5 days before the crash

[azr]

So I took off a week before the Pacific Northwest Rally at Gustovh's with the plan to meet up with charlieG on the Wednesday. Only a couple of hours after meeting up with Charlie I'm laying on the ground with the bike on it's side. I came away with just a cracked collar bone and the bike seemed to fair even better, broken fairing, smashed Samsonite bag and a few other minor scratches. Lots have heard the story but no one has seen pictures of the great 5 days prior to the that so I thought I would post a few up. Saw some great scenery and rode some amazing roads. I headed across the #3 from Victoria, BC all the way to Pincher Creek Alberta. This first shot I took because I have the exact same picture except it was my first real road trip and I was on a Kawasaki 750LTD and it was packed so high at the back I'm not sure how it didn't tip over..no really. I'm proud my packing skills have improved.



As you all know most of the really fantastic scenery can't be show because we're too busy riding and having the time of our lives but if you've never done the Crows nest pass hwy, #3, in BC do. The roads are great, nothing too technical of course, and the scenery is relaxing. I think that's really the word that best describes that day and a half ride, relaxing.





And you never know what you might ride into. This was the scene not frar from Fernie.



This had become one of my favorite spots to stop. This little community is in the middle of no where but the coffee shop is top notch. A real hidden jem.



And of course one of my road trips just wouldn't be complete if the first nights stay didn't include sleeping right beside an active rail road. Couldn't figure out what all the noise was for until I got up in the morning. Cool spot but I wouldn't recommend it for tenting.





Fernie is just one of the very quaint towns that spots the map in BC.



and of course they have beer.



Not long after that it was

[azr]

The was by far the most scenic introduction to Alberta I have ever seen. The views and roads going through here and into Coleman, Blairmore, Crowsnest pass and even on down through the #507 were invigorating.





And of course it wouldn't be Alberta if there wasn't a straight road.



One of the few destinations I had was the "going to the sun" hwy that takes you through Montana's Glacier National Park. And as it turned out a great introduction to some of those mountains was a buffalo reserve not far from the Montana border.



It was a reserve actually and you could drive your car through it if you wanted. The views were amazing.



Within about 10-15 mins I was cresting a mountain and couldn't believe the elevation increase. The flat lands in the distance are the reserve. The road is the #6 highway and not far from the photo you cross over into Montana and it's call the #17.



Those roads are amazing, really one of the more memorable roads on the trip. The varying forests and ground cover, corners, scenry, it just seemed to have everything. I guess for me as well it was another important step in the journey...oh and also the ever looming fear you were going to be taken out by free range cattle. I swear as soon as you cross the border..bang, free range cattle and then it led to this

[azr]

The park is amazing, the view are jaw dropping but as someone on here warned me, the traffic is unbelievably slow and there's lots of it.









Not too much wild life other than these relatively nonchalant things





oh ya, there were these but for the most part just slow and annoying.



From there I traveled down to just North of Ronan, Montana and enjoyed some of this



with some of this



all in the comfort of a great RV park, "Diamond S RV park and campground", great spot. And best of all no trains.



more to come tomorrow...

[BassCliff]

Rob,

Wait...what? Another accidental dismount? It seems you've been averaging better than one a season lately. What's up with that? I hope you heal up quickly and completely.

The ride pictures are stunning. Man! I gotta make it up that way one of these days.

Take care,

Cliff

[Charlie G]

Great pictures Rob!

cg

[pete]

Bugger on the crash Rob, heal up soon!

Pic's are awesome, thanks for sharing

[redstedman]

Stunning pics. I want to ride Glacier. Heal up well!

[Larry D]

If I rode through country like that, I'd never get anywhere.....to much beautiful scenery.

Thanks for the photos and trip report. Hope you get to feeling better soon.

[Tamara]

Great pics! That is some beautiful country you rode through.

[Blueline]

I'm not sure how you can ride somewhere like that and not get distracted by the scenery enough to stop every coupla minutes to take pictures.

Awesome bike & awesome vistas. So jealous.

[Steve]

Somewhere in there was a nice story to go along with the nice pictures.

Had to keep scrolling sideways to see it all, got dizzy, had to give up.

Would you mind resizing the pictures? 800x600 fits well on virtually all screens.

Yeah, I used CTL - to shrink the screen to see the pictures, but then I couldn't read the story.

.

[spyug]

Breathtakingly beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

I've never been west of Winnipeg but its on the to do list. We have a new son-in-law from BC and when he finishes chopper training (RCAF) in a few months they may be posted to Edmonton. When we get out there to see them I'll be taking some road trips with the old camera. maybe I'll get lucky and someone will loan me a bike

Sorry to hear about an accident what happened?

[azr]

I always find that a bike trip is always full of interesting coincidences, of chance meetings and interesting people, especially when you're doing a solo ride. So the next morning I'm at the car wash hosing off the layer of mud from road work. I see a couple of bikes at the McDonalds and head over for coffee. Two great guys from Down Under, flew into Seattle got two bikes and are traveling the entire USA, interesting. While I'm talking with them a fella comes up and says "who's got the Suzie?" Turns out he has the larger Samsonite rear bag and want's to sell it to me!! He stopped in to get coffee and saw the bike, go figure.



So from there I headed towards Joe River Road which would be my cross over into Idaho.





I knew there was going to be gravel but as the fella at the antique store said "it's as close to pavement as a gravel road can get"



The road was AWESOME to say the least, another real highlight of the trip.



Laughed so hard, as soon, AS SOON as you cross into Idaho, pavement and fresh pavement to boot. The road from there was even more amazing, corner, corner, corner and all flowing through this amazing forested canyon following the river. I know I made my chicken strip a little narrower on that road.







Great little gas/water stop part way along

[azr]

And I think there is a little hunting going on





From there it was off to St. Maires, more corners, more river and I found out that I can do somewhere just over 300 km's on one tank! I LOVE THIS BIKE!!

[Super]

Wow!! Amazing ride and amazing pictures. I may have found my next challenge. To get a bike ready and do a trip like that. I did quite a few when I was younger. These pictures are giving me the itch to do it again. Thanks for the great pictures!!