Joe Self Defense

2010-09-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

PEI was the last place we needed to visit before we headed home. We gave ourselves 4 days to make the trip back. We first went to Fredericton since we missed it on the way through the first time.

We had a good time in Fredericton. We just spent one night there and since it was Friday we went to a bar. It was a really cool bar too. It is called Iroc and it is on Queen Street. It is like 4 bars in 1. We ended up dancing like fools, but we don't know anyone there so who cares right, who cares anyways really.

The next day we drove all day right through Quebec into Ontario. We camped the night in a place called Morrisburg. You may have noticed that both ways in the trip we didn't spend much time in Quebec. Why is this, I'm not sure really. I guess we just wanted to spend as much of the trip as we could in NFLD, so we didn't have time. We did visit Montreal a few months ago though.

Then we made our way to Bowmanville up through Lindsay till we were at the north side of Simcoe Lake. We stayed at McRae Point Provincial Park for the night. We had planned on staying for 2 nights but wanted to be home so bad that we just left after 1 night.

So yes we are now home in Kitchener where we will be spending at least one more year training our asses off in Wing Chun. The trip was amazing and I would love to go back and visit everyone that we saw along the way. We covered so much ground and saw so many wonderful people, places and things. We didn't measure perfectly yet but we figure we drove 13 or 14 thousand km. So including the bike ride from Alberta too Kitchener it would be about15 or 16 thousand km of traveling across Canada.

The journey isn't over yet and really, it won't ever end. Still more training and then we have to go to B.C where a whole new kind of journey will begin. Anyway I'm sure I will post here and there when ever I feel inspired. We hope you have been enjoying the trip thus far, I know we have.

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2010-09-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

So we made our way to P.E.I for what we had planned to be a 2 night visit, turned into a 4 night stay. Once again we find another part of Canada that is beautiful.

The island is full of farms and small communities. There is also so much to do on the island. We stayed with our friends while we were there and they showed us a lot of the Island, of course not all of it but a good portion. One of my favorite parts about PEI is that all the food there is locally grown. They also take the initiative to recycle everything. It is a good place for the other provinces to learn from.

There is way to much to say about PEI as is the same with the other provinces, but I will say that I love everyone of them. Each place has its own energy, wonderful people and fun things to do.

A couple of the things we did there was, go to the Fair and ride go-karts, went swimming in the ocean, went for dinner, went sight seeing, and just hung out with our friends Meagan and Jason. We met them when we were in Fort McMurray and it was great seeing them in their own surroundings. Jason built their house and it is a nice little place on 5 acres of land. The land there is very cheap so you can do a lot there with little money. All of the Atlantic provinces have good prices for land, the only thing is, there isn't a lot of jobs. Another thing I did was go for a bike ride down the Trans Canada Trail. The trail goes right across the island. I only rode for 54km and I was good for the day, it was also 35 degrees out.

We were told that PEI was big into martial arts and that we would find all kinds of schools there. I tried but all I could find was 4 schools all teaching stuff I'm not interested in. One more thing about PEI if you don't know is that there is a 13km bridge connecting the Island to the main land.

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2010-09-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

So after Mulgrave we drove along the Sunshine coast on our way to Halifax. The Sunshine coast added about 45 minutes to the trip, but it was worth it.

When we got to Halifax we went straight to Tara's friend's house. Yes this is the 2nd time see, we have been in Halifax during our trip. The first time we were there to see April the second time was to see Michelle. We had a good time and a relaxing time. The first night we just hung out and had a couple drinks. We watched Entourage all night, and that is our favorite show.

The next day we went to Peggy's Cove. That is a cool place. It is right on the coast and there is a big area of rocks with a light house on it. I spent most of the time climbing and jumping on the rocks. It was like a rock playground. Other than it being fun, it was very beautiful. That night we went down to Lower Water Street to a bar playing live music. I can't remember what it was called right now. We had a good time, and while there we came up with a new idea for our business stickers. We have been handing them out and sticking them everywhere, but that night we started sticking them on people as they walked by and we got other people to do it too. It was fun and a good laugh.

The next day was a sit-on-the-couch-and-watch-movies-all-day kind of day. We really needed that. I would say we are closer to recharged now.

We are now on our way to P.E.I., which is the final spot for us to visit. We plan on staying there for 2 nights but we will see if we can stick to that. Afterwards, we will be driving to get home. We are so excited to get back to training; getting soft is not a good feeling.

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2010-08-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Ferry ride back was much funner then the Ferry ride there. We caught it at 6:30pm instead of 1:00am like the first time. There was live music and basically there was just things to do. It is like a mini cruise. We arrived in North Sydney at 12:30am, and then drove till we found a campground.

The campground we found was pretty average but all we needed was somewhere to sleep. The next morning we were woke up by rain. This day we had planned on driving the Cabot Trail, which was voted one of the most beautiful roads in North America. I'm sure it is, but we didn't get to see a lot of it. It rained all day long. The wind was blowing the fog was thick and it was just plain dangerous. I compared it to a roller coaster but better. When I ride roller coasters I don't get a rush, but driving on this road in these conditions was quite a rush. There were points on the trail where we knew we were at the edge of a cliff but we couldn't see 10 feet in front of us. The fog eventually cleared and the rain slowed down, so we were able to see some pretty nice scenery. The other thing on the road was construction. So it took us about 7 hours to travel 350km.

That night we stayed in Mulgrave. We stayed with my good friends parents. I haven't seen them in a few years and it was great seeing them again. When I was young I was at there house more then I was at my own house. They were my second parents for about 10 years.

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2010-08-27T14:20:00.001-07:00

We went back to Baie Vert to do a couple of things that we didn't have time for the first time around. We had people to see and places to go. We visited more friends of Tara's and as always mine now too.

The place we had to go was Second Falls. Tara had been up Second Falls only once when she was younger and knew that I was going to love it. At the beginning of the Falls there are 3 pools with 3 separate falls. So this is actually only the first part of the Falls. So we hiked up the side of the Falls and then hiked up a river. The river isn't very deep so we got to jump from rock to rock the whole way up. I would say it is about 2kms to the top. When we got to the top I was blown away. It is such an amazingly beautiful place. I want to say that it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, and as you know I have said that a lot. So what I have discovered is that everywhere is beautiful and everywhere has its own type of beauty and it is beautiful. I must say that I am so happy to get to experience such realizations.

After Baie Vert we went to Rocky Harbour, and Rocky Harbour is in Grosse Morne National Park. Rocky Harbour is also the town where my Step Mom was born and still has family there. I called her to ask what there is for us to do while we were there, she had a lot of ideas, but we only had time and energy for some of it. We went to Fjords, which were amazing and breathe taking. We went to a bar at the Ocean View Motel so I could get Screeched in. I got Screeched in but it was just me Tara, Ben (who has a website http://www.bensstudio.ca/ and 2 Bar tenders). Another cool thing about that night was that I ran into a guy that just happened to know a guy that was born and raised in Fort McMurray like me. So he told me his name and then we went over to his house. Yes he was my friend, my friend Mike. I haven't seen him in years, so it was cool getting to see him.

The next day we went driving around the park exploring the scenery, which was beautiful of course. That night we spent the night at my step mom's parents house. We had a great time, they are both great and I must say that I really liked her father, Arch. I liked her mom as well but Arch hit a heart string with me. We spent that night at a campground called Green Point.

The next day we had an appointment at the garage. We needed to get the front brakes replaced and a new front wheel bearing. The other stuff we have had to get fixed so far were the back breaks, some hose and the starter.

The starter had to be changed in Corner Brook. We went to Corner Brook that day. We went to a soccer game that Tara's little cousin was playing at. It was the last game of the season and we got to visit with her Aunt's. When we went back to the Jeep to drive back to our hotel we discovered that the Jeep did not want to start. This had happened when we were in Rocky Harbour, the only difference was that instead of it starting up again right away, we had to walk to the hotel. We were only a 20 minute walk from the hotel so it wasn't to bad. I had to go back the next morning to try and get it started. I have no real idea when it comes to mechanics so I had to called Tara's dad to direct me. His direction was perfect because I got it started. We then got it in a garage that fixed it for us right away, which was greatly appreciated. The scary part about this whole thing was that we had to catch the Ferry to get back to Nova Scotia.

We also had to return the Canoe that we carried all over NFLD. We only used it once which made taking it, pointless.

So we made it to the Ferry in time and left the Island. We were there for 23 days in total and loved every minute of it. We want to go back already, and we already miss all the great people that we met and got to see. I love Newfoundland. I recommend checking it out, it is Absolutely Gorgeous.

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2010-08-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

So after finally reaching as far east as we can go we have now started back west. Like I said before, we were on our way to visit Tara's Nan in Buchans. We stayed there for 3 nights and it was a good relaxing 3 nights.

It wasn't very eventful but we sure needed the rest and relaxation we got. The first night we just hung out, talked and went to bed early. The next day we went into Grandfalls for the day to do some shopping. Nan loves going into town so that's why we did it. Buchans is a small town and doesn't have a whole lot. In its hay day though it was quite the town. It was the first town in NFLD that had running water and flushing toilets. As I mentioned before Nan is 92, what I didn't mention is that she still lives on her own and is still completely independent. It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how old we get we are still young. We tend to believe that time spent on earth means we are old, but in fact our souls never age, and you can see this in older people.

Anyways we went to the lake the next day. The lake is very nice, clean and it was quite warm. With all the relaxing I got in a bunch of training and me and Tara did some Chi Sao, which I have been wanting to do for a while. It was just a nice visit and we are going to miss Nan.

Also while we were there I got a job offer for Section Repair training in Africa. Section Repair is the job I did before I left Fort McMurray and it is Fixing the the biggest tires in the world all the way down to loader tires. I don't know all the details but I do know it sounds cool and it would be another place for us to experience.

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2010-08-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

St. John's is a very cool place. I personally would rather live outside a small city but I sure would like to come back to St. John's for another vacation. We had a lot of fun and there was still a lot to be had.

We stayed with Tara's Uncle and Auntie the whole time we were there. We still haven't had to pay for a place to stay since we got here. The first night in St. John's we went out for a drive with Tara's cousin Chris. He took us all around the city and up to Signal Hill. After he dropped us off we went for a drive ourselves. We got very lost, probably because we were looking for 2 different places. Still St. John's is hard to get around. Every road twists turns and becomes either a Y or a peace sign, so you have no idea where the road starts or ends. Once we found our bearings we went to a 24 hour restaurant on Water Street. When you hear 24 hour you think crappy food, but this place was pretty awesome. It was a pub and a restaurant. The food was great and the place was really nice. Not sure why there aren't more places like this.

The second day we went down to Water Street to do a little shopping. We also went to a nice vegetarian restaurant. We sure appreciate it when we find vegetarian restaurants but we get over-whelmed because we usually don't have much to choose from. While we were there we met up with one of Tara's friends Donald. He's a nice guy, interesting to say the least. That night which was a Saturday we went to George Street. If you haven't heard of George Street check it out, because it is awesome. The street it self is not that big but it is full of bars. I would say there is about 40 bars on the street and they are on both sides of the street. Normally when you walk outside the bar the party ends but not on George Street, it is everywhere you turn. I have never been to a street like this one, it is very cool and I want to do it again. Other than the fact that the party is in and out side the bar all the bars are really fun as well and there is something for everyone. We didn't get home till 4am and we had to train the next day.

The next day we actually felt okay. We went to a beautiful place along the coast called Pouch Cove. Here we met our new friend Dave Pilgrim. We went to meet him because 1 our Sifu recommend him to us and 2 because he teaches JKD. We met up with him at noon and planned on having a 3 hour class. We went for a walk down to the East Coast Trail which is right in front of his house. We stopped on a bunch of big flat slanted rocks right beside the water. The rocks were probably about 100ft. above the water. It was the most beautiful place we have ever trained at. During the training session our attention kept getting pulled to all the whales that were coming out of the water, some within ear shot. The training itself was great and we learned some pretty cool stuff. After the training we all walked farther along the trail so we could find some blueberries. The blueberries weren't fully grown but we did get some. The better part of the walk was the beauty of trail. We saw more whales amazing coves and rock faces. We even made it to a rock beach down in a cove with really high rock cliffs on either side and a stream running through into the ocean. We sat on the beach for about an hour looking at rocks and enjoying the peace a beauty. After that we walked back to Dave's house and he showed us around. He has a sweet dog named Daisy, she is a cross between a Rottweiler and a Mastiff. Unfortunately Dave has to move from this beautiful home, the good news is that we get to see him again in Kitchener where he is going to be teaching out of the club that we are already training out of. Our 3 hour class turned into 7 hours of training and hanging out.

That night we went for dinner at Montana's. I mention where we ate because they always blow me away with their customer service. Every time that I have either complained or just simply had something not work out perfectly they always give us something for free or even pay for the whole meal. Our Antijitoes didn't come out before our meal so we got them to go for free. Just so you know I'm not getting payed for saying that. After that we went to the movie with Tara's cousin Chris. We went to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and it is awesome. It was so much more then I could have expected. I just need to say that the Dragon Ball Z movie that was made a couple of years ago absolutely sucks. I love DBZ but the movie was atrocious and I 100% believe that if the guys that made Scott Pilgrim remade the DBZ movie, it would be amazing.

The next day Tara's Uncle and Aunt's kids came over with there kids for a BBQ, Chris is one of them. It was a great time. After that we went to a festival with Auntie and Uncle called Festival of Friends. Basically its a bunch of people with live music and a beer tent. At the end of the night they have fireworks but we left before they went off. We went to Chris's for a little bit and then to Mount Pearl to visit more of Tara's family.

The next day we went with Chris and his family to Cape Spear. Cape Spear is the most Eastern place in all of North America. It was really awesome. It wasn't a sunny day it was actually very windy which I think made it even cooler. We walked along rocks just on the edge of a cliff and there were small waves hitting the rocks. It was pretty great being there and now we can say that we were there. I wanted to climb down a bit of it because it wasn't very steep but Tara forbid it. lol.

That was the last day we were there. Our trip to St. John's was very eventful and we wanted to stay longer. We enjoyed everyone we saw but I most liked meeting Chris. He is one of Tara's favorite cousin's and I can see why. She compared him to my cousin Logan, who is my favorite cousin and one of my best friends. Now were off to Buchans to visit with Tara's 92 year old Nan.

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2010-08-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

After St. Pierre we went to Bay Roberts to visit one of my best friends from Fort McMurray. Her name is Kerri and we have been friends since kindergarten.

We had a really good time there. First we went to her parents house where we spent the night. It is a nice place like most people homes in NFLD. Kerri took us on a little tour of the area and of course it is a nice place. After we went for dinner and then to a bar to get a little drunk. We met a few of her friends and they are all cool and fun. We want to go back and have another night with them but we have to much to do before we leave the island.

The next day we went for a drive up to Victoria to see Tara's Nan and Pops grave. It took sometime to find the right grave site and then when we found it, Tara noticed that of all the grave sites her Nan and Pops were one of a small few that didn't have flowers. So then we had to go on a search for flowers, and that took us about 1 hour. To get to Victoria we drove down a beautiful rode right along the water. We passed through a few towns, they were Harbour Grace, Spaniards Bay, and Carbonear.

Once we were done with the grave site we went to St. John's.

I just wanted to add, that when I started this blog I was in Pompton Lakes New Jersey. I can't remember if I mentioned this before. I was there for a week of training. I was training with Damian Ross my Sensei at his Dojo. It was really a great time. What he does there is the Self Defense stuff that I teach, since I learned it from him, Tekken Ryu Jujutsu which I have my green belt in and would love to get my black, if it is ever possible for me to get it. Also they practise Judo there which I also have my green belt in and would like my black some day. While I was there I told my Sensei about the travels we were about to embark on. So in hearing this he figured it would be a great idea for me to write a blog. He also figured that when we finish these two years of travel and training that it would be a good idea to turn this stuff into a book. That would be pretty cool I guess. Money coming in from sales would be nice for sure. Anyways just wanted to mention the training that I was doing there and that it was my Sensei's idea for me to write this blog.

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2010-08-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

We were just at a small town called Baie Verte. It is on the northern part of Newfoundland, not the northern peninsula part though. Baie Verte is where Tara was born, so I finally got to see where my girl was born. We had a really great time there.

The first night we were there we stayed at friends of here parents. We partied till about 3am. It was my first NFLD kitchen party and it was good. There was only 6 of us but we drank and danced and laughed our asses off. At about midnight me and Tara went for a bike ride around the neighbourhood and we saw 2 people picking up the smallest frogs up off the road. So in NFLD I have now seen the both the biggest and the smallest frogs I have ever seen. The next day we were done drinking, it was like our 6th day in a row being drunk, plus the fact that we took the ferry over at 1am and slept sitting up. It was getting to be to much. Anyways we went exploring the town on our bikes and I got to see Tara's old house and all the places that brought back childhood memories. It is a lovely little town and of course everyone is super friendly. In NFLD both the land and the people are wonderful. We camped out at the campground called Flat water pond. We got a site that was right in the bush without any cut out. The next morning we went down to the boat launch and went for a canoe ride. We paddled out fine but when we turned to go back we discovered how frigging windy it was. We could barely keep the boat straight and we were even catching air. We made it back alright though. Then we went to the beach and there was no one there so we got to do some training. Training the sand is so much harder. It feels like everything you are doing is wrong and off balance. Once we were done that we went for a swim and then headed back into town.

After more exploring we went to Tara's long time friends house. When got there we discovered she had gone to play softball, so we went down and got to play as well. After the game Tara's friend Amanda took us on another tour of town. Since she still lives there we got to see parts that Tara didn't know were there. We hung out the rest of the night by the fire. I really enjoyed these people, they feel like they are my friends already. A really cool thing that I discovered is that Amanda has been reading our blog since close to the start. I don't know how far she read but it was so nice to know that someone is actually reading this and enjoying it. It sure made my day.

The next day we drove for about 7 or 8 hours to get to Fortune. It is a small town where you can take a ferry over to St. Pierre. Before I get into St. Pierre I have to mention a bit of the trip there. Of course everything that we see is beautiful on the island but I was amazed by one part on the Heritage highway. It might be just me but I thought it was spectacular. The best way I can describe it is it was rolling hills that could have been mountains, the hill were very rocky but it was covered in grass. There wasn't a lot of trees but just enough to decorated the hills. There were also lots of large ponds and small lakes scattered all over. To me it was amazing. I tried taking some pictures but the camera just doesn't do it justice.

When we got to Fortune we stayed in a B&B that was really nice. It was a 2 bedroom apartment that had everything. The bed so comfortable. I give so much description to this place because of how tired we are. I just wanted to stay there for a few days and chill. I actually almost told Tara and her parents to go to St. Pierre with out me. I didn't though. So went crossed over on the ferry. St. Pierre if you don't already know is small island that is actually owned by France. So the whole place is full a french speaking people, and the culture there is completely like that in France. There are only about 7 thousand people living there and it has been a part of France for well over 100 years. The place was pretty cool and now I can say I've been to France, but it has nothing on NFLD. If I went there straight from the main land then I probably would have appreciated it more. Plus I can't speak French even though I would like to be able to.

The trip is still going great, but I sure could use a couple days off.

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2010-08-09T05:17:00.000-07:00

After we got the canoe on the Jeep we started out towards The Hummber Valley. So far this would be where I would like to live. It is just past Corner Brook and there is a few small communities with great views all around. There are mountains, rivers and lakes. There is even a ski hill called Marble mountain. As far as I can tell there isn't anyone teaching Self Defence like I teach and there also isn't anyone teaching Wing Chun.

While we were there we stayed with Tara's Auntie, Uncle and Cousin. They are all great and a lot of fun. We stayed with them for 2 nights. The first night we drank and hung out. At around 12am I went out side searching for frogs. I found at least 50 of them and they were all about 3 to 4 inches long. So there were a couple that were the biggest I have ever seen. The next day Tara's Uncle took us out on his boat into the Bay of Islands. The river that is in front of their house goes right into it and this Bay goes right into the ocean. The boat was docked at Corner Brook and what an awesome boat it is. It is a Boston Whaler and it was originally a Coast Guard boat, so it was even stronger then a normal one. We were told that it can be full of water and it would still take another 2500 pounds to sink it. When were out there we jumped in the ocean. It was so nice and the water was around 650 feet deep. We ended up going out about 50km. We saw so much beautiful scenery, just spectacular as Tara's Uncle always says. We even saw whales jumping out of the water. We were on our way into a small cove when we hit a rock with one of the motors. It didn't seem like much until we tried starting it up again and only one would start. The fact that we were 50km out and running low on gas wasn't a good thing. We road until we got to calm waters and then Tara's uncle and dad started it by bypassing the starter using the cilenoid or something like that. While we were stopped though we were right by a rock face that had little water falls running down it. Since I know jack about mechanics I just looked at the scenery. We did ended up making it back ok and the gas gage was on empty. It made it a little more exciting. After that we went into town and Steve Tara's uncle showed us another spot with an amazing view, he is quite the tour guide. He even took us to a restaurant with a nice view. It's all about the views in that area, so beautiful.

Almost forgot to mention that the first night we were there Tara's uncle took us on a bit of a tour a bit north of his place. He took us to a golf course with an amazing view of the valley. It was really spectacular. When we were there we even saw a black fox, which none of us had ever seen before. The last night we were there we had a bbq and had a grand old time. Tara's cousin is 8 and she wanted to play a prank on me, so they set up a situation where I ended up getting my nails painted. What can I say they over powered me. Her cousin said it was the best day ever, so it was worth letting it happen. The last day we went back into Corner Brook to have lunch with Tara's auntie and little cousin, and also to check out an old train called the Newfie Bullet. On the way out there is a natural spring where we filled up our water bottles.

It was a great visit there, everything about that area makes me want to go back. All the people that we are meeting are just as great as the scenery. Newfoundland is a hidden treasure that can't be appreciated without seeing for yourself.

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2010-08-06T04:52:00.000-07:00

After leaving Halifax we headed up highway 107 then 7 along the south coast of Nova Scotia. It is so beautiful. Driving along roads like this are actually quite dangerous because you aren't spending too much time paying attention to the road. The road eventually headed north to Antigonish then east towards Cape Breton Island. We ended up staying at a hotel that was over priced because we got in so late. The hotel was over priced but we got a King sized bed that was really comfortable, which was needed. Sleeping has been hard because of all the different beds we have been sleeping in. Also our camping mattresses have small holes in them, so we have to blow them up at least twice a night. Another thing that prevents me from sleeping is that I can't seem to get cool enough to use the blankets which helps me sleep.

The next day we started our drive to Sydney but along the way we went through a few towns of course but stopped in one that was very pretty and smelled very nice called St. Peter's. We pulled into the campgrounds to go for a little bike ride. It was a shorter ride then expected but it was very nice. We were right by a small river that flows into the ocean, and we were looking out over a cliff. We also took some time to practice our Wing Chun. I practice everyday but it is nice when Tara joins in with me. We got into Sydney at around 2:00pm, so we went exploring. While exploring we discovered that there was a Bike festival and street performers down on the boardwalk. We didn't get to the bike show but we did see the street performers which was pretty good. Some better then others of course. The one that I didn't like was a guy that did an escape act. I didn't like it because he spent the whole time get people excited and cheering. He was doing this to get more people to come down and he was doing it to our energy. He kept saying give me your energy. Now this might sound normal but it is actually not a very nice thing to do. What this does is transfer our energy to him. Kind of like a vampire sucking out your energy. I noticed the effects with Tara. During the show she was happy and flowing with energy, which was an expression of her releasing her energy. After the show she was sad and unable to get excited about anything. She eventually got over it when she recharged her energy. I mention this so you can be careful when giving your energy away without knowing what you are doing.

That night we stayed at a campground in Big Bras d'Or. We asked for a water front campsite but instead we got to sleep in a boat that was tied to the dock. It was really cool. I have never slept in a boat before so it was a nice experience. We sat on the back dock watching jelly fish swim by, we read our books and then looked at the stars. Also just down the shore people set off some fireworks. It was actually quite impressive, they went on for well over 5 minutes. I never saw such a good firework show from normal people on the beach.

The next day we were going to get on the Ferry to head to Newfoundland at around 5pm. We then got a call telling us that the Ferry was delayed until 1am. So we had to sleep in recliners all night. This wasn't very comfortable but when we woke up it was early in the morning and it made the arrival into Port aux Basques that much nicer.

So we are now in Newfoundland and it is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. We have only seen a small section of it so far and we will be staying here for 2 weeks so we will see a lot more. So far we stayed at friends of Tara's family. They live on George's lake in a nice house, we stayed there for 2 nights and got to go on a boat ride. Before we left they offered us their canoe, of course we took it so we can go canoeing when ever we feel like. There is more for me to share but I will wait until later to share. The next part is awesome because we are seeing a lot and it is just so friggin beautiful. I want to live here.

This is a little off topic but I wanted to let you know that my Sifu has completed training videos for Level 1 of Wing Chun. People teach Wing Chun differently so you will be getting it the way we learn. Our Sifu is an amazing teacher so if you want to learn Wing Chun the right way get these videos. It is the Hong Kong version from the Yip Man, Moy Yat, Nelson Chan lineage. My Sifu is Chuck O'Neill.

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Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship

2010-08-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to mention that everywhere that we have been is so beautiful. Some are just beautiful some are breath taking. From the talked about spots to the not so talk about spots. There is just so much beautiful land scape to experience.

I will say, as of where we are now Nova Scotia is my favorite spot for beauty of the landscape. It's so green and lush with rolling hills where you can see forever and of course the shore and bays, which just adds to it all in an extreme way. There is just something about being near water.

2010-07-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

In the days that have past we have been to a number of places. We are not in NFLD yet like we had planned, because of the Ferry being booked till this week. It gave us a chance to visit friends in Nova Scotia and hang out in New Brunswick.

In New Brunswick we stopped into Edmunston for the first night. This is where we started staying in Hotels for a few nights. It was raining for about 4 days straight. Next we drove past Fredericton to get to Moncton, where we stayed for 3 nights. We took a little trip down to Alma which is a little town on the Bay of Fundy. On the way we drove down a very nice road that goes along the water front. The cool thing about the water along this area is that it's tide rises and lowers by about 16 feet every 6 hours, which is the most anywhere in the world. When we were in Moncton we spent the night in a nice hotel then a normal one. Spent some time downtown where there was a festival going on. We got to visit some of Tara's family that live there. The other thing we got to do was train with a Ninjitsu group. It was alot of fun and the guys were really great. We were outside rolling around in the wet grass. It is quite a bit different from the Wing Chun in alot of ways but I can see the functionality in what Lee the teacher was teaching. If your in Moncton just check the yellow pages for them under Ninjitsu in the martial arts section.

We were on our way to Pasboro to visit Tara's cousin and new girlfriend when we stopped into Amherst. It is a pretty town. I stopped in to talk with the Karate instructor, he was working on fixing up the new location he purchased. I have been trying to visit as many martial arts schools as I can along the way so I can learn about what others are doing. Both in style and in business, it is a good way to learn about what works and what doesn't when running a martial arts business. While we were there we stopped into a restaurant pub called Duncan's Pub. It was really nice, the chairs were so comfortable, music nice and just a good atmosphere.

When we got to Pasboro Tara's cousin brought us down to the water front where the tide moves in and out every 6 hours like the other place. He showed us a fish net called a Weir. A weir is a three storey high net held up with posts, it traps the fish when the tide goes out. After that we went to his place, went for a walk and just hung out. The next day we headed to Halifax.

Now Halifax is a cool cool place, such a fun place. We were visiting Tara's friend and my friend but more Tara's. We went out everynight, even the first day we got there. We drove straight downtown to have a beer and something to eat, then it turned into park Jeep in parkade and get drunk for rest of night. We love pubs and there are a lot of really nice ones. The few that I really liked were Foggy Goggle, Dirty Nelley's and Maxwell's Plum. If you like to party this is the place to go. We even went to Alexander Keith's Brewery for a tour. I didn't find it till the last night we were there but just down the street from our friends place is a dojo called Bushido-Kai that teachs JKD and all its levels like our Sifu teaches. We are planning on coming through here again to visit another of Tara's friends so I'm going to try and make sure we get in to train with them.

The trip is still going great and we have a lot of exciting things to do that are coming up. Enjoy your day.

Self Defence
Martial Arts
Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship

2010-07-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

We have now been back on our trip from 1 week now, so I will give you a quick overview of what we have been up to. We started our trip by going to Niagra Falls. The falls are quite amazing really, they almost look like they are falling in slow motion. I find standing by such things a little bit scary because I feel like I could just jump in to go for a ride. Which would obviously be the end of my life, so then I decide not to. It would be fun while it lasted though. While we were there we stayed at a campground about 10km outside of town, so we did alot of biking back and forth. When you are in downtown Niagra it feels like a mini Vegas which is pretty cool. I finally got to do that indoor skydiving thing where there is a huge fan that pushes you up while you try to balance on the wind, it was very cool but I needed a spotter so I couldn't go very high. I must say though that I will not be wanting to go back to Niagra unless its with friends just for a night of partying. It's mainly because of our dining experiences, imagine going to a normal resaurant add $5 to everything, then make it taste worse and if you have a problem with any of it suck it up cause you still have to pay for it. Cool place though.

Then we started on our way to Algonquin Provincial Park. We stopped at a campground just past Simcoe Lake called 4 Seasons Tent and Trailer. It was really nice, lots of trees and quite. I say lots of trees because some campgrounds are just a field with trees planted here and there so there is no privacy.

The next day we made it to Algonquin, we drove through about 5 different campgrounds just to figure out that the first one we looked at was the one we wanted. Funny how that happens alot. The campground we stayed at was Canisbay Lake, it was very nice and quiet. The lake was very peaceful and warm, it almost felt like bath water. While we were setting up camp the first night we saw a bear cub run through the trees right in front of us, the mother didn't follow which was kind of a good thing. We were told that 2 full size bears had been trapped in that past week which means that the cubs mother might have been one of them, sad but possible. The first night we stayed there it rained for about six hours through the night and it rained quite hard, to the point where we discovered we were in a small hole. So we ended up completely soaked and had to spend the rest of the night sleeping in the Jeep. Thanks goodness for the Jeep. The next day was hot so our stuff dried pretty fast.

The next place we drove to was Voyager Provincial Park which is just at the edge of Ontario. That is a huge campground, and like most campgrounds in Ontario you have alot of choices on how you want to camp. You usually get the option of Family camping, Electric or none and no radio playing for the quiet campers like us. So far I liked this campsite we stayed at the best. It had alot of privacy so we got to do some more serious training. I just don't feel comfortable when people can see me training, not sure why but I just don't, unless it's in class of course.

The next day we drove through Quebec. The hardest part was finding our way through Montreal, which we did without any back tracking, it was quite impressive considering the map we have didn't give us much help. When we got to Quebec City we made a few wrong turns but we ended up under some pretty nice bridges so we got to take some nice pictures. Now were in New Brunswick where we will be for a few days.

It is nice having the Jeep with us for this part of the trip. The biking portion of the trip was amazing and I wouldn't have done it any other way but it feels like we a traveling in luxury now. Alot less stressful and we have alot more energy to do stuff at the end of the day. The main draw back is when you see something beautiful you are past it so quickly. Once we get to NFLD we will be taking things a bit slower and checking more things out. We are meeting Tara's parents there so we need to get there quickly. I will let you know more in about a week.

Self Defence
Martial Arts
Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship

2010-07-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

We just found out today that our Jeep will finally be arriving. Since you probably don't know we have been waiting quite a while for our Jeep to get here. Originally my mom and her boyfriend were going to drive it down for the beginning of June, but they are short on cash and were unable to. Then we got our friends Dana and Jenn who were going to have it here by the end of June. Where that went wrong was that Dana didn't want to drive our Jeep to death on the way here. Makes sense to me since we want to drive it to the East coast and back. So the newest problem was how are we going to get it here. We tried looking into trains which takes way to long, about 2 weeks from shipping date. So we went with a truck which only takes about 3 to 5 days and costs the exact same.

Anyways we are almost packed and ready to go, and very excited. Packing has reminded us of how awesome our trip getting here was. Once again we are going to miss the people we are leaving behind, but this time it is for a shorter time then the people we left behind in Alberta.

Just so you know I will be posting in pretty much the same way I did last summer. Where I let you know where we were instead of where we are going. This is just safer and since I am a Self Defence instructor I should practise what I preach.

If anyone of our new friends in Kitchener happen to read this, we love you all and will really miss you. For our brother's and sister's from the club, we are amazed by how quickly we became so close to you. For our friends at Shopper's we really enjoy working with you and hanging out after hours. I personally haven't worked side by side with women since I was 16 and it is a very nice change.

As excited as I am to leave I am just as excited to get back. I really love it here, mainly because of Wing Chun and the people in our lives. The city is pretty cool too but a far second. I hope this next part of the trip is a safe and enjoyable one. I hope you enjoy the stories to come.

Self Defence
Martial Arts
Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship

2010-06-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

I'm supposed to be at work right now but my back is bugging me. I broke my back almost 7 years ago for those that don't already know. So sometimes my back muscles get really tense and I need to focus on stretching and resting for a couple days.

Anyways, I would like to tell you a bit about our Sigung Nelson Chan and his Kwoon (club) in Toronto. Since we got here we have been there to visit 4 times. Our Sigung has been training in Wing Chun for over 40 years. He learned it from his Sifu Moy Yat and Moy Yat learned it from Yip Man. Sigung learned the Hong Kong version, which is the original version. It is very cool to have found a lineage of Wing Chun that is so pure and effective. My Sifu prayed to find a good Wing Chun instructor and I searched for one, guess we both got what we were looking for. Other than getting to meet our Sigung at his Kwoon, we also get to meet his other students, which are part of our Wing Chun family. Each time we go we become closer with them which is very cool, and each time we go back we are all a little bit better, so we get to see each other's growth. Our Wing Chun Uncle, or our Sibok, Louis has taught me a few things that are hugely important in my understanding of the System. It's not that my Sifu didn't teach me these things, but sometimes just the way something is explained from another point of view allows it to sink in better.

The last visit we had to Sigung's was May 29th. This visit was different because we were going there for a special seminar about Wing Chun history and the inner secrets of Wing Chun. It was pretty interesting and what we learned sinks in more and more each day. The seminar was done by our Sigung's Wing Chun brother, Moy 2. He is called Moy 2 because he was the first person in the U.S. to learn Wing Chun from Moy Yat. There are many versions to the story of where Wing Chun came from, but what we learned at this seminar makes more sense than the others. Moy 2 has done a great deal of research about Wing Chun history and the truths about Wing Chun, so I tend to believe what he shared with us. One point I will share about what I learned is that Wing Chun was invented by a woman. This has always been hard to believe for men because women don't tend to be the fighting type. Where Wing Chun was invented was in a place called Li Jiang. In this place 300 years ago was a culture wherein women were the dominant sex, so basically they were the ones doing the construction, the fighting, the farting and the burping. I added the last 2 but you know what I mean. They were still physically built the same way but the women were the aggressors and had created an intelligent "martial art" or "fighting system" that required little strength to be very powerful and useful.

After class we got back to Kitchener and went to our friend's house for a barbecue with a bunch of us from class. We have been there a few times now and we have fun every time. They have a kick-ass barbecue set up on their deck and the rest of the backyard is a pool. They also set up the TV on the back deck and we watched UFC. Good times for sure. We have had quite a few good nights with these two, in fact we went to Montreal with them to go to UFC. We went to the one where Lyoto Machida got knocked out. I will tell you more about our trip there in another post.

Self Defence
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship
Heritage Martial Arts

2010-05-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since my last post, just didn't feel like writing I guess. We are getting closer to the next part of our journey. The plans have changed drastically but we like the changes. Instead of bhiking the rest of the way across Canada we are going to drive our Jeep. Tara doesn't really want to bike the highway anymore, which I completely understand. Both our knees felt it and we don't want to do anymore damage to our bodies just to prove something. We biked almost 2500km to get here and we're pretty proud of that. We have also decided that we are going to come back here for another year of training. We love Wing Chun and need to learn more. Since I'm going to teach it someday we feel this is the best thing to do. I like to say I'm here going to school, which is exactly what I'm doing.

Our friends Dana and Jen are going to drive the Jeep to us. Dana is fixing it up for me, since it's not ready for long distance driving. They should be here close to the end of June. Then we will be leaving for a two month trip. We are not exactly sure where we are going, we like to just go where we feel. The only plans are to go to the islands and explore whatever we meet up with in between. We are bringing the bikes for day rides and we are planning on biking all around P.E.I.. Before we leave though I'm going to try and tell you a bit more about our Kitchener experience. It will take a few posts but I'll try my best get all the details in.

As you know when we got here we were only going to stay for a week of intense training, 26 hours of class and privates to be exact. Then it turned into "We will stay for the month." Now it has been eight months and we are very happy we stayed. The city itself is okay, a city is a city to me. What we love so much about this place is our reason for being here and the friends that we have made. Every single one of them is amazing, some have become closer friends then others but they are all still great. I won't point out the ones that are closer but I will write down as many names as I can think of right now. Dan, Dan, and Dan, yes 3 Dan's. There was 4th but we haven't seen him in a while. Malcom, Rick, Bob, Phil, Yuri, Alex, Brock, Onno, Ray, Mauricio, Jeannette, Ken, Brian, Ferrah, Larry, Tim, Darren, Paul, Anya, Bill, James, Katie, and of course Sifu Chuck. These are our friends from the club, there are more but I can't remember everyone right now. The friends I've made at work are amazing as well. I work at Shoppers Drug Mart as a Merchandiser and I quite enjoy my job. My friends names are Angela, Julie, Luke, Kelly, Jesse, Alana, Pat, Boza, Nina, Gordanna, Trevor, Andreea, Fallen, Amanda, Melissa, Bethany, Paul, and Ben my boss. Again there are more but can't remember everyone right now. Just mention a few more, Kate, Vicki, and Sharron. They are wives of a few of the guys and two are good friends with Tara.

The main things we do here are train, live, and. Heavy on the live and train, and we love it. We bike, walk and bus everywhere we go, unless we get a ride from someone. It is a completely different world being on the side of the road biking then being on the road in a vehicle. It's funny how such a simple shift can change the world which you experience. Since we walk and bike everywhere we are in the best shape of our lives, I'm sure all the training has something to do with it as well. It is an adventure every time we go anywhere. They are not big adventures but they are more of an adventure then when you drive. The winter was so mild this year that biking was always an option.

The way we spend money has has been another change since we started our journey. Instead of buying things, we have been buying a lot of experiences. We are constantly doing something, from training, traveling to just going out on the town. We don't go to big clubs but we do go to a lot of Restaurants and Pub's. There are many nice places to go to in downtown Waterloo; Kitchener too, but the best are in Waterloo. In my last post I mentioned that we went to Arizona, which was a great time. We rented Harley's for 2 days and the rides were awesome. The desert is so very beautiful. We have gone to Toronto a few times to train with our Sigung, which I will go into more detail later. I just got back from a trip home, which again I will go into more detail later.

We have experienced so much in this past year. It is really very amazing and I wouldn't have wanted to do anything else. The thought of, 'what if we had stayed in Fort McMurray', gives me a sick feeling to my stomach. To think of not experiencing everything we have is just too much. I even had a dream the other night that we had moved back to Fort McMurray. As soon as a I realised that we were there I started to cry, I was so sad that we had left Kitchener prematurely. Then I woke up and everything was okay again. It's going to be nice to continue writing about Kitchener in more detail before we go.

I hope you are all enjoying hearing about our experiences, because we are having a great time doing it.

Self Defence
Martial Arts
Realworld Self Defence
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship
Heritage Martial Arts and Fitness Centre

2010-01-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I hope all of your holidays were great and that it didn't cost more then you could afford. Christmas is the most expensive time of the year.

I have a couple of exciting things to mention. I have recently started teaching Self Defence again. I am teaching at Heritage Martial Arts and Fitness Centre at 3310 King Street East in Kitchener. It's the same place that we are training in Wing Chun. Beyond the teaching part it's really awesome because now I can go there and train any time I want. I will be having a 2 hour session every weekend. Not sure of the time and day exactly because there is a lot of filming going on this month. I am also able to teach during the day throughout the week for anyone that can make it. I have also had a few things changed with my website. The main thing that I changed is the web page address, it is http://www.realworldselfdefence.ca/. It is also the name of my company "Realworld Self Defence".

Another super-awesome thing that has happened occurred just last night. During class our Sifu surprised me and Tara with our grading. He started by making us workout harder then everyone else. At first I thought he was mad at us for something, but it still wasn't making any sense. I figured it out when we were about a quarter of the way through the testing. We were so surprised because we were originally expecting to get tested at the end of February. Sifu said he figured we were ready so he just decided to grade us. By the way, we both passed! We're so F'n excited. This also means that we get to have an extra 2 months of training at level 2, which is the Chum Kiu level. It usually takes a year of training before you get tested, but because we go to every single class we got tested sooner. Sifu figured out that within the 3 months that we have been training we have put in a year and half worth of regular class participation. I also train outside of class so I have been putting a lot of hours into this.

Just to finish up with exciting stuff, we are going to Arizona for a week to see Tara's parents and her Uncle. They are there for a 6 week vacation. They have rented a trailer so we get to stay there for free and they even payed for half of our flights. It should be a good time and it will be nice to see them again.

Martial Arts
Self Defence
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellow Ship
Heritage Martial Arts

2009-12-02T17:50:00.001-08:00

Hey there all. I just wanted to say that I watched that video I mentioned in the last post and wow. That is a must see, a must see by all. Please people we must educate ourselves before we are all under a world government that is only interested in one thing and that is control. Control of every aspect of our lives. In the video it tells alot about this subject. Of course it is still up to you whether or not you want to believe it but you still should atleast watch it.

Wouldn't you want to know if Hitler was on his way, I know I would. Get ready the world is changing right before our eyes. The truth about what is realing going on around us is coming out, so very exciting.

One more thing the link for prison planet is actually www.prisonplanet.tv. The other one is still good but this is the one I meant to write. Talk to you later.

Also the links on the end of the blogs are so I can help my Sifu and my Sensei get more business and not necessarily because they believe in the same things I do. They are there own people and they probably haven't even read my blog yet.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Association

2009-11-30T23:03:00.000-08:00

I just did some reading and I also watched some videos. I need to read further but I feel I need to give some links so you guys can check this stuff out aswell. Go to infowars.com, prisonplanet.com. Go on youtube and search for climate-gate. There are some videos by Alex Jones. Alex Jones is a good man that is trying to bring the truth out into the public. There is a link to his movie after part 2 of the videos. I haven't watched it yet but will be tomorrow. Please educate yourselves before it is to late.

Yes we need to take care of our planet but the lies that are being told to us is wrong and the reasons for it is wrong. Make up your own mind when you do your research but atleast you will have the truth to make your decision over and not a lie.

The main thing I wanted you all to check out was the climate gate stuff, but of course there is much more to read on those sights so don't stop keep going.

2009-11-30T07:49:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, how many is everyone? I have no idea. Well I have something exciting to write about this time. We went on another adventure/ journey. We went to Ecuador for a week and it was amazing. I will give as much detail as I can about the trip from start to finish but well have to leave some more personal things out.

We left Kitchener on the 15th at about 12 noon. We took the bus to Toronto, then to Ontario and then to Montreal. We had booked our flight from Montreal about a month before we got to Kitchener cause we had still been planning on living in Montreal. The bus rides took a total of 12 hours to get to Montreal. When we got to Montreal we got dropped off at the airport at about 1:30am and had to wait till 6:30am for our flight to Miami. This would have been ok if there were some comfy chairs or benches to lay on but there wasn't. The best we found were hard marble-looking benches which could have been mistaken for coffee tables. While we were there I also drank the first cup of coffee since about 2001. After our 3 hour flight to Miami we had a 6 hour stop over. Then we had about a 3 hour flight into Quito, Ecuador, which took us to about 9:30pm. So we had been traveling for about 32 to 33 hours straight, yes we were pretty tired. When we were coming in to land it was so awesome cause Quito is right in the mountians. It was night-time so the city lights were on. I think Fort McMurray looks beautiful at night when you are driving down Beaconhill, but that doesn't even compare to what Quito looks like at night. There are about 2 million people in Quito so there are so many lights, and they follow the sides of mountains and go over hills; they looked like a blanket of lights drapped over the hills.

The hotel we stayed at was a Radisson, and it was probably the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in. When we got to our room there were 2 desserts waiting for us.

I have never had that happen before. The only down fall of the rooms was that the 2 beds were twin beds, so sleeping was quite cramped. The next morning we got picked up at the hotel by 2 buses and we were off to the hacienda.

The bus ride was close to 2 hours long. The scenery was amazing, so many hills and mountains. The roads were winding all through the mountain range. Even the rock faces were amazing. They were so different in the way the rock layers seemed to twist into one another. I can't fully explain the beauty of Ecuador so I won't even try, but we did take a lot of pictures. When our main computer gets here we will have many pics to put up since this computer doesn't seem to want to.

Now the reason for the trip to Ecuador wasn't for the beautiful scenery, it was actually for a ceremony. A Shaman type ceremony. We were there for 4 nights and we did 3 nights of a very special plant medicine. I'm not going to say what it was but it refills the DMT levels in the brain. I'm not saying what it was cause I feel that I shouldn't. I will tell you the purpose of it though. The plant medicine we took can do many things such as heal you physically, and show you Celestial worlds and hell worlds. What it mainly does is show you your inner worlds and your inner lights and darknesses. It shows you your shadow self and shadow traits. There are so many levels to this process. For example, we all have demons inside of us, on us and around us. Yes demons/negative energies do exsist and they do affect us at all times. While on the medicine you purge and when you do you are actually purging dark energies out of your body. When you purge it feels like there is a lot of substance coming out when actually there isn't much coming out at all, it is mainly energy. It helps to clean the demons from your insides. I guess I will say what it is that we did so you can do some research on this stuff. I fully believe that most people can get a lot out of taking it. But don't take it on your own. It's best to take it with people that know what they are doing and that have proccessed their shadows. That part is most important. Ayahuasca is a very powerful medicine and teacher and should only be done with experienced people. Aya can take you to places that you may not be able to understand and the energies that are flying around the room can be very powerful. I'll finish with saying that it helped me out a lot with what it taught me and the lessons will continue for many months. I am so grateful for what I have learned from that experince and will do my very best to better myself and to proccess my darkness so that it will not be in control of me, but rather that I will be in control of it.

Besides the ceremonies the people and the place were so wonderful and beautiful. The people that come to these ceremonies are very brave, as it takes a lot of bravery to really look at yourself. To not lie to yourself but to admit that, yes I am dark and I do have these bad traits, and I am willing to see them for what they are and to face them-head on and to work on myself and come out on top no matter what it takes, is really the desired end result. So Aya isn't about getting high, it's about learning and self-realization.

Anyways the trip was amazing and I would recommened it to all.

The trip back was about the same as the way there, other then the fact that we stayed at a hostel in Montreal. We got back to Kitchener on Monday the 23rd, and we were happy to be home. The trip was very tiring. One last thing to mention about the ceremonies was that you couldn't eat or drink 4 hours before and the ceremony lasted from 7pm to 2am. You could eatafterwards, but you usually didn't feel like it. There was breakfast served every morning but we never made it to breakfast so we repeatedly fasted for 24 hours, only eating once per day.

Hope you enjoyed this post. I won't be reading it over for mistakes so I'm sure there will be a lot.

(Jun.6/10: I just got around to editing this one and adding a few pictures...hopefully there'll be even fewer mistakes now! -Tara)

Martial Arts
Self Defense
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company
Canadian Wing Chun Fellowship

2009-11-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with all of you. Well we are now moved into our new apartment. It's kind of weird having our own place again, and nice as well. It has been 6 months now since we had our own place. It's pretty weird to think about what we did the last few months, very surreal. A big part of the reason for our trip was so we could learn to appreciate the little things in life. For example a home, which it has done/ Our place is not that great but it feels like a beautiful castle. It's like going from a trailer to a mansion, but ours was from a tent/hotel to a 2-bedroom apartment.

I must recommend this type of journey we went on to everyone. It doesn't have to be biking 2300km but it should be something that you have always wanted to do but never thought it was possible. A lot of the time we don't believe doing crazy things are possible because the people around us make us feel like we should do what they are doing, because its safer. We can't blame those closest to us because it's not their fault. If we allow them to convince us, then we are actually to blame. Let's look at me, I left a good job and a nice house to walk then bike half way across Canada, just because I wanted to do something outside of the blah-blah day-to-day. Now I am training in Wing Chun 3 days a week and Jeet Kune Do once a week,and working part-time. Compared to the money I was making before, this doesn't compare, but what I have been able to experience and what I get to do on a daily basis is worth more than money. I'm sure I'm not explaining it very well but I just know that I have never been happier and never felt stronger.

By stronger I do not just mean physical, it is also mentally and spiritually. We are so much more capable to deal with stress and our confidence in ourselves has sky-rocketed. We don't need other's acceptance like we once did. Sure we still appreciate it but now we are happy just knowing that we have the power to do exactly what we want because in our souls we are free. Well, at least as free as we have ever felt. It's like the first day of summer holidays but everyday, all day. You might not realize it but many people are affraid of freedom. I know it sounds weird but you might be one of those people without realizing it. If you want to know if you are or not, just think about leaving your job and your home right now to go do whatever it is that you want to do and then just let the free unhindered life that's coming your way to unfold. Sounds good to me, how does it feel to you?

I guess I'll talk a little bit about our training. It is going quite well, our Sifu says we are picking things up faster then most. This might sound like bragging but things like this have always come easy to me. I didn't do very well in school except for Phys Ed so I know what it is that I am good at. When I was young and in school I felt that I couldn't keep up, not because I was stupid but because I had no interest. My talents were of a physical nature and I didn't have an outlet that people saw as a way to make money or get a job. Well I guess there was hockey and baseball but I didn't have enough interest. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish there was a different way to go through school then the one way that there is. If your not extremely smart or gifted then you just have to go through the school system the way it is given. Think about how much better school could be if you actually got to pick what you wanted to learn, even if you changed your mind 3 times a year. I would have kept learning about dinosaurs and outerspace, gym class would have been twice a day. Just from that which would have been my first choices I would have grown so much quicker and wider. Once a child knows it is their choice, their interest and ability to learn sky-rockets. Then studying and homework would be a plessure instead of a chore. I will stop with one more thing, think of all the people without a good education and then think what they could have been had they been able to make the decision in the beginning. I know for a fact that we all had those kids in our class that goofed off and would rather skip class then show up. Why did they do this? They did this because they were stronger then the rest of us, they didn't want to conform they just wanted the chance to express themselves fully but they couldn't because there wasn't anywhere for them to do that. Now they have shitty jobs and are looked down on by others that decided that I want a good job so I will do what is expected of me. I'm not putting these people down for doing well in school but why not look at the other people in this world that were missed and show them a little bit of love and appreciation. Whoops went a little off topic there.

Just what we have learned in one month amazes me. My skill level is much higher and my understanding of martial arts has done the same. It is so cool to learn how the structures of the Wing Chun movements can be so powerful, deceivingly powerful. You really don't need to be that strong to defeat a stronger opponent. The art of Wing Chun is said to be created by a women. I believe this because it is so practical and because of its yin nature. You don't face force with force, and even the punching works opposite to most arts. You pull back more then anything with one arm creating a great deal of outward force with the other. I am writing a lot of notes so soon I will be able to explain what it is that I am learning much better. It sure is fun though, I sure enjoy the training but of course am looking forward to being really good at the art. Also I am not just learning it to know it, I am learning it so I can someday teach it. I figure if I can teach the arts I love, then I will have the time to train the rest of my life instead of wasting my time working at a job that takes me away from what I love.

I hope this blog has not become boring. I will get better at writing my thoughts down so be patient, and your comments are appreciated too.

Martial Arts
Self Defense
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-10-22T11:09:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to mention that we found a place to live. It is a 2 bedroom basement suite and it is walking distance from the Club. It isn't a beautiful place but it is a good price and the location is perfect. The other place we wanted didn't work out but we can see that place from the place we got, so that works for us.

I was thinking that another thing that I can write about in the next couple of months is the stuff that I forgot to mention when we were traveling. For example when we were in Katepwa beach Tara got shit on by a bird. I thought it was hilarious and I'm sure you are enjoying the image yourself.

2009-10-18T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not writing in a while but we don't have internet where we are staying, and when we do get to a place with internet Tara usually has alot to do and by the time she is done I don't feel like doing anything with the computer. I am actually quite surprised with myself as far how much writing I have done on this blog. I didn't really like writing before, probably because I related it to school and I did not like school. Well I did like recess, lunch, physed and talking when I wan't supposed to.

Anyways this past week has been great. We went to all the classes plus one 3 hour private lesson. Wing Chun is so awesome and we are learning alot. Like I said before Sifu Chuck is great. He really knows his stuff and he teaches it so well. He gives you all the secrets, which is greatly appreciated. There are so many little things that increases your power, balance and stability. This is truely an art that you can spend a life time mastering. The main difference between the Self Defense that we teach and any art certainly is the time needed to become effective in it. I love martial arts though and that is why I train so much. Like The Self Defense company says "Minimal Training, Maximum Effect."

On to other things we've been up to. We have been looking for an apartment for 2 weeks now and we still don't have a place. We do have a place that we want but there are 2 other couples that might get it. It is so perfect, it is a one bedroom for $700 a month and it is within walking distance from the Club. By the way the club is called Heritage Martial Arts. Oh and my Sifu's web page is www.kwwingchun.com, if you want to check it out. It has been quite stressful trying to find a place. We don't have a vehicle as I'm sure you have realized this by now, so this makes it a bit harder to go see places. Basically we take buses and ride our bikes to all the places. Mainly we try to stick to the area that we are training at but have looked at other parts of the city.

This weekend we went to the club for JKD training. It turned into a Kali session but it was cool. We did some stick forms, knife disarms, and some empty hand. Every second weekend Sifu teaches Jeet Kune Do, so we will try to make it to as many as possible. My Sifu is also in the proccess of making instructional videos for Wing Chun if anyone is interested. The Wing Chun he teaches is from the Yip Man, Moy Yat line. The other thing we did this weekend was go to Yuk Yuk's. The main act was hilarious, his name is Andy Boorke. He was very dirty, he reminded us of Joe Rogan but different material obviously.

I hope that what I am going to be writing about in the next few months will still be interesting since we are no longer traveling. Well atleast not till June. I will keep writing and because we will have a place I will probably write more about what is on my mind at not so much about what exciting things were doing, because mainly we will be training. I will ask my Sifu if it is okay to go into more detail about the training we are receiving so that I can teach you somethings. Actually I will probably tell you more stuff about self defense anyways but hopefully I can add some Wing Chun to the mix.

Talk to you again soon.

Martial Arts
Self Defense
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-10-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday me and Tara finished 3 days of Wing Chun training. We did about 8 hours each day, so you could say we are pretty frigin sore now. Our Sifu is amazing! He knows his stuff so well, and he is a really really great guy. He has already done so much for us outside of teaching. I could go on all day giving praise to him. I am just so glad that we found him. As of right now we have decided to stay in Kitchener instead of going to Montreal because of Sifu. I have tried getting a hold of other Wing Chun teachers in Montreal but no one has responded. That doesn't give me a very good feeling so I can't see why I would want to go train with them.

I guess I forgot to mention my Sifu's name, his name is Chuck O'Neill. Another good thing about getting to train with him is that I will also get to learn Jeet Kune Do, Kali stick work and a wide range of other things. He has also done alot of body guarding, for example his was a body guard for Chuck Liddel.

We don't start training again till Tuesday night and I already miss it. We will be doing all the evening classes and one 3 hour private lesson for the next 3 weeks, and there will be 2 Jeet Kune Do classes on 2 Saturdays. I'm so happy to have found this place and my new Sifu. Another thing that we might get to do this month is go to Toronto to train with Sifu Chuck's Sifu.

I will add one last thing. Tara did a very good job training, she picked up on the teachings well and she never gave up the whole time. What a trooper she keeps impressing me and I am so glad she was there with me and I hope she sticks with it. I'm pretty sure she well, probably not to the extent that I will but still she will learn alot more in the next 6 months.

Staying here is still a maybe, were 97% sure were staying.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-10-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

I just have to write. I have been noticing on tv something that most have seen but most may not have realized. I noticed that on NFL there is alot of pink. What does pink mean. It meens love. It is a celestial colour that means love. Guess what the powers of control want it to mean? They want it to mean cancer. I will say that yes we want to cure cancer but what is actually happening is that we are actually supporting breast cancer. What we should be supporting when it somes to this stuff is the breasts, boobs, tits, what ever you want to call it.

To many people in this world are supporting something that needs another kind of support. When you think of the colour pink it is filled with a negetive feeling. Cancer has been cured! The Government wants me and you to believe that we need to give them money to find a cure that has already been found. What a crock of sorry to say shit. I know and now you know. Cancer is a money maker and so many people are dieing from a disease that is cureable. It sickens me and truely upsets me. I hear about people loosing loved ones from cancer and I want to tell them that it didn't have to happen. Who wants to hear that, no one! Please everyone stop supporting cancer and start supporting life. For example, support peace and not anti war, cause there is still war in what you are supporting. Give your feelings to love and acceptance. I have a saying that goes like this "Acceptance is Love Defined."

I know I say things that sound like they are in stone but I feel good about those things. It doesn't mean that I don't want to hear what you have to say but it is my opinion and why not say what I feel. You should say what you feel and not feel bad about it at all. Express yourself over and over and over and over. Why? Why not! Find your own strenghth and never ever feel bad about it. Take a deep breath and say what ever you want to say.

My auntie told me tonight to say what ever I want because people need to hear it and well looks like that is exactly what I am doing:) I love my auntie and that is where I will stop for now. Talk to you again soon.

Self Defense

Martial Arts

Joe Self Defense

The Self Defense Company

2009-10-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

The next place we got to was Owen Sound. It is a good sized town and we liked it quite a bit. Not a lot of restaurant chains, most were independent-types we found. We were there for 3 nights and we went to a few nice restaurants and all of them had Guinness! It rained pretty much every day we were there, but we have rain coats so that never stops us from going out. While we were there, we walked everywhere we went so my leg could rest. It's funny, Tara's leg would hurt when she walks and not when she bikes, and mine is the exact opposite.

My leg injury was the cause of riding in too hard of a gear all the time. If I push myself too hard all the time it will eventually hurt me, so take it easy is what I must do. Tara said a funny thing to me about it, "When people hear about us riding bikes halfway across Canada they're not going to ask what gear you were in." Our egos sure are a funny thing.

The original plan was to stay in Owen Sound for 2 days and then continue on, but we got some bad news the morning we were about to leave. We have decided to stay in Kitchener for the month of October, if I didn't already mention that. We had a place set up to stay and when we e-mailed back to confirm it, it had been given away. We were at a loss of what to do, so on the way out of town we stopped at another hotel so we could try and find another place to stay in Kitchener. After about 3 hours of searching we couldn't find anything, until one nice place that previously told us that 2 months was the minimum for rental terms, said yes because we offered to pay more then the asking price. After we had been approved, the lady that gave away the first room e-mailed us back saying we could stay in her rec room. So now we have 2 possibilities. Not as peachy as it sounds though...

Anyways before we left, we got to see Tara's cousin Jason who actually grew up in the area. We haven't seen him since about Christmas time. Then we went on our way south to Mount Forest, which is a small town but a very good feeling town. We went out for dinner to a place called Queen's Bush Bistro. It was awesome; the food was amazing and they had Guinness. We did not expect there to be such a great restaurant in a small town, the guy was a chef not just a cook.

Just so you know, since the second last day at Owen Sound Fall has definitly arrived. It is cold now and raining a lot as well. So we made it to Fergus the next day and we stayed in an Inn. It was pretty cool, our room was called the Victor Kyle. Again they had really good food...and Guinness. The last few days have been awesome for food. The nachos at this place were ridiculous, they were huge. For twelve dollars you get a plate that is about 2 feet long. We didn't get that one, we got a half order for six dollars and we could not finish that.

Before we left in the morning we had to send money to the landlord of the apartment we found. The landlord lives in the UK and we can't see the place untill the money is sent and then HomeTrader gets an email to let them know we can see the place. The transaction isn't complete until we say yes after seeing the place. So we are riding to Kitchener and, on what we figure is our last day of riding, it rains hard the whole way and it is also only 6 degrees out. We didn't make it to Kitchener we made it to Guelph, which is basically connected to Kitchener and we stayed in a hotel for the night. We stayed there because the HomeTrader people hadn't called us yet and we even stayed at our hotel till 2:00pm waiting for a call that we did not receive. We then decided to ride to Cambridge where the rec room is for us to stay. Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo are all very close to each other, so close you could call them the same city. So right now we are in Cambridge staying in the rec room for a couple days awaiting the call for the apartment. It is pretty nice here, there are 2 cats and a dog and 3 other people staying here. It is a full house so we hope the apartment works out. The lady that owns the place is very nice and the animals are great. I haven't even seen the other 2 roommates but I'm sure they're nice too.

I'll let you know how things go with the apartment and tomorrow is my birthday. You probably know it is Alexander Keith's as well, so we will be drinking some Keith's tomorrow; sorry Arthur.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-09-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting for a while but we have been having trouble with our wireless signal. I will start by mentioning something I forgot about when we were in Thunderbay. We were in a pub having a couple Guinness and who walks in, Mr. Layhee from the Trailer Park Boys. I hope I spelled that right. We didn't talk to him or anything but it was cool seeing him.

So now I will explain what we've been doing since we left Sudbury. Our first day of biking took us 70km to a town called Espanola. We stayed there for 2 days because when we woke up it was pouring rain, also the hotel was very nice. It had really nice pictures of animals all over the rooms and the hallways. It felt so nice being there, most of the walls had wood paneling and really nice bright colours everywhere else. While we were in Sudbury/ the time we spent in Espanola, a group in Nigeria asked me to teach them self defense. They wanted me to go to Nigeria to teach about 90 people because they are having trouble with kidnappings over there. I said no to going there because I have too much going on here, but I have so far let them know that they can send some of their people to Montreal for me to teach.
Anyways after Espanola we continued heading south onto Manitoulin Island which is the biggest fresh water island in the world. It was very beautiful there, at one point we were at a look-out that so far would have to be the most beautiful place we have ever been. I can't even explain it fully, but the beauty of it resonated in our hearts and we where able to see little firefly type lights all around us. These lights are real and they are amazing. This place was about 20km south of Little Current where we had stayed the night before, which is a pretty nice little docking town. After that we headed to South Baymouth so we could catch the ferry across to Tobermory. South Baymouth was pretty uneventful, but we did meet a guy who owns a restuarant and has spent most of his life training in Kenpo. He had some interesting stories to tell. He said he personally knew both Lennox Lewis and The Big Show, Paul White, from the WWF. He also mentioned he could do a one-handed push-up where he would put a quarter between his middle and pointer finger and grab it with his mouth. He is 50 years old now but he did it. I tried after him and did it, but not as well as he did. I will practise that one until I can do it well.

When we got to Tobermory we spent some time riding around and then stopped in at a bar with a second story balcony. It was 28 degrees out so we spent about 3 hours there. While we were there we met 2 guys that we had a good conversation with. One of them was a scuba instructor and the other guy was a Taekwon Do instructor from the UK. It was cool talking to him about teaching because obviously I'm an instructor as well. Since we don't have to be in Kitchener until October 5th, we decided to take our time getting there, so we stayed there for 2 nights just because.

The plan then was to ride to Wiarton which is 77km south of Tobermory, but I was only able to make it 47km to a town called Ferndale. For some reason my knee was hurting a lot, it was shooting pains down my shin and up the back of my leg everytime I peddled. We made it to Wiarton the next day and it hurt the whole way, so we stopped there for a rest. When we first got there, there was a parade that was going down their main street. Good timing for sure on our part. While we were there a man came up to us in the restuarant noticing that my knee was bothering me and mentioned an old technique for taking swelling down. It is to soak a towel in vinegar, heat it up and wrap the area that is hurting. So we went to the grocery store to try this. While we were sitting outside the store resting, a man came up to us to ask us where were going and where we were coming from. During this conversation we mentioned that my knee was hurting a lot so he asked me more about that. It turned out that he is a Chiropractor and his practice is just down the street, so he offered me a free adjustment. The coolest part was that 2 minutes before he showed up I was thinking that I should go see a Chiropractor. It is so amazing how people come into your life when you really need them. I'm certain I would not have been able to continue on that day, but after he adjusted me I was able to ride another 40km. I must say that Chiropractors know their stuff and can help you with almost anything. Medical doctors are completely useless, try a Chiro you will not regret it.

Well that's all I have to say for now and hopefully I will write again soon. Also we are having trouble with getting the pictures on the computer so be patient because they will come eventually.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-09-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

Another interesting thing that happened while we were in Thunder Bay, is that Tara contacted a friend of hers from high school, Susan, that she knew lived in Ontario but was not sure where. Turns out she lives in Sudbury. Tara has not seen Susan in 11 years, and was very excited to meet up with her. So we decided to head to Sudbury. We took the overnight bus which was a 14.5 hour ride, and arrived there around noon. Susan lives pretty far from the bus station, so while bicycling there we decided to drop into Kelsey's and visit with our ol' pal Guinness. We stayed with Susan and her mom, and her grandpa who is visiting, from Wednesday to Sunday. We had such an amazing visit. Susan and her mom were so hospitable. The first evening we went to watch Susan and her mom practice with the steel pan band that they are members of. It was awesome! We had never seen anything like it. There are 8 or 9 members in the band I believe, and they get gigs at local events and sometimes are offered out-of-town jobs. They play really well together. The next day Tara and I had some time to kill while Susan was at work, so we went to the theatre to watch "9". Not big fans; we thought it was kinda dumb. That evening Susan took us just out of town to a nice hiking trail and beautiful waterfalls. It was quite nice to see. Over the course of the next few days, we went on a tour of the underground mines, went to Discovery Earth the science center, did some shopping/borrowing, hit up a few night clubs, and had an all around fulfilling visit. Tara and Susan spent much of their time together laughing and re-hashing old memories. It was also a lot of fun shopping with Susan, as she's a bit of a "Stacy London" by trade, and helped us to dress up smokin' hot when we went to the clubs. Thanks Sus! But the best part about the whole visit (besides the abundance of delicious daily home-cooked meals!), was the feeling that we were really supposed to be there. For Tara and Susan, they were at a point in their lives when they really needed to re-connect, and the feeling was evident. It was meant to be. We love you Sus :) See you in Montreal.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-09-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to mention a few things. While in Thunder Bay we didn't do much that was exciting. We got my break line fixed, cause by the looks of it someone had cut it with a knife. We also went bowling which was fun. The main thing we did there though was to sit in our room and do a lot of reading. Most of our reading we do is on-line. We are part of an internet thing where we get articles and lessons, there are a lot of them and they are very interesting and very important. The main purpose of it is to create love, tenderness, gentleness and respect inside of us. This is something we all need and the world but first of all we need to take care of ourselves.

Another thing we should start looking into is what is really happening in this world and not through the news and newspapers as these forms of info are majorly influenced by the powers that have chosen to control us. For example vaccinations are not the way to avoid getting sick it is actually how we will get sick. It is a proven fact all over the world, it is actually meant for thining the populations numbers. Very scary stuff and it is something that every person in the world is going to have to deal with/stand up against. The swine flu is a major one that is going to be manditory for atleast the U.S., and once again it is not the way to avoid getting the virus it is the virus. So atleast do some research on this and by doing this you will find a world of info that will lead you to great understanding of what is really happening all around us. One more thing if you don't already know, the governments of North America and Cenral America are trying to join Canada, United States and Mexico into one country. I don't know how you feel about this but I don't like it. Anyways just thought I would share a couple of things with you that I feel is important.

Talk to you again soon.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-09-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

We are now in Thunder Bay but obviuosly I should tell you about how we got here. The day we left Kenora was quite the shock to the system after being off for 12 days without any biking other then just around town. We biked down highway 71 or King's Highway, and this highway has so many hills atleast 1 every 2km. So it was a lot harder then we were ready for. We went 76km the first day and that brought us too Sioux Narrows where we spent the night. This is a beautiful highway, it reminded us of highway 307 in Manitoba. The next day was our longest yet, we didn't mean for it to happen but we missed our stop and had to go another 50km to get to the next town. The first 70km was all hill but the last 35 was a nice flat newly paved dream of a road. We got to a place called Emo, we spent the night there.

The next day we went to Fort Frances, this was a short day only 30km. We had planned on spending 2 nights here but that turned into 1. We decided to take a bus from Fort Frances to Thunder Bay and they only leave every second day so we had to go. This was the first bus we have taken so far and it won't be our last.

We have decided to cover some ground since our time is running short. Also there is some stuff that we would like to do before we get to Montreal. We are going to Kitchener Waterloo for a week so I can train in Jeet Kune Do and Wing Chun, which is awesome cause I have been teaching myself through books and videos for about 7 years now. Also Tara has a friend that she would like to see that lives somewhere in Ontario, were not sure where yet and we also want to visit our friends in Toronto that we met in Amsterdam at the Stuart Wilde conference. We will be taking the bus from Thunder Bay to Espanola which is just north of Manitoulin Island. From there we will take the Ferry and then ride to Kitchener.

I will still fill you in on what happens as we go, sure the trip is a little different once again but hey it works for us and we aren't doing this for anyone else but ourselves.

Self Defense

Martial Arts

Joe Self Defense

The Self Defense Company

2009-09-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

This group of pics are of the boat we were on when we went for our little cruise at Kenora, the next 2 are of cabins on islands that are on the Lake of the Woods. Then a couple in Vegas of me and Tara playing beer pong, Rodney and Lacey and finally Tara standing on the walk way between New York New York and MGM Grand.

2009-09-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

The top 2 pics are at Kenora, the third is crossing the border, the forth is at West Hawk Lake of a sign we didn't expect to see, and the last one is the rustic cabin we stayed in.

2009-09-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

It has been a while once again so I have lots to update you about. After Grand Beach we spent the next few days biking as much as possible. We went a little farther north until we got to highway 11. This was a very nice ride, there was always lake beside us. We went through a very long reserve and almost every dog that we saw along there took chase after us. It was pretty funny because basically they just wanted something to chase. I have zero fear of dogs so they do not ever feel like they can dominate me, which means they do not bite me. At the end of this first day of biking we made it to Lac du Bonnet, where we stayed the night in a nice little hotel. I must say the best hotels are the ones with dvd players and free movies for guests.

The next day we started down highway 307. Now this road we found so nice. A lot of hills but that did not bother me at all. So many lakes and campgrounds with cabins and resorts. I think there were about 6 different cabin/campground areas along this road. We only stayed at one, it was called White Lake. Here we stayed in a rustic cabin for $70. The next day we made it to West Hawk Lake, about 15km from the Ontario border, and we stayed in a motel. It was a small camping community so there was lots to do.

Once we left there we went to Kenora, where we spent 3 nights waiting to catch the bus to Winnipeg. Kenora is a beautiful city with about 17,000 people. It is right on Lake of the Woods and on this lake there are 14,500 islands. We went on a little cruise around the lake and we saw a bunch of bald eagles and a lot of islands with cabins on them. They look so cool and I sure wish I had one. I wonder how much they cost...a dick load I am sure. The rest of the time was spent relaxing and exploring. To finish off the Kenora story I will mention where we stayed. We stayed at the Travel Lodge and the lady at the front desk is super nice, so nice in fact that we brought her a teddy bear that we won in Las Vegas. She gave us a bigger room for the price of the smaller rooms, and she did it again for our return. The other thing they did for us was hold our bikes and trailers for us while we were gone. The original plan was to leave our stuff at the Greyhound since they told us we could, but when we got there with our stuff they said "No we don't store stuff here." So we were shit out of luck. Just to mention to those that do not know us, we do not get payed to say anything nice about the businesses we talk about, we just say nice things about the people and places that deserve it.

So the next thing to talk about is our Las Vegas trip. We got there Thursday morning at 9am so we had the whole day to explore and get drunk. The airline misplaced our bag so they sent it to our hotel for us. This worked out great because we could not check in until 3pm anyways, so we did not have to worry about carrying our bag everywhere. We went and played some beer pong at one of the casinos. It was the version without paddles and personally, I do not consider this beer pong but it was still fun. While we were there we got talked into going to one of those time-share things because there was 2 free tickets to a selection of shows offered for going. They also said that lunch was on them and that it should take no more than about 2 hours. No we did not fall for their sales pitch, and yes we did get the tickets. The tickets were for Carrot Top. I know what you are thinking, why would we want to see him? That is what we were thinking as well, until the show started that is. We have never laughed so hard and for so long at a comedy show in our entire lives. Sorry for the language but he is fuck'n hilarious. We have a whole new respect for him. After the show we got to visit with our friends Gary and Marylene who were down for the seminar as well. It was great seeing them again and of course we spent more time with them throughout the weekend. The next day we had breakfast with them but then we had to go our seperate ways because they were there to help with the seminar. Then we got to see our other friends who were also down for the seminar, Rodney and Lacey. We spent the majority of the time with them because we had no responsibilities other then showing up to the seminar and then going out partying. It was great spending time with them as well. I wish I could see them and many of my other friends more often, but this is what happens when you go on a journey, certain things must be left behind or at least put on hold. So on that note everyone that I am friends with and family of course we love you and miss you, but not enough to come home anytime soon. So other then having a great time with every part of the weekend I got some amazing news on Saturday night. My sister had a BABY BOY!! His name is Carter Patrick, sorry but I am not going to say his last name because I am not sure who is reading this. I was so happy that night I was telling all kinds of people, I was drunk so I told pretty much everyone that I saw.

Just to finish we are now in Kenora and will be leaving in a day or 2 to conitue on. The pictures will follow behind this. Talk to you all again sooner or later. Oh and one last thing that happened to me that I thought was cool in Vegas, I shook BJ Penn's hand.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-08-28T17:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

2009-08-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-27T17:38:00.001-07:00

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

2009-08-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

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:).

2009-08-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

We are about to go into the bush for a few days for some camping and to let nature help heal Tara's leg. Also we just want to have some peace and quiet.

Last night we decided that instead of hiking and busing across Canada we will Bhike across Canada. No spelling mistake we will Bhike, this means we are going to bike and hike. So we will bike the time we would have been busing and hike around anytime we feel like. We will have to stash our bikes as we go but this will offer us a way to lighten the load when we hike, for Tara's sake, and we will still be able to cross Canada using our bodies and not a motorized vehicle. I am very excited about this decision and so is Tara. I am so excited about it because my favorite things to do are biking, walking, training in Martial Arts, and hanging with my girl. It is a change from what we had originally planned, but that is fine with us because we know we have to stay open to what may happen next or what may just have to happen next. It was perfect how we decided to do it. After getting groceries we sat beside the highway to "relax" when two people rode by on bikes with a small trailer behind each one. It looked so perfect and so fun. I had asked the universe for a way to make this trip happen because it was starting to look bleak, and what does it do but show us exactly what we needed. Thanks Universe! Everyday has something to give and we are in a place where we are ready to receive, so very exciting.

We will be back in about a week to tell you about our little break in the bush. The truth is in the bush :)

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-07-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

We are now back from Amsterdam and it was awesome. I have never seen such a place. The buildings were so beautiful; very interesting architecture. I have also never seen so many different people from all over the world, and heard so many different laguages being spoken all around us. We figured in a 1km radius there was probably people from 30 different countries. The main purpose of our trip was to go to a Stuart Wilde conference, and for us it was the best part of our trip. I do not know how to describe Stuart Wilde so I recommend checking him out yourself. I will say though, that the people we met at the confrence were so amazing and so very wise. I made an especially good friend with a guy named Paul. For some reason I thought I reconized him, probably from another life but we seemed to hit it off right away. "Hey Paul, can't wait to hang out with you again, maybe at the next Aya ceremony!" We even walked through the red light district which was an accident. Very dark people walk through those streets; it's sad that people put themselves in places where they are exposed to that darkness. Not so accidental however, was our presence in the coffeeshops. They are everywhere! We checked out several and were more impressed by each than the last. It's true what they say about Amsterdam being a place that is very relaxed and unique.

We took a lot of pictures and will put them up shortly. The hotel we stayed at was called NH Krasnapolsky, which is right in Dam Square straight across from the Palace. It was very beautiful where we were.

Like I said, we are now back in Canada, Regina actually, which was the next place we would have gone if Tara had not gotten hurt. It is pretty nice here but we are going a little crazy because we are limited in what we can do. We are also waiting for our camping supplies to be shipped to us as we chose not to take everything with us to Europe. Quite frankly, after coming back from Amsterdam, Regina is not all that exciting. We are staying in a hostel and it is a pretty nice place with nice people. Nice people seem to pop up all over the place and I hope it keeps up.

Just a few thoughts that I would like to mention; when you are on the road the fact that public washrooms like to use newspaper or loose leaf for toilet paper is not appreciated. Yes, I know that is not actually what it is, but it sure feels like it on the ol' arse. Further, I believe that we should have a water sprayer above the toilet paper because wet toilet paper cleans better, you know, after #2. We could call it, A-Hole Lot Cleaner (thank Tara for that genius name). Lastly, we should change a lot of the stop signs to yield signs. Why? Because then we would save on gas (due to less starting from complete stops), and there would be less wear on brakes. That is all for now, thanks for hearing our rant.

Martial Arts
Self Defense
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-07-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

Just to let you all know we had to go back to Spruce Grove. Tara pulled a tendon in her leg so we need to get her better before we continue. She has been seeing the Physiotherapist and the Chiropractor for 2 weeks now. She is getting better but not fully healed yet. We did make it farther then what was written so I will fill you in a bit.

After NorthBattleford we went to Saskatoon which is a pretty cool place. It feels like it is a really big city but only has about 250 000 people. We spent 2 nights there just so we could prepare for the next stretch of trail. The next stretch of trail was along the side of Lake Diefenbaker and is about 60km long. The hard part was figuring out how to get there because the buses do not seem to go to too many places in Saskatchewan. We got a hold of a great guy named Al. He owns a company called Dusty Trails, where he picks up and drops off packages around Saskatoon and down to Outlook. Outlook is 40km north of the lake and that is where his route usually ends but, because Al is such a great guy, he offered to take us all the way after his route was done. He dropped us off at his house while he finished up his work and told us make ourselves at home. He showed us a walking bridge that you could see from his back deck, so we walked down the street to the old train bridge that was changed into a walking bridge. It is the longest foot bridge in Canada, well that's what he told us anyways. It went over the river so it was a pretty nice walk. When we got back, Al drove us to Danielson Provincial Park at the north end of the lake and dropped us off right on the trail. Thanks for the ride Al.

We got dropped off at about 5pm and we walked for about 45 minutes down the trail untill we got to the campsite. By now, Tara's leg was starting to hurt pretty bad. The campsite was completely empty so we had a peaceful night alone. The next morning we started our walk which was about 35km to the next town and it took us about 2 days to do it. The first day we walked 15km which was as far as Tara's leg could handle. It was the perfect distance because we got to camp on the beach that night. By the way, Lake Diefenbaker has 500km or so of beach and it is a beautiful clean lake, a hidden paradise really. The next day we walked 20km to a little town called Elbow. When we got there and Tara took off her pack she was in so much pain she couldn't even walk, what a trooper. We stopped in a restaurant called The Boat House, it was awesome there. The waitress made us feel like we were at her house for a party and she was the best hostess ever. She became our friend, Moni. She also got us a hotel room and got one of the cooks to drive us to the hotel. Even the other costumers in the restaurant were kind and very concerned for Tara. We ended up staying in Elbow for 3 nights because of Tara's leg. Elbow is a very cool town. We half wanted to rent a place and stay for a bit, but we felt it was just too early in the trip. I recommend checking that place out, everyone that we dealt with there was very nice and accepting.

After the 3 nights and 4 days of Elbow, Tara felt good enough to continue on to Douglas Provincial Park which was about 15km away. She was in a lot of pain during this part of the hike as well, so we decided when we got there that we were going to have to go home and get her checked out by a doctor or two. We spent 2 nights at the campground there. The beach was so amazing. The water was low so it made the beach even bigger. We spent a lot of our time there wading in the water which was so clear, and looking up at the sky and at the shore. When we looked back onto shore it reminded us of being in the Dominican Republic, we couldn't believe how beautiful this place is. Like I said, it is like paradise there. Another good thing was that it was Monday when we got there. Being so early in the week, there were not very many people there at all and we basically had the beach to ourselves. I recommend going to that place as well. When we left Douglas we got a ride from one of the women working in the park office, her name is Jen, and she drove us back to Saskatoon which was about 150km away. She said she had to go to the city anyway but still it was very nice of her and we really appreciated it. Thanks for the ride Jen.

When we got on the bus to go back home, Tara ran into a friend of hers from high school that she has not seen for about 10 years. The fact that we had to go home does suck but there is a reason for everything and meeting up with her friend like that was one of many things that proves it. We have had a chance to see more friends that we did not get a chance to see the first time around, and I have been training with the Chinese Boxing Connection in Stony Plain. I didn't know it was there until 2 days before we left the first time, so I took advantage this time. The next step is a quick trip to Amsterdam for a 3 day conference. We will be there for 5 days in total. Why only 5 days? Because we are only going there for the conference and then back to our journey which we are looking forward to very much. We will tell you all about our trip to Amsterdam when we get back. Also we will put up some pictures shortly.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-06-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

I recently read a great paragraph in a book by Stuart Wilde, which I will quote below, called "Whispering Winds of Change". The chapter is entitled, "Minimalism: A Survival Technique for the Future". I feel it sums up the self defense that we teach quite well. Now the chapter is not about self defense, but it works.

"Minimalism in music is a composition, simple in structure and form, in which the main motif is repeated continuously, rather than the theme extrapolating outward to more and more complexity. In design and style, minimalism is expressed through the concept of using the simplest or fewest elements to create the maximum effect. Minimalism is uncluttered, often clean and pure, and is considered somewhat stark by some people. A typical minimalist home would have stone pieces of furniture-only as many as are absolutely necessary. The old traditional homes of Japan are models of minimalism: tatami mats , bare rooms, simple lines, and form."

Our self defense is based on gross body movements which is the natural movements of the body that can be performed in stressful situations, like when your life is on the line. It consists of the most effective and simple techniques to accomplish your goal, which is to survive. If it is over complicated it just will not work. Sure the complicated stuff looks cool but it is not effective. Just ask my sensei or anyone that has been in a fight for their life. KISS or, keep it simple stupid, is another way to put it. Minimal training for maximum effect; a hand full of techniques for a thousand situations. Just another couple of ways to describe what we teach. Minimalism is a beautiful thing and can be had or done by anyone, just like the self defense that we teach. I hope I made myself clear and you can see what I am trying to say.

Self Defense
Martial Arts
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-06-21T14:30:00.000-07:00

We are now on our journey! We left from Spruce Grove on a bus to go to Lloydminster, where we spent the night. After dropping our packs off in the Hotel we decided to go for a walk through town. I have been there quite a few times so it was not exciting or anything. The next day we took a bus to North Battleford, SK. This was when we started walking on the Trans Canada Trail. We started about 6 or 7 km out of town and then walked into town. Most of the trail there is within city limits. Since it was the beginning of our trip, we figured this was the best way to start. We are guessing that we walked about 15 or 20km throughout the area. North Battleford and Battleford, which are separated by a river, are very nice places. There is a lot of Native heritage, mainly Cree . We spent about 3 or 4 days in the area and enjoyed ourselves the entire time. We spent 3 nights in hotels and 1 night in a campground. At the campground there were benches that overlooked the valley into the distance. When we sat on the bench before sunset, we noticed we could see the entire trail that we had walked that day. It made us feel very accomplished. Sitting on the bench reflecting on the day reminded us that the "walk" is only a means to experience the freedom we seek. Walking through town does not offer many places to camp. This was fine for us, as we are just getting started and need time to build up strength for the longer hikes which we will eventually be taking.

Already this new life style is going great. Freedom is something that we actually did not fully understand until we stepped out of the everyday life that society had offered us. Believe me when I say it is much better being outside looking in, than being inside looking out. Just to add to that, the night before we left I barely slept because of thoughts and fears going crazy in my mind. We are all comfortable living in the "tick-tock" and that is what the powers in control want, but that is not what is best for you and me. It does not allow for us to become truly strong in mind, body and spirit. We must step outside and learn who we are and what the world really has to offer. There is a lot of mind numbing stimulus keeping us entertained and weak. Some people say they wish they could do what we are doing. What they really mean is they wish they could be doing what they want to do, and not what they think they should do. So, empower yourself to do what you want, even if others think you shouldn't. It is your life; it does not belong to anyone else.

Just so you know, we are farther along then we are writing. We feel it is safer to share our stories after we have already left the area. It is for our own safety.

Martial Arts
Self Defense
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

2009-04-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

It is now April 29th and we are almost on our way out of Fort McMurray. The past couple of weeks have been very busy and very exciting. We have been visiting alot of friends and family. I can't believe how many amazing friends we have and the fact that we are leaving them is making it that much more obvious. We will miss everyone of them very much.

We had our goodbye party almost two weeks ago and it was awesome. I wish I could have a party like that every weekend. So much fun and alot of heart felt goodbyes. It's in these moments that show you how much your friends and family really care about you.

The day of the party we also had a garage sale where we sold almost everything that we own, minus a few things that we just don't want to have to buy again when we are finished our journey. It felt great stripping ourselves of all those useless possesions that we made so important all those years. It is so good for the ego to just let go. Ever since we decided to take this trip our lives have been so much more exciting and full. Don't get me wrong we did our best to remain in the moment for many years now but the difference is we are finally doing something that feels truly write and necessary. Working everyday and living in the tick tock of daily life just doesn't cut it and I am sure most will agree.

We had dinner the other night with Al Hancock, he is a man that has climbed the seven summits and is planning on climbing everest again. Very cool guy and the tips he gave us were awesome. The coolest part of the meeting was that he is proud of what we are doing. He is a person that can really appreciate what is we are doing, since he has first hand experience doing things that most would call crazy or would not even consider doing. Most people are excited for us but none of them have ever done such a thing. Usually it is fear that stops most from stepping outside of the box as Al said to us. We do feal scared and nervous but who wouldn't, the most important thing is that we don't allow such a thing to stop us. Anyway fear isn't even real, by the time you experience what is you are fearful of you are no longer scared. Fear only exists in the mind and never in the moment. There is no room for fear only action. I try to teach about fear in my self defense classes so people can rise above it and not allow it to control there lives. It feels great to face your fears and rise above them.

Well the next month we will be in Edmonton visiting Tara's parents and all our friends down there. After that we go visit my mom in Smoky Lake then to Loydminister to start our Journey, I'm so excited:)

Martial Arts
Self defense
Joe Self Defense
The Self Defense Company

Getting Started

2009-04-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

For the last six months we have been planning and training in preparation for our big journey. This have been moving very fast lately and they have become evermore exciting. This is like a dream coming true. We have pretty much everything we need to survive from backpacks and hiking shoes to self defense tools. We just sold our house about two weeks ago and that was the biggest things that needed to happen. Now we just have to finish off our time at work visit family and friends, then we are on our way.

We will be starting at Lloydminster Alberta and we will be heading east. Most of hiking will be on the Trans Canada walking trail. We probably won't walk the whole way. We may hitch hike or take buses when ever we feel like. Basically we are going to be free to do what ever we feel like. I can't wait to feel that freedom. Escape the tick tock world and do something exciting and what so many people seem to think is just crazy. A little different sure but not crazy really. I know there are lots of people doing such things and I'm sure they don't think it's to crazy just exciting. Well I guess you can follow along and enjoy the trip with us and maybe we will see you on the way, and hopefully I will have a chance to teach you or train with you.

Next step is the first step.

Martial Arts
Self Defense
The Self Defense Company