No where to go, all day to get there.

No Place To Go and All Day to Get There.

When I was in Spokane in 2004, I didn't do much riding. I definitely missed these roads! If you are from the area, these roads are probably no surprise. But as a visitor to the area looking for some nice roads to head westerly on, I found this route to be a real treat. It was the first day of the trip that I really felt like I was just out for a day ride. No place to go, just roads to explore.



We had a change of plans due to Monday’s weather and found ourselves in Spokane on Tuesday morning. I left Garmin alone and picked up the atlas. Being as 27 is my luck number WA-27 seemed like a good choice try. It was a comfortable winding road with great trees and fields. It felt very New England like. And was a pleasant change of pace from the very straight US-2 we’d been on for days.





The terrain changed regularly as the rolling green hills where replaced with crops, and them barren brown hills


My back seat photographer didn’t appreciating the twisty sections of road as much as I was and found the arid land a little boring.






Finally as we approached Yakima, we began to see more irrigated crops: apples, grapes and cows. Well, not irrigated cows, but they were getting watered.

Here are the routes we where on: WA-27S out of Spokane. WA-26W, WA-127S (very twisty), WA-12W, WA-261W (because we wanted to go to Starbuck, WA), WA-26W and WA-24 into Yakima.

RULE#1: No Forced Marches

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
Kenny Rogers, The Gambler
We’d hoped to take WA-20 all the way from the Idaho boarder to the coast, getting about 150 miles into it today. But sometimes plans change.
It was an ominous start to the day as I awoke to rain beating down on the asphalt outside our window. Wise move to have covered the bike. I clicked on the weather channel. At 6AM it was 39 degrees, there was even a dusting of snow on the hills outside our window.

I tried to be enthusiastic about such Rounder weather…BUT IT’S THE 3RD WEEK OF JUNE!! Packing took a little longer…or where we just dragging our feet? We where feet up by 8:30, it was drizzling and 45. It didn’t get all that much better. We saw intermittent sun, followed by showers temps struggled to stay in the 50’s … once we’d descended out of the 4K-foot elevation.



We stopped in Idaho for a weather forcast from Kevin…we learned the rain was lingering at the Canadian boarder and south was better that north. I scrubbed the WA-20 idea.



We made our way to Southwest to Spokane. We looked like two dirty-beached whales by the time we rolled in to the hotel lobby. It’s a wonder they rented us a room! We had at least 4 layers up top and 3 layers of bottoms and a layer of muddy truck spray.


It was a very long 275 miles today… but now the sun is out, we’re crashed at a nice place with a heated pool and hot tub. We’re getting our second wind. I think we’ll review the 400+ Going to the Sun Road pics we have from yesterday….and any remnants of the blues will be gone.

Seeing is Believing.

Before leaving Great Falls, MT, we stopped at the Lewis & Clark center yesterday. It was nice to be on a more relaxed pace today. We stopped at a couple of dinosaur museums too. T-Rex remains are big in Montana.
We set out for Glacier around noon, and began seeing the Rockies around 1:00. What a rewarding site. I was rewarded when Lisa shouted from the back seat "Mom, you were right, you have to see it to believe it".
I've been pulling pictures into my Flickr account, so they should be in the frame at the bottom of the page. If you can't see them, let me know, I can send you a link.

Big Sky Country

2,050 Miles later, we've made it to Montana. Now all we need is a hotel with decent internet connectivity! It was two windy days across MI, WI and MN. 30mph sustained cross winds with strong gusts. We must have looked like two drunks weaving down the highway trying to keep it between the lines! But it was calm yesterday as we headed across North Dakota and into Montana. We were a little road weary after two 11+ hour days, but it's easy days for a while now. Plenty of stories and pictures when we get better access.
Thank you for all the words of support! We are having a blast. Spirits are high. Life it good!
Reporting from the lobby of the Cotton Wood Inn, Glasgow, MT
Gail & Lisa

It's just a day trip.

Picture - Rest Area in VT - We'll want that tree later!

Thinking about riding across the country for 5 weeks can be daunting. The only way to manage it is one day at a time. And that is what we did yesterday as we set out. We just went for a Saturday ride.
We stopped for breakfast at the Foothills in Warner, NH, my favorite country breakfast spot.
We ran into a trio of Harley’s from Tenn. They didn’t seem to want to chat with us.
The customs man made me turn in the pepper spray that Kevin gave me. I had clipped it to the outside of my tank bag. As I approached customs it occurred to me that it might be a problem, but decided that hiding it might not be a good plan. We learned that it’s not legal in Canada.
I have no idea what we are paying for gas in Canada. There are far more pay inside stations, I almost forgot to pay at one of them. I was sipping my coffee staring at the pump when it occurred to me…oops.
Lisa couldn’t understand why she felt so tired doing nothing. Music helped out.
We don’t have communications. A pin on the Bluetooth Interphone bent and broke. I must have used too much force trying to put it in. That was more than disappointing. Kevin is going to try to get them to overnight a replacement part.
Traffic was brutal in Montreal. I should have listed to myself and avoided the area. It was only 3 very hot miles of stop and go and if that’s the worse we see, then we’re doing ok.
We’re heading to a friends house in Sudbury, ON. A fellow guest warned me about construction, but was encouraged that it should be ok on a Sunday. It’s only about 6 hours, so we’re lazing around this AM, waiting for brunch to open.

Blast Off

Time to execute on the plan. SPARE is loaded. Work is done. The paper cancelled, mail held, cat sitter hired. The weather is looking favorable. The lucky horsepower is clipped to the tank bag. The election was won. Thank you for the many well wishes we've received. See you out there!

My To-Do List is Getting Long!

Only a few days left, but it feels like there's still so much to do!
I, myself have school projects. I hate math projects! They're so stressfull. Then we have to pack. And I have to sort out the details of Darwin's care. Darwin, our cat will be staying home, and our neighbor will be taking care of him. I'm going to miss him so much! One good thing: I get to miss one day of school, not that big of a deal. I hope Marquette Michigan is more interesting that cleaning at school for 3 hours!

-Lisa aka kiddo

Long Beautiful Hair

BMW MOA Forum Post: Long Beautiful Hair

I asked for help on the MOA forum. I was looking for a way to secure Lisa's hair for our ride. I was pointed to hairglove.com. They have a nice selection of product. I looked past the all leather motorcycle section, and found just what I needed in the neoprene section.

10 Days till blast off.

Picture: Lisa is ready for all weather!
I took the newly refurbished K75 over to the DMV (dept motor vehicles) parking lot on Saturday, in the rain. I had it fully test loaded, except for the kiddo. I practiced braking, cornering and handling. Practicing braking was a good idea after spending time on the track with the GT! You need a bigger handful of brake, oh yeah and the rear brake too, to stop the K75.
I spent a good 3 hours finding a home for all that I’m bringing. I’d already inventoried the clothes and they all fit in the dresser bag. I inventoried and packed all of the electronics, rain gear and misc. stuff. I found a place for everything and the bike does not feel over whelmed. The new tank bag filled up nicely, and I cut out a hole in the map pocket for Garmin to slip through.
I had Lisa try on all her new and old riding gear, plus rain gear. I wistfully was thinking maybe we won’t have to use it! Maybe the last weeks of rain we’ve had will magically disappear. Maybe not.
Oh yeah, I still haven’t had Lisa out to practice with the music and communication devices. I know the Interphone works well, having tested it with Kevin, but I’ve not tried it with the music.
Luck Favors the Prepared!

Track Day Report

Track Day Report - Rounders Forum

This week I was reminded of the many, many ways riders enjoy themselves. We all ride our own ride, and while it may not be the same ride, we have more in common than not.

I went to my first Track Day this week. "Track School" they called it. Don't let the brochure fool you, there is a competitive undertone to Track School. I was not without guilt, I got called out for hauling ass down the straight away...because...well it was there. Apparently some of the more nimble Ducati's where getting caught behind me as I made my way around the corners and when it came time to pass me on the straight away, I'd just roll on the throttle and there was no catching my 1200 there. Now keep in mind our mirrors are all taped over, and we are instructed not to worry about what is behind us, but apparently I was guilty of bad track etiquette. As much as the Ducs where passing me on the inside! ...(click link above for rest of report)