Mechanical progress

To help determine the extent of the damage woot and I removed the engine from the bike and tore off the head. The findings were not good but things look a little better than we thought. I'm still looking to replace the engine entirely but the hunt for a reasonably priced engine is slow going.

I had some fun with my camera during the work so here's the process of removing the engine and removing the head. Pretty fun!

Engine Removal

Head Removal

Forward progress on pause.

Getting into New Brunswick province I had some bike trouble and had to stop the forward progress. Woot came with a trailer to pick me up and take me to Halifax for more inspection. We got the bike apart and the valve cover off only to find that ALL of the eight rocker valves were in pieces and the cam chain was at the bottom of the valley.

Tomorrow will be spent tearing into the engine more to determine what parts I need to find.

If you know of anyone that has a known good engine available let me know!

I'll update the past few days shortly...

I'm back in the US of A, for now...

Day 10 - Nipigon to Petoskey, June 20th, 2009
This day started out better than the previous one for sure. The campsite that I found was pretty good in that it wasn't populated much and it was protected from the rain to some extent by a gove of trees. That still didn't prevent the tent from being soaked so I had to put the tent away wet. Oh, since the rain had stopped the mosquitos were out in full force. I made sure to load the bike while on the centerstand this time...

On the road I was happy that the rain stopped but shocked to see that a thick fog had rolled in. With how thick the fog was at the start of my day did not fortell of me having a good day on the road. Off into the fog I went and it lived up to my expectations of pea soup. Not fun to be in at all. I made it the hundred miles to Marathon and stopped for breakfast at Robin's donuts (I think Tim Horton's is better) and started talking about my ride to a group of locals when they all warned me about the area I'd be riding into and the high population of Moose. That is NOT what I wanted to hear on a pea soup day. These next 300 miles will be really fun.

I do have to say that I would love to come back to this stretch of Highway 17 on a clear (warm) day as you could tell how gorgeous it was even with 50 ft of visibility. There was a lake every five minutes with names like Mother Lake and Baby Lake and Fungus Lake. All very pretty.

Getting into Michigan I was happy as a clam. It wasn't raining, foggy, or even cold. Waiting to go through customs I was even breaking into a sweat, but at the same time attracting a whole mess of mosquitos. After the border I filled up and was releived to see $2.83 for a gallon of regular gas. I had been paying at least $4.00/gallon ($1/L) in Canada. Another amazing thing is our speed limits! Not being forced to go a max of 55mph on the freeway felt so good. Actually, there were signs saying that 55mph was the MINIMUM speed you could go on the freeway :)

I started off on my route towards Cross Village and onto M-119 and "The Tunnel of Trees", a single lane stretch of asphalt running through some VERY nice areas along the bank of Lake Michigan(?). While this was no Avenue of the Giants it was the most fun I've had riding since my second day on this trip. Thanks David for the suggestion!!!!! Cruising through this stretch leads you to the town Harbor Springs. I was taken aback by the level of Americana here. The buldings were all old, the town center was only a couple blocks from the lake, families were walking down the street eating ice cream cones and the houses reminded me of southern homes with flags and big porches. I was so enthralled with it that I looped through a second time looking back and forth, taking as much in as I could. Actually, I think I pissed off the car behind me since I was still in Canada speed mode. hehe

I stopped for the night in a town called Petoskey with the campground being right on the lake. The sun was setting as I set up my still wet tent and I got some good photos. The campsite didn't have access to WiFi but the town did in the main areas but I was too tired to put all my gear back on just to get my internet fix... It turns out that there were spiders EVERYWHERE here. There was what I think was a black widow in the bathroom, big brown ones there and near all the power outlets on the site...


Photos of the day

What, more praire?

Day 8 - Regina to Kenora, June 18th, 2009
Day number two of high mileage runs. I left Regina a little late but made good time and passed into the Manitoba province and finally into Ontario province. Everything went smoothly with the day until I was coming into Winnipeg from the praire and the wind picked up out of nowhere. With countering the wind I made essentially the longest right turn of my life, something like 50 kilometers. One thing I noticed coming into Manitoba is that while Saskatchewan has a lot of bugs (aphids, gnats, etc.), Manitoba beats is by the shear size of the bugs or at least their splat marks. My faceshield was covered in bugs not more than 10 miles after cleaning it and I'm not sure the stains will ever come out of my jacket...

Crossing into Ontario came quickly enough and I was forewarned about the fact that it was "bug country" by a couple of guys returning to B.C. from trip they were doing on scooters. Heeding this information I bought a large can of bug repelant and set off on my way to find "home" for the night.

I've encountered lots of road construction on my trip and Ontario was no different. Not much past the border the road work started but it soon got dangerous. First was grooved pavement (that's no biggie), then uneven/bumpy pavement (that's alright too) but finally there was "loose gravel". This wasn't like some gravel that was spit up from the edge of the road, it was more like they COVERED the road in gravel a little larger than marbles. It took a fair bit of concentration to maintain speed and road position with the backend slipping around as it was. Once I got used to it I was actually having a bit of fun. The fun stopped when the trucks started coming the other direction, throwing waves of gravel at me. The first few passed without much ado but a train of three big rigs came flying by that sent me ducking behind my tall, Mike's windshield. With the last truck came the home run gravel that hit the shield just right and broke off a good chunk of it... There goes $75.

The night ended with me struggling to find an open campground and finally settling on bit of ground by the rowing club. Good night!

The sad evidence...

Day 8 Photos

Entering the praire

Day 7 - Canmore to Regina, June 17th, 2009
The first of a couple high mileage days on the Trans Canadian Highway #1. This day saw me cross into the Saskatchewan province. And that's it. The ride was straight and boring and long. The only good thing was the speed limit was 110kph so the miles (or kilometers) went by quickly. It was a sad day though, leaving the gorgeousness of the Canadian Rockies and entering the flat expanse of the praire...

There is something to be said about the expanse of green fields as far as the eye can see but I still don't understand how people can live that far out from a city...

There weren't too many photos this day but the ones that I did take are HERE

The Canadian Rockies

Day 5 - Oliver to Banff

I woke up at that really nice campground with the sun shining on the private lake and felt almost sad to be leaving this quaint little oasis; I started to pack up camp anyways. As I was packing up the couple next to me offered some coffee but I took them up for some conversation instead.

They were traveling with their daughter and family in two fifth-wheels and we got to talking about a lot of things. We talked about the bikes he had from the Suzuki 850 he just sold to the Kawisaki Waterbuffalo (the 750 two-stroke!!!) but finally the conversation seemed to settle on bear stories.

The most impressive story was of them meeting a couple in Revelstoke that had camped the previous night in Banff. The most notable tid bit about their stay in Banff was that they were sleeping one tent over from where a couple was killed in a grizzly attack... That got me thinking about my food situation with it being packed in with all my clothes and whether that would be a good thing to mix with camping that night.

So off I go on my day. The weather heated up quite nicely and was around 90*F only an hour into the day. As I continued on towards Revelstoke I took in the amazing views of the looming Rockies and the countryside.

I made fairly good time and stopped for a nice break at the location of the connecting stake for the Candian Pacific railway. As I was walking around, reading the placquards and information about the railway I heard an ominous rumbling off in the distance and saw some dark clouds hovering over my route. I took a deep breath and continued on.

About 70km outside of Banff I finally caught up to the storm. I stopped to don my rain gear and more layers and enter in to the storm. The majority of the way in was a construction zone with a speed limit of 70km/hour so I had a ways to drive. The rain was coming down pretty good and I was having problems keeping my face shield clear so visibilty wasn't that great. I was able to see the long line of cars in front of me slow to a crawl for no reason, at least there was no reason until I crept by a gigantic elk on the shoulder of the road. That was a a little creepy. The drive in was amazing once the rain slowed and you could see. Of the many many mountains around Rundle Mountain was my favorite.

Once I got into Banff I decided against camping and stayed at the local hostel and warmed up a bit. I met some very cool people from all over the world.

The next day I just wandered around the park taking pictures and enjoying the now clear skies. I stayed in Canmore (the next town over) that night with Beau (Rockthepylon) and had a great time meeting him and hanging out.

So here's the proof that I was there...

Day 5 and Day 6

Is it officially an adventure yet?

Day 9 - Kenora to ???, June 19th, 2009
What a freaking day! I wake up early to avoid any pedestrians etc. and start breaking down camp. As I'm securing the bungee cords the bike starts to stand up and then proceeds to topple over on it's right side. My stuff is all over the sandy ground but it looks like everything is alright. When I pick the bike up I realized that my helmet had been hanging on the handle bar and, in that position, broke the fall of the bike. The helmet is pretty much toast now. I'll buy a new one once I get back into the states on Saturday or Sunday. I finish loading up the bike, without it falling over this time, and start to leave. As I leave I notice a grinding sound coming from the front wheel. Lo and behold the front tire is no longer pointing straight, relative to the forks. I think that means a bent fork. I drive to the parking lot just down the road and take a closer look. The front tire is cocked to the right and rubbing on the fender. I'm glad I brought all those tools...

I decide the best course of action is to remove the front fender and worry about the fork when I get to a fellow N250RC member's house. Now how to remove the wheel so I can get the fender off? With the bike on the centerstand and all of my luggage the tire still isn't off the ground. The addition of bungees tied to a fence doesn't help so I look around. Laying a few yards away is a small boulder. I take off the tent and other gear from the seat and lay the rock up there and it works! Just to be safe, I use my bungee net to secure the rock. Now we're in business. I get everything sorted out and all the gear back on the bike easily enough and hit the road.

I was expecting more of the same as the previous days in that I'd be able to burn through some miles in relative warmth and a fair bit of humidity. That humidity turned to rain not too far down the road, just past Vermillion Bay, and that rain kept on for the rest of the day. By the time I got to Thunder Bay I was freezing, wet and hungry. I stopped for food and to dry off then headed back out into the mess. I finally stopped to setup camp about an hour out of Thunder Bay. I hope tomorrow goes better. If all goes well I'll be back in the US for a couple of days.


Photos

Updated SPoT page

The link I provided in the initial post should be expiring soon so here is another link that should be good for seven days.

SPoT link for 6/18 - 6/25

If you try the initial link and it still works please let me know, for future reference.

Day 4 - How diverse a state is.

Day four started out interestingly enough. I packed up the tent and all my gear, loading it on the bike then getting dressed in the riding gear to suit the day's weather. One of the layers was my lovely Widder electric vest that hooks up to the bike by a long cord. This cord gets in the way when I'm not riding so I set it on top of my tent so I wouldn't forget it. I finished gearing up and take off through the maze of speed bump riddled roads in the RV/campground and a couple turns outside the grounds I realize I'm not plugged in. Shoot, where'd my cord go? It's not on the bike where I left it so I turn around and rush back to the site and retrace my steps. It's no where to be found. I was bummed to say the least. Then a light bulb goes off in my head and I remember that when I went over the first speed bump I felt something brush up against my back could that have been it? I look around and there it is dangling above the muffler dangerously close to melting and the end is dragging along the ground. It's only a little beat up from the one mile drive like that so I was ecstatic!

Now that my heart rate slowed down I continued on with the ride. My planned route changed several times through the day starting with the original route of taking I-5 into Vancouver then taking the Trans Canadian highway across to the final route taking Highway 97 into Canada at Osoyoos.

The morning was crisp and clear and took me from the coastal region of Olympia to the inner mountain ranges of the Cascades and the difference was amazing. The diversity of scenery left me wanting more, so I rode more :)

I stopped for lunch and planned out the rest of the day with the trucker's map book I found earlier, opting to take some more scenic or backroads versus the GPS's proposed ten hours of dry, flat, desert boredom. In the confusion of changing routes I put the wrong route in my GPS and missed my turn off for 97 north and didn't realize it until I was already a good ways past the the exit. I stopped to asses what to do and change layers since it wonderfully got warm.

Having shed my thermals and gone to full summer gear I turned around to take the longer but more enjoyable route. I wanted to camp for one more night in the US and there were a few campsites near Loomis and the roads I wanted to ride with a backroads border crossing too. Well as I started back on my desired route the wind started to pick up and the air grew cold, all with me thinking "only a couple more miles of this and it'll be warm again." I was mistaken, sort of. It started to rain and get even colder and the miles kept adding up with no change for the better. Finally it started to warm up around Chelan and things were right in the world again.

I stopped for a break at a hydroelectric dam on the Columbia and wandered around a bit, snapping pictures and getting weird looks from the graduation party that was going on there.

Continuing on with the ride I got to the back roads I wanted and was quite happy. It was just a little two lane road that snaked through some tiny farming and cattle towns and, like so many other things to date, it was gorgeous. It was obvious that a rain cell had just come through the area as the ground was wet and there were clouds in the distance. I was hoping to just trail behind the storm long enough to stay dry. Again, I was mistaken.

As I got to Palmer lake I could see the nasty clouds brewing over my intended path and campground so I stopped to put the wet weather gear back on and ride into the storm in hope of finding a dry campground. Aside from being a little wet things were still going well until I got to the turn off for the border crossing. Apparently the one I wanted to take was only open from 9am to 5pm and the 24 hour one was somewhere in the distance. After some more gorgeous roads and landscape I got to the border and made it into British Columbia after only a 20 minute wait at customs.

The road from the boarder was flanked by vineyard after vinyard, beautiful mountains in the background and the setting sun. Another gorgeous scene. (are you tired of hearing that yet? I'm not ;))

I made it just past the town of Oliver before deciding to call it a night and stumbled upon an amazing campground: Dean Creek Resort, a part of KOA. They had plenty of room for me (I think there were only four sites used in the entire grounds) and let me settle the bill in the morning. There were several great things about the grounds, first they had FREE hot showers and second they had a private lake yards from my site and a bluff running up to the lake's edge. Absolutely stunning!

The day ended well and here's the photographic proof...

PHOTOS of Day 4

Day Three

Day 3 -

Today started late, very late. Having invaded Wheels' house and proving to his wife that I wasn't an axe murderer I relished in having a roof over my head and slept in. Wheels cooked an awesome omelet for me (I think that was my first ever omelet), we chatted for a bit then finally left about 12:30 pm. The sky was still overcast from a rain storm the night before and it looked ominous. Fortunately, the skies held for the day with some glimpses of blue sky to encourage us to ride further.

We took Highway 126 to US 101 and followed that north for the remainder of the day. We parted ways in Tillamook, Oregon where we met a Canadian rider whose girlfriend has a Ninja 250 also. I continued on US101 until it met with highway 12 in Washington. I camped for the night just off of I-5.

The ride was gorgeous all day and I still can't believe the amazing scenery of the Oregon and Washington coasts.

Pictures can be found here

Posts will be lagging a couple of days for now but I'll update as I can get a stable internet connection.

End of Day 2

Two days down, a whole lot more to come.

Day 1 started off poorly. After prepping for this trip for the previous two days I was still not fully ready come morning. I was up late Wednesday night getting stuff on the bike worked out and getting computer/GPS stuff working right and in this all I didn't have time to pack. Getting up early and packing for a six week trip really isn't the thing to do, assuming that you want to pack everything you need... I packed and unpacked, then packed again and STILL forgot stuff (notably my iPod). I finally left the house two hours later than anticipated which, had I been running this first day alone, wouldn't be a problem. What was a problem is that I had my friend Emily waiting to meet me at the start of Highway 1 north of San Francisco. Not good.

Once we met up things went well. Highway 1 is a gorgeous road and is only hindered by two things: slow drivers and wind. Those two combined to make an almost unbearable ride. Once we got a little north the road cleared up and the wind died down making the day go by much better. By far, my favorite part of the day was riding the last 30 miles or so oh Highway 1 before it meets up with US101. There was no traffic, the road was full of twists and turns, the road surface was excellent and teh scenery was amazing. I would love to ride that road again one day.

On that last stretch of Highway 1 we passed a large group of Harley (cruiser) riders and this only foretold what was to come. At the turn off for the drive thru tree there was a slew of Harleys and their riders gathered at a bar and, as we headed out to the campground, we saw more and more Harleys. Apparently there was a rally taking place this weekend dubbed "Redwood Rally" or something like that and it's basically the Sturgis of the west. The road to the campground was littered with bars and swarms of Harleys at each one; the campground was overrun with thenm too.


The pictures of this day can be found HERE

Day 2 was a very good day, starting at the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt and ending in the middle of Oregon. The roads were amazing and there were fewer windy sections than Day 1. After the culmination of Day 1 on Highway 1 and the start of today on the Avenue of the Giants/US101, I would love to come back to the redwoods and spend a weekend or a month just exploring the great roads and forest.

Coming out of the forest I was in awe of the beaches and coastal landscape, it was breathtaking and made me giddy for some reason. After stopping for pictures and having cell reception for the first time in 15 hours I sent some texts and was on my way.

The ride up through Oregon was more of the same breath-taking coastal views punctuated by short jaunts through the trees. There are two annoying local traffic laws that I failed to remember until I was in the state: no lane sharing and a 55 mph speed limit. Not that there was much traffic to be lane sharing with anyways but I had to forcibly stop myself several times when coming to a stoplight. The speed limit is easy enough to follow but it feels like you're crawling along compared to the 65 mph limit in California. I really think Oregon neeeds to get it's act together on this.

I finished off the day by riding inland a little bit to meet a fellow Ninja 250 rider and rest well under a proper roof :)

There is far more to come and I'm getting more and more anxious for each new day to start and see where I find myself at the end of it.

Day 2 photos are HERE

Funemployement

Here I am, taking a once in a lifetime trip, touring Canada and the United States on a motorcycle and a Ninja 250 at that!

I will update everyone with photos and stories as I go but you can follow my progress via SPoT here:

SPoT Progress