Day 1 – July 14, 2013 at 07:30 PM MDT – Panguitch, UT.
Stopped by to see Sandee’ first then kick-stand-up at 5AM MST. Got to the motel around 4PM. A bit more then expected due to a 70 mile detour off US89 just north of Cameron, AZ. It seems the road caved in 6 months ago and AZDOT doesn’t know what to do about it. Ran into a few showers in the afternoon but no big deal. Did not even bother to put the rain gear on. Had a bee fly up the left sleeve of my jacket and process to sting me in the armpit. He won’t do that again. Decided I should tighten the Velcro wrist bands. Okay, here’s a laugh for you. When I pulled into the motel two guys, who passed me earlier, got there just ahead of me. Nice dual-sport big BMWs. They had North Carolina plates and were on their to Prudhoe Bay, AK. So much for my ride to Skagway, AK and Whitehorse, YT. They weren’t taking the ferry either! I feel like a wimp now. :=)
Total miles today 473.
Day 2 – July 15, 2013 at 08:50 PM MDT – Idaho Falls, ID.
KSU at 7AM MDT. Down at 7:08PM MDT. Long day today. Down right chilly this morning. Put the heated gear on just for insulation. By 10AM it was getting hot and stayed hot for most of the day. Made frequent stops in the afternoon for rest and Gatorade. Long about 4PM had to pull off the road due to a mighty wind/dust storm. Yes, I said mighty. 90 degree crosswind at about 40 mph. Luckily I was right at an exit that had a gas station/restaurant so I sat it out there for 90 minutes. No pictures but lots of video. I’ll get to them later and post when I can. US89 is absolutely gorgeous. I need to see about coming back that way. Okay, I did get one video posted. Good Night.
Total miles today 483.
Day 3 – July 16, 2013 at 08:20 PM PDT – Coeur D’Alene, ID
KSU at 8AM MDT. Down at 6:08PM PDT. Took way too long to transit from Idaho Falls due to the curse of summer road construction. Not much to say about today. Chilly AM, hot PM, cooled off late afternoon. Same old stuff. Speaking of old stuff I saw this at a rest area 1968 Corvette.
Total miles today 483(me and the bike; not the car.).`
Day 4 – July 17, 2013 at 10:40 PM PDT – Burlington, WA
I’ll edit this tomorrow. Electrical problem with the bike late afternoon. Hopefully will be fixed tomorrow. Goodnight.
Total miles today 360. I think.
07/18/2013 – Edit.
Yesterday Started out as a truly beautiful day. Blue sky, cool temps, lovely scenery, great highways. Can’t beat that. At one point north of Twisp, WA I found myself riding through a lava field. After a few minutes as I was looking around it dawned on me that I was riding through the middle of the biggest Caldera I have ever seen. Admittedly I’ve only seen one before this. Then the day took a turn for the worst. My cell phone started dropping all my music. Nothing played anymore. I was forced to listen to (gasp) “the radio”. I’m still working on that problem. I think it is the micro sd card. The afternoon continues. I get closer to the Cascades and decide to mount the GoPro camera on the front fender. Oops! Battery is dead. Not a problem I’ll just plug in the USB adapter I have into the DC socket along with the cell phone. Evidently the 15 amp accessory fuse did not appreciate that and proceeded to blow. Thereby leaving me tach-less (go ahead and make a comment here, I’ll wait.) Also leaving me without a speedo, fuel gauge, functioning turn signals and brake light. I would have replaced it myself, as I carry extra fuses, but the owners manual was totally useless on the fuse layout. Got it replaced this morning. All is well. By the way the Cascade are indeed beautiful. Thanks John .
Day 5 – July 18, 2013 at 03:00 PM PDT – Bellingham, WA.
Short day today. Got the fuse replaced this morning in Burlington and then rode the 20 miles or so up to Bellingham. Just kicking back and doing a load of laundry. Oh, almost forgot. I did get all my music back. It was the SD card. I let the phone format it this time and then transferred all the tunes over through the phone as well. Did the trick.
Day 6 – July 19, 2013 at 10:40 AM PDT – Bellingham, WA.
Well it is finally here. The day my bike and I board the M/V Columbia to ferry up through the Inside Passage to Skagway, AK. I’m going to set my GPS App to update my position every 20 minutes while onboard. I’ll change it back once I disembark in Skagway. I have no idea when I will be able to update this page while en route. It will just depend on the internet connections available at the few stops we will make along the way. For those of you who are curious about the prefixes of ship names look here for an explanation. Also here is a link to the Alaska Marine Highway System.
Day 6 Thru Day 10 – July 23, 2013 at 03:00 PM ADT – Skagway, AK.
Boarded the M/V Columbia late afternoon today. Everybody in the bike line (13 bikes) and in the car line next to us were in good spirits. There was an older couple next to me and the bantering back and forth was intense. Great couple. We had some good times during the trip, him talking about my “Honda” and me talking about his senility or lack there-of. All-in-all I will never take that ferry again. Next time I’ll stay on the roads. Cold, humid, rainy and foggy all the way until Skagway. Now I can’t blame that on the Ferry System but I can blame them for the god-awful food. How anybody can mess up a bacon cheeseburger or a grilled cheese sandwich is beyond me. The Seafood Saute and I parted company sometime in the middle of the night from both orifices. We are now at Skagway. I was the last bike off because I was very tired and took my sweet time loading up the bike. I’m very capable of screwing things up when I am tired so… Spent yesterday (the 23rd) doing laundry, walking amongst way too many tourists. 3 cruise ships in dock – 10,000 rude people OK, they weren’t all rude, just a few. There was one lady bulling her way thru the crowded sidewalk literally pushing people out of her way. I wanted to stick my foot out and trip her and then claim I didn’t see her as she was on my blind side. Next Time.
Day 11 – July 24, 2013 at 05:30 PM PDT- Whitehorse, YT.
Short but very pleasant ride up to Whitehorse today. The weather held, mostly sunny skies all the way. Walked about town for a bit. A very clean town indeed. I could live here, oh wait, cancel that. It gets down to -40 degrees F in the winter. What a great segue to my favorite poems I first read back in High School. The Cremation of Sam McGee. Yes, I was cold back then too.
Total miles today 113.
Day 13 – July 26, 2013 at 08:35 PM PDT- Watson Lake, YT.
Tried to get an early start in order to avoid the rain. Didn’t work out that way. GPS Inaccurracy up here a part and some wrong turns by the pilot were not exactly helpful either. Oh well I’m where I am supposed to be tonight. The Air Force Lodge, A renovated U.S. Army Air Corps Pilots Barracks built in 1942. Interesting but not overly so, I can’t upload any videos due to the v-e-r-y- slow internet connection ( I bet they didn’t have that problem in 1942) so I’ll get to them some other time. I’m about 2 or 3 behind. A cool but sunny and a cold and rainy day today.
Total miles today 350.
Day 14 – July 27, 2013 at 10:50 PM PDT- Fort Nelson, BC.
Started out as a cold foggy day ended with a stretch of about 160 miles of sporadic road construction through the Canadian Rockies and a bit of sun. All kinds of road condition including slimy clay, gravel, chipped rock covered with oil and what looked to me a 6-8 inch level of potting soil spread evenly across the road; not even stamped down. When my front tire hit that it just started wobbling to the left, then to the right, etc. How I kept the bike up is totally beyond my recall at the moment. The internet is so poor here that I can’t even upload some pictures much less videos. I’ll try tomorrow. Let’s just say that I have it from a very authoritative source that Buffaloes do not have wings.
Total miles today 326.
Day 15 – July 28, 2013 at 10:00 PM PDT- Dawson Creek, BC.
Pretty good day today. The first half from Fort Nelson to Fort St. John’s Was extremely boring. Nothing a 360 degree panorama of pine trees. Gazillion of pine trees as far as the eye could see. A little bit of rain which caught up with me later in the day. No biggie. The second part, from Fort St. John’s to Dawson Creek was beautiful. Rolling hills, Bright green fields of something, Alfalfa, Hay, maybe. A very nice ride indeed.Oh and lots of deciduous trees. Still can’t upload pictures or videos. Maybe when I cross the border on Wednesday.
Total miles today 351.
Day 16 – July 29, 2013 at 10:00 PM MDT- Edson, AB.
Nothing much to write about when it takes one 10 hours to travel a paltry 356 miles. Rain, sleet, pilot trucks, flagmen/women, slimy muddy roads. That was just the first 30 miles. I’ve renamed Grand Prairie, AB to Hotel California, AB because once you are in it you can never leave. If you want a good laugh follow the track to back to Hotel California, AB and then zoon in click by click. Have I mentioned GPS is kinda useless up here?
Quick Edit on Tuesday Morning the 30th. Actually got some photos and a video up this morning.
Total miles today 356.
Day 17 – July 30, 2013 at 09:00 PM MDT- Cochrane, AB.
The weather gods were overly kind to me today. Had a wonderful sunny ride through Jasper and Banff National Parks. Stunning! Just stunning. Easy but a slow ride due to frequent stops. The weather gods are also promising me a sunny ride on the “Going To The Sun Road” in Glacier NP tomorrow. What a way to cap off this trip.
Total miles today 350.
Day 18 – July 31, 2013 at 10:45 PM MDT- Kalispell, MT.
Needless to say Glacier Nation Park is incredible. The “Going To The Sun Road”, which transits the park, provides one spectacular scene after the other. I’ll get the videos up tomorrow as I am going to stay here two nights just to get a rest.
Total miles today 254.
Day 19 – August 1, 2013 at 11:00 AM MDT- Kalispell, MT.
Day off from the road today. Need some rest after all the abuse the weather gods gave me in the Northwest. All the Glacier NP videos are up. Enjoy.
Total miles today 0.
Day 20 – August 2, 2013 at 11:00 PM MDT- Idaho Falls, ID.
Easy day today riding down to Idaho Falls. Light drizzle in the AM then 70’s and sun in the PM. Tomorrow, before I leave town, I will try to get a few pictures of the Falls that are supposedly here. If Lewis and Clark can find them I can.
Total miles today 450.
Day 21 – August 3, 2013 at 7:00 PM MDT- Nephi, UT.
Hot, long day. No way was I gonna make it to my designated motel at a decent time. In Nephi, UT tonight, probably Kingman, AZ tomorrow night. I’m thinkin’ no more real long trips for this not so young man. Yes there are falls in Idaho Falls. Photos Updated
Total miles today 296.
Day 22 – August 4, 2013 at 7:00 PM MST- Kingman, AZ.
Same as yesterday. Hot day until it actually cooled off riding though Las Vegas. Should be home tomorrow if the creek don’t rise.
Total miles today 444.