After Starbuck we went to Winnipeg for a couple of days. We had originally planned on 2 nights but it turned into 3 because the 2nd night turned into a really late night. Well, our first night there we decided to treat ourselves to a jacuzzi room. It was a very nice room and it reminded us of the Golden Girls. It had green leaf wall paper and a lot of wicker furniture, it was the furniture that reminded us of the Golden Girls. We just relaxed and watched a couple of movies.

The next day we went to the mall so we could buy some nice clothes that we could go out in. The plan was to return them after we were done with them because we did not want to carry around the extra wight, and yes it worked out. They took everything back without question. Was that bad that we did that? Maybe, but it worked out ok and I am pretty sure that no one got hurt. That night we went to a nice restaurant and then went out to a couple of bars looking good in our returnable out fits, lol. We stayed out until the bars closed and did not fall asleep until at least 4:30am, so the next morning we requested to stay another night at the hotel.

The next day we went to a couple of movies at the theatre, "The Goods" which is F'n hilarious, and "GI Joe" which I did not expect much from but turned out to be pretty good. That night was the AC/DC concert and the venue was right behind the theatre, so when the movie was over we stood outside the Blue Bombers stadium and listened for a bit. It was pretty cool because we could see the stage from the side.

During the days there we did a lot of biking through the city and it is a pretty nice place. The day we left we went down Notre Dame Drive and then north up Main Street where we exited.

After Winnipeg we started on our way to Grand Beach. We stayed at Bird's Hill Campground, which was about 20km outside Winnipeg, and then made it the rest of the way the following day. Grand Beach is a very nice place, especially the beach. It is on Lake Winnipeg and the sand there is amazing. So soft on the feet; and the water was warm as well. The campsites were nice but the mosquitos were horrible and the wood and everything was so wet that we could not even have a fire. We stayed there for 2 nights and we had a good time even though we could not enjoy our campsite fully. These next few days will be spent making our way to Kenora and I will fill you in later. We are going to take a bus from Kenora back to Winnipeg to catch a flight to Las Vegas.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

These are those special people we just wrote about. Chris making us breakfast and the kids Brody, Jayden and Paige. Brody again after mastering the wheelchair balancing.

Now to talk about our experience in Starbuck. Tara decided not to write it so I will.

We pulled into Starbuck at about 4 o'clock and we went into the Hotel\Restuarant\Beverage room. The place had a good feel to it; we could not put our finger on the full reason for it at first. We did figure it out later, it was our friend Chris, the guy that owns the place with his dad. As far as the kind of people we are, this place was for us; we felt very free and accepted in there. Some might not feel the same but that is not important because it was perfect for us. After being there for about an hour, Chris told us that there was a tornado warning for the area. I have never seen a tornado before so it was pretty exciting. It did not actually come, but still very exciting. I know I will not be able to explain everything properly but I will try my best. Chris is at the moment a single father and he is doing an amazing job as far as I could see. I will take a few pages out of his 'raising kids book' when I have kids, that is for sure. His son Brody, who is a very cool kid, helps his dad out a lot at the restaurant, and his girls, Jayden and Paige, enjoy running around the place. We had a few trips out side with Chris for a cigarette or two and we talked about a few things that basically led to us realizing that we had a lot in common, and were on the same page when it came to a lot of things. For example, David Icke an author that I recommened, the Grey's, the Reptilian race, and much more. After a few other things that I will not mention, Chris and Brody invited us back to their place to spend the night in their camper.

When we got there we put our stuff in the camper and then got some cupcakes that the kids made, good stuff. Chris has a big piece of land in town so we had a lot of space to have fun in. He had a big pile of wood on his lawn that was waiting to be burned as a bonfire. Chris figures he was waiting for us to get there so he could light it. It certainly felt like we were all meant to meet, or even like we had already met in some way that we understood. I got to teach Brody how to balance on a wheelchair, and now he cannot get enough. I even taught him a little self defense, one of my first students so far in the trip. We all had a lot of good talks that evoked great realizations. It waes a very magical night, one we will not forget. There is so much more that should be expressed but I am not that good of a writer. Ask me about it and I can easily tell you, but writing just is not my thing. All 4 of you kick ass and every moment we spent with you was fun, great, enlightening, and magical. Chris, my number is 780-799-2551 if you or the kids ever want to call. See you guys again soon. P.S., you guys showed us amazing hospitality and a warmth we have not experienced yet. I was continually taken aback by the genuine receptiveness of you all. No one had center stage, no one was more important than another...we all spoke and we were all heard. These are very intricate parts of great conversation, and Chris and Brody - I enjoyed every minute of your company around the bonfire. We learned so much from our interactions with each of you. I would love to say that you each touched us in a way you could never know...but I know you know! We were meant to meet, and it happened. Just goes to show the power we each have to pull things into our lives. That 'chance occurance' was pulled together by each of us, whether we knew it or not. You each hold a special place in my heart as friends, and I would love your company again...anytime. Keep it real, Tara, xo.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

These 2 pics are from when were in the plane and putting away the plane. Robert is the one beside the plane. That was at St. Claude.

The first 2 pictures are when we were at the Minnedosa campground. The third is of Alex the biker we met at Shoul Lake, Nicole and Guy the two peoples house we had a few beers at. The last 2 are of when we crossed into Manitoba. I think the 2 grass hoppers is a pretty cool pic.

The first picture is at Katepwa beach. The next three pictures are from our campsite when we stayed at Katepwa. The campground was at the south end of the lake, about a 20 minute bike ride from the beach.

This first picture is another from Amsterdam that I forgot to put up last time. The balloon was just something we saw outside our hotel room when we were in Regina. The third is a of the school house at the Comfort Plus campground just east of Regina.

Once again it has been a few days since our last entry so we have alot to catch up on. We left Brandon heading east on Highway 1. It was raining pretty hard that day but stopped right before we got to the campground. We turned south towards Carberry, we didn't stop there we just went past it all the way down to Spruce Woods Provincial Park. We didn't do any exploring but there is supposed to be a bunch of sand dunes all around there. The next day we went to St. Claude along highway 2. At about half way we had stopped into Holland for a little break when a lady driving a bus full old people stopped and offered us a place to stay. Very unexpected but very cool.

When we got to St. Claude we stopped at a small restaurant to have a few beers casue it was so hot out. Then we went to the ladies house that was offered to us. There we met her husband. Their names are Robert and Josainne, I hope I got her name right we have miss placed the card they gave us at the moment but when we find it we will make the correction. We had a great stay with them, we had really good food and good company. We also got an unexpected tour of the town, starting with a plane ride which was awesome and then a more up close tour in their car. It was also the first time we had been in a vehicle in about a month. They told us that they have bikers stop in alot, we were probably the third or fourth group that stayed there this year. Thanks again for everything you two we really appreciated it.

The next place we stopped was Starbuck which not to bring down the people we have met along the way but the people we met there will stay in our hearts for ever. I will not go into detail at this time cause Tara wants to write about our experience there. I will say hi to Chris, Brody, Jayden and Page or Gringo, B-man, Princess and Bear. You are all great and we will see you again.

I do have more to write about but I will let Tara write her thing first, it might not be today but it will come shortly.

These are a few more from the Qu'Appelle valley. We stayed at a very nice campsite that I mentioned before at crooked lake. It was very beautiful there as you can see.

I'm not doing a very good job of keeping the pics in order. Anyways these top few are from the Qu'Appelle valley and surrounding area.




These pictures are from Amsterdam. A couple are from the front area of where we were staying and a couple are just from when we were walking around town.

It has been a few days now since our last update and we are in Manitoba. We crossed the border the day we left Esterhazy. When we were crossing the border we decided to sit and meditate. The border is a tween place, which means it is between two places. Other examples are when you are standing with one foot in a lake and the other foot is in the sand, or when you are on the stairs. In these places mystical things are more likely to happen. I read about this phenomenon from the book, "Shape Shifting". Anyways, the first town we got to in Manitoba was called Binscarth. We had orginally planned on going to Russell but the road that we were going to take turned out to be gravel. The tires on Tara's bike do not do well on gravel, especially for long periods of time.

We stayed in the campground at Binscarth for 2 nights. The plan was 1 night but we woke up to rain so we stayed the second night. This campground had a huge swimming pool and a concession, so we managed to enjoy ourselves. Not much excitment there but it was relaxing.

Next we went to Shoal Lake where we stayed for 1 night. When we got up the next morning we stopped in at the gas station to get water before we left. While there we met up with another biker, the first one thus far. His name is Alex and he is a very cool guy. He biked with us to Minnedosa and me and him talked the whole time. He is an outdoor education teacher, mainly rock climbing, but still can do much more. Alex has done a lot of traveling so he had some pretty interesting stories to tell. He is biking from Canmore to Ontario where he lives. When we got to Minnedosa we all stopped at a gas station to figure out where we were going to stay. While we were there a guy came down from his house to see us and ask what we were up to, his name is Guy. Alex ended up staying at Guy's house. After we got settled in to our hotel and showered we went over to see Alex because we were going to take him out for a couple of beers. When we got there, Guy and his girlfriend Nicole said we could hang out with them on their deck. We did just that, and discovered that they are very cool people. We had a great time with all of them; it was like we were all good friends hanging out like we normally would. I would love to see all of them again. It was great meeting the 3 of you, and Guy, thanks for catching me-lol. Like you said, it will knock you on your ass ;)

After that night, we decided to stay at the campground at Minnedosa,and this campground was freak'n awesome. It is on a lake and has so many things going on there. There are baseball diamonds, soccer fields, the best playground ever, and yes we played on it. I have to say that a playground is the best place to go for ninja training, seriously it is great. There is also a pavillion that would be so perfect for a wedding or big ass party. Now, our campsite was pretty awesome because we were right on the lake and we had our own beach separate from the main beach. Tara layed on the beach for hours and I trained and jumped in the water all day. We stayed for a couple of nights because it was so nice there. Another cool thing were the dragonflies. There were hundreds of them flying just over head. I love dragonflies; they are my favourite insect and I have never seen so many in one place, it looked like a huge swarm of mosquitos. We would like to go back to Minnedosa again someday, we had such a nice time there.

The day we left Minnedosa to go to Brandon was very hot, our watches were reading 39 degrees Celsius when we were on the highway. The ride was only 40km but the heat just drained us, so we were happy about the short distance. So now we are in Brandon and so far so good. We managed to find some Guinness which we could not seem to do for about 2 weeks. I would like to mention a man we met yesterday while riding around downtown. His name is Phil, and he is what most people would call 'a little out there'. We do not think that at all. He is having trouble with the justice system right now and has been waiting on his trial for 2 years now. He has been protesting outside the court house for sometime, and of course he has been getting hassled by the cops a lot and few people will listen to him. We had a great talk with him and found that we share many ideas and beliefs. He knows a lot about what is to come, and how to prepare for the next few years. I will not go into too much detail, but the conversation ended with 2 cop cars pulling up and asking for Phil to come talk with them. I guess the restaurant we were standing in front of does not like Phil very much. Some people would rather shoo away someone that is standing up for ther rights and speaking the truth, than to listen and stand behind their fellow man. We must give people a chance and not close our minds to things that scare us. So many people over the years have been looked at as crazy just because they are saying something that is not of the norm, and this is one of the big reasons why we, as a race, have not evolved much. Stay open and allow the things that you never thought of, or never thought you would accept, to open your minds to possibilities beyond your present comprehension. The church is one of the biggest mind-restraining systems in the world. And why do they do this? So they can keep us weak and in-line. Our power far exceeds the power of control that has been set upon us. This form of control has gained power by making us believe that we need to be controlled, or there will be chaos. The fact that there is control makes us want to rebel. It is like a lion in a zoo: it does not belong there, and it cannot fully express its power in the confines of a cage. Anyways, control is evil and we must all see and realize this. Sorry for sounding preachy but we must see what is happening before it is to late.

We have a computer now so we well be writing more frequently. Also, I would like to say something about self defense that I thought of. Most people I teach say that they do not want to hurt anyone, and I feel the same way. I believe that by gaining self defense skills, we begin to lose our fear of being physically dominated. We do not nessesarily have to hurt anyone but we can definitely stop others from hurting us, or someone else. If you like to talk your way out of situations, then you can do so more confidently and not out of desperation. I say, learn self defense to lose the fear, and to open up a world to yourself that you did not think you could have. Be strong and confident because you can.





Self Defense

Martial Arts

Joe Self Defense

The Self Defense Company

I just wanted to mention two very important people that we met in Amsterdam at the Stuart Wilde conference. Their names are Sterling and Christine and they helped us more than they probably realize. Sterling is a chiropractor and a very good one if I may say. He showed us a bunch of things we could do to help Tara's leg get better and yes it did help a lot. He also cracked my back better then any other chiro has. It was the first time I stood straight since I broke my back. Christine does many things with energy healings and other amazing things that I am unable to fully explain. The most interesting thing that she taught us, for me, was how to connect with nature and how to listen to what she(nature) wants and needs. I canot wait to learn more from her. They did so much for us in the short time we spent with them and we appreciate it so much. Christine and Sterling we look forward to seeing you again. To all of you that we met at the conference we send you lots of love:).

Wow, finding a computer lately has been nearly impossible. We have ridden through a lot of small towns and beach resort areas where they just do not have internet for the public. We are in the process of getting a laptop though, so hopefully we will be able to post more often very soon!

Anyways, the last two weeks have been very exciting and fun. I guess we will start from the beginning and go from there. When we left Regina, we biked as far as White City to the Comfort Plus Campground for the night. If we did not mention it before, we stayed there for a week prior, and it was a great little place with very nice people. It had a pool, and I have never been to a camp ground with a pool. It was pretty cool. We also met a very nice guy named Jim from Winnipeg. He told us that he works in Regina while his family lives in Winnipeg. We could tell that he misses his family a lot when he is away. Hey Jim, hope everything is going well! And thanks for the beers! Also while we were at that campground, for no apparent reason, a family left their name and number so we would have a place to pitch our tent when we are in Winnipeg. That was a pretty amazing gesture. I must say I had a lot of disdain for humanity, but ever since we started this trip, I am seeing it in a whole new light and I am glad for it.

After we left the Comfort Plus campground we headed for Fort Qu'Appelle, which was about 60km away. That place is very beautiful and is right in the middle of the Qu'Appelle valley. The Qu'Appelle valley is very long and very beautiful; we couldn't believe what we rode into. We basically followed it for about two weeks. When we were in Fort Qu'Appelle we met a couple of people that we would call really good people. One guy was about 70 or 80 years old and when he came up to us he just started talking to us like he knew us, which was pretty cool. He eventually started telling us joke after joke...he was a library of jokes and we had never heard of any of the ones he told us. I can't remember jokes so I won't be able to share them with you, and no dad it's not because of my smoking. Actually, Tara remembers one; Why is Dolly Parton's chest so big but her waist is so tiny? Because nothing is able to grow in the shade! Ha ha...good one. The other people that made an impact on us were two guys about 20 years old that were hanging out on a patio bar. They came out and talked with us for about ten minutes. We had a good talk and it felt like we were friends from start to finish. I love meeting people like this and once again I hope it continues.

After the one night stay in Fort Qu'Appelle when headed for Katepwa beach, which was of course beautiful as well. So many hills on either side of the valley. We stayed at a campsite on the south end of the lake which was nice, but it had just opened and needs a little work; still very new. When we were at the campsite we walked up the side of the hill to see what was on the other side, and we were of course awestruck by the scene that opened up before us. It felt like we were suddenly in another country, or like we were looking at old battle ground. We meditated when we were there because it was so peaceful. We went to the beach on one of the days and discovered a little hotel right on the beach. We decided to stay there one night before we left so we could hangout at the beach all day and get good and drunk.

After Katepwa we went to Lemberg, which is a small town. We stayed there for one night. The hotel there was like nothing I have ever seen. It was almost like a hostel and a hotel at the same time. It had kind of a common TV room and a common bathroom, but it was all newly renovated and very inviting. Also, everyone that we met there was very nice and the town itself was very well taken care of. Since Lemberg was just a half-way point, we left the next day to go to another beach, Sunset Beach. On the ride there we met some very friendly, cool ladies. We had stopped on the side of the highway so I could regain some feeling in my nut sack, and two ladies pulled over in their car to talk with us. They are bicyclists, and were very interested in hearing about what we were doing. It was nice talking to them because they did not see what we are doing as something hard or impossible, but rather as something they would love to do. They also gave us some fruit to eat which was appreciated.

Once at Sunset beach and Melville beach, which are only 4 km apart, we found an awesome campsite right between both places called Crooked Lake Provincial Park. Our campsite was in the part that would normally be used as day sites, but we got to use them. We basically had 5 sites all to ourselves and they were all right on the lake; so nice. We spent 3 nights there because my knee was hurting and still does. It was August long weekend during our stay so we got to see a lot of fireworks, and some of them were pretty impressive. One of the nights we wanted to have a couple of beers but there were no liquor stores that were less than an hour bike ride away, so we went to a golf course that was about 4km away. It was called The Last Oak Golf Course. Cool place with the best fries we have had in a long long time. (Oh, and we've been having our share of fries!). We met some more cool people there. The first guy was namedRyan and he just seemed like an all around nice guy. He seemed to talk to everyone and when he did they seemed a bit happier because of it. He also bought us 2 beer each. Thanks Ryan! There were about six people that we met there and all of them were very nice and very excited for us concerning our trip. I believe there names were Nathan, Kim, Ken, Briana and sorry to the others, but remembering names is not one of my strong suits. The other nights we just watched the sunsets, road around the campgrounds, and climbed some trees. There have been very big trees all through our Qu'Appelle valley experience. When we left the campground we continued to follow the Qu'Apelle valley until highway 9, which goes north. I just want to say that the Qu'Appelle valley is a must see. I never expected to find such a place in Saskatchewan...well I had never expected that Saskatchewan as a whole would be so nice. Check out Saskatchewan, you will not be disappointed...actually you will probably be amazed.

Sorry that we have not been keeping the blog up to date. But as I said before, the laptop is coming so we well be writing a lot more and with more detail very soon. Remember, this is a 2 year trip so there is a lot of time for us to get this right. Talk to you soon.

P.S. While we were in Crooked Lake we saw a septic truck with the best, most appropriate company slogan we have ever seen; "Yesterday's Meals on Wheels". HA!

Martial Arts
Self Defense
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company