Preparing for Ireland

Ireland has been a place I've wanted to visit for decades. When I lived in London England I hoped to take the trip to Ireland but never had the time or money.  Later I'd love reading my brother's blog and seeing the pictures of the land.

My grandfather comes from Northern Island. We have a hymn book for the choir my grandmother attended when she met him there.  Her family was from Glasgow.  He was Irish born, protestant Irish. That mattered in the North in those days.

In preparation I've read the Lonely Planet for Ireland, 2 text books on Celtic Mythology and Celtic Religion.  "Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race", by  T.W. Rolleston, and the Secret Gospel of Ireland by James Behan and Leo Behan.  With my Master of Divinity along with my Medical Degrees I've taken a keen interest in the spread of Christianity and spirituality in general.

So far in my Christian studies I've visit Israel, Rome, Athens, Constantinople, Cappadoecia and Moscow.  The other major arms of the original Christian spread from the apostles out were by water to Ireland and by land south to Ethiopia.  I've been interested in studying how each arm of the church added to the theology.  I learned in a celtic christianity text that the Celtic Monks added confession and forgiveness to the practice. Baptism had been done once to wash away one's since and if a person sinned again there wasn't a really organized way of dealing with it till the monks brought the ways of monastery to the general population.  

Laura and I loved attending U2 concert here. I've been reading her passages from Yeats in the evening.  

I love the book, "How the Irish Saved Civilization", by Thomas Cahill.  

And of course my mother was keenly enamoured by her Irish roots and we were raised with a respect for all things Irish, except the Catholics.

Now Laura is a product of Irish Catholic and Irish Protestant grandparents so we're both looking forward to worshiping in St. Patrick's Church which has served as the holy Irish cathedral for Catholics and Protestants.  A couple of Canadians will do well to attend.

My course is on Adult Autism at Trinity College. Then is a week of churches, monasteries, museums and landscapes.
I've arranged 4 nights at the Best Western Dublin.  I've used Best Western's 3 star hotels in US, Canada and around the world.  They're fairly standardized with great breakfast. I like the security and cleanliness and free wifi.  I'm not staying all day in the room when I travel so can't say I'm keen on luxury just a good safe rest.  The costs vary but it's been a while since I have wanted to risk less secure accomodation in strange cities than two star hotels. The rating systems seem to work for me.  Of course if I know someone I have an inside track. Alternatively I've found Lonely Planet recommendations excellent.
I've booked a play at the Abbey.  It's about the Troubles, locally written.
I've also booked a Best Western hotel room in Belfast where we're going on the Monday. We're taking the train from Dublin to Belfast where I'm renting a car for the rest of the trip.  I was a bit concerned about riding on the opposite side of the street in Dublin traffic with a stick shift on the wrong side as well. My brother told me the shifting was easy to get used to but backing up had him looking in the wrong direction for traffic with a couple of close calls. I didn't have the courage to rent motorcycles riding on the wrong side of the street. Yet I think if this goes well, it would be fun to motorcycle northern Scotland one day.
I was thankful too,  to talk to poet painter Joyce Goodwin, an Irish native,  about her favourite spiritual places.  
We're going to drive around the north by Silo and down to Galway then back to Dublin , road tripping after a little time spent in my grandfather's northern island village west of Belfast.
I like taking pictures.  I also like the old ruins and monasteries and churches.  I'm not so much on food or entertainment in general when I'm travelling because multi cultural Canada has often got the greatest chefs and entertainers from other countries. What we can't see is the geography, the buildings and the atmosphere. I love to sit outside watching people drinking coffee. Laura likes the same.  We'll just miss Gilbert who will be having fun with Joy  and his furry girlfriend, Haachi.   

Mazda MX-5 Miata GT

Year round motorcycling in Vancouver is cold rainy and windy.
"Why don't you drive your truck?" a friend asked.
"There's no parking in Vancouver."
"Then you'll just have to get a car like everyone else."
"I don't want to get a car. I feel like I'm driving in a cage."
"What about a convertible"
And that's how I began looking for a sportscar.
I remembered the years I had a Ford Mustang and how I loved that car. Just like my Harley Electraglide. When I got in my Mustang I wanted to head for the open road.  But I didn't need the back seat.  Now I wanted something smaller too.  Something easy to park, really maneuverable. And I wanted a trunk. In Vancouver anything is stolen if it's left in the car and people break windows just to snatch and grab cellphones.  A trunk made things out of sight out of mind, even if a lock only keeps an honest man out.  I didn't want to tie up a lot of money either.
My wiser older brother Ron who'd had a motorcycle before me had bought a sportscar with his wife Adel when they were younger.  Dad never had much to say about them but then he was really a truck man. Mom and he liked their American Motor sedan too.  Remember her in her mink coat and him in his suit driving to church in their Ambassador.  They always had to have a back seat for the kids and grandkids though.  If I'm not riding a motorcycle,  a 2 seater sportscar is just fine for me.  
The list of car choices got short pretty quickly.  Smart Car - great but no trunck.  Cooper - no trunk but otherwise fine.  Back seat possibilities.  VW bug convertible. I phoned the dealer and all I got was an electronic message. Made me think that maintenance could be a problem. Still I loved the VW bug, rabbit and Vanagon's I've had.  Checked out the PT Cruiser convertible too. I 'd rented PT Cruisers and loved the ride. Reminded me of the HHR I loved.  All the American cars were great but bigger than I needed.
That's when I came back to the Miata. I'd seen one on the street and loved it. A Prrofessor of Pharmacy friend had one and he absolutely loved it . All the ratings on internet were great.   It was under$30,000 new where as if I wanted a BMW or Porche or any of those others I'd have to go to a $50,000 plus price tag which meant I'd have to sell a kidney.   I'd get $10,000 on my Ural Sidecar Motorcycle if I traded that in  so with $10,000 down and that I'd only have to finance $10,000.  Not bad with the two year rates these days. My Scotia and TD Banks are Canadian with bank managers I like.  It was the American banks that hated their citizens not the Canadians. Dad always paid cash where he could but secured loans were relatively okay. The real one armed bandit crack equivalent was the credit card. I watch mine like a venomous snake I've got as a pet.. .
Laura and I decided just for fun to check out the 'feel' of a Miata.   I'd sat in some other sports cars on lots but never the Mazda.  So there we were one day at Morrey Mazda in North Vancouver.planning only to sit in one.  I did and "it fit" like a very fine glove.
"You know we've got a 2011 model which was used as a demo ,  has only 10,000 km on it and is $10,000 off the new price." Erik, the delightful salesman told me. I knew what Eve felt like in the Morrey Garden of Eden.  All the Mazda cars were bright shiny apples but the Miata was the prettiest of all.  It was like history repeating myself too..  I remembered the day I'd gone from a Harley Davidson Roadster to the Electraglide I truly love because Trev Deely had a low mileage demo on just such a sweet sale.  One of best decisions of my life.
Erik was a tall handsome man who sold me on Mazda and Miata simply by showing me the features and telling me how much he enjoyed his.  He was 6'2".  We talked about motorcycling. He admitted he'd given up riding a decade past falling in love with sports cars.
"I love my miata." he said.
So we took it for a test drive.  Laura stayed with Gilbert. I drove the 2011 Miata around the neighbourhood and out on the highway and back.  What a ride!  Great open air biking feel with the same sense of feeling the road cornering. And perky, too  On the highway it just lit out with a whole lot of muscle under the hood. . 167 hp 4 cyclinder but the car is under 3000 lbs. My 1600 cc Harley motorcycle is nearly a thousand pounds.  Great torgue.  Same kind of responsiveness.
"Two side air bags for collision and front air bags.    Head rest acts as a kind of roll bar but there's reinforcing back there. You can get more reinforcing for the headrests as an accessory.  But the feature I like best," Erik said, " is the automatic emergency braking. If you slam on the brakes, say if a kid runs in front of you, electronically the car senses the fast braking motion and brings all the braking pssible to bear without ceasing up." I tried it and we stopped with my guts in front of the car.
2.0L engine, Double overhead Cam. 4 cylinder. 16 valves.
167 hp at 700 rpm  140 ft lbs @ 5000 rpm
Rear wheel transmission.  I've got 6 speed manual.  I confess I think automatic sportscars are for weenies.   I love the brakes.  Disc brakes - ventilated front disc and solid rear disc brakes.   There's tire pressure monitoring too though I haven't found it yet.  I heard about that first when I got my RV.  Something I'd like on my Harley too.
The folding 12 second hard roof is what makes it. I was afraid to have a cloth top in downtown Eastside Vancouver.  There's problems with people knifing the tops for fun or profit.  I just didn't want to have to face the bother of replacement.  Thieves are most awful for forcing one to deal with insurance beurocracy, the appointments and delays. All over Vancouver millions and millions of dollars in lost productivity is a product of the high downtown theft rate. I've had my vehicles broken into several times.  The insurance doesn't cover the lost and never covers the thousands of dollars lost time dealing with insurance  and repairs.  So I loved the hard top.  Best of all worlds.
The key fob works the lock and it's one of those proximity ones. If it's in my pocket the car is mine.
"This one is 'fully loaded'", Erik told me. All the accessories.  The base car rate for a new one was around $28,000 but fully loaded GT or Grand Touring could add another $10,000 to the car price total.  Great Bose sound system too with Serius Satellite Radio installed.  I've still got to get that working. But Laura and I loved the Serius comedy channel on the new Jeep we'd rented in Ottawa last month.   I've had my I tunes playing through the Bose system.Selah, Bach and Chantel all sound terrific.  Love having the controls on the steering wheel.
When Eric and I got back I took Laura for a spin and she said, "I love it."  Most imporstant, she said,  "There's room enough for Gilbert here too."   That's what counted. I knew Gilbert would sit on the seat but didn't know if he and Laura would have enough room together on 'his' side of the car.
So I bought it.  At least the bank and I did.  I needed more  good excuses  to go to work too.
Now it was hard to wait for delivery and harder to wait for the weekend day trip. But  Laura and I and Gilbert have driven down to Bellingham, stayed the night there. The winding tree and sea Chuckanut Road I love doing  on my Harley on the Oyster Bike Run was a whole lot of fun in the Miata. . With the wider vehicle the road is a whole lot narrower. Easier and better feeling on the bike but still a great experience driving a winding and curving country road..  Love the sunshine and wind in the hair. Had to stop at Skaggit Harley though to get a leather harley ball cap. Had to have that and my hair in a pony tail because my hair had been whipping  my face raw.  Usually it gets bunched inside a helmut. .  With the heated seats and interior heating it was a really comfortable ride. Truly decadent.
Loved looking ahead at a storm cloud, turning to Laura and saying, "I think I should put the roof up or we might get wet."  I pulled over to the side.  12 seconds later  and we were ahead of the rain and snug as a bug. I confess I felt pretty good when a biker went by going the other direction soaked from head to toe. I must be getting soft.  But I sure have paid my dues. I knew too well what that guy was feeling like and  I know I was feeling a whole lot more warmer.  And still I felt really 'cool'.
Tthere's something to be said cruising along with Steppenwolf wailing over the speakers too. Laura and I had loved seeing John Kay at the Sturges North Biker Festival last year.  With the top up I felt more  like I was  in the cabin of a little jet fighter plane than a boring old car. . The whole console is so well made and arranged for viewing.  Laura and Gilbert beside me was pretty great too.   i think I know what Tom Cruise feels like now.
At the Best Western in Bellingham and the Best Western Navigator in Everett we just took the overnight luggage out of the trunk and signed in. The trunk holds just enough for two to make a week road trip I'd figure. This weekend road trip we had room left over. I imagine we could even throw in the tenting camping gear we had for weekends on the motorcycle.  Pretty tight but just what we need. I'd not be going hunting with this car. No room for hauling loads.  That's what my trucks for.
This is perfect for my needs in city and weekend road trips.  I'll be riding the harley still and even taking Laura along. But Gilbert doesn't like any long trips in his box at the back when there's the  three of us on the bike.  At most a day run and that's stretching it for him.  He's liking the sportscar pretty much but the top coming up kind of scares him a bit even if he tries to put on a brave dog face.
"I love my Miata".  This one is 3rd generation and there's more than a million sold. Reminds me a bit of my room mate Roberto's MG.  I was 20 then.  I'm 60 now but kind of feel like 20. And looking over at Laura. She kind of looks like 20 with her blond hair and smile and the two of us racing up the I5.  What an adventure!   I love my Miata!

Mt. Baker Harley Davidson

Mt. Baker Harley Davidson http://mtbakerharley.com/ used to be called Bellingham Harley Davidson but it's now under new ownership. They've changed the name and they're doing a great job. We stopped by after staying at the Best Western Lakeway Motel.

We loved the Best Western Lakeway Inn http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/productInfo.do?&srcPage=SelectHotel&isMapOpen=false&selectedHotels=undefined after a night drive down from Vancouver. I got to use my enhanced driver's license which serves as a passport crossing the Canada/US border by motor vehicle. The Best Western had really friendly staff letting me park my motorcycle right out front safe in the light. The Oboe Restaurant served superb filet mignot . Norma was a delight. The beds were huge and firm. We slept like babies. Waking we walked groggily down to the Jacuzzi for an executive work out in the amniotic fluid. I flexed my eye lids for a bit. The fresh coffee in the lobby helped us gather our wits before we gathered up our gear.

Back on the bike we made the treacherous adventurous expedition at the high speed of 30 km/hr the 1 to 2 mile distance to the Mt Baker Harley Davidson. A half dozen bikers had already gathered in front of the store on their Harleys to witness our arrival. When asked how far we'd come, I described in detail how I'd changed into second gear taken 3 gps checks and come all the way from the Best Western Lakeway just a few blocks away. Cruising isn't racing. I wouldn't want to get saddle sore on such a fine sunny first day of spring. It was time for a break.

The service department instantly solved my vision problem. My visor was so scratched that I'd not been able see for weeks. I'd just known something was missing in that high speed freeway ride down to Bellingham the night before. It was thoroughly amazing how a new helmut visor could take a whole lot of challenge out of motorcycling.

Laura got a pink bling Harley cell phone accessory. She's always texting her kids, cousins and nieces. While she and Marla were looking at all the Harley Davidson fashion wear I drooled all over the new 2010 Harleys.

We really liked their selection of everything. It's amazing how each dealer taste shows and while there's so much the same there's just still so many surprises. Harley has so wide a variety of inventory that it's clearly hard for anyone to stock it all. Marla was a pleasure to deal with.

Leaving one of the managers came out and helped take our picture when I was doing the proverbial Harley self timer running between the fast moving cars that thoughtlessly kept interfering with our picture by our bike in front of another Harley dealership. This one we really liked and look forward to returning to. I can't get enough of the incredible the coast rides between Vancouver Canada and Seattle and Portland. This has got to be some of the best Harley riding in the world.