In Summation

This trip, my longest to date, gave me a couple of important realizations.  

#1, traveling by motorcycle east of the Rockies is not worth the effort and expense.  There is great riding and scenery in the Midwest and beyond, no doubt.  Northern Arkansas and West Texas (Big Bend Region) have great riding.  But they don’t outshine what we have in the West.  The roads and scenery in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, California (north of Redding only) and British Columbia will satisfy me for the rest of my riding life.   I could be happy limiting my riding to BC, WA, OR, and ID.  But I won’t.

#2: My trip enjoyment wanes at about three weeks.  That’s not to say that I won’t ride longer than that, but at the three week mark motel and fast food fatigue kicks in.

As for fast food, I rarely consume it in my “regular” life.  But when pulling into an unfamiliar town, I look for two things: familiarity and proximity to a gasoline station.  If that means Burger King, so be it.  If that means Popeye’s, fantastic.  I’m happy to say that I never stooped to Subway on this trip, except at one somewhere in Southern Missouri to use their bathroom.

Speaking of bathrooms, I learned from doing field visits early in my public health career that McDonald’s facilities are generally reliable.  The teenagers working there don’t care if you use the restroom and don’t buy anything. Also, public libraries, Durango, Colorado’s was stellar.  

My motorcycle performed flawlessly.  Having been stranded on other trips by other motorcycles which will go unnamed, but their initials are B M W, I really appreciate this kind of reliability.  My only concern is that one of its most favored qualities, its light weight, makes it a challenge to ride in extremely windy conditions.  That’s a trade-off that I will live with.  I kept up the maintenance, with an oil change in Janesville, WI and new tires in Fargo, ND.  (Don’t make wood chipper jokes when visiting.)  The Tiger is overdue for its 30,000 mile maintenance, which it will get on June 22 at Cascade Moto Classics in Beaverton.

Thank you for your interest.  I very much appreciate the likes and comments.

Total miles ridden: 7341

Length in days: 30

Nights in hotels/motels: 21

Nights at friends’: 9

States visited: Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho.  I spent about an hour in Arizona (lunch and fuel) and about a minute in New Mexico – The Four Corners Effect.

Longest day: Bend to Redding by way of Crater Lake - 420 miles 

Easiest day: Fargo to Glendive, MT all interstate, 385 miles

Hardest day: Glendive to Butte, MT, cut short at Big Timber because of heinous crosswinds

Best riding/scenery (in no particular order):

• US 554 (Million Dollar Highway) from Durango to Montrose, CO
• California 299 west from Adin, great views of Mt. Shasta
• US 12 along the Clearwater River, Idaho

Best hotel: Comfort Inn and Suites, Fargo. Runner up, La Quinta in Duluth 

Worst motel: Pony Canyon, Austin, NV. Runner up, Sunset Lodge, Escanaba, MI

Best meal: Big Sky, Stoughton, WI (crab cakes!), runner up El Metate in Mesa Verde National Park

Worst meal: Packaged convenience store sandwich, White Eagle, OK

Furthest point south: Hot Springs, AR

Furthest point east: Munising, MI

Furthest point north: Glendive, MT, barely edging out Missoula and Duluth, MN

Most amazing sights:

• Meteor at twilight between Mesa Verde National Park and Cortez, CO - It seemed so close; I thought it was a giant bottle rocket. 
• Black bear crossing Minnesota Highway 200 near Leech Lake, Chippewa National Forest  

#triumphtiger

#motorcycletravel

The Blogspot platform is user unfriendly, at least with an iPad. So I’m posting on Instagram with identical posts on Facebook. I encourage you to check there. My Instagram handle is rlosquin. I’m on Smugbook at https://www.facebook.com/carlos.quintanilla.10420.

Once the trip is done, I may do a compilation/summary at this site. Thanks for looking!

Last Minute Changes and a False (?) Start

I awoke earlier than expected. This was a good thing as I’d realized that doing 1/3 of a load of laundry was better than letting it fester in the hamper for six to eight weeks. I also had to build a fort around the door from my garage into my house. To protect it from a free range pissing neighbor dog. I started to type the whole sordid story. How about this? You want more details, let me know in a comment.

At the last minute I brought along a duffel bag. I was proud that I’d fit everything in the cases and tank bag. But there was no spare room. It’s a good thing I added the duffel because when I shed my jacket liner, there would have been no place to put it. Plus it gave me room to bring the Fig Newtons that I shouldn’t have bought so close to leaving town.

About 15 miles into the ride, I realized that I’d forgotten my hydration pack. Because I might need to have water when I visit Mesa Verde. And with the duffel, I now have room. I hope it was worth the extra miles and lost time. But—lost how?  Having a very loose schedule and traveling alone allows me to indulge my absent mindedness. My mistake affects no one else. At least not this particular mistake. So I got the hydration pack. Done. 

One of my goals in this trip is to avoid riding interstate highways. In the interest of getting out of familiar territory, I rode about 100 miles on I-5. Between Olympia and Vancouver it actually gets pretty. If you can appreciate it while watching out for psychos in lifted four wheel drive trucks. I had originally planned to ride US 12 over White Pass but in the interest of not starting with a very long drive, I opted to take WA 14 through the Columbia River Gorge.  It is one of my favorite rides. A combination of eye-popping scenery and curves. I’ve ridden all over the West and the Gorge is hard to beat. 

One would think that having traveled tens of thousands of miles on a motorcycle, I would have acquired some helpful habits. Not so! Sure I’ll have a Tillamook cheeseburger and fries at Burgerville. It put me to sleep. But there is a wonderful rest stop on 14, overlooking the Columbia. A great place for a bathroom break (Oh, yeah. Skip the iced tea next time) and a quick snooze. After that I was ready for more. 

I turned south onto 197 at The Dalles, OR. This is what I signed up for. Sweeping curves and elevation changes and almost no other traffic. Gorgeous. Perfect. Sorry, no photos. 

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been in Central Oregon. Let’s say there’s been a little growth. Madras has traffic now. Ugh. 

And because every trip has to have its moments of surrealism, when I pulled into the Dunes Motel in Bend, I saw that some of  my fellow guests were members of a drag troupe. Several young men in heavy makeup but still in t-shirts and shorts, heading out to their performance. Okay, it’s Bend, which in some ways is a sagebrush Portland.  If I’d seen this in Madras, that would have been surreal. 

Again, sorry. No photos. 

I Have a Date

A departure date, that is. May 5. And this will not be the Cinco de Mayo tour. Unless Cervecería Modelo or Jose Cuervo wants to underwrite me.

I took the Tiger in to Cascade Moto Classics in Beaverton, OR to have a new exhaust installed. There  was nothing wrong with the old one. I just wanted something lighter, better looking, and better sounding. It is all of those things. I can actually hear my motor while riding at highway speed. It was perhaps a frivolous purchase, or vanidoso, as my friend Veronica called it. But, it makes me happy. 

And because no trip to the shop goes without a previously unidentified issue, they recommended replacing my chain and sprocket. Not a fun purchase but if it keeps me from getting stranded in Eastern Nevada, bring it on. And as the mechanic pointed out, I did get 26,000 miles out of the original chain and sprocket. 

So stay tuned, six days and counting. 

Not Gone Yet

My departure date has been delayed until after May 1, due to family needs. All is well. 

The route plan has changed a bit:
Olympia 
Bend, OR (via US 12 and 97)
Redding, CA
Sonoma, CA
Austin, NV

From Austin, the route stays the same.  Though it will be flexible throughout the trip. The reason for the change was my accepting Ted and Terri Barton’s gracious invitation to visit them in Sonoma. 

I’ve been in touch with a few other friends who live along the route. Almost all will be around for a visit from me. Some I haven’t seen in many years; a reunion is long overdue. 

The week before last I packed the bike as I will for the trip and took a shakeout ride down to Mt. Saint Helens. All went well and there is room to spare. It was an excellent ride, 212 miles with cooperative weather. Unless you count the last nine miles to the observation center being closed due to snow on the road.  It was early April in the Cascades, after all. 

There was a bit of water on the road on the way. Too deep for me. Never claimed to be an ADV badass. 

I reread a couple of posts from 2016, when I got soaked to the skin riding through Montana rainstorm. I’m happy to report that I replaced the old riding gear with Aerostich. I’ve had it about a year and have ridden through steady rain with it a couple of times. It performs as advertised and reported by other riders. Keeps my dry and with the heated jacket liner, warm. 

The Tiger has gotten a few upgrades. Most importantly a Madstad windscreen to replace the CalSci. The latter had a tendency to crack at the mounting points. After three screens, I decided it was time to to try something else. I also added a MotoJug hydration system. It mounts a one gallon water container with a long hose to the bike. No hydration pack to make my shoulders sore. It looks a little Jed Clampett but performs very well. I will appreciate it on those long rides through the desert. 

2018 Plan

After nine months of working temporarily at the Washington State Department of Health Immunization Program I am now fully retired. Even receiving Social Security benefits. Once again, I have the freedom to travel. Aside from five days in Eastern Oregon in early October, all travel since August 31, 2017 (my last day at work) has been non-motorcycle. Three and a half weeks in Europe, two weeks in Yucatán, and this Tuesday, a week in New Mexico. 

But this blog is about motorcycle travel. I have long wanted to ride across the country, more accurately, across North America as I want to see a fair amount of Canada. My plan is to leave in mid-April, weather allowing. My fairly flexible itinerary is:

Olympia 
John Day
Austin, NV
Torrey, UT
Cañon City, CO
Oklahoma City
Hot Springs, AR
Southern Louisiana 
Natchez Trace through Mississippi and Alabama 
North Georgia Mountains 
Tellico Plains, TN, Cherohala Parkway
Blue Ridge Parkway  
Richmond, VA
Not sure what I want to do here, would like to see a friend on Long Island, then ferry to Connecticut and Rhode Island (two states I’ve never visited) but traffic is a big negative. Instead might go through eastern Pennsylvania and the Adirondacks to Vermont, New Hampshire, then coastal Maine. 
Nova Scotia 
Québec 
Ontario
Upper Peninsula, MI
Wisconsin 
Minnesota 
North Dakota 
Manitoba
Saskatchewan 
Alberta
British Columbia
Home

I haven’t tried to calculate the miles, but I think it will be at least 10,000. 

Most of these cold rainy days find me reading other riders’ trip reports online, getting ideas and inspiration. Many riders camp at least part of the time. The pros are money saved and staying in beautiful places with no brick and mortar lodgings. The cons are getting rained on, bugs, having to haul my aged carcass out of the tent for late night peeing, and rowdy neighbors. The last isn’t such a big problem. I just wanted the chance to use the term “Camaro Campground.”

The value of a real bed, bathroom, and WiFi after riding 400+ miles can’t be overstated. No decisions yet, however. 

A brief respite

But is it a respite, really?  Respite implies a break from something unpleasant. Let's just say that I'm back at my sister and brother-in-law's for a few days. Returned to Issaquah yesterday evening around 7:00. This followed three days of riding in Eastern Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia in the Selkirk Loop. Stops included Nelson for the auto show, Nakusp for the hot springs, and Osoyoos for one last night on a Canadian lake (my photos seem to follow that theme). 

Riding alone and riding with others both have their appeal. I can't say that I prefer one over the other. While the camaraderie and company is very pleasant, so is the freedom that riding alone brings. Stopping whenever I want without concern for slowing the others down or causing concern that I've met with some mishap. Or not stopping. 

It was a great ride, 15 days on the road and just over 3800 miles. There were a couple of rest days and a couple more of shorter loop rides. The bike performed flawlessly, the tires made it, no tickets, and no bike drops. My only close call was trying to change into a lane simultaneously with a Ford Transit about five miles from my sister and brother- in-law's house. How would that have been for tragic irony?

Autumn starts in less than two weeks. In these more northern latitudes, the leaves have started to change and even with warm sunny days, the air quickly cools as the sun lowers in the sky. It's a beautiful time of year but it signals the short, dark, rainy days to come.  I have got to solidify some plans to get myself south for the middle term. 

I'm in town for a few days, doing laundry, seeing my mother, and hoping to connect with a prospective buyer for my RV. That could be a whole other blog but I'll pass for now.  Within the next week I'll be back on the bike heading circuitously to Northern California and Sonoma. More to come. 

A few more images:

Manito Park, Spokane 

Fauquier to Needles, BC Ferry

Arrow Lake, Nakusp

Lake Osoyoos

Rain/rest day, Great Falls, MT

Nelson, BC