Whitehorse, Buckinghorse, Deadhorse, what's with all the horses up here?

Getting up to the north of Canada, the towns become fewer and farther between and their names become more intriguing. Like how did Buckinghorse River get it's name. Did the horses of the first settlers buck their riders off at the mere thought of crossing this particular river? Was Whitehorse named after a white horse that grazed there? Who knows but riding through them does make you wonder.

Just incase you didn't believe me, Dawson Creek, Mile 0

Dawson Creek marks Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway, a 1532 mile road to Fairbanks, Alaska. The Highway is considered the 16th Engineering wonder of the world, built in a mere 8 months in 1941 to provide land access for the US Army to Alaska. The Japanese had already invaded Attu Island, the farthermost Aleutian Island, providing them with a strategic military point for invading the northern US, so there was some quick work to be done. Without approval from the Canadian government, the US started ploughing through, I guess things haven't changed much since those days. Fortunately the Canadians are an ammicable bunch and gave permission after the first month of construction. So along this road you can see pine trees, more pine trees and as far as the eye can see, pine trees.

And if you didn't believe me about the pine trees either, well there are some lakes as well!

Northern Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon are vast so this means a lot of pine trees, some lakes and snow capped mountains and days and days of riding.

The road just keeps going on, and on, and on....

But before you know it, we're in Alaska. Oh and Mike wasn't arrested at the border for his unpaid traffic offence from the Grand Canyon.

Friendly Harley riders save the day!

Er yuk, it's raining. And who hates the rain more than me, of course, the Lady herself, Miss KLR650. She doesn't start, doesn't even turn over. And all this on a day we were trying to get going relatively early. Turns out she had right to complain. When we checked her battery, it was bone dry. So that'd be a big OOPS on my part. But she's not one to complain and after giving her a drink and a quick recharge she fires up, no problem. I um and ah whether to replace the battery then or wait to see if it is OK. For once on the trip, I forgo the 'Let's wait till it dies' attitude and pay up for a new one. Changed it in the parking lot of the motorcycle shop and by this time its stopped raining. Finally it is time to get going but not before lunch.

So we leave Calgary at the respectable time of early afternoon and slowly make our way up to Banff. After getting caught up in the road works and jay walking tourists through the centre of town, we manage to escape the road diggers and without running anyone over, head for Lake Louise. Due to our late start we weren't going to make it to Jasper that evening so we decide to check out the campground here. Due to our late start this morning, the campsite is already fool. Damn all those tourists being on school holidays, getting up early and making reservations for their preferred campsites. Who are they to be so organised!
We ride up to Lake Louise before heading north to find somewhere else to stay. And where are all of the organised hoards who already have their campsites? Up at the lake also. It was so busy and the parking lot wasn't even full.
After buying some supplies, we get talking to a Harley couple in the parking lot of the supermarket. In the habit I've become accustomed to, I ask if they have a campsite. 'Yes they do', 'Would they mind sharing it with us?', 'Of course not, if it's OK with the park rangers'. Luckily it's Canada we're in and the Park Rangers are pretty cool. We're sorted. Sandy and Jim won't even accept us paying half of the cost, 'How can they be doing us a favour if they lets us pay?' Apparently they'll be calling in the favour with Mike when they visit in Scotland next year, Sandy is herself from Scotland.

Lake Moraine, oh and that'd be me in the foreground.

Surprise, surprise, we manage to get up and going early next morning. We decide to visit Lake Louise again, should be better light and with everyone rushing off to get to their next campsite, it shouldn't be so busy. Oh how wrong we were! And we thought it was busy the evening before. This time Lake Louise car park was overflowing. We didn't hang around.
The stunningly blue Lake Moraine is out of the way a bit and the road isn't suitable for large RVs. That cuts out half of the tourists. Although still busy, we were able to escape the masses and reflect in the gorgeous surrounds.
Heading up the Icefield Parkway, Boo Boo's mate walks out in front of us. Very cool. Unfortunately no photos though. Although they amble, bears don't hang around too long for a photo shoot. Ever northward we tramp across the Athabasca glacier before declining to pay $24 for two scummy looking ham sandwiches and two cans of coke. We settle instead for $6 for a bag of crisps and share a bottle of Gatorade. Pure extortion, but restaurants can charge what they like in the National Parks.

Managing not to fall down a crevice, we traverse the glacier

Jasper is a bit of a none event and after re-stocking the pantry it's off for a bath. Despite the mosquitoes the hotsprings are divine and Mike has a hard time dragging me away. But there is a road to be ridden and a tent to pitch somewhere.

Ye haw, it's show time!

...Stampede time that is! After missing every festival in every Latin American village/town/city we travelled through, low and behold if we don't make it to Calgary for the start of the Stampede. For once our timing is immpecible.

Now that's a cowgirl!

Luckily for us, Mike had met a Canadian in Baha California very briefly and fortunately we were able to crash at his place for a few days. Chris donned his cowboy boots and hat and we were off. First we made it to the last 20 minutes of the parade (It started early and after 8 months on the road, who were we to start getting going before 10am!) but that was enough of the cowboy hats and boots and learning how to yell Ye Haw! rather than Ya Hoo! Next a bit of sight seeing - Calgary is actually quite a big place. Of course Chris is also into bikes (he has 4 of them) so we inevitably visit a few bike shops to stock up on some parts and winter kit for our journey north, mainly getting some new winter gloves to replace the ones I lost in Bolivia.

Morning number two brings with it a cheap breakfast at the Legion's Club (A Canadian version of the RSL). So stack up the pancakes and get ya dancing shoes on, and it was only 1oam. Mundane chores such as much needed haircuts and beauty salon visits get me ready for Sunday's entertainment - the rodeo (I'm still learning to call it a rodeo rather than a rodeo as in Rodeo Drive, LA)

Mike isn't drawn into the whole Cowboy attire, but Chris, being a kind of local gets right into it.

Heck, it wouldn't be a stampede without the horses. We enter the show grounds looking way out of place for our lack of cowboy attire. There are the few side show alley games to be tried and fortunately, no one wins the large teddy bear - how would we zip tie one of those to the bike!


Then for over two hours we are entertained by horses and stedes trying their darndest to get whatever it is on their backs off. The most entertaining part of this was the look on the guys faces just before being let lose out of the pen, the camera zooms right into the grimmace of the cowboy that says 'What the hell am I doing here!' And of course the Aussie guy won his event.

This cowboy actually screaming, 'Somebody get me off of this thing, ooh, ouch, ouch!'

Next it was onto something a little less demanding, pigeon racing and line dancing. And then day wouldn't be complete without riding a torpedeo and finishing off with a few ales with some of Chris's mates. It was hard to leave the stampede but when I started to eye off a pair of pink cowboy boots, I knew it was time to get moving again.

Shoo fly don't bother us!

After a night in the safety and comfort of a noisy Bozeman Campground, we head up to Lindburgh Lake for our first 'free camp' in the USA.

Mike gets the fire going to scare away the bears at Lake Lindburgh.

July the 4th is upon us and we manage to miss the shortest July the 4th parade in the country. We miss it by a minute or two but as it was only ten minutes long, over two very short blocks, two minutes was quite late. Oh well, we manage to get some photos of some over dressed and too-much-make-up- wearing cowgirls, 'girls' not quite being an apt description, there are some things women of a certain age shouldn't wear, before heading on.

The end of the 4th July parade!

We'd heard rave reviews of Glacier National Park (I know, I know, there are so many national parks in the USA) and after another stop for a Huckleberry milkshake we head off on the 'Going to the sun' Road. First on the sight seeing list is in the glacier lake which is suprisingly warm and very clear. Despite the families frollicking on the shoreline, we can't help ourselves and strip down to our underwear to join them. After basking in the sun, we eventually drag ourselves away to continue along one of the most spectacularly scenic roads of the enitre trip, big call but it was simply stunning.

Stunning view, shame I'm in the way.

Our last night in the USA is spent shooing weird flies off us in a campsite just south of the border. Bring on Canada.

Where of where art thou Yogi Bear?

Wyoming, what can I say? But god the mosquitos at Riverside - population 69 for a very good reason. Then the long, straight and once again, hot, roads. Followed by a strange lunch in Landers. Trailer trash company while we eat burgers for lunch, followed by a too short test ride on the much talked about 2008 KLR. Oddly, neither Mike or I are convinced about it so I leave my credit card in my pocket and continue the ride to the stunning Grand Teton National Park on my own familiar and comfortable KLR.
The Grand Tetons are Bear country, so we had to be careful with all of our 'smelly' stuff. But where were we supposed to draw the line? Would our smelly socks attract the attention of the bears? Paranoid, we didn't take a chance. Even our panniers were put away in the bear lockers, we didn't want the bikes torn apart while Yogi searched for the source of the peanust butter scent and my Dove Eyecream.

Somewhere in the Grand Tetons is Yogi!

We spend the day looking for Bison, elk and other wildlife, but have no luck with the bears. The next evening we're a little more relaxed about the wildlife and we even venture to meet some of our camping neighbours. They're riding Honda Goldwings and I have to say its the fold-out tent trailer they've got that grabs my attention first. Finally I know what some of those bike trailers are carrying, and I thought these guys just took the kitchen sink with them on holidays. This bunch of riders are pretty cool though and even dish us out some massive blueberry muffins, another reason for needing a trailer I guess, these things wouldn't have fitted into our relatively minuscule panniers. And although its not a Harley, Mike accepts an offer of a ride on the Goldwing, was he converted? Not on your life. He could barely lift the thing off the sidestand weighing in at over 900lb (Not sure of the conversion but just think, serioulsy heavy). But with 1800cc (That's almost three times the cc of my little KLR) he admitted that once he had it going, it was very comfortable and easy to ride.

As we've timed our travels through the USAs National Parks impeccably to coincide with the summer school holidays, we get up at 6am, skipping breakfast (Shock, horror, how did we cope I hear you ask? Well I was a little grumpy later on) just to ride the 50 miles up the road to the famous Yellowstone National Park and secure a campsite. Just as well as the campsite was full by midday.
After a haphazard start we finally get breakfast and are able to get some sightseeing in. Yellowstone is huge and has two circuits through it to take in most of what the park has to offer, that being hot sulpher, often smelly, springs including 'Ol Faithful', waterfulls and of course, the wildlife. Afternoon One took in the less than spectacular but at least on time 'Old Faithful', Virginia Waterfalls, the only time we felt we were alone in the park, and a drive through the Yellowstone River valley. A gorgeous setting for all of the bisen and elk that roam freely.
Day two we back track through the Yellowstone Valley for more Bisen spotting, or avoiding in this case as they wandered along the roadway. We also spy a grey wolf on the prowl before heading north. Following the advice of a local on where to spot the bears, we begin our search whole heartedly, stopping at every pull out. All to no avail. Just when we had given up all hope of meeting Yogi we come across an 'animal jam'. A term coined by the rangers to describe the traffic jam caused by cars stopping on the road to view and photograph the wildlife. Yogi wasn't in attendence but Boo Boo, Yogi's side kick was, and with a friend. They were meandering along a creek below the road, searching out the berries.
We'll hopefully see some Grizzlys (Or brown bears as they're called in Alaska) when we get to Alaska, obvioulsy from a distance.

Not quite Yogi, but Boo Boo makes an appearance

The Girls rule!

With a new 'hardcore' TKC80 rear tyre we head off into Colorado. It's like arriving in heaven when we finally make it to the coolness of the mountains - refreshing to be back amongst snow capped peaks and alpine forests. I think I've turned into a mountain girl.
Leadville is our first destination in Colorado and we are exuberantly greeted at the hostel by another guest. He's firing questions about the bikes and our journey before we've even dismounted and removed our earplugs. We get introduced to the extremely generous 'Wild Bill' who manages to find a room for us despite being almost full up and who also serves up a delicious roast dinner. Over the course of the evening and the following morning we're entertained with stories from 'Wild Bill' both about the history of Leadville (A very successful mining town with a Titanic connection) and his interest in blues music from his home state of Mississippi. And we are in awe of the fellow guests, some of whose own adventures are taking them along the Continental Divide trail, a rather long walk from Mexico to Canada. Leadville is at the crossroads of three major trails through the states and therefore walkers quite often turn up at the hostel. As adventure bikers, we seemed to be few and far between in this neck of the woods and become the centre of attention for a few hours. It would have to be one of the most friendly hostels we've stayed in. So if you do end up in Leadville, or Colorado even, take the time to stay - http://www.leadvillehostel.com/.

A detour via Vail and Aspen ski resorts, through gorgeous alpine vallies brought us to Boulder. Erin and Chris Ratay, legen advriders - check out http://www.ultimatejourney.com/ for the story of their 4 and half year jaunt around the globe on bikes - kindly put us up in their well equipped and beautiful home. They have a basement kitted out for the purpose of guests which includes books on their own travels as well as others, a massive map of the world and a decent map of the USA, just so we could see how much further we still had to go, one day we'll be finished. In the garage the bikes got the same treatment, the car was kicked out and our two overweight dirty bikes were parked up next to Chris and Erin's own stock of BMWs, a KTM and a Kawasaki. We had tools galore at our disposal and even learnt how to pick up our overladen bikes by ourselves - better late than never. So the KLR finally got a new tool box, one that is useful and half the weight of the other two that Mike removed in in Moab.

Girls who ride!

And some guys who think they can :0)

What else to do in Boulder, we went out and got drunk a couple of nights, God, we're so out of practise, and we got to meet other advmotor riders. And, if you can believe it, for once the girls outnumbered the boys. Anyone listening to Erin, Spice, Kasey and I compare notes and tell stories of our own motorcycling adventures, would have thought they were in a parallel universe, where the girls rode and the boys weren't to be seen. The boys were actually at the bar topping up their own testosterone levels. After such wonderful company, it was hard to leave but after waking up each morning and seeing the map of the USA on the wall, we knew we had to get on.

Not more national parks!

Next stop, Bryce Canyon. Some would say even more beautiful than the Grand Canyon but the two are so different you really can't compare. We arrived with time for a swim before hitting the sights for sunset. Ah, what luxury after a rather hot day of riding in the heat.

The stunning Bryce Canyon amphitheatre!

So we've watched the sunset over the beautiful pinnicles of coloured sand and we're dawdling back to the bike when we hear a rattle. It first sounds like a cricket chirping but then you remember all of the Westerns you've watched and alarm bells start ringing. A wee little rattle snake was letting us know that he was curled around the exposed root of a bush, about a half metre from where we were walking. Unfortunately we were too suprised to grab for the cameras. But seeing the wildlife was cool, once our nerves had settled down of course.
Shall we stay another night and take it easy? Yup, the campground we were staying in at Bryce was very nice and it'd be rude to not continue to enjoy the use of the pool when we we're camped right next to it. So that morning we did a mini hike to a stone that did look remarkably like the statue of Queen Victoria outside St Pauls Cathederal in London. We toured around a bit more in the park, still waving to the Potato Posse before returning to enjoy the pool - ah, this is the life.
Riding up through Escalante, we continue through yet another national park, Capital Reef. A few more photos and its on to Moab. After the heat of the day and long ride, we give up on being 'hardcore' and opt for the Lazy Lizard Hostal.
Moab has a lot to keep you entertained, including white water rafting, moutain biking, trail biking (and if you are so inclined, you can hire a jeep or ATV), Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands National Park in close proximity and, more importantly, a micro brewery. What we didn't realize was that a). it would be way too hot to do anything other than go to the micro brewery and b). that a Harley Riders convention was in town. Oh well, you can't have it all.

Deadhorse Point, yet another beautiful canyon.

As I was just about to clock up another year on the old age calander, we sensibly opt for the micro brewery, not being detered by the amount of Harley Riders there. After finally National Parking ourselves out at Arches and Dead Horse Point, which are both stunning, I spent my birthday suitably working on my bike at Arrowheads Motorsports with Fred often lending advice and a hand. The KLR, as a birthday gift I'm sure, behaved herself beautifully by not having anything go wrong i.e. bolts sheering etc..., and then needing a bit of maintenance myself, Mike treated me to a 75 minute massage, bliss. By 8pm, when it had cooled off enough to move, we headed to the Micro Brewery for a delicious dinner and some decent beer. Not a bad day at all.