"Greetings to those who live to travel" hindu1936's Profile

It is now June, 2009. We are in the final stages of preparation for the Round-The-World scooter trip! All equipment has been purchased and all that remains is to work until December to ensure the money is there. The increased gas prices have extended the working by 4 months. When we get back to Oregon, I will do some welding on the framework of the bike for pannier mounts and to make Kwang Hee's safety rack more comfortable. We expect to be in Argentina in December and in Europe in late April or May.

The good looking woman who rides behind me is Kwang Hee, wife of 11 years. The above photo is at the finish of our trip to Yellowstone park. This lake is Foster Lake behind Foster dam. When I was a boy, there was no dam and we could catch untold numbers of salmon by the riffles. Now the riffles and the salmon are gone.
Our intent is to retire at the end of this year and begin an around the world trip. The notes we read here and on a couple of other travel sites are of great value.
I grew up in a small town in Oregon where the timber industry was the king. After many years in the military, I returned there, married, divorced, raised my sons, remained in the logging industry until a severe accident removed that option. Actually, it was the left arm that was removed, along with most major bones broken. The arm was reattached and the therapy (my idea of) was to get strong enough to ride my bike again. At nearly 49 years old, went to college picked up my degrees, came to Korea, found a woman who could cook better than I can, and loves to travel. Remarried. Still here in Korea but the trip is nearly planned. 36-44 months, 95-110 countries, 65 bottles of Pepto-Bismol, and 200 toothbrushes to remove the bugs from our smiling teeth. I am Native American, formerly called Indian until the politically correct hacks changed it. Next to the youngest of nine siblings, raised in poverty, I never expected to travel. I have ridden a bicycle on three trips across Europe, made two coast-to-coast rides and the round-the-world trip was originally planned for bicycles until Kwang Hee decided she didn't want to do that, so faked a stroke. She is quite a good actress, since after 10 years, she still maintains the image of a stroke victim. Bicycle gone, motorscooter in.

During my tours with the Marine Corps, I was fortunate enough to see some of S.E. Asia, Europe, and one assignment in Africa during the Leopoldville uprising. A desire to see the world was ignited then, and the lights for travel burn as brilliantly now as when I was young. Kwang Hee and I both expect to walk into the hands of God still clinging to the bars of the scooter.

I taught English grammar and composition at Dankook U. in Cheonan where we lived for 9 years until I reached the mandatory retirement "old" age of 65. I love to fish, hike, swim, scuba dive, write poetry, humorous vignettes of my growing up years, and eat. Eating is good.
Above all else after travel though, is skiing. When God had finished making the earth, He decided to squish some of it together and make mountains so that the cold, white stuff Jesus was making in an attempt keep the rain from bashing the plants Noah had moved next to the Ark would have a place to rest. One of the angels dropped a plate. It skidded down the mountain. God smiled. it was good. He put a plate under each foot. It was not good. After a time He realized the plates needed to be longer and strapped to the feet. Once more, it was good. skiing is a form of worship. I plan on worshipping on as many more mountains as possible. Old Woman can no longer worship, so I get more points than she does. We will stop in Andora, Italy, Israel, and as many other places where the mountains get snow. One of the features of my blog and the notes on this site will be places to ski. It is good.

Beautiful mountain, beautiful scooter

has 1700 miles on it now. The big blue machine in front can store 56 liters under the seat. We have a top box of 58.6 liters, and two aluminum side-boxes at 46 liters each and one hump bag of 8 liters. This was the break-in ride from Lebanon, Oregon to Mt. St. Helens with my son Shayne, on his monster sports bike riding with me. Didn't get to ride much because I had to be back in Korea when Kwang Hee got out of the hospital. Silly woman decided I was on to her stroke act and faked falling down and shattering her hip so she could get a titanium one. She has not ridden the new machine yet because I don't have the safety railings built. Retirement really is Coming! We leave Oregon then in January, and will have gone through Mexico and circled South America by May when we will ship to somewhere in Europe, depending on the destination of the cargo ship we can catch in Georgetown.

Here it is in all its lustrous blue beauty. 650cc of luggage carrying engine. We have aluminum side boxes and top box from Happy Trails. The racks for Kwang hee are in order, and now all we need to do is find a source of tires in Africa. Because the stroke left Old Woman somewhat disabled on her right side, we elected to go with a scooter instead of a motorcycle. She can step through and just slide onto the seat instead of working to sling a leg over a scooter. We tried one, but I had to leave my spot in the shade to go over and help after she fell off three times. With the additional custom built bars in place, she has a small table for her coffee cup, a hookup for her player and small computer type video player. I have had to warn her twice though about getting down with the music on the mountain roads. Her swaying tends to make balance a problem.

Mine are the same as Kwang Hee's except where hers are red, mine are blue. She also has a red, "Joe Rocket" summer coat to match, while mine is mostly blue. Yes, I have a winter, black leather coat too. All of them are armored. The scooter here is our bike for Korea-a 250cc Freewing. Korea offers so many beautiful things to see: temples, palaces, scenic mountains, that we will never finish before we leave, even though we have been touring Korea and parts of Asia for 11 years.

When the mountains are not covered with snow, there is still enjoyment to be had. We are blessed with a climate that fosters a large variety of wild flowers. My sister and I have enoyed hikes with our friends just to look at them. On a clear day, you can see the coast more than 100 miles away to the west, St. Helens nearly 200 to the north, and Shasta Mt. nearly 325 to the south. To do this though, you have to climb clear to the top and up the old fire watch tower.

Just a good day on the mountain

The skies in Oregon are beautiful in the winter when it is not raining. Happened twice in 1945. There are nine lodges that I know of and all have good skiing. The only bad skiing is when there is no hill and no snow. This is not good. During the five days each year when it is not raining or snowing called summer, it is great to clean the moss from your toes, load up the cycle, and head for the mountains where you can point the different trees you have hit while skiing.

Just outside of Yellowstone park

We rode from Oregon Through Spokane, WA, up to Vancouver Island, BC where we saw Butchart Gardens, and from there on down to Yellowstone, spending two nights on the road before arriving there. We left Yellowstone (West Yellowstone City) the following morning and rode 13 hours, covering 871 miles to Bend where we spent the night. This was a great ride to find out what the bike would do and what we could stand. Yellowstone was a big disappointment though. Very crowded and almost no wildlife. Plus, if we had not had the Golden (old people) pass, we would have had to pay 25 dollars entry to ride behind 8 million other tourists.

Central temple

Over the past 10 years we have pur about 100,000 miles just wandering around Asia on the scooters. Most of it in Korea and on our last trip of 600km, we went down to He-inSa, a World Heritage site where about 84,000 carved wooden blocks of Buddha's sayings are kept.