Wilsons Sandbox

Reading Revmaatin s stories and laughing at his adventures has inspired me to tap the keys into a ride story. Here goes . On July 17th I flew from the Yukon down to Missoula, Montana. I stayed with my friend Alan, wife River, daughter Hannah, yappy dog and 6 chickens in an urban idyll. My bike was stored there after a 5,000 mile ride from an Albuquerque, New Mexico to the Yucatan Peninsula and back last November. On that ride the bike s chain + cogs became worn to the point of dysfunction. It just made it to ~ 60 miles south of San Antonio. I was glad to have made it to the U.S. Felt like home. I knew services in the U.S. In Mexico getting repairs often involves dealings and processes that are less familiar to me. Things get done, but differently. Anyhow, my plan was to make repairs to the bike and ride it back to the Yukon. First was rebuilding the forks. I really blew a seal in Mexico and it made the handling on stopping pretty squirrelly. I got the forks apart with some DSN Listers help. I had tried doing it by force and was in the process of stripping nuts. Straining to separate the upper and lower portions saw the corners rounding and I very wisely stopped. A quick email to DSN resulted in more wisdom. I was advised by DSN that an impact wrench is the tool to get forks separated. It was a slick move and I felt good getting that done. I bolted on a fork brace at the same time. I managed to find a DSN-Lister selling a tall windshield and put that on as well. I was having some difficulty installing it due to the fact that the guy who sold me his KLR had done some surgery to the fairing he neglected to mention. The fairing was cut down by an inch and I never noticed until the tall windshield holes failed to line up with the holes in the fairing. A drill rectified that quickly. The originally existing mounting holes were now above the level of the plastic cowl and I wondered if they would not act to equalize the air pressure. Three days of this maintenance and I was ready for the road. Friends Alan + Steve would join me for the first half of the ride (both from the Mexico ride.) Alan lived there and Steve was flying over from England for a ride. They would be respectively riding a Harley Davidson and a Suzuki 650 V-Strom. As we left my battery was refusing to take a charge and so we went to Battery Mart for a sealed replacement on the way out of town. Seems like one s lucky to get two years out of a battery here in the north. Perhaps it s my lack of care and leaving them out in the cold overwinter? We headed up #93 into British Columbia. Warm weather. Good for riding. Riding up to the border I explained the complexities of where my bike was from, why it was there, the ride to Mexico and how I had moved from Alberta to the Yukon in Canada the border guard just waved a hand to silence me and asked who the other guys were. I started another diatribe and he interrupted with, Are they your friends? I nodded and he passed me through. Probably glad to get rid of another windbag. I m sure border guards get tired of hearing the traveller s particulars. Across the border with my bike I felt some relief. I don t know why being in one s own country brings peace, but it does. I like the U.S. It sure felt more comfortable than Mexico, but Canada felt like home. Anyone else feel the same about arriving in their home country? Onward. We rode up to the #3 Hwy and then east to enter Alberta and shortly the town of Coleman. We stopped at a tavern there for dinner. The guys I was with would not have a beer. They did not drink a beer and then ride. Hmph .That s something to think about. We had 30 miles more to go that night. Leaving the bar I became aware that we were being eyed by 3 women. They liked our rides. In Canada I ve heard those types of people referred to as tire-biters. The term applies to getting appraised approvingly on the basis of your steed rather than any personal characteristic. From Coleman we headed up a forestry trunk road. It was dirt and I needed to convince Alan that it wasn t too gnarly for a Harley. We camped that night and the next day headed up the beautiful Kananaskis Country to Banff, Alberta. We passed a grizzly bear on the roadside eating grass. At first glance I thought it was a bison. I don t know when I ve ever seen a bear that size. We rode past Banff on the #1 Hwy and then south on #93Hwy down to Radium Hot Springs for a soak. That relaxed us such that we only went another 45 miles before we tossed up our tents and found unconsciousness in Wasa Lake Provincial Park. The park was full but, the park operator was a biker and found us a site that was occupied only by an empty tent. Bikers are buds. A friend from Kelowna on a 2008 KLR joined us onsite. Next day saw us head off onto another gravel road. Alan was getting annoyed with me, but he was having no troubles on his Harley. He calls it the Black Pearl and loves that bike. Different strokes for different folks. I can t argue about it being a pretty bike though. We rode west from Kimberley, BC through a gorgeous mountain pass. To the astonishment of the other riders, who thought I was dirt savvy, I did a brief visit into a ditch when my front tire rolled on a rock. This seemingly minor slide had later consequences for my shift lever. We rode down to Kootenay Bay on #3A and took the ferry across Kootenay Lake to Balfour. Our ride from there was north on #31 to Kaslo then #31A to New Denver. From there we headed west on #6 and down to another ferry at Needles. Once across the Lower Arrow Lake we rode west to #97 and south to Kelowna for the night. These lakes are the headwaters of the Columbia River. I wrote about this portion of our trip in detail as it was some of the nicest riding you ll find in this area. The traffic was nonexistent. The roads were fabulous in terms of clean, twisty, cop-free pavement. If you are looking for a ride. Do it. Once near Kelowna you come into a major retirement/holiday zone. It was suddenly very developed and busy. Frankly, I was glad to head further north. The following morning we quickly bolted my rear rack directly through the subframe. That seems to have stopped that from loosening! We rode up to Salmon Arm. We were invited to a potluck and decided to go for some local colour. The scene was great and so was the food. Only thing was one had to exert some monstrous self-control not to be gagged by the numerous flies on all the food! I reined in my horror and tried the various home-made casseroles, dips and BBQ d meats. Still, the flies remain in my mind. North from Salmon Arm, BC we rode #5 and #16 to Jasper, Alberta. The next morning we hit the road at 8:30 to ride 35 miles to Miette Hot Springs. In the cool of the morning the scenery was stellar. The road from Hwy #16 was 10 miles up to the Hot Springs. Another lovely road. Twisty, hilly and amidst mountains. Our speeds were held in check as it was quite brushy by the shoulders and an animal leaping out seemed very likely. The riding north from here was fast going. No traffic and few towns as we buzzed through Grande Cache on #40 and past Grande Praire on #43. We camped and then made south for Prince George down #97 after Dawson Creek. Steve and Alan were off to Calgary, Alberta and I was headed north to my home in Whitehorse, Yukon. I felt conflicted as we parted. Part of me just wanted to forget my responsibilities and ride. The other half wanted to get home, back to good work and pay checks. I rode west from Prince George on #16 thinking I could go up the Cassier Hwy towards Whitehorse. I thought that for the first 500 miles and then realized that the Cassier was closed due to forest fires. Adding to the fact that I had now added 1,000 miles to my trip was the additional delight that began with an earlier and seemingly inconsequential slide. Initially my shifter just seemed a bit stuck. I tried to rectify the situation by bending it outwards with my hand and neigh tore it in half!?! That precipitated a quick trip to a couple of shops in Smithers, BC. Fortunately the shop owner found a shift lever on a rotting dirt bike laying in back of the shop that sort of fit the KLR. I wasn t feeling picky. I was 3 days and 1500 miles from needing to be at the construction site. My ride back to Prince George and up the Alaska Highway to Whitehorse was largely uneventful. Notables were the herds of wood bison laying on the road verges lazily chewing their cud. Stopping at roadwork that was underway I was amazed at the way 2 inch Long Horned Pine Bark beetles would buzz up and land on you. The locals casually picked up by the antenna, tossed them on the ground and crunched them into a gritty paste with their boot. Their sage advice was that the bugs can give you a mean bite, but their slow. Other excitement was my hitting a pothole so hard that it bent my rim. Thankfully no flat. Otherwise, my carburetor developed a seemingly endless flow of fuel that dropped the mileage down to 20 mpg. That s serious when the gas stations are 150+ miles apart. I was able to rotate the carb body to take off the bottom. Seemed like the clip that holds the float needle to control the flow of gas into the carb was dislodged. Whatever was the problem. When I reassembled the carb, it was fixed. I happily buzzed the last 4 hours across the Alaska from Watson Lake to Whitehorse. Stopped for gas and had to look for the proprietor to pay. He was in having breakfast. Got a love that sort of trust. The last mechanical insult was a speedo that started indicating lower and lower speed until it just gave up the ghost totally. What s with that? Oh well, I ve still got a tach to give me a rough idea. Home turned out to be 4,000 miles from Missoula. After a loaded 9,000 miles my back tire is looking right worn. My front looks like it has another season! Time to do some work on the bike and think about another journey for next season. Over to you Rev. You do it better anyhow. Jim A5