The Adventures of FriarJohn on Two (and Sometimes Four) Wheels

Canadian dollar hits 47-year high

At 1500 GMT, the American dollar was worth only 95.47 Canadian dollars, while the loonie, a sobriquet given to the Canadian dollar, was being traded for 1.0474 US dollars.

And just four short years ago, $100CAN cost me $72US. No hooker for John during the Triumph Rally in Nelson, BC, next July…

::sigh::

Motorcyclist offers apology and restitution to members of D.U.M.B. (PDF, via BonnevilleAmerica.com)

These Motivational Posters are pretty good. This one explains my vacation last month:

And, of course, the one I made years ago:

• I won 370 off the slot machines ($120 at Pechanga and $250 at the Rio) while only spending $70 of my own money.
• I really need a heated vest and grips or gloves if I’m going to travel long distances in Spring or Fall. Monida pass was very cold.
• The casinos, especially the Harrahs empire, are brilliant, insidious and evil all at the same time. They’ve certainly drawn in my father, uncle and grandmother. I can only guess at how much money my uncle has spent generating his “7 star” status. Everybody’s gotta have a hobby. I certainly didn’t have a problem availing myself of the rooms paid for by my uncle’s credits and the food paid for by my dad’s credits at Pechanga and the Rio.
• I had a great time reconnecting with most of my family. I had a lot of fun with Kevin, Paul, Julie and Julie’s husband Ed. Some of my other cousins (and/or their spouses) need therapy. Some also need pharmaceutical help on top of therapy. One or two need a personality transplant.
• My cousin Julie’s pool is INSANE-ly cool and cost almost as much as I paid for my house in ’99. It’s got faux boulders, two waterfalls, a waterslide and an attached but elevated hot tub. However you’d never suspect it was back there because the house is in a rather unremarkable, typical suburban Inland Empire neighborhood.
• Going in I had the most trepidation about seeing my grandmother, but she was cool. You could knock me over with a feather. We’re not going to be BFFs anytime soon, but she seems to have lightened up a great deal over the past decade. Maybe it’s because I’m one of the few who isn’t gunning for her money. I know she was dying to say something about my weight but my dad told her not to. I was ready for it but it was probably better that she didn’t.
• Yosemite and Zion National Parks were awesome. They weren’t necessarily better than Yellowstone or Glacier, just different. And equally spectacular.
• Las Vegas and Henderson have changed an insane amount in 12 years. I know Vegas is the fastest growing city in the country, but I was ill-prepared. The traffic was worst than SoCal.
• I met face to face with several people I met on BonnevilleAmerica.com. They showed me a great deal of hospitality for which I am grateful. I stayed with Bob (Habuba) and Amy Lee in Chowchilla, CA, and Dwight and Judie in El Camino Village, CA. I met Doug (Soul_Survivor) from Torrance. And I had lunch in Boulder City, NV, with Bill (Bigbill) from Las Vegas and Mike (EAGBE) from Henderson, NV.
• I managed to find a Triumph dealership that would still let me enter in the drawing for a free Rocket III.
• Brianne makes a mean margarita and cooks up a nice steak.
• My only regret on the trip was not stopping during my ride down Pacific Coast Highway to take a picture of my bike in front of the ocean.
• My trip planning was very thorough. The only thing I forgot to take was the small funnel I use to pour distilled water into the reservoir on my BiPAP. The only thing I decided not to take that I should have taken was my black fleece vest. I ended up buying one in Lima, MT, on the way home.
• This isn’t really related to the trip, except that the thought was inspired by meeting most of my little second-cousins. The Bedard name, at least this spur of it, ends here, or at least with the next generation. The only other male Bedard of my generation has two girls. So unless one of them stays unmarried and adopts, it dies here. Doesn’t really matter — I heard that Quebec is full of ‘em.

As most of my readers have already been informed, I am home safe and sound. I still can’t believe I pulled it off.

My gallery on Picasa is more or less final. I’ve uploaded all the photos and added captions. I’ve also uploaded my pictures from the Las Vegas Bike Fest.

I haven’t updated my wiki page with the final route maps yet, but I estimate that the trip was somewhere around 3200 miles. On the way back I did go through Zion National Park (totally worth it despite my hung-over late start from Vegas Sunday), but skipped the original route I planned north of Salt Lake City which weaved through the mountains. I was cold and tired and opted instead to run up I-15. Yesterday was miserably cold, but I finally rolled into the driveway at 5:30pm. Other than a light sprinkle in Idaho both on the way to Boise on the way down and a few miles south of Pocatello on the way back, I didn’t have to ride through any precipitation. I really lucked out on the weather.

I’ve got some “issues” to deal with on my bike. The front brake needs some attention. The lever won’t return on release causing the pads to drag and the brake light to stay on, until I push the lever back. The front brake reservoir is also leaking fluid. My drive belt is noisier than ever. I may just elect to replace it this winter. Lastly, my valves are clattering like crazy so I need to check the clearances. But all in all my faithful steed carried me all the way through the trip, trouble free. For now the bike is tucked away in my garage. I have no real desire to ride it for the foreseeable future. I definitely need a break, but that’s okay because it’s supposed to snow this weekend.

I’m not usually one for huge write-ups. I may post random bits as I remember them.