Transportation Options when the RV is Parked

Last year, I just ran with the motorhome.... it was a marathon, with few real stops and not a lot of inhaling of the sweetness of roses and sea air.   This year, not so.   But I will need some transport once stopped ... <* he thought to himself *>.   Then a pass through kijiji brought about an idea ... a scooter.

Scooters in 2016 are not what I recall many, many years ago.  They have come a long way !  At any rate, evaluating options, it boiled down to weight and the ability to carry the scooter without breaking the bank.  The Suzuki Burgman 400 and 650 seemed like good options ... motorcycles really .. but they are heavy at 500 and 600 pounds each !   The carrier for that would need to be hefty and expensive.  

So then I spy these little Italian Aprilia 200s ... nice shiny red, low km, at the local motorcycle shop. They are 340 pounds .. not light, per se, but manageable with a hitch mounted carrier.   "Someone Trade-in the pair ?", I asked.   "yup ... it was a divorce."   Two of em.  Ah.  Perfect.  From one to another ... a new life.   "What sort of deal for both of them ?"  ....

Thinking this could be fun around Stanley Bridge for any visitors or family to use !   So, a deal was struck, and buyers remorse was only slight, since the costs were quite reasonable, at least from my searching history on the net.  I had researched carriers and decided the Boss Truck Accessories unit was good ... and distributed from Ontario !

I call Paul Nicolaou on the telephone ... I needed this carrier quick - he had it on courier that afternoon.   Two days later, I pick it up at the purolator office as I was in town.   Wow ... Awesome service ... Perfect.   Now ... to mount that bad boy!  It is solid ... very impressed with the unit.   This should work great.   I'll have transportation where I go and no hit to fuel like dragging a car with me ... Happy Guy.  (notice the icicles hanging off the motorhome !!  I need a warmer climate .. Ha !)

This is all good ... On the road shortly !

Cheers, sd

Back at the Blog ... after a Year Hiatus ... and on my way back to Florida

What a Year - 2015

I left the snow in PEI March 05 2015, heading south in a 32' motorhome with Ceilidh and Connor - two Great Pyrenees that were awesome pals. With great anticipation and uncertain emotion, I headed west.  This page covers a bit of the 2015 trip ... I had intended to record more, but never got there :-).

Connor & Ceilidh
with Uncle Mac at the picnic.

Driving south in march, I got through to Florida, visited with relatives, went to the 2015 PEI Picnic in St. Petersburg (look for the dogs :-), and started in heading to Key West ... always wanted to go there ... then there was that split second where the attention to the dogs should have been devoted to the road ahead !

Ah nuts. The truck in front, that I had been following for 20 miles, just slammed on his brakes. I wasn't going to stop in time. I veered, and caught about a foot of the left side, bumped the truck ahead about 6 feet, and crumpled in the front end. A write-off. Ah nuts.

Long story short, and two weeks later,
<---- this moved up to this ---->

Amazing difference going from 32' gas engine with one slide to a 40' diesel with a tag axle and four slides.  The 2005 Country Coach is a great cruiser & much easier to drive than the Tiffin Allegro Bus !


So ... on from Ft. Myers, Florida (two weeks of packing up the dogs each day to search RV lots - then find a dog park - before all was ready to go), to Orlando to catch up with Doug S., a work mate I greatly admire, and on to Louisiana to visit with Lawrence Blanchette and a golf tournament in Texas, then on through New Mexico and up through California, up through Oregon.

Wally playing croquet
in Oregon

Missing these guys & Robbie
the cat - bid adieu May '15

Onward into the fray. I had a great visit with Wally "Bubba" and a few games of Croquet in Portland Oregon.

The dogs liked the forested areas around Wally's home ... Portland is truly a wondrous and beautiful City.

I made it through Seattle, and back for the April fools Croquet Tourney and thereafter spent a month or so in BC to sort belongings, wave bye to friends and family, and head back to PEI.

Friends in PEI remained in text and email contact. That was comforting and allowed the windshield to become the true view to the future. On the trip back across Canada and the US, it was surely with mixed emotions but, with few other choices, I was oddly content with this new adventure placed in front of me.

Being that this is almost a year later since then <*smile*> I won't recant many details, but I do recall the Mount Rushmore tourist mecca in North Dakota - indeed an impressive bit of rock sculpture. After a quick tour there, I stopped in to Walmart where the speaker belted out a siren and a voice "Tornado alert - please move to the back of the store". Really ??? Here I left the Moho out in the nether reaches of the parking lot - apparently for the Tornado to focus on. I tapped my heels repeatedly and kept saying "there's no place like home". After a few minutes, the alert was over .... phew. No journey to adjacent counties seeking my ride !!

Rainbow in North Dakota before the tornado

Mount Rushmore ahead ....

Mount Rushmore

I stopped in Toronto for a couple of days for a great visit with JB and Nanc - life long friends whose company I always cherish and enjoy. I arrived back in PEI in June 2015 to begin anew. A whirl wind tour of 16,000 km summarized in one page .... I intended to write more often.

Here I write one year later, in March 2016.    I have been fortunate with the passing of that time - blessed with good friends and I have a lasting respect and love for a lady who was part of me for 30 years ... may she find what she wants, needs, and deserves. There are other kind souls we will meet, and indeed, my heart and spirit have been warmed and elevated by special friends already.

And now.... to a moho trip in 2016 .... I have actually booked some time in Bald Head Island, North Carolina, and Key West,  Florida .... I have some croquet to play.

I will be keeping some google maps and things ... and will link as I go. Here are a couple I have started.

The Trip Planning ... routing and destinations.

Must See Attractions run across on google

Ride along with me.
Cheers
sd