Canada is our longest trip to date, we covered a little over 5000 miles in 13 days; July 11th - 23rd. Heat turned out to be a major factor, even in the northern U.S. and British Columbia. Temperatures in the 95F - 103F range were frequently encountered.

One of the highlights of the trip was riding Icefields Parkway, the road isn't particularly challenging which is good since it makes enjoying the scenery easier. Icefields Parkway has some of the worlds best mountain scenery.

Lessons Learned

  • Carry spare fuses. They come in handy if for instance your mirror cover blows off at 80 MPH on I-80 in Wyoming and shorts the wires resulting in no taillight, turn signal or instruments.

  • Your credit card company may consider charging gas and motels while crossing the country suspicious and shut down your account.

  • Even people who don't ride find motorcyclists on a trip interesting especially in Canada when they notice Texas license plates.

  • Cooling vests kept us going when it would have been impossible otherwise.

  • RVs are the most under-powered vehicles on earth.

 

We left work at lunch on Wednesday the 11th, met at Yesterday's in Decatur for lunch then rode to Childress for the night. It didn't take long for the trip to get interesting, a few miles south of Bowie it began raining heavily with lots of lightening. We ended up under a bridge for about 45 minutes waiting for the weather to improve. Back on the road we continued north on 287 toward Childress, the road dried as we passed the area the storm covered. We were making good time when I noticed a car about 2 miles ahead driving south in the northbound lane; in fact he was headed right at us. We changed lanes to avoid an early end to the trip. It turned out to be an old man, probably senile driving along like nothing was wrong. Our reaction surprised us, neither of us was scared or even mad, we were just shocked it had happened.

Arriving at the Comfort Inn in Childress after 183 miles. Greg is always on the cutting edge of fashion.

We stopped for gas in Springfield, CO where we ran into Axel the guy who helped us when Greg ran out of gas in Pritchett, CO last year. Axel lives in Pritchett about 16 miles from Springfield. It was very nice to see him and quite a coincidence.

Thursday we ended the day in Limon, CO after 483 miles. The Travel Inn was a good value and the owner was nice enough to let us park under the cover, the weather got nasty after we arrived.

First stop for gas in Wyoming.

Heading west on I-80 between Elk Mountain and Walcott my mirror cover blew off, the tether did not do it's job resulting in a damaged wiring harness and blown fuse. We diverted to Casper Mountain Motorsports in Casper, WY. The service manager, Kevin Stewart, got me back on the road in an hour or so.

Friday we made it to Buffalo, WY after 568 miles. We stayed at the Rodeway Inn.

Stopping along I-90 on the way to Missoula, MT.

Weather was not looking good so we pulled over at a rest stop along I-90 and put the raingear on. The temperature dropped about 30 degrees within 20 miles or so, from mid-90s to 64 then warmed back up after we rode out of the rain.

Saturday night we stayed at the Super 8 in Missoula, MT after 508 miles.

It was a rough day, the heat really wore us out. To make matters worse we had a very difficult time finding a room. The Pizza Hut next door to the Super 8 was a welcome site, we sure didn't want to ride to dinner!

Flathead Lake on US-93 north of Missoula, MT

Just crossed the border into Canada!

Stopping for gas in Canada, it's well over $4.00 per gallon.

We stayed at the Pinewood Inn in Golden, BC after a 396 mile ride form Missoula, MT. The owners Debora & Dale are very nice. The rooms have been totally remodeled and it's very clean, highly recommended.

The kitchen was very nice to have.

Outlaw biker looking for trouble at the laundromat.

After taking care of the laundry we rode the gondola at Kicking Horse Resort.

Look closely and you can see the cables for the gondola.

Up the mountain we go.

We ate at the restaurant at the top of the mountain. The food was quite good and reasonably priced.

 

Looking off the back patio of the restaurant. We originally planned to eat on the patio but it was kinda chilly so we moved inside.

Beautiful view out the window!

Views from the top of the mountain.

Headed back down.

View of Golden, BC.

A mountain bike rider on the road below.

We bought a 3 day park pass at the west entrance to Yoho National Park.

Looking west from the park entrance.

Brief stop at the Yoho National Park visitor's center.

Lake Louise in Banff National Park is incredibly beautiful. The water is an emerald color, these pictures do not do it justice.

The beautiful background helps compensate for our looks.

Nice hat.

After leaving Lake Louise we rode north on Icefields Parkway. We ate lunch at Num-Ti-Jah Lodge, the food was excellent and the view beautiful.

Looking out the windows from our table.

Stopping along the Icefields Parkway.

We stopped at Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park on the way back to the motel on Tuesday.

We met two couples from southern Idaho at the 7-Eleven in Golden, BC; they were headed to Alaska. I have never seen a bike so loaded down!

Saddle bags even on the tank.

Stopping along Icefields Parkway on Wednesday on the way to the Columbia Icefield.

Arriving at the Columbia Icefield.

Looking out the window from the restaurant at lunch.

Huge tires on the Snowcoach.

The ice can be thin in spots, we were warned we could fall knee deep into the cold water.

Thursday we had planned to go to Glacier National Park but the weather was not cooperating. It began raining before breakfast with thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon. Getting caught in a thunderstorm at the park did not sound fun so we decided to begin our journey home a day early hoping to get out of the area before the storm came in from the west.

Rest stop on the Trans-Canada Highway west of Calgary.

Heading south on Highway 2 I spied the Nanton Lancaster Society Air Museum.

This is what made me stop, I could see their WWII Lancaster bomber inside the hanger as we rode by. This is the first Lancaster bomber I have seen other than pictures.

Thursday night was spent at the Super 8 in Cut Bank, MT after 382 miles. The lady at the front desk let us park next to the building.

Mirrors make this a great place for a honeymoon.

Headed south on US-87 we came upon Eddie's Corner at the junction us US-87 & US-191. It's been in business since 1951 and still owned by the same family.

We met this nice couple while eating lunch, they are farmers from nearby Moore, MT. They gave us some insight into what it's like to travel in the area at wintertime. She talked about "ground blizzards" where the wind blows so hard the snow from the ground is blown across the road making it impossible to see.

Friday night we stayed at the Z-Bar Motel in Buffalo, WY after 491 miles. We really enjoyed our stay and the price is right.

My cabin was small but clean and very quiet!

Saturday night we stayed at the Comfort Inn in Sydney, NE after 391 miles. We stopped early due to the heat, Sunday and Monday morning we were on the road by 6:00a to avoid some of the heat. Our last night on the road was at the Best Western (pictured above) in Perryton, TX after 473 miles. It's very nice and clean, about one year old.

 

Monday we rode the remaining 366 miles home. I added 3 blue pins to my map; WY, MT and British Columbia.