| Author | Message | ||
     Glitch |
Oh,I just noticed; I just lost an hour. A true sign of a man on the move | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Please go by "Lake Louise" and snap a picture. One of my coworkers is dying to go there. | ||
| Crusty |
Turn Around When I wrote yesterday’s Snippet, I was not in the best of moods. I decided that I didn’t want to put up with more cold rain, so I changed my plans. I figured I’d stay on Trans Canada 1 until I was in the middle of Banff NP, then I’d jump on Rt. 93 and take it south to Montana. When I saw the sign for 93, I exited and I hit a entrance booth for Banff. So I paid my fee and set out for Montana. It hadn’t helped my mood to see blue sky in my rear view mirrors, yet it was either overcast or raining where I was. I have to say that Banff is Spectacular. The green water of Lake Louise is beautiful, as are all the incredible mountains. The road wound through one incredible vista after another. Eventually, the sun broke through, and my attitude improved. I stopped for lunch and gas shortly after noon, and it didn’t even bother me that the price of Premium was up to $1.59/Liter. I had a bottle of Gatorade and a bag of locally made sweet chili and sour cream flavored potato chips. (I like to eat Healthy), then got back on the road. I had ridden through a magnificent valley, and I was climbing thousands of feet when it occurred to me that my shadow was to my right. Since the sun was in the west, that meant I was heading north, not south like I planned. Canada doesn’t put many route signs up, so I’d been traveling north blissfully unaware of my mistake. It became obvious when I saw a big sign welcoming me to Jasper National Park. I stopped at the Tourist Center at the Athabasca Glacier and went inside and asked the kids (young man) in the gift store if he had a map. I told him where I’d come from, and the mistake I’d made. I also told him I didn’t regret it because it was such an Amazing place and he told me that I had a few options. He didn’t have a road map, but roads are few and far between up here. I could turn around and go back the way I came, or I could continue on to the town of Jasper and take Rt. 16 to Edmonton, then go south. Or I could head east towards Edmonton, then take the Scenic Highway to Alaska (Rt. 40). I asked him about campgrounds, and he told me that there was one, Whistler, just before I got to the town of Jasper. I got to Whistler and sat in line, waiting to register. I heard the Girl (young woman) in the booth tell the people in the car ahead of me that the campground was full, but they could camp in the Overflow Area. No fires were permitted, but it was all that was available. I was tired and decided it would be fine by me; but when I pulled up to the booth, the girl (Extremely attractive young woman) told me that because I was on a motorcycle, I could camp in the Campground. They wanted me to have easy access to Bear Lockers to keep my food in. I went to my assigned campsite and took my time setting up my tent. Everything was soaked and I wanted it all to dry out; which it did pretty quickly. After I got my camp set up, I went and found the showers and spent a fair amount of time getting myself clean and just enjoying a clean hot shower. After the shower, I returned to my campsite and was kicking back, shen a woman from an adjoining campsite came over and brought me a plate of cut up fruit. She said that she didn’t want to throw it out, and I was welcome to it. We sat and talked a while, and I learned that he was half Cree. I told her that I’d never met any Cree before, and we had a pleasant conversation for an hour or so. She was camping with her daughter, son and grandkids, and she lives in Edmonton. She described what it was like, living there, and we just enjoyed a good visit. After she left, I looked at my watch and it was after 10:00 and the sun was still up. I decided that I should get some sleep, and crawled into my tent. I had to shut the door in the fly to hake it dark enough, and I slept soundly until after 6:00 this morning. I took my time breaking camp; it took me almost 2 1/2 hours to have coffee and get it all packed up, but I was in a slow, lazy kind of mood. I’m on my way towards Edmonton, now. I found a Timmy Ho’s about 50 miles east of Jasper, so I decided to stop and type this. My laptop battery is down to 40%, so I’d better hurry and get this out. (This Tim Horton’s doesn’t have electrical outlets) I went North by mistake, but I’m sure glad I did. If you’ve never seen the Canadian Rockies, you’re missing something truly awesome. | ||
| Two_seasons |
Crusty, if you ever pass through Ingomar, Montana via US12,. you should stop at the local saloon. They made, back in the day, the best bean soup I've ever tasted in the USA. | ||
| Crusty |
De Agony Of De Feet I was riding along this afternoon, and decided to get some gas and take off a couple of layers, as the sun had come out and it had warmed up. As I pulled into the gas station, I stopped to let a truck go by on his way out. The driver waved me on, so I gave it a little gas, but my foot got caught in a rut and got jammed between the ground and the bottom on my saddlebag. I think I might have broken the knuckle of my big toe. It hurts like the devil to upshift. It hurts to place it on the regular foot peg or on the highway peg. It hurts doing nothing. Walking is, um, interesting. I called it a day early in the evening and got a room at the Motel 6 in Red Deer, Alberta. It took me almost 5 minutes to remove my boot when I got in the room. If it still hurts like this tomorrow, I don’t know what I’ll do. This is a potential game changer for the trip. I’ll probably try to make it back to the US before seeking medical attention. I don’t imagine that many Canadian Doctors take medicare. Maybe it’s just sprained and will start to feel better by morning. If not, maybe I should call a Toe Truck. Or somethin’… | ||
| Crusty |
Donner Pass  | ||
| Crusty |
Oregon  Windmills above the Columbia River  British Columbia  | ||
| Crusty |
Glacier National Park (Canada)   Leaving Illecillewaet Campground  Same location, different angle  | ||
| Damnut |
Crusty, I have 3 cousins that grew up and live in Edmonton if you need anything while in the area. | ||
| 86129squids |
Yeesh! Wonder how to finagle a hand shifter or heel/toe (toe pushes down, thankfully) on your rig? Certainly see about your best options for medical attention. Surely something will work out. My GF's best buddy broke her big toe, and she ended up wearing a Frankenstein type boot... might still be wearing it! She did have a pretty bad break, along with a break in one of the bones behind the toe- hopefully you just bruised it. Dunno if taping would help, but maybe. What if you found a car/bike repair shop with a good welder, and he/she could work an over-the-tank shifter rod from the left (rider's perspective sitting on bike)...? Thinking of some old Rat Fink cartoons here. It'd be strange but workable, maybe... Good luck and Godspeed, John, keep us posted  | ||
| Pwnzor |
Medicare only covers you in Canada under the following conditions: 1. You’re in the U.S. when you have a medical emergency, and the foreign hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your illness or injury. 2. You’re traveling through Canada without unreasonable delay by the most direct route between Alaska and another state when a medical emergency occurs, and the Canadian hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your illness or injury. Medicare determines what qualifies as “without unreasonable delay” on a case-by-case basis. 3. You live in the U.S. and the foreign hospital is closer to your home than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your medical condition, regardless of whether it’s an emergency Read more about it here There is an 24 hour Emergency Room in Red Deer, information here. If you need it, I vote you go there and get treatment. I'm guessing they'll send you a bill, and I'd be happy to help out with that, as I'm sure some others here would also chip in. I'm not ready for this saga to end, let this just be a chapter. Get it fixed, keep on riding. (Message edited by pwnzor on July 02, 2016) | ||
| Greg_e |
Has it turned black and blue yet? If there is a pharmacy there, get some tape and tape it up, might help. | ||
| Crusty |
Morning Report Outside, there's dense fog. It’s supposed to burn off within an hour or so. That gives me an excuse to sit here and drink this wonderful Motel 6 coffee. I’m not in a hurry to hit the road this morning. My foot isn’t hurting as bad as it did last night, but it sure doesn’t feel that good, either. Putting my socks and boots on was an exercise in slow, cautionary movements. My foot is swollen a bit, but not so much that I couldn’t ease my boot on. I think if I just work on my shifting technique, I’ll be OK. I won’t be shifting quickly, but I won’t have to try to rig up some sort of heel & toe setup. The good news is that I’ll be pretty much out in the country with little traffic, so I can do things slowly without screwing up other drivers. I’m going to skip Glacier Nat’l Park in Montana. I wanted to ride the Going-To-The-Sun Road in its entirety, but it’s 4th of July Weekend. The park will be slammed with tourists in Rudabagos making stupid Tourist moves and hogging the road and probably forcing me to use my foot a lot more than I think would be good for it. Oh well; next year. Right now, I’m trying to figure out the best route to take that will leave me away from lots of traffic. I think I’ll just head south into Montana, then head east on US Rt. 2. That should give me a few days to let my foot heal up a bit and it will give me time to consider my options. Of course, I don’t know how much riding is going to hurt. I might just change all my plans after being on the bike for an hour. I guess I’ll just have to see. Thank you all for your concern. I appreciate all of the suggestions offered. Being the mule headed individual that I am, I probably will do it my way; but if my way doesn’t work, I’ll have some really good sounding ideas to fall back on. Well; let’s see what happens… | ||
| Pwnzor |
Well, it sounds as if it's not broken. That's good. Take it easy, and soldier on. Other than seeing my wife laying next to me when I wake up, I look forward to these reports more than anything. | ||
| Akbuell |
Years ago, while racing minibikes in the back of the ship I worked at, I hit a patch of oil on the floor. Caught the first slide; then the oily spot on the tire rolled onto the floor again and I slid into the wall, between studs. Ramming my foot into one. Thought I had broken something, so off to the emergency room. Nothing was broken, and as an aside the Dr told me that even if I had broken a toe there was not much he could do for it. A lot of background to explain that I worked around the foot problem by mounting the shift lever straight up and down. Worked it with my heel forward and back, instead of toe/ankle rocking back and forth. A little awkward, but might be an option. Sure hope this helps, Dave | ||
| Crusty |
Back In The USA My foot feels a lot better. It still hurts and I still can’t shift with it, but I managed to put in 427 miles today. As long as I stay on roads where I don’t have to shift a lot, I’ll be OK. I’ve been upshifting with the side of my heel. It works, even though it’s a lot slower than shifting normally. I didn’t keep track of the miles when I left Red Deer this morning. I had looked on Google Maps and decided to ride to Great Falls, Montana and put up at the Motel 6. It seemed to take forever to get to the US Border. Of course, there was a line when I finally got there. I figured it would take forever, then I’d get the usual third degree, but I was only half right. The line crawled, but the Border Guard let me pass with only a couple of questions. It surprised the hell out of me. I rode down I -15 for a while, still planning to go to Great Falls, but when I saw the exit for US Rt.2, I had to take it. Now, I’m a hundred miles east of I-15, and I’ll probably stay on Rt. 2 for a while. If I time it right, tomorrow, I could have dinner at that Mexican Restaurant at the Geographical Center of North America in Rugby, North Dakota. I know; I stopped there last year, and even took a picture of the Roadster there at the monument, but why not just do it again? The Mexican food was good, as I recall and it would be an improvement on the Quart of Powerade and bag of BBQ chips that’s rapidly becoming my standard dinner. Every once in a while, I deserve to eat a decent meal. (That’s what I tell myself, anyway) Oh, I got the mileage from Google. I put in my starting point, ending point and corrected the route, and it gave me 427.5 miles. I believe it. I have a couple of regrets from the past couple of days. First, that I didn’t take the Scenic Route to Alaska (RT 40) when I passed the turn off about 30 miles east of Jasper. Never mind that I can’t afford to go right now, and that my tires would be bald long before I made it back to Massachusetts; I still feel the tug. However, when I go to Alaska, I want to ride right on up to the Arctic Circle. I just can’t swing that right now. However, now that I’ve been as far north as I’ve been, I know I can do the run to Fairbanks. Wait’ll next year. The other regret was that I turned east on Rt. 2 instead of west and going to Glacier. I know that it would be a madhouse of Rudabagos and Runamuccas, but I really wanted to ride the Going-To-The-Sun Road again. Probably in both directions. I guess that will have to wait until next year as well. I just had a thought about next year; I could ride to the Arctic Circle, then come back the scenic route, then go south through Jasper and Banff Parks and wind up in Montana on Rt.93. I could ride through Glacier both ways, then continue on my merry way. I’ll have to give that some thought. I’m trying to be philosophical about my toe. It may hurt like the Devil, but it’s doing me some good. It’s the adversity that’s going to make this trip more memorable. Adversity overcome enhances the experience. (it sounds good, anyway). One thing I don’t regret is the price of gas, now that I’m back in the States. I paid $2.79/Gallon for Super when I got gas here in Montana. After prices as high as $1.59/Liter, it’s nice to see the price drop. Well, I hear fireworks outside. I think I’ll go see what’s going on. | ||
| Crusty |
Thoughts This morning, while I was having my coffee, I looked long and hard at routes through Canada heading east. I could pick up Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario on my way to Michigan. But then, I wouldn’t hit Rugby, ND, and I wouldn’t be able to go through Iowa and possibly visit with Matthew and Lorraine. Of course, Matthew might be on the road; if he is, it’s kinda pointless to go see him. he won’t be there. Another reason to stay in the US is the expense of having to pay almost 50% more for gas North of the Border. Plus, I’d have to go through Customs each way. Now, I might get lucky again (I did yesterday, coming back into the States), but my past experience is that the chances of that happening are pretty slim. I can’t help it; I think Gestapo whenever I see Customs people or Homeland Security. I guess I watched too many movies about Nazi Germany when I was a kid. All I can think of is, “May I zee your Papers, Pleeze?” Along with the Nazi villain from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was talking to Dondi last night, telling her what routes I might take and where I was heading and she asked me if I’d changed my priorities from wandering to just experience things to being destination driven. That set me back a bit. I guess that with my injured toe, I was just thinking about getting back to Massachusetts and letting it heal. It’s healing well enough while I’m riding; why get in a rush? Actually, my foot’s healing at an amazing pace. It hurt so bad on Friday, I would have sworn it was broken; yet today, I can occasionally upshift with it. It hurts, but I can do it. It’s healing so fast that there’s noticeable improvement from morning to evening. I think I’ll be able to start camping again as soon as tomorrow night. I’m willing to try, anyhow. Right now, I’m in Minot, North Dakota. I lost another hour; I’m in the Central Time Zone. the office of the Super 8 has four clocks on the wall showing the four time zones, and instead of Central, the clock says Time for This Location. Well; I’ll be in the Central time zone for a while. The sun was up still at 10:00 PM. I wonder what time it rises here? I bet I’m still asleep when it comes up. (Message edited by Crusty on July 04, 2016) | ||
| Kmbuell |
Crusty, have a great 4th! Ride safe, take care of the foot! | ||
| Pwnzor |
John, are you planning to visit Innes on your way East? | ||
| Crusty |
Matt, I don't even have Innes' current address, so the short answer is no. Although I know he's living south of Montreal, it's not that far out of my way... | ||
| Crusty |
I got the following reply to my posts on one of the forums I post these Snippets on: I thought your 'priorities' at the beginning of this trip were to see the Canadian Rockies and ride TGTTSR in Glacier in it's entirety, yet you barely scratched the surface of BC/Banff/Jasper and are completely bypassing Glacier and GTTSR! This is how I responded: I dropped the GTTSR because I was in a bit too much pain to enjoy it. I thought I was pretty clear on that. And even when I had to shift my bike with the back of my heel (something I'm still doing), I was thinking pretty strongly about going anyway. And I did go through Glacier, Banff and Jasper National parks in Canada. I didn't linger,or explore side roads, and I know that I'm missing a lot of neat stuff; but I did what I set out to do. Could I have done more? Certainly; and maybe next time I will; but I did what I set out to do. Those weren't my only priorities; I saw the Springfield Mile, went to the Buell/EBR Homecoming, visited Zack and NRHS north of Denver and Sue in Montrose, Colorado, rode through Monument Valley, went to the Grand Canyon, Crossed the Mojave in the summertime and rode up to and through Yosemite and visited my brother Tony in San Francisco. Those were priorities, too. Sometimes, things have to change and sometimes I make changes just because I want to. I keep changing my route on a whim. Instead of going up the coast in California, I went east to Reno, Nevada, then north. After I hurt my foot, I was going to ride down I-15 to Great Falls, Montana, then get a room at the Motel 6 there. Instead, I turned east on US Rt.2. There are other priorities that are in the background, as well. One of them is to complete the trip without having to buy a tire, or to not max out my credit card. This trip has been more expensive than I'd hoped. Others are to visit with Matt and Lorraine, visit with my brother David in Cincinnati and to ride through at least a little of Michigan. I don't know if those will all be realized, but they're there. To quote John Wyndham, Life is Change; that's how it differs from the Rocks | ||
| Court |
>>>I keep changing my route on a whim. I love it. The most fun I ever had on a Buell was waking up early every morning . . . drinking coffee and deciding "which way do >I want to go today". Got me through 31 days and 37 states. I was constantly making and changing courses, destinations and thinking. Therein . . . my fellow wanderer . . . lies the beauty. Ride safe. | ||
| Zac4mac |
I see you favoring the voyage, not the destination(beyond tomorrow). Those are definitely the best trips, IMO. I'm starting to feel my mid-life crisis. I've ridden thru a lot of states, B.C. and a bit of the Philippines. I'm not dead yet and wanna see more. Keep refining the limiters John, I'm on your heels. Z | ||
| Tootal |
Akbuell mentioned what I was thinking. When riding competition trials we always had the shift lever sticking straight up. You will have to lift your foot but it makes it easy to shift without getting close to your toe. So if you get tired of lifting with the heal you might try it for a while. After last years fiasco of shattering my heal I completely understand the desire to change direction! Doesn't matter where you go as long as you're safe and happy! | ||
| Pwnzor |
John, I just emailed you Innes' phone number. Just in case. | ||
| Crusty |
Oh, Dam! This morning, I’m enjoying a sumptuous repast of a Sausage Mc Muffin and a senior Coffee in Grand Forks, North Dakota. My weight is down; I can tell by the way my clothes are fitting. That’s a good thing. I’m hoping that my cardiologist is taken aback by it. In a good way. I stopped at the Geographical Center of North America Monument yesterday. I had been hoping to have lunch at the Mexican restaurant there, bit they’re closed Mondays. So I went to the Cottage Cafe which is about 100 feet east, and got a Cheeseburger, Hash Browns and coffee. Since it was the Fourth of July, I got a slice of pie for desert. I figured that an All American meal was the right thing to have on the Fourth. After lunch, I hit the road again heading east. I stopped at the Maccas in Devil’s Lake, went online and found a free campground at the McVille Dam. which was about 50 miles away. It’s a very pretty park with well tended grass. The bathroom leaves a bit to be desired and there are no showers, but there was running water and electricity. I got the tent set up fairly quickly, as the sky was looking pretty ominous, and I didn’t want to get caught by rain. Sure enough, we got hit with a nasty Thunderstorm. I could see it coming, so I moved under the sheltered picnic pavilion. It only had one table, but it had a roof, and it was walled on three sides. The storm lasted about an hour; it poured heavily and got very windy and the temp dropped about 20 degrees. Then, the storm ended like a switch was thrown. One minute, the sky was black and it was pouring; the next minute, it was sunny with blue skies. Everything dried out pretty quickly and the cool temperatures made for nice sleeping weather. I was asleep long before sunset. Sunset happens late here. However, sunrise also happens late. I was up at 5:30 AM, and the sun didn’t come up until ten or 15 minutes later. Matt replied to my Snippet, saying he’s on the road until Friday; so I’m going to arrive at his house on Saturday. That gives me four days to get there. Today, I’m going to Duluth to visit the Aerostich plant. I’m wearing a Aerostich jacket, Elkskin Gauntlets and heavy duty belt, so why not go check the place out in person? After that, there are six campgrounds with showers within an hour’s ride. I’m thinking that with as much spare time as I’ve got, maybe I should run over to the UP and tag Michigan. That will make 48 states that I’ve ridden the Roadster in. I’m still thinking about Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario, but I don’t think I’ll hit them this trip. I’m still hungry after eating that Sausage Mc Muffin. Maybe I should get another? (Message edited by Crusty on July 05, 2016) | ||
| Blake |
Don't forget the hash browns. | ||
| Crusty |
Aerostich Once again, I’m sitting in a motel room. There are severe thunderstorms hitting Minneapolis and a bunch of other places in the state, and Duluth is under a severe weather warning. Heather; the very personable sales woman at Aerostich said that there was a strong possibility of tornados. The Weather Channel is talking constantly about the storms. I decided that a room was a good idea. North Dakota was mostly flat with some crops, and some grasslands, but very few trees. Once I got into Minnesota, the trees began appearing more frequently, until finally, it seemed like that’s all there was. Lots of trees and some pretty big lakes. One of the bigger lakes was called Leech Lake. I don’t think I’d want to go swimming there, but there were lots of people out there in boats or water skiing or being pulled on tubes. Anyhow, I found my way to Duluth and Aerostich. I could really spend a lot of money there pretty easily. they’ve got some really nice stuff, and I wouldn’t mind having it all. I showed a remarkable amount of restraint and only bought a new belt. My old one has been getting pretty worn, and I thought it through on the ride. I knew I was going to buy something, so I made sure it was something I needed and didn’t cost a fortune. I didn’t buy any Combat Touring Boots, or a grey Darien Jacket or anything else. Just the belt. I didn’t even buy another Ride, Eat, Sleep, Repeat T shirt. All I bought was a belt that I needed. I’m very proud of myself. I took a couple of pictures of the building, then rode nine blocks or so to the Motel 6 where I’m holed up. It’s pretty ugly looking outside, I think we’re going to get hammered any time now. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and mild. I think I’ll ride across Wisconsin to the U.P. and pick up Michigan as #48. I’ll try to find a free campsite there for tomorrow night.That way, I can take two days getting to Matthew and Lorraine’s house in Iowa. I figure I’ll visit for the weekend, then head off to the east. One other thing I need to do is hit a WalMart and do an oil change. I’ve gotten pretty good at doing oil changes in parking lots. I buy the oil, filter and disposable 4 qt rubbermaid container. I can change the oil & filter and not leave a mess. And WalMart takes the waste oil and disposes of the dirty storage container. No fuss, no muss. Well, that’s it for now. | ||
| Tootal |
If at some point you take 2 across the UP of Michigan then head South across the Mackinac Bridge then you could head West to the Lake Michigan shore and ride down the "Tunnel of Trees." It's a beautiful ride if you have the time. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Agreed, we came across that route by accident on a trip up there, it was fantastic. A really wonderful area to ride. Picture a few hundred miles of beautiful rustic beach, but without any crowds, crushing heat, or salt slime. It doesn't get much better. |
