Dash has been pampered and now my nails are a wreck. Polished, degreased, oil changed (I learned my lesson on this one and put in the good stuff!), chain cleaned and lubed. Next is valves and check the point gap. Phew…
Here is a map of the completed trip:
One seriously big loop. 4,040 miles
Just beginning at 12, 401
All done at 16,441
400 miles. Total for the entire trip = 4,041 miles (and no break downs!). Home sweet home…
As with all the mornings since Canada I awoke to a brisk chill in the air and surrounded by fog. I was a bit nervous about crossing the Golden Gate bridge but it went fairly well. No tolls to pay apparently they send you a bill. How will they know it is me? There is no plate on a motorcycle in the front. Oh well.
I think the fog enshrouding the entire thing actually helped me
Little did I know the real problem would be the traffic in San Francisco. I felt like I was back in Vancouver
Once on Hwy 1 this is all I saw. Brrrrrrrrrr
A tad further and blue skies led me to my doorstep
Time to unwind and rest these weary bones. Dash did superbly. No breakdowns. Only needed some oil, cleaning and lubing the chain, air in the tires from time to time, and some minor issues with my cheapo speedometer (time to look into a better one I think). I love my 550.
2014 will see me going to Tombstone AZ and New Mexico. I think I will call it my “Cowboy and Indian tour”
See you on the road.
350 miles. Petaluma, CA
The day started out exceedingly cold. Not as cold as Glacier National Park…but pretty darned cold. One plus is I am getting good at warming my hands on the engine while riding, it makes me feel tough!
With all this fog I had to change my visor from dark smog to amber. Everything really DOES look better in amber. On our way to Fort Bragg the weather finally warmed up into the mid 60s and I was thankful
Riding on the 101 the road was flanked by beautiful trees. It reminded me of WA and OR
And then, abruptly, the scene changed to this
Amazing. I love my ocean.
At Mendocino we parted ways and rode down 128 which was a fantastic road for 62 miles surrounded by wheat. This picture doesn’t do it justice
Day 11 will take me through San Francisco and onto Hwy 1. So close to home I can taste it…
371 miles. 3,291 miles thus far. Crescent City, CA
We made our way to CA through literally all types of weather. It started out cold, then rained, then we rode through snow at Crater Lake, then the heat arrived, and once in CA the wind couldn’t help but make an appearance, and as we stopped in Crescent City back to cold. Honestly the only thing missing was hail
We made our way out of Sisters OR and off we went to the falls. It rained about an hour into our ride but it was not bad at all. The first stop was Clearwater Falls which were small and adorable
We continued onto Toketee Falls and were bitten by these teeny tiny swarming bugs. I did not want to walk 1/2 a mile up to the falls so we went to Watson Falls. The bugs followed. As we started to walk and walk further and further I decided to turn around. Rocky continued onward. When he returned he told me it was 486 steps. That’s Rocky for you- he counts steps!
Crater Lake National Park was supposedly the place to see and it did not disappoint.
Dash is resting in front of a pile of snow. He seemed to enjoy the view (unlike his owner who did not like the edge of the crater at all)
That edge loomed-
Once we were out of the park I could breathe again and we took the 62 toward CA. It was a wonderful tree lined road
After numerous weather changes we arrived in CA.
Tomorrow inland than off to the coast. Rocky and I will be going our separate ways as he wants to be home on Thursday. Guess he had enough of me!
254 miles. Sisters Oregon
A short run today as we were headed to Portland OR to talk to my friends at Langlitz Leathers about my new leather pants.
Apparently Rocky decided to have a garage sale of all his electronics. I thought I had a lot of stuff:
The ride to Langlitz was uneventful except we kept getting lost in Portland. Rocky’s GPS never wants to give you a direction until you are past the turn. Which is fine in a small town but in Portland traffic moves. So I turned on my trusty $40 GPS and we got there with a lot of left hand turns. Scott and John are wonderful and are making me a new pair of leathers so for the next trip I will have a bit more protection than just my jeans. Here we are outside of their shop…that is John on the left and Scott on my right
After that we headed toward 46 and traveled along the Chackamus River. This road rivaled 99 south in Canada and I am hard pressed to say which I preferred. But the scenery was exactly as you see in the pictures below for 90 miles AND not any cars. Just perfect riding weather, twisties, and a river to our left and a tree lined road ahead.
Rocky had been talking about taking a swim since we started this adventure and he finally decided to do so. After his perfect dive into the water his yelp echoed all around once he emerged. Guess snow run off is pretty cold!
We ended the 90 mile perfect ride at Detroit Lake Marina
And ended the perfect day in Sisters OR
Here is Rocky’s picture of the day (it is actually from yesterday) and is the bridge we rode over once we entered Oregon
Tomorrow we are off to look at waterfalls and will either end up for one more night in OR or touch ground in CA. Depends on my achy old bones!
327 miles. Warrenton, OR
We got a much later start seeing that we were so comfortable at Laura and Jimmy’s. Laura had made us a great breakfast with blueberries and strawberries, yogurt, and pretty much anything else we wanted (and all the cereal boxes were in French) so between that and small talk we left at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately Laura was not able to make the ride today so it was just the three of us
Here we are with our Hondas. Jimmy has a 550 also but his is super charged and goes like a bat out of hell
And here is a picture of Laura and Jimmy. Just before we left she said to him “please be safe and come home in one piece. There is a difference I know you will be home in one piece but I want you to ride safe.” I wondered what that meant then shrugged it off. Well lets just say that Fun Jimmy is now going to be called Fast Jimmy!
We got to the border fairly quickly. What a line. And of course Jimmy and I ended up in the worlds slowest line and Rocky breezed right on through. Some nice people let us in front of them and we quickly followed. Clearly US Customs didn’t think I was shifty in the least. No detention slip here
Welcome to Blaine, Washington
Riding WA was very nice. But after being in Canada and spoiled by the scenery WA didn’t seem as spectacular…ha ha. Here are some shots
God’s canopy
Rocky’s infamous shoot while riding pictures!
As we came through Deception Pass, and where we would part ways, a fantastic photo opportunity presented itself. I think there must be 100 people with the exact same picture
Rocky and Jimmy have a moment
On the bridge on our way to Oregon
Entering 3 sisters and 57 cows. They seemed so content
Finally Dash gets to take his ferry ride. We made the ferry with minutes to spare. This was also one of the reasons I wanted to go to BC- Dash insisted he wanted to ride on a boat this trip since he rode on a tow truck last trip.
The bridges out here are quite prolific
And lastly one of Rocky’s infamous pictures
Next ride is to Portland to see some men about my leathers (which I could only wear for 500 miles) and remained packed in my gear. Just hauling them around. And then to Bend OR
275 miles. 2,339 miles thus far. Vancouver BC
Now I could be wrong but no matter where you go in Canada there is an A&W fast food. I am not exaggerating there is ALWAYS an A&W.
We left Kamloops at about 8:30 on our way through Whistler to Vancouver to meet up with Fun Jimmy (and he is fun) a SOHC forum member that graciously offered to let us stay at his house with his wife and kids. People are really nice in Canada….
Just outside of Kamloops the sights did not disappoint.
Rain clouds were following us for awhile but the sky never opened up. We were very lucky. A week prior it rained terribly hard in all the places we rode.
As we moved further west the roads became quite wonderful. We took 99S (I think it is called Duffy Road). This is officially the nicest road we took. It had it all-twisties, open sweeping turns, scenery that was ever changing and almost zero traffic.
As I was riding I couldn’t help but feel like I was in a miniature train set from a hobby store. It was absolutely delightful.
But I get ahead of myself. Just before we picked up 99 we road past a ghost town. I could not pass it up it looked like Tombstone AZ from the road (which is my planned ride for 2014). When we got there we met the gentleman who was building the town as a hobby. He told us about his stay in the US and how he has been modeling his town after famous ghost towns. There is a lot of filming that Hollywood does on his property and he really liked to discuss politics.
Now some pictures from 99 south
Rocky is very dedicated to his picture taking and I turned around to see he had climbed on top of a building to get a better shot. Now that is dedication.
Once we started getting closer to Vancouver the traffic became overwhelming (I thought my GPS was nuts when it said we only had 18 miles to go but it would take 45 minutes). Turns out my GPS was dead on. Going over the Lions Bay Bridge (I think that is its name ) was spectacular but very crowded. Rocky has left this morning to go back and take some shots. He is probably on top of the scaffolding right now. It was truly remarkable riding over it. Once in Vancouver I took a picture
Turning down Jimmy’s street was like being in Santa Barbara. So quiet and tree lined immaculate houses in a row. And as expected he and his wife were gracious hosts. An array of beverages (amazing Tequila that I very much needed after the harrowing traffic) and a home cooked meal (I may never leave). Another forum member was there (Jaime) and he rode a 750
On day 7 we ride into Washington and Jimmy and his wife are going as far as the ferry with us. Pictures of them on day 7 log.
380 miles. Kamloops BC
I am running out of adjectives to describe how pretty it is in Canada(even when bitterly cold). Wait, majestic. That would describe the ride today. It was pretty cold 50 degrees (which is like 30 on a motorcycle) but we persevered and went to Glacier National park as planned. Those few hours of chill were worth every moment.
Here are some pictures from the ride. It was grand- around every corner and over every hill was a new and unexpected sight. Breathtaking is the only way to describe it and that chill I the air just made it seem more urgent.
This is what was up ahead
This is what we saw
It was time to make our move to Kamloops so we left Glacier Park and turned toward the west.
The scenery continued to be spectacular
I love these tunnels
At one of our last gas stops a group of BC Hell’s Angels were hanging around looking menacing. After I got gas I wanted a break but I couldn’t decide where to move my bike to. Should I go into their tough looking motorcycle circle (or would that be disrespectful-my little Honda next to their bikes). Or should I move to the opposite side of the station (or would that be disrespectful). Given two possibly disrespectful choices I rode right over and parked next to their moto clatch (much to Rocky’s chagrin). Immediately one came over and struck up a conversation with me. We chatted. I thought about telling him of my run in with “the man” at customs (maybe he would be impressed and make me an honorary member?). But I decided not to go down that road. After some nice banter they hopped on their hogs and made their way east. I wanted to take a picture of them but recalled how upset customs was and figured I may not get off so easy with these guys. So I did what any self respecting middle aged woman would do and waited until their back was turned.
Just before we got to Kamloops we stopped for a stretch (I am getting pretty achy by this point but my knee is fine). And what do I find but this
For any youngsters out there that is a phone! Before you could carry them I your pocket you had to carry a dime (depending on your age it might have been a nickel or even quarter). Don’t see these too often.
Today we push on to Vancouver and meet up with an SOHC member and hopefully some routine maintenance on Dash.
352 miles. Canmore British Columbia
What a perfect day for a ride. The weather was excellent and the roads were fantastic. There was some concern that we would not be able to get to Banff, BC due to the town having flooded. What? Really? That’s crazy. But wouldn’t you know it those Canadians fixed it right up in like 24 hours. If that had happened in CA it would take years.
There were so many pictures to take that it is difficult to choose from them all. And if I had stopped for every lovely scene I would never have made it to BC. So below is a sampling. The most memorable thing today was that I was hit by flying road debris (I think it was either a piece of wood or a low flying crow). Darned thing hit me right in my right leg shin bone. That hurt something awful. It came out of nowhere. Luckily I had boots on. Then later a dragonfly (that I did notice because it was a big as a helicopter) flew directly into my index finger. I don’t think the dragonfly survived.
Oh and everything is metric here. I had no idea I would have to be doing simple math just to get through this. I still have no idea how much gas is here!
The last picture I took while in Idaho. This reminded me of P’burg.
Waiting in line at customs. Finally we made it!
I broke line at customs and made Rocky take this photo. But now the adventure begins
So I get up to the window and this guy is not having any of it. He had the most cranky look on his face. Must be he was tired of sitting in that little box all day asking the same questions and waiting for people like me to drag out their passport. He first says “is that a Honda?” I nicely try to strike up a conversation but no go. So he asks a bunch of “where you coming from? And where you going questions?” I felt like I was in a very silly interview. Then he looks at me sternly and asks if I had any weapons? I must have looked surprised because after he asked it and I answered he looked at me very intently and said “are you SURE?” I said yes. He then asked if I had any alcohol? I quickly said no (and I really didn’t have any on me). He then told me to pull over to the covered canopy – gave me a yellow slip (which apparently is not a good thing) and off I went. He also sent Rocky over with me. Guess we looked shifty. So into the building below we stroll. We walk up to what looked like this guys twin brother, same look on his face and he asks for our passports and yellow detention slips. He then says in all seriousness “I’m going to run a background check on you two. Please have a seat”. Honestly it was all I could do to keep from laughing. A background check? Hope my high school grades don’t come up on that background check. So while we are waiting I decide to take an interior picture. He DID NOT like that. He called me over and asked for my camera. Told me “no pictures of the officers” and deleted the picture like a pro. Guess I am not the only one who has tried that stunt. He told us we were free to go and off we went.
Canada!
Going through Kootenay National Park.
Leaving the park
In Banff saw this wonderful church
Finally in Canmore took a picture outside of the motel room…
Here are some pictures out of order. Some were Rocky’s and others I cannot recall where they were taken. But they were all on our way to Canmore
These are from Rocky. The first one is me in CA as we left Yosemite
I love this photo…
Rocky was determined to get this photo of me riding toward the mountains
Tomorrow off to see the Glaciers. I am very excited.
359 miles today. 1,332 miles thus far. Weisner ID to Couer de Alene ID
Idaho is definitely the land of changing weather. What was humid yesterday began with just the right mixture of warm and cool. Then it turned a tad bit chilly and then reverted to perfect then hot. But never humid so that was a benefit!
The roads were wonderful. Wide sweeping turns with amazing scenery and numerous tiny little towns in between. As I climbed over each grade the vista was magical. Like a fairyland opening in front of you. Because of this even the cold did not bother me.
The following pictures do not do the scenery justice but here they are anyway:
And my favorite (I love these bails)
As we were riding along we reached the 45th parallel. This is halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. Here is the exact spot
A picture of Rocky and I at the 45th parallel
Riding along I was able to get non ethanol gas (only the SOHC-4 boys will appreciate that) and decided I was only going to add old timey gas from here on out. Here I am gassing up
As we were riding to meet up with Rocky’s friend just outside of Couer de Alene we had the pleasure of riding along this lake- it was spectacular
The only problem is we were riding on a gravel road that turned into a freshly oiled road. We turned around
Tomorrow British Columbia. Finally.
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