alfalfa

We did this trip in 2009.  Well, I did but it was with my brother and and our buddy from Tennessee - Jim Bean.  I bring this up as the overall dynamic on that trip was that it was a sight-seeing trip.  One with plenty of stops to enjoy the scenery, first time on some roads.   The majority of the group on this trip has a different take on touring.   One is an Iron Butt Rally fanatic (11 days of 1000 miles per day).  Another has done 1500 mile rides on 2-, 3-, 4- and 6-cylinder bikes. Two others just travel at warp speed, leaving me and Ricardo as the stop and smell the roses type.   Another difference that always comes to play (in an enjoyable way) is that i am a get up in the morning and figuring out today's route, versus some that plan each day to the nth degree .     These differences add to my ride enjoyment, as I like tweaking noses and watching melt-downs by the OCD/ADHD riders.

 

So, Day 1 of the ride for the combined group started off as expected - "where we going?" followed by two seconds of planning on my part and an hour of planning on the parts of others.   My philosophy is we have a destination - Alaska, there are roads there and we should take them.  Which ones?  Well, of course, the squiggly ones on the maps.  Especially nice if they connect interesting things.  Fortunately, most of Canada meets all these requirements, so we just took off north on the two-lanes.

 

Chad's ready for some riding!

 

We were two miles out of town on this road when we came across the first deer, who got frightened and ran into a wire fence, hooking its antlers!  (Ironically, the wire fences are there to keep em off the road).   I stopped to try and rescue the trapped tree rat, but it freed itself and took off across the road, into the other fence!  Fortunately, this time it wasnt trapped.

 

 

 

Lunch stop was in Valemont, as we were headed to the highway to St George for the night.   Unfortunately for us, we were riding with the Rainman, Rob.  Rob's famous for having a storm cell over him, no matter where we ride.  He once broke a 7-year drought in California simply by coming out to visit me.  You may think I am joking, but that is our normal rain pattern - 7-9 yrs of very little rain, followed by a year or two of Noah-esque rain storms.  The day he left my town, the sun came out and stayed out for another 3 years! 

 

Chad is pointing to the Rainman and his handywork.

 

 

With the rain cutting our day short, we stopped in McBride, a wide spot on Canada Hwy 16.  The picture above was taken after Rainman went to bed and his powers lessened.

 

 

The next morning he was back!

This day's route:

As you can see, the route shows a shortish day, but with stops in Kamloops for breakfast and lunch in Valemont, that added a couple of hours.  I bring this up because this pattern had already started to irritate the high-mileage guys 

 

(some may say I did this on purpose, just to irritate em.  some may be right?)

 

 

 

On 26/08/2025 at 11:28, Buckster said:

Supposed to be a motorcycle thread???

On 21/08/2025 at 15:44, Buckster said:

I'll be in America otherwise I would have gone along.

need to extend that wall along the Atlantic Coast....

 

Sad news, for sure    Condolences to all his family and friends.

Back to it....

 

After the weekend at Uncle Tom's Cabin, with the NorCal BMW Club, Gary and I headed north to Washington, to meet up with the guys on this trip.  Two were already at the Touratech Rally in Plain, WA.  One was riding in from Virginia and one more flying in from Connecticut area (after attending a friend's 60th soire.)

 

Here was our route: 

 

Not much to say about this day, other than it was hot!  The motel in Bend did have a nice little patio to escape the heat.

 

This first excitement/challenge of the trip happened the next day as we were approaching the Washington border.   Gary started feeling a weird vibration (BMW owner's can guess) and suddenly pulled over to the side of the road.  I asked him what was up and he said the bike felt funny.  He tried taking off again, but you could hear something grinding.  Usually a final drive, or driveshaft.  This time - driveshaft.

 

He limped back to a small park so we could find some shade and call AAA for a tow.

 

After 3 hrs of waiting and phone calls saying "they should be there in 45 mins", we gave up and I decided to go rent a small U-Haul van.  Of course, as soon as i reached the town of Rufus, on the Hood River, I get a call from Gary saying that the tow truck had finally showed up.  Since the guy had been driving for 3 hours to cover his calls and get to us, we decided to take the tow.  The nearest BMW dealer was in Prosser, WA so I told Gary I would meet him there and get a room reserved.

Not wanting to do normal highway, I asked the lady working the U-Haul office what would be a good way to get to Prosser.  It is always best to ask a local as they know the roads that show up as squiggly lines on the map!

 

This day's route:

 

The fun part is from Goldendale to Mabton, and even included a few miles of gravel road:

 

 

Gary showed up to the hotel about 10.  As it was located right next door to the dealer, he pushed his bike over the first thing in the a.m.  Within 15 mins, the mechanic walks out with the culprit:

 

 

BMW has recently instituted a replacement program for the driveshafts that I dont believe expires as long as you own the bike, so this work was covered under warranty even though the normal 3-yr one had expired.   Funny thing is that driveshafts now cost about $300 from BMW, when they used to cost $1200.  Hmmm, wonder why.

Highly recommended dealership in Washington state.  They had the bike fixed and ready to go within a couple of hours.

 

Back on the road and only a day late to meet up, I let Gary lead.  Forgot he doesnt know how to use his GPS, so this was our route to the Canadian border:

Google would have been a little more efficient:

 

Our stop for the night was in Princeton, BC, where we would meet up with the other 4.

 

Crossing the border should have been quick and easy as there wasnt much traffic.  The only small snag was explaining to the customs official why my bike is registered in Montana and I live in California.  I quickly made up a story about my wife living in Missoula most of the year, while I work in California.  I didnt tell her that I'm not married.  However, it did raise a slight concern when i recalled the guy riding my other GS was from Colombia and was on a bike registered in Calif.   As we didnt have any text messages from those guys, saying Ricardo had been arrested, we figured he crossed OK.

 

CA Hwy 3 runs up a long valley and the temps were down into the 70s (you can figure out the Celsius figure as we won that war in 1776).

 

 

 

We reached Princeton and met the other guys for dinner before going to the motel.

 

Left to right - Gary, Larry, Chad and Ricardo.

 

 

Chad, Ricardo and Rob.

 

 

 

 

 

Some music snippits, starting with one of my favorite Chris Wilson originals - 

 

 

A couple of my SoCal friends has expressed interest in going to AK with us, but the numbers dwindled down to just me and another friend, Gary.   Still on the calendar, however, was a Northern California BMW Club monthly meeting at Uncle Tom's Cabin, the end of June.  This meeting is a campout and is a good one as two of my friends play music on Saturday nite, one of whom was supposed to  have gone with us.  As Uncle Tom's is on the way north (in the hills just west of Lake Tahoe), it made sense to attend it.

 

We left a day early, Thursday, so we could camp near Twin Lakes which is just SW of Bridgeport, CA.

 

 

 

Getting ready for the concert, starring the C&O Medicine Show (Chris and Owen).

 

 

Somehow, Buck's dog made the meeting, but he didnt.

 

 

Yes, have been absent for awhile.  But, I have still be out riding and enjoying retirement.

Earlier this year a couple of us were in Colombia, doing a tour with EpicoMoto.  EpicoMoto is Ricardo Congote, who is one of the best tour guides we have ever come across.  That says a lot.  This year's trip was my third with Ricardo, and we still saw new things.   Anyways, while there we saw another friend, Chad's FB post about going to Alaska, to fulfill one of his bucket list items.   As it has been 16 years since I've visited the state I pretty much grew up in, and that my little sister still in, I jumped at it immediately.

Ricardo has also done tours with Chad before, so it took us all of 3 minutes to convince him to go, too.  Touring in Colombia slows down during our (US) summer months, so Ricardo was available.  I offered him up my 1250GS to ride, as I had dreams of taking Flames back to Tuktoyatuk.  If you know Jesse James and have seen his old show from around 2009, called "Jesse James is a Dead Man", you might recall the Arctic Bike episode.  In that, Jesse rode my 1200GSA on the ice road from Inuvik to Tuktoyatuk.  (turns out he may have spent all of 5 minutes riding and the rest of the time riding in a truck.  But, its TV, right?)

 

 

Ricardo enjoying California margaritas.

 

Ricardo had plans to attend the Touratech Rally in Washington, end of June.  As did Chad.

The rest of us had plans to meet up with those two at the Canadian border, in Washington.

 

12 hours ago, boboneleg said:

The flamemobile rides again , how many miles on it now ?

Over 140,000 miles on her now.  But, she does have a new motor after swallowing a valve a year or so ago.  Now, got to find a windshield and fly back to Alaska and ride south.   Again!

13 hours ago, Buckster said:

Okay, well after a major hiatus we get a photo bomb culminating in a medivac by chopper?

Just like a movie preview 

14 hours ago, Catteeclan said:

Oh shit. Hope alls well.

Relatively.  3 bikes down, with one hurt (but, his bike is ok!)   9 broken ribs!  Cool helicopter ride, tho

Some teasers.....

11 hours ago, Buckster said:

Good to hear from you.

Danke!

 

Been traveling alot.  Now, to figure out which trip(s) to write about 

12 hours ago, Catteeclan said:

Did you hire bikes once there, first pic looks like an airport shot.

Perfect way to keep the floor clean.

Did anyone else notice the re-bar table legs.

Yes, we rent from EpicoMoto.  Ricardo is a great tour guide!

 

That last pic is our new friend, Kevin Bacon.

 

 

On 13/01/2025 at 02:29, Buckster said:

I wonder how @alfalfa is doing? The fires have reached his parish by all accounts.

they were about 20 miles from me, at closest approach.  Been some crazy times here in Cali!!!

 

 

Been out riding (we can do that year round, mostly <G>

 

Just got back from a great week long ride in Colombia, too!

 

Holy crap!  Bucky took pictures!!

 

just got back from the MOA Rally in Oregon and doing a little BDR.  We also did PCH from Bodega Bay - north.  There might still be some road closures south of San Francisco.

 

The scenery along the road is incredible, even if you've seen an ocean before.   But, you have to really take into account the good twisty roads that lead to it.  There are a bunch!   Check out www.pashnit.com for a good list of the best California roads, plus hit me up and i will help you take full advantage of it.   if you are staying along PCH, bring lots of $$.  Gas is pricey, as well as hotels.  Camping is a better option.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another portion along the coast, lightly traveled - Lost Coast

 

Now, THAT's a bike show!!

9 hours ago, Marcel le Moose Fondler said:

Ok...you second then....

For Pete...I'm only doing this for Pete. 

 

S

 

such sad news about Pete.  I saw his FB post and just figured it was simple surgery.

 

I really dont think posting pics of ugly vaginas is showing the right respect, tho.

 

we go thru the same water cycles here in Southern California.  Fortunately, the past two years have brought lots of rain and have restored most of the reservoirs.  It also restored a historical lake that closed several highways west of Bakersfield.

 

The problem with our SoCal weather cycles is that the droughts come on slowly and last for 7-9 years, then end dramatically.  That allows people plenty of time to convince themselves that it was "never like this before".  

1 hour ago, zzzak said:

Giant steps are what you take, walking on the Moon, so how come the astronots could only do pissy little yumps in 1/6th gravity ?

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Police (NASA) wouldnt let them 

1 hour ago, zzzak said:

Cheers, I'll take a look at it later.

Your choice in motorcycles makes you seem normal, so I will go with that! 

The lead designer said it would take 3 rockets larger than a skyscraper, 16 years before they did it and that is all the evidence needed to claim it was a hoax?  Ignore all the other pictures, video, papers, books, etc, & etc.  This one, outdated, off the cuff comment was all that is required to debunk things.  I really would like to cut into someone's mind to see why they choose the path(s) they do.  Most of em claim that the govt is too stupid to brush their teeth, but at the same time they have the tools and smarts to pull something over 4 billion people.  Thank god for the 200 peeps that keep us truly informed!

What does it mean to you that the atmosphere extends beyond the moon?  Is it that you can breathe on the moon?  Try that and get back to me?  Hey, did you know that the moon has gravitational pull on the earth and vice versa?  If that is true why cant we just walk to the moon?  I mean we have gravity on earth and i can walk almost anywhere here.  This statement might give you a better understanding of what atmosphere is out there at moon doggie distance:

"This work allowed the team to map the geocorona's extent and get a handle on the region's density. They found that the geocorona is denser on Earth's day side, because of compression from solar radiation. But "denser" is a relative term: There are just 70 hydrogen atoms per cubic centimeter (0.06 cubic inches) at an altitude of 37,000 miles (60,000 km) on the day side and a mere 0.2 atoms per cubic centimeter at the moon's distance, the new study reported."

And, do you think its possible that the comments from Obama and Nasa (the links dont work, by the way) might be referring to the situation at that moment?  i.e., we no longer had Saturn rockets, only the shuttle.  The shuttle was designed for low earth orbit work and didnt carry enough fuel to get to the moon.   That is currently being changed with the SLS system and Starship. (of course, fodder for future conspiracy "theorists").

The one big issue with the internet is that anyone can create a site that looks professional    Especially a writer of fiction.

 

Try this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories

Major point of that (and most other conspiracies) is that how do you successfully control the hundreds of 1000s of people involved in the "hoax" to keep quiet.  Friend i worked with instantly found conspiracies for EVERY news item that came up, for the last 20 some years.  I always wondered what makes someone go that route, versus using a little common sense when deciding.  But, since I really enjoy banging my head on the wall, let's keep this going!  I know i wont change you and i really know you wont change me 

 

some more info re: Van Allen Belts - 

Related

Why are the Van Allen radiation belts such a huge concern for space exploration in 2023 when we have already gone to the moon a bunch of times and the astronauts were not harmed?

Because the Apollo astronauts passed through them briefly, no more than four time total, in a disposable spacecraft with a dinosaur for a computer.

Passing through the Van Allen belts was not then and is not now a serious threat to the health of the crew, so long as they don’t make a habit of it. A much bigger concern is the radiation exposure for the rest of the voyage. During the Apollo program, crew dosimeters tracked the accumulated exposures throughout the mission.

The average radiation exposure for an Apollo astronaut was approximately 0.18 REM over the course of the mission, with the highest recorded exposure being 1.14 REM by one crewman on one mission. Of that, only a few tenths of a REM came from passage through the Van Allen belts.

Knowing the belts’ absence above the poles, the altitude of the lower edge of the inner belt being ~600 km (well above the LEO) and the location of the South Atlantic Anomaly where doses are much higher even in LEO, planners designed the translunar injection (TLI) orbit in a way that the spacecraft would avoid the worst of the radiation, passing quickly through only the weaker, outer edge of the outer belt, and over the side of the Earth shielded from solar flux.

41 minutes ago, zzzak said:

“It is commonly believed that man will fly directly from the earth to the moon, but to do this, we would require a vehicle of such gigantic proportions that it would prove an economic impossibility. It would have to develop sufficient speed to penetrate the atmosphere and overcome the earth’s gravity and, having traveled all the way to the moon, it must still have enough fuel to land safely and make the return trip to earth. Furthermore, in order to give the expedition a margin of safety, we would not use one ship alone, but a minimum of three … each rocket ship would be taller than New York’s Empire State Building [almost ¼ mile high] and weigh about ten times the tonnage of the Queen Mary, or some 800,000 tons.”—Wernher von Braun, the father of the Apollo space program, writing in Conquest of the Moon

well, that right there proves we never went    Guess it was a good thing he hired the right people between 1953 and 1969, eh?

He was right about the three rocket part.  Just got the size wrong.