14,383

I did it! 14,383 kilometers, 15 States, 8 Provinces, 3 rear tires, 1 oil leak, and countless memories.

After 5000k on the second rear tire it was worn out.  I had a new tire installed in Bozeman MT and made it to Waterton at 1:00AM Friday. A long day that included Yellowstone Park and Old Faithful.

Originally I thought the cabin would not be available but to my surprise my Mom and sister and family were there and I had a couple of days to wind down a bit. Ian rode down Friday to meet me and on Sunday we made the final leg of my journey through the Rockies together. A wonderful way to end to end the adventure.

Thanks to all who watched my travels. I loved all your comments.

and now to plan the next one.....

On the road tomorrow

Hey Dave!

See you in Waterton! I'm taking the scenic route: Jasper to Banff on 93 then off to Bragg Creek, Pincher and into Waterton. See you soon!

Johnny

The Black Hills and Wyoming

Another fantastic day as I rode through the Black Hills of South Dakota and across Wyoming. Black Hills National Forest has some amazing roads and scenery including Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.


Mount Rushmore seems to be unreal. Its unimaginable that somebody sculpted it.







Wyoming is wonderful, similar to Alberta's badlands in many areas. At one point I rode over a pass at 9600 feet and I thought it might snow.
Stopped for the night in Greybull at the Antler Motel.

South Dakota

Spent the whole day crossing South Dakota and what a great day. A wonderful ride for the most part with fantastic roads (most straight as an arrow but smooth). Again I tried to stay on secondary roads some of which were flooded and required detours. As I neared Rapid City I realized gas may be a problem and I was riding across a large reservation with little population. I found Enblee, a small community that had gas and not much more. A large storm was brewing to the west and I was headed right into it. Chickened out and turned around but I'm glad I did. It was a doozy.

Corn, corn, and more corn

The last two days have been more about putting on miles than sightseeing but there has been some great scenery. I’ve been trying to take secondary highways which take me through some small towns and cities. These routes are full of stop signs and traffic lights so it can be slow going but much more interesting than the freeways. I thought the canola fields of the prairies were vast but the corn fields in southern Ontario and all across Michigan, Illinois and Iowa are amazing.

Saturday night I rode quite late and found a lousy hotel in Windsor that was likely available by the hour if needed. I slept with my clothes on and was on the road very early. I found my way through Windsor and crossed the Ambassador Bridge into Detroit and used the freeways to get going west. By the time I got to Chicago it was 92F and the traffic was horrible, It took me three hours to navigate through Chicago. Finally stopped just outside of Oregon Illinois for the night.

A great day Monday with some good early morning riding along the Mississippi in the palisades. Nice curvey roads until Iowa where the roads became long and straight but the endless cornfields are beautiful. My nose dectected a great many hog farms along the way too. Sioux Center tonight and off to Rapid City South Dakota tomorrow. Should be fun they next few days because Sturgis is this weekend and there should be plenty of bikes around.

Back in Action

Got the leak fixed by 10:30am. It was the drive shaft seal. They noticed the rear brake pads were done but had no stock so I rode to Quebec in search of brakes and a tire. Found a shop that had a decent tire and ebc pads, and was off again by 3. I managed to ride 650km and almost made up my lost time. I'm stopped over just west of Montreal.

Minor mechanical delay

The bike has developed an oil leak that needs attention so I'm spending the night in Edmundston N.B. so I can get it looked at tomorrow at the Suzuki shop in town. I've already been there and they think they know what it is so hopefully it will be quick, easy and cheap to fix.

The ride to here included torrential rain and gusty wind mixed with sunshine. Riding across the Confederation Bridge was quite an experience with the wind. I needed to catch up a bit so I rode the Trans Canada most of the day.

I plan on getting to Montreal tomorrow if the bike is fixed