My West Coast/States Trip

[fearlessbob]

Thanks for posting this. This is a trip I am considering. I especially like your posting the route taken, the departure and arrival times every day and the distance covered. Helps a great deal to put things into perspective for organizing such a journey. Keep it coming!

[GAR]

Will do Bob, I'm enjoying recalling the trip(s) & laying it out here.

Fri Aug. 26 2011

Winnipeg, Man. to Good Spirit Campground, Sask. 1W to 16W-Yellowhead, 47N to Good Spirit 564km

Good Spirit, kinda fitting after this day....

Spent the morning in downtown Winnipeg, downing coffee, watching the city come alive, and hitting a greasy spoon for breakfast. Freshened up back at the hostel, chatting w/ the two guys in town for the wedding, they were really interested in the trip, both recently moving to Canada from Nigeria and realizing for themselves just how big this country is.

I gassed up before leaving Winnipeg and decided to take the Yellowhead #16 since I wanted to go through Edmonton/Jasper/Banff/Vancouver.
Beautiful day, clear sky, got on the Yellowhead at Portage la Prarie. Heading North, I approached the only corner in the Praires and there was a semi from the opposite direction, in my lane, heading right at me. I was doing about 120km, he was alot faster and just did'nt seem to realize he was going really fast, around his bend, in the wrong lane.
I honked, I waved at him to move over, I geared down, I went as far right in my lane as I could without hitting the gravel shoulder giving way to the ditch. Which at the time seemed like a pretty good option, you know the ditch, rather than the truck. I held my ground skimming the edge of the road, hoping for a good reaction from him, instead of bailing. He jerked it over at the last second, no joke, his front grill whizzing by inches from my shoulder. If he had a trailer on his rig, I would not be writing this.

This kinda shook things up for the day. I rode for another half hour. I watched him after we passed, he did'nt even slow down, let alone stop. It's funny, I slowed way down, seeing if he would. If he stopped I would have rode over, just to see if he was as scared @#%*less as I was.

That bend was at Macdonald, I pulled over at Neepawa to gas up and get myself together. I've had alot of close calls, we all have. This one was the closest yet. It did happen that fast, and it was "like a movie".

The roads in Saskatchewan were a welcome releif, no one around, and not much to look at. Everyone always says riding or driving through the Praires is boring, it does have it's charms.

Set up camp, had a couple cold ones staring into the fire wondering what if....


Sat. Aug. 27 2011

Good Spirit Campground, Sask. to Maidstone, Sask. #16W 596km

Hoped to make it to Vermillion, Alta. but came up short .
Left the camp at 9:30am, the sun and heat were getting the best of me later in the day. I pulled in to what I thought was a rest area, it turned out to be a campground, based on the honour system. $10 a night w/ envelopes provided for the $ and a slot to slip it into. I could'nt pass it up, so I rode into Lashburn for some dinner and supplies. Came back and set up where the sun would rise on the site.
Threw on the shorts & sandals right away and got settled.
Waved at a couple just pulling up, they were checking out the firewood situation. The campground offered some, but it was slim pickens. They had some of their own and just gave it to me, kindling, newspapers and firewood. They said they were going into town anyway and would pick up some more & made sure I had dinner. They returned and again made sure I was'nt hungry and invited me to their spot. Had a great night w/ Kevin & Kira from Lloydminister 'round the fire, as we were the only folks camping that night. Turned out I was'nt too far off from nailing Kevins accent/dialect. All this Saskatchewan hospitality hails from Springdale, NFLND. I narrowed it down to NFLND. He was going home for a visit in the Spring, had'nt been there for a while.

Halfway Park Campground on #16 Yellowhead at Maidstone, Sask.


Sun. Aug 28 2011

Maidstone, Sask. to Jasper, Alta. 16W, 692km

Packed up and left at 9:30am. Went back into Lashburn for some breakfast at the same place I had dinner the night before, but I was there 1/2 hour before they opened, he recognized me & knew I was camping & let me in and made me some eggs n bacon. Really nice of him, did'nt have to do that. Another example of good fortune on the road.

Caught my first glimpse of the Rockies just past Edson, Alta.

And it just got better. I chose a hostel at Edith Cavell Mt. The road up there was awesome, off of 93A. When I arrived at the hostel I joked w/ the staff sitting out front that I'd be right back, I wanna do that again!

After two days of camping without a shower, I was ready for one. Turned out there's no electricity or running water here, ah well.


Did'nt matter, the spot is just as good as the ride in, great night around the fire.


www.photobucket.com/west-2

[GAR]

Mon Aug 29 2011

Jasper to Banff, Alta. 93A/93S 310 km

Left the Edith Cavell hostel at 10am, took the awesome road down to hook up w/ 93A. Stopped at Saskatchewan River for gas & lunch, WAY too expensive.
I kept an eye open for a lake to take a quick dip & stopped at Herbert Lake, waited for a lull in the tourists and jumped in. Much needed, I had'nt had a shower in three days, got busted as I was drying off at the semi-secluded spot by a couple from Germany. Turned out they rode back home & could'nt blame me, was a really hot day too.
Took six hours to make it to Banff. Lots of stopping & picture taking. Rode around Banff for a bit and started losing daylight, so I checked into the hostel, HI Banff Alpine Centre, on Tunnel Mountain Road.
There is a resteraunt and a bar attached. As you'd guess hotels are expensive here. $37 will get you a bed at the hostel. Hung out w/ an American guy there for some mountain climbing and a local guy who turned out to be an absolute ****** bag.

Tues Aug 30 2011

Banff, Alta. to Chase, BC, 1W 462 km

Up early and had breakfast. It was pretty rainy and cold so I went back to the room for some more sleep and wait for it to clear/warm up a bit. I was sharing the room w/ the local guy and a couple others.
Long story short-turned out the local guy bounced around hostels and lived in his car, had a bit of a rep, and was barred from a couple other hostels. He took my helmet after I was sleeping after breakfast and placed in the laundry room w/ lots of obcenities and the like written in magic marker all over it. I was furious and he was nowhere to be found, gone for the day. I brought it up w/ the manager and he refunded my $ for the nights stay and apologized saying that was the last straw for the guy. He was gonna be barred from there too.
It cleared up so I hit the road, Golden/Revelstoke/Sicamous was fantastic. Spent the night at a motel in Chase and had a pizza delivered from town! Nice to have a motel room after a string of camping & hostels.

Wed Aug 31 2011

Chase to Port Moody/Vancouver 1W to Cache Creek, 97S to Lytton, 12N to Lilloet, 99S through Whistler/Squamish 575 km

Left the motel in Chase at 9am and arrived at Port Moody at 7pm. Another great day riding on fantastic roads through the mountains. Stunning. Staying w/ my sister and her husband, five year old nephew an one year old neice. My nephew was all over the bike and a barrage of questions about the trip.
Spent six days in Port Moody before heading to Vancouver Island.

www.photobucket.com/west-3

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[Rotten_Ronnie]

To insert pictures into your Ride Report, there are two ways to do it:

Copy the URL and click on the "insert image" icon, select "from url", paste in your url, then uncheck "

Retrieve remote file and reference locally" then click "OK" to submit.

An even easier method is to create IMG tags and paste the URL between them (omit the *):
[IMG*]http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg628/gar40/west-1/eastwest336.jpg[*/IMG]

becomes this:



Photobucket shares the php IMG code, so just copy and paste that where you want to see your pictures.

Thanks for sharing. I intend to ride out that way, perhaps 2013.

[GAR]

Thanks Ronnie that looks way better, but I'm afraid it's still a bad case of user/end/operator/error over here.

Tues Sept 6 2011

Port Moody to Tofino, Vancouver Island 270 km

Left Port Moody at 9am for the 10:40 ferry to Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, lotsa bikes on the ferry. Clear skies and the forecast called for more. Around four hours from Nanaimo on #4 to Tofino w/ a stop in Port Alberni for gas, banking ect. #4 is awesome.
Set up camp at Bella Pacifica Campground for two nights, a nice change as it's been one night stands camping. Cleaned up and went to the beach.

Wed Sept 7 2011

96 km

Great day on the Island, I wanted to check out Ucluelet & the guy working at the Gas n Save in Tofino suggested going for lunch at the Black Rock Resort there. Very swish place, great patio, veiw, and a lunch wo'nt break the bank, though a dinner would!
Rode around town and walked a bit of the Wild Pacific Trail. Headed back to Tofino stopping at Long Beach, Incinerator Cove & other spots. Picked up supplies in Tofino & spent the rest of the day at the beach on the campground. I'm not much of a beach guy, but this place was almost magical, something different about it.

Thrs Sept 8 2011

Tofino, Van Island to Port Moody-ferry again 246 km

Up at 5:30am, made coffee and packed up. Really nice ride w/ the sun coming up back to Nanaimo for the ferry. Back in Port Moody in time for a beer w/ my brother in law before we picked up my nephew from school.

Fri Sept 9 2011

Port Moody to Osoyoos

#5E through Chilliwack #3E at Hope, through Princeton to Osoyoos 404 km

Left Port Moody after saying my good byes at 11:30, five hours to Osoyoos, really hot, even in Sept.
Stayed w/ a friend in Osoyoos, dinner at a posh resort, and hung out w/ her family afterwards at their condo at said resort. Can get used to this! Osoyoos is gorgeous. Lotsa vineyards, lotsa wine.
Capped it off w/ a visit to one of the town pubs, the Sage, and called it a night.

[GAR]

Sat Sept 10 2011

Osoyoos, BC to Oroville, Washington 97S 20km Arrgh!

Terrible day, I was having trouble starting the bike yesterday & wrote it off, blaming the heat...
After I cleared customs at the border the bike would'nt start again. Got her going after a few bump start attempts. Pulled into a gas station on 97 to get some water, leaving the bike running, still really hot. A little further down 97 the bike just went flat. I coasted into a bars parking lot. Everyone there was very helpful with one of the guys going to his place not far away and brought back a battery charger. Charged it for a while and started up again, went flat again in front of one the motels in Oroville. The motel's owner was very helpful too and was familiar w/ bikes too. We did some troubleshooting and charged the battery again. His metre said the battery was OK, but it was'nt holding any power.

He gave me a good rate for the night, figured I'd get a new battery the next day when the shops open.



Sun Sept 11 2011

Oroville, Tonasket, Omak, Wash to Kettle Falls, Wash 97, 20E 248km


Thankfully the bike started up just fine in the morning and I made my way down to Omak in search of a new battery. Got one at Ace Hardware, switched them out and hit the road thinking problem solved....
Headed East on 20 through Shermans Pass, much cooler and more comfortable through the woods.
Camped on the Columbia River at Kettle Falls.


www.photobucket.com/west-4

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[GAR]

Mon Sept 12 2011

Kettle Falls, Wash to Bonners Ferry, Idaho 20E to Tiger, 20S along the Pend Oreille River 2E at Idaho, 2/95N to Bonners Ferry 286km

Left the camp at 10am. I decided to take #2 accross the States. Really nice ride along the Pend Oreille River. The only real short term destination was Glasgow, Montana where my new rear tire was at the bike shop waiting for me, as I was getting closer, I kept the shop owner up to date for when I'd be there.
I made it as far as Bonners Ferry, Idaho and the bike went flat yet again, would'nt start after gassing up.
Lucky for me there is a tractor/atv/bike shop on the main drag, Boundry Tractor-Yamaha, with two very experienced guys there. My new battery was a quick fix masking the real problem, that being the stator and/or regulator. It was too late to order the parts that day so Brian & Don ordered the parts first thing Tues morning for delivery Wed morning hopefully. They were convinced it was the stator, but ordered a regulator also, just in case it was fried too.
Don gave me a lift w/ all my gear to the Carraige House Inn, checked into my own little out building called the Boat House. Kinda like holing up in my own little one bedroom apartment w/ a kitchen, for a couple nights, right accross the street from the Safeway. Sat on the deck w/ a couple cold ones and took it all in.


Tues Sept 13 2011

Bonners Ferry 0km

Spinning my wheels, slept in till 8am! Stopped by the shop after breakfast, the parts we'rent in yet but they were confident I'd be back on the road sometime Wed, the next day. I walked down and explored the town, had a nice chat w/ the ladies at the visitors centre, caught up w/ e-mails at the library and found the Kootaney River Brewery-Yay! Great beers & food. Checked out the casino and made my way back to the motel. Cleaned my leathers and treated my boots, killing time....


Wed Sept 14 2011

Bonners Ferry to Brownies Hostel on #49? East Glacier Park, Montana following #2E 377km

Up early again, called Brian at the shop, still no parts, but they'll be there today. Checked out of the motel and left my gear in the lobby, bummed around town some more. Got the call at 2pm that the bike was ready to go, w/ the oil change and some new plugs. Thanked Brian & Don and finally hit the road again heading for Glacier. Saw a couple bears through the park, great ride, w/ the Band's Accross the Great Divide runnin' through my head.
Getting dark and colder, made it to Brownies Hostel at 9pm. Cool place, used to house loggers & was a brothel too.