Well, time came to spread our little wings and leave Canada, one of us for the first time. This did not start particularly smoothly. We left Vancouver in driving rain and an ugly cross wind. Hour long delay's getting to the border and then traveling "a person of interest," due to volunteering in Chicago all summer, caused further delays of well over an hour. From there we continued to Seattle along the number 5. The interstate was a bizarre experience. 3 to 5 lanes going each direction and so much development it felt as if you didn't leave the city. When we were sufficiently cold and/or wet we found the nearest Motel 6. We were later made aware that we happened to be in Olympia, Washington.
Moving on from poor weather, we got to the 101 highway just west of Olympia and rode it through Oregon. The Oregon Coast Highway traverses giant clear-cut logging operations and moves quickly into small fishing villages that dot the coast. Long winding roads through pine forest and along the Pacific give you the smells of surf mixed with pine. All in all a lovely way to make up for an altogether underwhelming first day in America.
After one more night in Oregon we reached California and I fell in love. Soon we were cruising through Redwood forests with trees on either side. We made a short stop to talk with Paul Bunyan, a creepy 50 foot statue that could wave wink and hold a conversation with you. He gave us the advice of taking some of the scenic routes to really see the forest. We figured that if you can't trust a 50 foot tall figure of legend, who can you trust. This eventually lead us to the Avenue of the Giants. A tight, beautiful road that meanders through the Redwood forests. After stopping to drive through a Redwood we made our way to Miranda for gas. In Miranda we met an old motorcycle racer who gave us directions to the northern most section of the Highway One, and what a highway it was. The Number One is easily the most beautiful, most intense and most fun ride I've ever had. Scraping pegs at 30 kph, hairpin turns tighter than an irish nun and long sweeping corners along ocean side cliffs. Incredible.
So far San Francisco has been incredible. We walked the span of the peninsula for crab and beer on fisherman's wharf and also spent a day touring Castro and Twin Peaks. Such a colourful city, both literally in the architecture and figuratively in the people. There is something about a man wearing nothing but a sailor hat and deck shoes that loudly says, " Welcome to the big city."
A couple more days in San Fran before we head towards Phoenix and then Mexico. Stay tuned!
Bray
Friday 30 September 2011
Saturday 24 September 2011
Windy and winding
Hello all, Braydon here.
Yesterday, upon hearing we had a long day in front of us suggested we grab a quick breakfast at a lovely little cafe called Hello Toast. In typical Grant fashion breakfast took until noon and resulted in the four of us being interviewed for a local newspaper. So yes, keep an eye out for our ugly, wind beaten mugs. We're kind of a big deal.
Upon leaving Kamloops we were promptly met with fierce winds that made riding a battle to stay on the road and keep with traffic. The wind continued for just over an hour until we were able to get into the mountains and get a little bit of shelter. We took the number 1 highway rather than the Coquihalla in hopes of some fun mountain driving and we were certainly not disappointed. The further we drove into the mountains the twistier the road got, becoming turn after turn of flowing corners. The only thought I had past how to take the next corner was "This is why we ride motorcycles."
This lasted for hours, until I came around one fateful corner and encountered one of my greatest riding fears. Hornet got blown into my helmet. Yes. A hornet, flying around the inside of my helmet. After a minor brick shitting and scramble to open my visor I was able to get the hornet out via my visor. In no great hurry to repeat that, but excited to get to Vancouver we continued on through more beautiful roads. Coming in to wine country, just outside of Vancouver I had my second intimate experience of the day, when a small bird flew into my head. It bounced off just the top of my open visor. It kind of felt like I was having a V8 moment, and I sat stunned in my saddle trying to figure out what had just happened. Never a dull moment I suppose.
We arrived at our place in Vancouver, right in the middle of downtown on Burrard, and decided it would be necessary to go out for a belated birthday supper for Colin. We went to a small seafood restaurant for oysters and mussels. Our waiter happened to be a Saskatoon boy as well and we experienced some good old fashioned prairie hospitality. When we weren't getting berated for never having had oysters on the half-shell he was bringing us round after round. A fantastic seafood and drink experience which turned out to be a small fraction of what it should have been. Awesome.
Between the roads and the experience in Vancouver yesterday was the best day yet and they only seem to be getting better. We'll update again before we leave Vancouver.
Yesterday, upon hearing we had a long day in front of us suggested we grab a quick breakfast at a lovely little cafe called Hello Toast. In typical Grant fashion breakfast took until noon and resulted in the four of us being interviewed for a local newspaper. So yes, keep an eye out for our ugly, wind beaten mugs. We're kind of a big deal.
Upon leaving Kamloops we were promptly met with fierce winds that made riding a battle to stay on the road and keep with traffic. The wind continued for just over an hour until we were able to get into the mountains and get a little bit of shelter. We took the number 1 highway rather than the Coquihalla in hopes of some fun mountain driving and we were certainly not disappointed. The further we drove into the mountains the twistier the road got, becoming turn after turn of flowing corners. The only thought I had past how to take the next corner was "This is why we ride motorcycles."
This lasted for hours, until I came around one fateful corner and encountered one of my greatest riding fears. Hornet got blown into my helmet. Yes. A hornet, flying around the inside of my helmet. After a minor brick shitting and scramble to open my visor I was able to get the hornet out via my visor. In no great hurry to repeat that, but excited to get to Vancouver we continued on through more beautiful roads. Coming in to wine country, just outside of Vancouver I had my second intimate experience of the day, when a small bird flew into my head. It bounced off just the top of my open visor. It kind of felt like I was having a V8 moment, and I sat stunned in my saddle trying to figure out what had just happened. Never a dull moment I suppose.
We arrived at our place in Vancouver, right in the middle of downtown on Burrard, and decided it would be necessary to go out for a belated birthday supper for Colin. We went to a small seafood restaurant for oysters and mussels. Our waiter happened to be a Saskatoon boy as well and we experienced some good old fashioned prairie hospitality. When we weren't getting berated for never having had oysters on the half-shell he was bringing us round after round. A fantastic seafood and drink experience which turned out to be a small fraction of what it should have been. Awesome.
Between the roads and the experience in Vancouver yesterday was the best day yet and they only seem to be getting better. We'll update again before we leave Vancouver.
Thursday 22 September 2011
Calgary to Kamloops
Hey all,
Billy here. So... since our 11 hour misadventure of a ride from Saskatoon to Calgary things have gone a lot smoother! We had a great time in Calgary visiting family and Kylie (Braydon, Patrick and Colin have family, I had Kylie). Today we set out from Calgary bright and early and had a much smoother ride than the first time out.
One thing that I've noticed about traveling by motorcycles is it makes you a minor celebrity of sorts. It's probably the pieced-together, obnoxiously bright nature of our KLRs, but everywhere we go we meet people who are interested in what we are doing. This morning, before leaving Calgary, we met up with Brad, another adventure rider who's leaving for the same trip we're doing in 3 weeks time. We had breakfast at McDonalds and talked about various technical aspects of our trip as well as some unmentionables.
The ride itself: amazing. It was true bliss to get past the straight prairie roads and into the twisty curves of the Canadian rockies. Well we were filling up for gas in Golden, BC a kind gentleman informed us that we should don our rain gear, so we did and proceeded to have the most unbelievable two hours of riding in the rain as we descended from the mountains.
Today we really got to experience the riding we are looking for... and another aspect: the sheer exhaustion that comes with being on a motorcycle for 8 hours. Tonight, we're staying with Braydon's uncle who happens to work at a lovely Indian restaurant here in Kamloops which we enjoyed thoroughly. Tomorrow morning it's off to Vancouver where we're going to relax for the weekend and catch up with some old and wonderful friends!
Tot zo,
Billy
Billy here. So... since our 11 hour misadventure of a ride from Saskatoon to Calgary things have gone a lot smoother! We had a great time in Calgary visiting family and Kylie (Braydon, Patrick and Colin have family, I had Kylie). Today we set out from Calgary bright and early and had a much smoother ride than the first time out.
One thing that I've noticed about traveling by motorcycles is it makes you a minor celebrity of sorts. It's probably the pieced-together, obnoxiously bright nature of our KLRs, but everywhere we go we meet people who are interested in what we are doing. This morning, before leaving Calgary, we met up with Brad, another adventure rider who's leaving for the same trip we're doing in 3 weeks time. We had breakfast at McDonalds and talked about various technical aspects of our trip as well as some unmentionables.
The ride itself: amazing. It was true bliss to get past the straight prairie roads and into the twisty curves of the Canadian rockies. Well we were filling up for gas in Golden, BC a kind gentleman informed us that we should don our rain gear, so we did and proceeded to have the most unbelievable two hours of riding in the rain as we descended from the mountains.
Today we really got to experience the riding we are looking for... and another aspect: the sheer exhaustion that comes with being on a motorcycle for 8 hours. Tonight, we're staying with Braydon's uncle who happens to work at a lovely Indian restaurant here in Kamloops which we enjoyed thoroughly. Tomorrow morning it's off to Vancouver where we're going to relax for the weekend and catch up with some old and wonderful friends!
Tot zo,
Billy
Wednesday 21 September 2011
A Silky Smooth Depatrure. AKA The First 600 are the hardest.
As expected we left Saskatoon yesterday to the good-byes of our families for our grand adventure. Up until this point everything went incredibly smoothly. Our first little hitch came 20 minutes later, at the gas station on our way out of town. Bill had stopped to check tire pressure only to find that his tires were a touch low. While topping them up he proceeded to knock his bike over. Twice. Thirty minutes later we were off like a heard of turtles blazing ahead into the great unknown.
What we didn't know was that the great unknown would be sidelining us about 20 km. later, when Patrick's bike died. We quickly got to the road for another 20 km. before again we were sidelined. And again 20 later. The fourth time it happened, after removing a fuel filter and trouble shooting other problems, Patrick was able to figure out that he had pinched his tank breather line. With our problems sorted we were finally able to arrive at Kindersley in a brief 3 hours.
Other ride highlights included Billy's brand new, less than 24 hour old GoPro self destructing all over the number 7 highway. Brutal. We were also passed by a house. Yes a house. KLR's are not by any means fast, but god damn the was the fastest moving house I've ever seen.
We arrived at our abode for the night and went to a lovely Mexican restaurant and played Settlers of Catan with our old Friend Kylie Toh. We're off to a good start. We'll keep you posted.
What we didn't know was that the great unknown would be sidelining us about 20 km. later, when Patrick's bike died. We quickly got to the road for another 20 km. before again we were sidelined. And again 20 later. The fourth time it happened, after removing a fuel filter and trouble shooting other problems, Patrick was able to figure out that he had pinched his tank breather line. With our problems sorted we were finally able to arrive at Kindersley in a brief 3 hours.
Other ride highlights included Billy's brand new, less than 24 hour old GoPro self destructing all over the number 7 highway. Brutal. We were also passed by a house. Yes a house. KLR's are not by any means fast, but god damn the was the fastest moving house I've ever seen.
We arrived at our abode for the night and went to a lovely Mexican restaurant and played Settlers of Catan with our old Friend Kylie Toh. We're off to a good start. We'll keep you posted.
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