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Jim and Kermit's Big Adventure (well, big to us)

jimvonbaden

Kool Aid Dispenser!
Just a few hours before we go, and boy do I need a vacation!!!!

Here is a map of out possible route:

Summer-Ride-Map-web.jpg


I say "possible" because it might be that we decide to venture off in other directions based on whim and weather, time and just how much fun we are having!

Thanks for all the well wishes!:thumb

Jim :brow
 
you'll never make it, not enough farkles :brow

have fun man!
 
Not a bad second day considering we got slammed with seriously hard rain for the first few hours out of Indianapolis. Otherwise the weather was not bad, and we made great time.

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Here is a shot of the clouds just before they opened up for the second time!

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Along the way a speedo/GPS shot.

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How I felt after dinner tonight.

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Cool shot of Kermit behind us.


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For Tina, Peoria, IL


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Cool IL rest stop.


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A gas break in Iowa, cool dirt track cars. Reminded me of when I was a kid.


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Awesome windmills! Speaking of wind, we had such a headwind that our gas milesage went from 43 to 33 for this leg of the trip.


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The end of day two in Worthington, MN. 708 miles felt much better than the previous 625! Maybe we are getting numb.

More tomorrow from Sturgis, SD.

Jim :brow
 
Day Three: Long, long, lonely roads.

From Worthington, MN to Sturgis, SD 518 miles, with lots of stopping, and a total of 1849 miles in three days.

The following are some shots of the day. The first is the general view of the road for most of the ride.
long-road.jpg


And what was apparently the main crop!
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At breakfast we came across this cool rig. How can you go wrong with Jack Daniels?
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At lunch we stopped to take a look at the Corn Palace. There was advertising for nearly 300 miles for this place:
corn-palace.jpg

We decided not to go in.


Another icon was Wall Drugs, similarly billboard advertised for many miles, it looked like it was worth stopping.
Wall.jpg


Imagine our surprise when we were parking and Paul Mihalka pulls up! Needless to say we had lunch with him. He was coming back towards DC from the BMWST UnRally.
paul-m.jpg


In front of Wall Drugs, yes there was a tiny drug store in there, we saw Tina, or what looked like her bike.
Wall-ST.jpg




Off to the badlands near Rushmore. Very cool looking.

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A little further on we came to Mt. Rushmore. Damn $20 parking, plus entry fee and we decided to just take a few shots by the road.

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After Rushmore we went to the Crazy Horse monument. $5 each to get in, and very cool!
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The finished schupture compared to present completion.

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The man responsible for the concept was Sculpture Korczak Ziolkowski, who was a very accomplished talent. One of his schulptures.
sculpture.jpg


Another shot of the ride, though not nearly as dull as I make it out.
speedo.jpg


...continued
 
In all, about 1000 bugs killed, 520 miles done, and bonding with a friend accomplished.

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The daily tally!
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Jim :brow
 
Very interesting report, Jim. Looks like you two had a grand time. Thanks, too, for the great pictures. Isn't Wall Drug a hoot? Your report makes me long for the open road. . . .

Tom
 
Not too much to report today. We rode from Sturgis, SD to Butte, MT, via Wyoming.

From the Wyoming border to Butte we did over 500 miles of open road, mostly rolling hills, and saw not one cop!

Here is the track so far from the Spot Satellite unit.
spot.jpg


Great high speed roads, virtually no traffic, and lots of bikes going both ways. We saw a bunch of BMWs heading towards Gillette, and passed through there. This must be a favorite motorcycle road judging by the number of bikes, many HD, and nearly ?¥ with no helmets!

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We had breakfast at DonnaÔÇÖs Diner. Very good breakfast, and a nice small town feel.
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There is a reason Montana is called ÔÇ£Big Sky CountryÔÇØ. Long roads, expansive vistas, and great riding.

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The mountain roads were fun too, but few and far between.

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Along the way we stopped at the Little Big Horn museum and had an ice cream!

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So, at the end of the day, is this my GPS
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or, is this?
Bugs.jpg

Just a few bugs along the way. Rain, crops, and cows, made for a mess of bugs. Anyone who has ridden with me knows how much I hate bugs, but this ride made them tolerable!


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Our bikes at the Super 8 motel. Nice dinner at a casino, and we are off to bed.

Jim :brow
 
Thanks for taking us along. Since a last second decision kept me from Gillette, I need to see trip pictures as therapy:laugh Travel safe, and we look forward to the next installment.

Jim
 
Thanks Jim. Great pictures and 500 plus miles a day,........ are we preparing for a shot at next years Iron Butt? Please keep up the good reports!
 
Saw Tillamook Air Museum today, and made it to my sister's home in Rochester, OR.

No time to post, but we are on the coast and over 3300 miles.

Tomorrow in Seattle for the day, and I will post pics tomorrow night!

Jim :brow
 
Great pics, thanks Jim for posting hexheads service info btw. Living in Alberta I know B.C. well (rider&trucker)so allow me to recommend some roads. Catch the Port Angeles ferry across to Victoria; you will always remember the beauty, museums, downtown, inner harbor, dining, a great town. Back to the mainland you have two options; 1. from Swartz Bay across to Tswassen, Hwy 1 east to Hope; on your map it appears you plan to take Hwy 5, it is a nice ride but a four laned truck route. An alternative is Hwy 1 north from Hope to Boston Bar along the river canyon, not much fun in a semi, great on two wheels and on to Kamloops. Take Hwy 5 north, lots of mountains and river views & on to Jasper.
2. from the Island, catch the Nanaimo ferry across to Horseshoe Bay(north Vancouver), take Hwy 99 north; paved rough road built just for GS's and beautiful. At Hwy 97, up to Hwy 24 east to Hwy 5 and north. From Jasper ride the spectacular Icefields Parkway(Hwy93) to Banff as your route seems to indicate. A little long winded I know but hope it is of some help.:ca
 
A day late, but better than never:

Fay Six of our trip found us reaching the Pacific, but first, Tillamook, OR and the Confederate Air Museum there.

We started in the Columbia River Gorge, and headed off towards Portland,
Columbia-Gorge-view.jpg


Where we immediately found a traffic jam.

Later we arrived at the museum.
Tillamook-gps.jpg


Tillamook-sign.jpg

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The museum is an incredible place residing in a WWII Blimp Hanger made nearly entirely of wood.
Tillamook-hanger.jpg


There was a movie with the design and life of the two hangers, one burned down in the 70ÔÇÖs.

Tillamook-movie.jpg


Inside were a variety of running aircraft, and a few other interesting items
Tillamook-boxer.jpg


Some of the Nose Art was very period, and nearly all the planes are in flying condition.
Tillamook-nose-art.jpg

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As we were leaving we met a cool couple with matching schemed HD bikes, one was a trike pulling a trailer that looked like a 55 Chevy cop car on a trailer. Very well done, and functional!

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Tillamook-trailer.jpg


Afterward we made it to the Pacific proper, and Kermit saw the Pacific for the first time.
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We had a very good lunch here, and a great ride after!
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We crossed a bridge on Hwy 101, the Pacific Coast Highway, and into some of the best twisty roads in the area. Lots of fun, and great views as well.

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Mount ST Helens.
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Continued...
 
A bunch of beach shots!
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PC-Beach-rocks.jpg


In the end, we made it to my sisterÔÇÖs home near Oroville, WA. A short day miles wise, but a big day for us.
Day-6-gps.jpg


Jim :brow
 
New update, we are on the beginning of the home stretch.

We left from Bellingham, WA and headed out towards Sumas, and the border crossing.

kermitborder.jpg

Here it is from the Canadian side. Kermit was sent in to secondary. I guess he doesnÔÇÖt have a credible face! LOL

We went into Canada on Rt 1 and covered about 50 miles when we came into a great breakfast place. Very good breakfast, and a killer view!
Breakfast.jpg

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This was a harbinger of things to come

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But first we needed to suit up for some off and on rain. Not bad, just a little liquid sunshine.

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I took a few shots from the bike as we rode

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The scenery is incredible, and the roads in very good shape!


Sadly though, it appears Canada is having some issues with its trees. There were whole forests infected and dead. Very sad indeed.
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You can sort of make it out in these pics from my cheap camera. I was a little depressed for it all.


However, the views that kept coming made up for it somewhat.

Kermit-glacier.jpg


Even the views from our hotel are incredible.
Hotel-view.jpg


After we checked in we walked over to a pub for dinner, not bad, and had a girl drop this on our table just before she abruptly left.
Kali-Project.jpg

ÔÇ£ErynÔÇØ was cute, but not my type, nor the ever gentlemanly Kermit.

At the end of the day, we did just over 400 miles, and are nearing 4000 miles in 8 days.

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Jim :brow
 
Day nine of seventeen, and arguably the most beautiful, in scenery and weather.

The day started in 55 degree weather, and ended in 78 degree weather. Sunny with wispy clouds all day; simply gorgeous!
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The sky!

The view we were greeted to at the hotel;
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As we headed up to Jasper 60 miles from our hotel, we had a taste of things to come.
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Just one of hundreds of great views for the dayÔÇÖs ride.

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In Jasper we were treated to a good breakfast, and stunning mountain vistas.

After entering the park it only got better.

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Awesome glacier.
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A little closer.
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Zoom to the top.


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Another glacier with the bikes in view.


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I love the ice, and the immense amounts hanging precariously.



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Kermit was looking up, and landed down! LOL


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For the 50th time Kermit waiting (patiently) for me to take more pictures.

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The mountains with glaciers nearly all had lakes below them.

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The lakes were all a cool blue/green from the glacial run-off. They were simply beautiful in their unique color.

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I loved how the green of the trees, the blue of the sky, and the whites and earth tones of the mountains complimented each other.


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A shot of Kermit upright.

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There were numerous waterfalls.

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A close-up. Most of the waterfalls were from glacial run-off.

continued...
 
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At the end of the day we had a nice track.

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Not a lot of miles, but the best of the trip so far!

Jim :brow

PS No KermitÔÇÖs were hurt in the making of these pictures.
 
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