Day 2 Another Long Day

A plane passing by as we got gas

Virga clouds

We were up at 5:30 and on the road by 7:30.  Dee Dee led us out of Gillette and on both sides of the road were lots of antelope luckily they stayed away from the road.  As we headed out after lunch we notice there was looming black cloud with virga coming down in a number of places.  The 2nd checkpoint was at the American Best Value Inn in Craig, CO operated by the local Harly club. Providing cold drinks, fresh fruit, and lots of sugary foods.  We noticed that we crossed the Colorado river twice in "COLORADO"  and we also crossed the Continental Divide twice.  As we started getting into Colorado it became more greener, more trees. We had 10 more miles of construction continuing to hone our dirtbike skills. By our opinion we certain that Wyoming's state budget is generated by traffic ticket revenue.  "But we managed not to contribute to their revenue."

Day 1-Fri 9/3 -GO!!

We set 3 alarms just to be sure. Few minutes before 3:30 Sue woke up and then the alarms started, hehe, we were up and getting dressed, eating our morning snacks to hold us over, down to the bikes by 4am to move them out of the underground garage to the street so we wouldn't get caught in the rush. Maggy then discovered she'd misplaced her start card, which has to be turned in before you can take off.  The panic started as we rummaged thru her bags and DeeDee found it. Went in for the riders meeting at 4:30 which didn't happen til 4:50, tension rising, getting nervous, and excited, they gave us the final details and started collecting start cards, now the race to the bikes, dark outside, roads clear except for us. On the bikes and away we go. Some ahead some behind some not leaving yet, we jump on hwy 6 heading to the border. We are amped up now. Made it to the border, about 20 bikes back, one by one, it took us 30min to get to the front of the line, by the time we left there must have been 100 bikes lined up, wow. We rode like the wind, fun to see so many other bikes everywhere all day long, knowing they were all doing the same thing. We rode and rode and rode. Finally getting to Deadwood, SD for the first checkpoint was a rush. Lots of bikes and storytelling going on. They had all kinds of snacks for us but no time to linger we still had 100 miles before we were in for the night. Exhausted but feeling very accomplished we had a great dinner at 7pm showered. organinzed for the next morning and fell to sleep immediately. One province, 2 countries, 3 states, 643 mi, made it safely. gogogogo More later, we're having to catch up as we have more evening time. By for now.

at the border

Getting Ready

gettimg mc ready

pasting our pictures in our 3flags passports

Tomorow's the big day, so today we're getting ready!!  We slept in, did laundry, cleaned, and TCLOCS'd out mc.and chased down parts for Sue's motorcycle.  She's down and out again (the two headlight mounting bolts fell out) and now Hi-O-Silver is back in the pole position.  We checked in, signed waivers, got our pictures taken for our 3 flags passports (which we present at each checkpoint to get the official stamp to prove our participation).  Everyone is completely impressed with our wearing the Red BMW Motorrad t-shirts and even more impressed that we are all riders.  We are packed, our mc are loaded, and we are sleeping with our boots,  and ready for the 3:30 am Tom Bodet phone call, the 4:30 am rider's meeting and the 5:00 am start!!!

We are overly excited, nervous and anxious!!!

Lethbridge, Alberta to Regina, Saskatchewan

Motorrad Girls

We awoke to wind but no rain, yippee! The skys were threatening so on with the rain gear and cold enough for electrics again. As we got out on the road you could see the horizon for 360 dgrees, it was amazing how flat it was. But there is something so striking about the countryside in Alberta and Saskatchewan, it goes for as far as the eye can see and is all planted or in some stage of harvest. Farms are 1000's of acres. Alberta has the cattle but Saskatchewan has the grains and corn galore. A little town of Taber had signs up saying world tastiest corn and a corn tasting contest. The roads we were on today were flat, wide, kinda of freeway like, in excllent condition with perfectly manicured shoulders. Hm, crossed my mind, how could all roads in Canada be mown on the same day. I know strange thoughts, but even as beautiful as the countryside was, it got very boring, strange that we looked forward to road repair zones just for some change. Always a little confusing to get used to kilometers, thank goodness our speedometer are little conversion charts. Top speeds on these roads is 110km so about 65mph. We had lunch in the little town of Herbert. It was classic, restaurant in an old gas station, we walked in, there was a long table of 20+ senior men drinking coffee, shooting the breeze on the other side was a long table with 6 senior women having coffee and chatting. It was obvious when we walked in we created quite the stir. We sat at the table with the ladies and chatted for awhile, it was fun. We have noticed the Canadians are so friendly, where ever we go they are so helpful. We pushed on, Sue found a great cut around Medicine Hat so we missed rush hour traffic there and eventually rolled into Regina. Found the hotel easily and checked in. Probably 100 bikes here so far. The official registration doesn't open until noon Thursday. The excitement has started though. Lots of questions, wondering how they are going to start us off Friday morning. All we know is a 5am shotgun start. The parking is underground with one exit on an incline that opens when a vehicle approaches, hmm, stay tuned to that chaos. Hoping we can move our bikes out onto the street before we take off. We'll see........these are the little details that get the adrenalin pumping.

Bigfork, Mt to Lethbridge, Canada

Sue exiting tunnel into construction work

Is it January or August?  We woke up to a very damp, cold morning (it rained while we sleeping) but we were hopeful that we would ride out of it.  Our trustee steeds have performed flawlessly but our gear is another story.  A stop at the hardware store had what we needed, shoe goo and black super tape did the trick to keep Sue's boots from leaking  The highlight of our short riding day was Glacier NP, which is celebrating there centennial year.  Maggy was our tour guide and stopped at every visitor center, gift shop and spectacular overlook along the 50 mile  "Going-to-the-Sun-Rd".  But we also endured 5 miles of hugging the cliffs, single lane, greasy, snotty, wet, muddy roads under repair. The bikes are absolutely filthy,when we got to the hotel a man asked us if we just came from Alaska.

Exceptional natural beauty is preserved in Glacier NP and rivals the grandeur of Yosemite.  As we rode along the "Going-to-the-Sun-Rd" we enjoyed the aqua marine lakes, weeping rocks, snow cap mountain range, glaciers, and waterfalls.  Logan's pass is the highest vista along the "Going-to-the-Sun-Rd", which has a visitor center & gift shop without any electricity.  The weather was so intense the clouds were skimming down the side of the mountain and the winds were blowing snow onto our motorcycles.

After leaving Glacier NP we then proceeded to the Canadian border.  At the border crossing we each showed our passports,were separately quizzed about why we were entering Canada and then allowed to continue on. At the end of our riding day our distance was 49 k along beautiful farmlands, the road was very straight (a little sleepy) but well maintained heading toward Lethbridge.

Twin Falls to Bigfork, Mt

riding through the Bitteroot Mts

We woke up to blazing sun and 54degrees, warmth! But we were once again geared up for rain and then alittle hail thrown in, with full electrics all day.  Of course DeeDee again led the briskest leg of the day.  We rode on US93N from Idaho to Montana through beautiful Idaho farm lands, craters of the moon NP and between the Beaver Head Mt and the Bitterroot Mts and chased the salmon river most of the day.  It was breathtaking even through the rain & hail. It contined to be cold, cold, cold.  Out of Missoula we rode 83N following the Swan River all the way to Bigfork.  We finished the day off with Pizza!!! 

Rocklin -Twin Falls, ID

For the first day we were duly initiated with lots of rain, cold weather (34 degrees) and at times treacherous but we motorrad girls rose to the task and arrived in Sparks safely at the Black Bear diner and treated ourselves to a well earned hardy breakfast. After breakfast Dee Dee & Red lead the briskest pace in pouring rain. Three motorrad girls arrived at Winnemucca gas station on fumes.  Maggy led the third leg as the weather eased up continuing the brisk pace, keeping us on schedule. As the clouds broke up we witness the beautiful site as the clouds trailed across the desert. We enjoyed a tasty lunch in Elko.  Hi Ho Silver led the last leg to Twins Falls.  We are happy to report that the motorrad girls arrived safely and the motorcycles performed up to their challenge.