MINI BLOG

Mini Blog

( pre-blog )

ISSUE No. 1

May 2013

Firstly, BIL ( Hale) will not be co-authoring this, the fist issue of Mini Blog, as he's 4500 km away.  Some will miss his travelogue type prose, interlaced with some emo; others - not so much.

Secondly:

He ain't got no Hog no more.............Thus, should he even be contributing to 'Old Dogs on Hogs' ?

So, finally, on the 3rd, a 'heat wave' moved in, a real scorcher. And in prep. for a real blog, or rather an extention of last year's blog, a dry run ,so to speak, is called for.

In other words, a practice blog. Ain't got no help from the tech-savvy co-blogger BIL. Can't remember how to upload stuff, or remember passwords to flicker, dropbox, blogspot, youtube etc. May try to utilize facebook (somehow) but I only have 9 friends. Of course, that's more friends than tech-savvy BIL has.
Guess that means there's hope.......................

Anyways, to start off the 'trip' season, decided on completing the Circle Route. Sooke/Pt. Renfrew/Lake Cow./ Duncan & back.  About 250 K. round trip. Hwy 18 Duncan to Lake Cow. is 100 k speed limit so it's a "blast" up to Lake Cow. However, from Lake Cow. to Pt. Renfrew - this is a now paved logging road - much much slower going. And the road from Pt. Renfrew to Sooke..................well you know what they say: Pt. Renfrew may not be the end of the earth, but you can sure as hell  see it from there....

Departure was 10:00 on the 5th and the att'd vid. shows Rob and Rich arriving from THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE (don't ask) . Al then showed up, and drove up like he owned the place, although admittedly he did build it. There's a comment about the orange bike - but that's much too long of a story for index finger typing.

that orange bike

250 Ninja, 900 Volusa 

First stop, Timmies, just 30 k down the road. The ride up to Duncan was uneventful. Hwy 18 to Lake Cowichan was awesome - up to 140 kph on the Versys. (awesome bike) In Lake Cow. a rest stop. Interestingly, there were 2 Boss Hogs tucked in a parking space. 1 was worth $70,000. Who does that ?

Now, at this point, I feel it incumbent to exercise every bit of ambassadorial, diplomatic, and politeness skill that I possess, and mention that the rest stop, and the back tracking, stretched well past an hour. At the word "mention", I'm inclined to mention the word "Youbou"  (I'll leave it at that, eh Rob/Rich?)

( This blogging stuff takes a long time (index finger). One (me) has to be dedicated, with a very high level of perseverance and determination --to the point of stubbornness. It's taken from the 5th (today is the 11th) to get these 3 vids uploaded successfully. Since they don't seem to want to play in the "edit" mode or "save" mode, I'm  stopping the blog at the point and "posting" it to ensure the vids actually work ! )

Mini Blog Issue #1                ..... to be continued .........................

Con't....

The Circle Route road from Lk. Cow. to Renfrew is....in the middle of nowhere. No residences, farms, driveways, ....nothing. BC wilderness at its famous finest ! The scenery is spectacular, except of course for the clear-cut areas and the desolation/destruction that this type of logging leaves behind.  Next to no traffic at this time of year. Snow on the mtn. tops. And everything green, unlike mid summer forest fire season. The road is in good cond. for a paved logging road - some slow going areas, some nasty bumps, but only because you can't see them coming.
 
 

At about the 1/2 way point, we stopped at the 'Harris Creek Spruce'. Can't see it from the road, but down the path only a few yards - there resides a monster ! There are no other 'big' trees around it (unlike Cathedral Grove where they're all big) so that the 2nd/ 3rd growth trees surrounding it actually enhance the size of this old growth magnificent tree. Hard to imagine an entire coast of old growth monsters, and why this tree spared the saw ?

Had a bite  in Pt. Renfrew. Few tourists, mostly bikers doing 'the Route'.

Renfrew is the jumping off point for the West Coast Trail . World famous for it's challenge/ruggedness. We passed a S&R team practising their craft, no doubt getting ready for the rescue of tourists who think the Trail is just an extended hike.

The West Coast Road back to Sooke has had some upgrades. The road/a bridge used to wash out at least once a year  and isolate Ren. for a couple of weeks. The world's nastiest switch back is gone, replaced by a nice new modern bridge. ( 180 degree turn, downhill, single lane bailey bridge, broken or no pavement, no shoulder, & hairpins at each end -one uphill, one downhill.)

By the time we hit Jordan River (surf capital of Cda, along with Long Beach in Tofino) we were desperate for a coffee. (ie Timmies) ... May  -  nothing open yet .

So, all in all, a most excellent trip for a run this early in the season. Rob's 250 Ninja got a real work out. And Rich's plate made us look like long distance guys from Ont. (newly arrived BCer from Timmins).

Oh yea.........and Rob wishes for an early Xmas gift - a GPS !    

                                                    END ISSUE #1