The Art Rider - Post 1

Meet special guest blogger Ronald Peter … the Art Rider.

Photo by Ron Peter

Ron is an amazing visual artist who has discovered many of the scenes and subjects he paints while touring North America by motorcycle. Ron is no neophyte to the riding scene having begun riding 51 years ago. He enjoyed a successful stint on the road racing circuit from 1970 into 2003 but these days Ron rides a Yamaha FZ1 down the ribbon of grey. The FZ1 might not be your typical touring bike, but it has carried him over 185,000 km and it's the Art Rider's style. Ron says riding allows him “to absorb the atmosphere and subtle nuances of an area unencumbered and unfiltered by steel and glass.”

Photo by Ron Peter

I had the chance to ride with Ron for a couple of days this summer while on Prince Edward Island and have invited him to share his daily journal posts from his 38 day, epic ride: Port Perry, Ontario to Newfoundland...and back.

Ron writes to remember the people and places he’s been, immortalizing them with an artist’s eye through the lens of his camera. I think you will enjoy riding along with him, and if you plan on riding to the Rock, Ron is a frugal traveller - you might want to take some notes.

Photo by Ron Peter

Here is the first excerpt: actually his reflections on the ride but a fitting prologue.

To say that this was a voyage of discovery, personal and otherwise, would be an understatement. One, because I spent almost as much time on ships and boats as I did on a motorcycle and two, because a whole other side of life was revealed to me as I traveled to and along the south shore of Newfoundland and its out ports. These places, that have changed so little in almost 200 years, are now changing very rapidly and may all but cease to exist in the next 10 to 15 years; maybe sooner.
 
With the average resident's age hovering around 60 years and almost no young people staying at home in these communities, the future appears to be pretty much spelled out. The sad part is no one really wants the story to end. Old age and failing health are slowly lowering the curtain. The provincial government would resettle the out ports tomorrow if it could, but won’t force the issue, so the communities themselves must agree, almost unanimously, to resettle and take the deal offered by the province.
 
Through all this the overwhelming sense of community and family connection is impossible to miss. I’ve never felt anything like it. And clearly that is how these small isolated places have survived all these years, through terrible hardship and adversity and done so with smiles on their faces. What fabulous people they are, welcoming and generous.

Photo by Ron Peter

The rest of Maritime Canada, different as it is, is also a very special place. The joyous positive outlook, even in the face of lean times and the changing fishery or lack of a fishery, is hard to miss. I love it! Coming home was a case of culture shock as I tried to fit back into a pace that I had forgotten.

I know that in many ways this trip will change me and my thinking in ways I may never realize, but that’s what travel is supposed to do; open your eyes, broaden your horizons and give you food for thought and that too is food for the soul. It’s been grand!

Photo by Ron Peter

** Although tagged VStarLady all photos in this series, the Art Rider are copyrighted by the owner Ronald Peter.

It Is Time ...

It's that time of year when there are a few brave riders defying the below freezing temperatures to ride the still, snow free roads ... Today I saw one lone rider, his face grimacing, his eyes near frozen from the cold as he road past me at the lake. I admired him but didn't envy him.

But the time is coming when all but the most hardy will give it up for the season. Under the snow filled clouds, the lake's edges are crusty, leaves frozen beneath newly forming ice. The lake is whispering ... "It is time!"

But it is also that time to relive, revisit, rehash and enjoy the season just past. On that note I am lucky to have a guest writer/rider who has agreed to let me post snippets of his epic 38 day "Ride to the Rock" in a series he calls "The Down East Chronicles." Stayed tuned.