We crossed the boarder at Peigan, Montana just like we did last year.  This border crossing went way smoother than our entry into the United States.  We picked the right lane and did not forget our passports at the booth this time!  Whew!

We stopped in Cardston for gas after crossing the border.   Remind me not to stop here ever again.  Its just not a nice town.  At least we did not get pan-handled this time.  Its worth the extra drive to stop in Fort McLeod instead unless you are desperate.

The rest of the drive home just flew by.  We stopped in Claresholm at the visitors centre for a quick snack and rest, but were off again pretty quick.  When we are this close to home, we seem to be able to ride in longer stretches and we get a bit antsy.  Koira’s the only one that did not seem to know what was going on.  She was still getting in her bag pretty good, but you can tell she was trying to tell us, “We just got here.  Where are we going?”  Poor dog.  But she will be happy when she gets home.  She probably can’t wait to dig into her toy box.  Higgs Bison is getting boring.

Calgary greeted us with traffic and construction, but we did not care.  We were home.  Another journey completed and ideas for our next journey already forming.

After taking advantage of the Super 8 breakfast buffet once again, we were off with full bellies and looking forward to riding a stretch of highway we kept missing out on for previous trips – the Moyie Springs, Libby, Kalispell route on Highway 2 through northern Montana.  We had heard good things about this route and it did not disappoint except when we got stuck behind the odd camper.  We stopped in Libby at the Burger Express and had some excellent mushroom melt burgers and huckleberry empanadas for dessert.  Yummy!  Huckleberries must be a very close cousin to blueberries.  They just have more of a tang to them.  So far, in Montana, we have had huckleberry wine, ice cream, and smoothie, but the best has been the empanada.  It was basically huckleberry pie filling rolled up in a pastry shell and sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Did I already say “Yummy”?

The last stretch of the day brought us into familiar territory.  We navigated to our favourite pet friendly hotel – The Red Lion – that we stayed at last year.  Jeremy secured us a beautiful room on the third floor.  The room was huge!  Koira went crazy playing with Higgs Bison (Jeremy named her new bison toy for her) and Jeremy.  All our previous rooms had no room to move around once our gear was hauled in.  Nice treat!

After a bit of a break, we started thinking about supper again and Jeremy found a pizza joint up the road that was rated well on Urban Spoon – Moose’s Saloon.  We ordered the pizza by phone and then walked over.  We were the only pedestrians picking up pizza at the drive-in window and it kind of messed up their process a little, but we eventually got our pizza.  And it was excellent . . . but too big for two people.  But we made a good dent in it!

As we headed out, there was still a smoky haze hanging over the mountains, but we were on a speedy Montana highway, and we soon drove out of it. We had to stop in Silverton, Montana at the “50,000 Silver $ Bar Gift Shop Restaurant R.V Park Casino.” It had only been advertised to us for over an hour on these huge billboards on Highway 90. Apparently, it is the largest collection of silver dollars on display anywhere and it is also the largest gift shop in Montana. The R.V. Park, Casino, and Restaurant are just added bonuses.

It ended up being a good place to stop and just rest for a bit. There were picnic tables to hang out at with the dog as we each took our turn seeing the silver dollar bar and gift shop. The silver dollars were embedded everywhere on the walls and bartop. Quite cool.

We had another quick stop in Wallace, Montana, to check out the outdoor mining exhibit, and then we rode the last stretch into Coeur D’Alene. We got a room at the Super 8 here, but we had to wait two hours to actually check in. We gained an hour here due to the time change so we were here way before their official check-in time and there are no exceptions to the rule.

We decided to head to downtown Coeur D’Alene and see if we could find a restaurant with a patio for lunch. Sometimes restaurants will allow dogs on the patio. The hotel clerk suggested the Iron Horse Grill and Pub as dog friendly and she was right! We had an excellent lunch on the patio, watching the world walk and drive by on main street Coeur D’Alene. We asked for a few french fries for Koira, but the cook gave our waitress turkey instead. He did not want to do a batch of three fries for a dog! But Koira was pretty happy with that turkey!

Jeremy bought some Huckleberry ice cream from Mrs. Honeypeep’s Candy Store and we sat by the lake and enjoyed it. It tasted like blueberry ice cream with a little more tang to it. Koira, since she is on holidays, got to clean out the container and was very enthusiastic about it. I think she still has some on her face left to enjoy again tomorrow.

We managed to get out of the public parking area within two hours, so parking was free! What a great town. The parking attendant got a kick out of the barking motorcycle.

We checked into our room, hauled all our motorcycle gear up three stories to our room, and then crashed for a couple of hours. We headed out for supper to Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches just down the street that had another outdoor patio for the dog. Also, another chain we need in Canada. It would put Subway out of business, though.

They are forecasting “dirty sunshine” for tomorrow, so we might have another hazy drive ahead of us. At least we are heading more north again, so maybe we will drive out of it again.

With TWO quiet motorcycles, we headed out from our little Tyrolean lodge that had been our home for two days into the wilds of the Sawtooth mountains of Idaho. From tourist town, to no man’s land.

Maybe my bike was meant to have problems so that Jeremy could meet another Canadian motorcylist at the shop. He was in have a tire fixed on his Harley, so Jeremy and him got to talking. He told us we had to do the Stanley, Idaho to Challis, Idaho stretch along the salmon River. We are so glad to have found that out. It is one of the best roads we have been on this trip. A little better for “spirited riding,” as Jeremy just described it, than “Road to the Sun,” with some spectacular views. We basically had the road to ourselves. There were some locals, but no tourists. The road zig-zagged through the Sawtooth mountains and followed, at times, the curves of the Salmon River. When we were not following the river, we were crossing over it. We must have crossed that crazy, everywhere Salmon River a hundred times today!

There had been smoke hanging along the horizon when we were in Ketchum, so we knew there was a forest fire nearby. We found it in earnest after Challis. In Salmon, Idaho, an electronic sign along the Highway 93 warned us that there would be “Fire traffic” ahead and to expect “delays,” but the road was not closed, so we continued on. Maybe we should have re-evaluated our route, but, really, if the road was not closed, how bad could it be really? And what did they mean by “Fire traffic” anyway? A few water trucks and some truck loads of fire fighters perhaps?

Well, by Hamilton, Idaho, where the fire was still quite active, we had enough of the smoke, but we were barely halfway through it and too late to turn back. At times it was quite thick and the mountains and even the sun, was obscured by it. Our throats and eyes were definitely getting irritated and we had to drive slow and watch out for people and “fire traffic.” We saw lots of National Guard vehicles and soldiers and even a helicopter trying to dump a big canvas bucket full of water onto the fire. We also came across “fire camp central,” a field full of over 200 tents and medic stations and emergency vehicles. we were definitely in the heat of it, without intending to be.

By Sula, Montana, the air was beginning to clear, but things were still pretty smoky. We stopped at a gas station there that had a nice campground beside it. We would have been tempted to camp there if it were not for the smoke hanging in the air. I could just see us getting asked to evacuate in the middle of the night or something. And we are slow to pack up, I tell you, even with all the practice this year.

We headed for Missoula, Montana for the night, but it was only just as we approached Missoula that the sun really burst through the smoke and seemed full-strength. There was still a general haze in the air that looked a bit like smog, but at least it was clear enough to let the light in and the only smoke we could smell was what was clinging to our clothing.

Definitely, an “experience” today driving through a forest fire zone, but not one we are anxious to repeat… ever.

Last night was like a summer evening. I guess we are far enough South now that we are not getting anywhere close to freezing at night yet. Koira still shivered and huddled under her blanket while we packed up, but it was just to get attention, we think.

Jenny Lake was a very nice lake with the Grand Teton mountain range in the background, but we are not sure it warrants all those bus loads of tourists every 15 minutes. Maybe it was because we just saw Lake Louise before we left on our trip that Jenny Lake did not seem quite as impressive. It was still a very beautiful lake and worth the scenic loop drive. And I could not pass up the photo of “Jenny at Jenny Lake.” We need to find a Jeremy Lake now. I doubt there is a Koira Lake, but maybe a Dog Lake.

We caught a few more views of the Grand Tetons as we headed out of the park, cracking a few more jokes of course, as we went. What fun!

Before we knew it, we were in tourist-town central – Jackson, Wyoming. After two days of the quiet and slow pace of the National Parks it was sensory overload, so we kept driving … all the way to Idaho.

Just after we crossed the border in Idaho, we saw our first moose in all our motorcycle trips. We have seen many, many moose warnings over the last four years, but not hide, nor hair of one any where. We had to travel 1600 KMs outside of Canada to see a moose. We were rewarded with a moose and a baby moose (very red in colour) wading through Fox Creek in Idaho. But we did not see any foxes in Moose Creek, Wyoming.

We stopped for burgers and fries (for Koira, of course) at Carls Jrs in Idaho Falls. Yummy as always. We need Carls Jrs in Canada. They advertise their takout paper bags as car air freshners.

As usual, my bike was whining for gas, so we gassed up at the Tresoro station on the way out of Idaho Falls. We got some interest in our bikes, mine in particular. One guy asked if it was the bike the vampires ride in that movie. He did not say what movie. Now, I am curious. The only vampire movies I have seen, are Blade, Twilight (the first one), and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer. I don’t remember motorcycles in those movies. I doubt any of those vampires were carrying a marine bag with dish rags tied to the side to dry out.

Our tourist attraction for today was Craters of the Moon National Monument near Arco, Idaho. We drove through a questionable “nuclear research” sector on the way to Arco that looked like a wasteland. There was lots of building and activity. Obviously, the research was quite active. They were even building a new road to what looked like nowhere. We will have to look up what the conspiracy theorists think is going going on there.

Craters of the Moon announced itself with a steady increase of lava rocks strewn across the desert-like landscape. It really does look like what you might picture the moon to look like. At the Craters of the Moon National Monument you can do a 7 mile loop through the black, surreal landscape. Because they knew we were coming, they closed a good portion of the loop in our honour. We got to drive about 2 miles of the road – one mile in and one mile out. we stopped and saw “The Devil’s Orchard.” But that is all we could see. After we got back on the “Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway” and past the monument, though, we saw the extent of the lava flow. It really did seem to go on for 80 miles. Very impressive. Maybe we will be back some day to do the full 7 mile loop.

The last stretch of the day brought us to Ketchum, Idaho, the playground for the popular Sun Valley ski resort. What a difference from camping in the National Parks! I found it very busy and it was only a Tuesday. I can’t imagine what it is like during peak ski season and weekends. We wandered around town in our hot motorcycle gear to find a pet-friendly hotel. Thankfully, the hotel clerk at the Best Western Plus on Main Street was able to point us to the Best Western Tyrolean, their sister hotel that allowed pets, though they did not. It is an older hotel that looks like a Swiss chalet. Defintely, our style. There is some definite history here. You just have to be careful not to get turned around in the hallways. It has all sorts of additions and levels.

We are going to stay here two nights. Neither one of us had clean clothing left so it will be laundry day tomorrow. Also, my bike is misbehaving. Or maybe I am just paranoid after the maintenance issues with this bike. The chain seems to be making more noise and hitting the guard more than it used to at slower speeds. Its never been a quiet slow-mover, but it seems even worse now. My Mr. Fix It will see what he can do about that tomorrow.

Although we did not lose sleep last night due to the cold, the Yellowstone wildlife experience did not provide for a solid nights rest. In addition to the rules to prevent bears wandering into our campsite, one of the other rules that Jeremy was given when registering for our site was that we could not put up our hammock. Apparently, Elk can get caught in them. My immediate reaction was, “Yeah, like that would ever happen.” Elk won’t come into our campsite. Well, I was wrong again. Although the bears did not make an appearance, we had some Elk visitors in the night to our campground. Also, all night, it sounded like a whole herd of them was migrating past our campground. They make this weird trumpeting sound, kind of like those really annoying plastic bugles that people bring to football games and soccer games. Sometimes, they just scream too. Just before sunrise, the ducks and possible “trumpeter” swans started up too. It was quite the wildlife band at that point. I guess they do not respect the 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM “quiet time” imposed on campers.

We packed up this morning and headed out later than expected, but the delay in leaving may have worked to our advantage weather-wise. As we entered Grant Teton National Park from Yellowstone, we saw lots of wet cars and motorcyclists going into Yellowstone. We found 19 miles of road constructin but no rain. Today, I think we prefer the roadwork.

Before long, we were driving alongside the Grand Tetons from which the park is named. The park can thank the French-Canadian fur traders for its name. They called it like they saw it. The Shoshone people called the mountain range Teewinot (“many pinnacles”) but the French-Canadian fur trappers gave it a name that stuck. And now we have a constant source of jokes as we travel through the park.

Our guidebook suggested trying to secure a campsite at Jenny Lake campground as early as possible because it can fill up by 9:00 AM in peak season. We are not traveling through in peak season, but, when we arrived at 11:00 AM, there were only a few campsites left out of the 47 available. We grabbed the first one that had not been claimed yet. There were two cars behind us that would have grabbed it if we did not. It turned out to be a good site despite not being able to check it out before staking our claim. We actually had a full view of the grandest of the Grand Tetons from our picnic table. And a resident chipmunk and squirrel very curious about us and what food we had brought them. We played by the rules here, though, and did not feed the wildlife. The bear problem is not as bad here, but they still wanted all food and scented items locked away for the night and not left outside or in the tent.

We took a little stroll down to the Jenny Lake visitor centre to find some lunch and see what we could see. The hiking trail to Jenny Lake is not open to canines, so we ate our lunch and watched the confused busloads of tourists arrive at the visitor centre and wander around. This Jenny Lake must be pretty amazing to attract so many tourists even in off season.

We headed back to our quiet little campsite and just relaxed for the afternoon. It was nice to just be to do nothing for an afternoon. Like we were on vacation or something! We must have been very peaceful because a deer and her fawn walked right through our campsite and did not even notice us.

Tomorrow, we will start with the Jenny Lake Scenic Loop drive and then head for Idaho. Koira may even get a Idaho potato french fry!

Yesterday, we lined ourselves up to have an easy mornings ride into Yellowstone National Park. Before we knew it, we were seeing the yellow rock formations from which we can probably safely assume the park got its name. We took a few pictures at Yankee Jim Canyon, before hitting touristy Gardiner, Montana, the Northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. We passed through the famous Roosevelt Arch where so many millions of Yellowstone vistors have passed under. The Arch bears the inscription, “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People,” which is taken form the legislative act that made Yellowstone the first National Park in the United States. These peoples and canine definitely intend to enjoy it.

Just past the Northern entrance to Yellowstone, is the famous Mammoth Hot springs. Boy are they stinky! Maybe that is what mammoths smelled like. Koira was not allowed on the upper boardwalk so we just looked at the “springs” from the edge of the parking lot and the start of the boardwalk, snapping a few photos. Once we managed to get out of the jammed parking lot, we did a little side loop (RVs and campers prohibited!) and saw a few more springs with thousands of years of tower-like mineral deposits piled up around them. Very unusual and interesting to see.

After Mammoth Hot Springs, we routed ourselves towards geyser-land and, of course, Old Faithful. We knew we were heading in the right direction when we kept seeing steam rising up from the ground here and there. At one point, right beside the road, there was some major bubbling going on and, once again, it was very stinky! Koira was probably wondering where the heck we were taking her. To some toxic wasteland? What was the fun in that? She did get to see her first Bison, though, and bark at it. She has been eating them for years and now she knows where her food comes from!

Of course, all the geyser boardwalks did not allow dogs, but there were many pullouts near the geysers where we could watch the steam rising and the swarm of tourists swarming all around them. In some ways, it was nice not to have the pressure of trying to squeeze in and out of the parking lots for the geysers. I would hate to see Yellowstone during peak season. It must be insanely busy.

After only being able to see the geyers from a distance, we were pleasantly suprised to find out that we could get right up to Old Faithful, the most famous geyser of all, with our dog. Old Faithful is dog-friendly! Imangine that! We were expecting a real tourist trap but it was quite tasteful and respectful of the natural wonder that it is. We arrived about 20 minutes before the next expected “eruption.” Just enough time for me to buy some postcards and a Bison for Koira (a small, stuffed one, that is), and head out to the viewing area. We found a shady spot under some trees away from the crowd and waited for the geyser to wow us. And we were not disappointed. Old Faithful faithfully blew 200 ft of steam and minerals into the air right on time for the enjoyment of all. It was rather disappointing to see so many people leave even before the show was over. Old Faithful was still bubbling and shooting up steam and people were turning their back on it and walking away. We stayed until Old Faithful finished his show. To rest again for another 78 minutes.

We decided to try and secure our campsite after seeing Old Faithful. We had heard that the campgrounds in Yellowstone filled up fast, so we did not want to leave it too late. Our first choice campground – Indian Springs – we had already found out, was closed for the season. So, we headed to our second choice campground – Bay Bridge – on Yellowstone Lake. The drive to the campground was beautiful and we saw lots of Yellowstone Lake and Yellowstone park police. We even saw a park ranger, lights flashing, pull a van over that had an obviously fresh cut tree on its roof. What was he thinking? He either cut down the tree in the park or brought it through the entrance gates. Either way – not too bright.

Although the drive to Bay Bridge was nice, we found out too late, that it had closed for the season too – at 11:00 AM on the day we tried to camp there, of course. Now, we had a conundrum. I did not have enough gas to get us out of the park and, Lake Village, just down the road, did not have the gas station that it indicated on the map. But, on the plus side, we did see a whole heard of Bison in the village. The plains in park only had a few here and there and the village was full of them wandering down the street. I guess they heard about the fine dining at the lodge. One even tried to cross the Pedestrian crosswalk in front of me. I did not stop for him (or her)!

Anyway, with my gas getting low, we decided to re-trace our route back to Grant Village and hope I did not run out of gas before then. We had 2L backup, in case, but it would still have been unpleasant to have to unpack Jeremy’s bike to get at the extra gas and then still maybe not have enough to get anywhere. Well, Grant Village was not as far back as we thought and we made it there with at least another 20 KM left in my tank. Whew!

After that excitement, we decided to just try the massive Grant Village campground. It was pretty busy, but they still had some tent sites left. Jeremy was assigned a site and provided an overview of the rules and regulations for tenting in Yellowstone. The list of rules and regulations was very, very long and essentially meant we could not leave ANYTHING out on the picnic table or our tent. It either had to be locked up in our motorcycle luggage or in one of the bearproof storage lockers available around the tenting area. Even Koira’s water dish had to be packed away at night. We understood the problems bears could cause but we were a little blown away by the regulations and the penalties for non-compliance. They even had a camping host going around on a golf cart checking everyone’s sites on a regular basis. After reading the Yellowstone paper they provided to us, I found out why the rules were so strict. Two visitors to Yellowstone last year were killed in bear attacks. The average over the entire life of this historic park was one person INJURED by a bear a year. So, I guess the bear problem escalated last year and the regulations were tightened severely. We set up our site, a little bit on the paranoid side about the regulations, cooked supper and got ready for a cold night. Our camping neighbour told us he heard it was supposed to go down to 16 degrees Farenheit. We prepared for the worst. I decided to wear a toque to bed. Apparently, that will make you invincible.

We were almost ready to head out when our Montana camping neighbours we met last night had to bring over their son-in-law and his family to see “the dog on the motorcycle.” The chat session turned into a whole family send-off as they watched us gear up and asked questions at every step, even after we had put our ear plugs in. Very nice people but hard to shake off.

After numerous waves and goodbyes, we were off again . . . and into a major construction zone. At least it was early in the day, when we are most alert and rested. We know how to pick the routes with contruction, that is for sure.

After the construction zone, our next waypoint of the day was Helena, Montana, the capital of the state. Our GPS route took us the “shortest” route through Helena, Montana. Lucky for us, the shortest route through Helena was the historical homes district of the city. Beautiful old homes and churches, but not a very big city for state capitol.

On the outskirts of Helena, there was a sign. A sign that we should adjust our route. Literally, there was a huge, orange construction sign stating that there was road work ahead and that motorcyclists should consider an alternate route. Isn’t that thoughtful? We have never seen that before and we have been in some pretty nasty construction zones. We decided to take the advice on the sign and adjusted our route to go through Butte, Montana (pronounced like “Beaut” and not the way I know you just read it).

I still can’t get over the speed limits here. We are driving on roads that would be 80 to 90 KMH, but here, we go 112 KMH and there are very few caution signs for the curves. Also, there is no helmet law here and there does not seem to be a child carseat law. “Live Free, Die Young” should be the state motto, not “Big Sky Country.” All in all, though, the drivers here seem quite respectful and patient even if we are not going the minimum speed limit. They have the right to drive that fast but they don’t seem to have a problem with it if you don’t choose to go that fast.

After miles and miles of rolling ranchland and desert-like no man’s lands at fast forward speeds, we found our stop for the night – a pet-friendly Super 8 in Livingston, Montana. We all needed a little indoor time after two nights camping in chilly temperatures and then driving in unseasonably warm weather today. We have lined ourselves up for a day of riding through Yellowstone National Park tomorrow. Maybe we will see some erupting geysers! Stay tuned!

We survived the frosty start but just barely. By the time we got going, our hands, toes, and paws were all frozen. It was a true test of our new heated gloves and Koira’s heating pad in her pet palace and everything passed with flying colours.

Our goal today was to ride the famous 50 mile (80 km) “Going to the Sun” road through Glacier National Park. We had heard about the fantastic scenery on this road and the challenging “hairpin” turns. It has been on our motorcycle ride “bucket list” since our first motorcycle trip in 2009, but this year we were going to do it first, rather than last, and maybe we would actually get to experience it.

The scenery along the road was absolutely beautiful and lived up to all the hype. We saw amazing mountains, pristine lakes, and many glaciers perched atop the peaks. The “hairpins,” though, were more like headbands. Maybe we are tainted by our rides along Highway 1 in California, but the most challenging “hairpin” was the loop/parking lot/hiker crossing/misfunction juction at Heaven’s Peak. It was only dangerous because of all the tourists backing out without looking. The construction zone area that we waited for twenty minutes for the privilege to cross through mud and gravel along some curvaceous downhill slopes was challenging, though. But not in a pleasant way. Thankfully it was pretty packed down so I relaxed a little by the end. As those who have followed our previous trips know, I am not a fan of gravel. I have some damaged sidebags and Barkbusters as a reminder of how much I do not like it.

All in all, the “Going to the Sun” road through Glacier National Park was definitely worth doing. We stopped at MacDonald Lake and spent a few minutes enjoying the quiet and the scenery. And Koira even got to try Glacier water direct from the source rather than from a bottle. She tried to go for a swim too, but we pulled her back. I think she thought she was at Toby Creek and it was time to do some wading and stick retrieval. Also, a photographer had to snap a photo of her when we were packing her up in her Pet Palace. That’s the first time someone has wanted to take her photo on our trips. She will end up in someone else’s travel blog as one of the “oddities” he saw on his journey.

It took us all morning and then some to do 50 miles. And we were exhausted by the end. We spent some time in Kalispell having lunch at the golden arches and using some free WiFi. Koira got her obligatory travelling french fry or two and she was happy. With happy dog tucked away again, we headed for our destination for the night – Salmon Lake State Park.

The route to Salmon Lake State Park was very scenic as well. We caught glimpses of Flathead Lake and many other lakes along the way. We will definitely have to come back to this area of Montana to explore more and do more camping. With one brief stop at the Sinclair gas station/corner grocery store for supper and breakfast supplies, we arrived at Salmon Lake State Park a little later than yesterday but with enough daylight to setup camp, have showers (since St. Mary’s campground at Glacier National Park was primitive in many, many ways), and make supper. We even had some time to relax in our hammock. These shorter days are definitely new for us. Maybe we should make it a habit…

The gas tanks were full, the wasps’ nest freshly bombed, the doors locked and the water shut off – we were ready. We headed out of Calgary on our now-standard route, which takes us though Turner Valley, Black Diamond and Longview. Continuing south and then a quick jog over to Pincher Creek brought us to our first fuel stop, and a Co-Op supermarket. We each had a sandwich from the deli for lunch, and Koira was not impressed with the lack of french fries. I have a feeling that the meals will get less and less healthy as we progress. The fact that we are going to be camping a fair bit this trip might be the best thing for us. For supper tonight we have a boil-in-7-minutes rice dish (throw in a can of tuna), and a can of beans (with maple syrup from Quebec tankuverrymuch).

Just south of Pincher Creek is Waterton Provincial Park. A nice easy road through the park with little traffic brought us to the Canada/USA border crossing, where I think the guard was not impressed with us having a dog strapped to the back of one of the motorcycles. It didn’t bother me much though, since I could hardly hear him with my ears being plugged due to this bloody cold (not to mention the barking dog strapped to the back of my bike). I think he asked me a few more questions, then he gave up and told me to pull ahead and wait for Jenny. While I was getting my helmet and gloves back on I realized that he didn’t give me back my passport, so I had to walk back to the booth and get it, along with “the look”. Not the smoothest crossing ever, but they didn’t take Koira’s food away so I’ll call it a win.

Glacier is only about 20km from there, so it wasn’t long before we were at the entrance to the park. I told the ranger that I was planning on buying 2 annual passes for the national parks system since we’ll be using them a fair bit this year, and it would cover us for next summer as well. Amazingly, she told me that even though we were on 2 motorcycles, as long as we travelled together, we only needed 1 pass for the 2 of us. As they say on Storage Wars, “that’s an eighty dollar bill right there!” Just after the entrance to the park is St. Mary’s campground, where we picked our spot, set up and started dinner. Bonus #2 for the day was when the neighbour came over looking to borrow a corkscrew (seriously, who doesn’t camp with a corkscrew?), and paid me with a glass for opening the bottle for her. Now we’re having a fancy dinner!

Normally on these trips when we finish dinner, it is well past dark and we just crawl into the tent. Tonight we still have hours of daylight, and the sun is even coming out. I’m sure once it goes down it’s going to get pretty chilly, but right now it’s pretty nice. Jenny’s even awake as I’m writing this!

Highway 2 was beautiful despite the weather and the construction and the aches and pains.  We will definitely have to come back and ride this highway again in warmer, dryer weather.  The mountains and glaciers were very impressive and there were a lot of fall colours to admire.  Just no reds.  All yellows and oranges.  I can see why the Ottawa Valley attracts “leafers” in the fall.  The red leaves are definitely noticeably missing in the West.  And, although the weather got very close to being cold enough to snow through the higher elevation passes, the precipitation continued to be rain until we reached East Glacier.  The sun actually came out a little for us here, but it was still too cold to turn off the heated gear until we got to a slightly lower elevation.

Before we knew it, we were at the Port of Peigan border crossing.  With only one lane open, there was a bit of a lineup at the crossing.  Koira was very indignant in her Pet Palace because we did not let her out.  The bike was stopped, so she fully expected to get out and explore.  She was barking when we pulled up to the border agent.  I could tell he was confused about where the dog was on our bike.  He was looking at the front of Jeremy’s jacket and then my jacket, like we might be trying to hide a dog in our bulky rain and motorcycle gear.  When he realized she was in the bag in the back, you could tell he was trying not to laugh.  He did not ask about meat products or pet food, so we did not mention the tiny bit of dog food we were still carrying.  He did ask for Koira’s vaccination paperwork.  So, making sure we had all that paperwork with us was not a waste.  It went very smoothly and they let us and our cranky little white dog back into the country.  I was happy we did not have to go through the bike search again this year.  It is not the search of the bike that is the pain really, as we have nothing to hide, it is having to re-pack everything again before we can head out.

It is nice to go on holidays, but it always nice to come again.  We stopped for a quick lunch in Cardston, but, now that we were in Alberta, we just wanted to get home.  Calgary greeted us with gray skies, wind, and cold.  Ottawa used to greet us with the exact same weather.  We had to turn our heated gear back on again for that last stretch.  It did not matter to us, though.  We were just so happy to be home safe and sound.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, when we were at the scenic overlook, what do we see below us but Lewiston’s “Old Spiral Highway”.  Now, Jeremy could not resist this one.  It is not often we get to take a photo of a road that we are about to do before we ride it either.  Jeremy got out the helmet cam for the road too.  We knew it was going to be a good one… and it was!  It was so good, we had to do it twice.  Down and then up!  After finding this unexpected treasure of a road, the rest of the day could suck and we would still have had a good day!

Thankfully, the rest of the day did not suck.  It was a little chilly but we had our heated jackets to keep us toasty warm and Koira had her lambskin to snuggle into for warmth.  Koira seemed to be enjoying the cooler weather, though.  She wagged her tail a lot today for some reason.  She was extremely friendly with everyone and everyone wanted to stop and meet her.  Or maybe she just likes Idaho because she can smell the potatos.  Oddly enough, though, we did not find a chip stand anywhere for lunch.  Maybe they just export all their potatos.  We saw miles and miles of harvested potato fields but not one potato or chip stand.  We ended up stopping outside of Hot Springs, Montana for a quick lunch of Pogos and vitamin water.  We need to get those vitamins somewhere.  There is definitely nothing of nutritional value in a Pogo.

After Hot Springs, we took Highway 200 through some very scenic areas that were starting to remind us again of Alberta and British Columbia.  When we saw the mountains of Glacier National Park in the distance, we definitely started feeling more at home again.

We rolled into Kalispell with the sun still shining.  And, to my delight, they had a room for us again at the Red Lion Hotel.  It has become our new favourite hotel chain.  They welcome pets with open arms and they always seem to have a room.  Probably because they are HUGE.  It might be their thing.  They never have to turn people away because they make sure they will never sell out by being HUGE.  Anyway, we have a nice little room again with a view of the mountains in the distance.  They are snow-capped so we need to decide if we should try riding through them tomorrow or take a lower elevation and less-risky drive to Roosville tomorrow.  Either way, we should be crossing the border tomorrow.  I wonder if we can bring Canadian pet food back into Canada from the United States?  I guess we will find out tomorrow!

Just when we thought we were finally on our way, about 1 KM down the road from our hotel, just before the on ramp for the interstate, a guy in a car pulled up along side us with his windows down, vigorously circling his hand in the air and pointing at our motorcycle.  Now, he was either warning us that there was speed trap ahead or we had something wrapped around something on our bike.  Oh, yeah!  I had hooked Koira to the passenger peg while we were doing our last minute preparations to ride.  Thankfully, I remembered to put Koira in the bag, though!  I just forgot about the leash on the peg!  I must send out a thank you to that man in Bend who made us aware of my blooper.  I hope he did not think we drove off with a dog attached . . . and then lost it along the way!  Jeremy pulled off safely to the side of the road, I detached the battered dog leash from the peg, got back on the bike, and THEN we were on our way out of Bend.  Someday we will be back to stay longer.  Koira’s leash almost stayed there permanently.  I am sure Jeremy could have fashioned a temporary leash out of aircraft wire if he had to, though.

We definitely found a great route through Washington today – central Oregon.  We were trying to avoid, by any means necessary, the wastelands of Washington state that our GPS took us through two years ago.  Central Oregon is absolutely gorgeous.  Oregon keeps on impressing us.  We took the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway and found some amazing roads and scenic vistas.  The stretch of spiraling highway outside Spray reminded us of Highway 1 minus the guard rails and ocean.

We stopped for a quick lunch in Spray at the corner store/gas station/restaurant that you see in all small towns since there were already two motorcycles parked out front – a Triumph Tiger and a Suzuki Hayabusa.  These are sport bikes with just a silly amount of CCs.  The Hayabusa was the fastest factory sport bike when it came out a few years ago.   It is the first time that I had seen one standing still.  The riders of these bikes were probably resting up to tackle the spirals outside of town, but much faster than we went through them.

After our quick lunch of classic American grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches, it was time to hit those amazing central Oregon roads again.  We wound through little towns and around hills and through valleys for several hours.  We saw almost as many horses in central Oregon as we saw in Kentucky.  This area is definitely horse country.  Every home seemed to have cordoned off at least part of their front lawn for not one, but several horses.

We knew we had crossed the border into Washington when we could smell onions.  We had picked Lewiston, Idaho for our destination for the evening, but, when we came to the outskirts of Walla Walla, Washington, I started to think about the wine-tasting and little bistros that I had read about that were supposed to be in Walla Walla.  Poor, Jeremy.  I asked him to re-route us through Walla Walla to see if we could get a room at the La Quinta Inn near downtown Walla Walla.  We passed through a whole “vintners” alley of stores and restaurants that did not smell like onions and, at the end, was the La Quinta Inn.  As we drove into the lot, I was thinking about an evening of walking along the quaint little downtown street and tasting some Washington wines and trying to ignore the very pungent, rotten vegetable or meat smell in the air outside the hotel.  Well, there was no room at the inn anyway . . . or at the Best Western next door.  It was for the best anyway as that smell would have gotten to all of us eventually, but I was mad at myself for wasting twenty minutes of our precious riding time in Walla Walla.  Goodbye, Walla Walla!  You are stinky!

After Walla Walla, it was all about getting to Lewiston, Idaho, before it was too late to find a hotel room.  I don’t know how Jeremy did it, but we made it, just after sunset, to the Red Lion Hotel in Lewiston.  We were cold and tired and a little afraid that they would not have a room for us.  The parking lot was full and there just seemed to be tonnes of men coming out of the hotel in groups wearing plaid flannel shirts like there was some sort of lumberjack convention going on.  Well, I was very relieved when Jeremy came out and said they had lots of room and Koira even got a cuteness discount again!  Apparently, the hotel has the hottest “dance club” in town, so some of the vehicles in the lot were from the club . . . and maybe plaid flannel shirts were the acceptable attire for the club?  I am thinking line dancing club now . . .

We prepared ourselves mentally for a long day of riding.  We had 700 kilometres to cover to make it to our planned stop for the night – Bend, Oregon.  We stopped in Willows, California for a rest and a quick breakfast and then we were off again, driving through miles and miles of olive tree orchards.  The billboards advertising olive-tastings and freshly-pressed olive oil in Corning almost lured us away from our route, but we resisted and told ourselves we would be back someday for an olive orchard tour.  We also saw another kiddy pool on the highway!  Third one of the trip!  This one was just a plain, blue pool.  No cartoon characters.  It did have the built-in slide, though!

We drove for several hours on the Dalles-California Highway and Oregon’s Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.  We had blue skies mixed with gray clouds most of the way, but we did not get rained on at all today.  Yeah!  No need to stop and put on the saunas.

We pulled into Bend around 6:30 PM, tired but happy to have made our goal for the evening.  We found a room at the Red Lion Hotel.  Jeremy wrangled with the desk clerk for quite awhile but got an excellent rate on a very nice room.  Koira gave it her seal of approval by falling straight to sleep on the bed . . . after checking the room thoroughly for little white dogs.  Nope, none under the bed or in the bathroom.  Ahhhh . . . safe.

We met Chris in Old Sacramento for lunch at a very cool burger joint and pub called Fanny Ann’s Saloon.   We all ordered the Singin’ the Blues Burger – their famous burger topped with a slices of blue cheese.  Excellent burgers . . . and not just because of the generous serving of blue cheese.  The restaurant decorating was eclectic, to say the least.  It was three stories of antiques and collectibles screwed to the walls anywhere there was room.  They also encouraged graffiti and etching contributions from their customers.   We even saw an old Ontario license plate.  Now, was that someone who drove down to California and decided not to go home?  I can see how tempting that might be.

Chris had to go back to work, so we had a few hours for another touristy adventure.   We spent a little more time wandering around Old Sacramento, mostly at Candy Heaven, and picked up a few souvenirs.  After about the tenth gift shop, we decided it was time to move on and try and see the Johnny Cash exhibit at the Folsom Prison museum.  This museum was on our list two years ago when we were in Sacramento but we were unable to squeeze it in.  This time, though, we were not going to miss it!  We had Chris’s Nissan T-top and some sunshine so we headed for the freeway.

For some reason, I had not picked up on the fact that Folsom Prison is still an active prison.  Jeremy knew but I did not.  It was a little unnerving seeing all the warning signs and lists of things we could not carry onto the grounds.  After navigating around the turkeys chasing each other back and forth across the road, we found a parking space in the “visitors” parking.  And when I say “turkeys,” I do really mean turkeys.  It was not other tourists like us confused about where to go just to see the museum.

There was absolutely no signage anywhere pointing to the Folsom Prison museum.  Jeremy thought he saw an old building a little ways up on the hill where the turkeys had disappeared.  Maybe that was the museum?  We thought we would just hike up the little path and see.  All of a sudden this booming voice was asking us where we are going.  It was a plain, clothes guard in the parking lot and he was not happy that we decided to go for a hike.  He told us to come down from the hill.  When I told him we were just trying to find the museum he relaxed quite a bit.  We must have been exuding the tourist vibe.  Apparently, they have problems with people trying to leave various types of contraband and drugs in this area we were in (which, by the way, the guard informed us, was the old armory and grounds) for the prisoners to try and pick up and bring into the prison.  That also made me a little nervous.  These hills around the parking lot are OUTSIDE the prison walls.  How and why are they out here anyway?  Grounds duty for “good” behaviour?  I decided that I was not interested in any more wandering, even if we could get special permission to see the old armory on the hill.

The guard also gave us some bad news.  Although the museum was straight ahead of us just past the prison guard house, the power was out at the prison and, as a result, the museum was closed.  OK.  Are we jinxed or something?  Now, this “closed” sign was very disappointing.  It was not because it was off-season or because we got there a little too late in the day.  I can understand that happening quite frequently to us when and how we travel.  It was a fluke power outage this time, though.  I guess they have backup generators for the prison but the museum is just shut down when the power goes out.  Oh, well.  I guess we will just have to try again next time we are in Sacramento.  Third time’s a charm, right?

We still had a few hours to kill before Chris and Stacey were off work so we decided to check out the historic district of Folsom.  We stopped at the Folsom County Museum a little unsure if anything would be open due to the power outage.  Well, all the power was on in Folsom, so it was only the prison that was out.  Lucky us!  The Folsom County Museum ended up being a nice, safe little museum to visit.  We learned a little bit about a lot of different things related to Folsom including the Gold Rush, the Pony Express, and the wine-making and olive-making industries.  And they even had a little Johnny Cash exhibit.  They called it the “Singing John and June.”  It was a whole bathroom dedicated to Johnny Cash.  To get into the bathroom, you had to actually enter a fake Folsom prison jail cell too.  Now, this kitschy tourist trap made the trip out to Folsom worth it!

We made it back to Old Sacremento in time for happy hour at Ten 22, a restaurant and bar with a selection of craft brewery beers.  We sampled some beers we will never be able to get in Canada.  We ordered the cheese sampler too.  Oh, so good!  It came with an amazing selection of cheeses, dried strawberries, meringue-coated pecans, artisan bread, and a slice of honeycomb.

We were pretty full by the time we got back to Chris’s house, but we had one more fantastic restaurant to try before we left – Bandera.  We can see why it is one of Chris and Stacey’s favourite restaurants in Sacramento.  We had yet another fantastic meal and visit at this restaurant.  The food was a mix of Southern-style cooking and barbeque.  We had roasted artichokes, poke, and cornbread for appetizers.  For the main course, it was fall-off-the-bone barbeque ribs and chicken.  We tried to save room for the chocolate banana cream pie, but none of us could stuff another morsel of food into our bellies by the time we were done the main course.  Maybe next time we will save room.

Last time we came through this way, we were headed from Lee Vining towards Sacramento and Jenny’s motorcycle was unable to idle properly.  She was forced to ride all the way twisting the throttle slightly to keep her bike running, even when heading downhill into a 10mph hairpin turn…  This ride was much more relaxing and even the falling snow was nothing to get too excited about.

Chris was scheduled to meet some people at Emerald Bay state park to look at some lift stations (poo pumps) and discuss plans for upcoming upgrades.  I chose to go along with him while Jenny and Stacey headed for the Casino and shopping.  It was interesting to see all the technology that goes in to pumping thousands of gallons of sewage generated by the “comfort stations” at the campground.  Luckily the stations were shut down for the winter already, so they were at their most pleasant.  It took us a couple of hours to see all 4 stations and for everyone to figure out what the next steps were for the project.  It was also nice not to have any responsibilities regarding the project and it made me feel that much more “on holidays”.

After investigating the campground, we headed back into Tahoe and parked at the Casino.  We found Jenny and Stacey across the street (in another, attached casino – Harvey’s), playing the penny slots.  Jenny had been hard at work turning $3.00 into a little over $11.00!  Pretty good!  While we were deciding what to do next, Jenny cashed out and handed me her ticket, saying I could play a bit if I wanted.  I walked around a bit and picked a machine that looked like it had a lot of lights and stuff, inserted the ticket and pressed the “Max Play” button.  I won another $45.00!  Then I hit the “Cash Out” button, since that was most likely the best I was going to do and we headed for one of the restaurants inside the casino for a snack and some drinks.  Since I was the big winner, I got to pay for the tequila and appetizer plate that we ordered, plus we got “the hook up” because Stacey knew the manager of the restaurant who took the appetizers off the bill.  All in all it turned out to be a pretty cheap lunch!

By now it was getting close to 5:00, so it was time to head back to Sacramento, which is about a 2-hour drive.  Most of us got to relax and enjoy the scenery some more as we headed “home”.  We also stopped at a Mexican grocery store for some fajita supplies – chicken, pork, tortillas, salsa, guacamole – and all delicious.  It was a great evening of pigging out and drinking wine with friends before bed.

A wrong turn at the lights meant we had another chance to see the Carmel mission and downtown Carmel, and then, it was really time to say goodbye.

It was rainy but we had prepared in advance by starting out in our rain gear.  We drove through Salinas and kept out an eye for Bobby McGee.  No sign of him anywhere . . . still.

After Salinas, the GPS took us on an amazingly scenic but very rough canyon “shortcut” through the hills and farmland of San Benito County.  Gorgeous vistas everywhere but no where to safely stop and take a photo.  We will have to remember it in our mind’s eye.

When we finally reached some smooth pavement we needed a break.  We stopped at the Casa de Fruita outlet for some fresh-baked apricot turnovers and lattes.  Not quite a little operation, though, like the little espresso huts we have been hitting all along the coast.  There were different “casas” everywhere advertising various fruit-based products and a huge pumpkin patch and entertainment centre.   We did not have time for all the “casas” so we picked the wine “casa.”  We bought a pomegranate wine to try.  Should make an interesting dessert wine.

The weather caught up to us again and the wind.  Oh, the wind!  Driving the 152 and then the 99 to Sacramento, we got quite the buffeting and rain off-and-on.  We stopped in Lodi for lunch in a McDonald’s that caught our eye.  It had the golden arches we all know so well but there was a weird little chef character on the neon sign.  Definitely, not one of the standard McDonald’s characters we all know so well.  In looking it up afterwards, we discovered that this little chef character was called “Speedee” and was the McDonald’s logo character from 1953 to 1962.  The first McDonald’s store and restaurant was in San Bernadino, not really that far from here, so maybe the Lodi McDonald’s was one of the original “expansion” restaurants.  It certainly looked like some of the early McDonald’s restaurants with the arches built into the sides of the restaurant.

Lodi is known for its wineries, not its McDonald’s restaurant, so we decided to try and locate Cycles Gladiator Winery as we had purchased a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvingnon in Calgary and had quite enjoyed it.  I had an address but it brought us to a residential home.  The home was surrounded by miles of grapevines, but it was NOT the Cycles Gladiator Winery.  At least, it was not the “public face” of Cycles Gladiator.  Determined not to leave a California wine region without a bottle of wine, we randomly picked another winery off the wine route directional sign – Ripken – and followed all the signs to, you guessed it, a closed wine-tasting room.  We did take a picture, though!

The last stretch into Sacramento flew by and before we knew it we were at our destination for the evening.  Our timing was perfect as one of our hosts in Sacramento – Chris – just got home from work as Jeremy drove onto the sidewalk in front of his home.  No, Jeremy did not go crazy with his motorcycle driving and decide to start driving on sidewalks.  Chris and Stacey have a little courtyard in front of their house that we can squeeze our motorcycle into and lock it up for a few days.  Time to play tourist again for a few days and give the Honda a break!  Koira will also get a chance to socialize with some other little dogs – two tiny Maltese pups named Sophie and Mico.  Absolutely adorable!  Koira is the “big dog” in the house this time, but Sophie definitely rules the roost!

After our full breakfast and a little caffeine, we were raring to go.  Well, everyone except Koira.  She needed a little convincing to get out of bed this morning, but once we showed her the leash she decided she might like to see a little of Carmel.  Well, explore it with her nose anyway.  After the “Poodle Parade,” every corner was a sign post to be read by her nose.  It was a little slow going trying to drag the dog, but eventually the “news” got old and she walked a little quicker.  She even got to do a little shopping.  Jeremy and I found Carmel t-shirts and Koira (Jenny) found a little sea otter toy.

We stopped at The Carmel Coffee House cafe for a little rest and a coffee halfway through our tour of downtown Carmel.  Excellent coffee and a beautiful little courtyard to just hang out in and people watch.  Its amazing how many different languages we heard being spoken today.  Carmel attracts people from all over the world.  We heard Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian and Japanese.  And lots of Australian and English accents as well.  And in every language, we got “Oh, what a cute dog!”  Who needs a purebred poodle?!

We did a little more wandering around downtown after our coffee break.  Jeremy found his favourite store in every town – the candy store!  He actually came out with gourmet fudge and chocolate covered orange peels.  The first fudge we tried was caramel and sea salt.  It may sound a little odd for fudge but it was amazing!  Something about caramel and sea salt really works.

After having dessert first, we decided we should have lunch.  One of the restaurants that had been featured on www.bringfido.com was on the way back to our hotel, so we decided to give it a try.  The restaurant is called Forge in the Forest.  Although we did not get to sit in the “forge” patio area, we were ushered to a very nice partially covered patio on the other side of the restaurant.  There were already three, very large but well-behaved dogs there with their “people.”  Koira did very well, and, once again we were all made to feel very welcome.  We had excellent clams and mussels in a white wine sauce with fresh-baked buns for a starter and a caramelized onion and roast duck pizza for our main dish.  Jeremy confirmed that he had is “odd dish” quota for the day with the “duck” pizza, but it was really good.

At the end of our meal, we met one of the other dogs in the patio area – Gerard.  He was, by far, the largest poodle that we had ever seen!  He was a gentle giant, though.  His owner told us he had been part of the “Poodle Parade” on Saturday and he had been the largest poodle there, at “over a hundred pounds”.  His brother was also part of the parade and was the second largest poodle in the parade.  We had no idea that poodles could be so massive!  He could wear Koira as a beret!  Thankfully, he was more interested in our leftover “duck” pizza.

Once again we had to roll ourselves back to the hotel . . . only to turn around and head back out to visit Carmel Beach State Park.  All the walking is good for us . . . especially after all the rich meals and sweets.  We walked, downhill, through residential areas to the beach.  There are some beautiful and very expensive real estate in Carmel.  We did not see Clint Eastwood or Jay Leno on the way.  Jeremy had the camera ready just in case.  We probably saw some very rich people but we did not know who they were.  And I am sure that is the way they like it here.

The beach was a little busier than Lincoln City and had almost as many dogs on it as people.  We still had our own space, though, and a nice quiet stroll along the beach.  We saw Pebble Beach from a distance.  I am sure that is about as close as we will ever get to being able to golf there.  We can dream, though.

After our stroll on the beach, I was the most wet and sandy, not Koira.  I am afraid that I broke the golden rule of beach-walking and turned my back on the surf.  Thankfully, the water is a little warmer here.  I had to walk back through ritzy downtown Carmel in wet pants and sandy feet, though.  And uphill all the way!  What a day!

We managed to navigate back to Highway 1 and, in doing so, passed the United States Coast Goard training centre.  Now, that’s an impressive complex and extremely well-protected.  It is now part of the Homeland Security initiative so it is probably a lot more secure that it used to be.  We did not stop and take a picture just in case it made us look suspicious.  The guards did not look like “rent-a-cops.”  These guys were the real deal!

Before we knew it, we were navigating the (in)famous hair pin turns, hills and valleys of the Highway 1 approach to San Francisco.  Just when we thought Highway 1 could not get any more technical, it went up to a whole new level of difficulty.  Jeremy, as always, impressed me with his skill and his calmness.  I closed my eyes several times and held on tight.  Good thing I was not driving!  I honestly don’t know if I could have done this stretch.  We hope Jeremy’s helmet cam captured most of this part of the ride.  And maybe the crazy sports bike rider with no license plate that was passing cars and other motorcyclists over the double line.  It is all double line through this stretch of Highway 1 for a reason.  And there may have been a reason this guy did not have a license plate.  Maybe he lost his license because of this kind of insanity a long time ago.

When things began to level off, we were in San Francisco proper.  The next milestone was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.  What an amazing piece of engineering!  Photos and film do not capture the sheer size of this bridge.  You have to cross it to really experience it.

We got caught in a little big city traffic on the way through San Francisco, but we have been in much worse.  Usually it is much, much hotter too when we get caught in traffic.  Before we knew it we were through San Francisco and driving through its various suburbs.  We stopped for lunch in Pacifica at the pier at an ocean-side canteena called Chit Chat.  It took a very long time, but we eventually got our barbeque hamburgers.  Definitely do not stop here if you are in a hurry!

After Pacifica, Highway 1 straightened out and it was a nice relaxing ride all the way to Carmel.  We drove through agricultural land that included pumpkins, artichokes, and, maybe broccoli.  It smelled like broccoli but maybe it was something else.  There were a lot of roadside stands and we could not believe the prices.  You could get 10 grapefruits or 10 artichokes for $1.00.  We definitely pay a lot for shipping this produce to Canada, don’t we?

Although our GPS took us on a creative route into Carmel, we finally found main street.  Oddly enough, the Best Western Bay Side Inn that we had picked for the evening, did not accept pets.  Every Best Western we have stayed at so far has allowed pets but the Best Western in one of the top ten “pet-friendly” cities in the United States had a no pet policy.  Go figure?  Anyway, we wandered around a little and found something much, much better – Svendsgaard’s Inn.  They had a room for all of us, one of their best, with a fireplace and little kitchen.   Our host informed us that our timing was good.  Apparently, yesterday was the annual “Poodle Parade” in Carmel and there would not have been a pet-friendly room available for us anywhere in town if we had been a day earlier.  There were 360 poodles in the parade this year too!  I guess, for once, our timing was bang on.  And really, it is only because we stayed an extra day in Lincoln City too.  I found the website for the Carmel “Poodle Parade,” but there are no photos yet from this year:

http://poodleday.com/

After settling in to the hotel and finding a decent map for downtown Carmel (none of the roads are straight and you can get lost pretty easy), we headed out to try why one the pet-friendly restaurants that Carmel is famous for among dog-lovers.  We decided to try Jack London’s Grill and Taproom.  We walked past it twice before we actually saw the sign.  There are so many little courtyards everywhere and some of the businesses are tucked in pretty deep.  The host gave us a nice little table on the courtyard patio under the Christmas tree.  Is it not a Christmas tree if it has Christmas lights?  It was so nice to be out for dinner and to have our dog so welcome too.  The offered her treats, surprise, surprise.  And made sure she had water too.  Excellent service for all of us and excellent food.  Jeremy tried their Caliente Burger with jalapenos and jack cheese and I, after seeing all those artichoke vendors along Highway 1, their Artichoke Fettucini.  Yum yet again!  We had to roll ourselves back to the hotel, but thankfully it was slightly downhill.

We are staying on another day in Carmel, so we will post some more photos from playing tourist tomorrow.

Halfway through Eureka downtown proper Jeremy had a eureka moment!  I am probably not using that saying properly but I had to use it somewhere.  Jeremy realized he still had our hotel key cards in his pocket, so we saw downtown Eureka three times today.  And Koira got to bark at people on the street too a little more than usual.

Although the day started out promising in terms of the weather, it was not long before we hit the drizzle of the coast again.  We drove through beautiful redwood groves, spotted our second children’s swimming pool on the road (this time a plastic Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle pool with built-in slide safely resting on the northbound side of the highway), and stopped at a gas station with no gasoline but fantastic brownies and espresso – The Peg House.  We found premium gasoline in Legget, just down the road at the crossroads between Highway 101 and Highway 1.  Good thing, because the Honda was getting pretty low!

After filling up, Jeremy turned on his helmet cam to film Highway 1 for a little while.  It was just as amazing as we remembered from two years ago.  A little different, though, because we are going North to South this time instead of South to North.  The views of the ocean when we came out of the trees was amazing from this direction.

We were able to do the first stretch of Highway 1 from Legget to Fort Bragg on fairly dry roads, but the drizzle turned to actual rain just outside Fort Bragg.  We stopped at a busy beach access parking lot and donned the rain gear yet again.  We were not the only motorcyclists in the parking lot trying to put on rain gear as quick as possible.  Jeremy forgot to turn of his helmet cam so we have a recording of that too.  It is always easier to start out in rain gear if you know it is going to rain.  Putting it on while it is raining when you already have all your other gear on is challenging, if not down right annoying.

After we got the rain gear on and headed out, the rain eased up, of course, but it hit us again later, so we were ready for it.  Even with the rain, Highway 1 is amazing.  We have not found anything to top it anywhere else in Canada or the United States.  The switchbacks are challenging but the views are just stunning.  We kept imagining Koira having to do handstands (pawstands?) in her Pet Palace for some of those 15 MPH and 10 MPH hairpins but, at our rest stops, she seemed relaxed and just ready to explore.  What an adaptable dog!

We pushed on through the rain, the moving trucks, the bravest bicyclists in the world, and the slowest minivan EVER with Alberta plates (for shame, Mr. Albertan, for shame), until we reached Bodega Bay.  A well known “birding” area, the town of Bodega was made famous by Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.  We did a little loop through Bodega in an attempt to find a hotel but it is very, very small.  We headed back through Bodega Bay and pulled into the Bodega Coast Inn parking lot.  They were very pricey but it was a Saturday night and I did not know how much farther I could go, so we decided to take their last available room.  Bodega Bay is close enough to the Sonoma wine region that the hotel rates would probably not be much better anywhere else nearby anyway.  Even Koira cost us an extra $30 per night and she was not even allowed in the lobby.  Oh, well.  The room is quiet and has a nice little balcony overlooking Bodega Bay and all the birds.  Lots and lots of birds.

To date, unless Jeremy is in the picture, Jeremy has been the photographer and I the writer on this trip.  I tried taking some nighttime pictures of the bay and the lights.  I think that I should stick to the writing and let Jeremy take the pictures.  I guess I moved the camera . . . you can check out my “renditions” of the harbour at night.

Just as an aside to today’s adventure, I have to take time to reflect on those brave bicyclists on Highway 1 again.  We remember them from last time too.  It is pretty unnerving coming around a hairpin turn and seeing a bicyclist.  Driving Highway 1 on a loaded “three-up” motorcycle in the rain may be daring, but not as daring as every single bicyclist we met on the road today.  And to all the very, very brave and daring bicyclists we met on the road today, Jeremy came up with a haiku in your honour:

Why, why, why, why, why
Why, why, why, why, why, why, why
Why, why, bicycle?

We were on the road early this morning for us.  We managed to get the bike loaded by 8:00 AM, including a cranky little dog who wanted to stay in bed.  We headed out under gray skies with a major Oregon winter storm chasing our tail.  It was all about getting through the storm front today and, hopefully, crossing the border into California.

We only took short breaks today.  We hit two espresso huts along the way, one in Florence and one in . . . in . . . oh, I can’t remember and Jeremy cannot remember either.  Apparently, these espresso huts are just as popular in Oregon as Washington.  Maybe it is a coastal, Highway 101 thing.  Whatever it is, we are enjoying them!  I actually learned how to hold Jeremy’s half-finished triple Americano coffee with my left hand and hold on to Jeremy with my right hand while weaving through the redwood forest of Highway 101.  I did not spill a drop!  And it really is not as dangerous as it sounds.  The coffee was cold and most of my balance on the bike comes from my legs and hips, not my arms anyway.

Don’t worry.  We are not living on caffeine either.  We stopped at a gas station in Port Orford to fill up the bike and Koira, as everywhere we go someone wants to give her a dog biscuit.  We have had to restrict it to one a day and say no to people, who then look as disappointed as Koira.  We asked the local attendant where the best place is to eat in his town.  He suggested The Crazy Norwegian down the street, so we decided to try it.  The locals always know where the best food is.  The Crazy Norwegian had fantastic chowder and homemade sourdough buns.  And we met a couple from British Columbia.  They were heading back from Reno in their camper van.

Our other memorable stop today was a small beach access area on the California coast just after we crossed the border.  There was no sunshine yet in California but we could see a promising band of light in the distance that we were hoping was our planned stop for the night.  On the way back to the bike, Jeremy decided to use the facilities.  Normally I would not mention this part of our day except that, just after he entered the bathroom, a huge California Forest Fire Services/Correctional Services armoured truck pulled into the rest stop where we were parked.  I found it a little interesting, but did not think much about it and sat down to wait for Jeremy.  The guards wandered around a bit, checked things out, and then unlocked the doors on the back of the truck.  Well, about 20 orange-clad inmates poured out from the back of the truck.  Guess where they were heading?  The men’s bathroom.  I think the guards were waiting for the bathroom to be clear before they let them go in, but I was a little concerned for Jeremy.  When he has all his rain and motorcycle gear on, he takes a long time in the bathroom.  I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Jeremy’s red and black rainsuit come around the corner BEFORE the inmates got a chance to go in to the bathroom.  Jeremy laughed at my concern.  He told me that I did not need to worry, because “he was not having a shower in there.”  Now, I had to laugh at that!

Unlike the inmates, we were free to leave the rest stop at our leisure.  A few of them were watching us put the dog on the bike.  I guess they will have something to talk about at dinner tonight.  They will probably be calling her “Fifi” in their story too.

After the rest stop, we had one last stretch of Highway 101 ahead of us before our stop for the night.  At Arcana, we caught up to the sun in the distance that we saw at the rest stop.  As we pulled into the parking lot at the Red Lion hotel in Eureka, the sun was still shining.  We were not sure they would have room for us at the hotel, though, as just as we were pulling into the hotel parking lot, two buses were pulling out from Utah that had just dropped off a whole load of college football players and their entourage.  And then you kind of think about rowdiness and noise even if they had room for us for the night.  Well, this hotel is huge.  It swallowed up the football players without a peep and, by the time we were walking to our room down the mile long hallway, there was no sign of a football player, coach, mascot, or groupie anywhere.  Where did they go?   Did they all go straight to their rooms to get a little study time in tonight?  Yes, that must be it.

We wandered around “downtown” Lincoln City for a little while today and checked out the gift shops.  I found a fisherman’s small  glass float at an antique store to remember our trip here.  I took a picture of it just in case it does not make it home in one piece.  I am going to have to protect it well in my sidebag.  We might have to come back to Lincoln City in the winter.  Every year, from mid-October to Memorial Day you can comb the beaches here for glass floats that city volunteers have “planted” on the beaches here.  You find it, its yours!  They are quite pretty.  Jeremy’s treasure find today – homemade caramel popcorn, chocolate-coated “sea foam” toffee,  and bacon-flavoured toothpicks from Candyland.

We also spent a little more time on the beach today, enjoying the beautiful weather and the ocean breezes.  We saw lots of pelicans skimming the waves for fish.  Koira was a tired dog today from all her walking around downtown, but she did a bit more digging for rocks and chasing of seafoam.  And there were no more snakes on the stairs today.  Jeremy had the camera ready and was disappointed.  I, on the other hand, was not!

P.S. The video from yesterday has been modified so that it now acceptable to the CRTC…

After the short walk, Koira was already tired for the day.  And her day was only beginning.  She tucked her head into the bag and settled down to sleep, but we were only going down the street to see The Goonies house.  Does anyone else remember that movie?  It was right up there as one of my all-time favourite movies as a child.  And the house they used for the movie is in Astoria!  They also filmed a lot of the coastal scenes in the area as well.   The Goonies house is a private home, but they let people walk up to it and take pictures.  So, we did.  Pretty exciting.  I want to see the movie again now.

Our other touristy stop in Astoria before leaving, was the Astoria Column on Coxcomb Hill.   The monument was constructed in 1925 to officially recognize Astoria’s explorers and early inhabitants for establishing the first settlement on the Pacific coast of the United States.  Astoria is actually celebrating its bicentennial year this year as it was established in 1811.  The column is covered in paintings and plaster carvings depicting the milestones in Astoria’s history.  Not only is it a work of art, you can also climb it!  There is a 164 step spiral staircase in the inside of the column and a viewing deck at the top of the column.  Jeremy and I took turns going up to the viewing deck.  Good exercise to get our muscles and lungs working at the start of the day.  The rewarding view from the top deck made it worth it too.

By the time we had both had our chance to climb the Astoria Column, the fog had lifted and the sun was starting to shine and warm us up.  Time to hit the road and explore more of Highway 101.

Our next stop of the day was the Tillamook Cheese Factory in, you guessed it, Tillamook, Oregon.  When I heard there was free cheese here, it immediately became a waypoint for the trip.  I think the free cheese attracts everyone, though, not just cheese lovers.  It was very busy for off-season and the parking lot was very sunny and no shade for us or the dog.  I went in to see if there was any kind of takeout lunch for us.  No luck.  I did a whirlwind trip around the little grocery section and found a 2 foot long pepperoni, some Tillamook cheese curds, and some Oregon salmon jerky.  I also found some Crater Lake soda from Oregon to try.  It was the best I could do but Jeremy said it was “pepilicious.”  Koira and I enjoyed the cheese curd too, but it was still not as good as St. Albert cheese curds.  Just not squeeky enough.  Unfortunately, half way through our lunch snack, Jeremy’s Crater Lake root beer attracted a wasp, so he only got to drink half of it.  A second wasp tried to get my Crater Lake lemon and lime bitter but I managed to rescue it.  Did I tell you how much trouble with wasps we have on our trips?  We think it is the smell of dead bugs on our gear and our bikes that attract them.  Plus, I wear yellow and black gear.  That probably does not help.

It was time for gas before leaving Tillamook.  We have to get used to Oregon’s full serve policy again at gas stations.  It makes our stops quicker as we do not have to get off the bike, but Koira gives the attendants an earful when they come near the bike.   It is always amusing to see people try to figure out where the barking is coming from on Jeremy’s bike. We have to love those gas prices in Washington and Oregon, though!  Today, Jeremy paid $1.00 a litre for premium gasoline.  In British Columbia, before we crossed the border, we paid $1.49 a litre.

After Tillamook, despite the rest, we were both squirming on the bike from sore everything.  This trip,  Jeremy is having a lot of problems with his back and his knees.  For me, it is my hips.   Koira is just having problems with “bed head” from sleeping in the same position for so long.  We only made it to a Shell gas station in Cloverdale before we needed to stop again.  It did not help that we tried to do the Three Capes Scenic Loop to Cape Lookout State Park on a very rough, patchy road.  At Cloverdale, we both needed a little caffeine fix and to think about whether or not we could really make Coos Bay for the evening.  Coos Bay was another 200 KM or so from where we were and, at 50 KM stretches, it would be dark by the time we got to Coos Bay.  We decided to slow down and just head for Lincoln City for the night.  Lincoln City advertises itself as dog-friendly and was also named by Dog Fancy Magazine as “one of the ten top dog-friendly cities in the nation” (and that is a direct quote from the Lincoln City Central Oregon Coast Free Visitor Guide).  In the visitor guide for Lincoln City, we found a lodging listing called Sea Horse Oceanfront Lodging that allowed pets.  We have good luck with hotels with sea horse themes, so we plugged the address of this hotel into our GPS and headed out.

I do not know if it was the caffeine or the knowledge that we were only 45 KM from our hotel for the night, that last stretch of Highway 101 was the best and the most enjoyable.  We were only a little bit squirmy by the end.  Koira was out like a light in her Pet Palace by the time we pulled into the hotel parking lot.  She only gave a little “let me out bark” and waited for me to haul her out.  And what a nice inviting welcome for us and our dog!  Jeremy secured one of the little sea horse emblazoned semi-detached cabins for us for the night.  It is rustic Ottawa Valley cabin mixed with oceanfront theme.  We felt right at home.  They even provided Koira with a carob-coated dog biscuit and her own blanket for the evening.  If you have a dog and want to visit the Oregon coast, I can’t imagine any better accommodations.

After we settled in a little, we just had to see the ocean.  Although we do not have an ocean view from our cabin, we are only a stone’s throw away from the public access steps down to the beach and the Pacific.

Today, was definitely the day for stairs, as the staircase down to the beach had at least a hundred, small stone steps.  It was worth the walk down, despite the snake on the steps.  Jeremy stayed behind and took pictures of the snake while Koira and I hung out at the bottom of the stairs, a very safe distance away.  Thankfully, he left the snake where it was to find its own way down to the beach.  I think I liked the banana slug better than the snake, even if it was just a garter snake.

Well, the beach was just as beautiful as we remembered from the last time we were in Lincoln City and the water was just as icy cold.  We had a whole stretch of the beach to ourselves to wander.  After figuring out that the piles of seaweed were not out to get her, Koira loved it.  After getting surprised by her first wave, she figured out pretty quickly to run away from the waves.  Her favourite thing appeared to be chasing the seafoam.  She tried digging up rocks and shells.  We need to show her how to find live shellfish and not bring us empty shells.  She also stalked a seagull but he kept at a safe distance at all times.  She is not good at stalking.  Our cat Hungry would have had better luck.

We were all tired and windswept by the time we made it back up to the top of the beach stairs again, but we needed to find food for the evening.  We found a restaurant called the Beach Dog Cafe that allowed dogs in the visitor guide for Lincoln City and headed out on the bike with our wet, newly inaugurated beach dog.  And, they must have heard about us, as it looks like they closed, permanently at the end of the summer season.  No more Beach Dog Cafe.  It is going to be a Highway 101 burger joint in a couple of months.  Jeremy had spotted an open barbeque/family restaurant called Vivian’s Resturant and Bill’s Barbeque on our way to the Beach Dog Cafe so we decided to try there.  It was an excellent choice.  They let us sit outside on their picnic tables and we had barbeque everything and pan-seared scallops.  Even their caesar salad was good with its homemade dressing.  Yum!

As an interesting side note to the snake on the beach stairs, when Jeremy was getting the bike ready to go out for supper, he saw a group of local kids come running from the beach . . . one of the little boys holding the snake.  I guess the snake did not make it to the safety of the beach after all.  I almost felt sorry for the little guy . . . almost.

We decided to start out in our rain suits today as the weather forecasts were predicting rain all the way to the coast.  The ladies at the visitor centre in Yakima had also warned Jeremy that there was a chance of snow through the pass.  At first we thought we were sitting in our portable saunas for nothing, but then the rain caught up to us.  Even despite the drizzle and the cold through the pass, the Old Natches Highway and Gifford Pinchot National Forest was beautiful.  It is right up there with some of the best motorcycling roads we have been on.  It was a nice surprise.   If Jeremy had known how nice it was going to be, he would have worn his helmet cam again.

Thankfully, we did not encounter any snow.  Jeremy was still very happy to have his heated jacket, though.  I had mine on, but I did not plug it in.  I think I am getting heat from Jeremy’s jacket just sitting behind him as I did not feel the cold at all.  Also, I think he shelters me from the cold and rain.  And then Koira probably gets almost nothing being the third “person” up.  What a spoiled dog!  We keep telling people she is riding in more comfort than us!

Although we did not encounter snow, what we did encounter on the Old Natches Highway was a construction zone.  It is really one of the risks of traveling off-season just before winter on some of these popular scenic byways.  I noticed a tight clump of about twenty cars and trucks pass us going the other direction and wondered how that could have happened when the road was so quiet on our side.  A few miles down the road, we found out how that could happen.  We came upon stopped traffic and people wandering around and walking their dogs.  The porta-potties setup at the side were also not a good sign.  Jeremy went to talk to the other travelers while I unloaded the dog, not sure if I should bother taking of my helmet yet.  The news from Jeremy – a wait time of 40 minutes.  Well, that is definitely the record for us so far.   We wandered around, took pictures, talked to people, watched the flagger, watched people ask the flagger how much time was left, watched these people take a little hike, and then watch these same people walk up to the flagger and ask how much time they had been away on their hike and how much time they had left to wait.  Talk about little kids asking “Are we there yet?”  The wait ended up being more like 25 or 30 minutes.  The flagger probably exaggerates the amount of time he tells people so they are pleasantly surprised when it is time to go.  I imagine that is also a tactic that parents use in the car with little kids too.

After the Old Natches Highway, we came across a sign for a Mount St. Helens scenic lookout.  Well, we could not pass that up.  Jeremy remembers the ash that fell in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, from the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.  It is hard to believe the ash traveled that far, but it did.  He remembers his dad giving his brothers and him little film canisters to go out and collect some of the ash from the yard.   The weather was not good for viewing at the lookout, but we took some photos anyway.  You will just have to imagine the volcano and the crater hidden in the clouds like we did.

After the Mount St. Helens “imagination” exercise, we were ready for some lunch.  We found one of our favourite road trip restaurants – a Shell gas station – in Mossyrock.  As usual, Jeremy came out with a tasty lunch – burritos and egg rolls with “raspberry jam and coconut sprayed” Twinkies for dessert.  Koira got called “Fifi” by some Washington power company workers who stopped in for lunch at the gas station too.  I was a little insulted for her, but they did not mean it in a bad way.  They were pretty impressed that she was riding with us, despite her “Fifiness.”

We almost took our rain gear off at Mossyrock but decided we could stand the saunas just a little while longer just in case.  It was a good decision because we hit the heaviest rain yet that day about ten minutes down the road.  It did not last long and then we were into sunshine.  In Raymond, we finally stopped at one of the little espresso hutts we kept seeing all through Washington.  Even the smallest little towns, have an espresso hutt.  Seattle is know for its coffee chains, so we are thinking all these little espresso hutts all over Washington are to lure in the caffeine-addicted tourists from Seattle . . . and Calgary.  It was pretty good coffee and the little caffeine boost gave us the energy for that last little stretch to Highway 101 and Oysterville.

Now, I have been talking about Oysterville and Oysterville Sea Farms for several weeks now.  I had Jeremy pretty excited about fresh oysters.  I thought it was going to be a touristy town with some small hotels and a few restaurants.  No, I was wrong.  The drive in was nice along the peninsula and we got to see some cranberry bogs, but Oysterville is kind of like a little Upper Canada Village, but the homes are actually private residences with historic plaques at the gate.  And the restaurant – Oysterville Sea Farms – closed at 5:00 PM.  We were there at 5:20 PM.  Getting to places just a little too late seem to be a common theme on our road trips, unfortunately.

Plan B was to try and find seafood and a place to stay in Astoria, Oregon.  The Astoria Bridge crossing the mouth of the Columbia River was interesting.  It took us from Washington to Oregon.  It ran along the water for a little while and then seemed to start going up like the start of a roller coaster.   I was relieved to see it was it as not too steep on the other side and you gradually wound down into the town of Astoria.

We found a room at the Best Western Lincoln Inn beside the Port of Astoria.   On the advice of the hotel clerk, we decided to try and get some Greek takeout from the restaurant under the bridge.  On the motorcycle, it did not seem that far from the bridge to the hotel.  Walking, it was a lot longer.  We took the River Walk as far as we could along the ocean.  So, it was a nice walk, really.  Seeing a “wharf” rat scurrying away from a boat near our hotel was a little disquieting, though.  Is it a good thing to see it running away from the hotel instead of toward it?

Unfortunately, after the long walk, our craving for Greek food was not satisfied.  The twenty-four hour Greek restaurant was closed . . . just for us.  We ended up having to get KFC takeout.  I was beginning to think we would not even get that as they were seriously understaffed and the drive through was their priority.  They did give me a 10% discount for having to wait for so long.  Maybe we will have better luck with restaurants tomorrow.

And then, it started to rain again.  We had to stop about ten minutes into the United States and put on our rain gear.  All bundled up in our rain gear, we headed out again.  I had several “deja view” instances during this stretch of our trip.  It was almost like we were in Alberta . . . but not quite.  Like some kind of parallel universe where names and places were just not quite the same but very familiar.  There were advertisements for rodeos and “stampedes.”  And names of lakes and regions were very similar but not quite the same like – Okanogan instead of Okanagan.  I could not help but think of Steven King’s “The Talisman” with its parallel universe.  And then, wouldn’t you know, we drove into The Wasteland.  I would not be surprised if the basis for The Wasteland was this part of Washington.  Miles and miles and miles of dry, brown, rocky terrain with misshapen little trees and shrubs.

And then we came across something amazing – Dry Falls State Park.   It looks like the remains of an aggressive and ugly mining operation, but it is actually what was left behind from the world largest waterfall after the flow of water changed.  Koira wanted to explore the 1000 foot drop to the canyon below but we held her back.   She is afraid of the floor registers at home but had no fear of a 1000 foot drop into a canyon.  Go figure.  Jeremy said maybe she is just afraid of getting stuck in the hole in the floor at home, where there is no way her little fat butt could get stuck in this canyon!

The next stretch of riding was all about interstates.  We needed to cover some kilometres to get within riding distance of the coast for tomorrow.  Interstates are great for that, but not so nice for technical riding or scenery.  We stopped for lunch at a Shell/Texaco gas station and ate at the concrete picnic tables outside.  Koira got some more attention, some from a couple that had seen her at Dry Falls State Park but were to shy to ask about her there.  Jeremy rewarded her with a little piece of meatball from his gas station calzone.  My calzone was just a big ball of five different cheeses – Jeremy knows what I like!

We drove out of the gray clouds for a little while, but the clouds were definitely chasing us.  We arrived at the Yakima visitor centre about 3:00 PM.  Jeremy went into the visitor’s centre to get some suggestions for the next leg of our journey.  I think he made the bored ladies’ day.  He came out with maps galore and free peaches!  It was the best peaches we had eaten in a long, long time.  Koira enjoyed a few pieces too but I managed to get covered in sticky peach juice.  I am such a slob.

We decided, with the rainy weather chasing us, we had gone far enough today.  Jeremy went back into the visitor centre again and asked about pet friendly accommodations.  They recommended the Oxford Inn as it had a walking path behind it for dogs with easy access from the hotel room.  It sounded perfect!  And it was.  Jeremy even got a cookie to eat while he was checking us in!  And when I came in with the dog, we got a $5.00 discount for cuteness (well, probably because she was small, but I like that they said it was because she was cute)!

The only low point today, even with the rainy weather, was the Yakima Walmart experience.  Our hotel had a little microwave and fridge again so we decided to walk across the street to the Walmart and get some groceries for supper.  It was Jeremy’s turn to go in while I wait outside for him with the dog.  Well, Koira did not approve of the Yakima Walmart.  She kept trying to pull me back to the hotel.  For a little dog, she can really pull and I took turns pacing with her and carrying her in front of the Walmart.  Well, that drew the attention of the Walmart security guard.  He walked over to me and started making notes in his little official notebook.  I don’t know what he thought I was doing, but he thought I was acting suspicious, I guess.  He was ignoring the bunch of half-drunk questionables at the picnic table at the other end of the parking lot, but the lady with the nervous white dog deserved his attention.  Just before Jeremy came back out, he walked past me, hand to mouth in a lewd sort of way and said “Bag ‘em and tag ‘em.”  What does that mean?  What a creep.  It was just after two guys walked past me into the Walmart and said “Look at the cute dog.”  Did he really think I was trying to catch a man with my little white dog outside of a Walmart?  How stupid is that?  What would you want to “bag” at the Yakima Walmart?  If you were that desperate, would it not be smarter to hang out around a luxury car dealership or high-end jewellery store?  Anyway, there is a reason he is a “rent-a-cop” at a Walmart.   Not the brightest bulb at the police academy probably.  I feel better now.  I needed to vent about it.

Anyway, despite my “experience” outside the Walmart, Jeremy foraged us a fantastic little meal in the Walmart.  For $20.00 we had microwaveable tacos with a salad (yes, we are still trying to eat healthy on the road), a four-pack of Guinness, and a bottle of Lucky Duck Cabernet Sauvingnon.  Oh, and Magnum Double Caramel ice cream bars that we had to eat as an appetizer when we realized there was no freezer part to our little hotel fridge.

Despite our early rise, this morning, we still did not make it on the road much earlier than usual.  By the time we packed up, posted yesterday’s blog, and had our complimentary breakfast of “huevos rancheros” (excellent wrapped in a homemade tortilla) delivered to us in the lobby because Koira was not allowed in the restaurant (which is perfectly understandable), it was already 8:00 AM.  It was raining during this time period anyway, so the delay let the clouds pass over Nelson a little.

We packed up the bike in the hotel parking lot while other guests packed up their cars.  Everyone had to stop and ask us where Koira rode again too.  I tell ya, she is the popular one!  After Jeremy took some photos of Nelson’s historic courthouse, we were off again!

We re-traced our route a little and lined up to ride “Canada’s Best Motorcycling Road” – the Kaslo to New Denver route.  We actually made it to Kaslo before we realized we had not had any caffeine yet today.  What is up with that?  Awake at 5:30 AM and no coffee yet?  We found a little coffee shop in Kaslo that roasted and sold its own coffee beans – Oso Negro (Black Bear).  We picked it for its outdoor patio for the dog, but the coffee was excellent and the pumpkin spice muffin and orange-infused icing was  pretty good too!  Koira spent her time hunting for crumbs under the table.

We wandered around Kaslo a little before heading off.  What a nice little town!  Along the waterfront, we discovered the restored S.S. Moyie, a famous paddle-wheel steamer.   We rode a “replica” of the S.S. Moyie at Heritage Park in Calgary so it was a nice surprise to see the real thing!  We also saw a little display of Kaslo’s former rescue boat – The Verna.  Compared to search and rescue boats of today, it was not very big, but I guess it did the job for many, many years.

After Kaslo, it was time for “Canada’s Best Motorcycling” route.  Jeremy turned on the helmet cam for this one.  It was definitely an amazing ride.   We only got stuck behind a campy once (our name for campers and camper-like vehicles).  He was nice enough to pull off to the side for us, though, and we had the road to ourselves the rest of the way.  Conditions were a little on the wet side, so Jeremy had to ease off on the throttle a little, but I think the road lived up to his expectations.  We will be back some day on two bikes so I can ride it too.  It was still pretty amazing as a passenger.

After New Denver, we made the run to Castlegar.  The rain clouds and wind were chasing us but we got to Castlegar ahead of the storm and relaxed in the Canadian Tire parking lot with some A&W lunch and, yet again, a beautiful scenic view of the mountains.  Koira got her french fry again from Jeremy so she was happy.  As we started packing up again, it started to rain.  It looks like Day 2 of our trip this year will be the rainy one.

Just after Castlegar, the rain got heavy enough to warrant warmer clothes and rain gear.  We stopped, donned some extra gear, battened down the hatches on Koira’s Pet Palace, and kept going.  Jeremy tried out his new heated jacket and was in heated bliss.  I think I picked a good birthday present this year.

The rain eased up and then disappeared by the time we reached a historic “Point of Interest” in the Kettle Valley area.  That is all the sign said, but we needed a break and stretch so we stopped.  I also wanted to make sure that Koira had stayed dry in all that rain.  She was dry and sleepy when I hauled her out of the bag.  So, it passed the rain test.

The historic “Point of Interest” was the Dewdney Trail.  Apparently, Edgar Dewdney, an engineer, was commissioned for $50,000 to create a 4 ft wide trail from Fort Hope (now Hope, British Columbia) to Fort Steele in 1860, and was only given a year to do it.   He met all his contract deadlines!  What an amazing feat!  He created the trail and it became the base for much of Highway 3 – British Columbia Crowsnest Highway.  Jeremy also found something interesting that was not advertised on the historic plaques.  A box of what appeared to be garage sale cast-offs.  Just an odd combination of things in a box.  If we had any room to spare, we might have taken the little toy truck.  It will be a nice little find for a little boy or girl that stops, anyway.

After the Dewdney Trail break, it was time for the last stretch of the day to Osoyoos.  Today proved, yet again, you just never know what kind of obstacles you are going to encounter when riding a motorcycle.  Our safety courses never told us what to do when you you come across a big, inflatable Barbie princess swimming pool sliding across the road in front of you.  It was pretty windy so this pool must have escaped from someone’s backyard.  Jeremy slowed down and watched which way the wind was blowing it and then swerved around it.  Seemed to be the right approach.  Too bad the helmet cam was not on.  We will probably never see that again!

We made it to Osoyoos, despite the wind and swimming pool obstacles, nice and early today.  The view descending into Osoyoos from the East is fantastic, but one of us had to keep an eye on the hairpin turns and the sharp cliffs instead of gazing down the valley.  Once we made it down to lake-level, we cruised the main street and picked out the Super 8 as our home for the night.  A heated pool and hot tub, and right across the street from the 7-11.  Ahhh…  sipping a Slurpee in the hot tub…

We were up early and had a leisurely breakfast, packed a few last-minute items, walked the dog and left. We took the easy way out of town through Bragg Creek then headed up to the Trans-Canada as far as Canmore before the first rest stop was ordered. Since we didn’t really need anything we stopped at the visitor information center on the edge of town so Koira could have a sniff and I could try out my favourite ride, then it was back on the bike.

After Canmore, we were riding new territory. Normally, we take the Highway 93 to Radium Hot Springs to visit Jeremy’s Mom but today there was no turning. We kept straight and headed towards Yoho National Park and Golden. I kept an eye out but, unlike my parents, I did not see any wolves running in the ditches. Koira would have loved to smell a wolf . . . from a distance, on a motorcycle, safe in her Pet Palace.

We stopped at the Golden Arches in Golden for lunch. The Golden Golden Arches. Just like Invermere, even the local businesses have beautiful views from their parking lots. We grabbed a little picnic table out back and ate our fast food lunch. Koira even got a few french fries, much to the chagrin of the ravens watching us from the nearby picnic table. They were the largest ravens that I had ever seen but Jeremy said he saw bigger in Iqaluit. The ravens in Iqaluit rumble with the large stray dogs for garbage. These one’s were sizing Koira up with their beady black eyes but they decided to hang back and wait until we were done.

After Golden, we headed for Revelstoke and gained an hour simply by crossing a time zone. We like that! Its hard when you lose an hour, though. In Revelstoke, we stopped at a busy Chevron station and watched the hustle and bustle for awhile. Revelstoke is the halfway point between Vancouver and Calgary. Very busy spot. People came up to us and wanted to talk about our dog and where we were heading. When we say our goal is California they are stunned. I think they are expecting us to say Vancouver.

Next on our agenda, after some rest at Revelstoke, was a ferry ride. We love ferries! Especially free ones! The highway to the Galena Bay/Shelter Bay ferry was a nice surprise and one of the best roads for motorcycling that we had been on all day. We had to wait about fifteen minutes for the ferry but we got to meet more people again. Everyone is just so curious about the dog and where we are taking her. She is a real hit on the road! Even once we were on the ferry, we had people coming up to us to meet her (and us because we were with her only). Maybe we should teach her to give autographs! We popped the lid on her bag and let her smell the air and see her adoring fans. Well, it was not quite like that, but exaggeration is fun in blogs.

Koira gave the other motorcyclists a good barking as we drove off the ferry and then we were off again. We stopped at a little roadside gas station in Slocan for a snack and, just like Revelstoke, watched the hustle and bustle of town life. Everyone had a dog and three kids in their car.

After our rest and some free plums, it was time for the last stretch of the day. We discovered that there were not many hotels in New Denver, so we decided to re-route to Nelson. Nelson had a few pet-friendly hotels to pick from according to www.bringfido.com, so we thought it would be a better place to stop for the night. The Best Western was full for the night but they recommended the Hume Hotel down the street. They had a room for us and allowed pets. Whew! It is a very interesting old heritage hotel too with some character. It was built in 1898 and restored in the 1980s. The restoration did not include an elevator, though, so we had to hike up three stories with our luggage and the dog.

After settling into our room, we needed sustenance and some libation. We did not know what we would find where we could bring Koira, but we wandered down main street and saw pizza spinning in a warming rack in the window of a little Italian deli. Jeremy negotiated with the patron and she allowed us to sit on the outdoor patio as long as Koira stayed tucked under the table. It was pretty late by then so there was only one other couple on the patio. So, Jeremy and I even got to have a night out on the town and a little drink after our ride. Koira got a few pieces of bacon off of Jeremy’s slice of pizza too. She is not going to want to go home!

Random iPhone pictures:

After 160 KM of interstate, we were chilled to the bone.  Every 10 KM/H on the motorcycle makes it feel one degree cooler on the bikes, so when we are on the interstate we are talking  negative, freezing temperatures.  We were both starting to shiver uncontrollably so we needed to stop for coffee and something warm to eat.  As usual, McDonald’s in Syracuse came through for us for food and hot coffee, but not WiFi.  Really, the WiFi stickers need to be taken off all the McDonald’s in the United States.  Talk about false advertising! 

Just in that 30 minute rest in Syracuse, the temperature rose a few degrees outside and the sun finally broke through the clouds a bit.  Ahhhhh . . . warmth . . . even just a little . . . made all the difference.  We also put on another layer of gear.  That probably helped too.

We were making good time after Syracuse.  The Highway 13 North was pretty fast for a smaller highway and not too busy at 9:00 in the morning.   There is some beautiful farmland in New York.  It is not just about the Big Apple.  We were steadily chipping away at Petunia’s ETA in Ottawa of 5:30 PM.  At one point, we were back on the I-80 near Pulaski (the town with a hitchinig post for horses at their McDonald’s), where our trip began last year.  Hmmm . . . our second crossover experience with our trip from last year.  The other was a brief crossover with Morgantown, West Virginia two days ago.

We started to wonder a little about Petunia’s route.  How could we possibly have as far to go as she said if we had already passed Pulaski, New York.  We had stopped at Pulaski last year for lunch after not that long a ride from home.  Jeremy checked our route.  Bad, little Petunia!  She had picked the Wolfe Island Ferries as her optimized route for the day.  She did not want the trip to end!  She was enjoying being a tourist!  Sorry, Petunia.  No ferry for you today.  Suck it up!

Jeremy changed a few settings of Petunia’s settings and like, magic, more than a hundred kilometres dropped off our trip.  We were going to cross the border at Gananoque and be home by 2:00 PM.  What a nice surprise!

Traffic was pretty heavy at the border for a Thursday.  There were only two lanes open due to maintenance work/construction.  Really, the untold story of our trip.   The United States and Canada are under construction . . . everywhere.  Make work, not debt . . .

We only had to wait about 15 minutes or so.  I managed to get through the border without being stung by the wasp that kept landing on my bike and my hand.  He decided he did not want to go to Canada and buzzed off just as I was waved forward to the booth.  Kept me distracted from worrying about the crossing.  I don’t know why I get so nervous about border crossings.  We had nothing to hide.  All we bought in our 11 days in the United States were postcards, a miniature “rotten” dog, two little gifts for my parents, and some deep-fried peanuts.

Canada greeted us with the usual – a cold, miserable rain.  Not quite enough to stop and put our rain gear but just enough to make us feel just a bit colder and a little more anxious to be home.

We spent the last hour booting it down the 401 and the 416.  Roads we know very well.  The rain got heavier as we approached the outskirts of Ottawa but we did not want to stop.  What was the point?  We would be home in a half hour anyway.  It would take about that long for the rain to actually seep through all our layers of gear anyway, even without the rain gear.

And then, there it was.  Our townhouse, our driveway, our garage.  My parents were there to greet us along with our little dog.  Our cat waited long enough on the front porch to give us a dirty look and then ran away to sulk on the back deck.  Ahhhh . . . everything back to normal.  All is right with the world.  Now, lets get that fireplace fired up.  I can’t stop shivering again.

We started out with a little bit of a disappointment.  Our tourist trap scheduled for today was Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.  Apparently, it is closed on Wednesdays for tours.  We could walk the ground for $8 each, so we decided to go anyway.  We wanted to see Fallingwater, even if we could not see the inside.

The drive into Fallingwater was quite nice through the Laurel Highlands.  The leaves are starting to change in this area, so we got to experience some of those famous fall colours.  A nice little drive before the chaos that we were about to experience that is the “parking” lot at Fallingwater.

We bought our tickets at the box office at Fallingwater and tried to follow the instructions of the attendant to the parking lot on the right, but a huge pit and an angry construction worker blocked our way.  Apparently, the attendant meant we were to go to the crappy gravel parking lot to HER right, not our right.  We tried to park on the paved area of the miniscule little parking lot that was provided to us, but the angry construction worker had it out with Jeremy about blocking the road.  Not very nice at all.  He finally agreed to let us park in the paved bus parking since there would be no bus tours coming in today.  We were both a little flustered after the experience, so the calm oasis that Fallingwater is supposed to be was just not happening for us yet.

Maybe our initial impressions of the whole historic site were tainted by our entry, but the whole time we just felt that something was just not right about it.  We finally got to see our favourite architect’s masterpiece up close and personal, but we were just not feeling it for some reason.  We took lots of photos and were even able to walk around on some of the balconies, but there just seemed to be no joy in it for us.

Jeremy hit the nail on the head for what was wrong with the experience after we left and had some time to think about it on the road (paying attention to our driving too, of course, while we discussed it on our intercom).  Fallingwater is not being looked after.  It is being used as a cash cow by Pennsylvania.  They want to make sure there is plenty of parking for their 150,000 visitors a year but they do not fix the broken windows or the concrete pillars over the driveway (they had fixed one of the disintegrating concrete overhead beams on the driveway with metal Jerry poles and wood painted the same colour as the concrete).  And some of the rooms in the actual house are being used for administration and off-limits to the public.  If it is truly a historic site/American treasure, none of the administration should be in the house or carport.  Anyway, we saw Fallingwater, even if we were a little upset about how it is being treated.

After Fallingwater, it was time to cover some kilometeres again.  We only had two days to cover 1500 KMs, so it was time to boot it to the border.  Petunia took us through some beautiful country highways and then some not too beautiful “paved” roads covered in gravel roads through New York.  We rode until we were just too tired and cold to ride anymore.  That happened to be Corning, New York.  Well, actually Painted Post, New York, since there were no rooms available in Corning, New York.  The hotels were filled up with road construction workers for America’s countrywide Renewal Project.  We  found a room at the Ramada Inn and had supper across the street at the diner called The Jellybean Restaurant.   It was a little bit of a surprise.  It was full of aging locals but decorated like a children’s play room.  They gave us Jelly Belly jelly beans instead of mints with our bill.  Yummy!