Off the Beaten Path, Friends Old and New

We left the campground this morning after one of us dropped his bike in the first 5 feet.  No harm done to bike or rider.  

Our main goal today was to meet up with an old friend and fellow Blue Knight Eric who lives in Alberta.  He recommended a campsite so I plugged the location into my GPS and away we went.  

We took the Trans-Canada along some absolutely stunning rivers and lakes; I mean spectacular.  The color of the water in the lakes was turquoise blue and the rivers were moly white.  It was refreshingly brisk for most of the day as we rode by glaciers and snow-capped mountains.  

Stopping in Nordegg for lunch and homemade pie—strawberry rhubarb and bumbleberry—we met up with some very nice locals who kept us laughing as they told us about some interesting routes and things to see along the way. Dave, Kim, Wilma, Chris and Regan would not have been nicer.  

And as a matter of fact, every single encounter with Canadians we’ve met along the way has been wonderful.  I mean, they’re helpful, friendly and warm.  We’ve been extremely fortunate.  

Leaving Nordegg, we took a well-maintained dirt and gravel road north for 40 miles.  Then we took a non-maintained road west…and that’s where the adventure began.  We we t from 5th gear to 4th to 2rd and finally 2nd while negotiating the rocks, ruts, steep hills and water crossings.  We also came up on—and bypassed—two road closures and a washed-out road.  Steve employed some unorthodox off-road techniques while crossing a small stream.  Oh, to have video of that…

Me: First off, all apologies for that road.  

Steve: Apology not accepted.  

Me: Secondly, wasn’t that a great road?!?!

We eventually arrived to the campsite and two friends pulled up shortly afterwards.  Eric and Will brought elk steaks, beans, salad, cold beers and cigars.  We had a fantastic time catching up and discussing past and future rides.  We laughed at the events of the day and they provided some route options for the coming week.  

Steve and I sat around the fire sipping the last of our whiskey and agreed that this day was going to be a tough one to top.  

Todays mileage was 226 miles, 90 of which was dirt.  Mean, ugly, hurtful dirt.  

Oh, Canada!

Well, we made it into Canada, and the Great White North did not disappoint.  

Shortly after leaving our hosts in Eureka, we reached the border, just a few miles away.  We entered at the Roosville border crossing and the customs/immigration guy couldn’t have been nicer.  The line was quick and the inspection took about a minute.  There’s a convoluted process for entering Canada (ArriveCan) but in the end it worked out fine.  

We headed north on the 93 and stopped at a little roadside dairy bar about 25 miles in.  It was there that Pierre, a resident of Quebec, came over and said hello.  He provided some good route info that really helped.  I’m hoping running into two friendly, helpful people right away is a good omen.  

We rode along the Kootenay river almost the entire time.  The Kootenay is a major river in southeastern British Columbia and northern Montana and is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River. 

Listening to music along the way, I enjoyed hearing Rick Danko and The Band sing, “It Makes No Difference.”  Later, Steve and I would discuss other great Canadian artists like Rush, Triumph, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot. We then listened to “Sundown” by the latter singer.  Good times.  

There were many signs for elk and bighorn sheep, so I thought we’d have to amend The Contest to include those.  And then, Boom! There were bighorn sheep everywhere: alongside the road, up in the mountains, climbing down the hillsides.  Just beautiful.  

We rode a total of 243 miles today and pulled into the Hoodoo Creek campground, off the Trans-Canada Hwy between Golden and Field. After setting up our tents, we spoke with some of our fellow campers, all of whom were Canadian.  The campground provided free firewood so we stoked up a fire and sat around recounting the past week’s ride.  The Buffalo Trace whiskey went down smoothly, too.  

It was still light at 10:30, and just getting dark at 11:15.  

A fine day of riding.  Tomorrow we plan to take the Ice Fields Parkway north through Lake Louise and Jasper.  

Thanks for following along, folks.  

My Idiot Friends…

Well, here’s one for the books:  Steve and I showed up at the motorcycle shop in Kalispell this morning just as they opened at 8:30 for our scheduled appointment to have tires installed.  However, when we went in, the service department told us that the tires had been sold to two other motorcyclists yesterday. 

As you can imagine, I was pretty upset. And they wouldn’t deal with us at all.  A guy finally came out from the back of the service department and talked to us trying to make things better but I was pretty hot.  As he disappeared, I told Steve I wanted to punch the guy in the face.  

So there we were trying to figure out what we could do when all of a sudden I turned around and there was my friend Dave.  Turns out it was all part of an elaborate prank that he’d orchestrated.  Yep, he drove 21 hours from San Diego just to do that to us! 

And the whole motorcycle shop was in on the joke and everyone thought it was pretty funny. 

I guess in retrospect I thought it was funny, too, but for a few minutes there I thought our ride was going to be severely delayed

Anyhow, it was good seeing Dave and as soon as we got new tires, we went out to breakfast and then we rode up to his friend’s house where we are going to spend the night.  

We had a wonderful time with Dave’s friend Kris and his family at their property on a lake here in Eureka, Montana, right at the Canadian border.  

We stayed up until midnight talking and planning for tomorrow’s crossing into Canada. That included completing a lot of online stuff that Canada now requires of visitors…mostly COVID stuff.  

Yeah, my friends are idiots but I love ‘em…

Enjoy the photos!

The Contest: Bison, Bear and Moose…oh, my!

Steve and I rode 360 miles today, ending in Kalispell, Montana. That’s  2,500 for Steve and 2,900 for me.  While we weren’t able to ride the Going to the Sun road through Glacier Nat’l Park today—due to snow—we did ride Highway 2 that skirted Glacier. And it was a wonderful alternative.  

It was in the low to mid-50’s when we went out to the bikes this morning…nice and chilly, perfect riding weather.  And it was mostly 75 degrees all day long.  

We reached Great Falls and kept going, pushing on toward Glacier.  Yeah, the wind was pushing us around a bit, but nothing too bad.  

The scenery? Spectacular! This is just some beautiful country. I saw some Dall Sheep when we went into Glacier, along with many, many deer; mostly alive.  

Which brings me to The Contest: Whoever is the first to see 2 out of 3 of the following wins: A bear, moose or bison.  And a grizzly takes all.  

Well, Steve saw some bison— roaming, I believe—first. We saw a lone one a bit later.  So the contest is on!

We went through some cool little towns: Harlowton, Moccasin, Dupuyer (they have a teddy bear issue), Choteau, etc.  Steve read up on many of the communities we rode through once we stopped for the day.  

We also passed through Crow and Blackfeet country.  Interesting and depressing at the same time, if you’ve ever traveled through Native American land.  We stopped in for a quick lunch in Browning, and listed to YMCA—the famous Village People tune—in an Indian language.  Fascinating.  

The steeds are doing great and it turns out our butts are more marshmallow than iron.  However, our spirits are high and we’re looking forward to the next few days.  

I want to mention that some of our friends and family are following our progress and providing helpful advice…or uncalled-for criticism in the form of off-color humor.  We either love you or you suck! Here are some of the folks who are riding along with us from afar: Beautiful Dee in Tampa, Jon in Arizona, Jeff in Napa, Dave in Escondido, Julio in New Delhi, John in Rome, Doug in San Diego, Paul, Jack and Bill in Buffalo, Sal jn San Berdoo, and Drunk Uncle in San Antonio. Thanks!

More to follow…

Whipped by the Wind, Iron Butt days

The last two days, most of which was spent on the I-90 West, have been not as fun as I would’ve liked.  The wind—mostly from the front and side—has been tough to ride in.  We were are our way from somewhere to somewhere else so we just powered through. We made good time at 80+ MPH, but it ain’t easy.  And our MPGs are showing it, too.  Steve is getting between 32-40 and I’m getting about 30.  Just brutal.  

We left Atlantic, Iowa via the I-90 yesterday morning and ended up in Murdo, South Dakota, a respectable 435 miles for the day.  We found a truly remarkable country inn, the Landmark Hotel. We got off the bikes and jumped into the pool.  What a great way to end the day.  

Today we departed after breakfast and planned to make it a long day.  To make better time we went by Wall Drug, skipped Sturgis and bypassed the Badlands.  

We did detour over to Mount Rushmore, though, and it looked spectacular.  We didn’t go into the park, but saw some great views right before and right after the entrance. And I’d never seen that profile view.  

Leaving Rushmore, we were soon in Wyoming. We hustled along the I-90–the wind not as bad as yesterday—until Billings, then took a small country  road north.  

In the small town of Ryegate, Montana, we stopped into a roadside bar and grill to take a break and get a bite to eat. The cast of characters were a fun group of locals who were as interested in us as we were in them.  Good food, great conversation.  

We left there and found a small hotel in the town of Harlowton just 30 minutes away.  We were a bit tired but pleased with the mileage: 624 miles.  Steve is becoming quite the Iron Butt rider.  

Sadly, or maybe fortunately, we learned from the locals that the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Nat’l Park is closed—snowed in.  And we were really looking forward to riding it tomorrow.  On a related side note, this is the latest in the year that the road has ever been closed.  We amended our ride plan to get to Kalispell via a different road instead.   

More to follow.  Enjoy the photos.