Well, a new url address is now required for my blog chronicling my EU trip starting April 29th...

http://ron2017.blogspot.com

New & exciting  - "Dreaming in Color" is now available in these online stores...
Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon, Rhapsody, Deezer and Tidal. (Or contact Ron@ron-marcel.com for more info.)

Meanwhile, spending Christmas with the family this year and getting ready for the EU trip! And, of course; writing new music...

Hey! I just started a new website for my music - ron-marcel.com Check it out...

Ron Marcel is my stage name (easier to spell and pronounce; Marcel is my middle name). There is an email in the "contact" section.

This isn't about the trip but I wanted to mention that I now have been given an opportunity to play at the Burning Man Central Café! (Monday, August 29th from 6:00PM until 7:20PM) Here are a few of the songs I will play (only orignal music allowed )... (note - simple, non-professional sample recordings here, only for copyright purposes)

1) "Dreaming in Color" - written for & about Iron Cowgirl Missy, who graciously took the time to teach me how to write music!

https://sites.google.com/site/ironandmetravelingcom/audio/Ron%20Marcel%20-%20Dreaming%20In%20Color.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

2) "Children in the House" - my second song, could be titled "My Life in 6 Minutes"

https://sites.google.com/site/ironandmetravelingcom/audio/Ron%20Marcel%20-%20Children%20In%20the%20House.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

3) "Remembering Amanda" - written just before the Australia trip

https://sites.google.com/site/ironandmetravelingcom/audio/Ron%20Marcel%20-%20Remembering%20Amanda.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

4) "Enfants dans la Maison" - "Children in the House" sung in French! (On my niece's boat in Alabama...with an iPhone)

https://youtu.be/QwsgXvp_U9I

5) "Jenny" - written for my grandniece in Montreal. 1/2 in French, half in English.

 https://sites.google.com/site/ironandmetravelingcom/audio/08%20-%20Ron%20Marcel%20-%20Jenny.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

6) "Family All Around" - Written in Costa Rica about how we acquire new family in our lives.

https://sites.google.com/site/ironandmetravelingcom/audio/Ron%20Marcel%20-%20Family%20all%20Around.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

7) "Matt, Lori, Iron & me" - written to document the new engine & trans gifted to me by Matt Levatich & Lori Oelhafen of Harley.

https://sites.google.com/site/ironandmetravelingcom/audio/Ron%20Marcel%20-%20Matt%2C%20Lori%2C%20Iron%20%26%20me.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

8) "The Children" - inspired by my friends Rachel & Jesse's young daughter who reminded me what it was like to be young again! (if only for a little while)

https://sites.google.com/site/ironandmetravelingcom/audio/The%20Children.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

9) "La Chatte" - A short instrumental written in Valleyfield, Quebec. Nicole suggested no lyrics; she was right.

https://sites.google.com/site/ironandmetravelingcom/audio/Ron%20Marcel%20-%20La%20Chatte.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

Going home! Australia will soon be a memory, a fine one at that.

Scott McConnell & Victory Melbourne were great! Gave me the quoted price back with no hassles. Sure was good to know when I started that I wouldn't have to worry about having an expensive motorcycle I had to find a buyer for & that's precisely how that happened. The Victory CCT was flawless in its performance, took me everywhere I wanted to go and not a hint of mechanical trouble. However, I am looking forward to getting re-aquainted with my Harleys!

Thanks to everyone's interest in my travels; it made it even more fun! So now on to a couple weeks in Montreal & Quebec, followed by the amazing Burning Man! If a couple months of Outback in the summer wasn't enough to prepare me for that, nothing could.

After that, spring of 2017 will be the EU trip, starting in France in late April. I may be starting another blog, but the web address will be the same, so check back in then.
Meanwhile, don't just wonder what the world looks like, go see!!

Hey, this didn't get me!! I've been checking the radar & this looked pretty bad over there, but I didn't realize it was this bad. I was there 3 months ago, but I've been up & down the middle since then. I am now where I started, at the Rockbank Caravan Park. Got here a day early 'cause rain should be coming in tomorrow (had an hour or so of light rain this afternoon). Takin' the bike back to Melbourne Victory on Wednesday morning. Didn't see one single snake, croc or deadly spiders - doesn't mean there weren't any - if there were some, I just didn't see them.

Back to Coober Pedy for a moment (Just uploaded these pictures from the camera...)
Yep; it's another "BIG" thing. Coober Pedy is famous for its Opal mines (they're everywhere!) I might not have noticed the spelling - I saw the "manually added" comment & grinned.

1C tonight! (34F). I am in a place obviously named by Astro, the Jetson's dog - "Orroroo".
Makes me wish I had brought all my heated gear, but I only have the gloves. Most of today's ride ride was around 57F, but with the stuff I had it wasn't bad. Winter in southern Australia is pretty tame & the next week or so will be OK, but not ideal. You can get a glimpse of my enthusiasm for the last week of riding by listening to this clip of a couple of Australian Ravens...
Australian_Ravens.mp3

Last little bit - about 1,250 miles to go! Rain in Port Augusta on Thursday so I'm staying here in Coober Pedy until Friday... the farther south I get the colder it will be.

Not far from Uluru is Kata-Tjuta. The bottom picture is King's Canyon, sorta on the way back to civilization. (200 mile side-trip)

This is arguably the most famous picture from Australia - Uluru (Ayer's Rock) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uluru. The bottom pictures shows how it just jumps right out of the surrounding plains. (No cellular last couples nights)

A few road signs...
Top - Red sign caught my eye, even though no way I would take this dirt road
Middle - no speed number means there is no speed limit here
Bottom - Leaving the "no speed limit" zone! Shrek's cruise drops out at 95mph, so...

Went back to Daly Waters, but this time yeah, it was cooler, but also crowded! Now heading to Alice Springs & Uluru. Not only weird animals & people here - strange trees, too. The Boab is here! Some of you will remember the Orchestra Boabab? That's what these are called in Africa. The locals call them "Bottle trees".

Well, back to Three Ways and down to Alice Spings, etc. However, it is now 63F there, getting to 40F tonight. I found myself 1,600 miles from Melbourne (about 10 days riding w/sidetrips) with 28 days left! So turn around I go, just kickin' around the warmer north until I have to go where it's colder. Only 125 miles up (took me 2 days to do this!) & it's 77F now with a low of 56F expected tonight - much more better! So I stop and take this picture - Yeah I know, it's just a bunch of rocks...(Devil's Marbles, this is called)

After all this time - another new creature!
The side trip really was quite awesome on its own: marvelous new scenery that would not have been visible from the main path. However, there was another aspect that really was quite amazing. Some of you will remember North American creatures in the bike's path - an alligator in the Everglades, a moose in Alaska, a grisly in the Yukon. But this was a first; I had to slow down and stop to allow camels to cross that little road! Hot again here but this time I will savor it before I go back to the colder south. 97F tomorrow and Saturday in Camooweal but there is a great pool & facilities here (which includes a pub to get food and play music!) so I will stay until Sunday.

Back in the Outback!
I got off the main road to get a glimpse of the real outback! The top picture shows the road to Middleton, then on to Boulia & Mt. Isa. This is what's called a "developmental road" so it is one lane only, no makings. Middleton is a one-building town, no cellular here! Please note the helicopter in the bottom picture! The old man has been here since 1959, used to have a couple hundred camels, which he took into town and sold.

A very rough drawing of the trip so far. Keep in mind that Australia is about the same size as the entire US! The bottom picture shows the red overlay of Australia (don't forget Tasmania shown in the Gulf of Mexico!) I'm seeing a lot & I'm missing a lot...

I promise not to post a lot of these things, but I am in fact a tourist. Ian Shoales once said: "Tourists are terrorists with cameras, terrorists are tourists with guns". The "BIG Mandarin" was added in 1983, no doubt to outdo the nearby town who erected a "BIG Orange" in 1977.
 Getting new "tyres" tomorrow & will be back on the road soon.

I'm going to miss the camping options available here when I get back to the states. In the US & Canada, camp in camprounds; that's it and that's all - nothin' is free (with a few exemptions of a very few small towns out west). But in Australia, the possibilities are amazing! The last 12 days of camping have cost me a total of $20 (+ a couple meals)
* Communities (called "Councils") maintain rest areas which allow for 24-hour free camping for travelers; some even have showers!
* Small towns all have a park (Lions, etc) and most (or many, anyway) allow overnight camping for free. Note - if you stop in their town, you'll spend money there!!
* A few small-town hotels will let you camp on their land free, hoping you'll come eat at the pub.
* "Roadhouses" (which is all there is between towns that are 600 or more miles apart) will charge you maybe $10/12 for a tent, knowing you'll probably buy gas and food, too.
* & then there are the ubiquitous "Caravan Parks" which charge mostly $20 or more (I've seen upwards of $45!) to put a tent on the ground.  AND, that's for one person - $5 for each additional!  (Large families beware...) This usually includes power, camp kitchen and showers, though.
#OK, one small avantage for US campgrounds - usually free wi-fi. Here, lucky to get an hour for $5!

Look out for the wildlife, except for when it's "tamelife"...
On my way south again - this time for a short trip to Brisbane. I was heading to Townsville as the place to get an oil change and new "tyres" but they once again did not have them. I called Brisbane & they expect the front on Tuesday, so there is where I will do it instead.