Since we've been back in Canada for a few months, we thought it was time to give an update on what we've been up to. Our motorcycles are still in Argentina and we have had to cope without them. We are reading with envy the blogs of other motorcycle travelers still on the road.

We returned to Ontario, Canada in early April. David's aunt Ann was gravely ill and much of the first week was spent driving back and forth between London and Burlington. He was happy to have the chance to see her again as she died within a few days of our arrival.

In mid-April we borrowed David's mum's car and drove to Iowa to see Deb's family for the annual Easter family reunion. We hope we didn't bore everyone with our pictures and stories. On the way back from Iowa, we stopped at David's sister's house in Midland, Michigan for a few days.

We decided that we really couldn't continue borrowing cars all summer so we started searching for used cars. Initially we thought we would buy a small RV and found a potential candidate but after a mechanic looked it over, he recommended that we pass on that one. We considered buying a van and doing a poor man's conversion (futon in the back and a cooler) but couldn't handle the fact that most vans have gas mileage of 15 miles per gallon or less. In the end we decided to buy a station wagon and found a nice 10-year old Volvo wagon. The muffler is going out on it so it is loud, but we prefer to think of it like Harley owners and tell each other 'loud pipes save lives!'

One day, David was searching the internet and found a website that listed all kinds of seasonal work for commercial pilots in Canada. Seasonal work would be perfect for us, fly in the summer, ride motorcycles in the southern hemisphere in the winter.

He decided to get his commercial license renewed so spent time studying and flying around southern Ontario. By June he has his license renewed, sent out his resume and started dropping by airports to ask about jobs. At one company, the chief pilot told David they were finished hiring for the season but if he came back in the fall, he'd take him flying and if he could handle the airplane, he might have work for him next summer. Another company said they had all the pilots hired but still needed ground crew. David decided to take the position as ground crew hoping that it will lead into a flying job next year. The day he signed the paperwork, he got home and found an email from another company in Saskatchewan with an opening for a bird dog pilot
doing fire patrol. Even though he would have preferred the flying job, he decided to stick with the job he had already committed to in Ontario. It didn't start until mid-July so we had time to do some traveling.

In June we spent a week camping in several provincial parks - Killbear near Parry Sound on Georgian Bay, Algonquin northwest of Ottawa, Rideau River south of Ottawa, Sandbanks on Lake Ontario, and Long Point on Lake Erie. Since school was still is session, we found most of the parks nearly deserted and had our choice of campsites. We did some hiking and saw moose, fox and beavers in Algonquin park.

Young moose - Algonquin Park

Fox that visited our campsite

Canada's capital city, Ottawa

Locks on the Rideau canal

We drove to Indiana and spent a week at Handy Camp, the camp for mentally disabled adults where we had been volunteering for the past 7 years. It was really great to see everyone again. David was pared up with two campers, both named David, as well as being designated the cabin dad so he had an exhausting week. Deb was pared up with a 19 year-old named Ann. As usual, camp was great fun and spiritually uplifting.

Dave and Dave at Handycamp

Deb and her cabin mates

After camp, we stayed with friends in Indianapolis and did a lot of visiting. It was great to see many of our old friends, but didn't get to see everyone - maybe next summer. It's been a year since we've had jobs but the time went by so fast, it feels like we've just been on a two-week vacation.

In July, Deb went back to Indiana for two more weeks of Handy Camp while David started his job working for General Airspray. The company is based in Lucan, near London but works out of Kapuskasing in northern Ontario. There are two crews with four pilots and two ground crew each. The pilots stay at a hotel in town and drive back and forth to the landing strip each day which can be anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes each way. The two ground crew take turns staying out in the bush with the airplanes and in town at the hotel. The landing strip is a gravel road through the forest. They park two pickup trucks about a mile apart to block the road while the planes are landing just in case someone comes along. The planes spray sections of the forest that has tree saplings but the weeds are shading them. The herbicide kills back the weeds so the trees can grow. David is happy with the job, all of the people are very nice to work with. His crew consists of Paul, the owner of the company, Rick, a retired truck
manufacturer and world champion moose caller, Jeff a construction worker, Charlene an airport ramp attendant, and Tracy a self-employed photographer. Paul, Rick and Jeff fly the bi-wing Ag Cat airplanes that spray the chemicals. Charlene flys a Super Cub and is the spotter, making sure there are no hikers in the areas they are going to spray and keeping an eye on the guys in the spray planes. Tracy is the other ground handler and lives in Kapuskasing.

Deb drove up to Kapuskasing at the end of July, it took three days to get here from southern Indiana. It was a beautiful drive along the eastern shore of Lake Superior.

Eastern shore of Lake Superior

We alternate with Tracy spending two nights in town, then two nights in the bush. The pilots only fly when the weather conditions are perfect - cool temperatures, no wind, high humidity so they can go several days in a row without flying. It is very peaceful out in the forest. We stay in an RV and have air conditioning and satelite TV if we want it. We find that we don't use them much. We play cards, read and cook meals most of the time.

First campsite in the bush

Spray planes parked on the road

Dave relaxing in the RV

When we're in town, we eat meals at the restaurant next door, chat with the other crew members, do laudry or shop for groceries. It is all very laid back and pleasant. Since we're so far north, we're missing the heat wave that is hitting the rest of the country.

Today on our drive back to town we saw a small black bear walking across the road, but we did not ask him why he was doing it. Probably just to get to the other side!

Black bear

After leaving Vancouver Island, we rode the Trans-Canada highway to Cache Creek through the Frazer River and Thompson River canyons. This part of British Columbia is very dry, turning to desert as we rode east. The scenery was spectacular with various hues of tan and brown with a blue river bordered by train tracks on both sides. We stopped to stay with friends of David's that were originally from Ontario, Mike and Mandy. As a teenager, David used to go moose hunting in northern Ontario with his dad and Mike so it had been many years since he had last seen him. Mike and Mandy were wonderful hosts and we were able to get some much needed rest. They provided us with great meals made from vegetables they had grown in their garden and hogs they had raised. They had a beautiful home they built themselves and had created a little oasis in the desert with green grass and willow trees bordering the property. One day we went to visit Mike's brother who is a beekeeper and watched him extracting the honey from the hives. They also took us on a tour of the area.

After five nights with Mike and Mandy, we said good-bye. Our first stop was Kamploops where we got haircuts and did a little shopping. From there, was drove east through Vernon and the landscape became lush once again with spruce covered mountains, blue lakes and many, many twisty roads. At the end of the day, we stopped for gas at a town called Nakusp. A local man came over and started talking to us about motorcycles. He had missed the summer riding season while waiting for a part for his Kawasaki. Toward the end of our conversation, we asked where we might find a campground. He told us where to find one, then suggested that we camp at his place, it was much closer. We said ok and followed him to his house. He had a large, beautiful log home on North Arrow Lake in a perfect setting. When we arrived, he said we didn't have to put our tent up if we didn't want to, we could stay inside. The lower level of the house had a bedroom, tv room and bathroom with a view Saddle Mountain across the lake. We took him up on his offer. We learned that he was a refugee from Hungary in the 1950s who was now an engineer. We spent the evening and next morning talking. When asked what his wife would think of him taking in strangers, he said that said that she would be happy about it. Just that day they had decided to offer up their home to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

We left Gene's house in the morning and rode to the Toad Rock Motorcycle campground near Balfour for the Horizons Unlimited
Travelers meeting. We met many interesting and like-minded people there. We met Hideke from Japan who has been traveling for three years and has two more to go. We also met two guys from the UK, Mike and Jon, who were two months in to their multi-year adventure. We hope to see him on the road in the next year. There were also people who had completed long trips and had good information to share. It was great to see slide presentations and technical seminars on how to prepare for a long distance trip. We learned that we need to purchase a few more spare parts for our motorcycles. It rained for three days straight and we were thankful that our tent kept us dry.

After leaving the meeting, we slowly worked our way south back in to the United States following the Columbia River. We stayed at a hotel across from the Grand Coulee dam and spent the evening watching films about the dam and the surrounding geology and a laser light show on the dam after dark. The next morning we took a tour of the dam and then left town, following the grand coulee. We were surprised to find eastern Washington to be so scenic.

Farther south, we stopped at a scenic overlook and saw a beautiful mountain rising high above the others. We didn't know which one it was and later discovered that it was Mt Rainier. We spent the day riding through the Mt Rainier National Park. It was fabulous riding and when we arrived at the highest point of the road were a little sappointed to find that the mountain was shrouded in cloud barely above our heads. We were glad we had such a beautiful view earlier in the day.

We left Mt Rainier National Park and rode forest service roads in to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We camped in what appeared to be an old growth forest.

From there we rode as far as we could to the top of Mt St Helens. Twenty-five years after the eruption, the devastation is still very visible, trees flattened by blast, some areas with barren trunks still standing. Because of the lack of trees, the views are outstanding. It was very cold, in the 40s at the top so we put our electric vests and gloves on and stayed toasty warm.

After leaving the Mt St Helens area, we rode south to the Columbia River gorge and then west into Portland, Oregon. After spending the night in Portland, we rode over to the coast and down highway 101. It rained most of the day, but the ocean and shoreline still had a ghost-like beauty.

After leaving Glacier National Park in Montana, we rode north on the east side of the park, crossing in to Alberta, Canada and Waterton Lakes National Park. The views of the Rocky Mountains were and the Waterton lakes were just beautiful. We traveled on highway 3 east in to British Columbia, a very scenic road with spruce and fir covered mountains and sparkling rivers. After spending a night in Cranbrook, we headed north and east back in to Alberta toward Lake Louise.

About fifteen miles from our destination it started to rain. We arrived at the campground and picked out a campsight then went to hang out in the shelter until the rain let up. Most of the people camping in tents came to the shelter to their cook dinners so we enjoyed conversing with them. Over our three nights in the campground, there were four others that we got to know by hanging out in the shelter due to the cold and rain. There was Jerry from Edmonton who knew all of the trails in the area and gave us advice on what to do, Tess and Tracy from San Francisco who were avid hikers and rock climbers and Paul from Belgium who quit work 15 years ago and spends most of his time travelling. Our second day at Lake Louise, it rained all day so we just walked in to the village to buy some food and then back to the campground and hung out with the others in the shelter. It wasn't until our third day there that we actually got to see the lake. The weather was beautiful that day. Lake Louise is a milky turquoise color due to the rock being ground to powder by the glacier that feeds it. We hiked the entire day, first along Lake Moraine, another beautiful lake and then along Lake Louise up to the Plain of Six Glaciers tea house. For Deb, it was a difficult hike, but the views were worth it and we treated ourselves to tea and scones at the tea house that is only accessible to hikers. On our last day after having breakfast in the shelter, we returned to our campsite and found Jiffy Pop, a bottle of olive oil and a can of fuel for our stove sitting on our picnic table, gifts from Tess and Tracy.

We said goodbye to Lake Louise and took the Icefields Parkway north to Jasper. Without exaggeration, this must be THE most scenic drive in all of North America. It is 140 miles of highway snaking it's way through two national parks, Banff and Jasper, where mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and tree-lined turquoise streams abound. The first night in Jasper we stayed in a private residence, it's much more affordable than the hotels. The next two nights were spent at the Whistlers campground. We went on hike to Cavell glacier, we were hoping to see an iceberg calve from it since it was a warm day, but no luck. We also went in to an ice cave just below Angel glacier, we took our chances that there wouldn't be an avalanche while we were there. One day we hiked to three lakes, this was the least crowded hike, we saw only one other couple the entire afternoon. The downside to having fewer people on the trails is that we have to be more vigilant regarding bears.

We road the Yellowhead Highway north to Prince George from Jasper. At one point there was construction with deeply grooved pavement. On a motorcycle, traction is everything and these grooves didn't provide for much traction, it was very scary but we drove slowly and managed to get through it ok. In Prince George we got a great deal on lodging, a room at a college with our own showers for $25. We checked in to taking a ferry from Prince Rupert to Vancouver Island but was told it was fully booked until Sept. 4 so the girl at the information booth suggested we take the ferry from Bella Coola instead. She said the road is part gravel but it is a well maintained road and the gravel is packed down. We said ok so we paid for the ferry trip. Later that evening, we were reading some of the brochures about the area and saw something that said the Bella Coola road has a 9 km section with grades of up to 18%, difficult for any type of vehicle. Usually, a warning sign will indicate if the steepness of the road is 6% or more, we couldn't imagine an 18% grade. For a second we thought, maybe this is not the road that we will be traveling on but then we saw a map with a gravel section labled "The Hill". The last two times Deb dumped her bike were during the dirt bike training while practicing turning on a steep hill and then in eastern Montana on the gravel road. Now we would be combining the two for an extra challenge. The morning we left Prince George, we stopped to get air in our tires and asked about the road to Bella Coola. These are the comments we heard "The nasty gravel doesn't start until you get to the top of the mountain. You guys will have a blast going The Hill on those things, its one switch back after the other. Before you start down, just look over the side and you'll see little colored dots, those are cars that have gone over the side. Sometimes you can't see where the road goes in front of you."

We went south from Prince George to Williams Lake, our last chance to back out of the road to Bella Coola, but we didn't, we turned west on highway 20 and into the Chilicon Valley. We stayed at a great little place in Tatla Lake, an inn with three rooms and a restaurant. It was located on a lake and had a beautiful view of the mountains. We met two other couples there, one from Victoria, BC and one from Michigan. We enjoyed spending the evening with them. The first 60 miles of gravel wasn't bad at all, it was hard-packed and just slightly rougher than pavement. Then the road turned to mostly dirt with some gravel for about 30 miles and then we started experiencing grades of 9%, 10%, 12%, 15%, and 18%.

Deb was terrified but took it very slowly, especially in the sharp turns. Almost at the bottom of the mountain the road turned back to pavement. We both made the sign of the cross when our tires hit the pavement. The Bella Coola valley was beautiful with lush forests and the fast flowing Bella Coola river. We pitched our tent at a campground on the river (the only tent). In the evening, the owner told us that the river warden stopped by and asked her to let us know that a grizzly was sited down at the river just outside the campground. She said that they have never had a bear come into the campground. We were a bit uneasy with this knowledge, but decided to stay in the tent anyway. The next morning, we were thankful to still be alive. We went on three different hikes, one to a waterfall with hundreds of salmon spawning, two through old growth forests of cedar and spruce. The forests were so magical with an openess due to the high canopy and the undergrowth covered with moss, all lit in a greenish glow; it felt like there should have been a city of elves living there. It was hard to remember to be wary of bears. In one stream, even though there weren't any rapids, we saw salmon jumping out of the water as if they were trying to climb a waterfall.

We boarded the ferry early on a Friday morning and met several other couples. That evening about 17 of us set up our sleeping bags in the solarium and it was like a big slumber party for people over 40 years old. The views of the fiords were beautiful. At one point, we passed the place where Alexander McKenzie reached the Pacific travelling overland in 1793. In the afternoon it started raining so we couldn't see much due to the clouds and it rained the rest of the trip but we had a great time anyway.

We arrived on Vancouver Island on Saturday morning and rode in the rain to Telegraph Cove. We set up our tent and had a few hours without rain that we used to explore the area. Telegraph Cove is a boardwalk community, all the homes are now tourist accomodation or stores, but it was interesting. This area is the best place to see killer whales but we didn't see anything from shore and decided not to take the whale watching tour. The next day, we packed up in the rain and drove south to Campell River and the day after that, we drove across the island to Ucluelet and Tofino on the Pacific side. We had just a couple of hours without rain and we hiked the Wild Pacific Coast Trail. It had beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. The next morning, we rode for a while in the rain and then decided to wait until the rain stopped. The road across the island is a very curvy mountain road with about 6 miles of loose gravel due to construction.

Finally, on our last day on the island, we had sunny weather. We stopped at a BMW dealer in Victoria and Dave bought a new front tire. Victoria is a very beautiful city with a British feel. We took a tour of the parliment building and the Royal British Columbia Museum and then took a ferry back to the mainland.