Monthly Archives: July 2007
July 31, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 16
Albany, OR to Williams, CA. 455 miles.
July 30, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 15
Tumwater, WA to Albany, OR. 178 miles.
July 29, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 14
Quesnel, BC to Tumwater, WA. 540 miles.
July 28, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 13
Smithers, BC to Quesnel, BC. 310 miles.
July 27, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 12
Dease Lake, BC to Smithers, BC, via Hyder, AK. 453 miles.
July 26, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 11
Fort Nelson, BC to Dease Lake, BC, via Watson Lake, YT and the Cassiar Hwy. 478 miles.
July 25, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 10
Grande Cache, AB to Fort Nelson, BC, via the Northwest Territories. 710 miles.
July 24, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 9
Banff to Grande Cache, AB. 314 miles.
July 23, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 8
Golden, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort gondola, Lake Louise, a nice dinner in town.
July 22, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 7
Happy birthday! Brunch at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Local sightseeing.
July 21, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 6
Hairspray at the local theater, Radium Hot Springs, MOOSE.
July 20, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 5
Relaxing with Carole.
July 19, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 4
I started out with my traditional camp breakfast of tea and oatmeal.
The ride up Going to the Sun Highway was very cool, although it was challenge to keep my mind on the road instead of on the scenery. The rest of the way east out of the park was very scenic.
I turned north on MT-17, and ran into a herd of range cattle on the roadway a few miles before the Canadian border. The crossing at Chief Mountain was quick and efficient, thankfully.
I stayed on AB-6 to Pincher Creek, then headed west on Hwy 3 for a bit before turning north again on AB-22. The crosswinds were pretty intense. Traffic got heavier on the outskirts of Calgary, but once I hit TC-1 the going was fast and easy into Banff.
I was really happy to see Carole, and the hotel she got for us was fantastic. It was at the very end of it's construction phase, with only a few things missing, so she wrangled a hugely discounted rate. We ate at the Chili's in the lobby — it's one of our favorite chain restaurants.
Glacier National Park in Montana to Banff, Alberta. 301 miles.
July 18, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 3
The ride from Stanley to Challis, ID along the Salmon River valley was great. After somehow missing the state border, I stopped for lunch in Darby, MT, and cruised into Missoula. The brief ride on I-90 was the first freeway I'd been on a days.
From Missoula I rode up the east shore of Flathead Lake, and topped off the fuel tank just before entering Glacier National Park in the late afternoon. As advertised, the scenery was magnificent, and Lake McDonald was beautiful.
I spent the night at the Avalanche Campground inside the park. After setting up camp, I rode back to the main village for spaghetti, and to call Carole on a pay phone. Just after sundown, a ranger rolled through telling everyone that severe thunderstorms were predicted overnight, and suggesting that everyone sleep inside their motorhomes. She wished me good luck when she noticed my tent. Luckily, the storms never made it, so I stayed dry all night.
Stanley, ID to Glacier National Park, MT, up the east shore of Flathead Lake. 410 miles.
July 17, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 2
After a quick McBreakfast, I made a fast run up US-93 to Wells, NV and stopped for gas. The heavens opened when I got to Jackpot — rain was coming down at a 45 degree plus angle, and I had to stand 15 away from the edge of a gas station canopy to stay out of the rain.
Sun Valley and Ketchum are very pretty towns, but the heavy traffic, low speed limits, and bad signal timing made the going real slow. With more heavy thunderstorms on the horizon, I grabbed a nice (but expensive) cabin in Stanley, ID for the night. 395 miles.
July 16, 2007
50th Birthday Ride - Day 1
I wanted to do something special for my 50th birthday, but I'm not really one for a big party. I talked it over with Carole, and we came up with a great plan: I ride my bike up to Banff, she flies into Calgary and meets me there, and we spend a week seeing the sights. After wards, she flies home, and I ride my bike up to the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, over the Alaska, and back home.
I packed up my Motofizz bag with my camping gear the night before. On day 1, I left the house around 9:30am, with a stop for gas at the 76 station on Rosemead, with the odometer at 25301.
I needed pair of casual shoes when I got to Banff to meet up with Carole. I picked up a pair of low-rise Timberland hiking shoes at the outlet mall in Barstow, which was in a pretty sorry state.
The heat was intense — when I got to Baker the famous high-rise thermometer read 108. I hit Del Taco for lunch, got a tank of gas, and soaked my Sahara vest for the ride to Vegas.
I rehydrated both myself and the vest in Vegas, but waited until Alamo to get gas. On NV-318, the Zumo kept telling me to turn off onto NV 38 - a road that does not exist... The bike was really stable with the Motofizz mounted, which was a pleasant surprise. I kept the speeds up, and only the crosswinds slowed me down.
The combination of a day of intense heat, 509 miles of road, and imminent thunderstorms led me to wimp out and hit the Motel 6 in Ely for the night. The thunderstorms hit around 10:30pm, dumping prodigious amounts of rain and lighting up the sky.
July 3, 2007
QR powder
Buy Urgent QR For All Cuts and Scrapes Online at drugstore.com
July 2, 2007
Garmin POI - Yamaha dealers in the U.S. and Canada
Most Garmin GPS units released in or after 2005 can use the Garmin POI Loader to load custom points-of-interest databases. (Click on the link to download this Windows application, and for details on which Garmin units are supported.)
The following Zip file contains GPX files with POI data for all Yamaha motorcycle dealers in the United States and Canada, as of July 2, 2007:
In addition, the following PDF files contain details on Yamaha dealers in the US and Canada suitable for printing:
Yamaha dealers - US (pdf)
Yamaha dealers - Canada (pdf)
Kermit camp chair
Zumo security screw
I just installed an after-market security screw for my Zumo 550. The original security screw requires use of a tool and is generally a pain in the neck. The replacement is a thumb screw that's much easier to use. The security screw is only for securing the unit in the mounting bracket, not for theft prevention, so a thumb screw is appropriate.