I'm Home

Very long hot ride back. Rebellious kid stayed in Eugene OR. Teenagers *&%#$@

She eventually came home, but kids can drive you totally crazy!

Cheers

The Grand Trip 2007 Part 2

The Grand Trip 2007

Wow, so much to tell. The Canadian Rockies are awesome. All the way across we kept getting advice NOT to take the #1 through Banf but take the #3. All those Canadian bikers were right. One said, if you go through Banf, you get the same mountains, but bus loads of Japanese tourists and $360.00 per night motels, and #3 is way prettier.

The pictures I took can not really describe the beauty. They are just a few little windows of the total beauty. I will have to do this again.

When we got to Hope BC, the Rockies end, and we met a number of sport bike riders going and a ride of the #3 to Princeton. This is a favorite with the BCSPORTBIKES group. Nice folks.

Speaking of Princeton, we were at a restaurant and a guy that road a 50cc Tomos MOPED from Ottawa to Victoria Island taking the Yellowhead route, and was on his way home.



He said he spent $176.00 in gas so far. Concidering gas in Canada is $1.24 per litre that is not bad. Wow what a trip that must be.

On to Vancouver. The city is dichotomy of the homeless of Canada and rich Asians. It is a beautiful city, but somehow strange. I can't quite describe my feelings for it.

The kid and I then decided that we had enough of Canada, with it's nice polite people, and courteous drivers and decided to go back to the USA.

I-5 from Seattle to past Tacoma is beyond belief. I have been on the Dan Ryan at rush hour, tackled the LA freeways, rode on the DC beltway, but never have experienced worse traffic or more aggressive drivers than this stretch of I-5. We had to stop on 45 St NE at the Apple store, because the laptops charger was sacrificed to the motel Gods at Medicine Hat AB. Then we just stayed in the HOV lanes to get out of town. Note: the drivers here swoop in and out of the HOV lanes across the solid line like it is just another lane of traffic.

I have heard that Seattle has the highest suicide rate in the country. I have also heard that it is blamed on the continuously dismal weather. I disagree. I think it is really driving on I-5. It must be cumulative, like lead poisoning. You go to work on I-5 every day playing bumper cars, then one morning you just think to yourself, no, I am not going to drive that road to work, I think I'll just shoot myself. They do, and it is blamed on the weather.

The Oregon ( pronounced ORYGUN ) Coast:

Just look at the pictures, I am not skilled enough with words to justify the beauty.

The kid and I had been getting on each others nerves, so at Florence OR, she left for my friends in Eugene. I will go there Thursday night.

I kept going down the coast to Crescent City CA, where I turned around and today am headed back north.

Oh, the kid has a blog too, if you want her perspective on this.

The Kids Blog

More to come:

The Grand 2007 Bike Trip

Sunday July 1, the kid and I start out with our bikes on a truly scenic ride. Across the Trans Canadian Highway to Vancouver, then down to Eugene Or.

I will be taking pictures, and update my blog as I go along and have internet access.

Click here to see the photo map


We plan to be gone for 3 weeks, so this gives us a lazy 350 mile per day average ride, along with 3 days in Eugene OR so the kid can go to the Oregon Country Fair.

Sunday July 1:

Off we go, out I-80 to I-39 and North. Beautiful weather, and good riding till we hit the Wisconsin border where I-90 gets clogged with the Epsilon Minus's of the world headed to the Dells in SUV's packed with more junk than I would take on a "round the world" trip.

After the Dells it was fine and we rode to Hudson Wi where we stayed.

Monday July 2:

Another day of super slab to get to "The Great White North" as fast as possible. I-94 to Fargo, the I-29 up to Winnipeg.

Just past 'The Cities' it started raining, and by the time we got near Fargo, it had cleared, but was horribly hot and humid. The usually perfunctory Canadian customs was having some kind of a fit and giving everyone the 3rd degree, and both the kid and I were at the point of heat exhaustion by the time we got through.

We rode up to Winnipeg and got the 1st motel we came to. Oh, the Dollar is PAR. UGH.

Just in from of the motel the heat, exhaustion, stress of the day caused the kid to run into the back of my bike. No one hurt, but my top box, left side box got knocked off and she dumped her bike breaking the usual left turn signal and front fender.

Has any other biker out there ever find that Citi Bank Master Card equates a motorcycle trip with fraud? I have before, but on this trip mistakenly decided to use my Citi card for my main method of payment. Just as I got to the motel I found 4 calls to this 866 number, I called it back and it was Citibank saying there were 'suspicious' charges on my card, like gas and motel charges. I had this happen with Citibank before and basically quit using that card, but after giving the usual card number and secret question, I was not just asked if it was really me using my credit card but questioned about every charge, AND they wanted to know my route, and what dates I would be in different Provences and States. They kept asking about all kinds of things far beyond what "fraud detection" should. Then after all that they said I was still on fraud watch and if my charges were denied, I should call the number on the back. American Express doesn't treat me this way, but this is personal not business so I sould not be using my biz card. As soon as I get home, there will be no more Citi card.

Tuesday July 3:

The good news about the little accident is, no one hurt, and there is a BMW dealer right up the street. The bad news.... It is July 3, Canada Day so they are closed, and it is overcast and raining. So it's off to Canadian Tire for duct tape, and on with the trip.

A side note, change of route. While waiting for Canadian customs to be ever so thorough we were talking to a Canadian couple on a new R1200GS that suggested we take Canada 1 instead of the Yellow Head route. They said it was much prettier after Calgary.

So it is off across the Trans Canadian Highway.

Well, we made it to Regina, and the view from the East on Hwy 1 at about 10:00 PM ( sunset ) with Regina in the background was like looking at the 'Emerald City' from afar in the Wizard of Oz. You could see the outline of the City buildings for 30 Km.

I have started taking a few pictures, there will be more, and Google now lets you geocode them. This link will take you to a photo map. Just click on the picture thumb nails to see the pics.


Wednesday, July 4:

Regina SK to Medicine Hat AB.

Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Canada is big. We met 2 couples from Robinson Illinois riding BMW's going the other direction, and had dinner. An interesting side note, Alberta has a rule that no minors are allowed in establishments that serve alcohol. The kid as it turns out is legal drinking age in Alberta, 18. So , what does she do? Have a glass of wine, after being carded and OK'd? .... she has Ice Tea. Go figure.


Thursday July 5:

Medicine Hat to Cranbrook BC.

The prairie ends at Crowsnest Pass AB and becomes the full fledged Canadian Rockies. After so many miles of prairie, it is had to believe. We thought that we would escape the heat as we gained elevation. Wrong, the temperature kept climbing as the day wore on, and by 3:00 PM it was 37C ( 98.6 F ). Both of us were just done in and starting to make riding mistakes. We quit and got a motel.

More to come.......

What a Sweetheart

I took the kid's new F800ST for a 300 mile ride today. Wow!

Have you ever ridden a bike where everything, I mean EVERYTHING is just right. Where the feel and sound and experince is an order of magnitude greater than the specifications. The F800ST is just that.

I have friends with K75's that just love them. I never had one, but the people that do never want to retire them and keep finding ways to ride them 20 years after they were made.

I think the F800ST is like this. No amount of looking at brochures, or pictures can explain the feeling of riding one.

I got this for my Kid, but WOW! I love the agility, the feel, the sound. I would not hesitate to jump on and ride across the country, or burn twisties with the local Squids.

It really is amazing. If I did'nt already have an 06 K1200GT , I think I would get one of these, and even more I could have this as my only bike.

So I am in love with a bike that technically does'nt belong to me. Oh well, such is life.

The Roto Tiller is gone, long live the F800ST

After the mothers day ride it was clear that I made a mistake when I let the kid pick out the Suzuki S40 for a real motorcycle. It was crude, low tech, and if used for anything other than short around town slow speed hops was as useless as a kick stand on a bass boat.

I have loved riding motorcycles ever since my mom got me a garage sale 50cc Sears Puch moped when I was in 5th or 6th grade. I have raced motocross, ridden every kind of left over junk bike imaginable, had several bad spills, and lots of not so bad ones in probably 300,000+ miles of riding over 40 years.

I want to introduce the Kid to this and see if it becomes a life long passion as it has with me, but I also know the dangers of riding motorcycles, and as a Dad want to teach safety, and I worry about the Kid getting splattered.

I think I have done a pretty good job, she wears ful gear, rides well, looks at all traffic as the enemy, never trusts turn signals, really rides safely. The one thing that was missing was a good modern bike with ABS and real brakes, and handling to get you out of bad situations that will eventually happen.

The kid and I have a long trip planned for the 1st 3 weeks of July, and this being her summer after her 1st year of college, she may not have this kind of time in her life as easily in the future. Also, if she really is going to ride a lot, I want to do everything I can to keep her safe.

So, I decided to ditch the roto tiller Suzuki S40 and get her a new 07 BMW F800ST.

What a wonderful bike, safe, ABS, handling, smooth even power curve, I love it, and I know she can handle it.

The dealer will install the hard side bags and the low seat at the 600 mile service, and for those BMW folks that get near Chicago, TAG Sport in Geneva Il is a great place to do business.

Well, I feel much better about the trip, and the Kid riding in general now. As far as the cost, I say it costs nothing as of the 1st time the ABS kicks in while stopping at a busy intersection with the front wheel sliding on a grease spot.

This was the right thing to do.

Sunday Family Day Ride

Not being burdened by the usual Mothers Day rituals, the teenage kid was nice enough to participate in a "Family Day" ride with Dad.

We actually started quite late 1:00 PM but the morning was cloudy and a little cold.

We rode NW on US 52 from joliet to Savanna Illinois and the Mississippi Palisades State Park.

It really is sad that so many families never find the wonders of nature, but just drive to and from 'corporate' activities in their SUV's with the kids strapped into car seats like little Mercury Astronauts watching some mindless Disney brain washing thing on the in-SUV DVD player. I really feel sorry for these kids and their future.

This was the Kid's first long ride of the year. By the time we got back, we put on about 375 miles.

From Savanna, we took IL rt 84 ( The Great River Road ) down to US 30, and back to US 52.

By then it was dark, and I dont like riding 2 lane roads at night so we switched to the 'Slab' ( I - 80 ) back home.

We did stop at a rest area because by this time, the Suzuki S40 ( 650 Savage ) of the Kid's had exhibited enough single cylinder roto-tiller type vibration to wipe out the almost 19 year old, supposedly indestructible teenager.

It was a great day.

A few more pictures are in the album:

Cheers

A Beautiful Spring Day

The weather was perfect, the bike was running great, until the late afternoon it was in the middle 70's, and I had the opportunity to ride some of West Virginia's most scenic back roads.

I started in Winchester, VA , and took old US 50 to Capon Bridge WV where I turned off on WV 15 to Springfield VW, where 15 joins WV 28 up to Cumberland MD. WV 15 is a very old narrow 2 lane , so instead of burning the tires off, I spent the morning in 2nd and 3rd gear, but what a view. The road wound up and down mountains, within feet of old barns, this was real rural West Virginia like in "the coal miners daughter".
I rode up WV 28 to Cumberland MD where I got on I-68 until US 40 (National Road) split off tword Uniontown PA. US 40 has history around every bend, old toll houses, the original markers showing the distance to Wheeling, and from Cumberland. The view going west approaching Uniontown PA was simply breathtaking.

Past U-town, I stopped to take a pic crossing a lake:



What a ride.

Then past Washinton PA I got on I-70 to Wheeling WV. I should have gotten a pic of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, that was built in the middle 1800's but, while having an iced coffee I looked up and saw a perfect X in the sky from jet contrails:



Anyway, back on I-70 to the East Side of Columbus OH, where I am tonight. Wow, what a day.