Keslo to Golden..wow

Arriving in Golden today, made me miss Keslo. I know the best day of the trip is gone. Riding to Keslo along Kootenay Lake was great, no traffic, curves with mountains on both sides. The lake was crystal clear and smooth as silk, wish I could have been on it for a ride.

Then when in Keslo we had a great dinner, and talked with neighbors all night at the motel, a few were other riders. The tow was not a tourist spot it was a lost world. Smaller than Scenery Hill it was squeezed in a peninsula on the lake, less than 500 people call it home. It as special as Silverton Colorado, Mexican Hat Utah and Red Lodge Montana have been in the pass, I want to stay in Keslo.

But we are in Golden, which is a normal town. Blah.

The ride from Keslo to Golden..top 5 ever, maybe number one.
Thinking back:
1. My Minnesota 1000 winning ride
2. Beartooth Highway and stopping at the Top of the World store
3. Going to the Sun in Glacier USA (the first time)
4. Monterey WV doing the Void rally with Jenn (hate the rally!)
5. Ouray Colorado to Silverton Colorada

But I may need to push today to oh say number 3 on that list. It would be number two but I doubt Jenn will be able to get back here to spread my ashes here so we will keep Beartooth up there as #2.

Car, bike, motorcycle what ever, if you have a love for riding isolated roads, with scenery unmatched you need to go from PortHill Idaho to Golden BC. Glacier Park in Canada is indescribable. But I'll post a few pictures to help you see what I mean.

Virgin Ground - Kootenay Valley

Glacier was cool even the second time but when its all new its all cool.

We left Whitefish early, there was a chill in the air so stopping to add layers was the first stop. The second was the border crossing in Porthill Idaho, sort of reminiscent of those border crossings you see in the movies with a guy with a drop arm gate..it was small, and out of the way. The border agent for Canada was a women in a uniform... ya getting me?

After the crossing we worked towards rt 3a or 31a I don't recall but it snaked along the Kootneay Lake that it followed the shore for the first 40 miles. There is a lot more but the road turned to the lake and we ended up on a ferry. It was 300PM on my clock and we made the cut as they pulled the ramp behind us. No small ferry, it had a coffee shop and 4 sets of restrooms.

The ride from the ferry to Keslo was another great stretch as it winded along the shoreline for another 30 miles. Crystal, clear water and real goose egg rocks lined the shores. They lake lies between the Kootenay Rockies chain with 8K tall peaks along its shores.

Kelso and all the other lake towns are here for two reasons Timber and gold. They would float miles of timber down the lake pushed by stern wheel tugs and the hill had gold in them. The town of Keslo restored the last stern wheeler from the lake the retired in 1957, it went up and down the lake for the 59 years prior to its retirement. Its said if its made of iron it was halued in the SS Moyie.

This is the SS Moyie today.

This the view out the back of the Laundromat! Not kidding.

This the deck of the ferry.

Get the heck out of Eastern Montana

Day 2 Havre to Whitefish

We wanted to go through Glacier one more time in case we missed something the first time. Well its never as good as the first time, we hit loads of Labor day visits so traffic was slow to the point of stop and go on the west side...cause it was raining. So is was 63 degree and raining on slippery roads. I did not see much. But I'm sure the pictures will be great. Some day I'm going to spend more than 2 hours in that park, big mountains, clear streams and smells great.

For lunch we at Johnson's in St Marys by recommendation. Grimes they remembered you but said you had more hair in '94. Lunch was good and the placed I'm sure had not changed since you were there. Homemade bread..

Don't laugh but we stayed at Sleep Cheap Motel in White fish..it was like going home to Mom's and staying in your old bedroom. With the 30 year old furniture and the same sheets.

About 300 miles on the day. And a big mistake, my goal was no CHIAN food or rooms once on the bike. Well we were duped!
McKenzie River Pizza is a chain. But its pizza was great. Oh well once mistake.

A few pictures from the d

ay.

Its all about SCALE

Its all about scale.

Today, we did 116 miles in the truck and 467 on the bike. It did not look that far on the map.
Then I looked at the scale, it became clear the my trusty atlas make it look easy. The same distance on the Pennsylvania map is oh about 57% of the scale of Montana.


It was cool in Dickinson, ND when we got to the station, found the perfect place to unload and we were on the way by oh 1030am.


What can I say about Eastern Montana? Flat, straight roads, flat, windy, flat, hay, flat..


We ran into gas issues twice! Seems running 75-85mph has an affect of the gas mileage. No longer can I get 250 from a tank..160 was 6 miles into the 30 mile warning light which was going to be a 20 mile warning. I out 5.3 gallons in a 6.08 tank.

Ran into another Pa couple that were from down the road from Scenery Hill and actually had dinner in Scenery Hill last Saturday.


The Roosevelt Painted Desert in North Dakota is a good way to burn some time in western ND.

We seen this scene oh about 1000x...

We did blast by Flat Lake at Fort Peck. Check the poser.

Motel tonight El Toro Inn..not bad, very clean. Food at PJ's in was good but cheap.
Havre has more slot machines per person than most towns. The motel has a couple in the game room, the restaurant was in a casino that reminds me of the food court in the front of Hills, the convenience store had a half dozen.

Tomorrow the real fun starts..Glacier, Going to the Sun Highway, Logan Pass. White fish for the night. Maybe end the night with some Fat Tire Ale.

Happy Labor Day everyone..take some time to enjoy the fruits of your work.

Just made North Dakota @10 pm eastern. I hate being in a car this long.

New trip, dusting off the cobwebs

Leaving for Dickinson ND next week with a trip through the Canadian Rockies, stay tuned.

AWRCS - Clintonville

Everyone has their story to tell, this is mine. I'll let the others speak form themselves..its much more comical that way.

Got up a 5:00am to make the drive to Clintonville, arrived at the track at the same time as Tim and Rob..perfect timing. Took the first pit spot that looked level and had room for my truck and "Tim's rig"..of course they complained of the hole.

Everyone unloaded and began the process of becoming a race..prep your gear, sign in at the registrar trailer and strap a cardboard box to your quad. Opps the cardboard box is another story (hint: see pictures)
http://parocket.smugmug.com/photos/551703331_T6sCc-S.jpg

Registration was easy and the ladies were helpful for the bunch of funny NOOBS. We picked our numbers, paid our cash.

In the pits one of our neighbors was Ken Robey who is the main man in the utility class. He was very friendly and talked at great lengths about how to ride the event and mostly to not let the course beat you. My goal was to ride 2 hours nonstop...how bad can the course be...right?

So were on the starting line..the last real group out 7 utilities and a few sports which are first year riders. The other classes really blast off ..over a hundred of them. Then its our turn, I have the key on and finger on the button. The starter yells "TENNNNN secondssss" and bang we go. I was told to count to 8 and hit the button but I want little to do with the holeshot, just want to keep it close. First turn was a big crash..someone else's story...
http://parocket.smugmug.com/photos/551707186_JEnv6-M.jpg

We hit the woods and to get into the woods is a drop, down hill, cliff, its like the earth ended..but down I go and at the bottom is a choice but it all equals mud. I went straight and passed about 5 stuck sport quads. Now into the woods...it was a very virgin trail..no logging road, no old path this was cut as new. The first section was rocky and tight, then a little must and very tight. No issues and I pop into another short field..though at and into another stand of woods. I could see riders in front of me but no-one behind yet..but I really was not looking behind. I start zipping by trees and had thoughts of catching someone..maybe a course worker on a mountain bike. Then I hit a tight tree section and seen the face of my boss on the tree...I go as fast as I can to hit her. I missed her but I hit the tree anyway! Up to the bars I go as I was being crushed into the tree I see my front fender bending. My thought was "glad I took those outside lights out". I put her into reverse..and off the bitch...err tree.

When I looked for parts as I went by the tree I noticed my tire was flat..we the tire was not holding air but the tire balls were holding up nicely.

I was almost done with the lap when I was in a tight rooty section..the damn quad would not turn like it should but I blamed in on the flat tire and my spaghetti arms..after the fact Rob notices the crunched lower control arm. At the shop Sunday night I had nearly 2" of toe out and it was tough just riding in the yard. Plus both right side tire were flat.
http://parocket.smugmug.com/photos/551711926_oiPRi-M.jpg
http://parocket.smugmug.com/photos/551711955_7sAN9-M.jpg

The next laps were much of the same, however there was 4 MAJOR pucker locations that must be mentioned. the one was the drop out of the field. It was easy but it had to be 100 feet. The next was a diagonal steep downhill which was covered in rock and trees. It actually got easier toward the end when i watched a sport quad fly down it so keeping some speed helped but I was still pissed about going down it. Another was the "deer tree stand" which was a quick up hill and then a turn along the hill and straight to the bottom of a 50 foot hill...into a creek. I nearly went over the bars twice there..the bottom was getting rough.

Overall, the first lap sucked. I was tired quick and was not in a good mind set. The second lap was much better and I was having more fun but a tree strike did have me thinking I broke my wrist for about 5 minutes while I waited for it to be able to hold the grip, the third I was having fun but nearly died on the track when I decided to drink from my camel pack and was sucking so hard when the water came that it went down the wrong pipe. I did have occasion to leave my machine twice, once was a big roll before the "tree stand hill climb" and the other was a case of mistaken identity when I went to blast a nice cushion of dirt on a corner and went over it.

There was some cool points like having Chris Borich and Chris Bitell..both factory rider go by but I was able to keep up for a short distance with the big 800 growling..that was a great 25 feet. I pasted Tim at a bottlenecks bunch of riders by plowing though the woods and then got him again when he got a flat..

Will I go back..yep. Will I be better..yep.
What did I learn?
Tire balls..for about 80 bucks you can have them..I rode all day with 2 flat tires but the ball held up.
Watch those trees
I need bionic arms or less fat to keep from moving..or a combination of the two.
I got an evening's worth of bench racing.

Should you do it?
If you like to ride your ATV..
If you like to be competitive
If you want to test yourself
If you want to be a better atv rider
If you just want to have some fun
Then do it...

All The Pictures are here:
http://parocket.smugmug.com/AWRCS%20Events