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Hi guys, a little update here

adventurous cyclist

turtle speed cyclist
May 16, 2019
1,352
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This year I planned about a 6 month cycling tour of Japan that included Hokkaido, Shikoku, Kyushu, Okinawa and Miyakojima . Starting out in Ube, Yamaguchi. In April I took off. Made it to Ishikawa. Was hoping to meet up with JDD, but I think the corona virus may have put a stop to that. I got as far as Wajima and Anamizu and headed for Toyama. BUT the Japanese govt. put a travel halt to leave prefectures. So in the later part of May I headed back to Ube.
Now, July comes and I decided to do a Pacific Sea tour up to Hokkaido. Well, I got as far as Yanai ( 9 km more to go actually ) and needed to take the ferry to Shikoku. Leaving Ube at 5 am in the morning I got onto route 2. If you guys are coming down from Iwakuni to Shimonoseki there are 2 very dangerous strips that you have to cycle on, and 2 tunnels. Just thought I'd let you know. Best to ship ( Yamato https://www.kuronekoyamato.co.jp/en/ ) your bike from Iwakuni to Ube . Pick it up there and take route 190 to Kyushu. Anyway, heavy rains and typhoons were headed my way. It was raining very hard with strong winds so I pulled into a gas station and waited things out . Got to Hikari (https://www.citypopulation.de/en/japan/cities/yamaguchi/ ) or there about. Found out the campsites are closed due to covid, not that I really was going to use a campsite till I got to Shikoku. With bad weather forecasted for the next 7 days, I had to make a decision about staying in a hotel in Yanai. When the weather broke I knew I had to leave the gas station and make a decision. Well, it was going to be the next train station I could find and hop on the train and head back to Ube.

Well, now its August, time to cycle again. Going to Okinawa. So I took the Shinkansen to Kagoshima and then took the ferry to Naha. Got there about 6:30 pm and thought it best to look for a hotel. The first hotel I stopped at was booked solid ( at least that is what she told me ), keep in mind there are NO international tourist coming to Okinawa now. So I head out for another hotel, nope , looked too expensive. About 8 pm now and I stopped at Family Mart, there were a couple drunks outside drinking some beer. I asked them about a cheap hotel. Actually they got on their phones and checked the hotels out for me. Lucky I guess. Sure enough there was a hotel across the street. Called Nest Hotel. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_R...-Nest_HOTEL_naha-Naha_Okinawa_Prefecture.html Stay there if in Naha, room was 36 bucks a night. Cheap actually.
OK, Okinawa in August is not the best month for cycling or camping as I found out very quickly. So I just stayed at the hotel and bummed around Naha and went up route 58. Where I was staying was in the heart of the city I guess and it was fairly empty. No thousands of tourist, kind of had the place to myself other then some GI's that came down to do some shopping.
After spending some time in Naha ( 5 days ) I decided to return to Ube.
Wife's order, hotel for the next five days, why , corona virus. OK No problem. Then I go to the doctor and get an antigen test. Negative . So OK to return to the house.

Now my story. After getting back to the house on Friday and the doctor, on Saturday I had an emergency call to the doctor. For two weeks was on medication. Problem was that my medical condition was not improving. So a letter of referral was given to me for another doctor. Test were done, but needed to see a radiologist now. CT was done. Result was a question mark behind the possible kidney stone, so back to the urologist and given medication for the kidney stone to pass. 3 weeks late no go. So tomorrow back to the urologist and he mention that surgery I think might have to be done if it is a kidney stone and doesn't pass.
The red blood count also was fairly high. No pain, so both doctors are a bit puzzled.
So tomorrow ( 10-29- Friday ) off to the doc.
Well, at least I got to Okinawa, but not Miyakojima yet. Next year. :tup

In the mean time I bought this:
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Morning guys. Well, the doc appt. went OK. The kidney stone is still there, but inflammation was present so another drug for 2 weeks. Then I believe an appt. will be made for an " extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy ", wow, fancy word for they are going to nuke it. LOL
So I guess everything will be fine and should be up and cycling again.
What started all this was blood in the urine. ( hematuria ). Got to say I was shocked when I saw it.
 
well you can start making plans to get underway as soon as the winter relaxes it's grasp on the weather.
And next time, try and get on the road earlier . 😜
 
Hey Simon I thought April 4 was early and snow was still in the mountains and in Shimane at Iwami Seaside Park/camping the weather must have been around 4c at the time. I did learn a lot. A lot of nice people are to be meet with. At least that is what I found out. Oh, and I'll try to make it to Aomori next time, I promise. I just noticed I don't have a ukulele in my arsenal .

Being where the wind leads me is really a great a free feeling while cycling very long distance.
 
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