July 19

The dead president's dinner was fun.  However, I drove up without my leather jacket.  Thought it would be too showy.  This was error.  I paid by freezing on the 1 1/2 hour drive back to Moscow as it got down to 54.

And speaking of temps, I left early this morning for the 325 miles or so back home because I did not want to deal with the heat more than I had to.  Still, I experienced a 49 degree temperature swing.  At that I escaped the absolute worst.  It was 99 when I got home, rising later to 106.

And speaking of getting home . . . .  Pat was following my progress, NSA-like, using the GPS in my phone.  She was waiting for me as I came down the drive, and took these.  Note the garbage cans that were there when I left are now gone.  I do not know if this is significant.

Over 9000 miles total.  Thanks very much to all who took me in and, in some cases, healed me up.  It was even more wonderful too see people again and catch up than it was to see all the things I saw.

Kat and Kyle came over for dinner.  I got some belated Father's Day books to as we had our steak dinner with Kat garden salad and Kat garden zucchini stuffed with tomato, sausage and other goodness.  Time flew and it was after 10 before we knew it.  So I kicked them out.

A reflection or two.  First, the time when I could ride 800 and 900 mile days as a matter of routine are the stuff of myth for me now.  I know I did it; I have no idea how.  Second, if the folks I ran into on this trip - and I am speaking of strangers now - are representative of the U.S. and Canada, then we are in pretty decent shape.  I didn't run into a single actual jerk during the whole trip, but I did meet a good many nice, helpful people.  Third, how is it that I am blessed with so many good friends?  It is an astonishment and a mystery for which I am very grateful.  And lastly . . . 

Mark Twain said that the two most important days in a man's life are the day he's born and the day he figures out why.  If there is a single answer to the second question, I don't know it and I've been pondering this for better than 50 years.  I have partial answers.  One of them is my love for my wife and daughter.  Still, a sceptic might say that love is just a feature of evolutionary biology designed to maximize the chances of passing one's genetic material to the next generation.  After all, if you love someone, you take better care of them.  Love almost surely is an evolutionary advantage, but it is also almost surely more.  Consider the bond between a young child and a puppy.  That is love, pure and unconditional, but it is difficult to see what evolutionary advantage interspecies love confers.  I think love is an answer, and I do not believe it is reducible to mere biology.

I have another partial answer.  When I was in Ontario, heading west, I stopped for breakfast just after another rider, heading east.  By the time I got off the bike and got inside, he was already seated.  A tall, lean man wearing leather chaps and jacket.  I sat at an adjoining table and ordered.  We didn't speak, but simply nodded to one another when he got up to leave.  On the back of his jacket were the words,

                                     IT'S NOT THE DESTINATION, IT'S THE RIDE

Have a good ride, my friends.  You get only one.

                                                                  FIN

                                                                

July 18

Slept late.  Dale was making breakfast when I got up.  Life is still pretty fine.

Did a final repack because tomorrow I head for home.  Before that, however, I have dinner to attend in Coeur d' Alene, so I will head north this afternoon.  Every year, in conjunction with the annual bar meeting, the past commissioners of the Idaho bar get together for dinner.  There are five commissioners, elected for three year terms, and the presidency of the bar rotates among them.  No one really wants to be president because the only thing the president does that the other commissioners do not do is write a monthly column for the bar magazine.  Anyway, the dinner is the Past President's Dinner.  All the past presidents call it the Dead President's Dinner.  I planned to attend from the very beginning of this trip because it is always a very good time.  We tend to be an irreverent bunch.  Strongly tend.

At a friend's suggestion, Dale and walked downtown to Wheatberries where I had the recommended pecan pastry.  The sugar in that thing will sure tide me over until dinner.

Now I just have to clean up, change into my formal jeans and wrinkled blue work shirt, and hit the road.  Then come back to Moscow for the night.

An early start tomorrow, I think.  I estimate 320 miles, Moscow to home.

July 17

Left Nelson about 7:30 so as to get to the border early.  It's only about 40 miles away, but  I didn't know how busy it might be and wanted to allow myself some time.  The crossing I picked is not on a major route, but it is on a fun to drive one.  Partly cloudy, temps in the 60s, curvy two lane road, and a border crossing where only one car was in front of me and it was about to move on.  My check took only a few minutes, and through I went.  Picked up a Washington scenic highway and headed off to Spokane, looking for a place to grab breakfast.

There were a few places I refused to stop.  One said, "Restaurant - Grub and More."  What's that mean?  Grubs and slugs?  A few miles down the road was a sign that said "Rest & Rant."  I don't know what was on offer, food or mental health services.  As I kept looking, I saw a turkey family cross the road single file, dad, six or seven chicks, and mom.  Very cute.  Kept looking for a restaurant because the handful of nuts and berries from the night before was a rapidly fading shadow of a memory.  Passed through several small towns that couldn't support a restaurant and some that could but did't seem to meet my high standards.  For example, a low probability of food poisoning.  Drew closer to Spokane.  Here were restaurants, but on the other side of the widening road.  Picky.

Saw more turkeys.

Got into Spokane, but did not want to park the bike in busy lots or on the street.  Drove down to Pullman, but as I was headed for friends in Moscow, didn't stop there.  Finally made to Deb and Dale's house, which I'd not seen before.  Dale and I went into town where I had an omelet.  22 hours after my last meal, if you don't count the nuts and berries.  Surprisingly, I was hungry, but not too hungry.

Deb and Pat go back many years when Deb was an attorney for Micron and Pat handled employment law cases for the company.  Deb and Dale are both very outdoorsy people, hiking and camping and boating and skiing.  They each left their respective jobs, Dale was with HP, and moved to McCall where they built a beautiful big house on the river south of town.  It's on the market now because Deb took a position with the U of I, hence their house in Moscow.  By the way, they have a cute little place in Boise on the market, too.  Contact me for details.

Dale and I sat around Talking for a bit, I took a little nap, then Deb got home and they fed me grilled salmon, potato, mushrooms and veggies.  And a wee bit of wine.  Then after chatting a bit more, I went to bed.

Life is good.

July 16

Wonderful day, eh?  Warm, not a cloud in the sky.  I backtracked through Revelstoke National Park and part of Glacier.  I was looking for the road to Meadow in the Sky and I couldn't remember where I'd seen it.  After about 40 or so miles of backtrack, I turned around.  Just as I was about to enter the town of Revelstoke, there was the turnoff.  So I went about 14 miles up Mt. Revelstoke on this neat little road with "Watch for Amphibians" signs on it.  Seems as though the lower reaches of the forest comprise what I've seen billed as the world's only inland temperate rain forest.  Don't quite know what that entails.  I suspect very finicky definitions.  This was not today's only great sign.  I saw a warning sign for mountain goats to add to the elk, deer, moose, big horn sheep and bears.  Say, if these guys all mix together could this be the reason for the rural crime watch areas?

Anyway, after dancing along my backtrack route, I danced up this wonderful little road to the top of Mt Revelstoke where the were horse and deer flies in abundance, I might add.  Here are some of the promised pictures.

The old fire lookout at the very tippymost top of Mt. Revelstoke.

Snow just below the tippriest topmost point.

The valley below the mountain wherein lies the town.

And for good measure.

Ate a good lunch after the flower- filled meadows in the sky and headed south.  Got to get ready to head back south of the border, as the Canadians say.  Came to a screeching halt when the road stopped at a reservoir.  Seems a huge hydro project flooded a long stretch of valley some decades ago.  Now you have to take a ferry across.  So I waited for the ferry and struck up a conversation with a young Canadian motorcyclist from Revelstoke who was just out for the day.  We pointed me toward the town of Nelson which is where I am now.  After we got on the ferry, we struck up a conversation with a third bike guy.  Talked biking and skiing and roads all the way across.  The dam forming this reservoir is across the Columbia, by the way.

We were the first ones off the ferry and these guys just blasted so I figured I could turn it up a notch myself.  Had a wonderfully exhilarating ride full of ups and downs and twisties for maybe 100 miles.  The Canadian guys said that people come from all over to bike through southern B.C.  And I didn't even take the road they suggested.  My twisties to Nelson were on a more direct route.

An outstanding day.  I have no idea how many miles I did.  Finished off the last few handfuls of Pat's nuts and berries, feeling, for the last time this trip, as one with the Great Bear.  Moscow, Idaho tomorrow.

July 15

Rained last night and was chilly this morning so I stuck around the motel until just before 11.  Washed some of the larger insect carcasses off the bike while I waited.  Once again, had to dress for the chill.  I understand some of you reading this may have forgotten what is this thing called 'chill'.  You do, however, know what 'warm' is.  'Chill' is combatted by adding more clothing so as to preserve the 'warm.'  You may recollect all this come, say, December.  Speaking of chill, it snowed last night on the mountain peaks.  Saw it with my own personal eyes.

Drove to Yoho National Park.  Another spectacular drive through narrow valleys surrounded by steep mountains, this time with the added drama of mist and swirling clouds.  And intermittent rain, unfortunately.  Not enough to get very wet, but enough to make me worry that I might get very wet.  When I entered Yoho, I tried to be a good guy and buy my pass.  The gate at the park entrance was closed.  Go to the visitor center, said the sign.  Never saw that before I reached the turnoff for Emerald Lake, which was where I wanted to go.  Got to the Lake and it was not raining.  Got off the bike and it began.  Took a few pictures with the phone (that still sounds weird to me) and decided to head back to Golden where the weather report called for clearing skies.  Here are my poor efforts, taken in the rain while trying to keep the phone dry.

I was looking forward to having something hot to drink in the lodge, but discretion, valor, etc..

It grew clearer as I headed back to Golden.  Stopped, had lunch, gassed up and headed to Revelstoke which is where I am now.  Rained on me a bit getting here, but the main thing is I passed through two more national parks, Glacier and Revelstoke.  Three parks for the day, bringing the number for this trip to six.  (Lifetime total, eight.)  This area is as rich in scenic wonder as southern Utah/ northern Arizona.  Of course, it is a very different kind.

Supposed to be warm and clear tomorrow so I think I will ride about taking pictures.

PS again.  Another PS.  I am always forgetting things.  (One reason is I am deep down tired despite staying with friends and not pushing too hard.  It is the gravity of age.  Rats.)  Anyway, another PS.  I lost my second set of Tupelo earplugs today.  Located a hardware store, though, so I now have Revelstoke earplugs.  And a dashing shade of orange they are, too.  Just want to bring everyone up to date on the important things.

July 14

So, today I left Calgary.  Really.  It was nippy again, with severe thunderstorms expected in Calgary in the afternoon.  Helen had a golf game starting at 9:35, so we wanted to be gone by 8:30ish.  I dressed as I did yesterday except for the leather pants.  I'm not real bendy with those things on and because I was carrying my gear over the rear saddlebags, I knew getting on the seat with a bendiness deficit would be tricky.  Still, it was mid to upper 50s so I thought I'd be OK.  And I was until just outside Calgary where I ran into a cloud that was right down on the deck.  Temperature fell to 50 instantly.  I was thinking shades of yesterday, but it cleared up in about 15 miles.  Went through Banff to the Kootenay Park turn and headed through new territory.  A short way in, I left Banff and Alberta at the continental divide and entered Kootenay and British Columbia.  A picture, shot blind because I was facing the sun and couldn't see the screen.

The road went downhill for better than 60 miles, wonderful scenery all the way.  A river flowing next to the road and mountains on both sides.  A picture showing Why I Ride.

Another picture, taken in Banff on the way to Lake Moraine, showing the same thing.

After driving through Kootenay, I arrived in the town of Radium Hot Springs.  The temp had risen to 70, I was a bit hungry, and you can't just drive right through a town called Radium Hot Springs.  So I stopped just after noon and am very happy to report that omelets are not a lost cause in Canada.  Had an excellent one with spinach and goat cheese and ham and other yumminesses.  (Boy, did spell check not like that word.)

After bidding farewell to the town - Radium Hot Springs, we hardly knew ye - I proceeded north along the western side of the mountains that form the National Parks.  Another gorgeous valley.  This road had more signs.  Now, I've seen the signs warning of masses of mooses, a few warning of elk, and more telling you to watch for deer.  But just outside town, I saw a warning sign with a big horn sheep on it.  A bit farther on, I saw one warning of bears.  Now, by any test, these are cool signs.  Groovy, even.

I am stopped in the town of Golden.  Tomorrow I will go to the fourth of the contiguous parks, Yoho.  It is, I am told, about an hour and one half from here.  There, Helen says I must see Emerald Lake and have something nice in the Emerald Lake Lodge.  Sigh.  There is just no rest.

Today I passed the 8000 mile mark.  I believe I seriously underestimated my trip mileage.

OK - weirdness I forgot.  A few days ago I walked up to a viewpoint overlooking Lake Moraine.  Quite a few people, as you might expect at so lovely a place at peak season.  But I did not hear one word of English during the entire walk.  I heard Hindi.  I heard French (once).  And I heard - remember I said German was so common in Arches National Park?  Well, here it was Chinese.  And not one time on the walk did I hear English.  Now if I was a left winger, I'd say this was either the global economy or global warming.  Oops.  Climate change.  There hasn't been any global warming for the past 16 years.

(And before I get all kinds of comments, yes, I do believe the earth is warming, and no, I don't believe the global warming models are worth a damn.  To my knowledge, none of them predicted an increase in greenhouse gases coupled with an absence of warming.  "Oh, but 16 years is too short a time."  I repeat, none of the models predicted an increase in greenhouse gases coupled with an absence of warming.  If the model can't predict, the model is crap.  I, The Carl, have spoken.)

July 13

I was going to leave Calgary today, but it rained quite a bit in the morning, so Helen suggested I again leave my gear at her house, zip off for a day trip, and return.  She had a golf tournament, and suggested I drop by for the tournament dinner on my way back.  Fortunately for the golfers, the sun came out and things dried out.  It was still a bit chilly, so I suited up as I hadn't done since early in the trip.  Long underwear, jeans and work shirt, and full leathers, with insulated gloves.  I looked like I was auditioning for "Lads in Leather - Pudgy Edition."

Drove off to the parks for the second time.  It is about 1 1/2 hours from Calgary, if I failed to mention it before.  Overcast and at times down to 50 degrees.  I finally not only wore my scarf around my neck and spread out over my chest, I flattened out my ski hat and wore it under the leather jacket just below the scarf.  Helped a lot, but still cold.

I drove through Banff National Park again until the turn north to go through Jasper National Park.  Took no pictures with my real camera because the light was so flat.  Here are two I took with my phone.

See what I mean by flat light?

For this one, the sun came out just a bit.

Given the weather - always threatening rain - and the temps, I did not go all the way to the town of Jasper at the north end of the park.  Did travel through a good deal of it though.  The road runs through a fairly narrow valley with mountain after mountain on both sides of the road, on and on and on.

At one point, there was a lodge by a lake.  I stopped to get something hot to drink.  Getting back out, I had to negotiate a small space because a car parked next to me.  I dropped the bike doing 0 mph.  Bad words escaped my lips.  In my defense, I will say I thought many more bad words than I actually uttered, but still.  A fine gentleman walking by helped me get it right back up, but rats!  I'd gone through the whole trip without this happening.

After 50 or so miles up the valley, I turned around and headed back to Calgary.  I was so cold - the guys on bicycles were wearing face masks - and tired that I did not stop at Helen's country club for dinner.  Good thing, too, because as it turned out, I was early and she was late.  I did text her to say I wasn't coming, but I sent the text to her home phone, not her cell.  Way to go, Luddite.

Tomorrow I really leave Calgary and will go through a third park, Kootenay.

PS. Saw a bear today.