Canada to Argentina 2010

Hey Pat, thanks for the interest.
Cheers

Yes, the lady left. The police wouldn't show up b/c no airbags got deployed and no serious injuries happened. Although the bike was not drivable so in theory the police should have been there. Anyway, the lady will be charged for 'leaving the scene'... and her insurance is covering ALL damages to the bike and riding gear.

New posts and picture are up! check them out

Darryll, good to know brother. See you 'en el sur'
Safe travels.

Yeah I know.... I couldn't believe my eyes when the accident took place.... it is a very strange feeling seeing the whole thing developing.

I was telling ac_elite about the lady, insurance and RCMP.

thanks for your support GR8ADV

[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]Departure day #2[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif][/FONT] ​

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I woke to the sound of drilling this morning. My dad was in the garage mending his bike. He was successful and we made plans to leave today. Once again we said goodbye to everyone, though this time it was a little anticlimactic; we didn't even bother with pictures. [/FONT]

Before repairs


After repairs & ready to go!


Some more repairs

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Off we went to the 11:50am ferry from Fulford with Nikki, who was heading back home to Victoria. Success we arrived in Swartz Bay, AND we made it past the beginning of Lane 3. Hurray! The ferry was late so we passed the time adjusting our suspension settings.

Second try @ the ferry terminal


Last minute repairs on the ferry

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The weather was getting progressively worse as we approached the mainland. I put my waterproof liners in but Alberto assured my dad that it was only going to spit so they didn't. Before getting back on the highway in Abbotsford they both suited up, and it proceeded to pour down.

It was darker than normal because of the cloud cover so we picked up gas and groceries in Hope with the plan of staying in Manning Park for the night. We camped at the first campground available (just before the resort) and had a gourmet dinner in darkness, sheltered under some tree cover.

Camping for the night. Not another camper in sight.
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La Gringa looking for rain cover under a tree


Supper time = happy time

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</td></tr></tbody></table>Learning of the day? A pelican case can also be used as a bear catch

[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif](Writing by Naomi)

This morning I woke up to discover that we had set-up the tent in the worst possible location on the campsite. We were in a puddle. The tent was soaked through the bottom and so was my sleeping pad. Okay, we'll pay more attention next time. So everything was soaked when we packed up the camping gear.

We didn't get rained on today, and after we left Manning Park the sun was shining pretty much all day. It was even hot in Princeton and Osoyoos. We stopped for lunch just outside of Princeton at a nice day use area by the river. I think Graham is starting to like peanut butter. [/FONT]

Lunch: protein, fruit & nuts
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Lunch break

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Mr. Bump eating up

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</td></tr> </tbody></table>Some minivan tried to run me over in Osoyoos, but since my dad's incident I'm even more on alert around traffic so I managed to avoid him. The drive was nice. HWY is being resurfaced so there is some really good bike riding to be had.

By the time we arrived in Castlegar we were hoping to make camp. It was still early but we had lots of camping gear to dry out. We bought some supplies for dinner and went on the hunt for somewhere to camp. We checked out a campground/RV park in Castlegar and they wanted 33$ for us and our tents. No thank you. We continued on. We stopped at another RV/Motel camping spot west of Salmo on HWY 3. $20 a tent you say?!?! For a field?!?! No thank you. We drove into Salmo and found a perfect camping spot in town ( a Municipal campground of sorts: KP Park). It was under 20$, and had everything we needed; sold! We even met a really nice person, Mateo, who gave us advice on places to see in Mexico and Central America plus he gave us some dessert. The dessert container also was substituted as a strainer for our pasta so that was a double bonus!

yum yum, dinner​

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Camping in Salmo, BC

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(Writing by Naomi)

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Dragonfly Cafe in Salmo, sponsored by Graham. Our friend Mateo tracked us down there having breakfast. He invited us to speak to his alternative high school class. Once we had packed up the bikes we stopped by the HUB. Unfortunately there was only one student there, but we had a nice chat and they wished us on our way.

After a quick gas stop we were on our way. I had launched a pre-emptive strike against the cold from the Salmo-Creston summit by wearing my heated vest. It was about 15 degrees on the way up, and then it dropped 10 degrees drastically in the last 5min of the climb. Plus the fog/mist that was waiting for us at the top was a nuisance. Unfortunately once we started our decent we never regained full starting temperature. I kept my vest and heated grips at max for the rest of the day.

It was very windy in Creston. This was the first time for me riding such an upright bike in strong wind. It felt like I was piloting a sail. A tiny preview to whats to come in Patagonia I'm sure. The wind/cold continued until we crossed into the US at Roosville. Dad looked sufficiently chilled while we were waiting at the border for Alberto to do his thing inside. We said goodbye to BC, which according to VANOC is the best place on earth.

Saying goodbye to BC for a while

Beautiful BC


Near Fernie, BC


Hasta la vista Canada!


Immigration Officer: "Peruvian Passport... step into the office Sr."


​

We successfully navigated our first BigDog waypoint (we have BigDog's waypoints for doing the CDT). Yay, this part of our trip has finally begun. We found a nice little campsite just outside of Eureka to stay at for the night and tomorrow, we've been told, the sun may be out. We were also told, by the same local, that tonight there are freeze warnings out so I guess you win some you loose some.

US of A


Camping near Eureka


Creek next our campsite


Planning on the fly


Blogging up


Blog and ADV RR's update


Warming up by the fire


Los colores de la noche


​

[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]I can't believe that when we set off this morning I wanted to wear my summer gloves and no heated vest. I opted for my winter gloves because they are waterproof and it was raining, but I said no to the heated vest because it's a little bulky. How I regretted that choice. We started climbing into the mountains and my temperature gauge started flashing at me when it read 3 degrees. I figured my bike was trying to warn me of ice, or maybe it was just trying to tell me that people don't ride their bikes at this temperature. The lowest temperature displayed was 0.5 degrees, which was accompanied by snow at the edge of the trail. After a little while I had no choice but to stop, unpack my vest, and regain normal body temperature. We did see a bear before reintegrating into civilization at Whitefish, and some great scenery. Worth the frozen thumbs and toes? Yeah probably.

[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif] It was a wet day in the mountains[/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif] The start of the CDT[/FONT]


[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]First snow of the trip[/FONT]


The temperature gauge was flashing non-stop


Nice views

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</td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was a nippy day


Are we lost already?


Hola!


Naomi and dad :)


Riding in Montana





Nomi





The water wasn't warm ..haha

The GoPro is a cool little camera

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We stopped for lunch at the Safeway, where apparently fast food is a foreign concept. The rain had finally subsided when we were leaving Whitefish. We even saw blue sky in the distance. After zigzagging across the countryside Tomtom led us astray and we ended up at a dead end; not what we needed when we were running low on gas. Alberto also won the prize at this dead end for first bike down. We did get to see another bear and several bow hunters for our troubles on the detour. We got back on track and arrived at a campsite with 1km left in my tank. Alberto's bike was noticeably dirtier than the other 2. Where did he go... through every single puddle he saw. One wrong turn from Tomtom? Not bad for a day in the wilderness.

Safeway lunch stop


Looking for the next CDT waypoint


Montana farmlands





The spot where I saw a black bear


The mysterious road had some nice views


El panorama








It was getting dark


The views:


Nap time!

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</td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phew, just made it! Well to a campsite anyways...


Night time reading

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It appeared that our campground for the evening was in a bit of a swamp so there was a lot of moisture when we woke up. The plan of attack for the morning: get on Hwy 83 and find a gas station. Once again fill with gas, we picked up the CDT. The first trail of the day was fun and snaked through the forest. Our first day of sunshine let us appreciate some Montana scenery (mountains and ranchland). Bonus.


Woke up in fog


Montana's peaks


Zoomed-in


Change in scenery


Old barn


The flat road


Looking good


Graham

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</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey dad, you could start in your own tv show... long way home?


Say cheese!


Nomi
</td></tr> </tbody></table>[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]
By mid day we ended up on a stretch of road that had huge ruts and deep puddles. Alberto went down and I subsequently also went down. Both our right side pelican cases were the victims of the crashes. Mine fairing worse than Alberto's because my lock clean broke off and was somewhere in the muddy puddle. Dad to the rescue... he got dirty with me as we searched through the puddle. In light of the circumstances we took a break for lunch and tried to repair the cases. Alberto managed to bang his back to a useable state but mine had to be repaired with zapstraps. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]It is no longer [/FONT]easily removed for now.

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</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Searching for the missing parts.


Down to earth


Couldn't make it through


We both fell at the same time

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</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fixed up and ready to go.


Missing a case... and traction
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[/FONT]We were making slow progress so we booted down the highway en route to Helena. Hwy 12 was actually a lot of fun. The section we drove had a nice twisty summit then back onto the dirt before entering Helena. It was a little bit bizarre heading off into Helena National Forrest and then seeing that the land was parceled off and there were driveways everywhere. There was a nasty section of gravel (Alberto thought it was fun, I thought it was nasty) before we came out the other side. I could have done without that but I did pull off an amazing save when I lost tracking in the deep gravel. How I did it I'm not sure, and I don't really want to go back to find out.

Dad was starting to go through withdrawals so once we came back out of the forest as Basin we b-lined it to Butte and found a nice motel for the night. He had been on the wagon for 4 DAYS, with no dessert as well. How does one get by.


Souvenir from the fall


Just a bit messy


Mi novia


Panier-less


Might as well have some food


Mr. Bump missing home ..haha


surrounded by 100s of farms


Fairly straight rd


Wet feet from falling in the mud


Helena National Forest viewpoint


Back on dirt


Change of plans, let's go to Butte!


Near Butte


@ Eddie's Motel in Butte

[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]This morning we decided to stray from the CDT route. We were making bad time (I'm slow on dirt) and we thought it might be fun to check out Yellowstone Park (since none of us had been there before). So off we cruised down I15 and then onto HWY 43. We took this amazing road down to HWY 278. My map doesn't show the name of the road but the whole time I was day dreaming about coming back on my other bike. The only caveat is you need to watch out for the wild cows. Oh and lookout for the signs telling you to turn left for the Ghost town. It wasn't so much of a ghost town as it was a ghost house. A huge letdown. So it was an amazing start to the morning. We then broke free from the TomTom itinerary and went east to Dillon for lunch.
[/FONT]
<table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the amazing mystery road


Checking that the tyres are OK


Nice landscapes


Interesting road surface

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</td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was like playground gravel! For a roadside turnout.


The only house left @ the Ghost Town


Still in Montana


Derecho, muy derecho

</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]After a bite to eat at the local burger joint (Dairy Queen) we traveled east on some other mystery road. We inquired with the local forest ranger and she said we would know in the first 5 miles if the road was fit for vehicle travel. Luckily it was and it was one of the nicest roads (for scenery) we'd been on since entering Montana. After a while we stopped to check a map because we thought we should have hit HWY 287 by now. Good thing we checked. We had missed a turn 8km back. So after a bit of back tracking we were back on track. Oh boy, were we back on track. The road we needed to take to get back on the highway was seriously rutted. Thank goodness it was not wet otherwise we would have been camping there. We did eventually make it back to tarmac and a campground. Yay I survived, and I didn't drop my bike (looks in Alberto's direction).

[/FONT]<table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;">[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]
Lunch break @ DQs


Good old USA flag shot


The start of the mystery road


See them?


Nomi


The views


More views
[/FONT]</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">
</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">
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</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to figure out the fastest way to the HWY and therefore dinner


From the saddle


Graham


The only ones on the road for miles


Amazing eh?


Riding in MT


Cool rock formation


I should be called 'Claudio' .. haha


Nomes and Graham


Playing with composition


Nothing around but abandoned farms


Remote location on a 'misteriosa' road
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Yellowstone National Park, WY


Dude don't get too close


Hot springs


Not the most comfortable gear to wear for a hike


It was hard coming back up!


But the view was worth the effort


Kind of scary being on a bike with those beasts around

</td></tr> </tbody></table>[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]It was a very cold night. I thought we were heading south to the warmth?? I guess we shouldn't have followed the great divide. We entered Yellowstone National Park, and also Wyoming. Byebye Montana. I shall miss you. I don't know what I was expecting or why but for some reason I thought Yellowstone would look like Kananaskis. It didn't. It was some hillsides and burnt forest. But all was not lost I did see, for the first time, a Bison in the wild. They are pretty big and one crossed the road right in front of Alberto. We also saw some geysers and a pretty amazing waterfall. All in all it was worth the trip but I'm in no rush to go back. [/FONT]

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</td></tr> </tbody></table>[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]So south we headed out of Yellowstone, through Teton, and onto Jackson, WY. Jackson was like Fernie on steroids. It kind of freaked me out a little bit and it was a bit of a chore to find a grocery store. All the shops are camouflaged in an alpine theme so you can't tell whats what. Dad picked up some beer, I guess he's off the wagon again, and we found some groceries. We traveled south-east on HWY 191 and found a nice little campground in Teton national forest. You know, sometimes I feel like I'm in that Civic Nation commercial, only instead of civics it's GSs. It Seems like all the bikers we pass, or at least 75%, are riding a GS. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,sans-serif]
[/FONT]<table class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying the view in Teton NP


The Nazca Line's monkey keeps la Gringa company


Cool mts.


From the saddle


The views are truly amazing


Nice road to ride because of the mountain peaks


Camping time


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Cool trip, have fun

This I gotta follow. Best of luck guys, ride safe!

Waking up at the Hoback campground was a nice big slap in the face thanks to the ice cold breeze. It was hard to pull out the tent pegs with bare hands the metal was so cold. So off we headed south; if we keep going south it's bound to get warm right? On the road my temperature gauge was flashing at me again. It was kind of bad-ass the first time, but now, the fifth time, the novelty has worn off. Power to the max Scotty (vest and grips).

We re-routed off the HWY to the town of Big Sandy. This was in hopes that we would catch up with the CDT. Turns out Big Sandy looks more like a town on the map rather than in real life. TomTom did lead us to the CDT but it was a very sandy track and I wasn't into it. I'm hoping to at least make it to Mexico with myself and my bike in one piece. So we continued on the dirt road to another HWY. Boy did it ever feel like we were in the middle of nowhere. This area of Wyoming is very desolate.

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</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alberto enjoying the sand


Graham noticing more damage from the crash in Canada


Following the CDT ...or trying to :huh


Alberto exploring new trails = we were lost again


Remotus Locatione


Nomi and her dad


There's a storm coming


Riding in Wyoming?


Cool place to stop for a pic


Adventure riding at its best


They come and go, I just take pictures
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Upon re-entering civilization we stopped for lunch in Farson. As we were eating lunch we could see the sky turning nasty. By the time we had finished lunch the rain had started and it was blowing a gale. I could barely keep my bike standing at a stop. We wobbled south down the highway to Rock Springs seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We made some comfort stops once arrived in rock Springs (Walmart and Starbucks) and then to the only campground in the area for the night... a KOA. I usually hate on KOA's cause they cost so much and it feels like passing through a time warp. This one was actually REALLY busy, very clean and more or less modern. This was the first place we've stayed where there have been more than 2 other people, but not surprisingly again we were the only ones in tents. I guess Rock Springs is a big stopping point for RV's heading South? Thankfully dad went on ahead, leaving us at Starbucks, to suss the camping and set up our tent. As we were arriving the sky opened up and it poured rain for about an hour. We were a sad sight huddling under the tarp eating our dinner, when our next door neighbours were watching cable on their flat screen.

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The wind picked up and one knew the storm was coming


Do you hear, do you hear the thunder?
you better run, you better take cover - By Man @ Work


Good old Walmart for groceries


</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our KOA campsite. We were the only ones in the tent section.


My charging station is set
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Somehow we managed to enter Wyoming 3 times today. We had spied this interesting looking road on the map heading eastward, back towards the CDT. So the plan was to take HWY 430 and then HWY 4 to Baggs and we would be back in business. No problem, we found 430 fine and then the road turned to gravel, we entered Colorado and there was a pile of industrial traffic. TomTom said we were on 10. How did that happen? Where did 4 go? So we back tracked a few kms to find &#8220;4&#8221;. There were no signs, and it was an unpaved oil field access road despite the map indicating that it was paved. No problem, off we went. I guess we got lucky because today they were applying a dust suppressant (MgCl2). Yeah that was fun to get all over the bikes. The road did eventually turn into a paved road, and we made it to Baggs.

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</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trying to figure out where we went wrong


Just drive straight son


You can see that the nasty stuff starts were Nomi and Graham are


I can see them, you?


One of the very few vehicles we saw in the area


The road from the distance


What a day it was :)


Days of sun and dirt on two wheels
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</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The carnage after the dust suppressant


Yikes


We need to wash this stuff off!


Trying to wash off the MgCl2


With clean-er bikes now
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First order of business in Baggs: get gas. Second order of business: find a car wash. We did find a car wash, that ate Dad's money, but one of the wash bays worked. We gave them a high pressured wash down, hopefully that will mitigate the coating of MgCl2 they got. We'll see how that one turns out. We also had lunch in Baggs at El Rio. Yum yum, authentic mexican food. If you find yourself in Baggs, it's the best spot in town.... it also may be the only spot in town.
Colorado... Big Agnes is behind there somewhere

We were back on the CDT. The section of road that goes towards Steamboat Springs was very popular. We saw 7 other bikers. I enjoyed the road very much. Lots of beautiful scenery, and some amazing houses. We decided to stop for the night at Steamboat Lake, where we are currently enjoying the sunshine.

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This dog was super friendly. It would say hello to every vehicle one at a time


Boy! what a small casa...


Camping time


The sun goes down after a long day


Crepusculo


The falling sun sets the mountains on fire


</td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We stopped so early we could enjoy a campfire; Luxury!


It's the moon's turn to shine


Graham making sure we get a good flame


Moon in Colorado, amazing


Bed time :)
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I'm glad to see you're keeping high spirits after that close call on day1... Gotta move on. I'm enjoying the report. Thanks for sharing!
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Nice to meet you on the (wrong) trail yesterday!

Subscribed . I took a demo ride on a F800GS and thought it might be a little tall for me off road. Looks like Alberto is in the same boat as I am.

Traffic jam on the babyheads:

i noticed on your "spot" tracker thing that you're getting down here near phoenix. don't forget to drink lots of water! 105 degrees and sunny every day for the foreseeable future.