Sleepy Bear Hollow

Some more pics

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 07:08:01 PDT

video

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:33:56 PDT

Click here

More boring pics II

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:25:28 PDT

BT11-Day 7

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:31:01 PDT

Hello everyone,
We're finally back in civilization. We've been in the mountains for a couple of days away from cell phones and wi-fi. That hurt Mark more than me, but he survived. Anyway, we've had a great couple of days. We met Mark's brother from another continent and they hit it off just great. Christian is on a 2 year motorcycle trek all over the globe by himself. He pulled up to us in Hinton, Alberta on his BMW 1200 GSA (our next bikes) and we immediately connected. He's from Chile and has been on the road for 5 months already. He started in Miami and is heading for Los Angeles to take a plane ride with his bike to Australia. He'll then go to Southeast Asia and through Europe to London. We rode with him for about an hour and exchanged information to follow his trek for the next year and a half. He's on this trek due to recent deaths in his family, including a son, and made it a priority in his life. He has all the same gadgets as Mark and they were like two peas in a pod. He taught Mark a few tricks of the touring motorcycle video trade and it should help make our trips a little quicker. Thank goodness!
We had a great ride to Banff and saw the bluest lakes that exist with beautiful glaciers in the background. Once we made it to Banff we toured the castle and grabbed a quick bite to eat. Then the deluge hit. Needless to say we're staying in Banff for the night. Tremendous lightning/thunder storms hit the town and we're certainly glad we weren't on the road when it hit. The forecast is a little better for tomorrow and we'll probably push back to Idaho on a slow roll.
This part of Canada is to die for. Anyone looking to see glaciers and lakes that have existed for hundreds of centuries need to come here. I've been to several national parks in the U.S. but this one is non-stop awe-inspiring. Even the sporadic rain hasn't dampened the experience. I just wish the mosquitoes would go away. We've seen 2 black bears and 2 male elks with large racks on the side of the road. Mark claims I almost ran over one of the bears but he was exaggerating. I admit I was admiring the mountains and didn't see it as quickly as Mark did, but I did not get as close as Mark says I did. He crossed the road right in front of me and didn't even look at me.
I hope you enjoy the photos that he just posted. It does not even close to cover what we've seen though.

More boring pics

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:59:22 PDT

New Vid 2

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:33:09 PDT

Click Here

new Vid

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:25:05 PDT

Mud video here

BT11-7 Pics

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:44:05 PDT

BT11-8

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:21:28 PDT

The start of a new week on the tour. We slightly altered the route to exclude Dawson Creek though. Along our travels we have met a lot of people that all asked why we were going there? Apparently, there is nothing to see there. So we didn't go. We're in Hinton this evening and there's nothing to do here either. But we're within striking distance of Jasper and then it's going to get interesting. We expect some inclement weather but nothing as bad as last week.
We met a friend in Edmonton yesterday and did some off-roading near a lake. The mud was a challenge but the bikes took the punishment and persevered. But apparently Mark didn't. He passed out last night with his clothes on and on top of the blankets. He stayed that way almost all night. The long hours in the saddle and the road miles are apparently catching up to him. The 5-Hour Energy shots didn't even help.

More Pics

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:09:40 PDT

BT11-7

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 07:51:57 PDT

We've completed our first week of this trip and it has flown by. Last night we slept at Doug and Jan's house in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. We drove through Calgary and got a peak at the Calgary Stampede event but did not enter. Just another big town, but it's clean and has a pretty back drop. Yesterday's ride was pretty but boring compared to the other days. Long, straight roads and nothing but farms. The mosquitos make for quick outdoor bathroom breaks in the woods. They go into swarm attack mode, and then there's the deer flies. Thank goodness for Doug and Jan's house. Camping would not have been an option.
We started out yesterday inside Canada's portion of Glacier National Park. There's a beautiful old hotel that was built in 1928 by the railroad and it's majestic as it sits on top of a bluff overlooking the lake. The lake needed to be explored but we'll save that for another trip. I highly recommend it for exploration as there are great hiking trails and tributary streams that go on for miles. Can't beat the glaciers either. Just bring Bear-Away spray! Candrell Lake has a large population of Grizzlies and one was seen on a trail near the visitor center just 2 days before we were there.

Bike tour update

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:43:57 PDT

Sorry for the lack of posting, One issues is that the wifi connections have been very poor, and the second issues is that I am just having to much fun to stop and blog. I am hoping I will be able to post some stuff from my friend's house tomorrow.

So far we are right on schedule. We are currently in Waterton Alberta enjoying a nice meal and then we ride back to our rented TeePee. I am also going to try and upload some more boring Videos.

Day 2

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 18:40:34 PDT

OK, I am going to keep it simple tonight because I am tired and want to go to sleep.

Animals seen:

3 Grizzly Bear
Several Cow and Calf Elk
1 Red deer Buck in velvet
4 Mountain Goats
White Tail deer
Ton of Elk
2 Bald Eagles

Moto Miles report

Day 1 - 293
Day 2 - 300
Day 3 - 196
Day 4 - 395
Day 5 -
Day 6 -

States

Nevada
Oregon
Idaho
Wyoming
Montana

Yellow Stone is crazy!!! People everywhere. Cars doing crazy things in the roads, Uggggggg!

BT11-2

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 23:10:24 PDT

New GO PRo Video from our trip

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:11:13 PDT

Day one video here

BT11-1

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:26:55 PDT

So today was awesome as normal. We started off from one of Jeff's old friend's house in the Boise area. Vic got us ready to go with some breakfast and saw us off. Thanks Vic for the great time we had there. We headed East down Interstate 84 to Mountain Home. We headed North up State Hwy 20. What a great route. Hwy 20 was way better than the boring interstate. We cruised right along. We had no idea that hwy 20 is part of the Oregon Trail. Around 1 PM we hit Crater of the Moon National Park. What a cool place. I never thought that a lava flow would be so interesting and to be honest it did not look that good from Google earth.

As we left Craters heading toward Idaho Falls we ran right into a killer rain storm. My buddy and I agreed that the rain alone would not have been that bad. However, with the wind blowing right around 40-50 mph, the rain was being driven horizontal across the road. I thought to myself, we are screwed if this is going to last for the next 90 miles. It was a constant battle trying to keep the bikes in our own lane while on coming cars were having a hard time seeing what was in front of them. When the wind would die down the Hwy would become a river. As we rode into the screaming wind, driving rain and dark angry clouds, I found myself thinking how could this be worse? How bad does it have to get before we pull over and hunker down? But we kept pushing. Then the lighting came. Big bold bolts zipping overhead, briefly lighting up the crazy insane situation we were fighting. The Hwy turned a bit and headed right up to, and along two large buttes. The lighting was beating the crap out of these two large mounds and we were now headed right to them. The wind growled, the rain came ripping through our clothing, and the lighting and thunder barked at us as we pressed forward.

After 110 miles of this we finally rolled into Idaho Falls. As Jeff and I rolled up to our first signal light in Idaho Falls we looked at each other and grinned. We made it! Now we are full from dinner and tucked safe and sound away in our warm hotel room. The day in now a memory and we look forward to tomorrow's adventures.

Day one - Boise to Idaho Falls

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 23:01:46 PDT

Bike tour 2011

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 22:55:04 PDT

We made it to Boise Id today in 13 hours of driving. Enjoyed a nice Mexican dinner and having a nice visit on the back porch with one of our host families. Looking forward to getting on the road in the morning.

Bike Tour 2011

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:11:04 PDT

This years motorcycle tour is about to begin. We will leaving the Los Angeles area and heading to Boise Idaho on the first leg. From there we will head east to Jackson Wyo and then up into Yellowstone Natl.Pk. Then we head north through Glacier and all the way up to Dawson Creek Canada then back South. Stay tuned as we will be blogging the adventure. This year we have added a Go Pro camera to our tool bag, so hopefully we will not only have pics but some video as well.

Mirrors and Windows, part 2

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 01:17:16 PST

A response to outstanding reader input via e-mails. OK, In part one, below, I wrote about mirrors and windows. In that post I touched on the journey between two way points; where we are and where we want to go in life. Teaching, facilitating, and equipping someone to take the journey between these two points is no easy nor simple task. I will start by saying there is no way a few words here will do more then just create an awareness of a life process. There is a tremendous temptation to help students create a structured life plan. Setting goals and establishing objectives through time lines has been the standard when it comes to achieving "success". Most students will follow such a plan if they have someone keeping them accountable. I believe however that most life plans are abandon because they are made with limited information about how life will actually unfold. We tend to create these plans to create purpose or to fulfill needs without understanding what those needs are to start with.

Take my own life for example. as a young man I wanted to be a marriage counselor and started my college learning off with psychology and sociology. I had a structured plan and time line, but I had no idea how to follow it. After a few years I changed my plan because life was unraveling me. And here is the problem, I only learned how to "pack" for that destination/plan. I have since learn to "pack" in such a way as to allow me to handle any direction life's journey takes me. So when I work with others I do not spend time with time lines nor worry about accountability regarding their destinations. I teach the journey or the traveling. Equip the student with internal ability and the rest, life, seems to just make happen. So what is the internal ability? There are many words we can use here; fortitude, courage, preserver, patience, and so on. But when it comes down to it, even though we know the definition of such words, applying them to our life seems much harder.

I have often talked about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Fraklin's Reality Model. Understanding what our needs are as human beings is very important. These needs unveil why one might tend to be co-dependent, oppositional defiant, authority aviodant just to name a small morsel of issues we humans deal with. The next area of focus I have is one's belief structure. Why do I believe in what I believe? These two areas, needs and beliefs, dictate how I will choose my behaviors. My behaviors dictate how or if I can make the journey between the two way points of here and there. How do we equip another to be able to risk in life? How to teach others to embrace the risk of failing? How do we teach that failure is not trying? How do we teach students to take responsibility for their life, their journey? Why do we teach the destination and not the journey? Awe, there it is. We focus so much on the destination, we put so much pressure on the destination and we forget or fail to teach the journey.

Live your life! Attempt much and expect much! Become that which you dream one step at a time. The only thing I ask of my students is that they contribute to the greater good along the way. I really do not care what their destination is. Become whatever you want! Give more then you take! In my life, every step has played into my journey. I may not be a marriage counselor, but I have benefited from that learning experience. Every piece of the journey is what life is. Will I become this or that? I have no idea, but I do know that I am living life and giving more than I take. I will leave you with a quote that I often use;

Be careful of your thoughts, they become your beliefs.
Be careful of your beliefs, they become your words.
Be careful of your words, The become your actions.
Be careful of your actions, they become your destiny.

Thoughts?

Mirrors and Windows.

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:30:02 PST

I have been facilitating behavior change in groups and individuals for over 26 years now. As I teach new facilitators on how to drill down into the issues that haunt human souls I have come to realize that simple imagery works best. I preach asking questions opposed to having answers to the point that it has become my mantra. But how do we break questions down so the facilitator can create a clear path of understanding? It is here, in this place of confusion, where most people loose the impact of the question. So where do we start? My first "waypoint" question is one I asked internally. Is the behavior functional or dysfunctional? The answer can only be verbalized by the person who we are working with. And the answer must address the issue of their journey. I can look at some one and make a judgment about their behavior being dysfunctional. But that is not my job!

Their Journey? Simply put, where are they now, and where do they want to go? When they put their head down on their pillow what do they dream about becoming? No one that I have ever met dreams about having less, being less, or doing less in life. What is their dream? As with all journeys, we can verbalize where we want to go. So is the behavior in question helping them get to, or move them towards their dream? Is it functional behavior? If the behavior is moving them forward toward the dream then our work is done. If not, if the behavior is dysfunctional and not getting them to their dream we ask another question. Is it dysfunctional because of the lack of desire or the lack of ability? The answer to this question will determine our course of action in the facilitation process. To we motivate or educate? Do we inspire or teach?

This brings us to the mirrors and windows concept. If you are like me, you will hear a lot of "I don't know" answers being delivered to you. It is important, I think, for the facilitator to realize that humans do three things. We cognate or think, We emote or feel, and we behave or act. Creating change in any one of these areas will have an effect on the other two. So I ask my students to tell me what the see (active looking as a behavior), think, and feel when... When you look in a mirror, what do you see, what do you feel, and what to you think. Once my student has answered these questions, I now move to the window. When you look out the window what do you see, feel, and think? I now have a basic idea of what my student whats to become, what their self image is and how they feel and think about themselves as well as, what their perception is of their environment. Now we are ready to take a journey. Now we can begin to move toward their dream with some clear understanding of what needs to change and why.

Thoughts?

More pictures here

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:46:37 PST

Check out more pictures from Talking Bear HERE!

Bike Tour 2010

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:13:48 PDT

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from this years bike tour. When it was all said and done we only completed 2000 miles in 10 days of adventure on our little dual sport motorcycles. We really enjoyed walking in the foot steps of the American Indians, Past and Present! I can understand why they choose to live in that region of this wonderful country.

Bike tour 2010 - day 10

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:08:14 PDT

Bike tour 2010 - day 9

talkiing_bear@hotmail.com (TalkingBear) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 16:18:08 PDT