Talk of the Town: Love yourself for Valentine’s Day

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. This is the week of love, being Valentine’s Day tomorrow, and what better way to say “I love you” than to love yourself.

That means taking care of the only body you have. Be good to yourself for Valentine’s Day. You deserve it. I know I do!

Do so by learning to love exercise!

Two men who really know the meaning of the joy of exercise are Mark Campbell and Jeff Horwitz, who together with their German friend, Karl Steinhoff are bikers on a mission. I’ve written several stories about their adventures, and here’s another tale about their travels.

Campbell, 58, a retired teacher living with his family in Amado, and Horwitz, 55, a teacher in Rio Rico living in Tubac, joined their buddy Steinhoff, 52, from Germany, last June for a bike and motor trek in Nova Scotia that started in Yarmouth.

The men set their wheels first for Halifax, which they said took them 330 miles with “lots of hills and wind.”

All together, they cycled about 800 miles on their trip, motoring the remainder of the way and seeing the sights.

They rented a PT Cruiser and toured Cape Breton Island, eventually returning to Halifax to bike around the Bay of Fundy and then back to Yarmouth.

To start their trip, Jeff and Mark flew themselves and their bikes to Portland, Maine, and then took a ferry to Nova Scotia to begin their whirlwind tour, drinking and eating in pubs with the locals, braving the cool and often rainy weather and taking in the historic views, including the Maritime Museum in Halifax with its graveyard where victims of the Titanic disaster were laid to rest.

Their journey wasn’t without some hiccups. Several times, Jeff’s bike broke down, but some kind-hearted locals drove him nearly 50 miles to get it fixed, and then drove him back to join his pals at their hotel again.

“The people are called Acadians, a mixture of French and English roots, and they pride themselves in their hospitality and friendliness,” Jeff said. “They went out of their way to help us.”

They had a feast at the Shore Club, touted as Nova Scotia’s “last great dance hall,” in Hubbards, where they dined on 2-1/2 pound lobsters, salad and all the mussels they could eat!

They took the beautiful trip around Cabot Trail, a scenic drive named for famous explorer John Cabot, that took them on a highway carved into the side of mountains that rise above the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

They saw Oak Island, a tiny island off the coast of Nova Scotia where the “money pit,” the site of the world’s longest running hunt for lost treasure exists.

For hundreds of years, treasure hunters have ventured to Nova Scotia and tried to recover the treasure which is protected by a series of ingenious traps.

Strange man-made artifacts have been recovered from the pit over the years, but to this day, the treasure still remains buried.

Pirates, the Knights Templar or Francis Bacon — no one is sure exactly who created this mysterious money pit or why.

The three bikers saw several species of whales on one outing and were able to even bike on an old railroad bed until the trail “got extremely difficult” and Jeff had a blowout.

During their trip, both Jeff and Mark celebrated their birthdays with the mandatory pint of brew.

They stayed in bed and breakfasts and saw Caledonia and Annapolis Royale, known as Port Royal until 1710, one of the oldest continuous European settlements in North America, where they saw the glorious botanical gardens.

“One of the great things about biking is that you can take your time and see things that you can’t experience in a car,” Mark says. “You can see and hear things that are very interesting.”

Veterans of many bike excursion, Jeff and Mark said this trip was by far “the most difficult.”

“It was hillier, and we had the wind against us most of the time,” Mark added.

Mark and Jeff haven’t stopped planning their cycle trip. The next one they want to do is Hamburg, Germany, to Prague, the largest city in the Czech Republic.

Regardless, these guys are going for gold!!

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has a rich history dating from its inception in 1868.

One of the order’s most sacred traditions is the Ritual of Initiation, a ceremony that inducts new members into the organization.

The Green Valley Elks Lodge #2592 ritual team competed recently against nine other lodges in the Arizona South District to see which individuals and teams were the best of the best.

Green Valley lodge received the No. 1 honor for the first time in this lodge’s history.

It also had the greatest number of individual winners; Cheryl Ponzo - Champion Inner Guard, Arturo Gabald—n - Champion Chaplain and Pat Hudson - Champion Esquire.

The team will next compete in May at the state competition held in Phoenix, representing the South District. The winner of that contest will compete in July at Elks National Convention to be held in Anaheim, Calif.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Learn to love yourself

To yourself be true!

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740