Have been following your trip every since you've stated. If you make it back to Canada would like to try and meet you in person. I live in mid Michigan. Take care and keep the pictures and commentary coming.

Now that did make me smile.


Road out to Hungary a good few year's back. 21 day's out rained 17 of them. Next time going through the south of France in to Spain. Took three day's. Worse rain fall in living memory. Algarve. Now that's all sun most of the year round. Two week's away, must have been 9 day's of rain. Corfu, June two week's, Rain. Never been known to happen before. I sware to God. Put me down in any place on a bike. And on at least one of them day's you will get rain. Should sell my service's to some drought infected area. Could make a lot of money.
John933

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To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.

Hi Gene and Neda, thanks a lot for sharing. You help me and Paola (my wife) to dream during the grayness working days.
Our last trip was in Morocco during last Christmas holidays. The road from Ifrane to Midelt was cold and windy but without snow like now. Incredible!
I recognize the same your riad in Midelt https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-t...2/DSC_4447.JPG
In addition to the main nice touristic places (Merzouga, Todra, Dades, etc...) we have found an amazing road throughout the Anti Atlas Mountains: Taroudant, Tafraoute, Tiznit by this road https://goo.gl/maps/mDCUJ https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D...2/DSC_2642.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2...2/DSC_2679.JPG https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S...2/DSC_2605.JPG
Take care,
Ciao!
Andrea & Paola

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Andrea - duecuorisudueruote.weebly.com

Thanks for the comments and sharing all your experiences, guys. Morocco is truly jam packed with a ton of culture and scenery. We can't get enough of it!

Hi John, we haven't really been keeping track of our overnight stays - we have been on the road for over 1,000 days...!

However, if you're interested in a specific area, let me know and I can try to dig up the addresses for you.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Glad your having a good time in Holland!

I hear we will finally meet our fellow Canadian bikers! Looking forward to seeing you in Tröllhattan on Tuesday. Sara

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Sara

Those who say something is impossible should not hinder those who are achieving it!





www.worldwideride.ca

HU RR Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride

Wow! I've been following your journey for months now, and I just noticed that you are very very close to where I live! Also you were very close to my work too.

How do you like it here so far? There are some really great roads around the Keukenhof, except in tourist season.

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R65GS + R80GS Basic

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/230.html



We're in need of some live entertainment, and instead of catching a show at the theatre or soccer match, our preferred format is motorcycle racing. And it just so happens that there is a World Superbike race in the Netherlands this weekend! In North America, WSBK only comes to California so I've never seen one live, just on TV, so I'm super excited to see all the racers in person!


Rolde, our village where we're staying at

It's only a quick 2 hour ride from The Hague to Assen. We're staying a few kms away from the track at a campsite in a quaint little village called Rolde.


It's been so long since we camped!

Our campsite is filled with seasonal residents who make this their summer home. We made friends with our neighbours and one afternoon, while we were standing around our bikes eating our lunch, the elderly Dutch couple across the way felt sorry for us that we had not packed any camping chairs and lent us a couple of theirs.

We were very thankful, but this ranks up there as one of our most "feel so homeless" moments...

Later on in the evening, we hung around the dining lodge typing away on our laptops and eating soup from the can. At around 8PM, all the residents from the campsite streamed in on their bicycles to join us. They were all senior citizens and this was their game night! Although they seemed to be engrossed in their board games and cards, we caught many of them giving us surreptitious glances, their curiousity being directed at this "homeless" non-Dutch couple who had ridden into their tiny Dutch town on their motorcycles.


Some exotic sportbikes at the local restaurant in Rolde

There are a lot of sportbikes in the Netherlands! We made some observations about the differences in attire though. In North America, the sportbike uniform is normally a leather jacket, jeans and sneakers. In some parts of the Southern US, it's a wifebeater, shorts and flip-flops...

But there is a distinct sportbike "look" in the Netherlands that's very different from what we're used to. I used to read a lot of British Sportbike magazines while in Canada and I marveled at how much protection all the "blokes" riding around the British motorways wore, clad in their full leathers with their fanny packs (or "bum bag" as it's called over there) around their waist. It's the exact same culture here in Holland!


This was our daily ride to and from the Assen TT Circuit through the village of Rolde


Assen TT Circuit parking lot, our GSes stick out amongst all the sportbikes

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

The Cathedral of Speed!

Assen is one of those fabled tracks - the MotoGP event here is like the Wimbledon of motorcycle racing. While other circuits have appeared and disappeared from the MotoGP calender throughout the years, there has always been a GP race here at the TT Circuit since the world championship started in 1949.

But why am I talking about MotoGP when this is World Superbikes? Because a normal MotoGP event at Assen typically draws 100,000 fans packed to the gills on the rafters and spilling onto the grass. By comparison, WSBK only draws around 30,000 people which makes it much easier and cheaper to get tickets!


Practice sessions throughout Friday and Saturday

Unlike MotoGP, which is prototype racing, World Superbike is a production series which means you can buy the machines you see zooming around the racetrack at the local motorcycle store. That is, if you have €300,000 to spend on exotic Go-Fast-Parts to actually make it competitive...




There are practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, so we spent those days walking around the outside of the 4.5 km track, taking pictures of the riders as they tuned their bikes for the circuit and the weather and track conditions. Neda doesn't watch WSBK at all, so the pre-race practices gave her a good "crash" course on who the top riders were and how to identify them based on their colours.


I don't have €300,000 lying around, so this is the closest I can come to riding a Superbike around the Assen TT Circuit
Just like in real life, I was very slow around the track and crashed a few times...


I downloaded the race later to see if there were pictures of us on the televised feed. There was!!!

What I like best about the WSBK series is that our tickets were general seating, which meant that we got to sit in the Grandstand - which we are never able to do at MotoGP races because $$$$$. Even walking around the track, there was a more relaxed attitude about access and security. It felt more like a track day than an international sporting event!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Really nice video! I recognized moest of the roads too
Does this mean we missed you passing through Leuven again?

Lake Bled...very nice as is the whole of Solvenia, I was there about 2 months ago as part of my Balkans trip and the weather was great, it's a shame you couldn't have seen more

Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk while having a cold

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The Balkans
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/poi_entity/8417

Neda, the lady from Slovenia, can you tell me which which camera u use taking photos while you are riding. Lovely pics and am enjoying them day by day. Just wonderful.

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

Hi Wayne,

Slovenia is so close to Croatia. We will probably get a chance to see it some other time.

Hey Gino and Fiona! So nice seeing you in Bellagio! What a coincidence!

Seriously!

The riding shots were taken using a Nikon AW110.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/266.html



We've been on the move, gallivanting all over Europe for a month now, and while it's been amazing to spend time with friends, it'll be nice just to stay in one place for a while. Since we sold Neda's mom's apartment last year we don't have a place in Pula anymore. Iva's dad has an apartment in Medulin, which is a sleepy town less than 10 kms outside of Pula, so this is where we've settled in ever since arriving.


Carolyn, our friend from one of the motorcycle forums, sent Neda a cross-stitch pattern of one of our pictures from the trip.
Because of all the free time we've had in the last while, it's coming along nicely!

We've remained stationary for over a week now and it's so satisfying just to unpack everything around us and relax. Neda's friends realize that we're locals now so there's not as much of a mad rush to plan get togethers. The weather is absolutely gorgeous, which is surprising for this time of year. We were in Pula exactly one year ago and I remember how cold, wet and miserable it was when winter drove us out of Croatia. Now, it's 20C and sunny every day. If the weather continues to stay like this, we may be able to linger here for awhile longer to recover before we're forced to head further south once again.


Neda is so happy that she has a kitchen again. We're eating great home-cooked meals every day

It's a good thing we have transportation, unlike last year when we were waiting for our bikes to arrive from South America. Neda is able to ride into Pula and go grocery shopping every morning to get fresh food for us. Being from the coast, Neda loves seafood, so she's been buying a lot of fish from the markets in town, straight off the fishing boats. She's preparing all her favorite Croatian dishes from her youth.

Me, I've basically gone into hibernation mode. All I do is eat seafood, sleep and watch TV. I have zero motivation to do anything else. I can't believe how tired I am. It's been so draining just moving from place to place and I'm soaking up all of this downtime like a sponge. It feels like I could do nothing for months and not get sick of it.

We're still figuring out where we're going to end up, but one thing is certain: it doesn't make sense to go back to Canada in the wintertime. I think the plan right now is to follow the warm weather, stop moving when the climate is tolerable and put off any decision-making until the spring when there are more options available to us.

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

It's my fourth birthday on the road. These annual milestones make me think back to where we were on each anniversary. We celebrated my first birthday on the road in San Jose, California. Then the next one on the Stahlratte between Panama and Colombia. Then last year we were in Switzerland. Amazing to recall all the places that we've been!

For my birthday, Neda organized a day ride around Istria!


Our first stop is to see a kazun

In the area around Pula, there are these little circular, stone huts everywhere in the fields. They're called Kazun (Ka-joon) and were originally built as shelters for workers in the olive gardens to take a break from the elements, but these days they're basically tool sheds or ornamental structures. Actually, these days you'll see more kazuns as tiny souvenirs sold in the tourist shops as a symbol of Istria. When Neda and I first started dating, she gave me one of these tiny souvenir kazuns and I kept it on my desk at work to remind me of her.

I've seen many kazun in the fields outside of Pula, but this is the first time we've stopped to actually pose in front of one! I like the word Kazun because it sounds like you're sneezing. Kazun! Kazun-Teit!


Making our way to the east coast

Neda's route for the day hugs the rugged eastern coast of the Istrian peninsula. It used to be the primary eastern route traveling north-south to the mainland before the highway was built. These days it's just local traffic and vehicles out for a leisurely cruise.


We're going to start our coastal tour at the town of Rabac


Unfortunately we couldn't find the coastal road. Turns out it doesn't start in Rabac, but further north


So back to the mainland, up north and then cutting back to the coast. But first, more pictures in pretty Rabac!!!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com