All Good Things Must Come to an End

Oberursel Old Town

Our direction from Stuttgart was Heidelberg to visit Stefan and then Frankfurt/Oberursel where our friend Heiko lives.

Town Centre

As the saying goes ‘all good things must come to an end’ and the drive allowed us to extend our incredible statistic of riding in only 1 hr. of rain for 150 days and over 22000 kms. easily over 130 days were over 26C and we never wore our rain/wind liners from May 4th until Sept. 16th. We never wore the insulated liners period.

Forever indebted to Heiko for his hospitality we headed back to Frankfurt to take Heiko out for supper before he headed off to Romania for a ‘guys’ dirt bike trip. 

"Val", Heiko, Sandra and Brian

As he inventoried his trip hardware we set out to walk and see more of Oberursel, a small town of 49000 plus residents. It so happened to be the same weekend as the Autumn fair which coincides with Oktoberfest in Germany.

Apple Wine Tasting Contest

Fair Crowd

While it was a rather cool day it suited us fine as we munched on Bratwurst, hot apple wine ( perfect for the day), and Flammkuchen (similar to pizza) hot from a wood burning oven at the fair.

Similar to fairs in Canada the Autumn fair showcased antique tractors including a Porsche Junior, the crushing methods for apple wine, a taste test set up at the town fountain, and local retailers. It was such an enjoyable afternoon of Oomph pah bands, food and sightseeing fun of the old town.

Crushing Apples for Juice

Crushed Apples

Still more to Come

Zum Schwanen (swan sign)

We even found an excellent old town Gasthaus  "Zum Schwanen", built in 1705, where we enjoyed the company of locals, there to celebrate their mom’s 81^st birthday and who wondered why Canadians were in ‘their’ place. We must have visited for over an hour after our meal (excellent food) as they were so interested in where we’d been and were so friendly, as well as the staff. It was truly one of those most memorable moments of the trip. They even helped us order our meal in this German speaking only establishment.

Our plan originally was to sightsee around Frankfurt/Rhein valley, meet Igor B. from VSRI, a staunch Vstrom guy who has made numerous mod’s to his bike and is a friend to all Vstromers who pass thru his way. Then prep the bike near the end of the week, and attend the Frankfurt international auto show before heading home.  The strike mandate of the Air Canada flight attendants to strike effective the Wednesday morning would cause us to change our plans or leave us in Europe for an undetermined amount of time.

We called AC and they offered us a flight out the next day (last before strike) so we took it. That sent us scurrying for oil and filter for the bike, and train tickets to the airport, one of the easiest commutes we have ever experienced.

Arriving for an Oil Change

My visit with Igor was abbreviated but productive. He had drawn my attention to some LED light technology that I wanted to see on his bike. While there to change oil we compared the stock lighting to that of the available LED's. You can judge for yourself how simple and cost effectively you can have 'the best' lighting for very little extra money. And Igor has made some other changes, which include raising the clearance of the bike ( raises stock seat height as well), brembo front  brakes and braided stainless lines, a Wilbur rear kit,( I have the  Hyper-pro progressive spring), and the list can go on. I even saw his new availables, the SV twins. Now that would be nice to have an extra 30HP, even though the bike doesn't need it, I would love it.

LED's light up the rear, yes my tail light is on

Me leaving and the bike heading to bed

New Headlights with 35w technology

So now our bike rests in Oberursel until our next adventure -  next year. 

Most of our Family  together in Calgary,
Riley, Gramma, Abbey, Blair, Sandie, Kaden, Granpa, Shannon, (missing Jim)

Kaden Serenades

After a 9:45 hr flight we arrived in Calgary to be greeted by our children and grandchildren, where we enjoyed a great visit and meal, including my grandson Kaden serenading us in the parking lot on his new guitar. Then back on a plane to the coast and home.

As I write this we’re still suffering from jetlag but reflecting on a truly amazing adventure. 


Stay tuned for more.