MarkinReno Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 4500 miles, 17 days, home to Reno, Nevada 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Axel_7 Posted July 29, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted July 29, 2016 Great to hear everybody has either made it home or are getting there steeds fixed up to do so.. :( besides one ninja needs a new heart. But was able to join the VFR world, i have to say it was a good outcome. We made it home last night after 2800 km over 8 days... For those that would like to see lots of Tammy's picks send me a PM with your facebook name so we can (BE FRIENDS). Ill try to load up the one video i can post here ;) Mike please when you are done with numbers let us know so we can wrangle up some for dough. Derek PS cant wait to hear what Choco and Cogswell plan up for Oregon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 "He's dead, Jim!" Yeah, we made it back OK, on two Hondas. A strange and wonderful trip! And I STILL didn't get aboard the SS Moyie! NEXT time, for sure! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted August 1, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 1, 2016 Wait a frickin' minute. Did someone hit an animal?! My condolences if so. Congrats on being walking around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Belfry Posted August 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 2, 2016 Got home Sunday afternoon, incident free, with 2,708 km/1,638 miles on the trip clock. Thanks to Mike for another great Kootenay meet! It was fun meeting up with Randy and Al for the ride up to Nelson (despite the rain), and riding with Arman, Al, Kevin and Mark (in Reno) around the lake on Saturday. I carried on from the Hootenanny down to Missoula, MT on Sunday where I spent six days off the bike hiking and touring the area. Interesting continent we live on: Temps in B.C. with our July-uary weather were in the 60-70 F range, a few hundred miles to the southeast, mid-80s to 100 F (last Friday) in Missoula. There are some nice two-lane highways in northern Washington state (crossed at Nelway) and Idaho on the way down to Missoula--little traffic, nice scenery, small towns and a few twisties. On Saturday I decided to take the long way home and ride Lolo Pass since several of you (Arman and Paul among them) said: "If you're that close you have to do it." With no GPS and a cursory glance at my AAA map, I headed south on 93 from Missoula. Of course, I turned too early and wound up on a nice two-lane highway through farm fields that eventually spat me on to I-90 W. Not ready to give up on Lolo, I pulled over, consulted the map and found a road that connected to Hwy. 12 just before Alberton, MT. The road had no name on the map, and after about a third of the way, was indicated as two parallel lines instead of a solid line. I chose to interpret that as multilane expressway. A couple of hundred yards down the road a sign read: "Primitive road 12 miles." I figured I could always turn around if it got too bad. After 12 miles of nice, two-lane paved road through woods and fields with friendly farmers waving at me from their pickup trucks, the pavement ended. It was dry and the gravel was smooth, wide, and firmly packed so I carried on. It turned out that the beginning and end of the gravel section (which was about a third of the distance), were fine. There was just a bit in the middle where the road switchbacked up one side of a big hill (small mountain?) and down the other where the road narrowed, crowned (with rocks) in the centre, and had potholes and washboard for good measure. There was no sand, however, and I was able to find a hard-packed path that was at least as wide as the tires. So I off-roaded the VFR and lived to tell about it. Lolo was good, sweepers on the east approach and some tight turns on the west, but there was a fair bit of camper and motorhome traffic, so I didn't get to take many of them at speed. I saw the "Winding road for 99 miles" sign, but I've seen that shot so many times I didn't bother to stop and take it again. It was a nice day, but my offroad adventuring and Lolo diversion made it a long one: 12 hours and 549 miles by the time I checked in at the Quality Inn in Okanogan, WA. I had a nice leisurely day riding home on Hwys. 20 and 9 Sunday. Again, lots of slow campers and Hardleys, but beautiful weather and cooler temps. Some pics: Gathering before the pic with the 'Nelson Welcomes You' sign. Missed it by this much ... one sailing wait at the Balfour-Kootenay Bay ferry. Arman, Mark (in Reno), Kevin and Al on the ferry across Kootenay Lake. Not riding, but the veefer got me there ... Blodgett Creek in the Bitterroot Wilderness, MT. Water looks really inviting when it's 90F outside. Met some nice ladies riding horses on this trail. Two were packing. One more from the Bitterroot Wilderness in Montana. Missoula, MT from Mount Sentinel. University of Montana in the foreground. Lots of good microbreweries and restaurants. Interesting historic downtown. The 'M' about a third of the way up Mount Sentinel behind the university. It looks a lot closer than it is! You can see a bit of the switchback trail that leads up to it. Think Grouse Grind on a very hot day with no tree cover. Historic Missoula Court House. Made it! My "primitive road" excursion has a happy ending. This part looks easy. Who needs a steenkin' BMW GS? The intersection with Hwy. 12. I'm not a smoker, but if I were this is where I'd light up. Instead I drank some water, ate a Clif bar and took a few pics. I found a shady spot to pull over beside the Lochsa River in Lowell, ID after riding the pass. It was good seeing so many folks from the last meet and/or Montrose (Jeff, Rob, Kawasaki--now 'VFR'--Craig, Gary, Mike, Ian, David, Christian, Derek & Tammy, Terry, Tony, Quennel & Erin) and meeting a few new people too. Thanks again, happy summer and safe riding to all! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Polarbear Posted August 2, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 2, 2016 Hey Belfry! Thanks for this nice ride report. Glad to hear you had a good time riding south and getting lost. All part of living and enjoying riding. Who needs them steenkin' GPSs anyways!! That "M" up Sentinel Mountain seems like a 15 min gentle hike up that mountain. Are you sure you weren't drinking when you said you looked at it??!? ........................ Was nice meeting you too. Cheers mate! C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Belfry Posted August 3, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 3, 2016 20 hours ago, Polarbear said: Thanks for this nice ride report. Glad to hear you had a good time riding south and getting lost. All part of living and enjoying riding. Who needs them steenkin' GPSs anyways!! That "M" up Sentinel Mountain seems like a 15 min gentle hike up that mountain. Are you sure you weren't drinking when you said you looked at it??!? ........................ Hi PB, That shot of the M is zoomed quite a bit so it suffers from (or enjoys, depending on your point of view) lens compression, making it appear much closer. It's also hard to capture grade on roads and mountains in photos and video. Suffice it to say it was bloody steep, with stairs at each turn in the switchback--like doing a stairmaster on the higher settings for 20-30 minutes. We carried on to the top of Mount Sentinel. The middle third wasn't too bad, but the top was stairmaster time again. I wasn't drinking before the hike, but I definitely needed to replenish my vital bodily fluids afterward. I believe we accomplished that at KettleHouse, located in a brick warehouse right next to the train yard. The Eddy Out Pale Ale was just the ticket. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer digitallyhip Posted August 16, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2016 And some of you guys thought that Polarbear and I carried too many spare parts before! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superfunkomatic Posted August 16, 2016 Author Share Posted August 16, 2016 4 minutes ago, digitallyhip said: And some of you guys thought that Polarbear and I carried too many spare parts before! You never know when you could get a rear flat that you can't repair on the road. Talk about being prepared and proactive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer digitallyhip Posted August 16, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2016 I'm also wearing a condom. As usual. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Belfry Posted August 16, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2016 2 hours ago, digitallyhip said: I'm also wearing a condom. As usual. You even brought a dog ... didn't see him in Nelson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer BCmcrider Posted August 16, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 16, 2016 21 minutes ago, Belfry said: You even brought a dog ... didn't see him in Nelson. I wasn't going to ask how he put the condom in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer digitallyhip Posted August 20, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 20, 2016 On 8/16/2016 at 1:48 PM, BCmcrider said: I wasn't going to ask how he put the condom in. Oh how quickly you forget... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer BCmcrider Posted August 20, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 20, 2016 As they say, if it came down to it, I'd rather be pitching than catching. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer auggius Posted August 23, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 23, 2016 On 2016-08-16 at 11:21 AM, superfunkomatic said: You never know when you could get a rear flat that you can't repair on the road. Talk about being prepared and proactive. Good idea DH! I picked up a spare too for my journey back from the coast. Made it home without needing to use it. ;-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer 34468Randy Posted August 28, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 28, 2016 My spare tire is stowed neatly inside my credit card. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer digitallyhip Posted August 29, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted August 29, 2016 On 8/23/2016 at 9:53 AM, auggius said: Good idea DH! I picked up a spare too for my journey back from the coast. Made it home without needing to use it. ;-) To bring everyone in on the joke: same wheel and (flat) tire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkinReno Posted September 2, 2016 Share Posted September 2, 2016 Arman was passing through Reno! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superfunkomatic Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 Cool! Nice Beemer! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer MaxSwell Posted September 6, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted September 6, 2016 I apologize for my late check-in; I made it home at 2am Aug 23 after 5700 mi. I had a fabulous time with the crew in Nelson even if my dead battery caused me to miss the ride. My BC tour went to Revelstoke from Nelson (after a four day wait for a new chain and sprockets ) then camped a couple of days in Yoho, a rainy trip to Banff, staying in the Backpackers Inn a couple of days after a very wet night at Two Jack Lake. Then up the Bow River Pkwy, back to Golden and on to Kamloops. Then the best of the trip: BC 12 to Lillooet and then BC 99 south. Stayed in Squamish then an afternoon in downtown Vancouver. Camped my way back to Nelson via CA 1 and BC 3. Main Jet did an oil change and I was on to the border at Eastport. I was very sad to be leaving BC. Western Montana was great: US2 through Glacier NP and on east. Eastern Mont. and No. Dakota were the longest part of the trip. Brutal, straight-ahead, no scenery and no trees. A strong southerly cross wind made it even tougher. The trip took it's toll on this oldie; it took me a week to recover. Right now, I'm planning on making BC a yearly trip. Someone clued me to a first weekend in Aug. mc gathering that he called Sturgis BC. Mc s and music. That alone would be enough but add in the fabulous road, scenery and people and it's a no brainer. So I will be back. Y'all have been warned. P.S.1- No forest rat attacks were experience; I had to brake for a black bear and a crew of big horn sheep. Nothing scary. Hoo Ray! P.S. 2- Where was Olive???! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Sparrow75 Posted September 9, 2016 Member Contributer Share Posted September 9, 2016 On 02/09/2016 at 1:58 PM, MarkinReno said: Arman was passing through Reno! Thanks so much for stay, Mark! Still riding, met a VFR rider from Chicago and we rode to Bryce then to Torrey. You meet the nicest people on a Honda VFR! Met a sheriff too, and he must also ride a VFR. ;) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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