June 14, 2014 - Oh, Canada! Where the deer are big and the speed limits are small...

Well, we managed to get up, dressed and on the road by 7:30 this morning.  I thought, yahoo!, we'll be at our intended destination of Quesnel by 4 or 5 pm.  It didn't really work out that way :-)

About 50 miles north of our hotel was the border crossing.  We stopped for a bit at the duty free store so I could stock up on cigs and booze.  Hey, I have my priorities!  It was a beautiful location.

 

Okay, we got all loaded up with goodies and made our way to the border crossing.  We had a bit of a wait but not too long.  Eric was first at the border control where he was grilled about where he was going, did he have anything he was going to leave in Canada and if he had any weapons or firearms.  To which Eric responded he had nothing but a small Swiss Army Knife.  The customs guard responded that the Swiss Army Knife won't stop a bear :-)

My turn was next.  The guard asked me if I had any firearms or weapons to which I responded with a no.  I forgot I had a Leatherman.  Then he asked when the last time I was in Canada.  Uhhhh....I dunno.  He laughed and said maybe last year?  I responded that maybe, we travel a lot.  He then said maybe my hubby lied?  No, never I said. He passed me through and off I went.  Then I remembered, last year we totally rode all over Ontario, Canada and stayed in Parry Sound for a few days and even swam in Lake Huron.  Duh.....

Regardless, we were let in to Canada, yippee!

We rode along Hiway 97 which took us through miles and miles of orchards and vineyards.  It was outstanding.  The weather was pleasant and we just motored along.  Sometimes having to pass a slow vehicle, but mostly just cruising. I started the day with my heated jacket and mid-weight gloves on and I was glad about that.  We got sprinkled on - no big rain but some wet stuff.

When we got to Penticton, it was time for some sustenance.  We rode through town which was plenty busy with tourists and motorists not watching where there were going.  Eric spied a small cafe that served brekkie and lunch.  Perfect.  We stopped there and had a delicious meal which we shared.

So here we were, less than 100 miles from our start and already four hours into our day.  Not exactly what we had planned!  We put our pinlocks on our faceshields because the weather ahead did not look promising.  I removed my heated liner because it was getting warm but we did put rain covers on our tank bags.  I later regretted removing the heated liner!

Finally, back on track, we got on Hiway 97 toward Quesnel.  We rode along at a nice clip and headed up a mountain. Up, up, up.  Every mile was a drop in temperature.  It got very cold....Brrrrrrr..... I kept thinking we were almost to the summit and it would warm up.  Well, the next turn would show even more elevation!!!  Yup, it got really cold.  I was so glad when we really did reach the summit and started downhill and the temperature began to increase slightly.

From 97 when went to Merritt, BC and picked Hiway 8 to Spence's Bridge.  What a treat that road was!!  A very small, off the beaten track, two lane highway.  Not fast at all but incredibly scenic.  Lots of curves, twists and tons of fun.  We had no traffic to speak of and thoroughly enjoyed this road as we followed a river. The scenery was mind boggling with massive meadows surrounded by evergreen forests.  We stopped at the end for a photo op.  We should have stopped many times for all the photo ops, but we were on a mission to Quesnel.

From Spence's Bridge we hit Hiway 1 and then on again to 97. We stopped briefly at Milepost 100 so I could put my heated liner on again.  I was getting chilled.  And, I was getting tired.  As I said, our goal was Quesnel but we only made it to Williams Lake.  I wanted off the bike and I wanted a nice, warm room with a full bath!!

We made a loop of Williams Lake and finally landed at The Drummond Lodge with a room looking over the lake.  Very nice and I was so ready to stop.  I don't know why I was so beat and tired but today, I was not an Iron Butt rider.  Today, I was a wimpy rider who need to stop and rest.  Maybe it was the past several days of big miles and excitement that wore me out.  Whatever, today I needed to stop.  So we didn't make our goal.  No biggie.  We'll get there tomorrow.  Our only commitment at this time is to be in Hyder on June 16.  I think we'll make that just fine.

We did score with Chinese delivery!  We had a lovely dinner in our room overlooking the lake.  Sweet & Sour Pork with steamed rice (fortune cookies) delivered quickly and hot.  So very nice that we didn't have to gear up and go out in search of food.  I love delivery :-)

Sorry this isn't the best blog ever but I was tired today.  I got cold and cranky.  I recovered some when Eric fed me mini Reeses candies :-)  But, was so ready to call it a day.  I'm glad we stopped when we did.  As we neared Williams Lake, I started to see Bambi everywhere.  It was time to get off the road.  No, we didn't make our goal but that wasn't so important.  We'll make up our lost time tomorrow and still get to Smithers, BC in plenty of time to enjoy ourselves.

I'll try to be a better photographer as we move along.  There was wonderful scenery today.  The kind of places that makes your heart sing, but we didn't stop.  We just enjoyed the beautiful landscapes from the seats of our bikes.  Maybe, next journey, I'll mount a camera or GoPro so I can capture some of the wonderful scenes as we ride by.

My only random thoughts for today -- for a fairly short day of riding, I'm exhausted, beat, tired.  How can I do an eleven day rally riding 1,000 plus miles a day and be okay and today only ride about 400 miles and feel like I've ridden a lifetime?

Another random thought - most folks we meet are awesome, fun and happy to be alive.  A very few are not so happy.  I feel sorry for those few.

And finally, I'm tired today.  Sorry this blog entry isn't so entertaining or interesting but heck, we all have our days, don't we?  I'm headed to bed and hope I have a good solid sleep and wake up full of vim and vinegar and ready to face tomorrow with gusto.  I'll try to stop more and take photos.  I'll also try to take better notes so I can give you all a better travelogue.

Until tomorrow, cheers friends.

Cletha

June 13, 2014 - Friday the 13th and NO ISSUES!!! (well almost)

We managed to get up, dressed, bikes loaded and out the door before 8:00 am.  It was only about 56 degrees so I put my heated liner on under my jacket and zipped all my vents.  We left in good weather and headed west again on I-84.  Very light traffic and we moved along quite nicely.  I suppose we rode for at least an hour and the temperature began to drop.  Before long it was about 53 and I was getting chilled.  I was pretty sure Eric was getting cold because he hadn't zipped up his vents.  We pulled into a rest stop just west of Baker City, OR to revise our riding gear to something more appropriate for the chill and the impending clouds looming ahead of us.

Here is our stop.

You can see the ominous clouds building up.  Shortly after leaving the rest stop, it began to rain.  Well, really sprinkle.  I was glad I had put on my waterproof gloves and plugged in my heated jacket.  I cranked the heat and was toasty warm and flipped on the heated hand grips.  I figured this would be as bad as it got.  Ha, I was WRONG :-)

As we hit the Blue Mountains, the weather turned mean and ugly.  It started to rain with purpose and the temperatures plummeted.  The lowest I saw was 40 degrees.  I just kept cranking up the heated jacket.  I hadn't, however, installed my pinlock faceshield and I was fogging up something fierce.  I was forced to pop open the faceshield to clear the fog.  Needless to say, my face got soaked as well as the inside of my helmet.  It was really raining hard and there was quite a bit of traffic.  Especially semi-trucks.  It was an interesting challenge to pass a semi-truck with a wall of water spray coming off the back and sides.  I would creep up beside the semi and then quickly close my faceshield and go like he** to get past and then re-open the shield again to de-fog.  I made this exercise more times than I could count.  It got really exciting when there was another car passing the semi and they wouldn't get up and go but just plug along oblivious that I needed to get by quickly.

What a change from yesterday where my biggest bitch was the heat!  Hahaha, you never know, day by day when riding across the country just what you might encounter.  Too bad it was all clouds and rain through the Blue Mountains because it is a very beautiful area.  I've been through there many times in a cage but this was my first time on a motobike.  I still enjoyed it, challenges and all.  The flora is wonderful with lots of green grass, tall evergreen trees and a whole lot of nature.  Funny observation, I didn't think once about animals (deer, etc.) while riding through the Blues.  I was totally focused on being safe, passing carefully, maintaining good distance, keeping my speed and generally riding in a good, safe manner.  It took all of my attention.  I suppose Bambi was lying low anyway because of the weather.

When we came down from the Blue Mountains we encountered yet another challenge.  EPIC WIND!!!!  Oh heck yes.  The kind of wind that makes you tense and tight because you never know when a gust is going to try and blow you off the road.  The kind of wind that keeps you leaning to the left at a severe angle.  Geez!  Enough Mother Nature :-)

We made another rest stop just east of Hermiston, OR.  We had been following the Oregon Trail but didn't really take the time and stops to document it.  Again, this is something I've done in the cage in the past.  It's awesome and the history is fun to read.

 Eric had to make some roadside repairs.  His GPS/CB stuff flipped another fuse.  When we get stopped for more than one night I suspect he will track down the culprit.  But for now, it was just replace the fuse and move along.

I've been trying to capture State signs as we travel along, however this was not going to happen between Oregon and Washington.  The "Welcome to Washington" sign is located mid point across the Columbia River on the bridge and no safe place to stop.  Oh well.  The wind was so fierce here that the Columbia had whitecaps!!

Anyway, goodbye Oregon and hello Washington!  This morning when we started out we stopped to gas up the bikes, I forgot we were in Oregon and was surprised when the attendant came out to swipe my card and hand me the pump!  That kind of threw off my routine and I had to double check everything.  Make sure I put the gas cap on, make sure I put my card away and zipped up the sleeve, that kind of thing.  It's amazing at how a little interruption in your routine can throw you off.  (Rallyists know this one for sure).  Oregon also has a top speed limit of 65 mph which we pretty much followed.  No need to call attention and get a performance award.  Yup, glad we've moved on :-)

We still had some serious wind but the rain was done, at least for a bit.  The clouds looked ominous but we were dry.  We hadn't eaten anything and I was getting hungry (and cranky, I need to be fed).  From the Oregon/Washington border, there is nothing until Tri-Cities.  As we entered Kennewick, WA we began looking for a likely eating place.  No fast food for me!  We finally spotted a Denny's (not the best, but better than Mickey D's).  We pulled into the parking lot as the rain clouds rolled in.  We quickly covered our tankbags, CB's and made the bikes rain ready then headed into the restaurant.

Man oh man, were we lucky.  As we doffed our gear and piled it onto the booth seat, the heavens opened up.  The wind roared in and the rain poured down.  Hahahaha...perfect timing for once!!  We ordered our food and enjoyed our meal, taking our time and checking email and silly stuff like that as the rain poured down.  I made use of this time to put the pinlock visor on my helmet.  (Good move).  We were not in a hurry to get back out in that weather.  Well, we waited long enough and the rain settled down to a little spit here and there and we made our break.

Back on the bikes, I told Eric that I needed to get fuel soon but would rather get out of town a bit.  It was very busy and quite congested with traffic and I don't much care for that.  Especially in a strange town and we had no effective CB communication.  So, off we went.  And we passed gas station after gas station until we were into the country and there was nothing to see but some vineyards, hayfields, farms, ranches and nothing else............

Okay, I wasn't going to worry until I hit about 20 miles into reserve.  So, on we went.  Because our CB's weren't working well we really couldn't communicate.  Eric assured me that he was keeping an eye on me and all I had to do was hit my turn signal and he would take the next exit.  Well, that wasn't reality :-)  I tried several times to signal an exit but he didn't see me.  Okay, I guessed worse case, I would run out of gas and he could siphon some from his bike to me or we could call AAA.  Hahaha, didn't matter.  We made it to a fuel station just as my bike hit reserve.  Great timing!
We motored on.  We didn't stop much today as we had miles to make and the weather was a concern.  We went through Moses Lake and pointed the bikes north on Hiway 17.  What a treat!  A two lane rural highway with little to no traffic especially after Soap Lake.  We were able to move at the speed limit and make time and miles.  It was a lovely ride along the Columbia River.  We made a rest stop at Blue Lake.  The rain held off and we had a pleasant stop.

 Who knew we were following the Washington State Birding Trail?  I did spy an eagle's nest atop a pole a few miles before here.

So that's probably the most photos we took at any one place.  Today was not about flower sniffin, it was about putting on some miles and reaching our destination at a reasonable hour so we could chill a bit, have dinner, check email and get a good night sleep.

We finally rolled into Omak, Washington which was our goal for the day.  After a couple of GPS snafu's, we found our motel for the night.  This is a small Mom & Pop Motel (my absolute favorite kind of place to stay) that was exceptionally clean and manicured.  We secured a room and as I put my bike to bed, Eric took of on recon to find food and some other necessities.

It didn't take me long to unpack and get the F650GS covered up and ready for bed.

Very small, only maybe 10 rooms, but immaculate.  This is so much better than the chain motels.  We had great service from the owners and we'll be posting a nice review on TripAdvisor.

When Eric returned from his recon he brought menus from several nearby restaurants as well as photos from the Safeway Deli.  I sure married a great guy!!!  We decided on Mexican, called in our order and Eric was off to collect it.  It short order, we were seated at the desk eating a wonderful meal.

That pretty much recaps today's ride and adventure.  Just some random thoughts -- riding along, taking in deep breaths, smelling the freshly cut alfalfa, enjoying the rich aroma and getting another deep breath ready only to be assaulted by the pungent odor of a stockyard or poultry farm.  Guess they go hand in hand, but I prefer the alfalfa smell.

Another thought -- riding along to encounter a lane squatter.  You know the type.  The cager who sits in the left lane but isn't passing anyone but everytime you try to get by them they pick up speed?  Yeah, what's up with that?  Don't they realize how dangerous it is to force people to pass on the right?  Ding-a-lings.  Wish I had a secret power to make them move to the right (with the appropriate signal).  Those folks never use signals either.  Arghhhhhh.....!

Another thought -- you meet the nicest people in the most unexpected places.  Lots of times people are just weirdos, or annoying. But just every once in a while you meet awesome people that make you smile and are a sparkle to your day.

We have another fairly big ride day tomorrow.  Our goal is Quesnel, BC.  Yup, we'll be crossing the border into that foreign country called Canada :-)  We'll have to watch our P's & Q's and keep our speed in kilometers.  Oh, we'll also have to pump our fuel in liters rather than gallons. Haha, doesn't really matter, cause I'll just pump in enough gas to fill the tanks.  You all can do the conversions but I'm not going to worry about it.  I will worry about speed in kilometers though!

So, I'm sure I missed some stuff, but that's the summary of our day.  It's just so wonderfully glorious to be able to ride all day knowing you get to ride all day the next day (and not be on a Rally Clock).  I'm really enjoying this and hope you are too!

Cheers,
Cletha

June 12 - Ely, NV to Ontario, OR - Just Racking Up the Miles to our Destination!

Well, we actually got up at a decent hour, maybe 6:30 or so.  Got showered, packed, bikes loaded and ready to roll.  I have to have my coffee in the morning to feel awake and ready to face the day and fortunately our room had a coffee service.  So I made a little pot.  Unfortunately, it was full strength caffeine and I don't do caffeine.  Haven't done caffeine since about 1976.  Nope, no caffeine sodas, coffee or anything.  Silly me, I had decaf packets in my cooler but figured, heck, a cup or two won't hurt.  WRONG!!!  We finished loading the bikes, geared up and headed out.  I had cotton mouth and the shakes immediately.  Yikes!!  Not good.  I kept drinking water as we rode which I'm sure helped subdue the caffeine. Okay, I learned my lesson - NO CAFFEINE for Cletha :-)

I'd like to say today was an incredibly exciting, wild, crazy day...but it wasn't.  We opted to ride for 100 miles or so before we stopped for a meal.  We headed out from the Four Sevens going north through Ely, NV to Hiway 93 (the same one that took us to Ely).  The weather was calm and not much traffic at that hour.  However, it became quite evident that this portion of Hiway 93 was well traveled with a LOTS of Semi Trucks and other traffic.  Much busier than yesterday.  We had ample opportunity to make passes safely, which we did.  We ran about 3 miles over the posted limited and got passed plenty ourselves.

We rode about 100 miles from Ely and stopped in Wells, NV for a meal at this place.

 It looks like a dive and frankly, it is :-)  However the food was delish.  It was clean and the service was very good.  We ordered a breakfast that we shared.  Folks, $20 + for 2 pieces of french toast, 3 pieces of bacon, two eggs split between two people?  Oh, yeah, we ordered a side of bacon for $5.70.  I drank water and Eric had a small coke.  The bacon was lovely as was the entire meal.  But, hey, $20+ for a single meal shared between two people......  Okay, rant over.  It was good.

It was here that I looked over the bike, making sure all was good and tight.  And then I noticed my gas cap was missing!!!!  Yikes!!! Missing....  Now, to be up front about this, I have a race cap for a gas cap.  The original keyed gas cap is something that breaks almost immediately and costs a lot to replace.  I opted for a race cap, no key, just a threaded cap.  It makes all my gas stops much quicker and no problem.  In the past few years, two have gone missing.  Hahaha, I have to tell you, both times Eric was riding my bike when they went missing :-)

But, this time it was ME.  Dang...well, I had a spare taped to the inside of my top box so I pulled that out of its packaging and twisted it on the opening.  I told Eric and we both agreed that maybe the combination of the new Heidenau knobby tires and the speeds we were riding might contribute to a vibration that could cause the gas cap to become loose.  Okay...I'd be watching that baby really close from now on.  No more spares and only about 20 something more days to ride!

We left Wells with full tummies and headed north on Hiway 93.  I'd like to say it was a crazy, interesting ride, but it wasn't.  We just slogged along.   We hit a construction zone that said maybe a 30 minute wait.  Ick.  It was getting HOT and the wind was starting to blow.  Fortunately it was only about 15 minutes.  Hey, after a few minutes of waiting, Eric ran up to the front and politely asked if we could move our bikes to the front.  The flagger said no problem, however by the time Eric ran back to the bike, the oncoming traffic was visible, so we couldn't.

NOTE:  If you're in this situation, politely ask the flagger if you can move your bikes to the front of the line.  Eric told the flagger that we would pass the folks (semi trucks) anyway and it would be nice if we could just move up.  The flagger was good with this but see above.  We were too slow :-)  It all worked out anyway.  But just a tip.

After we followed the pilot car we were able to make some nice passes around two semi trucks and some slow drivers and get up to a reasonable speed.  We motored on....through not so scenic scenery :-) Then the wind picked up and we had not so nice side winds from Wells to Jackpot.

We finally, finally, finally, got to Jackpot, Nevada and said Goodbye Nevada, Hello Idaho!

 My hand got really tired holding up this building in Nevada.

 So I dropped that darn building so I could wave goodbye to Nevada!

 We motored on, still on Hiway 93, all the way to Twin Falls, ID.  Finally, we stopped for a gas and smoky treats break in Twin Falls.  It was HOT.  The temps were pushing 95 degrees. I had all my vents open and was fine as long as we were moving.  But stopped, oh my heck, HOT. (Such a Utah saying, "oh my heck" and I'm actually from Washington).

While at the gas stop, we had a nice visit with a fellow dressed for success complete with tie.  He wanted to know where we were from and where we were going.  This is a common theme for Long Distance Riders :-)  We told him and had a nice chat.  For all his professional looking get up, he is actually a rider with a Concours for street and a KLR for off road.  We had a nice visit while we stood in the shade cooling down.  I love to meet new folks on the road, especially those that understand the wanderlust and long distance riding desire.

From Twin Falls, ID we hopped on Interstate 84 heading west for a couple of hours.  Drone, drone, drone.  Well, but for the heat, it climbed up to 96 tops (our low today was 68 in Ely).  Man it got hot and then the wind begin to blow again in earnest from the side.  Yeah, you all know what that's about.  Fight the wind to keep your bike going in a straight line and wipe the sweat from your brow.  Nice.

We stopped in Mountain Home, ID where it was HOT and WINDY.  This is where Eric told me his CB lost power and his GPS could no longer talk to him.  Fun huh?

Oh well, we knew where we were going and it wasn't that much further.  Maybe another 100 miles or so.

My little, sweet F650GS HATES the heat.  Some of you might remember it overheating multiple times until the last time which was fatal resulting in a new engine.  I was thinking about this as the temperature climbed higher and higher and the wind blew stronger and stronger.  I kept a close eye on the outside temperature, the bike temperature and all the gauges on the bike.  I was kind of concerned, no, I was really concerned.  Here we are only two days into our adventure and I'm worried about the damn gas filler cap coming off and my bike overheating and dying.  Well, it keeps one engaged anyway!

So, nothing seemed to break or pop or die and I just kept motoring along.  We finally got here:

And waved goodbye to Idaho.  Only another mile or two to our destination.

Ontario, Oregon.  We were headed to the Ontario Inn which Eric had checked out on Trip Advisor.  Great...I just followed him off the freeway and through town and on and on and on.  Hot, hot, hot.  We finally arrived and got checked in.  Yay!  We unloaded the bikes and Eric took off looking for a hardware store to get what he needed to fix my gas cap and his CB/electrical issue.

I, on the other hand, took a nice cold shower and put on clean clothes.  Then I made a cocktail and enjoyed myself (selfish bitch, aren't I?).  Eric returned with what he needed and very kindly took to fixing a tether for my gas cap (hey, I no longer had a spare and really didn't want to lose this one!).

Here is the result.

Thank you my most wonderful husband!!!   We'll probably order another spare to pick up somewhere in Alaska or the Yukon  But, for now, I'm tethered and don't think I'll lose it.  What a relief!

After repairing my bike, he moved on to his.  No I didn't take pictures, whose blog is this anyway?  Fortunately, he was able to locate the problem regarding the CB and make appropriate repairs.  Finally, he got his cold shower and cold cocktail and had a moment to relax.

All tucked in for the night.  Notice that Eric parked under the awning and Cletha is parked in an open air space.  Hope it doesn't rain tonight :-)

We ordered pizza delivered to the room.  Neither of us wanted to go anywhere and that made life easy.

Tomorrow we're headed for another 425 miles or so to Omak, Washington.  Mostly small roads.  The weather forecast is for decent weather and not particularly hot.  Should be a great ride.

Take care my friends and I'll blog again tomorrow of our adventure!

Cheers,
Cletha

And...We're Officially on Vacation!!

This morning brought sunshine and HOT.  Eric had to work until 2:30 pm so while I waited for him to get home, I finished packing up my bike and waited and waited and waited.  Yippee!  Eric's got home, took a quick shower and finished loading his bike.  We were out the door at 3:20 pm in 100 degree temperatures.  Our goal for today was Ely, NV, only about 230 miles from home.

We were on roads that are very familiar to us, having been to Ely countless times.  Fortunately, as we moved north, the temperatures fell and we mostly rode in 85 degrees.  Quite comfortable and absolutely no traffic.  We filled our gas tanks (both main and aux) in Veyo, UT which is about 20 miles from home.  From there is was head toward Nevada.

Goodbye Utah!

 And hello Nevada :-)

We took a quick break in Panaca, NV

And then rode on through lots of this.

We did have a very brief squall blow by but I only counted three tiny raindrops on my windscreen.  We did get some wind but nothing crazy. For the most part, it was a lovely ride.  

What's this?  Atlanta 25 miles?  Oh, not THAT Atlanta.  It must be Atlanta, NV. I've always wondered what was there.  Maybe next time we go to Ely we'll make time to find Atlanta.

 We also passed this sign.  I'm pretty sure this will be on our agenda to ride soon.

 We made a short break stop at Pony Springs, NV.  There is nothing there but a trash container and some broken picnic tables.  But there are some trees and the shade was welcome.

 It was nice to reach Ely and check in to the Cognoscente's favorite Ely motel, The Four Sevens.  We brought in our gear and covered up the bikes for the night.

We shared a burger at the Hotel Nevada for dinner and now, after a lovely cocktail, I'm headed to bed.  Our goal tomorrow is Ontario, Oregon which is about 435 miles.  The weather report is calling for nothing but sunshine!

I'm so excited to finally be on vacation and am really looking forward to going places I've never been before.

Cheers,

Cletha