September 14, 2023

Wacanid. What?

Wacanid, pronounced Waw-Can-Eyed, stands for Washington, Canada and Idaho. It is a six day bicycle tour (with a day off on Day 4, hence I had time to start to write this post!) put together by local Rotary Clubs in Idaho, Washington and British Columbia, together with the International Selkirk Loop, and Stephanie Sims, its Executive Director. It is not for the faint of heart. It is a total of 395 miles in five days of riding, with over 24,000 feet of climbing, including 102 miles and over 6,000 feet of climbing on Day 1. But it is spectacular country, and the support by the Rotarian volunteers was incredible. They…

Read more

written by Senior Ripper - Posted in Uncategorized

June 6, 2023

White Rim Road 2023

See that little ribbon of road in the picture above? That’s the White Rim Road in Canyonlands National Park. The picture was taken by my friend and neighbor, Lisa, one of eight of us who last week rode the White Rim by mountain bike, supported by two trucks carrying our gear, food, water and showers! We took turns driving the trucks, although many parts of the road were extremely technical and dangerous; more so than for mountain bikes, so the two owners of the trucks carried the laboring oars of driving, which was fine by the rest of us, since we were there to ride, not drive! The White Rim…

Read more

written by Senior Ripper - Posted in Ripper Adventures

December 15, 2022

What a Winter (so far)!

It’s mid-December, not even officially winter yet, and this Ripper has been on skis for more than 20 days already. And I’m not talking about just a few groomed runs on man-made snow. We’ve been skiing terrain that typically doesn’t open until much later in the season. For those of you who follow Senior Ripper’s Instagram account, this isn’t a surprise. You’ve been following the kitchen deck bistro table for over a month (I figured it was time for the bistro table to be featured in a post!). I’ve gone through two tanks of gas in the snowblower already (and broken 3 shear pins!). This is why we are here!…

Read more

written by Senior Ripper - Posted in Uncategorized

December 12, 2022

Glamping?

Ever since we bought Toto, our baby Airstream, I have preferred wild camping to RV Park camping. Wild camping is camping in the middle of nowhere, with no services. One must be completely self-sustainable. There are no toilets, no water, no power available. Just you and what you have with you. RV Park camping has its place. When it’s very warm, being plugged in to shore power is a luxury (or even a necessity), as air conditioning will not run off the RV’s batteries; it requires more power than they can provide. And when at a typical RV Park, one has access to unlimited water, power and the ability to…

Read more

written by Senior Ripper - Posted in Uncategorized