T-minus five hours...

I'm going in for laser eye surgery in five hours.

It's been 10 years of wearing glasses and waking up to grab them. All I can hope is that there are no complications today and that I'll be able to see clearly.

There are certain people I trust more than myself when driving. There are people I trust more to fly planes when I'm on one. I don't know how to trust someone with my eyes.

Here's an example of what epi-lasik looks like. I made the mistake of watching it.

Good thing they have chill pills there.

New plug and four days till laser surgery

Yesterday I headed out to the Shooting Edge where EarInc has their Calgary location. I was surprised to see how large the showroom was and how many gadgets there now are available for hunters and folks with firearms. I also didn't realize that a Pelican Flashlight could cost $223.00!

So I got my second earplug made and it sounds pretty good. I'm really pleased that I went back to go and get it after the motorcycle show last week. I also saw a few gadgets at the Shooting Edge that might be worthwhile to bring on the trip.

All of this is to distract me from the fact that I've got my surgery on Thursday. I'm still nervous as all heck about it.

More to come...

What?

.... I can't hear you!

I'm busy wearing my new ear plugs! Ok, so I only have one so far. But it's so comfortable once it's up to body temperature that I've ordered another one for my good ear. I'll be going in on Saturday to get injected with silicone once again.

All this earplug talk is a nice distraction from my eye surgery which is one week away.

More to come...

A great motorcycle show

My hat goes off to everyone who put in long hours at the Calgary Motorcycle Show. It was a great event and was well attended.

The news of the weekend for me is that I got a custom earphone manufactured. I'm completely deaf in one ear so stereo sound is lost on me. In fact it's annoying to only hear a guitar and wonder, "What happened to Mick Jagger? I was certain he sang in this part of the song." Then, upon switching earphones asking, "Hey Mick, where'd Keith go?"

EarInc.ca is where I got them done. Linda did a great job, but I have to say, it's an odd feeling having silicone injected into your ear. I bought the deluxe, custom molded model and got it for half the show price because they only need to make one! The plug is being wired for mono sound as well so I get both channels in one ear. The great news about it is that the earphone also acts as an earplug, blocking sound to make riding more comfortable.

It wasn't that comfortable for Dylan though when we went back to the booth to pick up our plugs after they dried. He got a custom pair of earplugs done in a two colour swirl pattern; orange and black.

He tried them on when we picked them up and claimed they didn't fit well at all. Odd for a custom plug that's molded to your exact ear.

"Oh" the woman proclaimed, "that was you. I'm glad we got that sorted out!"

Apparently another person (with larger ears, purchased the same plugs in the same colour combination. They forgot to write one of them down and then didn't know which plugs belonged to who. So they guessed and guessed wrong!

It was a little gross. The woman said that at least Dylan was the first person to come back and try them. What she failed to appreciate is that they came out of the other man's ears in the first place!

More to come...

A fun weekend ahead

I'm pretty excited about the weekend.

Last year at this time I could care less about motorcycles, motorcycling, "adventure travel", and I'd never given a thought to going around the world on a bike. It wasn't until a week from now last year that the idea for a RTW trip came up. As such, I didn't even think about going to the Calgary Motorcycle Show.

This year is another story. I'm definitely looking forward to meeting some of the folks at the show, seeing what products might work well for the trip. So far I've learned that there is a company that makes custom earphones and earplugs there. Normally I wouldn't be thinking this is one of the best booths at the show, but I'm completely deaf in one ear. Protecting my hearing is critical and if I choose to use headphones, one of them is absolutely no use to me and it just gets in the way and transfers static energy into my good ear - giving it a nice electrical shock every few seconds.

There you have it. I'm excited about earplugs.

More to come...

Biting the Bullet

In a previous post I mentioned that I was going to go in for laser eye surgery. Since that time I have been waiting for confirmation of a few facts from Dr. Mitchell's office. Now that I have those facts, I've decided that I will in fact have it done.

Before I waffle again and change my mind, I have the surgery booked for January 18th - Two weeks away!

I asked the patient councillor about my anxiety and how to handle it. Fortunately if I'm too freaked by the whole thing (I watched an epi-lasik surgery online once and nearly lost my lunch onto my keyboard) they have pills to fix that. I'm certainly not big on drug use - I had two shoulder surgeries with no painkillers after the initial doses - but this is a little different.

Until five years ago I had never, ever touched my eye. I decided I wanted contacts and it took more than an hour to get the first one in. Times have changed for me since then, but I still am anxious when I think about touching or messing with my eye.

I've been reassured and comforted and know it's the best thing to do for this trip and to get me out of glasses. I just hope I can chill out enough to let them do it.

More to come...

The trip route is planned!

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. I've been enjoying a few days away from computers to celebrate the holidays but now it's time to get back at it.

We have finished planning our trip route. If you click on the map, it might take you to a larger version... (maybe).



The summary goes a little like this....

Start in Calgary, Canada... head East till we hit the coast at either Halifax, Nova Scotia, or St. John's Newfoundland - Flights will determine what city we leave Canada from as we want direct flights only to ensure our bikes stay with us.

Next we hop on a plane, landing in London, UK. We'll ride North to Liverpool and grab a ferry to the Isle of Man to check out the Isle of Man TT race. From there we'll grab another ferry over to Dublin, then up Ireland to Scotland (with yet another ferry in there) and then down to the channel tunnel to France.

While in Europe we will head northeast though Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. Germany has much to offer in our minds so we'll head south for a while and zig-zag through Germany to Switzerland. Next it's off to Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, then back southeast to Slovakia and Hungary.

Eastern Europe is an area I'm extremely excited about (having lived in London, and done some travel, western Europe isn't as appealing for this sort of adventure, but then again, it's still going to be an amazing section of the journey - I digress).

We will track from Hungary to Ukraine where we will visit Chernobyl. Then, heading north we will go to the very Soviet-style Belarus and further to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia where it is rumoured that Dylan and I have ancestry.

Once in Russia we will tackle St. Petersburg and head to Moscow - a place that has always left me in awe since I was a little boy. In fact, I still have a soviet flag that I bought when the Olympic games were in Calgary in 1988. I was in fourth grade and did a report on the Soviet Union. It continues to fascinate me to this day.

From Moscow we will travel southeast to Samara, Russia. Then we'll be taking the plunge and heading into Kazakhstan. We will visit what's left of the Aral Sea - one of the greatest natural disasters ever created at the hand of man. Onward we will travel across Kazakhstan and then into the Altai region of Russia to get into Mongolia.

Mongolia is my new fascination. Since seeing Ewan and Charlie ride it in "Long Way Round", I've definitely wanted to try my hand at riding through such a mystical and beautiful land. It's going to kick our butts but I think it will be completely worth it.

Hopefully by 2008 the trans-Siberia / trans-Russia is completed. That will make the journey from Ulan-Ude to Vladivostock easier and safer. We've scheduled a couple of weeks for this section of the journey.

Our Russian section will draw to a close at Vladivostock with a two-day ferry ride to Japan. We'll ride from the ferry on the west coast of Japan to Tokyo. From there we grab a trans-Pacific flight to Vancouver, Canada - the homeward stretch.

Earlier this year I rode from Vancouver to Calgary in one day. I never want to do that again. So we've scheduled more time for this beautiful trek of 600 miles (1,000km).

Finally, after four months and an estimated 20,000 miles (32,000km) we will arrive home in Calgary. We will have gone from Here to Here.

Dylan's V-Strom gets a makeover

Dylan and I both bought "silver" V-Stroms. In 2006, "Silver", according to Suzuki meant more like, "Dodge Caravan baby blue champagne metallic".

I bought it in this colour to differentiate my bike from all the sport bikes out there. Since the V-strom is not another crotch rocket, I didn't want it to look like one.

Dylan hated it.

So, after he picked up his bike, using his professional painting skills (no sarcasm here, he is actually does paint aircraft) he decided on a flat black for his V-strom. Here it is in his garage, not yet assembled. He already has the Pat Walsh Crash plate on the bike as it came with it when he bought it.

Take the plunge - or the epi-lasik

I have tried out my last pair of contact lenses and they are not good enough for me to read with. I've tentatively decided that I'm going to take the plunge and get the epi-lasik eye surgery done at Mitchel Eye Centre.

I'm nervous as all heck about it but think it's probably the best option for me. One of the main reasons for it - besides the trip, is that my girlfriend has a couple of dogs and one of them likes to get quite rowdy. I get my glasses licked, booted, knocked, smudged and otherwise messed up at least 10 times in a weekend. It would be great to be able to "fight back" against the dog and be able to see at the same time. Maybe she's just smarter than me and is able to play dirty by knocking my glasses off.

In the meantime

While I'm waiting on deciding whether or not to take the plunge and do the laser eye surgery, I'm trying out some new contact lenses. So far the results are mixed.

For the past few years my contact lenses have been ok for sports but not for anything else. My vision just hasn't been sharp enough with them in. So I tried a new pair called "Pro Clear" - a brand I had never heard of.

These ProClear Contact lenses were nice, but I tore my sample pair taking them out on just the first use. I'm waiting now a couple of weeks to get another sample pair to see how they work.

Dylan and I are nearly finished our route and we'll be giving more details about it soon. We also have a new fundraising / partnership idea that I think might help the trip and make a difference in the community too. Stay tuned.

More to come...

A different angle on laser eye surgery

A week after my experience at Gimbel Eye Centre, I had an assesment appointment at Mitchel Eye Centre, also in Calgary.

The experience was like night and day. I went with a friend who was also having an assesment and we both agreed that Mitchel, or Mitchel's staff and processes are far more thorough and comforting for the prospective patient. The only problem was when I met with Dr. Mitchel to go over my results.

I want to throw the question out there for people, what does 15 percent risk mean to you?
My situation (the scaled-down version) is that I'm far sighted. The proceedure for far sightedness involves steepening the cornea. I have a "steep" cornea already, so there is a risk (15 percent according to Mitchel) that I would develop as he described, "oil drop vision" basically my vision could turn into what you see in the reflection of a drop of oil. It's correctable with another procedure, but it puts me back in my glasses.

I've spent the last couple of weeks thinking about it and I have a new set of contact lenses on order. If I could get away with contacts on the trip, and in life, I think that would be ok. However, contacts have never made my vision clear enough and so I only wear them for sports.

More to come... sooner rather than later this time!

True Fear...

... this time is wasn't riding in the rain near Kamloops, BC.

About 10 years ago, when I started university, I started to get pretty serious headaches. They felt like my eyes were rotting out from behind. After a few months of this, I went to get an eye exam - low and behold I needed glasses.

When I was growing up, I thought it was normal to be able to concentrate and focus my eyes, and then relax and have everything go blurry. I could read the eye charts with ease and tested at 20/10 vision. I had played basketball, learned to shoot and drive all with good success and without glasses. Times had changed.

Jesus was there too.

Fast forward 10 years ago to my scare on the motorcycle when I accidentally forgot to put on my glasses (remember, I'm able to concentrate and focus for a short time now). I rode down the street, came to an intersection and everything went blurry. I found my glasses but lost a lot of confidence.

So, laser eye surgery must be the solution right? I decided to find out.

I went to Gimbel Eye Centre here in Calgary. When I walked in, I couldn't help but think how nice the place looked. It had an air of quality about it. After all, Dr. Gimbel was the pioneer of laser eye surgery in Alberta. Sitting in the waiting room with my friend Diane, I turned to the side and noticed a large painting of a laser eye surgery. The machines were there, an assistant, the surgeon, but then something I found strange - Jesus was there too.

This is a blog about motorcycling around the world, not religion. However, for the sake of accuracy I'll tell you that I'm not a religious person. I try my best to respect the religion of others, and that's about it. However, I feel that Jesus shouldn't be in the operating room with me. What if I was muslim? Buddist? a Jedi? Does the surgeon need luck? Do I? Am I going to die? It all left a bad first impression on me. And then came the testing.

Gimbel Eye Centre is set up for the best possible efficiency. I felt like it was like herding cattle and determining which cows could have surgery. Then getting passed on to the sales department for misleading information.

There were small rooms with five machines and five technicians, five patients and a couple of guests. We bumped into each other, could overhear other people's testing, it was horrible. You get herded around to different waiting rooms to meet with different people, don't even meet with the surgeon (have to book a surgery for that), get told you are a marginal candidate by the optomotrist but an excellent candidate by the sales department. You even get herded out a different door from the one in which you arrive.

Needless to say, the combination of being treated like cattle, being told they'd rather insert a contact lens INSIDE my eye rather than laser me (and not learning ANY of the results of my testing, and knowing that the surgeon would like Jesus in the room for surgery was enough for me to say, "not a flying chance in hell would I ever go to Gimbel Eye Centre". So I went to visit the Mitchell Eye Centre for another round of testing...

More to come... (and apologies for the lack of posts this week. I'm "Sprinting to the Finish" at the office)

The longest day yet

I was fairly tired when I got to Vancouver to visit with Bronwen and Neil and I was happy to start drooling on their couch when everyone got to sleep.

The next day I spend hanging out with Neil and getting to know him a bit better. Bronwen and I have been friends for years and, although she'd known Neil longer, I hadn't met him until they started dating a couple of years prior.

The next morning I got up with only one destination in mind - back home in Calgary.

Normally I wouldn't attempt such a long day in the saddle. However, the woman I was dating had been in Europe for five weeks and I was anxious to see her again. She arrived the day I was in Vancouver.

I set off a lot later than I'd hoped. Getting everything ready to go and double checking it took more time than I expected. Then, with directions out of town from Neil, I headed out of Vancouver toward Calgary.

The majority of the trip is a blur at this point (it was a few months ago). I know it was cool and cloudy in Vancouver and then it warmed up in the interior and cooled off when I approached Alberta again. I rode straight through, stopping for fuel and snacks only.

There was one stretch where I was briskly passed by a new VW GTI. I estimated it was going about 190km/h or so in a 100km/h zone. In all honesty, that was the thing I remember most about the journey.

I arrived in Calgary in the middle of the evening, having ridden about 600 miles (1000km). I parked my bike at my girlfriend's apartment and called her, pretending I was in Vancouver still. - Until I asked her to come downstairs.

"Hey, want to grab a coffee?"

Sitting down to lunch at good ol' A&W, I pulled out my map. Fortunately I had purchased a laminated version of BC and Alberta so I could still read it after the storm. I took a look at the map and realized how far I had ridden - and how far I really could go. So I made a call....

I called my friend in Vancouver at work and said, "Hey, what are you doing tonight? Want to grab a coffee?"

I realized when looking at the map that I was only three and a half hours away from Vancouver. Surely I had it in me to keep riding and make it all the way from Jasper, Alberta to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Following up on my coffee invitation I said, "Oh, and can I crash at your place tonight? I'm going to be a little tired"

So my coffee date with Bronwen and Neil was a go and I got back on the bike and rode the additional four hours (considering city traffic) to Vancouver and their new house in Kits. The sky had opened up once again and the storm seemed like a distant memory after I stopped for lunch. It was a beautiful day once again.

Boy was I glad to see friendly faces when I got into town that night. I was exhaused but I'd completed my longest riding day just a day after completing my previous longest riding day. I rode just over 800 kms (500 miles) in one day.

We had a good visit and I hit the couch. Zzzzzzzzz.....

I think I'm going to die now...

I have never been hit with such a fury in my life. I slowed the bike down to about 60km/h and the wind was tossing me around the road and throwing the rain with all its gusto at me.

Two thoughts were running through my head. Ok, three. The first, "Just relax your grip and keep looking ahead", second, I don't want to die and third, "I'm so incredibly happy I'm not on the KLR right now."

The spray from vehicles cut my visibility down quite drastically. I tried using the little rubber blade on the thumb of my gloves to wipe my visor. It only made things worse. I kept going.

The storm lasted for about half an hour. I rolled into Kamloops about 20 minutes after that. I was cold and felt like I had been mauled by a crocodile. So I stopped for fuel and lunch.

Then looked at the map and made a phone call...

A cold, wet hell ahead

Off I went on my way to Kamloops BC, about 6.5 hours away from Jasper. It was another stunningly beautiful day with a warm, but not hot breeze, bright blue skies and some of the most spectacular scenery on Earth. Until I got to about an hour from Kamloops.

That's when the wind started and I pulled over because I could see the storm ahead. I struggled to quickly put on my my waterproof jacket and pants because the wind was so strong. I had never experienced - or noticed experiencing being in such a quickly changing weather system. Looking West I saw a warm summer day. Looking East I saw a wall of cold, wet hell. I got back on the bike and kept riding. Maybe I could make it to Kamloops, or close to it, before the storm itself hit me.

I was wrong.

More to come...

A night in Jasper - what if?

After fuelling up the V-Strom, I headed across the street as two guys with BMW 1200 GS Bikes were there, and their bikes looked like they had been through a lot. I chatted with them for a few minutes. They were on a ride from Arizona to the Jasper area and back. It was nice to see someone else who was actually doing a long ride as I had never met anyone who had before. After a few minutes chatting they went on their way and I decided to change the oil in the bike.

I changed the oil and then set about finding a campsite for the night. I ended up riding another 75km or so before I found one that wasn't full. It was an enjoyable twisty road up a long hill near Castle Mountain.

Setting up camp I realized I had never done anything like this by myself before. It was nice to be alone with my own thoughts for the night. The trip around the world, my ride to Jasper, what life on the road would be like were all things that I pondered.

How would Dylan and I get along? What if... ah, the "what ifs". That's exactly what this trip is about. It's about conquering "what ifs" that we will face before the trip and during it. The "what ifs" from our friends and colleagues. The "what ifs" from the people we meet while planning this adventure. The "what ifs" will cause the trip to never happen unless the obvious ones are planned for and the others become an acceptable part of the risk we will face. Heck, I got a big "what if you encounter a bear" when I was entering the campground in Jasper as a warning from the warden. If the "what if" of encountering the bear was so bad, why would I even camp? Why would I ever go to such a beautiful place? Why bother?

The bother is that it's about experiencing life. I've spent too much of my life in classrooms and in achingly boring corporate meetings rife with buzzwords and balderdash to not go out at least once and stick it out there. We might get hurt, we might end up in jail somewhere, we might be delayed by politics or nature. The point is, that's ok. I have as much chance of getting hurt walking down the street, or as Dylan learned first hand, trying to get a glass of milk.

Ahem,
The next morning I didn't expect I'd sleep in as late as I did. I'd slept well and was very excited about tearing the camp down and moving on. I loaded the bike back up and headed toward Kamloops, BC. I calculated it to be about 6.5 hours away.

More to come...

Icefields and fuel fears

A couple of weeks after the glasses scare, I decided to finish breaking in the engine on the V-Strom. What better way to do that than a trip up the icefields parkway from Calgary to Jasper, Alberta. I thought I’d take a few days and see what it was like to camp while traveling with the bike. So I loaded it up with my camping gear and set off.

What an amazing road the icefields parkway is. It’s closed to truck traffic and it’s smooth as silk. I left Calgary with nearly a full tank of fuel and rode confidently up the highway, past the Columbia Icefield on route to Jasper. Then my fuel gauge started to flash.

Since I had only ever run one or two tanks of fuel through the bike, I was guessing on the fuel economy. I also didn’t consider the extra weight and drag associated with my luggage. I slowed down to a more economical speed with about 130km to go and my fuel gauge already warning me that I was running low. I had passed the “no fuel for 200km” sign 70km prior. When I left Calgary I thought I could make it with one tank of fuel.

I had never been to Jasper before so I didn’t recognize the road or the scenery along the way. I began to get more and more nervous as there were few signposts along the way to tell me how much further I had to go. Then my fuel gauge flashed differently. This time it meant, “dude, you’re really running low now.”

Jasper seemed like an eternity away. I slowed down further. What was left of the traffic, which wasn’t much, started to pass me. Then the sign showing Jasper was around the corner, about 20km away came into view. “Would I make it?” I wondered.

I rounded the bend into town and got slowed down by some road construction just before the town. Oh great.

Finally I rolled into town and made it to the first fuel station I could find. The V-strom took 21.5 litres of fuel. Thankfully there was a full litre of fuel left in the tank. I was pretty tired from the possibility of running out of fuel, and I had ridden by far my longest day yet – 435kms (270 miles).

More to come…

Getting a GIVI case: More than I bargained for

When I bought the V-Strom, I ordered a Givi topcase for it. Off I went, back to Turple Bros. in Red Deer, Alberta to pick it up.

I picked up the case and strapped it to the back of the bike. It was a beautiful summer day in early July and fairly hot out so I was anxious to get on the road and get the air flowing again. Getting ready to head back to Calgary, I took off my glasses to put on my helmet and the rest of my motorcycle gear - my helmet, jacket, gloves, earplug (just one because of being deaf) and then I headed off.

Turple Bros. is located right near the Queen Elizabeth II highway, otherwise known as highway 2. There is just a couple of four-way stop intersections on the service road until you get to the highway. I made it through all of them and came to a stop at the last one. As I looked around to make sure the intersection was clear, my vision went completely blurry.

No doubt I swore a few expletives as I realized my own idiocy. I had gotten on the bike and rode off without my glasses. I was scared, angry and embarassed all at the same time.

Fortunately I am farsighted. I can focus my eyes at any distance for short periods of time. I realized I didn't put my glasses on right after putting my helmet on. My eyes adjusted when I closed them to put on my helmet and I thought I could see clearly. When I got to the intersection, my eyes relaxed and everything blurred out.

So there I was, almost on the highway and I couldn't see and didn't know where my glasses were. I pulled the bike over to the side and took the long walk back to the dealer. Perhaps they fell off the bike when I got on it. Nothing.

I walked by the side of the road back to my bike. Nothing.

Then I headed back to the dealer to double check to make sure I wasn't looking the wrong direction and walked past them. I hoped I would find them and I wished they were not shattered.

Looking down the road for anything shiny, I was reminded how much garbage people litter. Every chocolate bar wrapper, every drink bottle, every piece of broken glass caught my attention. Heck I'd never looked for a pair of glasses by the side of... oh wait, I have, but that's another story. Anyway, I've never looked for my own glasses by the side of the road, particularly while not being able to focus my eyes.

I realized that looking at the side of the road was part of the solution and I focused my effort on the middle of the road (bad pun intended).

It was hot, I was wearing my motorcycle jacket, I couldn't see, I hadn't eaten much that day and I had been walking for almost an hour. Then they caught my eye.

Running up to them I hoped that they were still usable. Fortunately karma was liking me that day and there were only a couple of slight scratches on the frames. The lenses were still near perfect. What amazing luck.

I rode home and couldn't stop thinking about how simple a mistake I made and how it could impact the trip. I would not be able to do the trip with glasses. I would need to get my eyes fixed first. In the meantime, I bought an extra pair of glasses to carry under my seat - just in case.

More to come...

A couple of V-strom pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of the V-strom from one of my first mini trips on it. Once again, out to Kananaskis Country.




And the front of the bike...




And one fully loaded up on a trip across British Columbia. This was taken near Jasper, Alberta.