Motorcycle Ride of a Lifetime!!

Back in Puerto Vallarta last week after my extensive motorcycle ride of +10,000 miles!  I had originally planned to find an older BMW motorcycle here in Puerto Vallarta, but my friend in Denver had the exact one that I wanted.   He reminded me of his planned ride this summer to New Foundland and it would be great to have me tag along before I went back to Mexico with the bike.  It only took about 30 seconds to decide that I really needed to do this ride.  It was going to be a "once in a lifetime" opportunity and as I always say you have to live life to its fullest and do not have regrets about what you should have or could  have done!
After a little airline ticket change investigation, confirmation with the folks back in Denver, and a review of finances I was on board!  Things just seemed to fall into place and it seemed that the stars were aligned for me to make this biggest ride of my life!  This was no short ride and I would probably not be back in Puerto Vallarta until the first week of September. Flying back to Denver, Colorado on July 21st for a week to collect my things, visit with friends and relatives, pickup the 1988 BMW R100 GS (nicknamed the Bumble Bee), it was certainly a busy week.  I managed to even take afternoon ride with my best riding buddy into the Colorado mountains.
Departure date was set for Saturday, July 28th and I was off at 6am to hit the road on this grand adventure that would take me from Denver, Colorado to the northeastern and northwestern tip of Newfoundland and finally back to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  My calculations had put the ride at around 10,000 miles and I knew it would probably end up being a few more as little side roads and places along the road would need to be seen.  The group of riders was an eclectic group from all walks of life, but all retired and were fortunate to enjoy that life, while I was the youngest and still trying to make money for my eventual retirement.  3 bikes came from Denver, Colorado, 1 from Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1 from Omaha, Nebraska, 1 from New York state, and 1 from New Brunswick, Canada; so the grouped was loosely assembled along the way.  I do not mind riding a long day of 600-700 miles, so I would be leaving that Saturday, whilst several already had left the day before on Friday.  Most of group then met for the 1st overnight in Omaha, Nebraska.
Our 2nd night would also be along the interstate into Portage, Indiana.  Finally the 3rd night would be in Canada at our first real tourist stop, Toronto, Canada.  Arriving about midday we had the opportunity to ride the train into downtown Toronto and experience the city center including the top of the CN Tower.
A short ride up to Ottawa put us into the Capital City of Canada my early afternoon again, so we had the rest of the day to enjoy the sights and dinner in the Byward Market area.  The next day would be even shorted and we arrived mid morning at the hotel near the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada.  Only about a 10 minute walk to the subway we were in the center of town in about 20 minutes.  I decided to rent a bicycle and ride around the downtown area including the canals and locks that surround Montreal including a visit to the Atwater Market for some fantastic homemade ice cream.
We headed off early again to be in Quebec City by lunch time and once again were able to take the public transportation into the Old City parts of Quebec City were a local festival was recreating the way of life in those earlier days.
Now the ride was heading into our leader Roy's backyard as he was born in Moncton, New Brunswick.  The longer ride that next day put us into Fredericton, New Brunswick where we met our rider, leader, and host for the ride into these Provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia.  Too keep these blogs from getting too long, I will divide them up.

My 4 year Project "Dad's Escape from Poland" is Published

I have felt for some time that my Dad's life is certainly a story worth being told.  Although it may only serve as a history of our family, I felt it should be told for our family and future generations.  After working for 4 years on this book, I realized that my Dad and I really led parallel lives. While together at times, we also were apart at the same time.  When my search was concluded for collecting data, facts, and historical references, I would also travel back to Poland to explore my Dad's past history.   This story is non-fiction and all facts are true and based on historical documentation as well as on recollections from many individuals involved in this book.
It is now available for download for Kindle on www.amazon.com and in a paperback version at www.amazon.com.  Thanks!

Sunday Morning Walk, Run, Bike Update #3

Another Sunday and another change to the Sunday morning walk, bike, run, and skate Recreactiva event!  Today we were back on Medina Ascencio which is the main road leading from Centro and this time we have a even longer area to bike. It has been extended all the way to the Krystal Hotel about 1/2 km further than before.  This makes the one way route about 3 km, so 6 km round trip.  This is much nicer as now you can veer off and pick up the path along the Pittial River and go up river all the way along the dirt then nicely  pathways inside Fluvial and join up at Francisco Villa.
I am excited about this new route and hope that it stays that way for the duration.  Remember the street closure begins at 8am and lasts until 1pm only on Sunday mornings.   Get out and use it, so that we can show our support and it will become a permanent addition to Puerto Vallarta!

Les Violons du Roy Concert

Last night was another wonderful night at Teatro Vallarta with the presentation of the Canadian group Les Violons du Roy.   With a small group of strings consisting of 9 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 1 bass and a harpsichord thrown in for good measure, the almost completely sold out event was not to be missed!   As part of the May Cultural Festival held here in Puerto Vallarta this must have been the highlight of the month long celebration that has sponsored all types of cultural events all around Puerto Vallarta.
The first half of the concert was dedicated to the classics like Vivaldi's Four Seasons Symphony with each movement presented by a separate violinist solo.  The second half of the concert was a more modern piece by Piazzolia also entitled the 'Four Seasons'.   Excellent performance by all and it was amazing to watch such a small group pull off what normally one hears from an entire symphony.  The natural non-amplified sound carried throughout the theater just perfectly. The conductor Eric Paetkau did an excellent job of leading the group and keeping everyone on tempo.
The group has been touring Mexico and were headed to Mexico City the next day.   Great Job Puerto Vallarta Cultural Festival organizers!!

Puerto Vallarta Men's Chorus Fundraiser

This past Monday No Way Jose Restaurant was the host to the first benefit to raise funds for the newly formed Puerto Vallarta Men's Chorus.  It was a great evening and plenty of donations came in so that the Teatro Vallarta was now able to be reserved performing their first ever show in December 2012. Based upon what we saw that evening, it will be a fantastic show!
The entire restaurant was sold out and the special limited menu donated 25 pesos per entree and 10 pesos per drink to the organization.  Then a raffle was held for about 25 more donated prizes and since it was Jose the owners birthday, a 50 pesos donated cupcake could be purchased.   The evening opened with about 12 of the chorus members singing a tune which was followed by 3 soloists that really demonstrated the abilities of the members.  Wow!  By the end of the evening well over 25,000 pesos was raised.  This just happened to be the amount that the theater required as a deposit for the event in December.
If this was any indication of the beginning by Joyce Ericson and Robert Bruneau just a short 2 months ago, this will not only be the first Gay Men's Chorus in Latin America, it will be one of the best around the world.  Tune in their website www.pvmenschorus.org to keep informed about the upcoming events and probably more fundraisers.   This will not be a group to be missed!  With already 40 members auditioned and ready to go, the chorus is certainly still looking for members.  Do you have a singing voice that you wish to share?  Then join the Puerto Vallarta Men's Chorus and I look forward to seeing you at their first performance in December!

Sunday Morning Bike/Walk/Run Update #2

Seems that the Sunday morning closing of Medina Ascencio for the Recreactiva Events has been changed!  Not sure why.....maybe too much police required to make it work, not enough interest to make it worthwhile, political, etc.?  Who knows but do not despair, it is not gone!  They have simply shortened it substantially and is now located on Francisco Villa from Libremiento to the Stadium those short 5 blocks.  Hope is that it will continue to extend all the way to Pitillal, but who knows if that would happen.   It would be great if it did, because you can connect to the newly renovated path along the Pitillal River and then connect into Fluvial.....now that would be an awesome path.
So now meanwhile we have to deal with the new shortened route, but the good news is that the sidewalk renovations are 95% complete on the ocean side of the main road leading into downtown Puerto Vallarta.  This means that you can join up from the Reactiva area all the way to the Malecon and beyond.  I began riding that route and the new sidewalks on the ocean side (west) are very wide.  I believe the intention of the renovation was to create a bike path along the street edge as that 4 feet of the sidewalk is smooth concrete with ramps at each block.  The rest of the sidewalk is more cobblestone and has planters interspersed.  As long as the walkers can understand the purpose of that portion of the sidewalk you can ride quite nicely.  The ride along the Malecon allows you to go all the way to Daiquiri Dicks before things tighten up and it is not worth the fight with pedestrian traffic beyond there.   But they are finishing the renovations all the way up to Rodolfo Gomez, so maybe the wider sidewalk will work?  I will update you as I try it out!  Ride safe!

La Lancha Surfing Beach

After traveling most weekends all the way over to my favorite beach at Careyeros, I decided to check out the beach at La Lancha.  I had noticed in passing there were always about a dozen cars parked along the Punta Mita Highway at this location.  Wondering where these surfers were going and why had always intrigued me.  So yesterday I made the stop and explored the area myself.  There is severely restricted access to this beach as you have to sign in with a private security guard and you cannot gain access without a surf or boogie board.  I am thinking why is this so restricted, except that this must be private property along the highway.  But all beaches in Mexico are accessible to the public, so the property owners must just be trying to make things as difficult as possible?  We were we also informed that umbrellas, coolers, and chairs are not allowed!  What??
Since we already had our arms loaded with the beach equipment, he was kind enough to allow us to gain access with of it.  Then the walk is about 500 meters to beach along a dirt road, not difficult but a bit long.  We arrive at the beach and quickly see there a numerous surfers here and looking out into the water you could see what this beach is a favorite!   The waves roll out pretty far and allow you to ride the waves almost to shore.  But these seemed to surfer waves and I could never really catch a good boogie board wave, so unless you paddle way out I would not recommend it.
The beach is accessible  to the left quite a distance down until you end up into the area of another private home development and they seemed to have made things difficult for you to walk any further.   Great place to surf and watch surfers, but probably not a great beach to hang out and drink beers all day!