Crossing on the Chi CheeMaun ferry and homeward bound!!

We traveled south from Espanola through some spectacular rock cuts and across Manitoulin Island to South Baymouth to catch the ferry, called the Chi Cheemaun across to Tobermory.  It is a two hour crossing and they give you ropes to tie the bikes down to rings on the floor deck.
You never know how bikes will be loaded on ferries....here are some options:
(1) Here they gave us a special line, put the bikes on first and then we left first (they obviously had their priorities straight!)
(2) Crossing Lake Michigan, on the fast catamaran we just joined the line with the regular traffic, but when we boarded the ferry they directed us to the side of the deck and we used straps equipped with small winches.
(3) In BC, on inland lakes this trip we just drove on and parked as no tie downs, as no big waves.
(4) In 2008 when we crossed from Victoria to Port Angeles, they gave us wooden wedges only to put under the bikes.  This was a really rough crossing that set off the alarm on Bev's bike....but the wedges held it up.
(5) One year when we took an old coal fired ferry across Lake Michigan, all bikes had to park on a 90 degree angle at the side of the ferry.  They gave you nothing and so we had to buy tie downs and started traveling with them on long trips. As an aside, one guy's bike fell over and knocked a couple of other bikes over...not ours fortunately.
(6) Some crossings are so small that you just sit on your bike for the trip.

We continued on home from Tobermory, finally arriving around 6:30 pm, just ahead of the rain.  This completed our epic 5-week 11,017 km western trek of 2015.  We will enter a summary post next.

Northern Michigan and almost home!

Sorry, we didn't blog for a few days...too tired!!
OK, got up and left Rhinelander and followed some beautiful scenic back roads through northeast Wisconsin to Iron Mountain, Michigan. The weather was great, the roads were curvy through forested hills and the bugs reappeared on our teeth.
We continued on Hwy US2 to the north-western shore of Lake Michigan and along the coastline to Manistique where there is a lovely boardwalk through the lake shore sand dunes.

The next day we traveled on the northern lake shore to St. Ignace.  This really is the most scenic part of the road around Lake Michigan.  From here we headed north on interstate 75 to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.  After a 45 minute wait at the border lineup, crossed back into Canada.
Now remember that we have been in and out of the States and so the last US travel was really only 8 days....so Bev almost got us pulled over when she said we had been in the US for 8 days, inadvertently adding that they had traveled 11,000 km.  Fortunately the customs official did not question that two bikers could travel 11,000 km in 8 days!  Obviously he doesn't bike.
After clearing the border, we stopped for a picnic lunch in Roberta Bondar Park and watched the freighters go by.  The sea gull reminded Bev of how close she was to the shores of Lake Ontario. We then pressed on to Espanola for the night.

Minnesota and Wisconson

We left Willmar Minnesota and the Plains and the wind and gusts (thank god!!) and headed north east to St. Cloud through winding and forested and wind free terrain (yeahhhh).  At St Cloud we crossed the Mississippi River and felt we had finally  returned to the East.  We pressed on and stopped for lunch at the Interstate Park at St. Croix Falls on the Minnesota\Wisconsin border.  The park is famous for its cliffs and "potholes" (not the kind we don't like...that cause bike parts to fly into the unknown) rather these potholes are caused by round holes in the lava rock created by gravel and stones spinning in glacial runoff whirlpools.

We continued eastward on Hwy 8 stopping for gas in Weyerhaeuser where Bev spotted two CN Rail engines....she wanted to hug them as it meant they were nearing home.  We carried on to Rhinelander Wisconson to complete our 500 km day....Bev confessed that she was so tired she caught herself falling asleep.  At the mid-afternoon coffee stop, Dave made her splash some cold water on her face.....yes, that helped.

Motorcycling Challenges

OK, let's face it.  Motorcycling is a blast....when it is in the 80's and it's sunny...like they say "you can always know a happy biker, lots of bugs in the teeth".
BUT, some days simply aren't as good.

A list of motorcycling challenges include the following:
1. thunder and lightning
2. hail
3. heavy rain
4. light drizzel
5. high winds and gusts
6. snow
7. hail
8. bad pot hole roads
9. transport trucks
10. temperatures over 100F

We have hit them all over the years of biking.  Now, dealing with ONE challenge is do-able.  Dealing with TWO challenges is no fun and THREE will take you off the road for sure.

This year we have encountered a lot of rain and wind.

Yesterday, while travelling from Milbank South Dakota to Willmar Minnesota, a distance of only about 190 km (40 of which was a forced road detour) we found ourselves battling INTENSE crosswinds.  In order to keep the bikes upright and on the roads you have to lean the bike into the wind.  The wind kept catching our helmets and pulling them to the side.

The pictures below illustrate the tire wear resulting from driving the bike on angle.  Sometimes you almost drop the bike because of a bunch of trees blocking the wind!!!

Sitting Bull's Grave and Sacajawea's Memorial

These memorials are just south of Mobridge, South Dakota, on the bank of the Missouri. Sitting Bull, the leader of the Sioux Nation in the late 1800's and subsequent star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, was originally buried near Fort Yates in North Dakota, however in the 1950's a group of Sioux from South Dakota moved his remains to the current site.  This still remains controversial.
Sacajawea is considered to be the most influential Indian woman of her time.  She was a guide and interpreter Lewis and Clark on their exploration of the "Louisiana purchase" and trip to the Pacific Ocean.  Sacajawea returned to this area after the expedition to the Pacific, and died approximately after her return at the age of 25.  She left behind two children, a 9 yr old boy and infant daughter.

Traveling alongside the Missouri River

We spent a leisurely morning travelling south from Bismarck, North Dakota, on Hwy 1806 along the west side of the Missouri River. Contrary to the Great River Road along the Mississippi, which we biked in 2008, you can actually see the Missouri. The lower Mississippi is cloaked by 30 ft levies to prevent flooding.
The rolling gently winding road through the Standing Rock Sioux First Nation provided beautiful vistas of the meandering Missouri and countryside.  The weather was perfect, the sun shone and we were beaming along with it. Even the grazing cattle looked happy......NO genetically modified corn for them!!!

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

We toured the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn, just north of Bismarck North Dakota. This is near the site of Fort Mandan where Lewis and Clark spent their first winter. We are becoming experts on these two explorers having visited the interpretive center at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific Ocean (2008), and having traveled along the Clearwater and Snake  Rivers earlier in this trip in Idaho. Today's Center filled in the details on the trip up the Missouri River and their meeting with Sacagawca without whose assistance they never would have made the trip to the Pacific. Dave got cold in the Center but a dead bison helped him out (though at a 20 lb weight) and Bev dressed for the discovery trip....Jefferson had insisted it be a military operation.

Fracking in the Bracken Formation

We stopped overnight in Williston, North Dakota.  It is the North Dakota hub for all the fracking activity in the Bracken formation.....remember Lac Megantic? This is where all the explosive oil originated.....and Bev is adding that there at 20 men for every woman in Williston (they are all loaded and they drink too much).  Dave adds that there are 20 pickups for every car!!
We followed Rte 1804 along the north shore of the Missouri River; this is also the main supply route to the fracking operations which are about every 1/4 mile along the road.  Each of the wells consisted of numerous tanks for holding the liquids they inject into the formation, a walking arm pump that pumps the oil out of the ground and into a network of pipelines that parallel the highway and finally a flare to burn off the hydrogen sulfide gas.  It is this hydrogen sulfide gas that is mixed with the oil that is thought to make the bracken crude so explosive.

The Fort Peck Dam and Reservoir

The Peck Dam project was built in the 1930s as one of FDR's New Deal Make Work projects. It is the largest hydraulically filled dam in the world and the second largest dam in the US.  The trouble is that the size of it makes it difficult to see the whole thing....it is 250 ft high, 4900 ft wide at the base, and 50 feet wide at the top.  We were travelling along the top of it for awhile without realizing it.

We managed to go on an excellent tour of the 185 megawatt power plant (free!) hosted by the US Army Corps of Engineers who built and meticulously operate the plant.  Unfortunately since 911 we were not allowed to take pictures of anything but we were allowed to touch the rotating shaft that connects the turbine to the generator.  The power houses are dominated by gigantic surge tanks that are about 10 stories tall.

The spillway, about 5 miles from the dam, is far more impressive than the dam as it is made entirely out of concrete and is about a mile long.  They were repairing the spillway, hence you'll not see any water pouring through it in the picture below.

The Tunnels of Moose Jaw and Flying Bike Parts

We left our hotel on the outskirts of Swift Current and then had difficulty finding the actual town. We cruised through the historic downtown, though it didn't seem very historic....we left for Moose Jaw. There we took a tour of the Tunnels...which explained how a small Saskatchewan Town earned the nickname "Little Chicago".  Public enemy #1, Al Capone, had his goons, his guns, his gals and his secret world in the underground Tunnels of Moose Jaw.  All this happened because there was a railroad from Chicago to Moose Jaw and during prohibition Capone manufactured whiskey used stills in the basement of Moose Jaw buildings and used the town as a hide out when things got too hot in Chicago....alas, they would not allow pictures.  It was an interesting tour because the guides were in period costume and acted their parts.  We the guests were to assume the roles of bootleggers who had come to buy Al's production booze.

We headed south from Moose Jaw on Hwy 2 toward the US Montana border...the road was great with no traffic until we reached Assiniboia when all road hell broke loose.  The road was full of great pot holes....there was a sign which we should have taken more seriously..it warned vehicles to travel slowly. Dave hit a monster pot hole at about 80 km (he WAS going slow) and the impact caused the plastic piece covering his right speaker to fly into the air.  He stopped the bike and went back to search for the missing piece of fairing; while he was slowly pacing the side of the road with his head down any vehicles passing stopped to enquire what the problem was...now, you have to realize that there was only one vehicle about every 5 minutes!! One person even offered to help with the search. People in Saskatchewan are very nice, unfortunately that can't be said about all their roads.  With no luck finding the missing pieced, they soldiered along the road to the border.  The road now offered wide rows of loose gravel which was great navigating fun.

We arrived at the border at 5:45 only 15 minutes before it was due to close for the night.  Had we been too late, the road would have been closed off and we would then have to retrace our steps along that awful road. Being the only vehicles at this rather desolate crossing, we approached the customs office at about 20 km per hour. We were promptly chastised by the customs official for speeding and were told we had to circle back and approach through the sensors at only 3 miles per hour.....driving a bike at that speed is trickey!!  Eventually we were admitted.

We headed to Glasgow Montana.  As to be expected the US road was far superior to the disaster on the Canadian side....BUT unfortunately Bev had underestimated the trip by about 100 km and so both bikes arrive on fumes with fuel lights flashing.

It was a loooong 500 km day.......time for cold beer and hot dinner.

Hoodoos and Hard Riding

We set out from Drumheller and after a short ride through the famous Alberta Badlands, arrived at the Hoodoos.  Now the name Hoodoos arise from the West African Hausa language for evil magic, AKA "voodoo"...and Bev taught high school in Nigeria though never got involved in voodoo, though she did eat fried termites.

We continued south on hwy 56 and lo and behold our old friend "the rain" returned.  It wasn't bad until we hit Hwy 1, the Trans-Canada, and the winds that had been at our backs (which were not noticeable) became nasty vicious cross winds.  We could barely see and slowed down to about 80 km/hr. In desperate need of a break we pulled off at the first of two exits for the tirst town we came to -  Bassano, We drove past a hotel and a gas station with expectations of soon arriving at the town and a restaurant.  Unfortunately Bassano only consists of that gas station and hotel!!!  We continued back on to the highway and headed back to Bassono where we pulled off at the gas station.  Dave stopped at the entrance; it was mushy gravel and he was contemplating on whether to proceed. Bev was cold and needed a warm beverage ans a washroom break.....she hesitated for a second and then turned her bike right at 90 degrees and headed across the muck to the concrete that surrounded the pumps.  Dave had no choice but to follow.  Shortly after their arrival, a large bus full of of NATO soldiers from CFB Suffield appeared. They created a coffee lineup and the men's washroom was backed up.  Bev had a quick pee.
From Bassano we continued on to Medicine Hat where the rain finally stopped. We pressed on through the Cypress Hills, and when we arrived in Swift Current (about 500 km from Drumheller) the sun finally appeared.

Drumheller Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum

After spending a restful three days enjoying Edith and Dave's hospitality, we set off for Drumheller. The skies threatened a bit but the sun won the war.  It's amazing how straight the roads are and how little traffic there is. The Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum, located just out of Drumheller, is internationally known and extremely informative on the different paleontological time periods regarding the richness of prehistoric life in Alberta for both animals and plants.  It was a delight walking through, and we recommend a visit to all adults and children.

Forest Fires and Animals

We left Jasper and headed to Edmonton to visit Dave's sister Edith and her husband Dave for a few days of rest (sorry we ignored the blog for a while but we did get both bikes successfully serviced).  Along the way we saw a "prescribed" wild fire on the side of the mountain.  Essentially they light a fire low on the mountain and then let it burn itself out at the top.  It looked bad to us, the flames were 30 feet high; a helicopter was flying around the circumference.  The plume looked like a mushroom cloud!
With all the smoke and ash in the air (and on our bikes!) the animals decided to seek safer pastures.

Waterfalls along the Icefields Parkway

We were lazy last night so you'll see three posts below.
We stopped to see Sunwapta Falls and Athabasca Falls while enjoying the Parkway.

Sunwapta

Athabasca

The Icefields Parkway

We left Left Louise towards Jasper along the Icefields Parkway.  This road truly has the most magnificent scenery in all of North America.  If you haven't driven it, do plan on doing so.  Given the roads we have travelled that is NO small compliment.  Words nor pictures capture its beauty and magnificence.
We pulled into an a cutoff that overlooked the road we had just travelled....so beautiful, until we had to pull out....the pulloff was not paved which was fine, but the exit inbetween cars a bus and wandering tourists was treacherous....it had boulders, sand and deep (1 ft) holes....we had to gun it and hope no car was coming around the bend.  Phew.....made it with hearts beating fast. NO one wants to drop their loaded bike in front of a big crowd, some of which were taking our pictures!!

Lake Louise

We got up and drove up the road to see the famous Lake Louise. Starting off on a short hike reminded Bev that she'd had enough of snow!!! We wandered around the Lake near the famous Chateau Lake Louise enjoying the crystal turquoise water surrounding by gorgeous mountains. We even managed to get in a few photos among the busloads of international tourists who mob the place continuously.

Crossing the Rockies with an oil leak and no Josh

We left New Denver BC and headed north through the Selkirk Mountains.  It was a gently winding road through the mountains - nothing hairy and hardly an traffic.

We had breakfast at Nakusp and continued on to the ferry at Shelter Bay.

After a short drive, we arrived at Revelstoke for lunch (Bev's brother Mike has skied at Revelstoke -- the highest Canadian vertical well over 6000 feet...not for the faint hearted).  Bev noticed that her air intake was leaking oil and was very nervous.  She doesn't mind riding but if she thinks there is a problem that may dump her at the side of the road, she is NOT too cool at all.  Dave said all Harleys leak oil and not to worry about it....nooo, she said HERS never had leaked oil.  She called a Harley dealership in Kamloops but they said she could make it to Edmonton.  Just to check the oil level to ensure that there was enough.  OKKKK, she believed them.  She booked an Edmonton 104,000KM service, but had she had Josh's number (her excellent Toronto technician) she would have called him for reassurance.

We climbed out of Revelstoke and up over Roger's Pass, passing through a number of avalanche protection tunnels and some of the most rugged parts of the Rockies.  The view in ALL directions from the top of the pass was just magnificent.

We traveled down to Golden and continued on through Field and stopped for the night in Lake Louise. The highway leaving Golden included switch backs, high % grades and stunning scenery and steep drop-offs.  The Harley continued to chug on.....two days to go before reaching Edmonton to visit Dave's sister and brother-in-law Dave and the Harley dealership.