rattlesnake Island and back to Peachland, about 5.5 km in around 1.5 hours. We didn't break any records but we made it without breaking much of a sweat and grinning all the way...not bad for a couple of rookies!

Ready, set, go. Me with my blowup XTERRA and Sharon with her solid VESL. Ready and rareing to go at 10 am before the boats got out on the lake and the winds started to pick up.

The lake was like glass. We couldn't have asked for a better day. There was still a little smoke in the air from all the forrest fires but it cleared enough that we could at least see Rattlesnake Island across the lake.

Dad and Ken made a morning of it, fishing along side us. Our technical support.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Wanted: a breath of fresh air

Back in the Okanagan, a busy, busy, busy place. While we love Westbank we already miss the slower pace of northern B.C. not to mention the clean air where the smoke from fires in the States has not drifted.