Friday, November 14, 2014

Victoria - Vancouver Island 31.10. - 07.11.2014

Skippy enjoying her Datorate.
Finally we arrived in Victoria, Vancouver Island in the hope that Skippy can again train her beloved Karate ;) and besides Karate she had some fun in a photo-shoot!
Plenty of delicious vegan options in the grocery store, so no need to tease the poor cows!
Really - hippie food?
Some parts of the neighborhood were a bit spooky.
Girls needed a shower and Ulpu tried to hide under Hertta :D
I needed to find a place to do some regular maintenance on my bike and I tried first the local BMW club - BMW riders Vancouver Island. So happened they had one of their regular meetings and I was able to meet Klaus - a German who lived here for many years and he also rode a sidecar. Anyway the word went around and I had a few options to choose from depending on how our travel across the island went - that was a promising start.

Klaus was really eager in helping us and spread the message that some world travelers were in Victoria right now. The local BMW dealer got very interested to meet us and Bill - the manager - offered to organize a "meet & greet" event. Based on the experiences from our first event in Portland, I did some changes to our background video. Let's see how it will work out this time...
That's the location for our "meet & greet" event 15Nov 11-15.
We had a few sunny days in Victoria and we used one of them to explore the south island a bit. We made a loop from Victoria via Sooke, HWY 14, Port Renfrew, Mesachie Lake, HWY18, Duncan and back to Victoria - all on asphalt. It was a nice ride and the part between Sooke and Mesachie Lake was really beautiful. We had to watch out for slippery road condition due to all the needles and leaves on the road - otherwise real fun.
The stones made strange noises in the waves.
Beautiful scenery (nearby Port Renfrew).
Besides all that fun stuff there were a few things to be organized and so I posted in some internet forums to ask for support, help and advice. I must say that we accumulated a bunch of negative comments for asking those questions and additionally negative comments on our blog - I guess I hit an area where "besserwissers" felt obliged to answer. That was really putting me off and I was very happy to read that some of our fans stepped in and put some things straight. Thanks a lot for your mental support!

We have now been 19 months on the road and road-life ain't easy. Having to deal with such garbage talk in addition is NOT fun at all. In hindsight it might belong to the chapter "lessons learned on asking questions in internet".
Our bikes were parked strategically well for collecting some support. Thank you all who chipped in a few dollars!
Going crazy over great karate clubs! :D
Our track after arrival on Vancouver Island - 620km
Skippy made another travelogue. Enjoy!


~ Wolfi

2 comments:

  1. Saw your bikes outside Spoons restaurant in the hotel on Blanshard Street. Awesome setup and think it's wonderful you're bringing your pups with you. Hope to do an adventure just like yours in a few years.
    Safe travels,
    fellow GS rider.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah - it is a great spot to park :)
      Come and meet us at Island BMW Sat 15Nov, 11-15 :)

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