Day 1 – May 26, 2017.
Parking Brake off at 7:45 A.M. MST. Back on at 6:40 P.M. MDT.
Beautiful ride up to Richfield, UT. in spite of the gusty crosswinds. Glad I was on three wheels instead of two. All things considered, we made good time. Took a few pictures that are posted.

470 miles today.

Day 2 – May 27, 2017.
Parking Brake off at 8:30 A.M. MST. Back on at 6:40 P.M. MDT.           A fantastic ride through Eastern Utah today. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. Great weather until we got to the Western foothills of the Rockies. Then a light rain fell, followed by hail. By the time we were approaching the summit (11,603 ft.) it had turned to snow. At least it was not a heavy snow. Spyders are not snowmobiles.Took a few pictures that are posted.

476 miles today.

Day 3 – May 28, 2017.
Parking Brake off at 8:30 A.M. MST. Back on at 8:15 P.M. CDT.  An uneventful but slightly wet ride today. In and out of a few minor showers until the middle of the afternoon when we got past the line coming in from the Northwest. No pictures today because, well, we rode through Nebraska.

549 miles today.

Day 4 – May 29, 2017.
Parking Brake off at 7:15 A.M. CDT. Back on at 7:15 P.M. CDT.  A great day of riding. Beautiful weather all day. I rode solo as I needed to stop in Verona, WI to have dinner with Jim and Gloria K. They are friends from Sun City West who summer in Wisconsin. Nice visit with them. I’ll try to stop back on the way home. Our dinner picture has been posted. Got to the motel and George, Liz, and Don were already there so we are all set to head to Sault Ste. Marie tomorrow morning.

471 miles today.

Day 5 – May 30, 2017.
Parking Brake off at 8:15 A.M. CDT. Back on at 7:15 P.M. EDT.  A slightly screwed up day. We left the motel at 8:15, drove a mile or two to a Can-Am dealership that had a breakfast buffet set out for us. Picked a couple of free Can-Am baseball caps for Marie and I. Left there about 9:30 AM. Had intermittent rain all day. Don had a shifting problem with his bike so the dealer’s mechanic took a look at and fixed the problem. Better there than on the road. Our little group got split up in the traffic jam/construction mess in Oshkosh, WI. A couple of bikes took the wrong exit. Did not see them again until late afternoon. But it’s over. Tomorrow we enter Canada. Pictures from the dealership are posted.

404 miles today.

Day 6 – May 31, 2017.
Parking Brake off at 7:45 A.M. EDT. Back on at 7:15 P.M. EDT.  A long wet day on semi-crappy highways with low speed limits. Oh well. Not much to say as all we did was ride, get wet, repeat. Managed to have lunch during one of the heavier downpours but got caught a few times on the road. I put the raingear before we left the hotel this morning and it stayed on until we got to our hotel for the night. No pictures posted today. Shorter day tomorrow. I hope it is drier as well.

495 miles today.

Day 7 – June 1, 2017.
Parking Brake off at 10:30 A.M. EDT. Back on at 3:15 P.M. EDT.  A lazy day on the road. A  short hop from Ottawa to Acton Vale, QC so I took my time. As you can see on the map I deviated from the planned route a tad. As I got closer to Montreal I remembered from my last bike trip up here how much “Fun” it was driving through that city. I also remembered that  TCH 30 (Trans-Canada Hiway 30) cuts down to the mainland west of Montreal. So I took it, Nice ride. Decent weather for a change except for a brisk quartering tailwind. No rain, just puffy white clouds amidst a blue sky. Staying at a cute and clean little Mom and Pop motel. I posted a couple of pictures. Tomorrow the fun begins.

201 miles today.

Day 8 – June 2, 2017.
  Another wet and cold day. I’m actually starting to miss Phoenix weather. Made my way down to the BRP factory area in Valcourt. Geesh!, They have factory buildings all over this town. Visited the Museum and also the Can-Am assembly plant. Enjoyed them both. BRP has a core principle of Cultural Diversity throuhout the organization which has made them a leading edge company. I couldn’t agree more with that philosophy. Tomorrow maybe the Design Center and the Product Development Center. Had enough of the cold and rain so I headed back to the motel for lunch and a nap.  The Big Dinner celebration is tomorrow night up in Drummondville. I’m a little wary of driving back in the dark, Especially if it is raining. We’ll see! Plenty of new pictures posted plus a 360º video of part of the trip riding down to the plant(s).

47 miles today.

Day 9 – June 3, 2017.
  Another wet and cold day. So what else is new. Did some computer work while waiting for the weather to improve. I was going to go on one of the group rides this morning but the weather gods had a different idea about that. At least they did cooperate when it was time to head up to Drummondville for the celebratory dinner. Considering they had 3,600 people in the convention center they did a darn good job of cooking and serving the dinner portion. The wait staff was terrific. Had a good group of people at the table. I think everybody had a good time. Sad to say that even though Tweety was in the finals for the best looking bike he did not win. He’s okay with that. He just wants to get back on the road and have some decent weather while doing so. Which we will be doing tomorrow. I’ve seen all I wanted to see and now we will start heading back towards Madison, WI on Sunday, the 4th. Pictures have been posted. I have some videos to post but the internet connection here is painfully slow.

53 miles today.

Day 10 – June 4, 2017. The day started off well weather-wise but long about noon the rain set it. It did manage to stop about 2 P.M. and the rest of the day was just overcast. This is indeed the wettest road trip I have ever been on. Nothing much going on, just riding. I still have those videos to post but the internet connection here is, I’ve said it before, painfully slow.

418 miles today.

Day 11 – June 5, 2017. NO RAIN TODAY! Just generally overcast until I got into Michigan. Yes, Customs and Border Patrol let me back into the country. Where was I..oh yeah. The sky had puffy white clouds and I could see this big shining ball in the sky. It was a glorious sight and the highlight of the day. Nothing posted today. Tomorrow is the Lake Express Ferry over to Milwaukee. BTW – It seems that all of Toronto’s expressways are under construction. It was a total mess getting out of there this morning and I was on the west side as well.

401 miles today.

Day 12 – June 6, 2017. Another beautiful day. I could get spoiled with this kind of weather. A Nice ride on the Lake Express Ferry this morning. Took a few pictures before boarding. They will be posted shortly. Also, a couple of videos to be posted depending on the internet connection. Mike and Nancey (Chris’ brother and sister-in-law) met me at the dock. They treated me to lunch at the Harbor House Which sits right on the lakefront. Had an excellent lunch and great conversation. Thank you both. I then rode out to Deb and Steve’s (Chris’ sister and brother-in-law) place. They recently moved into a new house. Steve did all the finishing work on the inside and then build a really nice screened deck. Again, had a great dinner and conversation, catching up on the latest news and reliving old memories. Thanks to both of you for a wonderful afternoon. Had my cell phone battery die this morning which is why the track from Milwaukee to 20 miles east of Sun Prairie, WI did not get updated on the GPS map.

113 miles today.

Day 13 – June 7, 2017. Good weather today except for the evening portion where some rain tried to make me wet. A long day and long miles but for a very good reason. Had breakfast with Debbie and Angelyn then went over to visit Fran (Chris’ mom) at the assisted living facility. Got on the road about 10:45 and proceeded west on I-90. When I saw the first mileage sign for the town of Albert Lea in Minnesota it dawned of me that is the junction of I-35 and I-90 which means that Bud and Monica’s place is about 90 miles north.I didn’t Bud’s cell number in my contacts so I texted Debbie for it and she sent it to me. Thanks Deb! Called Bud and he said Come on up. They were celebrating the final adoption order for Brian’s stepdaughter. Had a great visit with them and a wonderful dinner. Didn’t get back on the road until about 7:45 PM. Just seeing everybody again made every extra minute and every extra mile worth it. What a fabulous day!

515 miles today.

Day 14 – June 8, 2017. God weather today, actually starting to get hot. Not Phoenix hot but nevertheless toasty. Basically took today off for some R & R. Stopped in Mitchell, S.D. and no, I am not going to see the Corn Palace again. The Quality Inn has a hot tub in the pool area so I spent my allowed 10 minutes in it. Then enjoyed a well-deserved 90 minute nap followed by a good Mexican dinner. All in all a good day. Back on the road tomorrow. Oh…I finally got those videos posted due to a fast WiFi connection.

115 miles today.

Day 15 – June 9, 2017. Nice easy ride to Buffalo, WY. I’ll spend the night here and then Head to Red Lodge MT, via the Big Horn Mountains, to run Bear Tooth Pass and Chief Joseph. Maybe stay in Cody, WY tomorrow night or maybe not. Depends on the day. A couple of pictures have been posted.

488 miles today.

Day 16 – June 10, 2017. Nice weather today.but the storm that went through overnight caused Beartooth Pass to get shut down. I got up as far as Red Lodge only to find out that it was only open to Vista Point. I tried to at least ride there but the clouds decided they wanted to rest on the ground instead of hanging around the sky. Oh well! Took the long way down to Cody where I’ll spend the night. Will Ride Chief Joseph Scenic Byway tomorrow if possible. I’ll also check out the conditions of Beartooth. If they are good then I’ll ride it and double back to Cody then onto Yellowstone. If the conditions don’t work then I’ll just head west and then south through Yellowstone. Life is dynamic, especially on a motorcycle. Some nice pictures of the Bighorn Mountains have been posted. I need to check out the very short video of the few miles I did of Beartooth and publish that if it is worth it.

291 miles today.

Day 17 – June 11, 2017. Overcast all day. Rode the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway today. WOW! Absolutely stunning! I’m thinking I’ll be back to do it again in the future. It is just one of those rides you can’t just do once and say “I already did that one”. Pictures and videos will be posted tomorrow as I need to get some sleep tonight. Beartooth pass was still closed today and I didn’t feel like riding what I could of it and then turning around. I’ll just put it back in the bucket for now. Yellowstone was wet and snowy in spots. I just passed through it from the Northeast entrance to the West Entrance. Did take some pictures though. 

279 miles today.

Day 18 – June 12, 2017. Didn’t see the sun until 3:00 PM. rain, wind, and a bit of hail was how the day went until I got close to Salt Lake City. Stopped at The Craters Of The Moon Nation Monument in the morning. Neat place. The lava beds are not from the usual volcanic source but from seeping up through cracks in the Earth’s crust. Posted a few pictures from there and will try to post the video tonight. Met Marie’s Son Joe fro dinner. Great company, good food. All-in-all a good day.

355 miles today.

Day 19 – June 13, 2017. A beautiful day once I rode out the “Rain Bowl”, AKA Salt Lake City. I was only on the superslab for an hour or so then cut over to the east. It was a great, peaceful, pretty drive through the valleys on my way to pick up UT 12 and take it to U.S. 89. UT 12 is one of the best rides  I have been on. The views are spectacular. Filmed about 8 videos which I’ll post when I can. Took a few pictures outside of Bryce Canyon which will be up soon. 

342 miles today.

Day 20 – June 14, 2017. A very chilly morning ride down to Kanab, AZ then you can feel the temperature gradually rise up as you approach the oven known as Phoenix. Got in, safe and sound, about 3:30 PM MST. Good to be home. It certainly was the wettest trip I’ve been on but it was worth it. Seeing Chris’ family, the beautiful scenery, and of course, the introspection that goes along with you made for a great trip.

Still have the Utah 12 videos to post. I’ll do that in the next couple of days.

401 miles today.

6,899.3 miles for the whole trip according to my GPS.

Thanks for riding with me.

Jack