Canada & USA 2015
- Thread starter austin
- Start date
Philwhiskeydrinker
Well-Known Member
Beautiful evening here, birds singing & everything 
Don't worry Austin, things will improve & you'll look back & laugh at the crap weather in time.
Phil
Don't worry Austin, things will improve & you'll look back & laugh at the crap weather in time.
Phil
austin
Well-Known Member
A few meagre pics.....
A bridge across the St Lawrence River. USA on the other side
Turtle laying eggs at the side of the road. Lots of these, including a couple of splattered one's.
NIck Adam's, who we stayed with on Thursday evening and who offered us loads of advice and support during our planning stages
and his Guzzi Eldorado. He also has a Guzzi Nuovo Falcone and a Guzzi Breva in his garage but the Eldorado is his every day ride
He has written a book about his rides around Ontario and Quebec on his Guzzi's. Well worth a a read and available on Amazon Kindle for about £4. Link....http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Coffee-S ... B00SPCR490 He also has a book out about walking the pennine way, which I haven't read yet.
Lake views
Campsites:
I will hopefully get some better pics when the weather is better and we aren't pressed for time. It should be an easy 200miles to Thunder Bay tomorrow to stay another kind ADVrider person called Ron, then we have 4 days to do 1000miles to get to Macklin for a bike rally - where the beer and camping are on the organisers and we appear to have become some sort of star guests.
A bridge across the St Lawrence River. USA on the other side
Turtle laying eggs at the side of the road. Lots of these, including a couple of splattered one's.
NIck Adam's, who we stayed with on Thursday evening and who offered us loads of advice and support during our planning stages
and his Guzzi Eldorado. He also has a Guzzi Nuovo Falcone and a Guzzi Breva in his garage but the Eldorado is his every day ride
He has written a book about his rides around Ontario and Quebec on his Guzzi's. Well worth a a read and available on Amazon Kindle for about £4. Link....http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beyond-Coffee-S ... B00SPCR490 He also has a book out about walking the pennine way, which I haven't read yet.
Lake views
Campsites:
I will hopefully get some better pics when the weather is better and we aren't pressed for time. It should be an easy 200miles to Thunder Bay tomorrow to stay another kind ADVrider person called Ron, then we have 4 days to do 1000miles to get to Macklin for a bike rally - where the beer and camping are on the organisers and we appear to have become some sort of star guests.
itspossible
New Member
austin
Well-Known Member
Re: Canada & USA 2015
A quick update from yet another Tim Hortons coffee place (bowl of chilli, chips & coffee $6 - bargain).
We did another 100miles in heavy rain before checking in to a hotel in Marathon on the N shore of Lake Superior. The room had a super powerful hot air blower heater which was soon covered in gloves, jeans, jackets, socks, pants etc. The room was soon like a sauna and we soon warmed up. Despite keeping the heater going on low all night putting on wet Kevlar jeans in the morning is not a good start.
The start got slightly worse 5 miles down the road when the right hand pannier fell off at around 65mph. I was emergency stopping as it slid down the road to end safely on the shoulder. Luckily the only damage was to the dry bag strapped on top which some duck tape kept together until we got to Thunder Bay.
Then, 2 minutes up the road a bloody great big black bear shot out of the undergrowth to our left and lolloped across the road. More heavy braking with ABS kicking in on both wheels else we would have hit it. The bear completely disappeared in seconds once it crossed the road. That's about as close as I want to get to a bear.
We hooked up with a guy on an Africa Twin about 100km from Thunder Bay (he says he registered on Xrv (North rider) who took us to a bike shop to some new waterproofs and then to his house where he gave me a Wolfman dry bag to replace my damaged one. Top guy. He had two other ATs in his garage and an Hp2 and sold a TA 600 a couple of days previously.
We then went to stay the night with Ron and Kathy (itspossible) above where I drank a lot of Rons whisky and got fed far too well. Thanks Ron.
Now on the road west again in fine weather, but thunderclouds look to be building......Harrumph.
View over Thunder Bay to Lake Superior.
Sent from my iPhone with a smile
A quick update from yet another Tim Hortons coffee place (bowl of chilli, chips & coffee $6 - bargain).
We did another 100miles in heavy rain before checking in to a hotel in Marathon on the N shore of Lake Superior. The room had a super powerful hot air blower heater which was soon covered in gloves, jeans, jackets, socks, pants etc. The room was soon like a sauna and we soon warmed up. Despite keeping the heater going on low all night putting on wet Kevlar jeans in the morning is not a good start.
The start got slightly worse 5 miles down the road when the right hand pannier fell off at around 65mph. I was emergency stopping as it slid down the road to end safely on the shoulder. Luckily the only damage was to the dry bag strapped on top which some duck tape kept together until we got to Thunder Bay.
Then, 2 minutes up the road a bloody great big black bear shot out of the undergrowth to our left and lolloped across the road. More heavy braking with ABS kicking in on both wheels else we would have hit it. The bear completely disappeared in seconds once it crossed the road. That's about as close as I want to get to a bear.
We hooked up with a guy on an Africa Twin about 100km from Thunder Bay (he says he registered on Xrv (North rider) who took us to a bike shop to some new waterproofs and then to his house where he gave me a Wolfman dry bag to replace my damaged one. Top guy. He had two other ATs in his garage and an Hp2 and sold a TA 600 a couple of days previously.
We then went to stay the night with Ron and Kathy (itspossible) above where I drank a lot of Rons whisky and got fed far too well. Thanks Ron.
Now on the road west again in fine weather, but thunderclouds look to be building......Harrumph.
View over Thunder Bay to Lake Superior.
Sent from my iPhone with a smile
austin
Well-Known Member
Re: Canada & USA 2015
I was very polite and well behaved.
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digitalcaptive said:austin said:We then went to stay the night with Ron and Kathy (itspossible) above where I drank a lot of Rons whisky and got fed far too well. Thanks Ron.
Sent from my iPhone with a smile
Now that's hospitality for you, did Ron know just how much whisky you can put away before you started?
I was very polite and well behaved.
Sent from my iPhone with a smile
austin
Well-Known Member
Re: Canada & USA 2015
More here......http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1072229
Sent from my iPhone with a smile
More here......http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1072229
Sent from my iPhone with a smile
austin
Well-Known Member
Ok, so since the last update we have crossed about half of Canada and two time zones: out of Ontario into Manitoba which we crossed in a day and into Saskatchewan which is much much bigger, and have entered Alberta today (Sunday). The landscape is now prairies and it goes on and on and on for thousands of miles. Everyone in Canada says its boring but to fresh eyes its not at all, although it does go on a for a long way but theres plenty to look at, lots of little woods, forested areas, lakes, and different crops. Some of the towns are little more than a huge grain elevator and a railway siding to fill the trains up with grain, a few houses and a gas station. Everything though is at least 50 miles from anywhere else.
We were hosted at the Saskatchewan and Alberta Dual Sports motorcycle Club's annual meet over the weekend of 12th to 14th June. Guess what, it was just like a Bigtrailie/XRV/ABR rally with about 25 of us at a campsite sitting around a campfire drinking beer and whisky and talking rubbish about bikes and travels. It was a great way to spend the weekend and have some time off the bike after doing 2500 miles in 8 days. Mind there was a ride out on Saturday (I didn't go) but the route was over 300km mostly on gravel roads and tracks.
Pictures:
Waterfall at Aquasbon, Terrace Bay.
NORTH RIDER aka Feliz and his AT he bought in Buenos Aries
Ron and Kath, our hosts in Thunder Bay and their bikes: a VStrom 1000 which Ron is soon to ride to Alaska and an R1200RT they to tow a trailer for trips around Canada and USA
Pick up trucks this size are not uncommon: 5.7L twin turbo. 350bhp and 500+ft/lb of torque. They tow huge 5th wheel trailers at 80mph.
The prairie roads are very straight
One for Ian Biggar (where is he these days)
The rally
KTM's popular here too
Usual Rally stuff
We were hosted at the Saskatchewan and Alberta Dual Sports motorcycle Club's annual meet over the weekend of 12th to 14th June. Guess what, it was just like a Bigtrailie/XRV/ABR rally with about 25 of us at a campsite sitting around a campfire drinking beer and whisky and talking rubbish about bikes and travels. It was a great way to spend the weekend and have some time off the bike after doing 2500 miles in 8 days. Mind there was a ride out on Saturday (I didn't go) but the route was over 300km mostly on gravel roads and tracks.
Pictures:
Waterfall at Aquasbon, Terrace Bay.
NORTH RIDER aka Feliz and his AT he bought in Buenos Aries
Ron and Kath, our hosts in Thunder Bay and their bikes: a VStrom 1000 which Ron is soon to ride to Alaska and an R1200RT they to tow a trailer for trips around Canada and USA
Pick up trucks this size are not uncommon: 5.7L twin turbo. 350bhp and 500+ft/lb of torque. They tow huge 5th wheel trailers at 80mph.
The prairie roads are very straight
One for Ian Biggar (where is he these days)
The rally
KTM's popular here too
Usual Rally stuff
MIKETHEBIKE
Active Member
Nice write up Austin as per.......
austin
Well-Known Member
Canada & USA 2015
We are now in Jasper, Alberta in the Rocky Mountains. Stunning mountain and lake scenery and mountain weather to go with it. Yup it's been raining again, well thundery showers anyway. Hot and sunny in between so not bad at all really.
We are staying at Whistlers campground which is a heavily wooded area and have been warned that there are Elk and bears about so we need to camp with caution. That means using the bear proof storage boxes for food, toiletries and anything that smells strongly. All the bins have bear proof locks on them, including those in town. It's a lovely spot to camp though and we had an entertaining evening chatting to a tobacco chewing "red-neck" farmer and oil worker (by his own admission) who is on an open-ended tour of North America on a KLR650. Opinionated doesn't do justice to his views!! He didn't like whisky though. Probably no bad thing looking the pile of cans by his tent.
We had a short ride today to look at the hills, lakes and rivers and glimpsed two black bear cubs, a young elk and a caribou. I didn't stop to photo the bears as I figured mum wouldn't be far and would take exception to the bike and photographers. The photos I did take are on the camera so you will have to wait.
We are going to stay here a few days before moving on.
Edit, I thought I had already mentioned Gary and Esther. They kindly offered us a bed and a meal in Edmonton after the rally. Very much needed after a300km ride in rain and temperature just in double figures. They were great hosts too.
Sent from my iPhone with a smile
We are now in Jasper, Alberta in the Rocky Mountains. Stunning mountain and lake scenery and mountain weather to go with it. Yup it's been raining again, well thundery showers anyway. Hot and sunny in between so not bad at all really.
We are staying at Whistlers campground which is a heavily wooded area and have been warned that there are Elk and bears about so we need to camp with caution. That means using the bear proof storage boxes for food, toiletries and anything that smells strongly. All the bins have bear proof locks on them, including those in town. It's a lovely spot to camp though and we had an entertaining evening chatting to a tobacco chewing "red-neck" farmer and oil worker (by his own admission) who is on an open-ended tour of North America on a KLR650. Opinionated doesn't do justice to his views!! He didn't like whisky though. Probably no bad thing looking the pile of cans by his tent.
We had a short ride today to look at the hills, lakes and rivers and glimpsed two black bear cubs, a young elk and a caribou. I didn't stop to photo the bears as I figured mum wouldn't be far and would take exception to the bike and photographers. The photos I did take are on the camera so you will have to wait.
We are going to stay here a few days before moving on.
Edit, I thought I had already mentioned Gary and Esther. They kindly offered us a bed and a meal in Edmonton after the rally. Very much needed after a300km ride in rain and temperature just in double figures. They were great hosts too.
Sent from my iPhone with a smile