Sue Me

OK this is a bit about me. Well more accurately about me and my work.
For the most part work is blah blah blah.  Nothing new. You most certainly don't want to read about it. So I think I'll just let the pictures do the talking.
I hope you enjoy them.

Location:  The traditional village and reserve of the Homalco First Nation, known as Church House, is at the mouth of Bute Inlet.
Latitude. 50.332946026°, Longitude. -125.06960221°

http://travelingluck.com/North%20America/Canada/British%20Columbia/_5922104_Church%20House.html#local_map

Job:  Removing the derelict docking facilities at Church House. Removing debris from deserted fish farm. Clear beach of debris and refuse. Clear area underwater around docking facility and bay of debris and refuse.Goal to return area to it's "original state".
You can figure out what that means for yourself.

The following three videos I have left unedited. You will see such things as me wiping the condensation off of the window. You will also see blurry blurry and camera moving too quickly.
What else you will see is our ride to and from work. I tell you it sure beats the bus.

The first one is us leaving Church House. 

The second is of us coming into Campbell River.

And the third...well this is us flying only a couple of feet, sometimes more sometimes less, off of the water. Skimming along so low that you could see into people's living rooms. We didn't do this because we are all thrilling seeking peeping Toms. No we had to hug the water because of the cloud cover. The ceiling that day would not allow us to go any higher.


Hmm I seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties.

Technical difficulties will be addressed. But first perhaps some photos to go along with this post.
Enjoy.




Our client. 

 Looking down our derrick.

     The demo is well under way.


 

The trestle and a dolphin.

                 The fish farm debris.

On the beach amongst the brambles you can still make out the old church.  

 Here you can see a few of the old houses. Up the hill over to the right was the school. We were not allowed to step a foot over the high water mark. Something to do with our heritage.

 Looking across the water towards the Hole In The Wall.

Klein Lake and the MarshMan

I wish to introduce you to the Curtis family of Madeira Park. There is Andy, Andrea, Marshall and Sydney. 
Now this one weekend I had some time off and decided to go find the Curtis family. It didn't take long. Small towns are good that way. Ask a few people and you are bound to get an answer. They were camping up at Klein Lake. 
Now you can find (this) Klein Lake in the Egmont area on the Sunshine Coast.  A beautiful little lake. Fish, hike, swim, explore what ever you want.
It was easy to find the Curtis'. I rode around the lake for no more than 5 minutes before I spotted their pickup truck. As I approached I notice everyone was around the picnic table and they were looking my way. PERFECT. This gave me the go ahead to come roaring into the campsite and slamming on the brakes to come to a sliding stop mere feet away from everyone. 
Looking at them from inside my helmet I could see the look of confusion. Who was this person sliding into their campsite? Then I noticed a completely different bunch of expressions as soon as my helmet came off. There was a new look. One that said "OH it's just Steve. We should have known."
I didn't stay long that day. Went for a swim. Ate some hot dogs and corn on the cob. Hmm...Perfect.

 This is Andy, Sydney, CJ the Dog and the boyz on their raft.
Check out that raft.
Coast Guard approved?
 HELL YES!

Also at the campsite are my friends Brad, Tanis and their gang. Actually Brad and Tanis are the care takers for the campsite. Great place for the family to spend their summer. No TV or X box just a camper , a tarp and the world. What more could one ask for?

 Here are the boys playing Huck Finn.
Not sure who is Huck and who is Afro-American Jim.

The Marsh Man

 

Need I say more.

I also have it on good advice that Sydney is riding. I'll have to get some photos of her riding this year. Teach 'em young and teach 'em right. 

Keep your right hand cranked.

 

it's been a while

Oh where to start? Winter is now upon us and I am sitting at home out of work for a bit.  I parked the bike late October but between then and the last time I posted a lot has happened. Lots of pictures and stories.

So the best place to start would be taking the bike to the Denman East and Hornby Island ferry terminals rebuild. I shipped the bike via a container that was loaded onto FRPD derrick #6. The video you are about to see is the bike being unloaded onto Denman Island. Yes the crane, Liebherr 883, is a bit overkill but it worked.

Ok so this is just a photo. I am having difficultly uploading the video right now so live with it. As you can clearly see though from the photo is that my bike is very cool. Also in the very cool range was that the day this picture was taken I found out that there was a 3rd position on the bikes ignition. Turns out if you turn the key just a little to the right while removing it from the bike the ignition switch is actually in the on position. Bad idea when you are storing your ride in a container for the next 10 days or so.  The battery was stone cold dead and no amount of charging could restore a charge to it. 

So now I am my bike on the land but the bike wouldn't start via the starter so after pushing the bike up the hill and rolling it back down I got the engine started and away I went hoping to make it to my motel room in Courtenay (@ 30km) before what ever charge the battery had was completely discharged.  

Nope didn't make it. Just off the Denman ferry and on my way when the battery went flat and the bike died on the side of the road.  THANK GOD FOR BCAA and cell phones.  Got the bike back and got a new battery the next day. Not had a problem since. Knock on wood. But let me say this about that ignition switch, it is very finicky and is something I always pay attention to when shutting the bike down.

So now to explore Vancouver Island a little bit at a time.

Starting out on Comox lake logging roads.

Geared up for fishing.

Some Comox Lake back country.

 

 

 

The roads were is really good condition. This is a private road system more or less. The logging companies ask that you stay out at certain time due to the big nasty "this is my road" logging trucks that are hauling out of this area. Not a bad idea really. Staying out that is. The trucking isn't done 24/7 so there are plenty of opportunities to use the roads. You just have to know when. Which can be a bitch because you have to drive to the beginning of the road to find out. A small inconvenience really.
Now the road is hard packed but don't get to comfortable because there is plenty of loose rolling rock to be found on top of the hard. It seems you just get some speed up and come around a corner and WHOA loose rock...or WHOA pick up truck.

Looking down Comox Lake.

But the WHOAs are worth it. Especially when you get these types of WHOAs. The next pictures show a bit of the road material. Note the size of the loose rocks. These play havoc with the front tire of a bike. Not to mention the vehicles that roar along thinking that they are the only ones on the road that day.

But I came out to go fishing and that's just what I'm going to do. I set myself up at the mouth of Cruikshank Creek. Beautiful area. Easily accessible. Not a soul.  What more could you ask for?  Now I'm not the best at fishing but I like it. This day I had a few strikes but didn't bring anything home for dinner. A couple of week later I went back again to try my luck. Saw another fellow pull in some nice sized rainbow trout.

Cruikshank Creek

Up the creek.

Looking out towards Comox Lake.

Great fishing spot. Good roads. Beautiful views. This place has got it all. All including mosquitoes so bring your bug spray and enjoy.

Rock Paper Scissors.

Ok this post isn't entirely about my KLR. If you don't like it...too bad.



Here are a few pics of "Lil Blue". A Toyota hilux with a turbo 2.2 lt diesel engine. This truck rocked. Rebuilt from ground up. Amazing sound system. Engine purred.







Never got a chance to see what the KLR would look like in the back because some poor unfortunate troubled soul needed it more than I did. If you don't quite understand what I just said please allow me to put it into my words. Some crack-head meth piece of shit stole it. Never got my truck back but I'm over it now. I no longer wish evil things to befall the perpetrators. You know things like a pack of roving hell dogs ripping the perpetrators genitals off. Nope. I'm all over it now. Or maybe having them stuffed into a large plastic bag filled with deadly fire ants...no no no. That's it. I'm over it.




Like I said it was a diesel and that is a beautiful thing.


 With no electronics the only thing stopping the engine is air intake. Which in this truck is up by the front windshield.  I am a little stuck in this photo but the engine is still purring away. The truck is actually high centred here. I walked around the truck and could move all four tires by hand. 

 I didn't even try to get myself out. It didn't take long to find someone to haul Lil Blue out. Again the whole time the engine didn't even sputter. Funny when I got out of the hole. I opened the truck doors and all this water came rushing out.  I had video of this but can't find it right now.







A great day was had by all. Except for the misses she had to clean the truck out.
You've got like rock paper scissors.

The tale of two helmets.

When I first starting riding I didn't have a helmet. I told you that because it may explain a few things. Umm OK where was I?  OH yes helmets a good idea. Cumbersome, restrictive, hot and you don't look as cool as you could have if you weren't wearing a helmet. BUT they work.

Mandatory helmet laws versus an adults right to decide for themselves is a vast topic. I'll not say my piece on that topic right now. Suffice it to say helmets work. 


I've worn many helmets over the years. I've worn the round head 1970's glitter and gold helmet. I've worn the cracked and crazy glued beanie style helmet. Oh lets not forget the cruiser half helmet, I actually liked the way this helmet sat on my melon. 

So now that I found myself once again looking for a bucket for my melon. I found two helmets. The full face fit well, maybe a little tight, and was light. I liked the idea of something to protect my face and this full face helmet did that. But it was confining.

So this is why I bought the next helmet. A cruiser helmet. Fresh breeze in the face. Clean lines. Certainly wasn't confining. But really now what was it actually protecting? I think this helmet best protects the riders wallet as it is legal.

Great I now have comfort and practicality. Can you see a problem here? Yep two separate helmets are performing that which I want done in one helmet. So when the going gets tough I go shopping and damn if I didn't find just what I wanted.

This view shows the helmet with the chin guard and the visor in the up, or open, position.

And this photo show us the helmet with the chin guard down AND the very super cool built in shades in the down position.










This photo shows the ever popular very cool built in shades in the down position with the chin guard in the up position.

Here is, I'm sure you have guessed it, the chin guard in the down position with the very cool built in shades in the down position finish by having the visor also in the down position. Yes I know that that is a lot of down but trust me going down is a lot of fun. And that's what we're here for isn't it?








All this helmet talk reminded me of a ride I took many years ago. I was coming down from Kingston ON to Toronto. Like I have to tell you what province that is in...centre of the freakin universe. OK so there I was cruising down the 401 when I spy a car ahead of me with a bunch of Air Force buddies in it. Laying on the throttle I caught up to them quickly. Right away someone in the car sees me. Points at me. Laughs at me and hands me a big ole bottle of beer. Well it was hot out. Middle of summer in Ontario kinda hot. So I inched over to the car and grabbed the beer doing 100 klicks or so. Now to drink it. Stupid helmet. Every time I tilted my head back the helmet caught the wind and the chin strap would promptly choke me. Every time!  Now I'm thirsty and pissed but I'm no quitter. I decide I will pour the beer out in front of me and the wind will direct into my mouth. Funny how you can be both right and wrong all at the same time. Some of the beer did go where it was supposed to. Most of it didn't. My buddies in the car thought this was hilarious. The elderly couple in the sedan in the other lane didn't see the humour in this at all. I'm actually just guessing at this but the look of dumbfounded bewilderment on both their faces is what lead me to think that.  

The following video shows how this new super helmet of mine has thought of the thirsty rider. Quite impressive if I say so myself.

So to summarize, today's header "the tale of two helmets" is a bit of a misnomer. We actually have three.  The bit about not being able to look cool while wearing a helmet has also been debunked now that I have purchased my new HJC super helmet.

Our never ending spring.

Surprise the sun graced a wee bit of earth around me today. So I took advantage of it and took the bike out for a short spin. Living here in Maple Ridge sees me in the heart of an outdoor paradise. Shit never thought I would use that much overworked work, PARADISE. But honestly the riding around here appears endless. Today I went up to Golden Ears Park. There is  nobody up there, due to the weather and all. So I cruise on the black stuff getting up to 130 km/h. Nice road. Slightly winding, uphill and through this big old forest...perfect. Once I hit the dirt roads I slow it down and really start to enjoy the scenery. Past, or around depending on how you want to word it, the first gate and it's only a short distance to the beginning of the horse trail that I will be riding today. Around another gate and I'm now just another dude on his umm KLR horse riding the horse trail. Yep that's me just a horse type guy. OK so it's a designated horse trail. I like the trail and I don't really rip it up all that much. I didn't see any horses up there so maybe the horse people have abandoned the trail and all that horse poop I saw was just placed there to fool people on motorcycles. HA it didn't work.

Well here's the first photo. As you can see the road heading up the hill is a bit rocky but I have to find out what this bike can do. Ha not. Though
having just purchased the bike only 3 weeks ago it was time to test it out off road.









It was here that I decided to text my bro and tell him that I was out riding solo and where I was. Finished it off with a time that I would call to tell him that all was OK. Now I don't do a lot of smart things so this was definitely an exception. Really we all know it doesn't take much to be down and out and if no one knows where you are at...well I for one do not want to be one of those guys on the evening news. You know the type. The one who's high school or Facebook picture is splashed all over the TV and an announcer is telling us how all the man's friends said he was a great guy. How no one saw this coming, "He was such an avid outdoors-man". Now while the announcer is saying all this we are sitting in our cozy living rooms saying things like "Well looks like Darwin and his Natural Selection theory might have some merit". Yep so I don't want to be one of those guys so I texted my bro and I will do it again.


Ok so I've now got this bike. I got this camera. I'm going to see what I can do with them both.

Yes that is me. I didn't know what ahead on this trail so I walked ahead and came upon a most beautiful river. Clear so very clear water. Tasty coming straight from the snow laden mountains that surrounded me. Anyhow I see that I can ride right up to the river and that's when I decide to try the video function on my camera. That combined with Window's movie maker and this is what I came up with. Now it's no James Cameron but it's not all that bad either.

I think it looks grainy. Need to look into that.

Anyhow here I am just digging the place when this little helicopter comes racing up the river valley. It slows over top of me and then continued out on it's way.  So I  decide to take a few pictures of my bike....

                                                    and the surrounding area

WHEN all of a sudden the helicopter comes back.

He, or she but I think it was probably a he because the helicopter seemed to be flown quite professionally, flew off into the mountains only to return again a few minutes later. And then he flew off for a final time.


So after the helicopter left I decided to take a few more pictures before getting back on the bikehorse.

After these photos I packed up and rode up the trail only a short distance more. The trail at first was a sweet ride then I came upon some more wash out. Nasty rolling rock for as far as I could see. Probably no more than 100m or so. But it was enough to see me turn around and head back down the hill. I had done enough for today.