Manitoba to Oregon: Round Trip
- Thread starter oldhippie
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oldhippie
Senior Member
Pics will have to wait 'til we get home (not that we've taken very many). These hotel computers and internet connections are slow and don't want hog it.
Day 12: Picked up a new headlight bulb and changed it before we left this morning. Left Coeur d'Alene on hwy 95 north to hwy 2 and only went as far as Kalispell, Montana. Lots of bush along this route. When we first entered Montana there was a sign saying the crosses on the side of the road were for fatalities.. There are ALOT of crosses on this route. In some places you could've mistaken them for a small church: at least 10 to 15. Speed limit was 70, I decided it best to keep it below that. Tall grass and bush up to the side of the road and blind corners/entrances.
People should'nt tell me their names while my ears are still ringing from the ride. The two from Alberta we've been riding with.. I had to reask him his name and thought I had his better halfs name right. Her name is Hanna not Anja. Man, I'm bad with names.
Ran into a couple who'd just done the road to the sun..They told us of an accident on the road yesterday. A lady riding passenger was hit on the head by a falling rock. Sounds like she's Ok though as the local H-D dealer told them she was in later in the afternoon buying a new helmet.
Hoping for clear skies for tomorrow ride up the road.
oldhippie
Senior Member
Missed mentioning, yesterday my wife got stung on the hip just after we entered into Montana. Her hip swelled up a bit at first but now the area is inflammed.
Day 13: We left Kalispell and headed up hwy 2 to the turn off to the Glacier Park for the ride into the sun road. Sunny and mild, just perfect for a real nice ride in and up until we hit construction. Fantastic view of the mountains and from the side of the mountains.
Bike overheated while doing the stop and go turtle crawl past construction. Why must people stop when your being led around construction areas by a escort vehicle?:bigsmiley19: Couldn't these dummies just hand the camera to a passenger and get them to take the pic? We were only going a few miles/hour for petes sake. My wife managed to take pics riding the back of a bike. Really peeved me off when, after being stopped waiting for the escort vehicle, three vehicles still stopped 20 ft ahead to take a pic of a waterfall that they could've snapped while waiting the ten minutes.
Rear cylinder started cutting out from overheating. Nowhere to stop in construction, but as soon as we had a place to pull off, we shut 'er down to cool off and let the slowpokes get ahead.
About half way through the Pass we said goodbye to our friends from Alberta since they were heading north once they hit St. Mary and hwy 89. Coincidently this was also just before we hit construction and had to stop to cool down.
Once we hit hwy 89, we headed to Great Falls where we are for tonight. What a difference in landscape from mountain with lots of trees to nearly bare rolling hills. Just south of St. Mary there is an area previously hit by fire. Not pretty what fire can do to a forest. Just skeletons of trees.
I guess we'll see if the wife's hip is worse by morning or if the antihistimines are working. If not, we'll be heading back to Canada to get her checked out.
If she's better, we'll flip a coin on the map and go from there.
Day 13: We left Kalispell and headed up hwy 2 to the turn off to the Glacier Park for the ride into the sun road. Sunny and mild, just perfect for a real nice ride in and up until we hit construction. Fantastic view of the mountains and from the side of the mountains.
Bike overheated while doing the stop and go turtle crawl past construction. Why must people stop when your being led around construction areas by a escort vehicle?:bigsmiley19: Couldn't these dummies just hand the camera to a passenger and get them to take the pic? We were only going a few miles/hour for petes sake. My wife managed to take pics riding the back of a bike. Really peeved me off when, after being stopped waiting for the escort vehicle, three vehicles still stopped 20 ft ahead to take a pic of a waterfall that they could've snapped while waiting the ten minutes.
Rear cylinder started cutting out from overheating. Nowhere to stop in construction, but as soon as we had a place to pull off, we shut 'er down to cool off and let the slowpokes get ahead.
About half way through the Pass we said goodbye to our friends from Alberta since they were heading north once they hit St. Mary and hwy 89. Coincidently this was also just before we hit construction and had to stop to cool down.
Once we hit hwy 89, we headed to Great Falls where we are for tonight. What a difference in landscape from mountain with lots of trees to nearly bare rolling hills. Just south of St. Mary there is an area previously hit by fire. Not pretty what fire can do to a forest. Just skeletons of trees.
I guess we'll see if the wife's hip is worse by morning or if the antihistimines are working. If not, we'll be heading back to Canada to get her checked out.
If she's better, we'll flip a coin on the map and go from there.
oldhippie
Senior Member
Day 14: Wifes' hip isn't looking worse so we decided to head norteast and ride hwy 2 east. Hwy 87 takes us out of Great Falls so I follow the hwy 87 signs... Duh, except I didn't even pay attention to the direction sign so instead of heading northeast, ended up heading south west. Oh well, rode to Lewistown and caught hwy 19 1/2 hr east and took that and hwy 191 north to Malta and then hwy 2 to Glasgow where we're spending the night.
Just southeast of Great Falls is the little town of Belt where we'd turned off to fill up the bike (because I figured I'd fill up after stopping in at Big Sky Harley, but there weren't any gas stations). Neat little late 1800's/early 1900's buildings there. Including a jail, bank and theatre. Took a walk across a rickety old swinging bridge with broken hand rail supports.
Some nice scenery but alot of rolling hills. Was kinda neat to come across a 1/2 mile deep ravine here and there though.
Just southeast of Great Falls is the little town of Belt where we'd turned off to fill up the bike (because I figured I'd fill up after stopping in at Big Sky Harley, but there weren't any gas stations). Neat little late 1800's/early 1900's buildings there. Including a jail, bank and theatre. Took a walk across a rickety old swinging bridge with broken hand rail supports.
Some nice scenery but alot of rolling hills. Was kinda neat to come across a 1/2 mile deep ravine here and there though.
oldhippie
Senior Member
Day 15: Decided to head back to Canada via Hwy 24 north from Glasgow to Assiniboia, Saskatchewan and then on to Weyburn where we spent the night.
Relly nice ladies that work the Canada Customs office at Port of West Poplar River. Lots of rolling hills and grain fields on the way.
Day 16: Little bit of rain as we left Weyburn on hwy 13 but it didn't last long and was very light. The clouds followed us all the way to Treherne, Manitoba which made for a cooler ride.
We arrived home just after 6. Nice to be home.
We did a little over 5000 miles in 16 days and, wouldn't you know it, the closest we got to an accident was within 30 miles of home. When we turned onto hwy 44 out of Beausejour, Manitoba I turned to my wife and said "now for the most perilous part of our journey". Not 4 miles later some oncoming fool decided to pass. When I saw him I got off the throttle and then it was on the brakes hard, ready to take the ditch, when he pulled back in cutting off the car he passed. :mgunGave him my single finger salute to let him know what I thought of his driving while my wife yelled something I can't post here.
I'll try to post pics soon. Gotta resize them first.
Relly nice ladies that work the Canada Customs office at Port of West Poplar River. Lots of rolling hills and grain fields on the way.
Day 16: Little bit of rain as we left Weyburn on hwy 13 but it didn't last long and was very light. The clouds followed us all the way to Treherne, Manitoba which made for a cooler ride.
We arrived home just after 6. Nice to be home.
We did a little over 5000 miles in 16 days and, wouldn't you know it, the closest we got to an accident was within 30 miles of home. When we turned onto hwy 44 out of Beausejour, Manitoba I turned to my wife and said "now for the most perilous part of our journey". Not 4 miles later some oncoming fool decided to pass. When I saw him I got off the throttle and then it was on the brakes hard, ready to take the ditch, when he pulled back in cutting off the car he passed. :mgunGave him my single finger salute to let him know what I thought of his driving while my wife yelled something I can't post here.
I'll try to post pics soon. Gotta resize them first.
Sounds like a great trip. That seems to be how it works, nothing happens till you're almost home. I guess that's better than in the middle of nowhere. Can't wait to see the pics.
oldhippie
Senior Member
Powder River Pass in the Bighorn N.P. Wyoming
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oldhippie
Senior Member
Powder River Pass in the Bighorn N.P. Wyoming
oldhippie
Senior Member
One more pic of Powder River Pass
