May 2004

May 07, 2004 - 11:14 a.m.

So after a nice relaxing visiting at Uncle Wayne's we headed to Northern California, where we hooked up with the Kavu van (the Norwegian’s Mariann and Morton). After pushing their van up the remaining feet of a summit and cruising down (ran out of gas) to the pump we got into Oregon to check out Hood River. Mark paddled the White Salmon and the Little White with them and then we headed up to Canyon Creek, to train for the extreme race. On the way from Portland, over the Columbia River, Mark's Kingpin came off the car into five lanes of traffic. An 18 wheeler that was following us barely even noticed it before it was flattened. Poor boat. It was picked up off the freeway by Scott, Mariann and Morton, who risked their lives running across traffic to snatch it and throw it into their van.

So the next day Mark and I ran Canyon Creek twice to get ready for the extreme race that would be held there the next day. Both of us won our respective divisions. Go Bassos!

Michelle on Canyon Creek

Since then we have been boating in Oregon and Washington. A couple days ago Dr. Mark took his Kingpin to the operating table and it is back in paddling condition (though the outfitting still has a little to be desired). He's tested it out on the Wenatchee and the Skykomish... even throwing some sweet blunts on the wave.

Mark on the Tye

May 20, 2004 - 4:05 p.m.

Hooray! after more than 14 months on the road less traveled, Michelle and I did our last US interstate, smiled nicely at the border, sat in traffic for an hour and then heaved up 60 bucks for a tank of gas........Hoooray we are back home! O Canada!

Vancouver has 3 important things to Michelle and I......relatives, sushi and skookumchuck. Visiting my sisters has been great, larger families and bigger nephews since I was last here. Sushi......well so far we have yet to get enough of that too, sometimes you can find all you can eat here for around 10 bucks!! no lie....there IS something cheap to eat in this city!

And of course my most favorite wave in the universe, Skookumchuck (aka. Sechelt Narrows) is home to a big glassy green wave that makes flying in a kayak feel like heaven. This time we did things fancy, paddled the canoe out to the island across from the wave and had the best 3 nights camping ever! Well it has been an exciting run, but next week is the gran finale, heading east out of Vancouver we'll be back in normal land.....but the parents await and we are excited for the big reunion.

Skookumchuk

Skookumchuk

June 02, 2004 - 12:55 p.m.

So after Vancouver Mark and I made our way through BC, stopping in Penticton to check out Mark's old houses. We got into the Calgary area on Tuesday and spent a week paddling around there. The weekend was spent at the Kananaskis Whitewater Festival catching up with old friends and having lots of fun. Now we are back in Edmonton visiting the parents and getting ready for a wedding reception, for all of those who missed our wedding in Chile.

We are going to find a place in Calgary soon and find some jobs. Then we are going to start planning our next big road trip.

April 2004

April 09, 2004 - 3:29 p.m.

So the past couple of weeks have been fairly busy. We stayed until last Tuesday in Asheville. Mark ended up running the Green 8 times (and 4 of those were at 200%). Other than that we went and surfed Jaws at Nolichucky, paddled the Tallulah Gorge and checked out Hell hole on the Ocoee. Lots of fun and we met tonnes of good people.

Mark on the Green

Michelle on the Tallulah

Last Tuesday we split Asheville and headed straight to Rock Island, Tennessee. We spent a beautiful three days playing in the hole, though now both of us need a little break to let our muscles recover. So we have decided to make the drive west over to California and we should be in Kernville in a few days.

Mark at Rock Island

April 17, 2004 - 3:25 p.m.

We arrived in California on Sunday and we went straight to Sequoia National Park to meet up with Scott, Jason and Andrew. Mark ran the Kaweah River on Monday with them while I went to check out the massive Sequoia trees. Tuesday Mark, Jason and Scott decided to run the South Fork of the Merced river (a two day trip) so they left me to check out Yosemite National Park. I found a sweet little play hole just downstream of their takeout so I had something to do while waiting for them. The spot was soo good that we ended up heading back there on Thursday so that the boys could have a turn in the hole.

Mark on the Kaweah

Jason, Scott and Mark

Now Mark and I are in Kernville...We picked up my boat (Lil' Joe) and some gear here and also checked out the local festival. Then everyone went and ran the local creek, Brush Creek at super low water - it was like going down a big water slide with a couple drops thrown in for fun.

Michelle on Brush Creek

We are slowly going to make our way North now, hopefully stopping in to see a few friends and family.

April 28, 2004 - 11:50 a.m.

Tulomne CA

So we spent the past couple weeks paddling in California (with a visit to the whitewater park in Reno). Paddled some great rivers/creeks and even found a couple sweet playspots as well. This past weekend we had a great visit with Mark's Uncle Wayne and his family. They have a beautiful place just outside of Redding and it was nice to relax for the weekend, as well as indulge in some fantastic home cooked food.

Scott at the Reno play park

Yesterday night we drove across the California border into Oregon, where we plan to spend the next week or so before continuing our journey north.

March 2004

March 04, 2004 - 9:48 p.m.

So we have been enjoying the beach on the coast of Chile with Tom, Dave and Scott. We arrived on Monday after a day of driving through a crazy rain storm and since then we have had beautiful days and lots of sun. We have been both surfing and kayaking on the wicked point breaks that they have here (supposed to be some of the best waves in Chile). We only have two kayaks (as Mark and I have sold all but one kayak in Pucon) so we are taking turns catching sweet rides as well as taking some good poundings. Dave and Tom have rented some surf boards and are slowly figuring that out. The tourist season is over in Chile so all the people have returned to Santiago and the beaches are sparsely populated and no one is fighting over waves. A good way to spend our last few days in Chile.

Pichilemu

Scott, Dave, Tom, Michelle and Mark with Norman

March 11, 2004 - 4:50 p.m.

So Mark and I have had a crazy week. We dropped Dave, Scott and Tom off in Santiago on Saturday afternoon after a few days of surfing at Pichilemu. Then we started to head north...we pretty much drove straight to the Peruvian border, stopping to sleep and eat, as well as check out a few tourist sites. We arrived into Peru on Tuesday (2000+ kms away from Santiago) and got into Tacna. We were told that this town would be a good place to sell the car...later that afternoon we were a little bit richer but Normanless. That night we got on the bus to Lima and arrived there the next day in the afternoon. Spent a couple hours in Lima and took off to Houston at 1 in the morning. This morning we arrived in Tampa and we are going to visit Mark's mom and get ready to begin phase 2 of the journey.

Chilean Coast

The plan for phase 2 is to get a car, get some kayaks and make our way over to California to do some paddling and visit some family as well. From there we will make our way up the coast to Vancouver (paddling and visiting) and finally back over to Alberta.... so we should be home in May/June.

For us it's a little crazy that we are out of South America, that we sold our van (and we are already missing him terribly...how we would have liked to take him home). It's going to take a little time to adjust....caught myself this morning speaking in Spanish to the lady at the cash register. This past year has definitely been one of the best in my life...so full of memories. South America, and especially Chile, holds a special place in both Mark's and my heart and we are going back one day.

March 21, 2004 - 8:54 a.m.

We have been in Florida for over a week now and of course the shock of it all is wearing off......back in a concrete jungle!! So OK there aren't any potholes or 1 lane roads filled up with three lanes of traffic, instead it’s 6 lane megahighways crammed full of fancy suv's!! In order for us to find a new car we had to drive all over the place, and being stuck on the interstate because there is just too many people was beginning to wear our nerves thin.

Still Florida isn't all that bad (thanks to my mom spoiling us), however what we did manage to find is a beautiful Nissan pickup truck without the signs of any harsh winters or rust whatsoever.......we are cleaning it up today and adding some accessories. By Wednesday Michelle and I hope to be on our way up to South Carolina.

March 27, 2004 - 4:34 p.m.

So Mark and I have made our way to North Carolina. We stopped in St. Augustine to check out the beach and then we drove straight to Greenville to pick up his new boats from Dagger. We had to go try them out so we drove up to Asheville and hooked up with some friends. So yesterday Mark did one run down the Green in his new Nomad and then we stopped off at Liquid Logic so that I could pick up my new play boat. This morning Mark and I did the Upper Green and then he went off to do the narrows again. We plan on staying here for a few more days, doing a bit of paddling and catching up with friends before heading west.

St. Augustine

Wedding

Wedding Pictures

February 21, 2004