Canada & USA 2015

[austin]

Re: Canada & USA 2015

Nice one Austin, so you didn't do on board camping, that'd be a first to complete ferry camping, could start a trend there

While it was wet the camping looked pretty grim and all but one packed up and slept in various nooks and crannies on the boat - there were lots. But when it dried and warmed up the tents came out and it looked ok, but I was told the deck was very cold. Tents were taped to the deck using duck tape mostly but weren't very steady. The best non- cabin sleeping spot was the "solarium", a covered open ended area at the back of the boat festooned with electric patio heaters. It was warm and dry and they provided 20-30 plastic sun loungers for sleeping on. The main drawback was a number of ship style vents from the kitchen and other areas making it a bit noisy and a tad smelly. I have a pic, but later.



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[Stubbsie]

Good to read the Heidenau's are doing good mileage even two up, but so far so good mate.
I know Vader said he'd got 11,000 out of a set on his GS.
Catch up on your next instalment

 

[Lord Vader]

Just a thougt Austin
You said you got new tyres,just be carefull when you get back.Compounds for the US and Australia are much harder than ours. So be carefull when you pick your bike up this side. I had a Heidi rear from the US and it was very slippery. I managed to spin my rear tyre up in 3rd







but you get mega miles out of them.I took that rear off after 15000 miles and it still had a few miles left in it

 

[austin]

I will hopefully get some photos with this update.

We are now in Whitefish (yes really) in Northern Montana and its hot and sunny - yey and has been for a few days now. After getting a rear tyre in Victoria on Vancouver Island we caught the evening ferry across the sound to the USA at Anacortes in Washington State. The ferry zig zags its way through the archipelago of islands that make up the sound between USA and Canada here and included a call at Friday Harbour which had a very affluent look and feel to it. The ferry docked at around 9pm and we travelled east for half an hour or so before finding a motel right next to a Marijuana shop (its legal in Washington). We didn't partake but could hear some very jovial sounds coming from around the motel.

Next day through the North Cascades Mountains in northern Washington. Highway 20 has to be one of the top biking roads in the USA. Big mountains, big views and big corners. Great fun. We rolled into a small town called Winthrop and decided it warranted a couple of days, especially when we found it had an award winning brewery and a grassy open campsite. The town is still all boardwalk, wooden buildings, and had a very cool and relaxed vibe (on account of the drugs probably) but we only consumed several pints of the local beer and Anne had a good sunday morning shopping in the many individual boutiques. Fashion style is a bit C&W which works for me, but not Anne.

We moved on to a bit of a dump on the Washington/Idaho border and stopped early on account of some threatening thunderstorms. We heard thunder and had a few big spots of rain but they all by-passed us, although the day earlier the campsite had been a washout. It wasn't much of a site - another RV park and we were the only tent surrounded by massive RVs and 5th wheelers, but a Safeway was a walk away and we had steak, french bread, and salad with cider and there was a "clubhouse" and kitchen shelter 10seconds away if it rained.

Next day after a morning going the wrong way we eventually got on the right road and headed north towards Glacier Park. From here we intend to meander south for a few days aiming for Yellowstone but after todays fiasco in Glacier Park we are a bit dubious. Its $25 and a 50 mile ride to the park. We knew there was a big fire and part of the park was closed but we were assured when we paid that we could ride over half through and past the top of Logan Pass and this included all the main sights. What we found was a slow moving queue of traffic (no filtering to the front here) that we assumed was for the road works we saw signed and that we sat in for over an hour only to learn as we got to the front that the road was closed from that point and we had to park and get on a shuttle bus to the top. Apparently the top of the pass was "full". They also said there was no parking at that point on the road and we had to go back down to the visitor centre. The shuttle buses were also stuck in the queue so it was effectively gridlock. We just turned round and left but couldn't find anyone to complain to. What we did see was rather nice though, but not the big mountain, deep valley, blue lakes and glaciers I was hoping for. The upside was we got to go the the Montana Mountain Distillery and sample some whisky and gin. None of it quite good enough to buy at the somewhat high price they wanted though.

Final act of the day was a haircut for us both, which feels great and a load cooler for me. Anne's took 2 bloody hours spring during which I tramped the hot streets until I found relief in a frozen yoghurt shop. Coconut yoghurt is YUM.


Photos will have to follow later -flat battery alert just flashed.

 

[Stubbsie]

Sounds like normal service so far, thunderstorms, BIG rain, pants camp sites, RV's and closed roads but I be your'e having fun mate.

Bit concerned Anns haircut too how long 2 hrs, what's all that about but finding a frozen yoghurt shop sounded cool.

How's the new Heidenau feeling.

I had dinner with Vader & Debs last night and your Heidenau came up in conversation, Pete was talking about spinning the rear in 3rd gear on his GS which sounded good.

Look forward to the pics soon, was Anns haircut expensive ?

Catch up soon

 

[austin]

Re: Canada & USA 2015

Sounds like normal service so far, thunderstorms, BIG rain, pants camp sites, RV's and closed roads but I be your'e having fun mate.

Bit concerned Anns haircut too how long 2 hrs, what's all that about but finding a frozen yoghurt shop sounded cool.

How's the new Heidenau feeling.

I had dinner with Vader & Debs last night and your Heidenau came up in conversation, Pete was talking about spinning the rear in 3rd gear on his GS which sounded good.

Look forward to the pics soon, was Anns haircut expensive ?

Catch up soon

Cheers Stubbsie. Anne's haircut involved roots and other fancy stuff. All in for is both it was $100 with the tip to a bonkers mad hairdresser - she twitched, giggled and spoke to herself in between sporadic bouts of random conversation in a broad Montana accent we both struggled to understand. Also she was as skinny as a crack-coke addict. Haircuts are good though.

The weather is now red hot and forecast to get hotter for a wek or more. Temp gauge on the bike showed 35.5c about an hour ago. It is cooling down now (7pm) but we are having a steak in a casino restaurant just south of Missoula before finding a campsite as it's too bloody hot to be putting a tent up.

We went to Garnet today, a very well preserved ghost town 25 miles down a decent gravel road at an altitude of 6000 feet. It was cool up there, but we went down the "back way". Very steep, very rough washed out track for 15miles, two-up and fully loaded. Bike and tyres handled it fine . The new rear tyre is great and the bike is back to its fine handling norm.

We are seeing loads (and Iran loads) of bikes heading for sturgis. Mostly Harley's but everything else too. It's still a couple of days away from where we are and starts this weekend for 10 days. 1million people are expected to attend. We will go only if fate takes us that way.

Sorry about the lack of pics. Most of the free wifi we get on seem to have monitors on them that detect uploads of pics and slow down the upload until it fails.






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[Stubbsie]

Hi Austin,
It's worth the trip to visit Sturgis if only for one day to walk down Main Street it's an amazing place a population of approx 6.5 thousand folks then swamped with about 500,00 plus upto a million over the Sturgis Bike week.

It'll be hard getting accomodation there, but if your'e passing through stop by on the way to Devils Tower in Wyoming.

I rode to Sturgis from Chicago and back in 2008 stayed in Rapid City about 30 miles away.

Ride safe mate hope Anns hair doesn't get too wind swept as South Dakota is a Helmet option State, I went helmetless for the experience it was fab !

 

[nick949]

I'd be riding as fast as possible in the other direction. I can hardly imagine anything worse than Sturgis - except perhaps Daytona bike week...........

 

[austin]

Canada & USA 2015

Harley riders all say "you gotta go to Sturgis" and they are all headed that way too. Everyone else says "stay away, its hell" and are heading the other way. A couple we met on the Alaska boat live in rapid city and invited us to stay so we will probably drop by and it's so close to Sturgis we will probably experience it anyway.

Idaho from out campsite at Smiley Creek. Sawtooth mountains in the distance... It's proper cowboy /High Chaparral country here. Stunningly beautiful.

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[austin]

Re: Canada & USA 2015

Sorry it's been nearly a week since the last update. No pics again as wifi on the campsite barely copes with text let alone uploading pics. Nevertheless having wifi on a campsite is something I have yet to experience in the UK. I am currently sitting in my camping chair on a GRASSY pitch at the KOA site in Greybull, Wyoming.

I can say one thing about the last few days..... I am sick to bloody death of effing Sturgis and the stupid Harley's rally being held there. There are stupid noisy Harley's and stupid Harley riders in their fetish riding gear everywhere. All motels and most campsites are fully booked, all cafes and rest areas usually have about 50 HDs parked outside, most with more camping gear than I would need for the family and loads of huge trailers being towed by the stupid noisy Harley's. Leave some stuff at home for christsake. We are still about 400 miles from Sturgis too.

(Swig of beer and a big breath)......Yellowstone is fab, it's huge (half the figure eight road loop is around 150miles), and everything and more than we expected. Geysers all over the place, buffalo/bison, deer, Grizzly bears, and scenery to make you weak at the knees. Everyone should visit once. It is busy though, and getting camping is a nightmare - it's all first come first served and most sites fill up by about 1pm. So it becomes a scramble to get into the park and to the campground. We ended up camping in the Teton Mountain Nat park, which has the best mountains, and is immediately to the south.

We left Yellowstone out the NE gate to go over the Beartooth pass. All 11,000feet of it. That with the loop through Yellowstone was I think the best days riding in my life - good roads, great scenery, wilfdlife, and a decent temperature except at the top which was proper cold and windy.

That's all, sorry about the lack of pics again.


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[ianbiggar]

Great reading, Austin - sorry to hear you got blocked in Glacier - it's a great road. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip. Stay safe.
Ian

 

[austin]

Just for you lot I purchased a faster wifi package for a massive $5.95 for the day and most of my pictures are now uploaded.

So here comes the picturefest.....

Boat after Juneau. Very narrow channels, picturesque villages. The boat was supposed to stop at 4 ports after Juneau but dropped Sitka to make up time. After that it was Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan, then 36 hours f steaming to Bellingham, Washington where we got off and the boat made its return journey.





Narrow deep channel pushes up a wave into the shallows as the boat passes






Narrow channel ahead


looking back


Lots of bald eagles


Very narrow








Cruise ship must quadruple the population of Wrangell (I think)


And the next day - what a transformation


We saw lots Humpback Whales doing their leaping right out the water thing, as whale as lots of whale tail (ooh-err) and "thar she blows" type spouts. No pics as they are shy rascals and don't do it when the camera is out.



Tents made an appearance and drying out from previous nights


and the solarium filled up again








Bella Bella, a small Native Indian village on the British Colombia coast. Quite a few of these very small communities. Only way in or out is by boat or plane.


Pod of Killer whales doing their jumpy out thing too, but the camera isn't quick enough, so take my word for it








Me, Jim, Dorothy, Mel, and Nancy. Bikers we spent some time with on the boat


Back on dry land on Vancouver island - Tsunami warnings any time the road went close to sea level


Lotsa big trees all over the place = its called the Pacific Rain forest. Its stunning but so hard to photograph due to the size


Something for the Scots to ponder on


Epic wild beaches






and canyons




Port Alberni, a surprisingly nice place that appears to be miles from the sea




more trees






On the journey back to Mainland USA we called at friday harbour. Lots of fancy boats like these. I think there is some money on that Island!








To be continued (yellowstone etc to come)

 

[nick949]

Great photos both. Thought you'd like Vancouver Island.

Nick

 

[austin]

After we left Vancouver Island we headed East on Highway 20 in Washington to the North Cascades.....









Anne's fave pic of herself of the trip so far


I can't remember where this is, but its nice


After an abortive trip to the Glacier national Park where I took no photos coz the roads were closed and paid $25 to queue for a couple of hours we consoled ourselves in the Glacier Distillery and felt a lot better for it.




A couple of eccentrics we met on the road. Grey beard has the solo BMW R100, owned from new for 30 years and only 600,000 miles on it. The outfit & trailer has a mere 400,000miles on it and all up weighs 1800lb, mainly on account the carpentry tools he carries to pay his way. Nice guys but completely bonkers. We met a lot of Americans like this.










The road up to the Ghost Town of Garnet


and the view (panorama photo, so use the panorama feature in your photo viewer for best effect)


The Ghost Town. Quite a lot of restoration otherwise it would rot away or burn up in a forest fire (a lot already did)








The restroom, as they call it in the North America.




The Sawtooth Range in Idaho (from the tent door I might add)


The Sawtooth mountains and the valley we camped in (Smiley Creek is the little white dot centre right)


Trail riding is not just welcome, its encouraged, note the text and the picture of the bike. In the morning I jealously watched a small group on dirt bikes loaded with fishing gear set off up into the mountains. How I would love to do that.


Craters of the moon national park - surreal lava flows. Its was great, but bloody HOT












Mike and John from spokane, Idaho, who generously let us share their camping pitch when all else was full, as well as sharing food and whisky (and spliffs if I had wanted to). I also finally out the answer about why so many American bikers need a trailer - cool boxes, full picnic sets, food, soda, beer, whisky, massive sleeping bags, coffee by the ton and gallon. Anyway it was very kind of them and I hope they made it to Sturgis and had a great time. If they stayed as drunk as they were they will have done







As well as this XTZ1200 this RV was also towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee.


Jackson Hole, Home of the Wild West. Elevation of the photo is something 8500 feet


I can't remember where again, but nice one


The Teton Mountains. These are very impressive and just how you imagine the rockies to be. The weather through was very humid and bright with the shots into the low sun so photo's are a bit crap. But....






That's it for now. I have just discovered the Yellowstone Photos haven't uploaded. More later when I have found them

 

[austin]

Found Yellowstone

Old Faithful. I have a video but need to get it on youtube so later




And going off




Hot pools of bubbling, boiling water are all over the place. There are walk ways around the site as the ground is fragile and just a thin crust above boiling mud in places. We did the tour and took lots of photos......


Into the depths of the earth






Its not all hot rock and steam, very pretty, as well as good scenery





But the main event is the volcanic activity




















Boiling hot waterfalls




We were lucky to see this one go off - its unreliable and could be hours or days between eruptions






Yellowstone Canyon - hard to photograph coz of the scale










Bison.... (Ugly Feckers actually)






Later the next day we saw thousands filling a valley on the north side of Yellowstone, but I was getting blasé about it all by then so no more photos of big ugly cows.

Leaving Lizard Creek campground. The evening before there had been a thunderstorm that we missed but we came back to find our Tarp collapsed under the weight of the snow and Hailstones and about two inches collected around the tent.


Lots of interesting volcanic stuff


and some mud geysers










you had to be there really to get the sounds and the SMELLS - hydrogen sulphide, yeuch.


and another that is best experienced there




Leaving Yellowstone you go past the Tower Cascades (great road too)


and into some majestic valleys








and another Grizzly - quite a way off this time






The top of Beartooth pass, nearly 11,000 feet


and amazing views all round






the road ahead


and from the rest area a couple of miles further on


cheeky chipmunks everywhere


How many Harleys travel to Sturgis


and thats about it for now. Perhaps some general commentary about life on the road after 10 weeks travelling later.

 

[austin]

Lets see how videos stored on Photbucket works?







The one of old faithful is 2 minutes long and won't upload to photo bucket.

 

[austin]

yay, youtube

https://youtu.be/BnWDjXPOos8

 

[austin]

yay, youtube

[video]https://youtu.be/BnWDjXPOos8[/video]

 

[-XP-]

Re: Canada & USA 2015

Brilliant mate, looks like a hell of a trip.


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[Barftone]

Takes me back...Remember Beachcombers?