Tuesday, August 15

Tuesday is the real deal. Tuesday totally rocks. At least this one did. My actual birthday is on August 4, but it was kind of sucky this year, because I had to work like a banshee, then go out to Mayook to play music at the laying of a memorial stone for our friend Doug that died in the Kimberley mine accident. I lobbied for a new birthday, and when Anie asked what I wanted to do for my birthday, I said:

"I want to ride the scooter over to Nelson while you, Jeff and Marcie and the kids follow behind me. Then I want to hang out there for the day, and eat supper at Baba's (yummy East Indian food)."



So Tuesday was my 'new' birthday. And it was awesome. The scoot was running well, though I kinda had to bomb-start it as I got onto the ferry the first time, I didn't have time for three of four kicks so I just ran and popped the clutch. She fired right up and Anie snapped this pic as I rode onto the Osprey (the big ferry). In Nelson we junked around (Jeff coined that term) and had lunch at Babas. Wandered up and down the cool artsy shops and had Gelato while Jeff and Marcie ducked into Bent Over Leather (you can imagine what they sell in there). It was all for kicks and giggles though, and they even brought the stroller in...it musta looked funny. After that I bugged Jeff about his fuzzy pink hand-cuffs.

As the day wore down, we looked at the ferry schedule and we realized that the next ferry was leaving in 35 minutes, so we thought we'd try to catch it. Couchette fired up third kick, and off we went. I had to buy some cheap oil at the Shell, which I wasn't to keen to do, but there was no time for options and I had just hit the reserve. 27kms to go to the ferry, and 30 minutes to do it.

I tucked my head down behind the handlebars and pinned it out of Nelson. The road there is curvy, but nice to ride. No surprise corners or anything. Some nice long straight stretches. I pretty much kept her at 80km/h from Nelson to Balfour, where the ferry dock is. Turns out, we just squeaked on the ferry and made it back to the East Shore. Home.

Now that is more like it. That was easily my favourite ride so far.

Sunday, August 13

One of the traditions that Jeff and I have is working on our vehicles. Jeff has/had (it's a long story) a VW westy, as do we. Our holidays have often been spent greasy and crawling under the orange busses. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was stressful, but either way it seems to be a tradition.

Jeff and I and our respective wives got married 6 days apart, on a hot August 5 years ago. Jeff and Marcie flew down to Mexico for a week, and we headed south towards Oregon. When they got back from Mexico, they headed south and met us at a campground that I had visited since my childhood, called Beverley Beach, in Oregon. In our vans, we wound our way back up towards canada. After a brief stop to let the dog pee, I got back in and found that the shifter moved about a foot in either direction, and would not go into first. Naturally, it started to rain just then, and I noticed we were parked right on a small lake. No crawling under there. Jeff and Marcie pushed onto the road, where I could get into 3rd and 4th gears. From there we limped it the last half-hour to our campsite. The only hairy part was a 90 degree turn across traffic onto a steep highway on-ramp...there I had to use the old 'rev-pop-drop' technique with the clutch just to keep it going. Momentum is everything. When we got to the campground Jeff and I crawled under the van and found a long bolt missing from the shift linkage. Between us we had enough crap in our toolboxes to have just the right bolt for the job. That bolt is still in there.

Another time was when we were planning on going out to Tofino with them for four days. When we arrived, Jeff was just finishing putting a new engine in his bus. I helped him put the finishing touches on, and then minutes later someting wen't afoul with ours. I couldn't locate the problem, so on a monday, we pulled the engine, stripped it down and discovered a cracked head, went bought heads, put the engine back together, and fired her up. It took 12 hours total. Off we went with a couple of less than impressed wives. Sorry ladies.

We couldn't break tradition, so this time I brought some of my birthday goodies out so that Jeff and I could turn a wrench together without risking getting stuck somewhere. We put the new front tire on the scoot (carrot, crumpet, coronette), and at the same time installed the new speedo cable so we could tell how far and how fast we were going. It all went very smoothly and it turns out the speedo can hit 50mph with new tires on. Not that we went that fast :)

Saturday, August 12

Once we got the scoot up and running, it was the mode of transportation of choice. It worked well since four adults and two babies don't fit in your everyday sedan, but three adults and two children do. The drill became this:

"What do you guys want to do today?"

"How about we go see the artisan shops in Crawford Bay?"

"Sounds good, do you want to ride Couchette (croquet, crumpet, collette) on the way there or on the way back?"

"You ride there, I'll ride back"

"Sounds good"

And so off we'd go, with the perfect escort of a wife driving a car behind us. This served the double pourpose of keeping crazy tailgaters at bay, and building our wifes confidence about how devoted we are to safety on the road. It also nabbed us some good in-ride photos. The top photo is Jeff on his way out of Crawford Bay, where we nipped for some beer and snackies for movie night on the porch. If it looks like he's dwarfing that scoot, it's because he is. At 6' 6", Jeff does not fit well into this world. Every time we pass a shoe store Jeff pops in and asks "Do you have anything in size 14?". Moslty the answer is no.

Thursday, August 10

After frantically ripping all the laths and plaster off the walls of the bedroom and pantry (in prep. for the drywaller coming and reconstructing our living area) and getting all the loose ends tied up at work, I nipped off to a 10 day vacation at our family's one-bedroom cabin at Kootenay Lake. I will also note here that people come from all over North America to ride the stretch of highway between Creston and Kootenay Bay, and I might also add at this point that our cabin is right smack in the middle of this stretch. Did I mention that I trailered Couchette for the holiday out there? All set for one helluva holiday.

The addition of my closest friend Jeff, his wife Marcia, and their cuuute daughter Gracie (who was born two months before our Finn) made the prospects even better, once we sorted out the sleeping arrangements.

On the first whole day, the Friday, it was spitting and raining out, so we did the only thing we knew how to do to ensure it didn't rain for the rest of the time: We bought a tarp. Jeff and I went to the legendary Gray Creek Store for 'supplies' (There you might find everything from a chainsaw to trashy novels, to Bac'n Puffs and more than enough 'vintage' outerwear to keep Sally Ann in business for a year). Needless to say, the moment we got home and erected our tarp over the deck, it stopped raining. I kid you not. And the rain did not return for the whole 10 days...at least not on our deck. With that out of the way, we maneuvered Couchette off her trailer and prepared her for the open road.

My friend Jeff, who speaks english and a smattering of Low German, inadvertently called my scooter 'Couchée', and I made the mistake of correcting him. "No", says I, "It's more like Babette, or Marionette". Jeff is known for is sense of humour, we met in college where he was known as 'The Funniest Guy in School'. He is what they call 'Sardonically Irreverent', which, he will point out to you, is different than 'Sarcastic' or simply 'Ironic'. Well, after his correction, he proceeded to call my beloved steed by every name BUT her proper given name.

"Let's go for a ride on Croquet" he would say. or:

"Are you going to bring Crumpet along?"

Sheesh. Learn the language, Jeff...it is a bilingual country after all, and Sardonically Irreverant is not the second offical language.

All that aside, we had a grand time. Jeff was there for Couchette's first words more than a year ago, and he helped nurse her to life. I was glad to see him take her for his first actual ride. And he did well, for a big man.

it's been a long time comin'

Hello and apologies to my many hardcore fans. Okay, to my three hardcore fans.

I am sorry for the delay, it is just that it is hard to type a blog entry from a cabin in Gray Creek, BC. with no phone, no TV, and nothing to do but relax and ride your scoot. I have much to tell in that regard. The next series of entries will be post-dated since they occurred in the past 10 days, but I am writing them now. Thanks for staying loyal.

nice rack...

Here is a picture of the rack that Couchette...I mean that I got for my birthday. Stainless steel sweetness imported from Ho Chi Mihn City. Good for a sixpack or a bedroll. The Kootenay Scooter Campers Club is born...

hippo birdies to me

Well, it all started well enough, but the day has been quite frustrating, and all work-related. I am juggling a whole buch of crazy stuff... I don't need to go into it here. I don't want to seem ungrateful for the life I have or the air I breathe.

So... in other news, the birthday morning went well. Anie set up the birthday table, as per the Schwarz tradition. And there were a number of cards, some dough, and a rear rack for Couchette from Anie. Absent, but imminent are a number of scooter parts that a conglomerate of family members got together to buy, and I have to say I was stunned by the length of it...I guess that's what you get with the buying power of several (like WalMart for scooter parts). Thanks to Christian for heading that up.

The new 'socks and underwear' for Couchette are:
-Coil/CDI Lambretta (eliminates the old points and condenser system and converts to a 12v system that is much more reliable).
- Flywheel nut
- Flywheel Puller
- Fuel Filter
- High Tension Lead (spark plug cable)
- High Tension Rubber Cap
- halogen bulbs
- Handlebar Ballend Levers
- Headlight reflector
- Keychain (lambretta)
- Rear Badge
- Spark Plug Supressor Cap
- Wheel Jack Stand

Wow. All this should arrive next week. I can't wait. It will be like my birthday all over again. Thanks everyone for all your well-wishes, which are the most important, and the lovely gifts. I am also listening to my new Iron & Wine CD from my Bro, and it is brilliant, calming and powerful.

anticipaction

Tomorrow is my birthday...i wait in eager anticipation. I have a feeling couchette will get some new socks and underwear.

secret sunsets

I took a movie back to the store tonight on Couchette. I have a very hard time going for short rides. I remember summer nights in Vancouver, getting on the highway to go home on a hot summer evening in the '75 VW Wesfalia and feeling this urge to just keep driving. Just go, man. Come back when I have to. The sun setting on Mt. Baker, the air warm like a hair dryer, and everything I need for an adventure is in the gas tank.

It is a smaller, but comparable feeling I get with Couchette. It is a feeling that there is an adventure just around the corner (or around 10 corners) if I am only open to it. I am taken back to the days when every day was a bug waiting to be discovered, a tunnel waiting to be dug, or a secret path to find.

Tonight my adventure was a beautiful view. As I turned to the west along 11th Street, I was greeted by high clouds, puffy rain clouds, mountains, orange sunlight, pink beams and blue backdrop. I won't say it was the most breath-taking sunset I'd ever seen, but it certainly was beautiful enough to make me think about going home to get my camera. My very next thought was "This is my secret adventure for today" and so I keep it to myself. It is mine, and you can't have it.

A fellow's got to have some of his own mysteries in this life. A fellow and his scoot, that is.

Headspace

I was trying to work last night at 9 PM, but my brain wasn't working properly. It was getting dark, but the perfect cobweb remedy is to go for a scoot. So i did. Just a 10 minute jaunt past Elizabeth lake (read: slough) where I inhaled some bugs. Came back refreshed but still not in a working mindspace. So I watched a movie instead.