THE ADVENTURES OF SAPHI AND SCAMP

Saphi (the knitted cat) joined me on my motorcycle journey in Newfoundland when I met Junior in St. John’s.  He invited me to his home on Random Island where I stayed a night with him and his wife, Heather.  Wanting to send me on with a souvenir of my visit, Heather gifted me Saphi.  😊   Scamp the lemur has joined Saphi on our adventures for the last couple of years. 

We had a beautiful weekend here on the Sunshine Coast and thought I probably should have been working at this or that, I chose to get both Night Fury and Rogue out in turn.  The Sunshine Coast is the traditional ancestral territories of the skwxwú7mesh, shíshálh, Tla’amin, Klahoose, and Homalco Nations.  I have been trying to remember the indigenous names that I know for the communities without translation and so am using them in this story to help reinforce them.  I encourage you to click the links for each of the nations above to learn more.  I’m also looking at the opportunities to learn about the local area and traditional people on this site:  https://sunshinecoastcanada.com/explore/first-nations/

It was Night Fury’s turn first, not having stretched her legs properly for some time.  Heading out from ch’atlich late Saturday morning with no real end goal in mind, we rode up the highway at a leisurely pace. We stopped for a brief break in salalus before continuing up the road to Egmont.  There is a well-known pub and marina in Egmont called The Back Eddy and I stopped for lunch there.  While there, I took a photo and posted it to one my riding groups.  Turned out two members of it were sitting at a table at the other end of the deck!  Erin and Catherine came to say hi. We had a brief chat before they had to return to their table to save their lunch from marauding seagulls.  I also met Savannah and Allen when getting back to my bike.  Savannah was longingly eyeing up my bike. They had done a lot of touring but have not ridden for several years, and clearly the bug has not been killed dead.  The ride home was smooth and beautiful and I realize once again how fortunate I am for the where and when I was born and the place I now call home. 
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Slept in and got a late start again today, but it was Rogue’s turn to get some exercise.  Today, we headed towards ts’ukw’um, turning left at the lights to pick up the FSR towards Dakoda Ridge.  We rode a fair way before hitting snow I didn’t want to deal with, then turned around and took another branch of the road until we hit snow, then turned around again and tried another branch road until we ran out of road.  In another months, I should be able to get all the way through from ts’ukw’um to xwesum on that FSR. I could probably have done so today, with a bit more gumption, but it was not a gumptiony day – just an explorationy one. Now being three hours into our ride, it seemed a good time to head back home.  I headed out without a full tank of gas, and though I’m usually riding Rogue at lower speeds, I’m still not sure how far a tank of gas goes and had no spare fuel with me.  We arrived home, satisfied at having got out and about.