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ultimate sandwich

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the wall ....

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EAST COAST DAY 1

EAST COAST DAY 1

I was very much awake when alarm sounds at 4:00am. Jumped right up from the bed, turned off the alarm and went in to the shower. Took a quick shower get dressed in to my riding gear and I was ready to load and lock my last bag on the bike at 4:30am.

Taha was already awake when I get out of my room at 4:30am and I told him to wake up Saif and Ramiz as I wanted to meet them before leaving, Jia was also up. Up till now I was operating mechanically, no feelings at all ……..

Taha made me a cup of tea and I had some rusks with it as I wanted to keep it lite, dinner was also very lite last night. Taha, Saif and Ramiz all three of them were sitting in front of me in the living room, it was around quarter to 5am and all of a sudden It felt like my ears were blocked from a big decent and they popped open, felt like all the alarms around me are sounding and just woke up from a deep sleep, all of my senses came to me and there was an extra one telling me …… WHAT THE HELL!!!!

I realized that this is where I need to get up and leave otherwise I won’t be able to …. So many thought were swirling in my mind at that time and most of them were telling me not to go. At ten to 5am I went up and say Allah Hafiz to Jia. Went down to the garage and record my first video message about departing, hug and kiss all three of my sons, get on my bike and off I go……………

What are you doing?? And why are you doing this??? You can’t do this, you won’t be able to….!! Better stop and return home now rather than returning from any further or after a day or two MAX!!!

Thoughts going through my mind when I left the ESSO Gas station on Ontario Street and Derry at Milton, Ontario at 5:25AM on August 10th, 2017…………. On my 2003 Yamaha FJR 1300 towards Cabot Trails, Nova Scotia.

It was approximately after 30 minutes of riding on 401 east when I realized that I have just crossed the signs for highway 400 without stopping or putting my feet on the ground. I checked and traffic seems to be heavy as if it will stop anytime but it wasn’t, it was just flowing and that flow was enough for me to maintain a steady 100km/hour speed from last 40 minutes or so which get me through the heavy blockage spots pretty swiftly ……… with that realization I thank God and with that thank all of a sudden I felt like a switch turning on ……. Making the scene clear ……… making me realize that I am actually having fun ……. Making me see the beautiful silver lining that was emerging quickly on the horizon right in front of me …… making me feel that I am free and flying ……. Making me feel that there aren’t no strings attached anymore and that I should let go …………………….

One more realization that I was up to do 1225 KMs that day but that was not bothering me at all. In fact for some strange reason I was feeling satisfied that I have that much to ride today? The longest I have ridden in a single day before that was 1050 KMs, which took 17 hours due to some unforeseen circumstances. My wish was to do 1225 KMs for that day in 14 hours ……… which was extremely optimistic in real time riding world.

After enjoying the beautiful silver lining I thoroughly enjoyed the sunrise somewhere after crossing Whitby, I have no memories of watching a full sunrise while driving or riding anything as it was happening right there in front of me on 401 east for couple of hour and I was able to look at it all that time through the built-in drop down sun shades in my SCHUBERTH!!! …… Yes SCHUBERTH C3 Pro, world’s quietist helmet, full face modular, with built-in drop down sun shade and a pin lock screen installed for avoiding fog on the inner screen …. Simply awesome

I came across dense fog around Trenton area for at least 20 KMs or so ….. Traffic was moving normal but all the mist was getting accumulated on my helmet screen reducing the visibility. On a motorcycle, usually wind work as a wiper and wipes away water from helmet screen but as I had my bike’s windshield full up and it was working so nice that I was not getting enough wind pressure to wipe out the water from my helmet screen. So I had to bring down bike’s windshield and give it some more gas to get enough wind pressure in order to wipe my helmet screen. All that was a little annoying as it was not raining but still water element was keeping me busy …………….. Mother Nature

A very good friend of mine use to live in Trenton and Bellville area around 10 years ago and I use to come here every second week, never came across such dense fog. First time I came to Trenton was for a job interview in December 2004, few months after arriving in Canada, drove alone all the way in a very harsh winter in my 1993 Toyota corolla, my first car in Canada but the most interesting part is that interview was at a Unilever plant and I was so excited about It as I was associated with Unilever before immigrating to Canada for last seven years, my longest affiliation with any kind of work ………….. I decided not to take that job when I was half way to Trenton for my interview …………… too far

I took my first stop after riding for 2 hours and 45 minutes and doing 286 KMs. There were still 3 gas bars showing on bikes gauge, I was not tired at all and I wanted to do more but I just pull over on gas station somewhere very near to Kingston, filled up gas, had a coffee and smoke and analyzed what I did during last couple of hours and came to a conclusion that 1225 KMs for Day 1 ……… Piece of cake

I churned the remaining 950ish KMs with four more ride stretches and four brakes, ride stretches ranging from 290KMs to 361Kms nothing less or more than that ………. Durations from 2 and half hours to three hours and 15 minutes, nothing less or more than that ……….. brake from 15 to 30 minutes including a brake where I logged on to my work laptop, checked my e-mail, did some important stuff, grabbed a bite ……. That was Thursday and I was supposed to be working from home, so there I was ….working from somewhere in Quebec …….. Priorities!

Scene was pretty flat all the way from Milton Ontario up to Quebec City and across until I entered New Brunswick, that was my last major stretch of the day, 84 KMs on Trans-Canada Highway NB-2E. It was a very broad stretch of road with hills on both sides covered with dense green forest, very refreshing. Time on my phone jumped and hour ahead of Ontario time so technically it was a disadvantage for me but bike’s clock was still showing home time and it was 6:05 PM there, so 110KMs to my DAY 1 Base camp in 12.5 Hours …………………. I thoroughly enjoyed that last stretch with a sense of achievement, NB Scenery was getting better, much better than all of Ontario and Quebec, which sometimes make me actually feels like I am riding in northern Punjab ……. It’s strange how much distance one needs to travel just to change the scenery ………… Change!

Last 22KMs on NB 108-E to the base camp and I was going through small village of Drummond thinking about my first stay at Airbnb, didn’t know what exactly is waiting at the end but had a fair idea with my past experiences. Drummond was gone and now I was riding on a very narrow single lane road not very well paved going through fields with few houses and barns on my left. There was still plenty of sunlight so i was enjoying the view and the soothing ride.

I was not using the GPS so far as that’s something which I wanted to try on this trip, I was using good old conventional maps I printed with all the details I required for the whole trip. But after riding 20 minutes on NB 108-E, the way it was getting of the main grid and going in to wilderness I stopped and turned on Google maps on my phone and came to know that there was no network coverage in that area, cursing myself for being so impatient I continue as per my original direction and sense of adventure. Next ten minutes I saw first sign of the GI’s cottage hanging on a tree with an arrow showing which way to go and that’s it …………. Another ten minutes or so and five more signs with directions and I was parked at the main entrance of a beautiful and huge house in the middle of nowhere with a mesmerizing river going on one side and two big dogs standing on the graveled drive may 50 meters from me looking towards me but not moving at all……..

It took me couple of minutes to believe that those two dogs for whatever reasons are not planning to charge towards me as with my loaded 700lbs or more bike on a gravel road I was in no position to tackle them without tipping over the bike. After assuming that dogs are friendly I honked the horn few times and waited for 5 minutes or so but there was no sign of my host Gisele as I get it from Airbnb, so I took out me phone and there was coverage!! I call her on her phone number given on Airbnb but it was going on voicemail in French……. And then I left a message on the chat at Airbnb “I am here at your front entrance”.

I sat there for 5 minutes or so on my bike ready for any movements from the dogs, looked at the time and it was 7:15PM on the bike and 8:15pm on the phone as per NB local time, felt extremely proud of myself doing 1225Kms in 13 and half hours but my mind was not believing it ………. And then I saw reply from Gisele on the chat “OK coming in 5 minutes at my neighbors” and there were few cottage type structures nearby so I felt relaxed. She came in a black truck with guy driving and as they arrive, park the truck and came out I was going through so many different thought like …….. what will happen now? What are the possibilities? From robbing to killing to Texas Chainsaw Massacre came to my mind until I here Gisele’s loud voice through Schuberth “Bring the bike over here”

Gisele was 55 year old, French, breast cancer survivor, painter artist, Harley rider, owner of this beautiful property in a small village called New Denmark in New Brunswick, Canada. Her English was not bad but accent was typical French, for that age and fist fighting breast cancer she was in an amazing shape. After parking my bike and getting off and taking off my helmet and after shaking hands with Gisele and getting introduced to the dogs and getting informed that the dogs have collars and they can’t come out of a certain parameter and getting amazed by that technology I looked around and realized that it was a piece of heaven I landed in to. I will not try to picture it here as I don’t have such writing skills but the place was amazing and it reminds me of my stay with one of my very good friends at Chitral, Pakistan back in 2001.

Gisele showed me around starting from inside, it was a cute little apartment build on the roof of a barn. On the ground floor right beside the entrance there was a very clean and cute bathroom with standing shower and lots of tidy sitting towels on the shelve. Then stairs going up to a very neat looking apartment with a queen bed, a proper sink, stove, a pantry with lots of tastefully selected dinning plates, tea cups and dishes, wooden floor, a very stylish looking ceiling fan, there was TV and some kind of cable device, large windows on one side and a walkout balcony with sliding doors, a BBQ, chairs on the balcony an ash tray on the table and a view to die for of the river and miles and miles of fields ahead. Last but not the least there was WiFi and Gisele gave me a password for that before leaving.

There were painting on all the walls by Gisele with price tags from $135 to $400 and it was not hard to tell that she likes to paint women and girls, some of them were very nice. I was very inspired, relaxed and amazed by my own choice of base camp and thanking God for it.

I unload my bag from the bike, took a warm shower, change in to my PJs and slippers, pray Maghrib and Isha and then I realized that I actually don’t have much to eat and there are no ‘get the food options” available. After going through the supplies I was able to find two boiled eggs, Nutella crepes and an apple and it was more than enough, made a cup of tea with my own tea bag and use the coffee whitener sitting in a nice coffee basket sitting on the kitchen deck for guests…… amazing dinner

After having than lavish dinner I went down for a smoke and walk and noticed that Gisele was up sitting in the gazebo beside the river decorated with tiny little blue color light bulbs and she saw me and invited me to join her. Sat with her for half an hour had a cup of coffee, discussed the weather, her nice place, the dogs, my next four day plan, her Harley, paintings and then I ask to be excused as it was almost 11:00pm local time and I need to get a good night sleep.

Went up, get everything ready I would have needing next morning, review tomorrows route, maps, weather. Packed and summarize anything and everything which was not required in the morning to save time. ……….and I was in the bed approx. by 11:30PM. Good night

To be continued…………………………….

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where is this place ??

When you’re alone in the forest, you are never alone…

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East Coast - Prologue

What are you doing?? And why are you doing this??? You can’t do this, you won’t be able to….!! Better stop and return home now rather than returning from any further or after a day or two MAX!!! Thoughts going through my mind when I left the ESSO Gas station on Ontario Street and Derry at Milton, Ontario at 5:25AM on August 10th, 2017…………. On my 2003 Yamaha FJR 1300 towards Cabot Trails, Nova Scotia. “I will ride alone from now onwards, will plan and do a solo trip to east coast or Yellowstone park Colorado all by myself …………… Damn! That’s approx. 5000 kms round trip, alone! Man , I don’t know, can I do it? Do I still have that much left inside me?? I need to do it to know …. I need to do it to prove it to myself that I can still do it and have fun alone, I need to do it to defy all the odds and establish the fact that discipline, commitment and determination is the key to success and fun comes as a by-product. I need to do it and I will do it …. No matter what …….. NO MATTER WHAT”. Thoughts going through my mind 100kms away from my home, approx. 3:30AM in the morning, 16 th hour on the road, on the bike, with the group returning from BRP (Blue Ridge Parkway) someday in July 2017. (for details please read my blog about my trip to Blue Ridge Parkway available on Tumblr). Obviously! As per the second set of thoughts I decided to go for a solo ride to east coast Canada …. To the Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia to be precise. Planed it over five days …… 4500 Kms approx ….. DAMN YEAH !!! and then I invite my riding buddies to join me which they excused obviously …………. So far so good and dot on the plan. Following things were on the agenda: 1. Early departures 2. Early arrivals by sunset 3. Average 1000 kms daily 4. Not to waste any food and resources 5. HAVE FUN!! First four on the list were easy ….. As you can imagine …… but having fun was kind of subjective and relative, I have just used these two terms and now I have no idea how to explain them. That’s fine intellectual readers should be able to figure out on their own and … well rest doesn’t need to ….. I started training myself for the trip as having fun to me was directly related to how long I can sit straight on my bike and four of my planned days out of five were very long. I trained hard with lots of core and back exercises, cardio and thighs and trust me it pays well. Get the bike ready, change the rear tire, engine oil and filter and put a Ram mount at the handle to place my phone carrier at the right spot …. And that’s pretty much it. Load all three of my cargo boxes with essentials a day before the trip, put a waterproof bag at the rear seat with my personal stuff and a tank bank at the front. Some of the supplies I was carrying were: 1. Tools, including air compressor and puncture kit 2. 8 bottles of 500ml drinking water 3. 2 boiled eggs 4. A pack of 20 Nutella filled whole wheat crepes from Costco. 5. An Apple 6. 10 Tea bags 7. Supari a lot 8. 2 packs of smoke 9. Black peppr and salt 10. And left over cashew trail mix from BRP Among other things were, small stove with gas cylinder, a pan , cooking spoon, folding camping chair, a plate, a mug, my DSLR, office laptop (so I can work from home on two of my touring days) lots of rags, poly bags to put on wet socks after rain. Went to bed around 11:00pm on the night of August 9th after watching one full episode of ZOO with kids and set an alarm for myself to wake up at 4:00am for the DAY 1 of my tour...... to be continued.......

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recent east coast diary and bucket list

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cream of broccoli ...... lunch time

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عزت اور لحاظ مراوت

کافی سوچنسے اور سمجھنے ک بعد مے اس نتیجے پر پہونچا ک عزت اور لحاظ مراوت مے بہت فرق ہے۔ غور کرنے سے پتا چلا کا کسی حد تک انسان اور جانور دونو لحاظ اور مراوت کی ابتدائی تعلیم اپنے گھر یہ پرورش کرنے والے سے حاصل کرتے ھیں اور جنکا کوئی نہیں انکا تو خدا ہے ہی یارو۔ لحاظ اور مراوت ایک ضروری حس کی طرح وقت ک ساتھ پختہ ہو جاتی ہے۔ مثال کے طور پے اپنے سے زیادہ عمر والوں سے آداب، کرسی خالی کرنا، اونچی آواز سے پرہیز ،گاڑی کو دھکا لگا دینا،اور گلی ک کرکٹ مے گھر ای بال واپس نا دینے پر غصّہ اور گالم گلوچ نا کرنا،وغیرہ وغیرہ ۔۔۔۔۔ جانوروں مے بھی یہ حس قدرے یکساں پائی جاتی ہے۔ مثال اپنے سے بڑے اور طاقت ور جانور کو دیکھ کے راستہ چھوڑ دینا، زور سے نا بولنا اور وغیرہ وغیرہ (آئ لو وغیرہ وغیرہ ) تو مشاہد اے کی روشنی مے لحاظ اور مراوت ایک حس ہسے جو ک انسان اور جانور دونو مے ابتدا کی تربیت یا وقت کے ساتھ ساتھ پختہ ہو جاتی ہے۔ برعکس عزت ایک ایسی میراث ہسے جو سوائی والدین کے جو کسے انکی اولاد سے ملنا ہوتی ہے ہر کسی کو کمانے ہوتی ہسے۔ انگریزی مے ایرن کا ورڈ ہوتا ہسے۔ میرا خیال ہسے کے اگر کوئی کسی سے حادثہ تن یا منصوبہ تن کچھ سال پہلے اس دنیا مے آگیا ہسے تو صرف اس بل بوت پر جلد انے والا (بڑآ )دیر سے انے والے (چھوٹا)کی عزت کا پیدائیش طور پر حقدار نا ھوا ۔ بڑا صرف اس وقت عزت پا سکتا ہے جب و محنت کرے اور عزت کما لے۔ عزت کشکول لے کر یا ڈنڈا لے کر مانگنا غلط ہے پر افسوس کے ہمارے معاشرے مسے یعے طریقہ ہی عام ہسے۔ چند عام ڈائلاگ : مے بڑا ہوں عزت نہیں کرتے تم عمر مسے چھوٹے ہو عزت کرو مے تمہاری ما کا یا کی یا باپ کا یا کی ۔۔۔یا فلاں فلان کا یا کی وو ہوں تو عزت کرو پہلے تو بہت اچھے تھے اب عزت نہیں کرتے ۔۔۔۔ بیوی نے دماغ خراب کر دیا وغیرہ وغیرہ مجھ کو اپنے بہت سارے سگے رشتوں سے زیادہ عزت کسے حقدار میرے بڑے بہنوئی عرفان بھائی لگتے ھیں کیوں کسے انھوں نے اس چھوٹے سے اپنے لئے عزت کما لی ہسے اور اب یعے ِعزت کوئی بھی انسے نہیں چھین سکتا جب تک وو خود گوا نا نا چاہیں۔ یعے عزت انھوں نے کیسے کما لی۔ بہست ہی آسان ہے پر بتانے کی بات نہیں ۔کچھ تو بڑے کو خود بھی سوچنا ہوگا ☺

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BRP 2017 (Blue Ridge Parkway)

Approx 4:00am, Saturday, July 15th, 2017, stopped my bike in front of my house in Milton, Ontario. I wasn’t able to feel any pain but I knew that I was having high fever.

Took a moment to thank Allah for making it safely to home and then call Taha (oldest son) on his cell phone to open the garage door as I told him an hour and half ago from Niagara.

Seeing his face through my almost dried out contacts (in my eyes from at least 17 hours)was a refreshing site. starting the bike and parking it in the garage, getting off and walking upstairs to my room was more difficult than doing that seven day motorcycle trip which I planned during last 9 months and named it “BRP 2017”.

Me with three other friends did the above mentioned motorcycle trip to North Carolina; Virginia, Tennessee. Approx 3800kms, 7 days. Rode the charismatic BLUE Ridge Parkway, 470 miles (Approx)half on Vergina half in North Carolina with average height of 3000 feet and highest elevation at 6040 feet. missed almost 50 miles on it due to unforseen reasons. Rode the tail of the dragon (highway 129) with 311 curves in 11 miles, I was doing it third time, got excited and almost slipped at a right curve. Thanks God didn't fell. Did stayed at a cottage at Bryson city, NC for two nights with very steep and tricky approach yet very interesting and thrilling. Had some incidents as we reached at the cottage at out usual arrival time ....late night and after dark. My friends decided to play safe and kept their bikes parked down in the city from next morning onwards but I kept mine at the cottage and enjoyed the climb and descent couple of time safely. Also stayed at few hotels, had breakfasts, a lunch in the park with burgers, more food on the go, smokes, tea, rain and humid a lot of riding, good chats and laugh with the group ............ Did all that but it was very little fun for me.... and even today if I am trying to recall my memories from that trip, first thing coming to my mind is "Pain" followed by "Wastage". Yes, unfortunately or fortunately i was able to conclude this trip with those two words and I was feeling an urge to express my conclusion out. So here I am blogging it out for the sake of expressing it out with a hope that my conclusion might benefit someone trying to do similar trips. what and why "Pain" Pain of not getting prepared and missing essentials like a universal windshield and then realizing that wind pressure can really hold you back and slow down the whole group. Pain of reaching or i would struggle to reach daily destinations very late in dark taking all kind of risks (deer) just because there was no sense of urgency to get up early and leave early. Like i can totally take the blame for missing a turn on the first day of trip which added 150 kms (Approx) taking it to 1000+ from 845 kms and that could have created a chain reaction and then all seven days were very late lenient departures and very late, fatigued and tiring arrivals. yep, that could be the reason ...... But I do remember people try to iron dry thier wet socks from yesterday's rain in thier pajamas at around 10am in the hotel room when i was ready to load my bike and go..... lol And then Pain joins hands with wastage and that's when I totally lost my appetite of touring .....and there were five more days to go .... Wastage !!! Wasted chicken meat twice!! once rotten as all of us forgot to put it in the refrigerator in our fancy Holiday Inn room as we were to tired browsing our phones watching...... whatever. And Damn I slept ! so that was also me as I just clearly put it out to the gang that please put the meat in refrigerator and didn't do it myself..... DAMN!! Next when the unit decide to have pizza before having the planned BBQ for which lean boneless chicken breasts were arranged and were sitting in cottage's refrigerator. But I can understand that it was the whole unit wanted to have pizza at approx quarter to 9pm, well aware of the fact that there will be no BBQ after that........ So, next morning I cut the chicken in small cubes and through it to the local dog wandering around our cabin. I wanted to share the stats here about how many people including infants are dying every day due to hunger, malnutrition...... how many people around us can nor afford chicken or any kind of meat ..... how many ........ but I won't. A lot of personal time was spent planning the above mentioned trip, then a lot of long riding hours and lots of money (a lot of money for me) but I came back from this trip with hole in my heart and it's daring me out. I have never in my whole life felt doing something so painful on my own will........ like I was actually doing it to my self ..... like I was intentionally giving my self pain and was not doing anything to stop it. wasting all the precious food, time and energy feels like a disgrace on myself and I will never be able to put it away. But .... But ..... one thing I can do is to try not to be in that kind of situation again..... and that's what I will do ....... Riding to me is the thrill of unknown on a fabulous machine ........ but after two consecutive years of riding I know that the thrill dies if I am on the road in dark and my day is already 14 hours but I still need to ride another two hours to reach my destination. I have a very clear idea .... how, when, where to and with whome to ride and plan my trips ....... From this point onwards I plan to ride without such regrets..... without blames....without Pain and without wastage ........ from here onwards it will be pure fun riding inshallah ........ BTW..... genuine break downs and accident are excluded from my above statement..... Having said that...... best riding part of the said trip was when I catch up the unit after getting my radiator repaired in Verginia..... rode 400 kms in four hours with a 15 min gas and toilet break ...... and that streych was very convienently refreshing. Unit was a terminology often used on this trip and assumption was that whole unit is going sane direction ..... which was more or less correct but there is a huge difference between acting together as a unit and just going with the unit to finish ..... So, I m not planning to share this with every one.....reasone being I just don't want to but if any of the participants from BRP is reading "No hard feelings" my conclusion my views ..... to me that is it . Cheers

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hi

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new to writing and blogging ....would appreciate some help ...anyone