West Coast 2009

[Russ]

July 3, 2009.

Arrived in Glendive MT at about 6pm mountain time.  Pretty boring drive besides stopping at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Took some pictures and drove the rest of the way to Glendive.  Total of 484 miles.  St. Mary MT, just outside of Glacier National Park is the destination for tomorrow.  Hopefully better scenery tomorrow.

 

[Russ]

Saturday July 4, 2009:

I am writing this a day late because they didnt have reliable internet up in the mountains.

The drive From Glendive MT to St. Mary MT (Just outside Glacier National Park) was 507 miles.  It was a long drive, but we made good time even though we werent on the freeway.  Temps were a bit warmer, somewhere around 80.  There were some pretty rugged parts of MT, but most of it was pasture land.  Our hotel was right at the beginning of the going to the sun road, very beautiful, right in the mountains.

Tomorrow we will be driving through the park...

[Russ]

Sunday July 5, 2009:

We left the hotel and took the going to the sun road to Logans Pass.  Stopped at the visitors center.  Nick & Shawn left to go to the west coast.  Nathan and I hiked back to the hidden lake.  Lots of snow and climbing, we went about half way to the overlook of the lake which is about 1.5 miles.  It is 3 miles total to the lake.  We were up close to several mountain goats and seen quite a bit of wildlife.

After leaving the visitors center we continued on going to the sun road and rode in pretty heavy rain for about 10 minutes.  Further down the road Nathan noticed his clutch wasnt working right.  Turns out there is a leak and he had no fluid left in the clutch reservour.  It was to the point where he couldnt even shift, so we had to find some break fluid.  DOT4 was no where to be found.  Someone recommended checking the grocery store, and luckily they had it.  Filled it back up, but there was air in the line so it still wasnt working right.  We found the bleader, but couldnt get it loose with the tools we had.  There was a guy riding a dirt bike that asked us what was going on and he said he could go home and get some tools to help us out.  He came back with the right wrench and we bled the system and got it working again.  We rode to Kalispell, MT and called it a night.  Nick and Shawn called and they are going to stay in  Moses Lake, WA tonight.  We are going to head north tomorrow, not sure where.  Maybe make it into Canada.

[Russ]

Monday July 6, 2009:

We made it to Calgary at about 10pm.  Most all of the hotels are booked up because of a week long stampede they have annually so we had a difficult time finding a place with a room.  We finally found a Holiday Inn Express that had availability. 

We took the recommendation of the scenic route a guy we talked to at Mc Donalds told us about.  It took us on the west side of Lake Koocanusa.  Beautiful drive with lots of 40mph curves, and scenes of the lake.  After entering BC Candada, we ran into some rain and it cooled down to about 55 degrees.  After we got out of the mountains things cleared up.  We kept going north until we made it to Calgary.  After about 425 miles, it was late, but we wanted to get there because Nate had an appointment at the Buell dealer to have his bike looked at.

Tomorrow off to the Buell dealer and the Olympic Park.

We talked to Nick & Shawn and they made it to the west coast.

[Russ]

Tuesday July 7, 2009:

We went to the Buell dealer to have Nates bike checked out.  They didnt have parts, so we had to leave it as is.  Then we went to the Canadian Olympic Park.  Toured around and ate and waited for the rain to end.  Then back to the hotel.  We took the train to downtown and checked the stampede out.  It was mostly like a big fair.  Rides, food, exhibits, etc...  Then we walked downtown and checked out the night life.  Lots of cowboy hats.  Then back to the train and hotel.

Tomorrow touring Banff Park....

[Russ]

Wednesday July 8, 2009:

We left the hotel and went to Banff for dinner.  It was cloudy and rainy, but it was our last day of being in the mountains.  Ate a nice Chillis restaurant attached to a hotel, then we took highway 93 north through Banff Park.  We were going to exit the park on highway 11, but we were running out of time to go that many miles.  So we went north just a little more to Jasper Park and seen the icefields and stood on the Athabasca Glacier.  It was 39 degrees at the glacier and with the rain it was very cold.  We left the glacier and headed back south.  Refuled in Banff and went back to the hotel.  By that time Nick & Shawn had been waiting about 4.5 hours at the hotel for us to return.  Sorry Nick & Shawn, we will be sure to leave a key if this ever happens again!  Off to bed and up in the morning heading for Ragina SK.

Enough rain now... we need sunshine and warm temps!

[Russ]

Thursday July 9, 2009:

Had a good breakfast at the Hoilday Inn Express in Calgary and then we packed up and headed east.  Back to the boring flat land again.  We started out with a strong side wind, then it started raining.  It quit raining, then it started again.  It kept going on this way all day.  Very heavy rain at times and even some hail!  We stopped to fuel up and warm up with a cup of coffee.  Waited for the rain to pass, then hit the road again.  Just as we got over the hill out of town all we seen was dark, blue, rainy sky.  We decided to turn around and find a hotel in Swift Current SK and dry off.  Hopefully by morning the rain will be done.  After driving around to a few different hotels, we finally found one with vacancy.  They even had a laundromat next door and a restaurant.  Washed & dried some clothes, ate, booked a hotel for Friday night and went to bed.

We were originally hoping to make it to Regina SK, so Friday will be longer day than anticipated.

[Russ]

Friday July 10, 2009:

Up early leaving Swift Current SK going to Winnipeg MB.  It is about a 500 mile drive.  The sky's were still cloudy and it was cold, but at least it wasn't raining.  Pretty uneventful day.  We made good time arriving in Winnipeg around 6:30.  We checked in, unpacked and had some supper.  Went back to the room to shower up then went out to Cowboys and Stereo nightclubs where we finished out the night.

Home sweet home tomorrow!

[Russ]

Saturday July 11, 2009:

Nick left Winnipeg early.  We left a little later.  As we were loading up the bikes, I noticed that Nates tire was wore down to the cords.  We talked it over and decided he better have the tire replaced before we went home.  He called the Buell dealer and they said they could get it changed as soon as he got there.  When we got there they wheeled his bike right in and got to work on it.  They had a bike show that day, so we looked around a little and had something to eat.  Soon after we were done they finished up the tire.  Nate paid and we hit the road home.  We arrived home at about 8:30. 

Another trip has come to the end.  It was another safe and successful trip.  Thanks guys!