Don and the White Donkey aka BMW R1100GS

John and the Kawasaki,

June 28, 2011 Day 24 Albuquerque New Mexico to Tempe Arizona

My 24 hours are used up before the dealer opens, they have the tire I want and can get it on in the next couple of hours. $251 dollars later and about noon time I am loaded and headed south. I have time to burn and as it is really hot in Phoenix I had thoughts of staying at our place in Vernon (just outside of Show Low) and leaving really early and riding home Wed morning and beating the heat. So with that in mind I decide to ride I 25 south to Socorro and pick up 60 to Vernon. I haven't decided what was the prettiest place I saw on this trip but it took only a few minuets to figure out that Socorro was the ugliest, hands down. It has a perfect speed trap for people coming in to town. The speed limit stays 35 out side of the main part of town going west on 60 and the few businesses out there are well off the road. There is a little curve in the road and a sign there just the right size for the local fuzz to hide behind and he was.  I was going out of town so had my speed in check but that made an ugly town even uglier. I saw two antelope in the god forsaken country west of Socorro. In fact that was the closest I got to any  as one of them was in the road and I almost had to come to a complete stop for him. I expected him to jump the fence but he went under it like a dog. I wish I had a picture of them, one had a water bottle and the other a lunch box. Rough Country out there. With the rain clouds coming and going and looking really threating riding through the showers and little cloud bursts made the ride interesting, Even though the surrounding were ugly as I rode a little farther west the mountains with the changing light from the cluds and rain was very nice. It was warm even at 8000 feet so I just rode through the wet and enjoyed the cooling off. I got to Vernon and looked every thing over, no one has been there for over a month, all is well. It is still trying to rain and I don''t want to load up at dark thirty in the rain and ride out in the nasty clay that gets like glue when it is wet. It is about a mile to the asphalt so I locked up and headed home. Fueled up in Show Low and came home on 60 through the Salt River Canyon. That road is a lot more fun to ride on a motorcycle than it is in the Expedition pulling the horses. . Three hours and ten minuets after fueling up at the Maverick I am home, a little sweaty but home sweet home.  I believe in ATGATT  all the gear all the time. So I always wear my helmet, my jacket has armor in the elbows, shoulders and lower back for protection in case of a fall. I also have a knit shirt with the same armor in it but didn't take it due to lack of room and knew the only day I would need it was the last day coming home. The jacket has zippers at the wrist, upper arms and shoulders to let air through and zippers in the back to let the air out, it helps but it was still hot. I was wearing Levis but I wear Bon Armor under them, like a pair of tights with shin, knee, thigh and hip pads. A little warm but worth the extra warmth if a problem ever causes one to roll or bounce down the road.. I didn't race through the canyon but stayed within about 5 mph of the speed limit, just that I didn't have to slow down much for the corners and going up it is easy to keep up to the speed limit even in the curvy sections.  . The bike shows a little over 9800 more miles on the odometer than when I left. Knowing what I do now would I do it again. YES

June 27, 2011 Day 24 Glendo Wyomng to Albuquerque New Mexico

Well I have goofed off in Wyoming over the weekend and am ready to head south again. Glendo has a population of about 200. A quarter of them are related to me some way, both my parents were raised in Glendo and I have numerous aunts, uncles and cousins living there. I have designs of being back in Tempe in a little less than 24 hours. There is an organization called The Iron Butt Riders. They have a lot of interesting ride to do that qualify for placks and license plate frames. To become a member one needs to do a Saddle Sore 1000, a thousand miles in 24 hours. You get someone at the beginning of your ride to sign a witness form, fuel up and keep the receipt with a time and date stamp, that is your start time, stop for fuel at least every 300 miles and/or where your course makes a major turn, keep your receipt with time and date,  log all your fuel stops with the bike odometer reading and the time, list any rest stops or sleep stops and when you get to your destination the last fuel receipt is the ending time and date. Leaving Glendo it would be I 25 to I 40 to Holbrook and home through Payson or I 40 to Flagstaff and home on 17. That would put me between 1050 and 1100 miles. 16 hours plus fuel stops and there are 7 hours to goof off or sleep. I had a time and date stamp of 8:00 at the station in down town Glendo, figured I would ride till I was really tired and then get a room for a few hours and finish up, if I didn't get tired I would be home a little after midnight. All went well till I was coming out of the station in Raton NM to get on the bike and I see something shinny on my rear tire. It is a bit of steel belt showing. There is one bike shop in Raton and it is closed on Sunday and Monday, I head south at a much slower pace and stop in Las Vegas NM and talk to a couple of sheriffs at a gas station and there are no bike shops there, need to go to Santa Fe. The tire has more belt showing but the belt hasn't worn through any where and there is another layer under that one so I head south again, At Santa Fe every thing is well off the road and it is getting late enough that I won't get a tire today so ride on another 60 miles to Albuquerque, find a hotel and wait for the BMW dealer to open Tue morning, most bike shops like to be closed on Monday.  My longest day so far 650 miles and I feel great, too bad I will have to wait for the Saddle Sore ride. I had been watching the rear tire, it had about 1800 miles on it before I left home, looked almost like new. Every where but the spot where the steel belt was showing the tire still looked great and you wouldn't think there was a problem. I am glad it just happen to be in sight when I came out to get on the bike.  Critters today were the antelope that were hiding Friday when I rode into Glendo. I saw antelope in Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.

June 24, 2011 Day 21 Great Falls Montana to Glendo Wyoming

I check the weather and there are afternoon thunder storms forecast and chance of rain the whole day. It is not raining now so I pack up tie my rain gear on top of my duffel bag so I can get to it easily and head toward Glendo Wyoming and my parents house. It is 579 miles so I will need to stay with the program as I woke up a little early and then when back to sleep and was an hour and a half later than I planed on when I got out of bed. The riding in Montana is wonderful, even the two lane roads that are a bit narrow have 70 mph speed limits and the slabs have 75 mph limit. With the GPS giving me an accurate speed I add 4 or 5 mph and the miles click off rapidly. The area before and after Great Falls is more like wheat land, not sure what they are growing but that is my guess. I am on 87 a two lane to Billings then will pick up 25 south.  The country goes from the rolling hills with cultivated grain of some kind to cattle country again, some places we get into more hills and there are pine trees on the upper portions. There is a construction delay and we are bunched up like a commuter on the freeway in rush hours, I get by lots of the cars and trucks, must have been 30 altogether, didn't pass all at one time and I am enjoying the ride, still dry. Catch up with another bunch of cars, actually 4 national guard trucks and then three cars that couldn't get past them. I put them behind me and have clear sailing again. Next bunch and I am screwed, It is a national guard convoy, taking up about a half mile of road. An Armored Personnel Carrier out in front of the convoy about a 1/4 of a mile then a pickup, another APC a truck and trailer, another APC another truck and trailer, another APC and a 1/4 mile back another pickup and an APC. Not a problem I can zap them all on some of the long straight sections as I can see several miles on a lot of he down hills. The problem is that the last APC moves out and block the lane that I need to pass, only moving over when a car is coming. I follow these guys for almost 40 miles before they turn off. They turn off on hyw 191 which my GPS tells me is the shortest way to Billings. At this point I would rather ride an extra hour that follow them so I stay on 87 and enjoy my ride to Billings(only a couple of mile farther). Part of the problem is that truck are limited to 60 mph on the secondary roads and 65 on  the slabs. The convey was only going 50 -55 most of the time. I am through Billings and headed south on the slab. It is a great ride, not much traffic and the same rolling hills and cattle country that the last 100 miles have been. I stop in Sheridan Wyoming for fuel, give my folks a call and tell them I will be in about 7:30. I ride on wet roads and just when I think I will be riding in to a big black cloud with water falling out of it the road makes a little turn and I get wet pavement but stay dry. I think if I had been an hour earlier I would have been riding in the rain the last 200 miles. And yes, I was able to activate my phone when I got to Shelby last night for fuel. Lots of sage along the road so I get the fresh smell of nice clean open range. Lots of cattle, some horses and no critters. I expected to see a lot of antelope but not one. This is the weekend of the high school rodeos and the junior rodeos so there are lots of horse trailer on the road and as I passed the rodeo grounds at Buffalo and Sheridan there is lots of activity. A wonderful day of riding mostly open range, lots of bikes going the opposite direction and I am in Glendo in time for dinner. I will hang out for the weekend and head south Monday morning. Five hundred seventy nine mile is my greatest mileage for any one day but the ride was actually easier than many of the 420 mile days that John and I did going north. Good speed limits, little traffic and no rain makes life on a bike easy.

June 23, 2011 Day 20 Trout Creek to Geat Falls Montana

It is just getting to noon and I am on the road again. Stayed an extra day in Trout Creek as a cousin was returning home this morning and I wanted to see him.  It was a good time and  they just live a mile down the road and he has been fighting some cancer so it was great to see him. There is the typical light rain, I guess I should have picked "Rain Maker" for my name instead of Traveler. The last two day have been beautiful,  Toured down town Trout Creek and went to Thomson Falls and had Huckleberry ice cream. My cell phone had given up, it worked on that for several days but finally managed to quit completely. A couple of hours with Tec support and when they gave up a new phone was sent to the Verizon dealer in Couer d Alene. Picked that up yesterday and spent another hour and a half with tec support and it still isn't working. When I get to civilization I am suppose to try and activate it again.. I am headed for Glacier National Park and hope to do the ride to the sun. The road that goes through the middle of the park is one of the best motorcycle rides in the west. I go south out of Trout Creek and the turn north again to Kalispell, Columbia Falls and into the park. The ride is a potpourri of scenery, leaving mountains and lots of trees, riding along a river and rail road tracks. Lumber is a big player here and as I pass a saw mill with the fresh rain it smelled so very good. the canyon narrows and the river crowds the railroad closer to the road and as I pass a passenger train (going my direction) with an engine and three cars it is only 20 feet away and the windows are just below the road level. If it wasn't for being busy riding I could have looked into the train cars and waved to the people.  At Plains the area is open, the canyon widens out and most of the trees are gone. as I turn north the area is range land with some rolling hills, not as green but again the rain brings the smell of fresh sage out and it is a great ride. The road is curvy and up and down hills, I would classify it as cattle country. As I come to the top of a hill I slow a little as the curve signs and arrows get my attention. Over the top of the hill and I see Flathead lake. It is huge. I am impressed. As we go father north we have the trees again and the rain is a bit more serious as I turn to enter the park. Out with my senior pass I purchased in Teton and I am in. Except the lady tells me the road is closed in 12 miles. the middle 30 miles of the road still has too much snow to open. I turn around and head south through the park that way, a beautiful ride  with the river and a little snow along the road and when we get into a little open area I can see lots of the smaller glaciers. The trip to the park has put me farther north than if I had headed towards Wyoming but even with the ride to the sun road closed it was a beautiful ride and I am glad I came that way. The rain had stopped for the last hour. I ride through Browning and as I get close to Shelby, a fuel stop, it is raining again and I decide to head on down to Great Falls to find a hotel. Twenty miles out of Shelby the rain stops and I have an enjoyable ride into Great Falls.  403 miles for today, not bad for a noon start.

Traveler

June 20, 2011 Day 17 Hinton Alberta to Trout Creek Montana

Breakfast in the Hotel, coffee and a bran muffin. Put on the rain gear and load the bike. I am on my way to see the parks. The rain is light and by the time I get to the entrance to the park to pay my $8.50  it has stopped for a while. Lots of elk this morning along the road, there is a lake on one side and a river on the other and lots of grass. The elk don't seem to mind people as there are lots of people taking pictures and the elk just keep eating. There are a total of around 30 elk scattered along a half mile of the road. Just as I get to Jasper to turn south there is a bit of a traffic jam, one bewildered looking deer that gave up and took off for the brush. I expect today to be the critter sighting day of the trip. Cruising south the mountains are beautiful and impressively high. After the first 30 miles it gets less green, still green but a bit more rocky along the road. The Ice Fields are a big tourist draw but failed to impress me, I guess all the glaciers I have been by in the last few weeks that it would have to green up a bit to compare with northern BC and Alaska. The roads are fun, the tour buses tend to clog things up a bit but on the up hill they are easy to pass with the bike.On the down hills they are not a problem. As I come into the area around Lake Louise there are two different cops writing tickets and they are finishing up 12 miles of freeway type 4 lane with the 6 or 7 foot high fences along the sides. What the heck?  Actually the freeway work was going on farther south too but I turned off to Radian Hot Springs for my park exit. This to me was the prettiest part of the park, lots of green, high mountains and rivers. So far there have been no critters other that the elk and deer at the entrance and up to Jasper. This changes and by the time I am leaving the Park at Raidan Hot Springs I have seen 6 bear, three adult bears, one with 2 cubs and one with a single cub. No moose today and I really want to get a picture of one.  I am headed south to Cameron, the US customs at Idaho and then on to my Sisters in Trout Creek Montana. This part of the ride is almost as pretty as the last part of the park ride and much nicer than the main part of the park.  Only a little rain, just enough to keep the roads wet and bring out all the fresh smells. I am through US Customs with no problems and into Idaho. The ride will be to highway 2, to 56 to 200 and Trout creek. I am into Montana just after hitting 2 and the rest of the ride is every bit as pretty as lower BC and Idaho. Our cell phones don't work very well but I find Kathe and Carl's place and park the bike. It is like a park here, 30 acres, lots of green grassy area and then trees. Funny thing about this area, the view from the house is north over the lake but the sun sets right in the middle of it. How they got the sun moved over that far north is beyond me. Ride today was 540 beautiful miles.

Traveler

Buffalo pictures

Bear Pictures

June 19, 2011 Day 16 Smiters British Coulmbia to Hinton Alberta

My plan for today is to get within striking distance for a trip through Jasper, Lake Louise and Banf. The three are all connected but seem to each keep it's own name for the part of the park it occupies. I was not aware of any towns of any size before Jasper and I knew that I couldn't afford to stay in Jasper, the cost of a room would keep me up all night. On the web looking at the possible choices, the lowest price around Jasper was $189, in Hinton 40 miles north east of jasper the rooms were $89. Yes you guessed it I would ride the 40 miles out and the 40 miles back for a hundred bucks. So I made a reservation, checked weather and headed out. There was a chance of rain after I passed Prince George, actually a city that was the mid point of today's ride and the forecast for Prince George was 80 degrees and sunny. I tie my rain suit on top of my dry bag as I haven't been particular lucky in getting a dry day, maybe this will be the one. As I head out there are a lot more clouds around Smiters than was forecast but only a few miles of wet roads, the clouds were just a threat with nothing to back them up. The first 100 miles was just like the ride into Smiters, lots of farms and ranches, very pretty and a river close to the road for much of the ride,lots of bridges. The same feel of small town America, even though I am in Canada. The hills get higher and a few evergreen trees on them and a nice curvy road. The terrain flattens out again as we get close to Prince George and it is warm and sunny.  That warm and sunny lasted for about 75 miles and it got darker and darker and then wet, I stopped to put on my rain suit and it wasn't long before a rider headed north stopped to see if I needed help with any thing. I said I was just putting on the rain gear, he had his on and said it was wet off and on all the way to Jasper. The road is up and down much larger hill that we had this morning, I do get a good look at a moose standing a little ways off the road on the opposite side of my traveling. I didn't stop in the rain and try and get the camera out. Actually I keep the camera in a zippered pocket in the back of my tank bag so If it wasn't for getting the bike stopped and my gloves off it is very easy to get to. It is the getting ready to get to it that is a problem. I ride on and see a couple of hotels on this side of Jasper that would have saved the extra 80 miles of riding but I am committed now as I paid for a room in Hinton. When I get to the park gate I don't have to pay any thing as I am just passing through, they will get me tomorrow when I return. There is actually a lot of trucks on this road as it is the only way in the area to get from the west side to Edmonton on the east side. Not long after getting into the park there is a big elk with lots of antlers eating along side the road. He doesn't seem to mind being watched. I did stop and get my camera out. He had his head down and was just eating and meanderng away from me. I blew my horn and then he turned and looked at me. I took a couple of picture of him. (I am on a computer now that I think I can down load a picture from) and will try my luck at posting. The ride has been very pretty, a lot of the last bit and into the park was along a river that was running very full with high snow cover mountains to the front and sides. The only pain was all the truck traffic and not many places to pass. The bike is pretty quick and doesn't take much room to pass but when there are two or three cars behind the truck and they bunch up the it takes more room to pass as you have to do 3 cars and a truck. That is why my GPS keeps getting max speeds of 90 plus. The ride through Jasper is very pretty and as I am leaving the east side there are a several more elk.  I ride the 40 miles to Hinton in the rain as it started again just as I was leaving the park. The computer at the hotel is messed up and they don't have my reservation or the family right behind me, but there are plenty of rooms so not a problem. I unload the bike, parked under the canopy so I am in a dry spot. It is still raining and I don't really want to go find dinner in the rain, the restaurant next door is closed for renovation so I order a pizza to be delivered, so much for my vegan diet tonight. Each night as I think about the days ride and get mental pictures of different parts that impressed me most I would have a hard time saying what has been the best. The Critter count for the day is one moose, a big elk, several other elk and two Coyotes together. The ride today 523 miles. Tomorrow the park. I had been to the park before, it was in the winter and it was to ski. The Lake Louise ski area was nice, it was on the east side of the valley and the old lodge and lake on the west side so it made for a wonderful views and the skiing was good that day, Sunshine was also there at the time, on the west side of the valley and required a bus ride up to the ski area, an OK ski day. Jasper I will never forget, the coldest I have ever been, It was 8 degrees at the bottom of the lift, 4 degrees at the top and the wind was howling. That was the last cold day of skiing for me, after that, if it wasn't 20 degrees I didn't waste my money on a lift ticket.

June 18, 2011 Day 15 Watson Lake Yukon to Smithers British Coulmbia

 Today I am on a new road the Cassair highway, 37 on the map. Of course it was raining when I loaded up the bike. I back track about 15 miles and turn on to 37. Headed south and not much traffic in the first hour I only meet two motorcycles, one car and 3 pickups, See one bear close to the road but it heads into the brush when I stop. There is a little more traffic now but the road is good and Dease Lake is my planed stop for fuel and breakfast. Not too long after the first bear sighting I catch up with an Escalade, a lady and two large dogs headed south also. Next bear sighting the bear seems to have found some trash and is feasting along side the road, I get stopped as does the Escalade and about the time I dig my camera out one of the dogs bark and the bear is gone, I see two more black bears and one brown bear before I get to Dease lake along with a fox that is about the biggest and prettiest fox I have ever seen. An oncoming car has to stop to let the fox cross the road, I am again getting my gloves off, digging my camera out of the back pocket on my tank bag and the fox is standing 30 feet away watching me. I get the camera out, turn it on and the fox heads up the hill and into the bush, so much for a picture of the fox. At Dease Lake I pull into fuel up and meet the lady in the Escalade. She has seen 9 bear beside the fox that I had seen, bet the darn dogs scared the ones I didn't see away. The road has been great with about 4 miles total of gravel. I eat breakfast at the cafe and head south. I would like to make it to Smithers, that is 535 miles from Watson Lake, but if the roads are bad and I am running slow I will take a 40 mile side trip to Stewart / Hyder and stay there for the night, that is about 400 miles for the day. The road stays great, the views are beautiful and the traffic has picked up a little but not too bad. I see one more fox, a little bedraggled looking, my guess is a female with pups some where and a nice big coyote. I pass the turn off for Stewart/Hyder and it is still early, looks like I will be in Smithers tonight. Nothing great about Smithers, it just means I am back to civilization, cell phone and internet. I have ridden 535 miles today, every inch of it has been beautiful. I have ridden by lakes, rivers and streams, been on high mountain passes with view for miles,  even the last 30 miles into Smithers was great, rolling green hills with small farms, old red barns horses and cows.  A great day and no rain the last 200 miles.

Traveler

June 17, 2011 Day 14 Destruction Bay Yukon to Watson Lake Yukon

Well I have a little rain greeting me this morning, but it is not too bad, just the light rain that has greeted me many morning. It is interesting to see the view traveling in the opposite direction. Yesterday there were views that were complete different than going up. The lake there at destruction bay was a lot longer than going down as I could see where it turned and another finger went up several miles. My plan on the way south was to make it to Watson Lake, we didn't stay there on the way up as it was early in the day and we went on to Rancharea. The Cassiar highway heads south just before Watson Lake and I plan on riding that, the last report I had read on that was lots of gravel and some of the cafe/fuel stops might be closed. I decided that I should take a little extra fuel with me so a stop in Whitehorse at Canadian Tire was called for. The ride to Whitehorse was pretty and the rain was no bother. In fact it was warm in Whitehorse, I picked up two 1 1/4 gallon gas cans and two more bungee cords to tie them on with. Got every thing put away and tied on refueled and headed south. Opposite direction, just like a new road. Critter count for the afternoon was 1 bear and two moose, none of them very close to the road.  Only  a few miles where the rain was very heavy, mostly it was just a nuisance making the windshield dirty and the face shield hard to see out of. I ran 270 miles on a tank of fuel and the reserve light was on when I got to Watson Lake. Cruised through town to see what hotels were available, the Air Force hotel had the cheapest prices advertised on the signs coming into town and when I refueled I asked the guys in the station where the the cheapest hotel was and they said the Air Force Hotel, It was only 3 or 4 blocks away so I headed back there. It was interesting. The price was the best I had seen since we hit the Alaskan highway. The owner is a big German guy with a pony tail and he asked if I would like to see a room, I said yes, "please take off your shoes" There were about 20 pair of shoes and boots lined up along the wall, the place was like a dorm, it had been a dorm for the air force in the 1940s and was put back just like that, Hard wood floors with carpet runners in the hall way, the rooms were clean but no bathrooms, the showers and potties were down the hall, all the wood work was redone and perfectly varnished. The rooms were carpeted, a concession to modern times as were the hall way runners. As I said it was interesting. There are a series of runways all along the Alaskan highway that were built for the air force as that was the route they ferried airplanes to Russia during world war two. Watson Lake was one of the places where they stayed over night.  There was no Alaskan high way at that time, mostly just a trail. The more traveled route was the Cassair highway that I plan on going down tomorrow, it was the route that the Hudson Bay company and all the trappers used had used for almost a hundred years, it had a couple of places where there were side roads that went to the inland passage to connect with the boat traffic. Tomorrow I will see if the Cassair highway is as bad as the travel book I had said it could be.

Until tomorrow, bare foot in the dorm
Traveler

June 16 Day 13 Palmer Alaska to Destruction Bay Yukon

Rained most of the night and still raining as I am ready to head out. I did breakfast in my room with my travel rations and coffee. The road is beautiful and every thing is clean. About 30 miles out of Palmer the rain stopped. I don't trust the weather enough to take off the rain jacket, and 100 miles later I get a little more rain. The ride is beautiful and it is new road for me to Tok, about 20 miles of construction and gravel but with the rain it is not dusty and most of the gravel is packed so easy to ride. Well easy to ride if you can go about 20 mph or a bit more, but sometimes the pilot car goes slow when it is waiting for some equipment to get out of the way or just to keep every one together if there is a slow truck in the line and then the riding is a lot of work. Often times I find that if I stand up I can see the pot holes better and have better control. One spot on this section where the pilot car was going slow and the blade had just spread the gravel so it was still soft, made me work to keep every thing going in the right direction (forward). Refueled in Tok and headed out for my afternoon ride, my goal was to spend the night in Destruction Bay, we had stopped there on the way north and they had a good restaurant, clean rooms with wifi and a laundry facility. That would give me 510 miles for the day and I knew that the 140 miles from the Canadian border to Destruction Bay would be the worst roads of the whole trip. Only a little rain to the border, nice road and lots of green. When I get to the border I am expecting a quick look at the passport and a wave through, not so. He was a smaller version of Eddie Murphy with a big diamond stud in one ear and he  must have been new as he kept having to leave the window and go check on stuff. How come my passport was beat up a little? Well sir when I travel I don't always take my purse so I put it in my back pocket and then it gets set on. Where did I get the picture taken? It looks sub standard, did I get it taken in Wyoming? No sir, I was born in Wyoming but left there on a freight train when I was two years old.   Why did I go to Alaska? Because it was there sir. Who did I meet there? No one sir, I rode up with a friend and he fell in love with an Eskimo and decided to stay there. After another trip to talk to some one or look in his question book he let me go. I don't know if he had run out of questions or if it was the 6 motor homes and travel trailers behind me the gave me my release. So the white donkey and I are off and running for Destruction Bay 140 miles away. The road is every bit a poor as I remembered. Lots of dips and bumps and long stretches of gravel. I got behind a pickup truck after one of the early stretches of construction when the pilot car turned us loose and gave me something to follow. I could tell when the bumps were the worst as he swerved around them and by the bounce of the truck so I could miss some of them and stand up for the others. Standing in the bumps you are able to take some of the shock with your legs and the suspension doesn't  bottom out near as often. The pickup didn't slow down for the gravel so I just stood up and stayed  just far enough behind him to miss any flying rock. The ride went faster than I had expected but when I got off the bike in Destruction Bay my legs very tired and I am sure I will be sore tomorrow. 510 miles down today, when I don't have anyone to talk to the rest stops are shorter and I have a couple of less gas stops so spend a little more time in the saddle. Two rooms left so I take a room and am done for the day.

June 15, 2011 Day 12 Soltodna, Homer and Palmer Alaska

Up early to see how hard it is raining, not too hard but still raining. We are pulling out of the cabins at 7:15. Breakfast was included with the cabin but served only from 8:00 to 9:00 and I am anxious to be on the road as Homer is still 150 miles away. We get breakfast just before we get to Soltodna in the little town of Sterlling. There is also a little hotel there and the rates are better than we have seen so John plans on coming back there for the night and spending a couple of day on the Kenai Peninsula. I plan on heading towards home after Homer. The Peninsula is beautiful, the big mountains as we came in from Anchorage and then it flattens out as we get closer to Homer. We have moments when we can see a little of the Cook Inlet and the mountains on the other side. The road is fun to ride even in the rain but my bike got really noisy, lost the muffler, by the time we got back to look for it there was no muffler, I don't know if some one picked it up or it was destroyed by one of the 30 wheeled truck or if it just went bouncing into the weeds and brush. So now I an a loud bike, not my favorite kind, but will live with it. Homer was a neat town and the spit runs a mile or so out into the inlet and reminded me of the old hippy days with all the weird little shops, people camping and just a reminder of days gone by. The spit is a boat place with lots of charters, derlic boats in various staged of repair or decay. At the end of the spit there is a Very Pricey hotel that seems so out of place. A fun trip out there. We head back to Sterling and actually get a little bit of sun, not too much but a promise of things to come. As we pass through Sterling John swings into his hotel and I keep on going. It has been fun having some one to ride with, especially some one that know the area and a lot of the facts and history of the different things that go on there. I have rain the rest of the day, some times light, some times heavier and once in a while it stops and gives me a break. I hit Anchorage at 6:00 and traffic is still a mess, about 20 miles out of town it get better and I continue on to Palmer. 430 miles for the day, lots of interesting sights and I am headed south, south as in home.

June 14, 2011 Day 11 Fairbanks to almost Soldotna

I know it is hard to believe but we are still getting rain, not heavy but a steady drizzle. Today we are heading to Homer, it was the Halibut Capital of the world at one time, still claims to be.  Homer is 578 miles from Fairbanks, so we really don't plan on making it there today, John had suggested Soldotna, about 75 miles before Homer. We planed to have breakfast on the road and it took a while to find a place open, the first two stops were closed, as in maybe not in business any more. The third stop was a success. The gas stops can be like the cafes, there yesterday, gone today, that is why John gets fuel anytime there is a station open and we have gone 80 or 90 miles and are not near a large town. The one you count on may not be in business when you get there even if the map says it is.The rain is never very hard and it goes and comes but never goes long enough for us to get out of the rain suits. As we get to the edge of Anchorage the rain get a bit harder and the traffic gets heavy. The traffic all comes through on surface streets so it is a bit of a mess and the drivers tend to be jerks, squeezing in and cutting you off. We get gas and are on our way out of town, The rain is back to a steady drizzle giving away to no percip once in a while. I think I have see every thing beautiful that Alaska has to offer in the way of scenery and once again I am in awe. On our right side is the big bay that is south of Anchorage, on the left is rocky cliffs with lots of green and water falls every once in a while and to the front are some majestic mountain peaks, The tops are snow covered, the next part is bare rock and then we have lots of green, not trees, just green growth and then we have the trees on the lower part.Throw in a few glaciers that go from top to near the bottom and it is beyond words, even though I am trying, This is where we get our critter siting for the day, Mountain goats or sheep on the cliffs. I would have missed them if John hadn't pointed. One was a baby, looked almost like a big toy, fuzzy and white. When we get past the bay we are going up a canyon with these giant peaks on both side and a few lakes on our left every little bit and a river running down to the bay. The rain is still coming down and we are in the shadows now, a little cooler, maybe even cold. John pulls over and asked if I had seen the cabins for rent sign back down the road a mile. He said he either needed to put on more clothes or stop for the day. We had 461 miles under our belt, or seat and stopping was fine. The road would still be there tomorrow, we hope.

June 13, 2011 Day 10 Fairbanks north and return

Today I am hoping for the hardest ride of the trip. I would love to have a picture of my bike in front of the sign at the Arctic Circle. That is 200 miles north of Fairbanks,  round trip will be 400 miles, just a little bit less than we have been doing. But only the first 85 miles are paved, the next 115 are gravel and they put down a dust palliative that holds moisture so that a little bit of dew or light rain showers will go a long ways in keeping the dust down. Dust is rumored to be like riding in a fog when it is dry but when the road is wet it is  slick and sticky. If you are looking at a map, the pavement stops at a little town called Liven Good, from there on it is officially called the Dalton hwy and unofficially called the Haul Road. From Liven Good to Dead Horse is 415 miles, parts of it are paved but it gets lots of truck traffic hauling supplies up for the oil fields at Prudo Bay so it tends to get beat to death. I am up early and ready to go. Still raining and I don't have much hope of getting to the Arctic Circle but won't know if I don't try. The rain almost stops about 30 miles out of Fairbanks and the ride is beautiful, some low clouds so you are riding  in a fog and other places where you can see of 30 or 40 miles so with the changing light it is a lovely ride, until I run out of asphalt and am into some nasty mud, I stand up on the foot pegs dirt bike style as I know that helps a lot in the gravel and in the mud and actually kind of have control, but I don't know that I can ride 230 miles standing up and if I screw up I have no one to help me get the bike back up, I had left a lot of the stuff at the hotel in Fairbanks but the bike is still over 600 pounds and a lot of work to set up on dry ground, in the mud it might be almost impossible. I am a little over 4000 miles from home and really want to be able to ride the bike home. The first place I find to get turned around I do and I am headed back to Fairbanks, so much for my attack on the Haul Road. Back in Fairbanks at the Hotel I find there are several other bikers that had been on the road, a rider from Indiana on a nice Honda ST1300 (a really nice road bike) made it about 20 miles and lost it in the mud, only broke a mirror and some plastic. He said while he was busy trying to upright the bike he stopped to rest and looked up to see a black bear a hundred feet away sitting watching him. We also have a  rider here  from Australia, he bought his bike in Idaho last December then just a week ago flew out and picked it up and rode north, He has done this once before. The guy could pass for an old wrinkled Crocodile Dundee. His daughter told him to be careful, she said remember "Young people bend and bruise, old guys break and bleed" A little something to think about. Crocodile had not crashed but just gave up as as it was so slow going he was running out of time, but he helped two other riders pull their bike back up on the road as they had gone off the edge. Well so much for the hard day of riding, I covered 170 miles but it was a fun day. John got his business taken care of so tomorrow we head towards Homer south of Anchorage
I almost forgot, critter count for the day 1 large moose.

Cactus Don the rain maker and the muddy donkey

June 12, 2011 Day 9 Destruction Bay Yukon to Fairbanks Alaska

More rain this morning so we load up and hit the road in our rain gear. The restaurant and gas station are not opened yet. The road that had been getting a little worse for the wear is getting a lot worse for the wear. There are lots of pot holes, and I suspect from the frost heaves we have a lot of dips and bumps, I can feel my suspension bottom out every once in a while. And we have lots of areas of gravel. Not having had breakfast or fueled the bikes we stop in Beaver Creek at Buckshot Bettie's for fuel and food. We are about 20 miles from US customs and the roads is still rotten. One place where the road was gravel there was an area with a bit more of the loose gravel and when John hits that his bike started to fish tail, and as I watch each cycle of the fish tailing gets a little more away from center. I figured one more and the bike would hi side and John would go for a tumble. The last one went out far enough to get some solid ground and the bike went straight. Talking to John about it at breakfast told him it really looked like he was going to get bucked off. He said I should have seen it from where he was sitting,"There was nothing I could do, I was just along for the ride." We breezed through US Customs and the agent promised us better roads, he was correct. The rains had pretty much stopped, it had never been very hard, but a slow down none the less.We had decided to ride on to Fairbanks and then come back down south to Anchorage and Homer later in the week. Our first stop is Tok and we get fuel and try and get our internet to work, no luck. John had in times pass had trouble finding a room in Fairbanks so he said let's stop at the visitor's center here in Tok and see what they can tell us. We leave there 15 minuets later with room reservations in Fairbanks. Our critter count started with a Coyote a little after leaving Destruction Bay, then right after US customs, with in 5 miles we saw another black bear. The road sides are back to being much greener now and there are lots of trees.  44 miles out of Tok there is another moose down along the edge of the road in a muddy pond getting his lunch. That is the only critter that I have seen and John missed. He normally sees them first. Ridding into Fairbanks we have about 80 miles of wet roads and only about 10 miles of rain. We rode 445 today, with that first 140 being so rough that is a good days work.

June 11, 2011 Day 8 Rancheria Yukon to Destruction Bay Yukon

No rain this morning but it is a bit cool, just touching the 40 degree mark. We eat breakfast finishing packing the bikes and John gets his bike fueled up and we hit the road. It is warm now, 42 degrees. Riding in these cooler temps really isn't too bad. I say that as my bike has heated hand grips so it helps to keep the fingers and hands warm. That is the only problem John has,  cold hands so we stop once in a wile and he warms them on the exhaust from the bike. Other than the hands we are layered with enough clothes and when it is really chilly like this morning we slip on the rain pants and or coat and that stops the wind and makes riding a pleasant experience. I do have a heated liner that I can put in my jacket and I just twist the knob and it warms my back and arms, it makes staying warm so easy I sometime feel like I am cheating. We are headed for Teslin, a small town that will have all the services. We are riding along Teslin lake and it is not very wide but it is long, I bet it is over 30 miles long. John's left arm goes out and he is pointing at something, and I am betting it is a critter of some sort. We pull over and he said " did you see the moose" I hadn't so we made a U turn and went back, There were two moose down below us in the lake, they both had pretty big racks but we were a lot higher so they paid no attention to us, we fuel in Teslin and are headed for Whitehorse. John has roamed around Whitehorse before so know there is a Canadian Tire store there. It is a big store, kind of like Bass Pro but with an automotive section and a hardware section. We cruised around in the store and picked up a few things including some anti fog John bought for the inside of his face shield and some plastic and glass cleaner, both made by RainX. RainX had been around a long time but I will wait and see what John has to say about the stuff before I buy any. I will report back in a few days. We find a Western Union store and John trades in some  US dollars for Canadian money. Close to the US border they seem to take our money with no problem, but as we get farther north it is more difficult. There is a Subway shop in the same complex so we grab a sub, one more stop for gas and we are on the road. As we are fueling the bike two more bikes come in, they had stoped in Rancheria last night for dinner but had continued on to Whitehorse for the night.John and I had stopped and looked at their bikes after we had dinner. They recognized us and started to talk. There were three of them, a couple ridding on one  bike and a single guy on the other. The amazing thing is that the bikes were only 650 cc, my bike is 1100 cc and John's is 1600, the couple had to hit 440 pounds (280 and 160 is my guess as a pound watching pilot)  plus all their gear  They were from Ontario Canada so were at least as far from home as we were. If the bike is still alive by the time they get home it will be a real testament for the Suzuki Vstorm 650. The dynamic duo are headed north to Alaska, Well we have been going more west than north but North to Alaska sound better than west to Alaska but we are on the road again. The area along the road has been less green and is more like some of the bunch grass we have up in Vernon, it is green down low but the ends are still brown and the ground is a little rockier. There are lots of brown pine type trees from the bark beetles, hundreds of acres along the road are more brown than green. Out next stop is Haine's Junction for fuel, John contemplated stopping for the night as there are rooms available and we don't know what is up the road. The girl at the gas station said that they weren't that busy yet and that at Destruction Bay the prices were about the same. Another 80 miles will give us another 420 mile day. The road had been getting alittle worse for the wear, with more pot holes and longer areas of gravel where they have been making repairs, repairs might not be too accurate of a word, I think patches or better yet rough patches would fit the situation better.Destruction Bay sits at the mid point of Kluane Lake, this lake is long like Teslin but much wider, it is an impressive lake in it's size as we ride along it. The roads are very wet and we see a big rain cloud ahead of us but it moves off the road and we ride the last 20 miles into Destruction bay with a lite shower and mostly dry. Our normal riding jackets are kind of water proof and with a lite shower the wind drys them quickly so we stay dry We get a room and are done for the day. Another 415 miles behind us. The Hotel has good wifi and the girl at the desk said Verizon is suppose to work and you will get a bar or two but they don't work. She was so very correct. The phone would show it was dialing and then ring busy. I am not sure I got much for my money buying the Canadian plan form Verizon. That is fine, tomorrow we should be in Alaska

June 10, 2011 Day 7 Fort Nelson British Columbia to Rancheria Yukon

Woke up and looked out the window, looks like we had a heavy dew, the bike covers are wet and so is the side walk. Fifteen minuets later the heavy dew has turned into lite rain. We put on our rain coats and walk across the street to a cafe that has a lot of work trucks in front of it, often a good sign of a good place to eat or at the least the best place available. Still raining after our breakfast and looks to be staying around. We pack up the bikes and head out. This section of road is where we actually cross over the Rockies, the pass is only 4000 feet but it can get snow this time of year and John is a bit apprehensive but all we encounter is clouds. We make a stop by summit lake for Cinnamon rolls for John and I, tea for John and a little high dollar fuel for John's bike. It is still raining so it is back on the road again. The road follows along the shore of Muncho Lake and it is wonderful. The road is narrow and some place we are only 3 or 4 feet about the water and about 5 feet away. This is where we see our first critters for the day. There is a little pull out along the lake, room for one or two cars at the most and there are three mountain sheep of some kind standing there nibbling on something, It is still raining, the road is narrow with no place to park except where the sheep are my gloves are nice and warm and by the time I would get my gloves off and the camera out they would be gone so we continue on. At about the 180 mile mark on toady's ride the rain stoped, 10 miles later we are crossing the Liard 'river on a neat old suspension bridge with the lovely metal grate for the floor. This is one of the longer bridges we have crossed with the metal grate for a floor but all goes well. Up the hill and around the corner and we are at Liard Hot Springs, a little resort and a fuel stop. With the bikes full of fuel and no rain we hit the road, the riding is even better now that we can see and every thing is very green. It is lovely and I guess part of the price for this beauty is a ride in the rain. We are headed for Watson Lake. Critter sighting number two is a black bear along side the road. It is a two lane road and he is on the shoulder of the other lane so we pass by about 15 feet away, he was a bit startled as were we but we got stopped and looked back, a motor home behind us had passed him too and then he crossed the road and was into the brush and trees. We ride on into the town of Watson Lake and fuel up, our fannies are tired but it is too early to stop so we head up the road, a little road side station and motel gets marked on the map as Rancheria. That is our stopping place for the day, another 420 miles behind us. No phone service, no wifi, we are in the boonies. We have good food, a nice dry bed and hot water.  Life is good.

June 9, 2011 Day 6 Grand Prarie Alberta to Fort Nelson British Columbia

A beautiful day, moderately warm for our location and the sun is out. We are headed north again. About 30 miles out John pulls into a Honda Motorcycle dealer's parking lot. I figured he had a Kawasaki and a Yamaha that he needed a Honda too. But as warm as it seemed leaving Grand Prarie at 70 miles per hour it is a bit cool, John adds another jacket and I plug in my electric jacket liner. Life is good and we are on our way again. One hour later we are in Dawson Creek, Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway. We stop at the sign and take pictures of each other with our bikes in from of the sign.Our next stop will be Fort Saint John for fuel. It is very interesting as the road drops into a valley very steeply, easy on the bikes but we can smell the hot brakes on some of the trucks. Some of the bridges are made with a steel mesh for the driving surface instead of concrete or asphalt. This one is the steel mesh and my first ride on one. The front and rear tires seem to each have picked a different ridge to ride on so they are each wiggling but to the beat of different drummers. It is not a big deal if one just relaxes and lets the bike take you across the bridge, but it sure feels like you are getting two flat tires at the same time. We fuel up the bikes and head north again. John's bike has a 5.5 gallon gas tank and he get between 30 and 35 mpg.He likes to get gas before we hit a long bare spot if we have more than 75 miles on the tank full. Gas stations are sometimes far apart so if we have a station close we use it. The White Donkey has a 7.9 gallon tank and gets between 38 and 44 mpg most of the time so I don't have to worry too much. Head winds can really cut into the fuel mileage so we play it safe. John does have a one gallon gas can that is full and strapped on the passenger's foot rest just in case. Since leaving Grand Prarie the road has been mostly two lane, three lane on some of the hills to get the slow truck over out of the way, much like our roads up around Payson and Show Low. Still wide areas cover with grass on both sides. From Saint John to Fort Nelson our planed stop is 250 miles and if you did the math on John's bike you know he won't make it so we stop at a little gas station and store at Pink Mountain. I didn't see the pink mountain but I did go in the store and they had lots of stuff for sale, from food stuff to flannel shirts and every thing in between. We are only 75 miles into our fuel so I didn't fill up, wanted to see how the gauge was working and when the reserve light would come on. I had checked all that when I put that tank on but wanted to check it again. For the record the reserve light came on at 230 miles, at 250 miles we were in Fort Nelson and it took 24.9 liters so I had about 1.5 gallons left after running 20 miles with the reserve light on, so my original check was right on.

For the critter watch we did see bears today. The first one we were passed before we had time to get stopped and didn't want to turn around and go back. Now we are on Bear alert and want to see more. Twenty miles down the road we see one and we stop where we can watch her, I say her because she had two cubs.  The bear was across the road and up a slope about 40 feet and didn't seem to pay any attention to us. The cubs were a little more cautious and kept running back into the trees every little bit then back around mom and under her and all around, she seemed to pay not attention to them. Fun to watch

.

Fort Nelson, we have found a hotel, cleaned up and walked across the street for dinner. We come out or the restaurant and the streets are wet. At least we were not riding in this one.

Until Tomorrow
Traveler and the white donkey

June 8, 2011 Day 5 Red Deer Alberta to Grand Prarie Alberta

Last night the Edmonton weather was forecasting 80% chance of rain, this morning they are forecasting only 50% for today so things don't look too bad. Pack up the gear and go out to load the bike. Darn, we are starting to get sprinkled on. I had on riding pants that were kind of water proof, not as good as the rain pants but enough for 50% rain. Pulled out the rain jacket and finished loading the bike. We still have plenty of fuel so we head off to breakfast. On the road again, in the rain again. We had a pretty good rain but were out of the worst stuff in 30 miles and just a few sprinkles for the next 100 miles and the clouds were beginning to have some breaks in them. John had talked to a construction worker at the hotel and we had a way to bypass the main city of Edmonton, didn't want to spend an hour in stop and go traffic like we did yesterday going through Calgary. Our first fuel stop is Leduc, just a little south of Edmonton and when people see our license plates or ask where we are going the big Arizona fire always gets talked about. It had been the same way at breakfast from the other old guys having their morning coffee at Tim Hortons. The by pass around Edmonton works well and we are all smiles. Next stop will be Whitecourt for fuel. The country is rolling hills with the tops covered with trees, a mix of  Ever Greens of some type and ones that look like Aspen. Th flatter areas are a natural grass or cultivated fields with some hay stored in them. They are using the big round bales and they are wrapped in plastic. Lot of the hay is now being sent to China, that might be the reason for the wraps. Yesterday from the border north to Calgary there were a lot of cattle, even where we were running in the rain and couldn't see them we could smell them. Today there is very little live stock. we see a few fields with cattle after getting north of Edmonton but almost as many horses It is very pretty and every thing is green. The road is wonderful for a slab. Four lane divided, different from what we are used to as the median is several hundred feet wide and grass, the trees are cleared back from the road about 50 feet and every thing is wet and green. Another nice feature is that every 20 miles or so they have pull outs, not rest areas but just an wide spot to pull  off the road and every one has trash cans, great idea. Another thing I have noticed now as were are getting farther north is a lack of road gators, I only saw two small pieces today and a lot of the trucks are 30 wheelers, 10 on the tractor and then 3 axles on the first trailer for 12 more, and that trailer has a fifth wheel set up just like the truck and another trailer with with 2 axles and eight more tires. I suspect it is the cooler weather and better clean up of the roads. I don't know if they are allowed to run recapped tires, not that they are the only ones to shed their tread but are the worst offenders. We refuel in Whitecourt and grab lunch and are headed north. Well at least a block and John pulls over, his shifter is coming loose. He looks at it and the bolt is gone, won't fall off but make shifting interesting. We are almost in front of the Ford dealer so we pull in and they have the bolt we need, I have the wrench and we are on the road again. We have the same great 4 lane except for about 20 miles and that is under construction so will be all 4 lane to our next stop  Grand Prarie, it is a much bigger town that I had expected, actually a small city. We are still 60 miles from our planed destination of Dawson Creek but decide to stay here. It makes the next three days travel break into 3 more equal pieces and my compadre is a little tired. Riding is a bit like flying in that you need to be pretty alert, not good to ride when you are tired, need to be physically and mentally awake as quick reaction and good situational awareness of the stuff around you makes for a scab less ride. Tomorrow we are aiming for Fort Nelson. We expect to be in Tok Alaska on Saturday. The weather forecast for the next 3 day is cloudy and cool subject to change without notice. I can tell we are getting closer to Alaska as there are more mosquitoes and the bug splats on my windshield are some times red from the blood sucking mosquitoes.

Traveler and the white donkey

June 7, 2011, Day 4 Great Fall MT to Red Deer AB

This post will be a little shorter that the last few as you can't see much when it is raining.  Woke up at 5:30 and it is still raining, the computer shows it to be over a large area, it is not moving and not raining too hard. but could rain all today and tomorrow.  We think it will be dry about the time we get to the border 125 miles to the north. So we load the bikes and put on the rain gear and hit the road. It is not too bad when you are riding and have to stop on put on the rain gear, but when you have to load the bikes in the rain, that is a bummer. We are a little slow at the beginning but find our groove and are up to speed pretty quickly. It is a pretty steady rain and at 250 miles we start to see a little dry road on the traffic areas and another 20 miles the roads are dry. Customs at Sweetgrass is easy and we are out of there in 10 minuets. The customs guy told John that the road was closed before Lethbridge due to flooding. He also told John that there was a little place up the road 12 miles or so to stop and get breakfast and wait for the road to open. We stopped at Milk River, had breakfast and decided to hit the road. When we got to where the problem had been the road crews had the road open, I think it was just a blocked culvert and the water came up over the road. The south bound side still has some water on it but was open to traffic.  We did a fuel stop at Fort Macleod and changed some US dollars into Canadian. We got to Calgary about 3:15 and traffic was a mess,  due to some construction and  the time of day. It took close to an hour to go the 30 miles through Calgary. Stop and go traffic on a motorcycle isn't very fun. Glad to be through that we went another 30 miles and stopped for fuel, put the rain coats away and headed for Red Deer, our stopping place for the night. Of course it starts spitting a little rain before we get to Red Deer but just enough to spot the windshields so we luck out.  The rumor had it that we would be clear of the weather after we passed Calgary. I guess the weatherman didn't know that as he is forecasting 80% chance of rain at Edmonton tomorrow. We will know more tomorrow. Our Goal for tomorrow night is Dawson Creek, the real beginning of the Alaskan hwy way.  Yesterday our ride was about 430 miles and on one tank of fuel I got the best gas mileage I have ever had on the bike, right at 50mpg, it was the ride through Yellowstone when we had to ride slow for so long. This morning the first leg from Great Falls to Sweetgrass I got the worst mileage I have ever gotten, about 31mpg. I think the water on the road contributes to that a little but we had winds that were unbelievable and that really make the bike work and suck up the petro. Our ride today was another 430 miles. I think tomorrow will be a little bit longer.

Soggy Doggie and the wet donkey   aks Traveler

June 6, 2011 Day 3 Jackson WY to Great Falls MT

It was clear and cool in Jackson as we loaded the bikes and headed out to find some breakfast. Our plan for the day was to go through Teton National Park and Come in the South entrance of Yellowstone park and then depending on the traffic in the park go out the north entrance or if the traffic was slow take the shorter route and go out the west side of the park, Either way we wanted to end up in Great Falls at the end of the day.

The GPS showed a Village Inn on our way through town and that seemed like a good place for breakfast, but there was no Village Inn. There was a Bubba's Bar-B-Q there. It was open and there were several trucks in the parking lot that looked like locals so we headed in. They were serving standard breakfast fare and it was very good, probably a bit better than if it had still  been a Village Inn. On the bikes and a quick stop to feed them and we are headed to Teton. When we arrived at the entrance John got in with a show of his senior pass so I asked about buying one. Best deal I have ever had, $10 and good as long as I am alive. I asked the lady about the cheap price and she said it works out good as old people can't run very fast so the bears get a lot of them. So as long as they live isn't all that many trips and it helps feed the bears. The road through the park is very pretty and the trees are very green and unmolested, as in has not been burned. The real beauty is looking back across some of the open areas at the very jagged peaks, very sharp and mean looking but covered with snow to give them a softer look. I think it was the perfect time of the year for that park, lots of green and still some snow along the road. That road takes you right to the south entrance to Yellowstone. I got to try out my new pass and was in free. John was ahead of me and showed his pass and picture ID and the ranger was from Flagstaff, just working Yellowstone for the summer small world.. Starting into the park traffic didn't seem too bad but we wanted to go towards the west to Old Faceful and as we head that way we are finding more traffic and more snow. for the first 40 miles the snow along the road is higher that my head, no chance of seeing any critters unless it is a snow bunny or a polar bear. The funny thing is all the cars are stopped and people are taking picture of frozen lakes covered with snow. But when one car stops, eight more stop thinking there must be some thing great here. There were no critters around and the lakes could have been any where, big areas of white. The area where the park had burned the snow was only a few feet deep and along the road in a few places the grass was starting to show through. About 15 miles from the geyser the snow was mostly gone and at the geyser all was clear and nice. We got there about 10 minuets after Old Faceful had spouted so watched the steam for a few minuets, had a cup of coffee and headed for the west entrance, or in this case the west exit. There were a few buffalo that people had stopped to take pictures of. The funny thing was that the buffalo were a ways from the road, another mile up the road we pass two heard of 40 or 50 each close to the road and no body taking pictures, they were all back at the poor Kodak minuets sites. As we came around a corner the traffic is stopped. There was a herd of buffalo walking up the road toward us, so we are stopped for 5 or 10 minuets till they pass, there is a ranger following them with a caution lite on top of his truck to keep the people behind the buffalo from trying to get through. It was amazing to be sitting on the motor cycle and having all these buffalo walking by on both side so close you can almost touch them. I did get some pictures and will get them posted when I figure out how. The cars behind the buffalo were backed up as far as I could see so I looked at my odometer just to check and see how long the line was---2.4 miles and the cars were continuing to back up farther all the time. Buffalo don't walk very fast and in fact they were just kind of ambling along as they passed us and there was a high bank on one side and the river on the other, they had at least another 1/2 mile to amble before any cars could get by. Out Kodak moment had to be an hour or more of frustration for the people waiting in line, not knowing why and not getting to be in the middle of a herd. There are a great number of buffalo in both parks and a few on some of the range between Jackson and Teton. Out side of the park we saw a few more antelope. That was it for the critters. Inside the park there were a lot of people fishing, not sure how most were doing as the water was pretty high and moving fast. Some must have done well as we based Biscuit Flats where there are a lot of the hot water pots with steam coming out there were several fishermen that had cleaned their fish and put them back on the hook and were holding them in the steam cooking them, I guess that would be really fresh fish.

Leaving the park we picked up 287 to take us north to Helena, We stopped in Ennis for fuel and then on north, some where we got on I  90 instead of crossing it about half way to Helena so we  slabbed it over to Butte and then took I 15 north. I 15 north was fun, lots of up and down hills and lot of long sweeping fast curves following the river and crossing it many time. A really pretty ride. As we  were getting close to Helena we were getting more and more clouds, a little bit like the forecast had said last night. We stopped in Helena for fuel and John asked if I thought we should put on our rain gear or take our chances and put it on when the rain started. I said lets ride, it is only 95 miles and we will miss the rain. More fun road and about 40 miles from Great Falls we just missed a shower, the roads were wet but the rain had moved west. At about 32 miles from Great Falls the road in front of us was wet and getting wetter and the oncoming cars had their wipers on. We stopped and put on the rain gear, or at least the jacket and pants, didn't worry about gators or the details. We just had a little lite rain on into Great Falls. by the time we got the bikes unloaded and our bags into the hotel rooms it was a lite drizzle but we walked a 100 yard to the restaurant and back with out getting too wet. So it did rain on our parade but not too much. 

Traveler and the white donkey

PS. I don't promise to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

June 5, 2011 Day 2 Richfield, CO to Jackson WY

Another perfect day, wonderful weather and great views. John had lived in Richfield a long time ago has a friend that runs the FBO at the airport so first thing this morning John when out to visit his friend, then we fueled up and hit the slab. There are 3 terms motorcycle riders use that might need explaining, Slab refers to the 4 lane or more interstates roads, some time necessary but boring, so if we are slabbing it we are riding on the interstate. Term two would be cage or cages, that refers to cars and the people driving the cages are cagers. The third term is road gators or hyway gators, this refers to the large chunks of rubber that come off of truck tires,  So this morning we jumped on I 70 and slabbed it about 15 miles to the 89, then 89 to 28   north to Nephi where we ate a late breakfast. Going up 89 and 28 we went through lots of small farming communities, kind of a small town USA tour. After breakfast we were back on the slab again up to Spanish Fork where we stopped to see John's sister and brother-in-law. Cleve the brother-in-law has a 1970 El Camino that has been rebuilt for car shows and it is as near perfect as any car I have seen. Leaving Spanish Fork we had about 6 or 8 miles on the slab then we headed up Provo Canyon to Heber City and past Park City picking up I 80 north. I 80 north is technically a slab but doesn't seem like it when you are riding it. Lot of curves early on marked at 45mph and green grass every where and  lots of water along the road. We got off of I 80 in Evanston Wyoming and grabbed a quick lunch the headed north again on 89. 89 crosses in to Utah about 15 mile from Evanston just after we crossed the Bear River. All the rivers are running very full and the low pasture land along the rivers are flooded so in places even the small rivers can have water going out 1/2 a mile to the sides. The area had been grass lands with some sage brush around Evanston and as we get into Utah it opens up more to the west as irrigated grass lands and lots and lots of cattle and some horses. Where the foothills come close to the high way we saw Antelope, this started just after we crossed back into Utah and the first couple of herds had 30 or more in each group then another smaller one of 20 or so then just a few here and there. The first two large herds were with in 150 feet of the road so we got a good look at them. Going north the road crosses back into Wyoming, then into Idaho and back into Wyoming and for about a 100 miles it is one big green valley going from 10 or 12 miles wide to 30 or 40 in place Lots of green, lots of cows, some sheep and horses. WOW. The last 80 miles into Jackson we are into the mountains and the valley gets much narrower but still very green. The weather here in Jackson Wyoming tonight is perfect, we walked over to dinner and back about 65 degrees. Tomorrow we head up to Teton and Yellowston National Parks. If traffic isn't too bad we should be in Great Falls Montana tomorrow night, if the traffic in Yellowston is slow then we might only make Helena Montana. By the time tomorrow is over we might me getting a litte rain on our parade if the forecast holds true. To be expected in this country this time of year.  Today we covered about 430 miles, had lots of smiles and my GPS registered a max speed of 105. John's fault, he passed a couple of cars and there wasn't room for me to pass them and when the road opened up again so I could pass those two, he passed two more so I had to pass 4 cars. The bike is running great, Oh what fun.

Traveler (aka Cactus Don and the white donkey)

June 4, 2011 Day 1 Tempe Az to Richfield CO.

The journey has began. On the road from Tenpe AZ at 7:15 and headed north to meet up with my traveling compadre, John Ashurst. 170 miles later I am in Flagstaff refueling the White Donkey. I called John and he was still at Marsha's and I hadn't seen her for several years so I met John there. Fifteen minuets later we were on the road headed toward Page with a planed overnight in Richfield UT. Thirty five miles before we got to Page John pulled over and I stoped, he said to do you want to go through Marble Canyon and Jacob's Lake. My reply was "I am following you and I haven't ever been there". We take the 89A cut off from 89 and we are on our way to Jacob's lake for lunch and fuel. A lot of you have driven from the Phoenix area to Flagstaff and know that the first half of that drive isn't really a Kodak moment kind of place. The last half of the drive is much prettier. This morning it was actually a bit cool and windy, but a nice change from the valley. Some of you have even driven through Flagstaff and on towards Page for a trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon or to Lake Powell for house boating and water fun. John said that area of the reservation north from Flagstaff has it's own beauty, but I have a hard time seeing it. Once we headed down 89A that all changed. Crossing over the bridge at Marble Canyon with the water way below was awesome and then the road of the next few miles has sage brush to the left and the tall cliffs to the right, as we progress a little farther the cliffs become darker and much more vibrant, they are called the Vermilion cliffs and that is a great description of the color. A few miles later we began the climb from the valley to the top of the plateau. This road is a bikers dream with lot of nice curve and a really fun ride. Half way up the hill we are back into the pine trees and before long we are at Jacob's lake, the elevation is just over 8000 feet. After refueling our selves and the bikes we head north still on 89A and it is even more fun that the road up and the views are unbelievable. This road goes through Fredonia crossed into Utah and the next real town is Kanab.From Kanab all the way to Richfield where we are now was beautiful, the road is through a valley that is very green with a lot of farming / ranching. Most of it is irrigated and to make it even better for us desert rats there is a stream running along side the road or in close proximity and  getting bigger as we descend. We eventually pick up the Sevier River and in many places it is right along the road. At one place we were riding along the river but we were in the shadow of the west wall of the valley and 30 feet away on our right is the river picking up all the sunlight, such a pretty ride and I guess part of the reason I am so impressed is that I didn't expect any thing like this until the second day when we were past Salt Lake City and getting close to Teton National Park. That is my story for today. A little too wound up to sleep much last night and 540 miles on the odometer today so I am off to bed. Tomorrow night I should write a bit more from Jackson Wyoming.

Cactus Don and the White Donkey