Day 3 Montana to Lake Louise

Day 3

Well tonight I have no cell service, internet, heat, or electricity.  This is really roughing it for me.  Since I have no internet, I am typing today’s post on a Word document which I will post when I have internet. 

Today I was able to hit the road at about 5:30 AM.

It was a beautiful morning in Montana.  I captured the sunrise over the mountains.

I thought this was a really neat old barn that was just sitting in the middle of nowhere.  I wonder how old it is.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  There were rolling hills covered in green.  While I was driving through this area, the Do, Rae, Me song from the Sound Of Music came on the Ipod.  The song actually seemed appropriate given the scenery.

More scenery in northern Montana.

I crossed the border into Canada at about 12:15pm.  The border crossing was very easy.  It only took about 10 minutes, but only because there were two cars ahead of me.  I was only asked how long I would be in Canada, where I was going, and if I had any weapons.  The guard and I spoke for a few moments, he was a very jolly fellow.

The scenery just north of the boarder is not very good.  It is very flat with not much to look at.  About 70 miles north of the boarder, I stopped for gas, it was very strange to me that gas was purchased in litters.  I had a hard time figuring out how to work the pump, so a local fellow came over and helped me.  He asked about my trip and where I was from.  He was quite impressed that I had driven this far.  A few moments later, another Goldwing pulled up for gas.  I spoke with this couple their third trip to Alaska.  We were both headed to Calgary.  They were going to stop there for the day, and I was going to continue on.  We parted ways, but exchanged information as we may see each other at some point in the trip.  I made to Calgary in good time.  Traffic was terrible there.  I did not enjoy it at all and was happy to get out of there. 

Shortly after leaving Calgary, I could see the mountains.  I thought, geese, am I ready for this, well ready or not, I’m here.

My gosh, those are big mountains.  I made it to Banff at about 5:30pm, but decided to push on to Lake Louise.  I found a campground and set up camp.  It is peaceful here.  I feel really weird being by myself.  It is already starting to get cold.  I suspect it will be a very cold night.

Finally on day three, Bear count:  2

These two bears were about 200 yards from my camp.  It was a reminder to be very careful.  I slept with bear spray, a machete, and with one eye open.

Here is my camp site for the night.  I stayed in Lake Louise.

Ending mileage 93689 (568 miles today)

 Dinner was creamed corn and chicken flavored ramen 

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I plan to try and make it to Prince George tomorrow.

Day 2 - Montana

Camping overnight was good.  I has a good nights rest but slept a little later than I wanted.  I wanted to be on the road by 5:30 am but wound up sleeping in until 6:30.  So I hit the road at about 7:30.

It was a beautiful morning.  It was not too cold and warmed up nicely.  The drive through northern Wyoming was full of nice rolling hills.  I was able to drive through Kaycee, Wyoming.  Kaycee, Wyoming is a small town where one of my favorite singers is from, Chris LeDoux.  Chris LeDoux passed away in March of 2005.  While I was there, I stopped for gas.  The gas station was right near the Chris LeDoux  memorial park, so I ate lunch there.  When I got back on the bike to leave, the song This Cowboy's Hat by Chris LeDoux came on my ipod.  It kind of sent a shiver up my spine.

Later in the day, I stopped at the site of the Battle Of Little Big Horn in Montana.  It was a bit touristy, but I enjoyed it.  Montana is a beautiful state, I can sort of see why they call it the Big Sky state (the sky looks bigger here for some reason???)

The goal was to make it to Great Falls, MT today but I did not make it.  I wound up getting a motel room in Harlowton, MT.  The reason being I had an electrical failure with the bike that I needed to fix.  I had stopped to fill up with gas and when I turned the bike back on, some of the gauges were not working, I did not have tail lights on the trailer, and the reverse would not work.  I figured I better find the closest place to stay for the night as I was in the middle of nowhere so I could figure out what was wrong with the bike before the sun came up.  It turned out one of the relay's overheated and melted.  Luckily, I packed a spare so all is good in the world.  It did take me awhile to figure it out though.  I suspect something in the trailer shorted causing the failure as just before I stopped for gas, I ran over a sizable pothole with the trailer.  I suspect something was jarred loose, so I have disconnected the electric to the trailer.

I met up with a fellow named Mike at the motel, and we talked for a bit.  Mike just retired from the Air Force two days ago and is working in Harlowton on a large truck scale.  We talked about bikes and the military.  I enjoyed our conversation.

Tomorrow, the goal is to get into Canada and at least to Calgary.  It all depends on what time I can get out of here and how long it takes at the border.

Bear count for today:  0, but I did see 5 Antelope.

Here are some photos from today:

This is on I-25 just North of Cheyene

Northern Wyoming

More of Northern Wyoming

 

I stopped at a parking area to stretch my legs a little.  To my delight, there was some information about the area there. 

 

There were several really cool rock formations in Northern Wyoming.

 

Here is the statue of Chris LeDoux at the Chris LeDoux Memorial Park  in Kaycee, Wyoming.  It was a very nice and peaceful park.

I was able to stop and view the area where the Battle of Little Big Horn took place.  I enjoy history and thought this was pretty neat.  I wanted to spend some more time there, but I needed to get back on the road.

This tomb is located on the grounds of the Museum at the site of Sitting Bull's camp.

A bust of Custer

Here is Sitting Bull

My motel for the night

Ending mileage for day 2, only 550 miles today.

Day 1 Oklahoma City to Cheyenne, Wyoming

I made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming and am staying at the AB Campground tonight.  I ran into some good rain and wind in Colorado.  Other than that, it was a good, but long ride.  I really miss my family.  This is going to be a very short post as I am almost out of battery on the laptop.  I will have to charge it tomorrow morning on the bike (no electricity in the tent.

I promised a friend of mine that I would keep a daily bear count, so here we go:

Day 1:  No Bears

Here are some photos from today:

At a rest stop in Kansas

AB Campground

Ending Mileage day 1 (759 miles)

MMM  Dinner

Tomorrow's goal is to reach Great Falls, Montana.

Go Time

Well,

It's go time.  It's 3:10 AM and I am heading out the door.  The temperature is 55 F and rainy here in Oklahoma.  The plan is to try to make it into Wyoming today.

I am anxious to go, but am already missing my family.

Ed

Preparing to leave

This morning I got up bright and early to make the final preparations for the trip.  I changed the oil in the bike, gave it one last look over to make sure all is well before this long journey, and filed it up with gas.  The bike is almost completely packed.

As I am preparing to go, my thoughts have turned to my wife and children.  I will miss them very much.  I know they will be well taken care of while I am gone by our friends and family, but they will always be in my thoughts.  I have not left yet and am already missing them.

Packed and ready

Starting Mileage 91812

Life

This is going to be hard for me to write about and I’ve been putting it off for almost a month now and I’m at a point where I simply MUST do it.  It’s a good news/bad news type of thing.

The end of April my Step Mom went in for a simple surgery.  This simple procedure should have taken about an hour, ended up taking 4 hours because of a discovery of cancer and a life changing diagnosis.  I won’t go into deep detail, simply because it’s not my story to tell. 

She is now looking at chemo, pills, radiation, scans, and multiple doctors’ visits.  Both her and my Dad had planned on being our babysitters while we took our trip to Alaska. 

As you might have figured out they will be fighting a big battle and I have opted to stay behind and fight with them.  This Alaska trip is only possible for a small window. 

Yes I am sad I’m not going.  Yes I am disappointed.   I found a quote from Lena Horn that made me stop and remember a few things about life;  It's not the load that breaks you down; it's the way you carry it.  

Since I have made this decision I haven’t regretted it.  Not one bit and not for one second. 

Both my Dad and Step Mom will need help with this journey and battle that we are about to fight and in the beginning they will need all the support they can get. 

So the bad news is that I am not going to Alaska. 

The good news is that her prognosis looks good and her doctor is optimistic that she will win this fight.  The other bit of good news is that I have persuaded Ed to go.  This has been his baby from the get go and he has dreamed, ate, slept this trip.  Initially he said “Nope. No way.  I’m staying too.”  I had to spend lots and lots and LOTS of time persuading him that he needs this trip.  He needs to go. 

So while I won’t be his co-rider and I won’t get to have this adventure he will be there and I have told him to keep us all up to date on his trip.

Her chemo begins next week and we have high hopes she takes to it well and I ask all of you to send your prayers, positive thoughts, good will, and blessings our way.  This is not my 1st fight with cancer and a loved one, but I hope it's my last.


So friends I plan to help carry this load, and help be a strong back to those I love.  I will be a good daughter and help carry the burden of this fight.  I will also be a good wife and send my husband on the adventure of his dreams.  And I will keep the words of Helen Keller in my mind; "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow." 

The return from the Darkside

Ed here,

Sorry it has been some time since I have made a post.  There has been a lot of things going on at our household.  Every weekend has been tied up solid. 

I have done a ton of things to the bike, but unfortunately I did not take photos so I cannot write a tutorial.  My new friend and I installed the Darkside tires on the Wing, they were on for about 250-300 miles then removed.  

The Darkside set up just was not for me.  The rear tire gripped so firmly that the front tire seemed to always be searching for a track when riding on any paved surface with a defect.  This caused the handlebars to wobble slightly.  Having a loaded trailer seemed to amplify the wobble.  I was not willing to put up with the wobbling for a ride that will be well over 9000 miles, so I installed a set of new E3 tires on the Wing and it is back to normal. 

When I removed the Taxi tire from the rear, here is what I saw:

The tire was rubbing against the front section of the rear tire.  It also was rubbing the top of the rear fender.  It actually wore a hole in the front section of the rear fender.  There were times when I was riding that I would smell a slight whiff of burning plastic, but I could never isolate it and thought it must have been a passing car or something.  It was me!!

I'm glad this was corrected before leaving for Alaska.  The Darkside was an interesting experiment.  I'm glad I tried it, but it simply was not for me.

The other things that were done to the bike were as follows:

• New rear rotor installed
• Greased all splines with Molly paste
• Inspected the U joint
• Replaced the U joint boot (it had a hole in it)
• Re-torqued the swing arm
• Checked the wheel bearings
• Replaced the air shock boot
• New brake pads all around
• Repaired some wiring
• Replaced the rear wheel dampeners, they were totally shot 

The only thing left to do on the bike is to change the oil which I will be done the day before departure.

Talk to you soon,
Ed