M&G5 Day 2

What a great day!
We woke up to sunny sky's and warm temperatures and after the normal thing of getting 4 people through the bathroom  and everything packed we hit the road at 7:15

The roads were clear, I set the cruise at 72 and sat back to enjoy the day. About 25 miles later. Lori started to flash her lights and we pulled over. It seems that with the new tires on her bike, it wanders a bit more than she likes. She wanted me to check it out and make sure it was all OK.

We swapped bikes and I drove hers for a few miles and it was fine. Just a new tire with more of a crown than she was used to made it not track as steady. Anyway, I pull over and stop, Lori pulls up behind me on my bike and goes to get off and the bike started to go over. The kickstand is a little long and the road
 was tilted to the right, so the bike was actually straight up. Fortunately she caught it as it started to go and by then I was right there to steady it.

We took off again (on our own bikes) and made it another 100 miles or so. Coming down a long downgrade it just seemed something was wrong. There were cars off both sides of the road, stopped, and the cars in front of me were slowing down. All of the sudden the car right it front of me swerved hard to the right and ran over the corner of a big concrete form. It was about 6' x 20' and covered the shoulder and all of the left lane and part of the right lane. I swerved right and Mark and Lori followed right behind me.
Lori S. in the car managed to squeeze right in front of a semi and we all made it past without hitting it. That was a good thing as evidently there were exposed nails because for the next mile there must have been 15 cars pulled over with multiple flat tires.That was better than a Red Bull! Nothing like a quick adrenaline rush to perk you right up.

We took off east around Ontario Oregon and headed for the hills. The roads from Garden Valley to Stanley are some of the best I have ridden on for a motorcycle. Twist and turns for about 100 miles following
 rivers and the speed limit was high enough to make it entertaining. There were, of course, warning signs for the corners, and of course I totally ignored them. I figure if I am not over double the caution speed,
 I am safe to make it. I wasn't going even close to that fast so I had a safety margin there in case I ran up on somebody in the corner.
We made it to Stanley with no problems and got a room and ate and relaxed at a real nice cabin right on the river.

It is a beautiful area at the base of the Sawtooth mountains and I can see why people like it here so much.

Tomorrow we go into Sun Valley (shopping, Yay! (sarcasm intended)) and then into Idaho falls for the evening. We have contemplated going through to Dubois, Wy,
But we want to take our time going through the Grand Tetons. 2 short days now and we are into our base camp for a few days.

A great day today and we will see you tomorrow.    

Parks tour trip Day 1

Twas the first day of vacation and all through the land... It rained, and rained, and then rained some more.
I figured out real early in the day that is was not going to be a great day.

You see, I had skipped mowing the lawn the lawn last weekend because I wanted to do it right before we left. I had fertilized this spring and it is growing at about 3" a week and I didn't want it too tall when we got back., so anyway...

I get up early and attempted to start the mower. No dice... It sounded like the battery was dead, so I hooked up the charger and tried again. No go. I did a couple of circuit checks and found the starter to be bad. No chance of a replacement this early, so I cleaned and lubed it and cleaned the contacts and got the mower running. About 1/3 of the way though, the drive belt for the blades breaks. 8:30 in the morning is not a good time for parts. After about an hour of chasing around, I finally found a belt and got it going again, only to go 30 feet and have a flat tire.

yep, that is how my day started...

Lori and I finally made it down to Mark and Lori's place and dropped the dogs off and got the bikes ready to go. It was raining pretty good, and it just didn't let up. All the way down Hwy 410, down, Hwy 123 and east on Hwy 12 it rained. When we got into Yakima, it let up for a minute, but it was short lived. All the way from Yakima to Sunnyside, it rained.

Thankfully we already had the room here arranged, so we didn't have to look around.

After Mark got off work and caught up, we went out to dinner at a local Casino/sports bar called RC's. They have a never ending pasta bowl that Lori S. ordered. It was HUGE! We asked if anyone ever ordered another bowl (never ending) and was told "very seldom" The food was good, we are tired and laying around the Motel room, just relaxing. I just  hope tomorrow does better, or at least drier!

Till then...

Almost ready!

We are getting excited!

We are almost done with all the packing and getting the bikes ready and are sooooo looking forward to some time off and relaxing, enjoying the ride and the scenery and most of all, looking forward to seeing everyone from the 1300 tourer group again.

It really amazes me how you can get to be friends with someone from clear across the country, just by talking on a forum and when you actually get together, it is like you are home.

Our basic plan for now is to leave here on Friday mid day and get into Yakima area and get a room for the night and wait for Mark to catch up.

Day 2 June 23rd Saturday. Yakima to Boise area.
Day 2 June 24th Sunday Boise to Idaho Falls. Id, Via Sunvalley (North route)
Day 3 June 25th Monday Idaho Falls to Dubois, Wy.

Leaving Saturday morning
Day 8 June 30th Saturday Dubois, Wy to Billings area. Over Bear tooth Pass
Day 9 July 1rst Sunday Billings area to Hot Springs Mt, through Glacier National Park
Day 10 From here, we will see what happens

A new beginning

We traded in Lori's bike and got a new 2012 Victory Cross Country Tourer. I lowered my old bike and she is going to ride it. Her bike did OK, but it was not really the best for longer trips. It was fun, but not big enough.

I love the new bike. I put 1500 miles on it in the first 6 weeks and two of those weeks it was snowing and Ice and I wasn't able to ride. The coverage on this bike is great, you can ride in the rain at anything over 35 MPH and stay dry. It is nice.

As far as this year, we are planning a couple of trips. One to Wyoming/Yellowstone area in June and another down through eastern California to San Diego and back up the Pacific Coast Hwy. We have done this trip a few times, but never on a motorcycle. It will be a fun trip!

I will try harder to keep this updated as we do some shorter trips around home and prepare for this summer...

Home!

We are finally home. I was just too tired and too busy in the last few days to post. Sorry. Most of the places we stayed at on the way home had crap for internet, so I just didn't try.


From where I left off in Banff, we spent the morning up at Johnston creek trail. It is a mountain stream that has cut  multiple waterfalls along the way.
This tells a bit about it, but fails to describe the beauty. 
http://www.banff.ca/activities-events/summer/banff-hiking/johnston-canyon.htm

We left there and headed south towards Glacier National Park
there were a lot of animals in Banff Area that were just strolling and licking at the road. I think that maybe they salt the roads in winter and that is what attracts them.

After a nice casual day of riding we stopped just before going back into the states to spend the night and relax.

Wednesday we headed across the border and through Glacier National Park. The road construction what a royal pain. Doing 3 mph in a line of 100 cars following a flag car through the park was not a lot of fun.

After exiting the park and stopping for lunch we decided to head to a little town called Hot Springs Mt. where they had a mineral springs resort that was from the early 30's. The building looked like it. LOL
The rooms were comfortable and the food and service were excellent, but it had 1 little quirk. They believed in the mineral water so much, they used it for heating the building and for all the hot water in the building. The pools were great, but if you have ever been in a mineral pool, you know you fell slimy from all the minerals and sulpher in the water. In order to take a shower you have to use the mineral water and mix it with cold water. (the cold is fresh water) and when you are done cleaning up, you have to turn off the hot water entirely to get fresh water to clean the minerals off. Like I said; Quirky :-) 
http://www.symeshotsprings.com/

Thursday morning we wandered up Hwy 200 to Lake Pend Oreille and into Sandpoint Id, where Lori and Gina HAD to stop to do some shopping again. I thought we were getting off too easy... LOL
That town has more boutique shops and art gallerys than just about anyplace I have ever been. A lot of fruits and nuts there, I tell ya.
I was sitting outside one of the galley's waiting for Gina and Lori to come out and a lady about 40 or so was walking by. She stopped for second right in front of me and told me I had better go get a lottery ticket. I looked at her and asked why? She replied, because it was my lucky day. I met her... And then she walked off.  See, I told ya. Fruits and nuts...

We got out of town before the rush hour got too bad and stopped in Newport, Wa for the night. There is a little bed and breakfast there that was unique. 
http://www.thewaldenhouse.com/
The four of us rented the whole downstaris of the house with a full living room and two bedrooms for the night. It also includes a self serve breakfast in the upstairs guest kitchen. It is just like being at home. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, it is all for guests. pots and pans are beside the stove if you wish to cook something and the hot tub is out on the rear deck. You can use it anytime...  Real casual and friendly.

If we go back into the area, I will stay there again.

Friday we headed north along Hwy 20 and then south, staying in Wenatchee for the night. We have a favorite hotel there. It is the Super 8 and has a great pool and hot tub. Both are just the right temperature and after riding in the heat all day it feels soo good to cool down and relax.

Saturday we went into Leavenworth and a little more shopping (go figure.) and over Stevens pass and home. We went down to see mark and Lori and pick up the dogs and today we are just relaxing and unwinding. A great trip and John and Gina are a fun couple to travel with. 4400 miles total in two weeks and too many sights to mention.

Until the next trip...

Into Banff

We are in Banff and relaxing for a couple of days before we head south towards Glacier National Park and head in the general direction of home.

Overall for the trip it has been a great one with sooooo much to see that I cannot accurately describe it all.

The trip into Valemount was Interesting. The construction up here is not motorcycle friendly. In fact, they make the motorcycles follow right behind the flag car so they can keep an eye on them. The sections that are being worked on are pretty bad off camber and a lot of loose gravel so it wears on your nerves trying to keep the bikes from sliding sideways.

I did learn that running a darkside tire on loose gravel is one the few drawbacks to it. It is like trying to walk on a board over a sea of marbles. It moves under you without warning and you don’t know which way it is going to go next. There were a couple of times I was sideways. Not a fun time.

I was real proud of Lori as she made it through about 30 miles of gravel, which she hates, and didn’t stop, or complain, and kept the bike under control.

We made it into Valemount with only one little mishap. We were headed down a steep grade when  a car coming at us hit a deer. It just so happened that at the exact same spot there was chunks of rubber from a semi tire that had come apart all over the road. So we were dodging rubber pieces, deer parts and bumper parts from the car that hit the dear. It was an exiting few seconds, but we all made it through.

Gina was at this point about ready to just head for home. She said that if another thing would have happened that would be it.

We checked into the Ramada in Valemount and relaxed in the pool and got caught up on some laundry chores.  

The next morning we slept in a little and then headed south towards Jasper. We would be spending most of the day running through National Parks on the way into Banff. All I can say is, It is beautiful. 

I am going to try and put together a slide show of some of the pictures of Canada. With the scenery and the mile after mile of sweeping curves and all the people are so friendly, it is no wonder that the people here are so proud of it.

We just got back from shopping. After dragging the girls on a full circle tour of British Columbia, I guess they deserve a little shopping time. The great part for John and I, is we are on motorcycles, not a whole lot more can fit. (I am glad they didn’t think of the shipping it home option… LOL)

I will try and write some more when we get back into the states.

Day 6 and 7 - From Dease Lake to Dawson Creek

Well the day started with a steady downpour. As we suited up and got ready, everyone at the hotel looked at us as if we were crazy. Maybe we are, just a little.

We left Dease lake and headed North. This was to be our most northern day of the trip as we would cross into the Yukon territory before hitting the Alaska Hwy and heading SE.

We made it all of about 20 miles before we had to stop and add more clothes. It was cold! 

We made it about an hour out before our second stop at a Jade store of all places, Out in the middle of no where is a place called Cassiar Mountain Jade store. The only real reason we stopped was we were all cold and they had a sign out for free coffee. We relaxed and BS’d with the locals for a bit before we started out again.

A little further up the road we ran into a motorhome stopped in the middle of the road. John pulled up to the drivers window and asked if everything was ok. The driver just pointed over John’s shoulder where there was a momma bear and two cubs about 25 feet behind him. Gina, and Lori and I had stopped by this time and I hurried to get the camera out. Just as I got it out John revved his bike to scare the bears away. I missed the picture of the mom but I did manage to get a fuzzy picture of one of the cubs panicking and climbing a tree.

This was not to be our last sighting of the day as we say quite a few more spaced out during the day.

We made it into Watson Lake and stopped at the visitors center where they have a forest of road signs and home made signs. Over 74,000 of them to date. It was quite a sight.

By this time we were hungry wet and cold. We stopped for lunch and then hit a local department store that was about the size of a 7-11. The biggest store in town… We had to get better gloves and warmer socks. It was just too much to be that wet and cold.

With full belly’s and warm hands and toes we headed East towards tonight destination,                Liard Hotsprings! 

We arrived about 4:30 and immediately changed and hit the hot springs and relaxed and warmed up. For about 4 hours.

We got back to the resort to find the store and the restaurant both had closed at 8pm. Good thing we had the ice chest with us. We snacked on Boiled eggs, cheese and a package of little weenies that we warmed up in the community microwave. Add in a few bottles of water and we are good. Time for bed. It was an exhausting day.

After a relaxing breakfast in the morning we took off SE along the Alcan Hwy. After finding that the Cassiar Hwy was better than we expected, we found the Alcan was MUCH worse than we expected. There were ruts and bumps and gravel and contruction. After seeing and going by over 100 traffic cones with a "slow" sign stuck in it and having just a little bump we got a little complacent about them. What a mistake.

We came up on another that looked like all the others and suddenly we were airborn. With a resounding thump we touched down about 10 feet further up the road. I think that instead of a small traffic cone with a "slow sign stuck in it, this bump should have a big reader board that says;

1. Launching pad ahead, please slow down and then accelerate hard for smoothest landing.

2. Do not use brakes when in mid air.

3. Make sure brakes are released before touching down

4. long wheelbase rigs might have clearance issues.

5. motorcyclists should sit back in seat as far as possible away from the gas tank if you wish to have any more kids.

Yah, it was that bad. LOL

We did see a lot of animals today. Lots of elk, a cariboo, mountain sheep, a bison, and most of these were in the road, or right on the edge.

We did go by Muncho Lake and get a couple of pictures.

And got to see Folded mountain

We found that fuel was nut a real issue as long as you traveled during business hours. We were never more than 130 miles away from fuel. We found however that we came at the last of the season. Lots of the smaller places were clearing everything out and getting ready to close for the season and head south. Labor day weekend is it.

Most of the rest of the day was dodging gravel patches and marauding semi's on a mission and generally getting covered with dirt. By the time we got to Dawson Creek we were all filthy with dirt and mud.

Well, time for bed. Tomorrow we go to Valemount and then into Banff on Sunday to relax for a couple of days.