It has been one year now.
I have done a lot in that year, but not too much. My limited budget means I have paced myself, spending time where I can live inexpensively, and moving on through places where the cost of living is high.
My major goal for the previous twelve months was to see a lot of Central America, and that has been accomplished. All the countries I visited had both positive and negative things about them, and going through my blog will give you an over sight of them. I did spend a lot of time at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. It featured a nice combination of cost, climate, food and people. The climate was very kind to this Canadian, never too hot, and at times verging on cool. With the number of villages and towns around the lake, it is easy to find a place you like and style of accommodation that fits your budget.
I cannot say I have become addicted to travel, but it is something I still enjoy, and am eager to see even more. I am slowly getting rid of more items, things I have found I do not use, and trying to get rid of enough so that a chair will fit into my trailer. I have almost made this goal, but the closer I get to it, the more I ask myself if I really need a chair along with.
The next travel goal outside of Canada is South America. This means improving my very bad Spanish, and deciding where to start. So far the winner is Bogata, but Lima is running close second.
Monday 19 May 2014
Wednesday 14 May 2014
Back in Canada
I am sure anyone who has traveled has had the feeling of - at last, home soil - when they cross the border back into the country they call home. I had been away approximately nine months when I finally crossed the border back into Canada. I must admit the feeling was not as intense as anticipated, but it was there.
Part of the mitigation I think was the amount of time I spent in the USA, which is very close in culture and style to Canada, but sometimes that closeness also highlights the differences. Walking into the store attached to a gas station, I noticed the things that are not available in the states. A large number of the chocolate bars are simply not available south of the border, and although in the large scheme of things not being able to buy a Jersey Milk is minor, when added to other things it is something that is missed.
I am not a traveler who insists that things be like home. The reason I have traveled is to experience other cultures and what they consider normal, but that does not mean I do not miss the comfort foods that I grew up with. I imagine that folks from the south east USA are disappointed when finding out that deep fried dill pickles are a regional thing, and no, they don't make those in Canada/Oregon/Peru. I am the type that when I miss a particular type of food a lot, I will set out to make it. Thus I made cabbage rolls in Guatemala.
- I mean really they make use of a lot of rice, tomato and cabbage, but the idea of a cabbage roll was totally, well foreign, and when I walked past the raw ingredients in the market on a daily basis it got to craving I knew I could feed-
So, I eased into a junk food binge once I was back on home soil. A Caramilk bar. Hawkins Cheezies. Pepsi ( the difference between US/Canada in most soda is corn syrup vrs cane sugar ). But all of that is not what I really missed.
People are people wherever you go, and all nations have their share of nice ones and rude ones, but the ones I have had as friends the longest are those I grew up and matured beside. Those friends, and my family are really what I missed the most, and it is sharing food and snacks and drinks and stories and laughter and solemn moments with them that keeps me moving, because they live to damn far apart to cram all into one room.
And even if they fit, it would take days to catch up with everyone.
And, ain't nobody got time for dat!
Even in the next six months, traveling from couch to couch, I still will not have time to visit them all, but I will try.
Part of the mitigation I think was the amount of time I spent in the USA, which is very close in culture and style to Canada, but sometimes that closeness also highlights the differences. Walking into the store attached to a gas station, I noticed the things that are not available in the states. A large number of the chocolate bars are simply not available south of the border, and although in the large scheme of things not being able to buy a Jersey Milk is minor, when added to other things it is something that is missed.
I am not a traveler who insists that things be like home. The reason I have traveled is to experience other cultures and what they consider normal, but that does not mean I do not miss the comfort foods that I grew up with. I imagine that folks from the south east USA are disappointed when finding out that deep fried dill pickles are a regional thing, and no, they don't make those in Canada/Oregon/Peru. I am the type that when I miss a particular type of food a lot, I will set out to make it. Thus I made cabbage rolls in Guatemala.
- I mean really they make use of a lot of rice, tomato and cabbage, but the idea of a cabbage roll was totally, well foreign, and when I walked past the raw ingredients in the market on a daily basis it got to craving I knew I could feed-
So, I eased into a junk food binge once I was back on home soil. A Caramilk bar. Hawkins Cheezies. Pepsi ( the difference between US/Canada in most soda is corn syrup vrs cane sugar ). But all of that is not what I really missed.
People are people wherever you go, and all nations have their share of nice ones and rude ones, but the ones I have had as friends the longest are those I grew up and matured beside. Those friends, and my family are really what I missed the most, and it is sharing food and snacks and drinks and stories and laughter and solemn moments with them that keeps me moving, because they live to damn far apart to cram all into one room.
And even if they fit, it would take days to catch up with everyone.
And, ain't nobody got time for dat!
Even in the next six months, traveling from couch to couch, I still will not have time to visit them all, but I will try.
Monday 12 May 2014
Riding
Over the last two months, I have done a lot of riding. I think I have put about 10,000km, or 6,000 miles on my bike.
The miles rolled past in long and short stretches, some warm some cold and some just right. It has given me a certain amount of insight into what makes for good bike clothing, and what makes for bad riding.
The jacket I am using is showing wear, the venting zippers were glued in place, not sewn and the glue has let go. The collar is getting worn, but other than that, it has been nice.
The pants are annoying in that chaps are more comfy as long as it is not raining, but when it does rain, the pants are sooooo much better.
In the stretch from Manitou Springs, Colorado to Salt Lake, Utah I went over some high windy passes. I am sure that one was approaching 11,000 feet high, and the signs on two others were over 9,000. With headwinds for virtually all this section of over 30mph it was no surprise my gas mileage sucked, but I was pleasantly surprised that although I was cool, I was never really chilled.
Then I hit the road from Salt Lake through to Boise. I had thought that with the lower elevations, the ride would be warmer.
Silly me.
It was the coldest riding of the trip. The humidity may have had something to do with it, as the headwind was about the same, the road was about 3,000 feet lower and although it never rained, it threatened to for most of the day.
I have seen bikers with thermometers, and I am now tempted to mount one just so I can keep track to see how much the temperature varies on the passes. This time of year, it was easy to see the effect of elevation on the plant life around me. In the valley, there would be trees almost fully leafed out, and at the top of the passes the trees were barely into the budding phase, and in Colorado, there were plenty of places where the budding had not even started.
It also gave in a shorter distance the transition I had seen going from East to West. Starting in Florida, the trees had fully leafed out but as I drove West and North, the leaves pulled in, the trees becoming more bare and the green lighter and more tentative. By the time I got to Colorado, over half of the trees I was seeing had not budded, and most were just nicely breaking out in green. The lower elevation of Salt Lake really showed with the fully leafed out trees even though the temperature felt much the same. By the time I rolled into the West Coast
rain forest I felt I had repeatedly done the transition from early spring to full summer four or five times.
At last it is time for a pause from riding, visit friends and family and see what all of them have been up to while I have been gallivanting in southern climes.
The miles rolled past in long and short stretches, some warm some cold and some just right. It has given me a certain amount of insight into what makes for good bike clothing, and what makes for bad riding.
The jacket I am using is showing wear, the venting zippers were glued in place, not sewn and the glue has let go. The collar is getting worn, but other than that, it has been nice.
The pants are annoying in that chaps are more comfy as long as it is not raining, but when it does rain, the pants are sooooo much better.
In the stretch from Manitou Springs, Colorado to Salt Lake, Utah I went over some high windy passes. I am sure that one was approaching 11,000 feet high, and the signs on two others were over 9,000. With headwinds for virtually all this section of over 30mph it was no surprise my gas mileage sucked, but I was pleasantly surprised that although I was cool, I was never really chilled.
Then I hit the road from Salt Lake through to Boise. I had thought that with the lower elevations, the ride would be warmer.
Silly me.
It was the coldest riding of the trip. The humidity may have had something to do with it, as the headwind was about the same, the road was about 3,000 feet lower and although it never rained, it threatened to for most of the day.
I have seen bikers with thermometers, and I am now tempted to mount one just so I can keep track to see how much the temperature varies on the passes. This time of year, it was easy to see the effect of elevation on the plant life around me. In the valley, there would be trees almost fully leafed out, and at the top of the passes the trees were barely into the budding phase, and in Colorado, there were plenty of places where the budding had not even started.
It also gave in a shorter distance the transition I had seen going from East to West. Starting in Florida, the trees had fully leafed out but as I drove West and North, the leaves pulled in, the trees becoming more bare and the green lighter and more tentative. By the time I got to Colorado, over half of the trees I was seeing had not budded, and most were just nicely breaking out in green. The lower elevation of Salt Lake really showed with the fully leafed out trees even though the temperature felt much the same. By the time I rolled into the West Coast
rain forest I felt I had repeatedly done the transition from early spring to full summer four or five times.
At last it is time for a pause from riding, visit friends and family and see what all of them have been up to while I have been gallivanting in southern climes.
Sunday 11 May 2014
Colorado to Utah.
It is now my opinion that Colorado bikers are like those in Alaska and northern BC, as soon as the roads are dry and likely to stay that way, it is time to ride, no matter how much snow is piled up on the sides.
Some parts of the ride were a lot of fun. It would be great to take the road a little later in the year and without towing a trailer. The twisty sections were nice, not too many long straight boring parts and lots of nice views. Gas stations were scattered nicely, and as always the ones tucked out of the way were the priciest. I did not take many pictures this time around. It always seemed the wrong time to pull over for most of the view points. At least the roads were not busy. I think during the summer it would be a popular place for campers, and going by the number of ski resorts, during ski season it would also be humming with traffic.
There seemed to be a large number of roadkill animals along the route, but that could be a result of a lack of removal of the remains. I saw a few the had obviously been there quite some time. I only saw one muledeer, and he was going away from the road, but it did reinforce the need to be aware of animals and their chance of entering traffic.
But, at the very beginning of the day, I went to the Manitou Cliff Dwelling Site. This partially undid the disappointment from not getting to see the Gila Cliff site in some ways, but also put in the itch to see the Gila site just to compare....
Anyway, here are a few pictures from the Manitou site, and following is a picture of the snow covered pass I traversed later the same day.
Sunday 4 May 2014
To Kansas and Beyond!
The road west from Missouri through Kansas and into Colorado was full of slow transitions. the hills of Missouri slowly gentled and became stretched out and rolling. The time of year, early spring also meant the tress were mostly just starting to leaf out. In some places there were almost no leaves, just the yellowish colouration from the buds swelling efore breaking.
In Kansas, the farm fields and pastures were mostly lushly green, with a few till having the stubble not worked in, and some with freshly tilled soil. I did not hop off the bike for a close look, but it seemed there was very little stone in the fields, and the few places where the road was cut through hillsides, the bedrock appeared to be sandstone.
Ever so slowly the landscape changed, flattening out and drying out. At first the flattening was more apparent with long views of shallow valleys and the rivers and streams showing their path with lines of trees. The farther west I went, the fewer the watercourses and trees became few indeed. For the most part the tree were obvious transplants surrounding a farmhouse or the remains of one.
One of the contrasts from western Canada I noticed was the population density and road infrastructure. The one obviously lends itself to the other, but the number of small towns quietly busy with agriculture as well as the interlocking of paved roads was far more dense than what you see in Canada.
Nearing the western end of Kansas, I hit another transition as the land continued to dry out. Slowly the fields gave way to pastures filled with low scrubby grass. At one point it was amusing, for on my left were untold acres of pasture, the fences obscured by tumbleweeds, while on the right field after field of planted crop were green and growing strong, a sharp contrast to the weak colours of mostly browns and beige in the pastures across the road from them.
It was not long before this difference faded out and the only green seen was that of irrigated fields.
The road lead ever west, and rose ever higher. Drying out yet more until the grass became sparse and lost even the hints of green found to the east.
As the mountains rose into view, it became slightly more green, and ranches dotted the landscape.
In Kansas, the farm fields and pastures were mostly lushly green, with a few till having the stubble not worked in, and some with freshly tilled soil. I did not hop off the bike for a close look, but it seemed there was very little stone in the fields, and the few places where the road was cut through hillsides, the bedrock appeared to be sandstone.
Ever so slowly the landscape changed, flattening out and drying out. At first the flattening was more apparent with long views of shallow valleys and the rivers and streams showing their path with lines of trees. The farther west I went, the fewer the watercourses and trees became few indeed. For the most part the tree were obvious transplants surrounding a farmhouse or the remains of one.
One of the contrasts from western Canada I noticed was the population density and road infrastructure. The one obviously lends itself to the other, but the number of small towns quietly busy with agriculture as well as the interlocking of paved roads was far more dense than what you see in Canada.
Nearing the western end of Kansas, I hit another transition as the land continued to dry out. Slowly the fields gave way to pastures filled with low scrubby grass. At one point it was amusing, for on my left were untold acres of pasture, the fences obscured by tumbleweeds, while on the right field after field of planted crop were green and growing strong, a sharp contrast to the weak colours of mostly browns and beige in the pastures across the road from them.
It was not long before this difference faded out and the only green seen was that of irrigated fields.
The road lead ever west, and rose ever higher. Drying out yet more until the grass became sparse and lost even the hints of green found to the east.
As the mountains rose into view, it became slightly more green, and ranches dotted the landscape.
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