Kimler Adventure Pages (http://randsco.com)

The day before yesterday, we returned home from our first cycle tour in which Alex actually pedaled a bicycle (attached to our touring bikes). We cycled from Nanaimo, up-island to Comox, took a ferry to Powell River and then cycled down the coast to Vancouver. This coastline is called "The Sunshine Coast". It's a cycle tour that's been on our list of adventures for some time.

Sunshine Coast Cycle Tour: Scott, Rachel and Alex are all smiles at the start of their bicycle tour. They chanced upon a Cedar friend (Chad), while cycling through Nanaimo and asked him to take a group photo.

Since we moved to Vancouver Island in 2006, we've been spending our holidays exploring British Columbia. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful Province and - so far - there has been no shortage of wilderness adventuring.

Now that our daughter, Alex, is six and a half years old, she is too big to tow in a bicycle buggy. Some time ago, we bought Alex a 'Trail-a-Bike', which allows her to sit behind our bikes, on a bike seat and contribute to pedaling. The 'Trail-a-Bike' even has a 5-gear shifter, though she hasn't quite gotten the hang of which gear to switch into at any given time.

Because we have been giving some thought to a Cross-Canada bike tour, we thought it would be a good idea to see how Alex does on a long bike trip. The trip we concocted was - "The Sunshine Coast Bike Tour" - which we did as a loop trip from Nanaimo, up to Courtenay/Comox, across Georgia Strait by ferry to Powell River, then down the Sunshine Coast, ending with a ferry ride from Langdale to Vancouver (where we dropped Alex off at her maternal grandparents house).

The trip took us the better part of five days. Along the way we stayed at a First Nations camping area, repaired a flat tire and a broken spoke, visited a salmon channel and sorting facility, swam in the ocean, cycled onto four different BC Ferries, stayed in two Provincial campgrounds ... all the time enjoying sunny weather, beautiful scenery, challenging cycling and a wholesome family vacation.

Join us on our family cycling adventure and see how Alex fared on her Adams 'Trail-a-Bike'. We hope that our journal whets your appetite for adventure and is useful to others who are thinking of a similar cycling trip. (Some time ago, Rachel and I had made a list of adventures we wanted to do and a "Sunshine Coast Bicycle Trip" was on the list. It's always nice to be able to check another adventure off the list, eh?)

Note: I updated this journal entry from our 1991 Subaru Loyale station wagon, whilst hurtling northward to check off yet another adventure off our list - a backpacking trip to Cape Scott, at the northernmost point of Vancouver Island! (Ain't technology grand?) The laptop is connected to the iPhone, the iPhone is connected to the Internet, the Internet is connected to the journal ... anyway ... it's a work in progress (i.e., photos to follow).

What's more fun for a developer than to show up a huge online company like eBay? How about getting PAID to do it! Here's the write-up from my one, fun summertime web project - a pure CSS eBay photo gallery. (Oh and just for grins, it's displayed in another "Arti-zine" web design). I miss having time to write more blog articles!!

eBay Pure-CSS Photo Gallery Demo

In 2008, I entered a photo contest at Alberni Outpost, a Vancouver Island outdoor store. We didn't win, but I recently noticed the photo was used as the background for their new website design. Have a look.

Rachel's Photo Backdrop for Local Website

We are considering purchasing a used tandem kayak from Alberni Outpost, a Vancouver Island Outdoor Adventure Store, with locations in Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Courtney & Nanoose. The fibreglass kayak has been in their rental fleet for some number of years and yesterday, we took it on a "test paddle" around Newcastle Island and to Protection Island (where we had dinner at the Dinghy Dock Pub). It was an excellent afternoon and will be the focus of an article I'm currently researching and writing.

In doing that research, I made a surprising discovery. A photo we submitted the Alberni Outpost Photo Contest in 2008 is currently the background image for every page of their website.

That photo I submitted to their photo contest can be seen in our Bowron Lakes Slide Show. It's also on the Photo Contest page (2008) on the Alberni Outpost website (their site relies on JavaScript, so I can't link the picture directly. Just click on 2008 Photos and you'll see it.)

Despite the fact that the photo didn't win, it was chosen - over all the other photos submitted over the years and over all past winning submissions - as the backdrop for their new design.

We suspect the photo didn't win because it was a canoeing picture, not a kayaking picture. No worries! Just a Photoshop nip here and photoshop tuck there and suddenly, Rachel is paddling a kayak instead of a canoe! Amazing what can be accomplished with digital photos, eh?

So, do you think the owner, Richard Antonchuk, will give us a discount on the used kayak as consideration for using our photo in his website design?

See & Compare Photos

A blast from the past. Scott used to work in the remote jungles of northern Sumatra for Mobil Oil, as a field geophysicist. In the first of a series of articles from his field journals, he examines the driving hazards in this far away land. (Note: Doubly linked, so that the article registers as a "new" RSS feed)

Real & Imaginary Hazards

Lone Cyclist: An lone Indonesian cyclist pedals his way down a dirt track, between two newly planted rice paddies, at sunrise. There are many cyclists on the roadways of northern Sumatra and they can be a hazard.

Nearly twenty five years ago, Scott was working as a field-operations geophysicist for Mobil Oil, based out of Jakarta, Indonesia. His job was to supervise two helicopter-supported seismic crews (over a 1,000 men on each crew) that were exploring for oil and gas in the remote jungles of northern Sumatra.

He kept a journal of his adventures and is finally getting around to publishing some of them here, on Randsco.com, along with accompanying photos.

In this first "Hisstory" article (a new category), he's published an article which examines some of the driving hazards encountered in the Aceh Province of northern Sumatra. To learn about these road hazards, see some pictures and a slide show from "back in the day" ... click the link and head back to May, 1986 ...

2010 is officially "The Year of the House", as Scott refocuses on things closer to home. One of the first projects of the year was to revamp their front planter, building a trellis and creating a visual divide for an outdoor "room". See what he's been up to.

A Long 2010 To-do List

Before: The front planter in 2006, shortly after we moved in. The Hydrangea was too big for the space. Trimming it made it look spindly and it never did recover from Scott's initial 'hack job'. (Scott can't kill plants, so he moved it to our 'wild English' garden area, along with a Forsythia bush from a nearby flower bed).

We've been living on our 5-acre Yellow Point wooded lot for over three years now. Each year it seems we have a laundry list of things to do, but the summer season always rushes by and the list just gets longer. It looks like 2010 might be "The Year of the Home", as Scott has been making more of a commitment to the property and less to his computer (as you can tell by the dirth of recent posts here).

One of the projects he's tackled recently, has been revamping the front planter box. This involved removing an overgrown Hydrangea, pervasive St. John's Wort, building a five-foot-tall lattice fence, amending the soil and planting some new (deer-resistant) flowering and climbing plants.

Follow along as Scott and Rachel plan their new garden and see the results of all of Scott's labor. (We'll update with another photo at the end of the growing season and continue with updates, to see if our "future planning" actually comes to fruition).

Can You Dig It?