Motorbike Mike

(OB) MARILYN! have you seen my glasses? (Mert) well, I don’t know, where did you have them last? (OB) Jesus Christ, if I knew that we wouldn’t be having this conversation now would we! (Mert to me) You know I think your father is losing his mind, he loses his stuff constantly. (Me) I can’t wait to get to Dawson Creek today, you know that’s the start of the Alaskan highway right? and it’s where the sign is that we need to get our picture taken to prove we were actually there. (OB) Well, I’ll be God Damned, I just saw those sumbitches a minute ago. (Me) Dad, I saw them somewhere weird, let me think a minute. (Mert) Where are we going today? (Me) Dawson Creek mom, it’s the start of the Alaskan Highway, mile zero. (Mert) oh, ok, is their shopping there? I need to get some things and you’re father won’t stop for me. (Me) Mom, you realize that we are behind almost three days from all the repairs so we’re trying to make up time. What do you need? (Mert) oh, I just need some things. (OB) You know your mother if she can’t go shopping she’s not having fun.

I walk outside to burn the garbage and my dad follows me out. (OB) you know I’m really worried about your mother, all she does is piss and moan. She’s really gotten bad lately. (Me) I know where I saw your glasses, they’re on the bed. (OB shuttles off to the camper). (OB) MARILYN! Will you fix me a piece of toast and some coffee? (Mert) I’m trying to do the dishes! (OB) I told you, you can’t run the water, don’t you remember? The driveshaft poked a hole in the water tank and it’s still leaking! (Mert) I thought Mike fixed it? (Me) I guess your right dad, she’s not having any fun. (Me) Mom, when we get to Dawson Creek I promise I will take you downtown for a couple of hours so you can get what you need.

We arrive in Dawson Creek about noon and get la jefa parked somewhat close to Mainstreet. (Me) ok mom, let’s go and get the stuff you need. (Mert) Well, my hip hurts and I don’t know if I can walk that far? (Me) Mom, I swear to God, if you don’t find a way to get up and walk downtown with me I’m going to flip a bolt!! (OB) I told you there was no pleasing that woman! (Me) Are you coming dad? (OB) no, I’m going to stay here with the dog, besides I hate shopping with your mother! (Me) ok mom, let’s go!

We start walking and I notice something dragging from behind the bus, It’s Benzie’s leach, we drug it 136 miles and it’s toast! I walk around the front and ask my mom “do you think there’s a pet store in town?” (Mert) Well, I don’t know, what do you need? (Me) oh, I just need to get something for Benz  🙂

Tomorrow we are trying to get to Ft. Nelson but we hear the road has been closed north of there for five days due to a washout on the Alaska Highway and traffic is backed up ten miles this side of town. It’s supposed to reopen tomorrow at noon. I hope so because we can’t be delayed anymore. I have a date with a hot chick in Anchorage on the 16th.

Sorry, no pictures today, the internet here is way too slow to upload any, stay tuned.

MM

Guess what?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

We actually got la jefa down the road today! Yes, after two days in Lethbridge we were able to leave that city in the rearview for good. The day started a little early this morning because we were tired of being cooped up for over 48 hours in the same place. We got on the road about 7:30 this morning and headed out Highway 3 and then headed North to Calgary on Highway 2. It was about 130 miles of the straight two-lane highway but it felt so good to finally be moving again.

It was a brisk 42 degrees, the wind was blowing but the sun was at my back and it just felt so good to be moving again. There is something magical that happens with a new motorcycle shortly after you start riding it and for me, it happened today. Today about 30 minutes into the ride Killer (KLR) felt like a familiar pair of old jeans, you know, the ones that your significant other wishes you would just throw out but you can’t because they just feel so damn good! Today I was one with the bike, it was as comfortable as a couch and I just clicked off mile after mile until the “Welcome to Calgary” sign appeared.

We pulled into a Safeway to get some bread and milk and quickly headed out-of-town with Banff and Lake Louise in our sights. As we headed for the mountains to the west on highway 1 the sky opened up and mother nature spewed forth her cold wet rain only to be replaced by snow once altitude came into play. After about 15 miles of this, I had to pull over and get better dressed to deal with the new conditions. We had to go another 40 miles or so to get to Banff and the entire trip was accompanied by either rain or snow. When we arrived in Banff the town was hustling despite the weather and parking was tough. We did find a spot on a back street that was marked RV parking so we set up camp and had some lunch. While we were having lunch a very opportunistic traffic cop decided to add to the revenue stream and issued us a $50.00 parking ticket. We were all in the coach eating and none of us seen the ticket being placed under the wiper. SNEAKY BASTARD!!!

Once we left Banff we headed to Lake Louise. The rain had subsided for the moment and it was clear sailing for the next 40 miles until we pulled into the upper parking lot of the famous lake. I took Benz for a walk before Dad and I walked down to view the lake and the famous hotel. When I walked around the corner and saw the lake for the first time I just couldn’t believe my eyes, I thought I was in Europe somewhere! This is truly a magical place. I just can’t imagine why my Mother wouldn’t walk down with us to see it? I guess she wasn’t feeling well. I offered to have my father carry her but she just looked at me like she does.

It was now 5;30 in the evening and getting colder (39 degrees) and I wasn’t looking forward to the next 139 miles it was going to take to get to Jasper. Once back on the road we quickly started climbing and in no time the rain turned to snow again. Up, up and up we went and suddenly I found myself riding in 4 inches of fresh snow. I have never been so horrified of crashing on a road bike (if you can call Killer that) in my life. I had to constantly wipe my shield clean of snow (that was also fogging) while trying to stay in an 8″ tire track from the previous car so I didn’t get my skinny little bike tire into the heavy snow slush. loose traction and go down. My father was trying to maintain a good distance behind me and I’m sure that he was horrified that if I went down he might run over me?

This went on for 10-15 miles or so until we finally started downhill and the snow turned back to rain. I was frick’n froze at this point and we had another 90 miles of this shit! Thankfully we were headed downhill from here and the snow was a thing of the past. The highlight of the day was that we saw two Black Bear by the side of the road about 30 miles from Jasper which is where we are camped for the night. I don’t know if you have ever seen a bear in the wild but it is spectacular! They just look larger than life in the wild, so healthy and aware.

As challenging as this day sounds it was a blast. I had a lot of fun, my Mom and Dad think I’m nuts but that was before they saw the dude on the pedal bike grinding up the same mountain with full luggage!

See you tomorrow, we’re off to Dawson.

MM

Wow, what a day! I’m going to choose to be positive about today but you’re going to laugh when you hear what happened. It’s only funny because it is so ridiculous. We left the Butte area yesterday around 2:30 or so and the goal was to make it to Shelby (which we did) and camp for the night before going into Canada.

Things started out, as usual, this morning with breakfast at about 7:30 am, Mert (my Mom) had peanut butter toast, I had cheerios and OB (my Dad) had a grapefruit and some coffee. We were able to pump out the septic and fill up the fresh water on la jefa (the new name for the motorhome via MB). We headed out of the campground about 8:30 North on I-15 with about 30 miles to the Canadian border. We stopped at the last pull-off before the border to look at the map one final time before crossing the border. The plan was to head to Lethbridge and go west on Highway 3 to the Canadian Rockies, stop for lunch around noon and head toward highway 93/95 north and find somewhere to camp near Banff.

Here’s what happened to that plan; we were just 15 miles from Lethbridge when la jefa disappeared from the rearview mirror of the KLR so I stopped and waited the customary 5 minutes before turning around to go back and see what happened. When I finally found them sitting on the shoulder of the road, there was water gushing out from under the rear of la jefa and she wasn’t moving. What happened is the drive shaft grenaded and poked a hole in the grey water tank. Of course, the water leak is a minimal problem compared to the missing driveshaft. About five minutes later this nice Canadian gentleman stopped and told us that the parts were still laying in the road a couple hundred yards back. He actually went back and picked up the parts and brought them back to us.

OB got on the phone and called the Good Sam Company (roadside insurance provider) and reported the problem and our location. In about an hour a tow truck showed up to try and haul the rig to town for repairs. One small problem, the air ride had been damaged and la jefa was sitting too low to be picked up. So we sat there for 3 more hours until a certified mechanic could come and fix the air ride. We were then able to get la jefa loaded on the flatbed and hauled into town for repairs.

We are currently staying at a Quality Inn next to a casino, which is where my parents currently are. I hope they don’t lose their ass over there… Benz and I? well, we are kicking back at the hotel blogging and growling at whatever sounds worth growling at.

-Adventure takes on many forms, Alaska or Bust? Today…

Looking forward to tomorrow!

MM