Up at 6:00, in Surrey, Kris drives me to the airport in Vancouver. I fly out at 9:00 am. Dave meets me at the Kelowna airport and our adventure begins.

After saying hi to Gayla and Dave’s neighbour’s Bob and Judy we jump on our bikes and gas up. The odometer reading is 46,063 at 12:30 pm.

We have a great dry ride over the Rogers Pass. Dave says this is his first time over the pass without rain. Supper in Golden. When we arrive in Field the heavens open up. The rain stays with us into Calgary. Wet and tired, we check into the Greenwood Inn, a very upscale hotel with U/G parking for our bikes, and Dave gets us a rate of only $99. Although tired, we go to the lounge for a drink. Dave and I have much to discuss and the bar tab is about the same as the hotel room. Yikes, are we ever relaxed when we hit the hay!

August 14, 2008 Leave Calgary

We leave in dry weather and head for Regina, and most of the trip is dry with notable exceptions.

We arrive in Regina and are pleased the weather is holding for us. We go to a great bar that epitomizes the green spirit of Regina and its beloved Rough Riders. What a great time we have in that lovely bar. Just great people. Regina is busy and we are lucky to get a room. No recession in this town.

August 15th 2009 Leave Regina

Next morning we are able to get organized and drive out under clear skies. But about an hour out of Regina it starts to rain and follows us most of the way to Winnipeg. We arrive around 4:30 to meet Gayla’s lovely daughter, Jackie, her daughter and her husband. We leave about 5:30 and head for John and Georgina’s in at Lac Du Bonnett. John meets us outside of town and shows us the way to his “cabin”. It takes about 2 hours to get there from Winnipeg. Long commute John! The rain stopped just before Winnipeg making the trip to Johns much more enjoyable. John tells us that it has been raining since last fall and in fact it rained so much that the frost went down 6 feet last winter! We enjoy a lovely time chatting with John and Georgina. She has made us a tasty soup and after a great conversation and a few beers, we call it a night. Next morning Georgina makes us breaky of ham and eggs and we are off for Thunder Bay. What wonderful hosts they have been to us. Thank you people.

August 16th 2009 Leave Winnipeg

We leave in the dry, and head for Thunder Bay. After about one hour on the road the rain starts again, in Kenora, and follows us to Thunder Bay. It is raining very hard. So hard, that it is running down my wind screen and down into my beard and then up into my nose.

I am getting frustrated with all this rain and key the mike. "Dave the newspapers are going to report two motorcyclist fatalities in tomorrow’s paper". The headline will read, "Two bikers die outside of Thunder Bay, they drowned!"

We reach Thunder Bay and look at the long ride to Liz and Ron’s home in Chalk River. We decide to go to Nipagon. Bad idea. We get there and they tell us it is bear hunting season and the rate for a basement suite with two beds is $88. We agree but his is a rip off. We should have stayed in Thunder Bay. Skip supper and have a few drinks and then to bed. This was a long day!

It will be the wettest day of the trip.

August 17th 2009 Leave Nipagon

Up early and off to Chalk River. A very long run, the longest we will make on this trip. This road is beautiful, with lakes and gentle curving roads. . We rode steady and hard with no rain, stopping occasionally to enjoy the lakes and the beautiful sites.

735 miles of back roads later, at 9:00 pm, Dave pulls onto the oncoming side of the Trans Canada hwy smack tab in the middle of "I don’t know, Ontario" and stops! Shocked I say "Dave what are U doing?" He replies, "What is the name on that sign?" I tell him and he says "we are here!"

Great, where is that? I thought Liz and Ron lived in Chalk River? Not quite they have this cabin on the Ottawa River, here in Deep River.

Liz and Ron have been waiting up for us and they give us a warm welcome. Tired, but not too tired for a cold beer and some snacks and we greatly appreciate the warm welcome.

August 18th, 2009 48,639 Miles Chalk River

Next morning, it is sunny and beautiful, albeit very humid, we get up for breaky and then wash the wings, they are filthy. We discover that all our gear is wet. Liz offers us the dryer and washer which we badly need. Later that day, the bikes are clean and the tenting gear is dry, as well as our personal stuff. Micheal, from next door offers to take us on his 28-foot sail boat for a ride down the Ottawa River. The river is wide and soon a breeze comes up and we are traveling down river towards Ottawa.

A sunny day, a cold beer, great company = a wonderful trip.

August 19th, 2009 Chalk River

Dave takes the ladies for a ride on his bike and Ron too. They seem to love it, but Liz looks funny wears Guys large helmet. Liz and Ron will not let us buy anything! Such wonderful hosts. Thanks guys! We owe you one.

Micheal and Denise are having a party for some friends down from Montreal. They are such an interesting couple. Michael is quite and very down to earth, but Denise is a wonderful, bubbly (like her champagne) hostess and the life of the party. They have two dishwashers, one for storage and one for dirty dishes. Seems to work well. The dinner is a totally wonderful affair. We have champagne on the champagne deck and then Michael cooks up a sumptuous meal, of bbq’d prawns and steak. Summer on the Ottawa River! It rocks.

I can hardly walk for all the great food.

August 20th 2009 Leave Chalk River

Our bikes are clean; our gear is dry and now stored in a large plastic bag. We are thoroughly refreshed as we leave Liz and Ron’s and head for La Chute and the famous covered bridge, located nearby, built around 1900.

Wonderful tour, of how they had to build a concrete chute for the logs (right in the river) because the falls (full of boulders) were so treacherous, they would destroy the logs. The owner of the Chute and the Sawmill located there built the beautiful covered bridge.
Then onto Montebello where the Prime Minister and his "elk" hang out.

Lovely three story building make of log or log look a like but painted black Yuk. The rooms in Montebello are $250 a night, we stay in a Chinese lady’s motel $75.00. Dave does a beer run and comes back with a 1litre bottle of Molson Ex that is 10.25% for $3.00! Wow did ya get a couple of lite beers for chasers?

August 21, 2009 Leave Montebello

We leave for Bertherville and arrive early. Guy drives to the cemetery. Right away he finds two large family grave markers for the Mousseau family.

It is a town of about 3500 people. This is where Guy’s grandfather was born. He left Bertherville with his brother and sister at the behest of a priest who was starting a community in Aubienie, Manitoba, about 20 miles South of Winnipeg, around the 1890’s.

Guys Dad, Ovide, was born in Aubienie, in 1901. Bertherville is also the birth place of Gilles Villeneuve the famous race car driver and they have a museum in his honor. We have lunch near the St. Lawrence river, in a great bar, near "La Fleuve". Great Salmon for lunch. Then we go to the original church built here, about 200 years ago.

We leave Bertherville at 2:00pm and arrive in Quebec City at 7:00pm. Our GPS units bring us right downtown and Dave obtains rooms for us at the Hilton, located right across the street from the Quebec provincial legislative buildings. Well done Dave! And a great price!

August 22nd 2009 Quebec City

We booked for 2 days in Quebec. This is Dave’s first time here, and Guy says there is a lot to see and enjoy. This is the first of the many citadels’ we will visit. This was supposed to be "impenetrable" but so were all the others. As we all know, the English could not win a direct attack from the water, so they massed the troops of the West side of the Fortress and hence the battle on the Plains of Abraham. First thing we do is go to the parliament buildings and find a plaque of a “Mousseau” who was a premier of Quebec, from 1882 to 1884. Next, we walk the Plains of Abraham. They are huge and it is hot and humid. We end up in the Fortress and get to tour that part of it where the Governor General stays when she is in Quebec. Wonderful suite with a magnificent view of the river, the city and of the large canon on the walls surrounding the fort.

About 2:00 pm we make it to the old city, called the “Habitation” the oldest city in North America. We are getting a little tired and decide to stop for a beer. We buy 2 beers at a local corner store and sit on the bench outside and watch the world go by. Tourists, parking meter maids traffic and all sorts of things to enjoy. So much fun we have a second beer. Then down into the old town and finally we drag ourselves back to the hotel. Supper was Fajitas at the restaurant next to the hotel. Flambé, if you wish! Breaky is Swiss sausage, a 3 mushroom omelet, with cheese. Another breaky was crepes with maple syrup, country butter and an "avalanche of fruit".

The food here is so good. One must not miss out on the wonderful food when in Quebec City, and I am doing my best to taste it all.

We are putting on some major weight! (Especially Dave). HA!
There are no fast food restaurants in Quebec City. They are very proud of their food, and rightfully so.

There are no chain stores in this town! I saw a Quebecer wearing a shirt that said "Wal-Merde" translated that means Wal-shit.

They now speak a little English and I speak some French and we get by. But the tourists here are "just too many" It was so much more quiet when I was here last in 1980.

August 23nd 2009 Leave Quebec City

We check out of our hotel and drive to Isle D’Orleans. It is a wonderful island, rural in nature with lots of farms but located within seeing distance of Quebec City. We buy some Maple Syrup only $8.00 for a 550 ml can. There is light and dark syrup and the dark is the better of the two. We then head back towards Quebec, but before we leave the beautiful island, we spot a dam and waterfall on the North shore of the river. We head right back to the downtown, to the "habitation" and park right in front of the oldest church in North America. This is where the first French waited for the supply ship to come in and save them from dying of hunger. The church was closed yesterday and we note that after church services we can tour it. After touring the church we meet some bikers from the US and chat a bit. Quebec City rocks. Everyone must visit this wonderful city. Dave says he is going to take Gayla there!

We left Quebec City that afternoon, with a warning that she would call the police if we did not remove our motorcycles from the central square in the "habitation' portion of the city. Ha HA on them. I pretended I was attending Church and got away with it. Only the churchgoers can park there. No I will never change, breaking the rules is fun. WE have pictures of the bikes right in the square, in front of the church. The bust is the French King and the church is the first block building in North America. Built by Champlain in 1624 or something like that. Very special if you are French. Means nothing if you are Ukrainian! Just another old building that needs government funding.

We spend the night in "Rivier Du Loup" Found a motel with a chicken diner place in it and had supper. Talked with some Goldwingers from T O.

August 24, 2009 49,322 Miles. Leave Riveire Du Loup.

We are having a great time. But it rained from Calgary to Thunder Bay. Then a little as we left Ottawa. We have never been so wet. It got into every thing except the Honda stock luggage bags. Love that wing. We leave Rivier Du Loup and start our way down the fabulous Gaspe Peninsula. It is a long winding road up and down but constantly following the South shore of the great St. Lawrence Seaway. From Quebec City East, it is tidal. One can see the ocean taking control of the seaway. There are many lighthouses and fishing is becoming more prominent in the towns we pass. The temperature is very cool and windy. However the sights are wonderful.

Tonight we stay in Fort Preval a golfing resort located at the tip of the peninsula. What a wonderful find. The rooms are average, but the view of the golf course is wonderful. However, what makes this a special place is the food. They have a very good chef and we enjoy smoked duck, smoked salmon eggs, smoked salmon, and in the morning eggs benny, crepes…all just wonderful to the palette.

August 25th 2009 49,689 miles Leave Fort Preval

We leave the wonderful Fort, and drive down the equally beautiful South Shore of the peninsula. But a most welcome change is that the weather has become sunny and warm. We hit 73 degrees, whereas yesterday the high was only 63 degrees.
Long and beautiful ride. We are driving slower and stopping more to enjoy the scenic beauty. John and Georgina told us this was beautiful and they were right. Because of the length and the beauty of this ride, it rates as the most beautiful part of our trip. Much more beautiful and much longer than Cape Breton. In fact I would skip Cape Breton before missing the Gaspe.

The GPS takes us to a ferry that quit crossing about 10 years ago. Oh well! Later we cross into New Brunswick, and the first town we come to, we notice that everyone speaks English. Just like we had changed to another country, not just another province.
We made it to Bathurst, and we are ready for a rest. Maybe a couple of slow days in PEI? So far, since August 13th we have done 3,900 miles. The last few days, we have not been making good time (250 miles/day), because we are taking the back roads and enjoying the scenery and the twisty curvy roads. If I had to do this trip quickly, I would ship the bike to Quebec City and start our trip from there.

Don’t get me wrong, we are having a ball! What incredible scenery! Wings are running good. I will turn 50,000 miles tomorrow. Dave just turned 30,000 miles. One of my headlights is burnt out.

We contact BA in PEI, who is Di’s sister. (Thanks for organizing our stop in PEI, Di). Betty Anne just moved here from Calgary. What a big change for her! But she told us she loves the Island, the geography, the history, and most of all the friendly warm people.

August 26th 2009. 49,950 miles Miles’s Leave Bathurst

Windy Windy day, but 73 degrees when we leave at 8:30 AM. We can either go along the ocean route or the highway across the land. We take the fast way down, as we are a bit tired and after asking the locals, do not believe that we can see anything more beautiful that the Gaspe. We arrive at Confederation Bridge and stop at the information center. It is blowing even harder! We guess at the wind speed. Dave is low at 30 mph and I guess high at 40 mph. Turns out the wind speed is 30 mph wind gusts to 40 mph. Ok over the bridge we go. 12 km long. We can see over the high concrete guardrails and see a sail boat racing in the wind. It blows a lot around these parts, so no wonder they built the blue nose in Nova Scotia. We are busy trying to hold our machines on a straight course, in these heavy winds. We are told that they often close the bridge to motorcycles and empty semi’s in high winds. Only way to get an empty semi across the bridge in high winds is to line it up with a full truck, and use the full truck as a windbreak.

When we get to BA’s, at 4:00 pm in beautiful Summerside, she tells us that she invited some neighbours over for a few drinks. After a chicken supper, we meet Barb and Dan who are very nice PEI’ers and Kris, another neighbour tells us a bit about NY. He says stay in New Hampshire and take the train into NY, about a 1hour train ride. Great little party, everyone had a good time.

August 27th 2009 50,236 miles PEI

I sleep in till 8:00, Dave and I have coffee with BA before she goes to work. We wash our clothes and then we wander into town for breaky and a look around. After breaky we find the shop on the waterfront that sells lobster for only $4.00 for “canners 1 lb” and $10 for 2-3 pounders. We get a small canner for tonight. (I should have bought a 4-5 lb’r for $25) Then we drive along the South shore, and up to the North Cape to see the wind turbine electrical project, put on by the government. With the wind they get on this island, they might be able to produce enough electricity to meet their energy needs, hell maybe all the energy needs of the Maritimes! Man it blows here! Oil is very expensive and the cost to heat a home is $500 a month in the winter. We see huge piles of firewood, like 10 to 20 cords of wood. They deliver it on a flat wagon. We also see what I thought were oyster farms but they are scallops! The famous place in these parts for scallops is Digby on the West shore of Nova Scotia!

Dave and I have lunch in a restaurant at the North Cape, a lobster "roll" and fries. Wow what great fries! The roll is a hot dog shaped bun. They sell for between $7.00 and $15.00.

We take BA out for dinner at Gentleman Jims and have a great feed. Then BA takes us to the lighthouse on the other side of the bay. A few miles as the crow flies, but about 30 miles by road. Dan tells us that you can almost walk across the bay at the really low tides.

PEI is a wonderful place. Dave calls it Fantasy Island.

It has red soil, (Dave says the soil is red because of the constant wind), no rocks, they even import gravel, it is very very flat, has great soil for growing just about anything but potatoes and corn is what we see the most of. I tell Dave look potatoes, potatoes, potatoes, and in that field they grow tater gems, and over there they grow cringle cuts, and there are the potatoes and sour cream….. I tease BA that every once in a while we see corn…is that to break up the diet of potatoes? No she says, "The corn is for the cows". Ok…so here they eat potatoes and lobster! And they drink a little beer…now and again.

The South side is the warmest side, September is the best month to visit, the roads are slow, the scenery is incredibly beautiful, the people are so very nice, the potatoes are wonderful to the taste, the lobster is plentiful and cheap, McDonalds has McLobster, Subway has a lobster sandwich, they are starting to use wind driven turbines to replace oil, the Confederation bridge is huge, 12 km’s long and a feat of engineering, beaches are generally muddy….red mud, but it is an enchanting place to visit. We just loved it and we loved the people. And you can buy a nice house here for under $90,000.

August 28th 2009 50,407 miles PEI

Today BA does not work until 4:00 and we decide to take the big Goldwings East to see Souris, and Georgetown. In Georgetown, we saw a very old and beautiful courthouse and saw the high water mark on the side of the courthouse… Duhh! We are about 50 feet above sea level and this is high water mark?? What about the houses down below? Then to Souris, to see the “beach” Yes this is a great beach. But I thought there were a lot of beaches on P.E.I.? Apparently not! Often, they call it a beach, but to me its mud.

We saw an odd looking tree in Montaque. This web site tells the story of it. 5,000 people stopped to look at it during the Canada Games. There is even a Wayne Gretske hockey stick in it.

Here is the web site: Kinda funky and very neat. Just like PEI. www.folkartlife.com/articles/canadatree.shtml

We then head for the capitol, Charlottetown, for a late lunch at Subway of lobster on a bun. We are running late and need to get Betty to her work. We forgot that they are having the Canada summer Olympics here. The traffic is all backed up. We are late and must drive Betty right to her job site. Sorry Betty! She says its no problem, what a great Gail!

Dave and I then drive North up towards the Anne of Green Gables area. First to the Rustico light house. Very rustic (no pun intended) and very maritime. Good ice cream. The ladies show up in bridal gowns? They are trying on the gowns for the upcoming wedding, and working at the same time. We drive to Cavendish, and the home of Anne of Green Gables.

Pretty cool to see this piece of Canadiana. I gotta read the book to the girls. Then, around the Capes. There are no deer here. Very good! Supper is chicken at BA's.

August 29th 2009 50,745 miles PEI

We are expecting a storm today, and we decide to stay one more day. We wash the Goldwings, (Dave doing a detail cleaning job like I like doing, his wing is beautiful!) and then we jump on some house work. Dave fixes the light in BA’s beautiful, double garage, and I start by sweeping the garage, which has a ton of red soil in it. Then Dave hits the weeds. We get ‘er all done and then chicken leftovers for lunch! I run back to the wharf to buy more lobster. I get a ½ pound of cleaned claws (I think the best tasting part) for $13.00.

By 3:00 it starts to rain. We are expecting two storms, one from the Toronto area, heavy with rain, and hurricane Danny. About 6:00 pm it starts to rain hard. We are invited to Barb and Dan’s, and enjoy a lovely evening with them and their friends from Alberta. They have a house with a view of the bay. That night the storms converge and the rain and wind are heavy. The next morning, we learn that most areas got about 2 inches of rain in 12 hours. I woke up several times listening to the wind blowing hard from across the straight.

August 30th, 2009 50,755 Leave PEI

Today is 30th and the rain and the wind has stopped. WE got 2 inches of rain in 12 hours. But today it is a beautiful, clear morning and Dave and I need to ride. We thank BA for her generous hospitality and commence on our way. As we leave BA’s we see Dan returning from his stress test. How did things come out on the test Dan? We ask? (Dan and his doctor, had been worried that his "ticker" was not working right) Everything is OK he says with a big smile. Great! All the best to ya Buddy!

We roar off towards Confederation Bridge and the ride to Cape Breton. And Fort Louisburg.

Leave Summerside at 10:00 and arrive at Louisburg at 6:00. We check out the prices of motels ($85) for a Ma and Pa, and decide to tent ($22). The campground is located right in the middle of town, we can walk to the restaurants, and they have free showers, and a great room for travelers to gather and free internet. The weather is still mixed. When we try to set up our tents, the wind blows them across the campground before we can anchor them down! My boots, leathers, and huge sleeping bag hold the tent down nicely. Later that night we get some rain, at 5:15 AM, but not too much. Just enough to remind us we are in a “weather challenged” part of the world. A nice young lass, tells us she got up and packed her tent when the rain started. What did you do until morning I ask? Just sat under the shelter and drank coffee. I did not ask her why she did not want her tent to get wet. She was from BC and traveling in a car.

We are as far East as we can travel in continental North America, without taking a ferry to the island of Newfoundland.

August 31, 2009 51,109 Louisburg

Up early, we are anxious to see the Fort.

We arrive, park the bikes and are instantly impressed by the visitor’s center. They have many folks there dressed in period clothing, willing to explain their jobs, how they did them and details of their existence. It was not easy living in Canada in those days. They have no native soil in the fort and must import soil for gardens. Few horses, they are costly to maintain and soldiers will work for very little pay. Yet they tell us that building the fort cost the King of France a fortune. Who made the money? Not the labourers! Everything had to be imported here because there was a law against the mass production of anything in the Colonies. (Keep the colonists poor and under the thumb of France).

Ships brought expensive goods made in France and returned laden with dried fish. A fish cured in salt, tastes like a fresh caught fish, when the salt is boiled out of it!

This Fort was impregnable from the sea side, OK so the Brit’s attack from land Outmanned, the French surrender. The Brits toke this fortress twice, both times attacking from land (not the sea), kinda reminds me of the Coyote and Roadrunner series. Why don’t the French learn? The fort was totally destroyed by the British when they decided they could control North America from Halifax. They brought in unemployed coal miners from Britain to blow up the entire fortress! Ironically, they used unemployed coal miners, to rebuild this wonderful fort.

In 1958, Diefenbaker, started a "make work" project to employ, unemployed coal miners in Cape Breton and rebuild the Fort.

This is the largest reconstructed fort in North America. Prime Minister Diefenbaker decided to rebuild it as a matter of "Great Canadian importance" and because they had closed all the coalmines in Cape Breton. It took 20 years to rebuild the fort. It is HUGE! And they only rebuilt 1/3 of it. It was the largest fortress in North America! When the French built it, it was one of only four Forts in North America. The other forts were in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

They started to build it in 1713, and it was held by the French until the English conquered them in 1745. Life was very harsh in the fort, especially for the soldiers who often received no pay. So they had to work after their soldier duties were completed, to earn spending money. The captains of the fort kept the soldiers pay to recompense themselves for the soldier’s uniforms and the food they ate! The soldiers had to sleep 3 to a bed, 6 to 12 beds in a room. Their rations per day were 2 pounds of bread, 4 ounces of vegetables and 4 ounces of meat. Don’t ask about the toilet facilities…Yuk!

When the English "conquered" the fort, all the French surrendered and no one was hurt. Then the English sent all the French soldiers back to France to live in their pleasant climate. This was probably the reason why the French did not fight very hard against the English.

Their punishment for losing the fort was to go home, escaping the bitter cold Maritime winters, into the arms of their families and loved ones!

Even better, the French soldiers knew that their British counterparts were now living in their places, at the Fort. HA HA English!

Why did the French build the fort here? Because the French had 135 days a year they could not eat meat (church rules). Fish was the substitute for meat. And the cod fishery was 3 times as big as the fur trade. This port supplied 1/3 of all the fish eaten by all Frenchmen, about 20 million people. The Micmac Indians fought on the side of the French. But the English were clever. They did not attack from the water, because the French guns would have been formidable to any navy, but they attacked from land. (Just like they did at Quebec City). All the French guns were aimed toward the sea. Twice the British conquered the Fortress. Both times by attacking it from land. The French did not have their hearts into defending this desolate, cold, wet place from the English.

And the French King hated the expenses of the New World (cost of soldiers and navy ships and the cost of the new Forts, here and in Quebec city), and traded off Canada to the British after the wars of 1745. He wanted the islands of Caribbean that provided the more lucrative sugar.

We saw the huge cannons being fired off. The cannons were very, very loud. Lots of interesting people in costumes of the day telling us about life in the old fort. Dave wants to bring Gayla here to see this wonderful place.

Prince Edward Island was a magical place. But this Fortress is a magnificient recreation of life in the 18th century in Canada. I want to bring the granddaughters to see it. And the Fort at Quebec City.

Actually it was not a fort but a fortress! What is the difference? A fortress has houses, and businesses inside the gates, and the King quarters.

Tomorrow we leave for the famous Cabot Trail.

September 1 2009 51,114 Leave Louisburg

Gas is $1.10 ltr
We left Louisburg to drive the famous Cabot Trail. It was a nice ride but not as nice as we thought it would be. The East side is boring! Not much here for a real rider. Way over sold! In fact it pales in comparison to the Oregon coast. We have lunch in Neil’s Harbour. Great seafood lunch! Where are the views and the curves? We had a nice climb up Mt Smokey, and a few twists. Overall a great disappointment!

Now Westward and over the top, then South. It is bloody cold. Finally, we have found some grand views like in Oregon, but too few views! And too small! And almost no twists! Overall the Cabot trail is a grand disappointment. What inexperienced rider (from back East, said this was a great ride?…Please, come to the West Coast and see what I mean about Oregon and Northern California.

I want Oregon, California! Or my favourite, the Grand Colorado!

Now to Antigonish for the night. Wait the rooms here are $100 a night! The HST here is 13%. Try to avoid this place. In fact avoid the Cabot trail. From Louisburg, do not go North, go South.

September 2, 2009 51,425 Leave Antigonish

Fuel is $1.04 ltr
Left Antigonish and found a great motorcycle road, all the way to Halifax. We arrived in Halifax at 2:30. We checked into the Westin Halifax $99/nitewhich was a CN hotel. Great location right on the waterfront. So why did we have to pay $100 in Antigonish? (Tourist trap)

Many women checking in with their daughters? Halifax has many great Universities and is a growing city. Why? The answer is the weather. They do not suffer from the cold winds and low temperatures of the more northern Maritimes. They do get snow, but then, the warm winds blow in from the Gulf of Mexico current, that also brings the warm weather to Europe, and the snow melts. Or so we are told!

We had a chance to walk the beautiful waterfront and do a walking tour of the many old buildings that have been preserved. Going back hundreds of years. The English obtained control of Halifax around 1713 and built the citadel, a magnificent fort that not only is standing today, but is in very good and authentic condition. Unlike Louisburg which has been reconstructed.

The fort was never attacked or taken by the enemy...that would be the French. This is well worth seeing!

Our first tour after checking in was of the waterfront. We found the maritime museum, which turned out to be another gem of Halifax.

Then we toured the HMSS Sackville which is now permanently moored in Halifax. It is a WW ll corvette used to chase subs. These little ships chased the Germans away and made safe the shipping lanes to Britan! There were about 300 of them built and they helped turn the tide against the Germans, by allowing the supply ships to get thru to England. Indeed they did, but what a hellhole for the men that served on them. Our children would not be able to understand the horrible conditions that the men served under. I can understand, but still I am appalled by the living conditions. However it was war and the freedom of the entire world was at stake. God bless those sailors for their bravery and courage!

My father worked on the ships at Sherbrook, Quebec. They built the hulls inland and then shipped them to Halifax for the finishing work. What a history we have here! What a wonderful place to understand our heritage. And what a wonderful habour. Dave and I feel that we must return to Halifax to explore it properly and to show it to our loved ones.

September 3, 2009 Halifax

Breaky at a great little coffee place near our hotel. We make friends with the owner and his female "boss". Great gal.

We toured the cidatel. Never attacked! What a great design. Right on top of the highest point of land with guns all around, And, on a star shape pattern that ensured that the gunners always had more than one angle on the enemy. A dry moat all around?

How did the dry moat help? They would put rocks and other impediments to the foot in the moat and just shoot down on the enemy. Easy pickens!

Then toured the Maritime museum. Halifax was the closest seaport to the Titanic and about 400 of the unclaimed bodies are buried in 3 cemeteries.

They have an excellent display of the Titanic and its brief history.
It sank about 450 kms South East of Halifax. The museum is wonderful in so many ways. Many themes from sailing ships, fishing boats, an exposition on the WW1 collision that destroyed the harbour and most of the city. Back to the Titanic, they have deck chairs, and other artifacts, only one 2 year old child died. Most of the men in 2nd class did, in fact, drown. So guess what happened to the people in steerage? Two ships were send out to claim the bodies back from the sea and about 400 bodies were retrieved…but never claimed.

They also have a display of the horrible detonation of an arms supply vessel that collided with another ship in 1917 and destroyed a huge part of the city.

Overall, I must say that Halifax was a pleasant surprise and I would recommend it to anyone. We finished our day with a tour of the survey ship, the Acadia. It was built in 1913 (the Titanic in 1912), and was commissioned to survey Canada’s Coast line. This is a luxury yaught compared to the WW 2 corvettes we have seen. This was a great ship to ‘ship out’ on. All the officers had separate quarters, oak and Mahagony trim. They surveyed the Hudson’s Bay, and most of the Eastern shoreline. They did so much valuable work for Canada. And, a great ship to tour.

September 4, 2009 51,619 Leave Halifax

We left beautiful Halifax, Dave said “I gotta bring Gayla here” Guy said…and Julie too! We left to see Peggy’s cove. Great ride down. This place is not overrated. It is a fantastic ride there and the Cove itself is also fantastic. I can see how the waves have worn the huge boulders smooth, and I can see how a high tide and a tropical depression could easily send the waves over the smooth low rocks and sweep a person out to sea. The inner habour is like a scene out of a Popeye cartoon. As we departed Peggy’s Cove we came across a monument in remembrance of the Swiss air disaster of 1998. Dave says the plane caught fire in the cockpit and went down about 15 km. off shore from Peggy’s Cove.

Off to Lunenburg, home of the Blue nose. Darn, but we missed her. She was gone. But the harbor is gorgeous and many other sailing ships were in port. We had lunch on the waterfront of fresh haddock. Wow, it was good. The food is way too good out here. And the view over the harbor toward the golf course is spectacular. We feel we must make better time, so we take a short cut across the bottom half of Nova Scotia.

We ride Eastward to Digby, home of the famous "Digby scallops", and found there was a huge motorcycle rally on there this weekend, 20,000 bikes. Having heard this, we immediately got on the ferry to St John to visit the huge tides in the Bay of Fundy. 60-foot tides. Gosh that seems awful high? Gotta see that for myself.

Ferry ride is $80 for a bike and rider. Leave at 4:30pm arrive at 7:30. Dark at 8:15. We got to talking, at the ferry landing, to a couple of nice fellow bikers from the US and they had told us about an RV park just outside of St John.

One biker rode a Harley with a trailer behind and his friend rode a wing and was tenting. We punched in the address of the park into our GPS’s and off we went from the ferry. Our first toll hwy in Canada! Well, wouldn’t you know it; we arrive at the campground before our new friends that told us about it. They got lost on the freeway.

We are just about done setting up camp and we hear the Harley coming up the road. They have the campsite just across from us. But it is on a steep hill. Right away we hear the sound of a motor revving up and down goes the wing. The little fellow from the US is down and so is his wing. Stepped into a shallow spot, he did. We go over and lend a hand getting his bike up. Later, the Harley dude comes over to our camp site and says "Hey, you with the long legs, can you lend us a hand again?" Well sure, what do you want? He says my buddy’s bike is in kinda of a bad spot. Can you ride her down, backwards, and get her in a better place for him to saddle up in the morning?

For a fellow biker, sure can! There, that is done and we have our tents set up, so, the little lady at the campground entrance, who toke our money, said there is a place to eat and have a beer just down yonder at the lake. We tell our friends where we are going and off we go.

Soon they show up for a cold beer. We get to talking and make new friends. Nice folks they are. They tell us about two ferries that will take us to Maine. Sounds beautiful. And they tell us to see the bridge that crosses over the North end of the Cheasepeake Bay.

September 5th, 2009 51,827 St.John NB

Next morning we are off to the UPS store in St John. They are closed until Tuesday! Arghh!

Q. Who the heck gets Friday night to Tuesday off in this world?
A. People who work in the Maritimes, that’s who. OK, we decide to go to Alama, on the Bay of Fundy, the highest tides in the world.
But first we go for breaky at "Cora’s". What a great spot to eat. Crepes and everything else just like we get at D Dutchmen in BC. And very good!
We arrive at the park and the cost is $8.00 a day per person plus $25 a day for a campsite. But we get a great campsite with a view of the ocean. This Federal campsite has hot showers, laundry and all. We walk into Alma for lunch and the tide is high at 2:00pm at 3:30 the tide has dropped 3 feet and is going out.
We return at 5:30 and the tide is out about 2-3 km’s. The river that was full to banks is now just a tiny stream. In another 2.5 hours the tide will have dropped 30 feet! Right now, you can walk about 2 km's out in low tide. Just amazing! The greatest tides move by up to 60 feet. That is because the water way up here in the top of the arm gets pressured so hard in the narrow inlets.

September 6th, 2009 Alma

We drove up the coast to see more huge tides in Cape Enrage and the Hopewell rocks, where sandstone is being eroded into beautiful sculptures that remind me of the wind bridges of Utah. The sights are outstanding and I want to see more. Dave says he wishes to return to the campsite. I push on to Moncton. Another lovely town. I stop for gas and a rest and get talking to the local folk. They explain that the river I have been driving beside is like a river of quicksand. Brown and almost solid at low tide. Do not try to walk on it they tell me! And it floods with the tide, ensuring the mud is more like quicksand. The ride is picturesque and very enjoyable. The total population of New Brunswick is only 750,000 people. That reminds one, that the number of people is not as important to the quality of life as is the quality of people.

I start to return to Alma. The river that drains Moncton and goes into the Bay of Fundy is the Peticodiac River. This river because of its colour, it is often nicknamed the 'Chocolate River'. The river is 129 km long. And it really looks like chocolate.

Returning to Alma, I stop at the fish store on the wharf and had the biggest, yes the biggest lobster for supper. We figure it was 4 to 5 pounds. The lady at the fish plant cut up the lobster for me and put it in a newspaper lined box used for 24 pop cans. They have park tables outside, so I got a couple of beers from the store across the street, and sat down to the best lobster dinner you can imagine.
What would you pay for a lobster that big in Vanc? (If you could get one that big) About $100. It was $25 here. God what a feast! Cold beer and all the lobster you can eat! I’m loving it. Me and Dave head back to camp and we play a few hands of crib. It was a long day for Guy and it’s getting cold, so into our warm sleeping bags early.

September 7th 2009 52,050 Leave Alma

Gosh, another cold night in camp. Down to 45 F. Brrrr. And very humid. We fold our tents, still wet with dew and I tell Dave I do not like the humid cold. But to my surprise, Dave says he was fine. Maybe I need a better bag? Why did I leave my thermal underwear behind? No pun intended.

Leave the Hopewell Rocks, and we drive West, (up river) to Fredericton, the capital, and then down the Long Reach Canal and down to Saint John. We had obtained a bikers guide to NB and it tipped us off to this beautiful ride and we had good weather. In Saint John there was a huge passenger liner in port. Was it the QE2 that we had heard of? No, we missed the Queen Elizabeth; it was in port yesterday and is now off to New York. Tonight we stay at a small motel in St. John. Arrive at 3:30 cost $70 for a Ma and Pa. Motel. Supper at Wendys.

This is the place where they have the really deep gutters. I hit the packit rack going into the motel. And leaving it. Dam what a crappy set up. Turns out the pac it rac was shaken up enough, that it is now pushing down on the rear cover panel of the Wing. I do not discover this until New Haven.

Tomorrow we leave for some small islands on the South East coast of NB that are connected by ferries which eventually bring us to Maine. It has been getting cold at night; last night was down to 45F. At least Guy was cold, Dave said he was fine. Oh yeah?…well Guy was fine too, but tonight Guy wants a motel. Fine!
Days are only about 63F.We have camped the last 3 nights. (In Alma) We had a beautiful campsite in the Federal park, even had hot showers all for $25 a night for both tents. But summer is ending.

September 8th, 2009 52,290 St. John NB

We get up early and leave for Cora’s restaurant for a hearty breaky. Guy goes to the bank and Dave heads right to the UPS store. WE hook up just as Dave is coming out of the store with his package, a park pass for the US Federal parks.

Then we head for the Islands of Tete-Deer Island and then to Campobello. The second ferry costs $10 for the trip. The ferries are very small and we witness the location of the largest tidal whirlpool. (But it was small today due to low tide, darn). The ferry is pushed by a little tug that has a hinched connector to the barge. It pushes the barge in and then pivots, on the pin, and changes direction. OK I have pictures to explain it better. We then drive over the Bridge to Lube. We cross customs with no problems; the young man at the border is very nice.

We start driving down the scenic Hwy 1 of Maine. We get to Ellsworth, found the Honda shop and asked them to install two headlights to replace the burnt ones on Guys bike. I lost the second headlight somewhere around PEI. Odd they went within a few days of each other. They only have one, but it is under warranty, $29 US per bulb! If these bulbs cost that much, why do they burn out after only 40,000 miles? But you gotta love that 3 year bumper to bumper warranty.

We get some good tips to visit the Acadia national park. The park land was purchased by Rockafeller and his fellow millionaires, and then after he built miles of roads and bridges, he donated it to the people of the US. With the stipulation that they take care of it and they do not allow motor vehicles in. We drive the coastline and up to the highest point on the US East coast, Mount Cadillac, 1500 feet high. From there we can see the cruise liner that we had seen departing Saint John the day before. There are so many islands, the largest number, in any state! We take a few scenic rides around the islands. These island were the playground of the rich at the turn of the 1900’s and once and a while we glimpse a view of a huge mansion (huge like in Richy Rich’s mansions). Most of the mansions were destroyed in the fire of 1947. This is a place for the elite rich. The scenery is amazing and even President Roosevelt had a summer place on Campobello Island…. yes in Canada!

We have had a huge day. Arrived in Pittsfield tired at 7:30 but we have lost the Maritime hour, we are back on Eastern Time. We are happy that the weather was perfect and we are blessed to have seen some of the most beautiful waterfront in the world. It is like the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine coast and the Oregon coast all in one. The Maine seaboard is just gorgeous. We stop and get some food at the local supermarket. And a few beers and call it a night.

September 9, 2009 52,290 Leave St.John

Breaky in Pittsfield downtown, very good and reasonable $4.99. Boring old Hwy 95 South but we need to make some time. We are both anxious to see NY. We stopped in Boston for lunch, Chinese! Large portions and neither of us could eat it all. But we avoided the Downtown for obvious reasons. We had booked a motel, the Days Inn in New Haven and got there early. Cause we did not want to arrive in the NY area late, looking for a room somewhere in NJ. (But looking back, we could have made it into New Jersey, quite easily), and had one more day in NY.
Dave has told me that he has noticed that the Pac Rack is hanging low and should be looked at.
After checking in at the motel, Dave goes to have a look around at the Wal Mart.while Guy has a look at the Pac Rack.

Upon closer examination, I see that the rack is pushing down on the Hondaline rear plate and it is cracking it in several places. I remove the rack, then the Honda rear plate and see that I have some severe problems with the rack pushing down on that rear cover. I can now examine the steel plate, which supports the Pac Rack onto the frame of the Wing. I am shocked to see that the plate is broken in many places. The top right hand support is totally broken; there are cracks in 3 other places. What to do? Dave comes back and we decide to "let it ride".
But I go over to the Wal mart and buy a cutting tool. I need to enlarge the opening for the "goose neck" of the Pac Rack.

It works great, but it slips and cuts my left thumb down to the bone. That should require a few stitches but I am in the US and don’t want to use my medical insurance on such a small thing. (By Oct 23rd it is healed closed.) I increase the size of the opening in the Honda plate, the pressure from the plate has ceased and the damage should stop.

I remove the 4-550 ml canisters of maple syrup that I bought in Quebec and place only my pillow and other light items in the pac rak. But never has there been anything heavy in this luggage. Mostly it was empty since I left Vernon. But I did hit the gutter leaving the motel in St John. I test the Plate and it seems sturdy enough to get me home. But I will watch it for signs of further fatigue or damage. Right now I have one can of 201 windshield cleaner in it and one can of Honda cleaner, some cleaning clothes, but nothing of any weight. I do not understand why the rack has broken down. Dave tells me that the rack seems to bounce a lot when I hit bumps.

I get it all back together. Now for a motel in the NY area!

We get on the Internet and find that the motel I had picked out a few weeks ago had increased their prices but we find a Days Inn right across the river from Manhattan, in NJ for $85.

September 10th 2009. 52,600 Leave New Haven

We start the day by going to the Honda dealer and getting a second light for my wing. The service manager is a great guy. Right away he says my tires are “scalping”. HUUH! That term means they are “cupping” badly. He says it is tire pressure. "No way!" I say. And the gauge proves I am right, 41 lbs since we left home. So he says it is the highways in this part of the US are so bad that they screw up the tires. Our brand new rear Dunlop’s are cupping badly. The front Bridgestone’s are fine! So we push up the rear tire pressure to 47 lbs from 41 lbs on the rear and leave the fronts at 30 lbs.

We drive to NJ and the Days Inn. $60.00 plus tax.
We get to NJ at 11:00 AM. But our room will not be ready until 3:00. We get a tip to take the NJ turnpike to Liberty Park on the NJ side, take the ferry to Ellis Island, then on to the statue of Liberty and finally to Manhattan! Only takes about 20 minutes.
The statue of Liberty is wonderful, a huge base holding it up, made of stone. One must see it in person. But the waiting list to climb the statue is full until January 2010. We see Ellis Island, but decide not to get off the ferry.

We again board the ferry to Manhattan.
Costs $7.00 to park, $2.00 for the turnpike and $12 for the ferry to the Statue and to NY. Then a $7.00 ferry ride back from NY to NJ.
As soon as we get off the ferry to Manhattan, we are greeted by a group of 4 talented young black men who tell us they are doing this instead of mugging us, or other criminal activities. Very funny. But very talented. Their gymnastics are wonderful. OK you guys earned a tip from me! We walk up the main streets of Manhattan and one of the first things we see is a life size bull. What is the story I ask? Well, an unknown sculpture did this and another called the bear, and dropped them off right here in downtown Manhattan, late one night. The city works picked them up, but the people of the city were fascinated by the bull and demanded its return. It is said that it is good luck to rub the statue on the way to work. We saw Wall St. and the place where Washington was sworn into office. Then to ground zero. Wow the site is huge, a large crater, but they are rebuilding it. Tired, Dave and I ask where we could find a nice lunch on the river.
Lunch cost $8.00 for a pint, $5.00 for fries, and the delicious corn beef on rye with sourkraught is $12.00 plus tips. We ate a late lunch at the Winter Garden at the world financial center. Gorgeous place.

Then a short walk to the ferry and another incredible ride on the freeways and turnpikes to get home at 6:30. Thank you Hondaline GPS!
The highways are all toll ways here and Dave and I feel that the reason the price of gas is only $2.65 a US gallon is that they charge you for every thing around here. We hit 5 tollbooths by 10:30 yesterday morning. And the roads range from poor to average with some goods. So they have cheap gas and expensive roads. Don’t know if this is better or worse than our system, but hitting one tollbooth after another on a motorcycle is a pain in the ***! Haruump.

We drove 3 states today, Connecticut, NY and NJ. Today we walked the streets of NY. WOW! We are impressed. What a cool day. The frustrations of missing a turnoff and driving all these miles are forgotten. We are in NY the big apple. It is a surprisingly small town and it is flat and easy to walk.

They are calling for heavy rain and wind tomorrow. Another tropical depression is moving up from the South. One more thing, Dave reminded me that New Yorkers do not stop for red lights! And tonight, when we got the green light, I honked the horn at the guys who would not stop coming thru our lane, BUT when I finished my left hand turn I noticed that they too had a green light! What the?
But hey it’s NY/NJ. Just drive carefully and honk your horn just so they know where you are. We did not see any accidents, so they seem to have a system and it works. Finally our room is ready we have beer and it is time to relax.

September 11, 2009 52,960 Ridgefield NJ

We leave for NY on the bus. It takes us under the river in a very long tunnel and then right into the underground bus depot. Wow the bus station in NY is a huge, multi level affair. We start by walking to Times Square. Super to see it in person. Then on to Central Park. It too is very large and very pretty. Lots of lakes, and seating and concert areas, it is a super nice park. We walk to the Dakota apartments where John Lennon was shot. Then, around the park some more. It has started to rain lightly and there is no one in the park. We leave the park and start back into the downtown. We walk down 5th Ave. Guy ducks into a couple of very expensive stores…just to say he was in Macy’s etc.
We have lunch in a bistro style restaurant. The smorgasbord was greasy and cold; Dave has a hot turkey sauerkraut grilled sandwich. He got the better of the meals.
Then to the Empire state building. It is now blowing and raining hard. We decide to go to the top. No visibility and high winds. OK we did that. Now to call it a day. We walk around the downtown and head for the bus station. Long day walking in the rain, and just a heck of a lot of walking. The tours were the kind where you can jump on or off the various buses the have a set route in the city. But the weather is not conducive to this type of tour, and we would have preferred a bus and tour guide. Couldn’t find that, so we used a guide map and walked it. It was great to see the sights of NY.

The storm is getting worse. We see people losing their umbrellas in the high winds, and the rain is now coming down terribly hard. Call it a day! Got home about 5:00. Had a few beers and then its "Good night John boy" Good night Grandpa!
Tomorrow is Sat and we cannot find rooms in NY or Washington and we settle for Annapolis

September 12, 2009. 53,000 Leave Ridgefield

We drive from New Jersey to Glenn Burnie, just 50 miles from Washington. On the way we cross the very long "Bay Bridge" (5 miles long), over the North End of the Chesapeake Bay. We arrive early and meet with other bikers. We go to Bob Evans for supper. Haven’t heard of him, he owns about 50 restaurants out this way. Dave helps in fix the Pac kit Rak. It had hit the ground hard when I went thru a deep gutter in St John. And now it is loose and rubbing against the saddlebag on the inside of the fender. We take a piece of wood and Dave tapes it into place where the pacit rack is rubbing a hole into the left rear saddlebag. I had found a Popsicle stick in NY and use that to tighten the hitch, as a shim. Hope it holds together till I get home. (Turns out it held all the way and prevented further damage). No more Air Canada jokes from Guy. Thanks Dave.

It is time to change the oil in the bikes pretty soon.
We plan to buy the oil, we have the filters and Dave brought his filter wrench. K mart here we come.

September 13, 2009 53,350? Leave Glenn Burnie

We drive into Washington DC about 50 miles from Glenn Burnie. Dave dutifully wakes me up at 6:00 so we can get into Washington early. That works so great! We just coolly drive into this huge city. We were told about one ways and heavy traffic congestion. But we have no problem, drive right into the central plaza area, park our bikes on the street, and get tickets for the 10:30 tour of the Washington monument…the monolith. They started to build it around 1845 and was completed around 1887. It is huge. We take the elevator to the top and we are very impressed by its bulk and stature. Wow! We then tour all the other buildings in the South plaza. Along the way we stop for a "dog" at a street vendor. Pretty good, too! The Lincoln memorial, the second WW memorial, the memorial wall to Vietnam, walk to see the white house, opps! cannot get close to it, and then back to the bikes. Dave’s dogs are barking at him and he takes a break at the bikes, I go on to see the other end of the mall, and I cannot believe the buildings I am seeing. I spend about 3 more hours and walk to the House of Representatives and the senate in the legislative buildings. There is a spot for protestors to speak, there is a black family day going on, there is the aeronautical museum, and on and on and on. The buildings are fantastic. There is a park for modern art. There is just about everything here and it is all built to such high standards. Ornate and very, very opulent. The statues of the civil war are very impressive. The artist’s attention to detail, and his basic plan are wonderful. I finally get back to Dave who has been waiting most patiently for me and I start to tell him what I have seen. Did you take pictures? Oh yes many pictures, but why don’t we ride over and I will show you?

Ok we decide to try it. By now it is 3:00 and the mall has been full of bikers & joggers and they are running a triathlon as well. Thousands of participants. And lots of one ways, but we make it to the statues and the house of legislation, and Dave gets to see it all from the comfort of his Gold Wing. In Mexico we saw something like this, in the central square of Mexico City, But this is the best and the biggest. Only a super power like the USA could build something like Washington DC, It is a diamond shape and was built with the future in mind. I love this place. I must tell everyone to come and see it. God, I was tired after walking this place, but what a great place. Just loved it. We leave for Fort Royal and find a room for a great price, $45.00.

September 14, 2009 53,450 Leave Boone

We leave Fort Royal and start down the highway. After about 50 miles we stop to decide where we are going. We decide to try to find the Ridge parkway. Shortly we come to a booth for the park. Dave’s pass gets us in for free! But we realize that we do not know where we are. Immediately we find a tourist office. The ranger there tells us all about the parkway.

We will drive down the Shenandoah Park and then enter the Blue Ridge parkway. It is fantastic. We are on the very top of the mountains that runs…roughly NE down to SW. BUT one the very top of a narrow ridge and it runs for hundreds of miles. Often you can see the two valleys one on the left and one on the right. The term “gap” means the gap between the mountaintops. The gap allows us views of the valleys on either side of us. We ride 450 miles today always in the curves and twists going up one hill and down the other. It is biker’s paradise. We are screaming happy. We are now riding on the entire tread of the tire. Hopefully the cupping will get worn down the way it should be.
We do not want to stop. We started our day at 7:00 and we find a motel at 7:00. We are tired but we would not have stopped in Boone if we had not been detoured off the Ridge parkway to find gas. We have covered about 2/3 of the ride here. Sunny day and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny as well. Then maybe rain. We will try to ride the tail of the dragon, which is at deals gap, tomorrow. And then we have another wonderful ride planned, all around deal’s gap. Hope the rain goes in another direction.
Today was the best day of riding we have had. The park Ridgeway, is far far better than Cape Breton’s Cabot trail.

The bikes are running great and the new suspension is too. Traxxion has fixed the sloppy front end and the bouncy motion of the wing. I hit many dips in the road today, and the only worry was the pakit rac. Certainly not the handling of the Wing.
We are loving this ride. The best by far, because you have the scenic views and the wonderful twistys. And the weather is our friend. We meet a fellow Goldwinger and he is riding a Harley, cause he flew here from Seattle. Wow he says, what a piece of junk. No power and the handling is terrible. The Harley wants to ride straight thru the curves. Ouch!

We end our day with gas at .57 cents US a liter ($2.28 US a gallon) and another motel room at $45 US. Now we are having fun.

September 15, 2009 53,918 Leave Maryville

Price of gas is only $2.12 a gallon in Tennessee. Tonight we are in Maryville. We left Boone, this morning with clear blue skies, riding the Blue Ridge Parkway again. But the storm clouds started to move in around noon and the skies opened up at 1:00. Dave and I got soaked. We ran into Waynesville and had a real Southern lunch. Stew meat with lima beans, and scalloped tomatoes, macaroni with cheese, pickled beets, and coleslaw. We skipped the liver paste and grits…yes they actually had them.
We drive to Knoxville where they are advertising rooms for $49 for Best Western during the week and some motels are down to $29. Knoxville is a big town so we move to Maryville because it is at the foot of the tail of the dragon. The motel owner tells us that the record for doing the 11-mile run is only 90 seconds. That is not possible… is it? I will know after we ride it tomorrow. Today we rode all morning and part of the PM and did 383 miles. All on the incredible blue ridge parkway. And one hill had 3 hairpins within one mile. I started watching my speed to see how I was handling the corners. The speed limit is 45 mph. I was doing 55 to 65 on the normal sweepers but the hairpins demanded a speed of only 20 mph. No one can average 100 mph on these roads. 318 curves in 11 miles. We find a motel again tonight for $45. In the lobby it is clear they cater to bikers. There is a front-page article about yet another biker killed on the Dragon just 2 weeks ago. This road demand respect not attempts at new records. That is 3rd motel in a row at this price. I think tourism is in bad shape around here. No need to camp at these prices. We were paying $25 a night for camping plus $7.00 a day each for a permit in the parks up North.

Go figure… government parks! But the parks were full on the Labor Day weekend. Economically, it seems Canada is doing much better than the US.

September 16, 2009 54,300 Leave Chattanooga

We wake up to more rain. We leave to ride the tail of the dragon, and the rain has stopped… for now. We head up to the dragons tail. We see about 3 dams and a generating station on the way up. It is still not raining but the roads are slick with moisture and wet vegetation blown onto the roads. We have no choice but to take it easy. At first we are doing about 45 mph but lots of curves slow us down to 30 mph. What a great twisty road. We are getting spoiled up here. No commercial traffic, no big vehicles, mostly just bikes. Heck, not much traffic at all. We just enjoy the super narrow roads, the lush forest, (it must rain here at lot) the quiet roads and the twists and twists and twists. We arrive at Deal’s gap, and it is what we expected. Lots of bikes, a gas station, a motel, store and restaurant. Nice of nice biker people. Everyone is about bikes. I ask the owner about the 90 second run. Nonsense he tells me. Rick (on the video) came up on his 1800 and did the run in 12 minutes. Best times are about 9 minutes. Now that I have rode this road, I know that no one can sustain an average speed of 100 mph, not even 60 mph. Someone do the math and tell me what 11 miles done in 12 minutes is? That’s a wing. A sport bike is maybe 3 minutes faster…if that. A car maybe 1 minute off the sport bike. This is it! The best-known bike road in North America, and it is fantastic. We cannot believe what we are seeing, but a semi truck comes crawling up the road driving on the twistiest road in America. What an idiot! He will block both lanes on many many corners! Where do the bikers go? When he is blocking the entire road. And in the pouring rain! How dangerous, how ignorant!

Then the rain starts and how!! It lets up a little and we leave for a circle ride to Robbinsville, and then the Cherohala skyway. It is raining hard but the ride is gorgeous. We have to ride slowly because there are leaves and other debris on the road, and it is slick in places. The front wheel feels too easy to steer, and then the rear wheel slips out and then catches. The rain is bringing oils to the surface. Dave feels it too. We talk and decide to go even more carefully. We just are not going to do much speed in this heavy rain. Sigh! And they are calling for days more of rain.

After a wonderful ride and several stops to determine where the heck we are, we break out of the forests, the mountains and the skyways. It is time to say good-bye to this special place. We talk about coming back. The entire ride from Port Royal, just outside Washington DC to here has been incredible. Three days of very special riding in forests, on top of the mountains, with no commercial traffic, except one! Mostly double solid centerlines, and the shoulders are grass!
We leave for New Orleans, and stop in Chattanooga at the Super 8, change the oil in the bikes and have supper at the Cracker barrel. We asked for a labour price to change the oil and they wanted $78. Heck Dave had the oil out of those bikes in about 1 hour for both.
The rain stopped around 3:00 but we are soaked…again. Another good day. This sure beats working for a living!

September 17, 2009 54,520 New Orleans

Having dropped out of the mountains, we now find the weather has changed from just right, to hot and of course, humid. A long hot day to the Big Easy, 550 miles but we arrive early at 3:00 pm. The great thing about riding with Dave, is that he is an early riser. He hits the hay any time after 10:00 and I do my PC work. Then he gets up early and does his PC work in the morning. Generally, he wakes me at 7:00 and we on the road reasonably early. No rain all day! Check in at the Westin $99 on Canal Street and our room is on the 18th floor overlooking the Mississippi river, the French Quarter and the river walk. Our bikes are on the 7th floor, well above the high water mark. (just kidding) We have to keep our fluids up because it is so very hot and humid. We have a great dinner in a little bar not far from the hotel and we are enjoying the food. The temperature is about 85 and the humidity is about 90%. People are so friendly down here. They love their town and are just too ready to share it with you. What a change from New York where the prices were high and the people almost as cold as some people from Toronto! We finish the evening by walking down Bourbon Street and sampling the music from many places and then settle on one that seems to have lots of atmosphere and fun. We enjoy the entertainment, the ice-cold beer, and some real Louisiana food. Yumm!

September 18, 2009 New Orleans

Up early and have breakfast in the quarter and then over to the tourist information office where we run into a walking tour guide named David. We join the tour and turns out Guy and I are the only ones on the tour of the French Quarter, He was great and we saw and learned so much more than if we had walked on our own. For Example, just before going to the tourist center, where we meet David, we toured the adjacent cemetery. I was looking for the statue that was used in the movie Easy Rider. You know the scene where Peter Fonda is in the arms of a statue, the one with the missing arm? I could not find it, but David showed it to me. I was close, but I had gone on the wrong side of the Grotto and just missed it. We felt he was so good, that we went with him for the pm tour of the Garden district, which is where all the rich for over 150 years have built their huge mansions. This area, known as the Garden District, was a plantation, which sold out to a developer before the civil war. The developer insisted that there be no more than 4 houses per block. And what houses did the rich build! Huge homes with guest homes, and carriage houses for the staff. Price you ask? They start at about $1,000,000 and go up depending on quality and size. We are talking from 8,000 SF and up. This tour was also great. We walked around the older mansions of that area which included the homes of Sharon Stone, Nicholas Cage, Sandra Bullock, (Brad Pitt and Angelina have a house right in the French Quarter with a huge private courtyard) and the house that Ann Rice lived in and wrote about, in the Witches series and the Vampire Chronicles. Plus other movie stars and many films are made here. David showed us the local cemetery. The reason that the cemeteries were built above ground is the high water table down here. The “oven shaped” buildings housed the remains of many generations of families. They allow the remains to rest for 1 year and 1 day in the Grotto. Then another family member can be entered. They even had huge grottos for all the volunteer fire fighters or members of any group from religious to public service. One such Grotto cremated about 27,000 people. By being a member of a particular Grotto, you knew that your family would be properly cremated. Cremated did I say? Yes the temperature of these “ovens” in the summer would rise to 150 F. Not much was left after a year. Then the remains would be placed in a sheet and moved to the back of the tomb usually 14 feet deep, and it was ready for another occupant. Between the humidity and the heat, well, you get it. You can still buy the abandoned units for the cost of fixing them up.

After the tour, our guide took us on a personal tour in his truck up Charles Street where the big Mardi gras parade is and Market St. He dropped us off back near our hotel and we grabbed a quick dinner on our way to the Mississippi river cruise on a stream powered paddle wheel ship, the Natchez, which was great. They had a great jazz band playing wonderful music. What a very busy water way. We dragged our butts back to the hotel and bed. This city is just too wonderful and we must return, with our wives and friends.

September 19, 2009 55,025 Leave New Orleans

Up early again and breakfast in French Quarter and back to tourist office after some wrong turns, got there as the door opened. Planned our exit from New Orleans and headed west to a plantation called Hoomas house, (named after the Hoomas Indians) about 1 hour west. It was really a worthwhile stop and we took the tour and were surprised we were able to walk in all the rooms and enjoy all the furnishings of old. Our tour guide was wonderful and she gave us a lot of history and customs of old. She was also dressed in period attire. The house has a very long history and has evolved over the years; there were many old, live (live means they keep their leaves all year) oak trees some, which were over 500 years old. After the tour had a great lunch in the gourmet restaurant, and talked to many wonderful very friendly locals. The whole South here is amazing with the history and great people. We pass thru the smaller town of, Baton Rouge but we are very impressed when we run into a huge traffic jam near the University of Louisiana. Two teams are playing tonight I am told the high schools play on Friday night…but tonight, the university plays, and there are ten of thousands of people having tailgate parties. What incredible support for football! Much more people than there are seats in the stadium.
Wow, so many people all having a great time. We think we have passed thru the biggest part of the traffic jam and then we hear sirens. Lots of police motorcycles and then we see four large buses filled with the football players.

They take their college ball seriously here.
Headed west once more and stopped for the night in Lafayette La. Staying at a Red Roof Inn which did not impress us much. Wash the dirty girls tonight and make them pretty again.
Planning for tomorrow and will do some serious riding up through Dallas, Texas on our way to Colorado Springs. From Colorado Springs we can ride the big 3 mountains, first through Cripple Creek to Pikes Peak, then to Mount Evans and finally Estes Park. Each is about 14,000 feet high.

September 20, 2009 55,179 leave Lafayette

We start our day with breaky, and run into the Lafayette Chapter of Gold Wings. They are forming for a ride down the Mississippi River. What a great bunch of people. They are thrilled that I am of French origin. And that my people were also thrown out of Acadia.
They explain that they are Cajuns, which is Southern slain for Acadians. They introduce me to lots of people with French names. How very cool! And, special for me. We roar out of Lafayette and need to make some serious mileage. One of the fellows told Dave that we should try for Amarillo tonight and then go up to Las Vegas, New Mexico. It is a beautiful way into Colorado. We don’t quite make Amarillo, and stay in Childress, about 100 miles shy of our goal. We did about 665 miles today. Lost some time due to a traffic jam on the Dallas freeway system. Weather is warm and dry… and just perfect to ride, nice change, we are loving it, big smiles all around. The country side in East Texas is very green with lovely pine trees. They get a lot of rain here. But as we travel West, the landscape becomes noticeably dryer. By Childress is looks very dry like in the Okanagan.

September 21, 2009 55,844 Leave Childress

Leave Childress and head for Las Vegas, New Mexico for lunch. Great lunch at a Mexican restaurant, but wow is the food hot. Nice little town, very attractive with a beautiful downtown.
Then we headed for Santa Fe. Our friends Carol and Ron had gone this way on the way to the Texas Wing Ding in 2007, and she told me she loved the place.
We arrived in late afternoon and Carol was right. Surrounded by mountains, it is one of the nicest places I have seen in New Mexico. A beautiful downtown, clean and a place worthy of spending more time.

However that is not what I found in most of New Mexico. . I really do not like New Mexico. I have been in that state several times and I find it dirty, expensive, full of poor people. It seems to be a poor state with high taxes. Gas prices have gone from $2.25 in Texas and all the Southern states to $2.55 in New Mexico (and a 12% state tax on all else). Motels are very pricey. So we ride on towards Pagosa Springs. Several times we stop to find a motel, but the prices as very high, over $85 a night.

As we cross into Colorado we are greeted with the majestic Rocky Mountains rising out of the high country. We have been about 6,000 foot elevation in New Mexico as we climbed out of Texas, but now we are rising to 10,000 feet and the mountains of Colorado loom over us at 14,000 feet. The roads are now becoming twisty and fun to ride. Our Honda GPS had us going down dirt roads to a place that did not exist. (Or so we thought. Turns out I punched in Pagosa Junction, not Pagosa Springs). We had to backtrack about 30 miles and follow the highway signs and use the good old atlas to find Pagosa Springs. It is getting dark, 6:30 pm and cold and we are glad we had paper maps and road signs to guide us. Twice on this trip, the GPS brought us to Honda shops but she was out by miles. But this time it was "operator error".

Our original plan was to head to Colorado Springs, and ride the Eastern Rockies up to the 3 high peaks of Pikes Peak, then Mt Evans and finally Estes Park. But we were told that the ride to Las Vegas NM was worth a look and I always wanted to see it, so we changed our plans a little.
But the weather has radically changed from hot to cold. It is down to 55 degrees as we ride into our motel and all of Colorado is caught in a cold front. They are calling for freezing temperatures tonight and it has been snowing in the higher elevations today. If we had continued on to Colorado Springs, we might have woken up to snow. But, through a little luck, we are in the Western Rockies and I hope that it will only be cold, no snow.
WHAT crazy weather, the East is hot and extremely wet and flooding, (that includes the areas we just rode at Deals gap) and we were smart to get out of the Blue Ridge area, But we had almost two full days of dry riding. However, here in the Rockies, it is clear and very cold. Just west of us it is 100 degrees. Yesterday Denver was 80F and tonight they are calling for snow.
Wow and crazy, dude.

Two days ago we were in New Orleans and the weather was 80 F to 85 degrees and 90% humidity. We knew we had to make some time to get going home, so we hit it hard. Two days later, we had covered over 1300 miles and are in Southern Colorado at Pagosa Springs, we hit 55 F and the temperature is suppose to drop below freezing.
Julie, we are very near Durango.... yes the home of the Durango Kid (AKA Denis to us in Chapter J).
We did 3 states today; we woke up in Texas and are going to sleep tonight in Colorado

September 22, 2009 56,487 Leaving Pagosa Springs

We wake up at 6:30 at first light. Breaky is waffles, and such. We hit the road and it is only 36 F. We did not dress accordingly. We have to stop to put on more clothes. The heated seat is working good, but the heated gripes need help. I put on the glove liners that Julie bought me. That helps. We leave for the ride up thru the beautiful San Juan forest following the continental divide and hope to be in Gunnison by noon.

This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The scenery will not stop taking your breath away. What a privilege it is to be able to experience this majestic and inspiring beauty. Colorado is a rider’s paradise and a treat for the senses. I was hoping to show Dave, Mount Evans, the highest spot in North America that you can drive to, 14,440 feet, but with this cold snap that may not be possible. We must stay on the West side of the Rockies. The East side is cold and we hear it is snowing!
Today is the last day of summer and it feels like it. Yesterday we were riding in shorts with our chaps over to stay cool, and today it is, “put on all the gear you own” to stay warm!
We have been on the road 6 weeks, and yesterday our odometers told us we have ridden over 10,000 miles.

We start to climb up the magnificent Rockies and we are getting colder. By the time we reach the top of the Slungullion pass at 11,361 feet, we are down to 28F. Worse yet we are following an old man from Texas who thinks he owns the road and no ones else is one the road. Guy passes just before a sharp curve, but then Dave follows right close behind. Guy hits the gas to give Dave room to move in and hits black ice. Dave is on the left and Guys rear tire looses traction and starts to slide towards Dave bike. Guy…without thinking puts his foot down to stop the 1,000 pound bike from falling. Dumb move, learned from riding small bikes and from habit. The bike is only moving at 30 mph but a human foot is not meant to hold up a 1,000 pound bike. Thankfully the rear tire grips on the pavement and straightens out the bike, without need of my foot to support the Wing.

Black ice. Air temp is down to 28F.As we continue our ride, we are still careful of black ice and it is still very cold. And there is snow on both sides of the road. We just tough it. We decide to go to Gunnison for lunch. I did not have supper and only had waffles for breaky. I want a good thick burger. The locals send us to a pub for lunch. We order the Angus burger med rare, fries and coffee…hot please! We gulp the hot coffee, and when the food comes, we just devour it. That was a great meal! We are thankful to the local who told us about this place. Wherever we travel we find the locals are friendly and helpful. They are always proud of their town and too anxious to help out a couple of strangers. Thanks to all the folks that toke the time to help us out and gave us good advise.

We have both received a chill and the hardy food helps us warm up. We put on another layer of clothes and head off for Montrose. But now the sun is back and we are enjoying the leaves changing colors and the warmer day. We arrive at the Honda shop in Montrose, and Guy gets the missing screw for the trunk latch on his bike. No wonder the trunk would not close properly. One screw was gone and the second was loose. Guy bought the new "buggy buttons" for the trunk so the trunk would not rub and wear down. So he thought that the buttons were the problem with the trunk not closing. All is good now with the new screws.
Dave has been having a problem with the foot pegs. Finally we take the time to address this on-going problem. What do you know, we find the right tool and get the job done right! Maybe you should stop rubbing the foot pegs on the road when you take them corners real sharp Dave? (Not bloody likely!)

Very good, we are warm, and fed, the bikes are fixed, and now we must find the motel that Guy has been talking about. He first found it with Julie in 2006 and loved it. We find it and it is like he remembered. The new owner has bought a deluxe 1950’s motel and started to rebuild it in a western them…mainly John Wayne, with his own custom made wood furniture. The man is a genius at using twisted wood to make tables and other furniture. There is a pool in the middle of the motel, and we just love the lay out and the wonderful people who run this great place. What is the name? OK I will share this secret with you; it is the Country Lodge in Montrose.

From here there are 3 world class rides, but the king of it all is a loop ride down to Silverado, and then back thru Telluride.
Dave and me will ride this and maybe others. This is the best motorcycle riding country in North America. We have ridden it all. The dragon’s tail is fast and sharp but short. (But to be fair, there are many other roads in the Deals Gap area, but the rain prevented us from enjoying them).

The ride down from Washington DC through, the Shenandoah park and then the Blue Ridge ride was beautiful, no commercial traffic, hardly no traffic at all! And the road was just so beautiful. Up high, with views on both sides. But you know after two days we had have enough of that, and we were ready for the Dragons Tail. Then there is BC with its incredible views like on the Jasper to Banff road, with glaciers and the Rocky Mountains on both sides of the road.

And of course the Green Mountain road just South of Penticton. And the road outside of Vernon going thru Cherryville to Nakusp. The Lilloette Road to Whistler.
But Colorado has hundreds of miles of the best roads in the world. And they are all paved and they wind their way thru mountains that have a base of 6,000 feet and rise to over 14,000 feet. And the roads never end.
Mexico is another story. No rain and great windy roads.
Just too many great places to ride.

September 23, 2009 56,738 Montrose

We leave Montrose on a sunny morning but cold, and head for Silverado. A perfect day for a ride. We arrive in this beautiful down early and stop for a walk thru. The shrill whistle of a steam locomotive draws our eyes and there is a narrow gauge engine with a full group of tourists. What a great way to see the Rocky Mountains. It comes from Durango.

Off to Durango, and more of the fabulous roads, twisting and turning at over 11,000 feet above sea level. Most of the passes around here are above 10,000 feet. There are 53 mountains in Colorado that are over 14,000 feet in elevation. This is what we came to ride. The vistas are unparalleled anywhere in North America. Beautifully coloured mountains, head frames and slag heaps everywhere, indicating the heavy mineralization of this area, especially the gold and silver around Silverado. The highway was named the million dollar a mile highway way back when it was built because they used the gold tailings of the mine to build the road bed. Sweeping views of valleys, rivers, lakes and towns in an area that defies anyone to build a road here. We arrive in Durango and Guy is hungry. On the way to the restaurant Dave spots a "cold slab". He says Guy you gotta see this. Forget lunch, ice cream! Hey they take two big scoops of high quality ice cream and put it on an ice-cold slab of marble. Then they scoop in the ingredients, blue berries, strawberries, something crunchy, and "all sorts of shit" (per Dave) that makes this a treat like no other. Cost about $6.00, but very good. In a waffle, chocolate dipped cone.
Now that is lunch.

We turn North and head for Telluride. Again some wonderful mountain country. We arrive via a steep drop into one of the most wonderful towns in the Rockies. It has a golf club, and is known as a ski resort. It is Bavarian in nature and a wonderful tourist town.
Guy had noticed some friends riding down the road earlier. We had met them in Childress, Texas a couple of nights ago. He had a red 1800 and was towing a small trailer made of checker plate, brushed aluminum with large 13-inch wheels. Very unique. They were one their way from Mississippi to the Grand Canyon. But they were following the good weather. I was pleased to see them again. They were traveling very slow and waving everyone by so they could enjoy the vistas. I pulled up beside them and said HI how ya doing? They both smiled and I asked are you stopping in Telluride? They said yes. Could hardly hear them cause she was wearing a full face mask and he had his helmet closed.

We arrive in Telluride and do a drive thru the small town. I see our friends pulled over in a parking lot and pull up beside them to say hi. They are most friendly and tell me they are having a great time, but seem cold and distant, not like the folks we had spoken with in Childress. I pull away. Dave and I talk on the CB and I ask him if something seemed wrong. Yes he said, the trailer was a little different than he remembered it, but the plates were not from Mississippi but from California! HA no wonder they acted strangely to me! Oh well.

We arrive back in Durango and Guy goes to see his friend Jennifer at the front desk. She has reserved the DVD player and some John Wayne movies. Yes! By the time we get back to the motel, the sun is low in the sky and the temperature has dropped and we are cold. Into the hot tub with a few cold "Mickey’s beers". Then into the motel to put on the John Wayne movie and order a pizza. This is the life.

September 24, 2009 57,037 Montrose

We leave Montrose for home.
The Dunlop’s 491 Elite radials have cupped badly and we wonder how far we can go on them. So far so good, just the rear tires are cupped but it is getting worse. I need to work on this. Why have they cupped? I put on the same tire in Flagstaff last year and that tire gave me 13,500 miles without cupping. All the way to Alaska and back, We checked the tire pressure it was at 42 lbs where we stopped at the Honda shop in Connecticut. So we put in more air to 47 lbs, and the cupping seems to be getting worse, but the front Bridgestone seems ok!

We go thru Delta, Mesa and finally to Grand Junction.
Grand Junction is the jumping off point to the Colorado National Monument.
The Monument is the most wonderful short ride I have ever seen. One climbs about 5,000 feet from Grand Junction and rides the lip of the rim of numerous gorges. There are gorges within gores. And the drops are amazing like 5,000 feet straight down. And one gorge after another. Dave says this is much greater than the Grand Canyon. Glad I had a chance to see it again.
From here we head due North toward the Flaming Gorge. It is a beautiful place. The rocks are multi coloured reminiscent of Death Valley. There is a dam that holds back a small lake. We drive over the dam and up the valley onto a “mesa” that is wide, long and beautiful. We arrive in Rock Springs and find a nice suite with great beds, at the Comfort Inn We dine at Subway, a favorite for Dave and me.

September 25, 2009 57,461 leave Rock Springs

We leave early after a great breaky of sausage and eggs on whole-wheat toast compliments of the motel. We leave at 8:00 and by 10:30 arrive in Jackson Hole, the “hole” describes this touristy, over crowed, place perfectly. We have done 180 miles in 2.5 hours. Bear tooth pass here we come. We find the ride from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone very slow, and very smoky. They have fires burning in Yellowstone! Then we hit Yellowstone Park itself. The last time we came thru here was June 2006, and the traffic was worse than New York. People just stop their cars to see the Buffalo. Well it happens again. I thought we would do better this late in the season but the idiots are all here. They are driving north but looking East and driving dead slow. It is a hazard to a biker’s life to drive in this park. People are driving all over the road, onto the gravel shoulder, and just plain stupid. One prime example is a man who just came around a corner and saw a vista that he wished to photograph. So he stopped his car on the curve…yes a complete stop, and was taking photos of the view! There was another car stopped behind him and another coming around the blind corner! Show these idiots a view or a buffalo and they just stop and start clicking. The drivers are looking at the view too. You see them hanging out of the cars with their 500 mm lens just clicking away, but who is watching the road?

I have more stories to make my point but suffice it to say I will not go back into this park without a motor home to defend myself.
We finally pull out of this overcrowded park, and toward the Bear tooth. The crowds have subsided and we are rolling!
We start to climb again. We have crossed the great divide in the park but it was only about 8500 feet. The top of the bears tooth pass is 10,947 feet. And there is nothing that grows up here. They are building a whole new road system way up here and that costs us lots of time. But there is nothing more fun then driving this iconic piece of motorcycle roadway. It twists and turns back and forth on itself and demands ones total attention. Last time I was here a fellow on a Harley had missed a corner and was being attended to by ambulance attendants. It was one of three ambulances I saw on that day.
This is a road that demands skill and attention. It has my total attention. And I am loving it!

We arrive in Red Lodge (AKA The Red Rip-off, you will see why I say that, just read on). We have been traveling all day on just our breaky and we need gas and food. The restaurant prices are ridiculously high! $30 for a steak! Yikes.
I am ready to ride on but Dave finds a nice little Chinese restaurant amid all the high priced restaurants and we have a great meal. As we start to pull out of town, Dave hits the CB and says, "Guy, I must pull over". Then, "I have a flat!*quot; Wow, we have driven 11,000 miles on these Dunlop’s and we have been very lucky to not have a problem before now.
We find a level clean parking lot to examine the tire. Oh!Oh!, a large hole but no nail or spike is evident!

Dave has his tire repair kit and it works well. But a quick check of the plug and it is still leaking. Another plug and 2 more cylinders of air and it is still leaking. We cannot fix this tonight. It is a large hole. Dave must have run over a bolt or something large on all the road work being down on the Bears tooth. We are grateful that Dave made it into Red Lodge without mishap. It is 6:00 and time to look for a room.
We happen to be at the entrance of the Comfort Inn. Dave you put away the tools and I will try to negotiate a deal at the motel. Their best price for seniors is $126. I am shocked at this price but in no position to negotiate any harder.
I ask "why are the motel prices so high here?" "Because it is 'Red Lodge', that’s why!" We drive our bikes into the conveniently positioned parking lot and check in. Our room is very small and when I sit on the bed it feels just like a hammock.
Dave makes an interesting comment. This is the most expensive motel room we have paid for in the entire 47 days of our trip!

I go out to check the air pressure in my tires. I am shocked when I get down and look at the Dunlop. I was warned back in Connecticut that it was cupping and we increased the air pressure to 47 pounds. We agreed to keep an eye on the tires and play it as we saw it. But my tire is badly cupped and it is running a deep grove right through the tread on the outside of the tire at about 30 degrees. The tire pressure is 44 pounds. That is not the problem. How can this Dunlop wear so badly, and so quickly since my last check of it? Dave thinks he may need to buy a new tire. Quick inquiries tell us there is one place in town to have Dave’s problem looked at.
Tomorrow we must attend to Dave’s tire. But what should I do with my tire? Put in more air? The tire looks bad. It looks like it has been abused. If I had known what I know now I would not have dared to ride the Bears Tooth on that tire.
Maybe we should both buy new tires as soon as possible?

September 26, 2009 57,861 Red Lodge

(The biker day from Hell!)
We get up early and look for air. There are two service stations in town and only one has air. Dave drives his bike to the air. He puts more air in the tire but it leaks. I run into town to see if either the tire shop or the Harley Dealer is open. No luck. It is past 9:00 and they do not seem to be open on Saturdays. This town seems to be open for business when they can make lots of money (summer). No one offers to go out of his or her way to help. They know who the owners of the shops are.

Meantime, Dave has called the Honda shop in Billings, but they have no one on staff to change a tire on Saturday! What is with this State…. doesn’t anyone work on Saturdays? We try the Honda shop in Boise. Yes they have tires, they will change them for us and they will wait for us,

BUT we must get there early enough. No problem, it is only 10:00 am and we are rolling! 18 miles down the road the tire goes flat. It threw the plug. We were going a little fast; about 60 mph. OK lets put in another plug and slow down on the speed. After spending another 30 minutes on our backs, in the gravel, plugging the tire and working with the compressed gas and a faulty transfer hose, we are off again. We use the last of the compressed gas and Dave’s transfer hose is broken. This has gotta work. Lucky we had two plug kits with us. Away we go! This time we only make about 15 miles but at least we make it to a small town with an air pump. We decide that the tire is too badly damaged to hold a plug, and we must pull the wheel off the bike.

Guy has brought a 19 MM deep socket, a short extension, and a 3/8 inch drive. We are in business. We are parked behind the service station/store and the people there are so darn friendly, and helpful. Dave is working on the bolts but only two come free. They have been over torqued and we have inadequate equipment. A gent offers us the use of his tools. But he is an animal Vet and his tools are limited. I follow him to his ranch but the drive way is deep gravel, dam I hate that stuff. The front wheel is shifting from left to right looking for a footing. Finally, I make it into the yard. He has nothing we can use to lever the wrench. Back over the deep gravel and lurch onto the highway. Lucky for me, no cars coming! We hear about a biker in town who is having a garage sale. I run into town to see if he has tools, while Dave puts in another plug….the last one.

Bingo our luck is improving. Kelley, the biker in town having the garage sale, has tools and builds bikes. He is willing to help us.
Dave makes it to his place and we start to work on the bolts. Those bolts are on very tight. We get three off, but two are very stubborn. We remove the rear plate on the bike and with the use of a long SS bar, we break the drive wrench, then twist the head off the short extension, bend the stainless steel bar, and continue to break tools, almost as fast as Kelley can pull them out of his garage. We try many different ideas and finally get it down to one nut. We try standing on the brake to create more resistance than just the clutch, and it finally gives. Great. It is about 2:00 pm and it is 137 miles to Boise Honda. Off I go!
The wind is blowing hard from the West, with cross winds and I will not go very fast with that cupped tire on the back. Slow but sure, fighting with the handle bars to control the bike from the wind and traffic, with Daves tire bungie-corded to the rear seat.
I arrive at 4:00, but the service manager is gone for the weekend. What? Can you change Daves tire for me? Yes, but you will have to wait. Finally they get me into the shop at 4:30. They agree to put a new tire on Daves rim, and put a new tire on my bike.
They suggest I grab a bite to eat at the café next door, they say the food is good.
At the diner, the waitress suggests the prime rib. I have been talking to Dave about good US beef for a week now. We loved the seafood in Louisiana but I want a steak before we leave the US. Yes I would love the prime rib. But when the waitress orders the meal, the chef tells her the meat is not ready! My look of disappointment is obvious, and she asks if I would mind an end cut…that should be done. I like the meat med rare and she checks and the chef says he can cut me the end piece. Yumm I love the end pieces. Yes things are improving. The 8 oz for $9.00 or the 12 oz for $12.00 The 12 oz, I am starved. Includes soup and salad bar.

The soups are delicious and so is the salad bar. But the prime rib is huge about 16 oz and it is so very good. Wish you were here Dave. But I am sure he found something to eat in town. I finish up and get back to the Honda shop and it is all ready. I ask, do you fellows usually go home at 5:00? Yes they say. And you stayed late just to help us out? Yes. I remember to tip them before I leave, they seem surprised. I checked their work and the tires are properly installed on the rims and torqued to 80 lbs. Good, things are getting better.
Off I go at 5:45 and now the wind has subsided and they are playing the oldies on the radio. I pull into Columbus just off the freeway and stop to check my paper map. I start to go and right away I see police lights behind me.
Geez Louise, is this day never gonna end? The cop says I am doing 39 in a 25. But I just got going after stopping to check the map? The officer says he will write it up at 35 in a 25. Fine, you are truly a humanitarian. I will call Jimmy Carter and tell him you are ready to work with him on housing for humanity. Now he asks, how do you intend to pay for this? Don’t I have 30 days to appeal it? Can I send in a cheque later, after I have time to think this over? No sir, our little hick town judge wants cash or a cheque now!
Me, I just want to get back to where Dave is waiting for me. Will you take visa, m/c or debit?
No. Cash or cheque. At the very least I need a show of good will from you. The sun is setting and Dave is waiting at Kellies place, and I am stuck here! OK what are my options? Well you can give me a cash deposit, and send the rest of the money later. OK how much? $20.00…. Fine! The officer takes my money and writes up my ticket.

I want to point out that Julie and I spent 3 months driving in Mexico and I never experienced a shake down like this! Then his "fellow officer" drives by, nice and slow, just to let me know what’s what and who’s who in this little hick town.

I leave Columbus, Montana, 5 blocks wide and 10 blocks long, population 2 cops, 1 judge, and 2 gas stations to lure you off the I90, and start driving down the narrow winding, back road to Absarokee where Dave is waiting. It is now totally dark, there is forest and farmer fields on both sides of the road, and I am thinking “deer”. There is a truck in front of me and a car behind me. Good I will pace the truck and let him clear the road. I slow the bike, and no sooner have I thought about the deer and slowed the bike, then my headlights catch sight of something on the road, but I am on a curve and my lights turn away from the road and into the hillside. I pull the brakes on and cut my speed in half to about 20 mph, and suddenly the road is moving. As I continue to follow the curve in the road, my headlights illuminate a very large deer. She sees my headlights and tries to come toward me. She is in my lane. Where to go? I lean the bike over into the on coming traffic lane and notice she is trying to move but cannot. I pass very close to her, and she looks right at me. I quickly realize that she must have been hit by the truck I was following and it looks like she has a broken back, her rear legs do not move. Wow that was close. What should I do? I have no gun to put her down, and the pickup truck is long gone. I drive on, saddened but grateful that I was not involved with her. She is a beautiful mature white tail doe; they are very large in Montana. We have seen hundreds of dead animals on our trip. Dozens of skunks, possum, porcupines, squirrels, even armadillos, and far too many deer. Lately we have seen hundreds of antelope, but never a dead one beside the road. Wonder why they are so lucky?
I arrive at Kelly’s house and Dave is waiting. Kelly found a torque wrench and we quickly have the wheel back on the bike, and the rear cover on.
We have broken some of Kellie’s tools and he has helped us with his "Harley Davidson" bike lift (much better quality that my Princess auto one) and much more. We are very grateful to him. Can we pay you for the tools we broke and something for yourself? NO NO NO, he will not hear of it. Dave had offered to buy him supper and some beers. NO! "Some time when I am broke down on the side of the road, you can lend me a hand". Kelley shows us the meaning of a true gentleman and a fellow biker. Kelley you can bet we will "pass it forward".

Dave says he looked for a room at the motel and it was full. Oh know, not another ride back to Columbus on that road tonight?
BUT he says, Kelley told him about a heritage home that rents out suites. He rented one for us and when we arrive it is about 9:30, we are both exhausted, but the suite has 2 bedrooms and it is beautiful. What’s more, Dave has cold beer in the Fridge. All right, things are looking better all the time. As is our custom, we toast the day, glad that we are safe, that we met Kelley, the bikes are ready to roll and this day is behind us. We watch the movie “notebook” with James Gardiner. Great movie, even if it is a chick flick. We had opened some windows. We smell smoke. There are fires in the hills around us and the wind has shifted. Close the windows! Trouble getting to sleep tonight. Too tired.

Today was a long, hot day. Lying on the dusty gravel and looking up the rear end of a wing trying to get the tire plugs to stay, trying to get the compressed air into the tire, with a faulty hose, then fighting for hours to get the nuts off the wheel, is no vacation.

But it is over and we are ready for tomorrow. Dave says he knows a great little bar in Kalispell that has a sawdust floor; salty peanuts in the shell, and you can throw the shells on the floor…that’s fun, tasty pizza and a reasonable place to spend the night.
Night John boy…..Night Dave.

September 27, 2009 58,185 Absorbke

It is real cold this morning and we bundle up. Electric liners and everything we own. After a great breakfast, in the only restaurant in town, the Rosebud, we continue our vacation. We pass the area where the deer was hit and I see that she is mercifully dead.
We see many more dead deer on this day. There must be lots of them in this area. We travel on the back roads and see some wonderful Montana back country. We had passed this way in 2007 when we came from Lethbridge to Billings MO. for wing ding.
We make the Travelodge in Kalispell. And the bar is still there. We register and walk over for pizza and beer. The whole town seems to be here with the children eating pizza and having a good time. After, we wash down the wings. Lots of mud from the construction of the new roads at the Bear Tooth pass, and lots of bugs.
Wings are clean, we are fed, and tomorrow we come home. We have done about 12,600 miles to date, without mishap.

Tonight we discuss what we should bring on a similar trip. Two kinds of patch, the sticky long ones and the patch/plug type. A small air compressor, adapting the electric plug to our heater plugs, (this was our second greatest problem, getting air). A torque wrench, a 19 mm socket and a quality 4 inch extender. And maybe, making sure that the lug nuts are not over tighten before you leave on the trip.
The wings have run flawlessly. What great machines. We brought our own Honda line oil filters and just had to buy oil. We can buy a small tub to drop the oil into and them pour the oil back into the used oil containers and drop it off at the Honda shop. That saved us a $69 each in labour for an oil change. Maybe change the fuel filter before leaving, or have a spare. We could have gone to a kwik lube and got them to do the work, under our supervision. But what can you do when you get a bolt thru the tire, late Friday afternoon? In the middle of now where. We thought about a tube as well. But the key was getting the wheel off and compressed air.

September 28th 58,600 Kalispell

As usual I am up early and have my shower etc. Guy still snoring away. While Guy was running to Boise for my tire I had a great conversation with Kelly our HERO. He is an iron worker that works all over the country and has a crew of about 30 men. He also builds bikes and had three beautiful machines in his garage. Rebuilt from the ground up and made into high performance machine, his favorite had 160 horsepower. This was a quaint little town with only one place to eat, a drive in. where I had deep fried Cajun croc. It was great, sort of a cross between pork and chicken. I do wish to thank Guy for all his help with my tire problems. Its also Guy’s fault that I had to take this wonderful trip and shall forever appreciate it.
Well it’s time to wake the old fellow up, next stop home and the end of a trip of lifetime. Dave

We arrived home on Monday at 6:30. We come down thru Nakusp. The beautiful ride thru New Denver and the challenging ride from the ferry to Cherryville remind me that we live in the most beautiful and diverse riding area short of Colorado. I will always call this home.

We have put just over 13,000 miles on. We had no mishaps, but we meet some wonderful people and saw many, many inspiring sites. Where to next Dave? I am thinking of a quick ride to Panama and back. How‘s your Spanish? Gayla says no more than 3 weeks, 6 weeks is too long to be without Dave. Hey, I got him back in one piece didn't I....or did he get me back in one piece?
Good luck and a positive attitude, and we had the adventure of our lifetimes. Guy

September 29th 59,086 Arrive Vernon

October 1st 59,375 Arrive Surrey. End of this Adventure.

In summary:

• Drove through 9 of the 10 provinces.
• Drove through, 23 states, And the District of Columbia.
• Rode 13,312 miles Over 46 days Averaging 290 miles a day.

Dave Salter

Guy Mousseau
Nov 3, 2009

---