Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:04 pmWelcome back boys! Glad you're home safe & sound.
--chiba
--chiba
chiba wrote:Welcome back boys! Glad you're home safe & sound.
--chiba
+1
Nice ride.
BMWBMW
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Jim and Kermit's Big Adventure (well, big to us)
Page 11 of 11
Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:04 pmPosted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:46 pm+1
Nice ride.
Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:59 pmDay Sixteen, July 26, 2008.
Last day of our trip, and fairly uneventful, just a short 300 mile ride home, with a stop for lunch!
We stopped at Front Royal, VA at the Mexican restaurant Jalisca and I realized we had not one obligatory food shot, so I added a couple.
Kermit’s California Burrito.
My excellent beef chimi!
I thought Tina might like this sweet purple Duster!
Two happy, and surprisingly unsore guys at my house where we started.
We actually did the route we started to do, but added a dip down into ND because Kermit had not been there before, and I had not on a bike. (Hopefully Kermit will post the updated route showing some minor deviations.)
By the time we had 2000 miles on the trip, with 5000 to go, we thought we might have a tire issue. Kermit’s rear, and mine to a lesser degree, were showing a lot of wear. However, in the end, we both got home with stock tires and a few thousand miles left on them. Once again, the Avon Distanzias held up great, and rode exceptionally well.
My tire, and my 500 mile take-off from before the trip.
Kermit’s rear tire, still with some life on it.
As a matter of fact, we had nearly no mechanical issues at all. My GPS power wire broke after I adjusted my seat, and Kermit lost a low beam, and a Hella FF50 bulb, and that is it. I added half a quart of oil at 3500 miles, and it is still good. My bike has always used a lot of oil, but I guess at 53K miles it is finally broken in!
Both our bike are over 50K, Kermit’s over 60K, and neither of us hesitated a bit to take off with NO spare parts, antenna rings, or anything but the kit I usually carry. The bikes were absolutely flawless as far as we are concerned.
A few stats from the trip that I found interesting:
· 7300 miles (each)
· 17 states
· 6 border crossings
· 6 Indian reservations/reserves
· 5 national parks
· 4 Canadian provinces
· 2 countries
· 2 conformed bird suicides (a 3rd unconfirmed)
· 2 bazillion bugs killed
· 1 ride done, hundreds of ideas for more.
A few observations:
The best drivers are in the Midwest of the US and Canada, with Canada being better overall. The Canadians are generally more courteous, though we had nothing but great experiences with people everywhere we went in both the US and Canada.
Canada is a beautiful country! I have been in every US state, and several countries in Europe, and none are better than Canada in the West. As you go East it becomes harder to tell Canada from the US. The Canadian roads are good, if slow, with construction and low speed limits, but Canada’s short summers make for huge construction projects everywhere in summer.
Highway 101 north of Tillamook is one of the best roads I have ever ridden. Clean, fast, twisty with sweepers and light traffic!
There were bikes everywhere in the Midwest and Canada. Totally amazing to see the volume of bike traffic in the middle of nowhere, with cruisers covered in the same bugs as our bikes, and representing better than 80% of all the bikes we saw!
If you have never done a trip like this, you should try hard! It is amazing the things you see, the fun you have, and the feeling of release from everyday worries.
Here is the GPS for the end of the trip:
And for our Metric Friends:
Jim
PS I am missing Canada already, anyone up for a ride?
Last day of our trip, and fairly uneventful, just a short 300 mile ride home, with a stop for lunch!
We stopped at Front Royal, VA at the Mexican restaurant Jalisca and I realized we had not one obligatory food shot, so I added a couple.
Kermit’s California Burrito.
My excellent beef chimi!
I thought Tina might like this sweet purple Duster!
Two happy, and surprisingly unsore guys at my house where we started.
We actually did the route we started to do, but added a dip down into ND because Kermit had not been there before, and I had not on a bike. (Hopefully Kermit will post the updated route showing some minor deviations.)
By the time we had 2000 miles on the trip, with 5000 to go, we thought we might have a tire issue. Kermit’s rear, and mine to a lesser degree, were showing a lot of wear. However, in the end, we both got home with stock tires and a few thousand miles left on them. Once again, the Avon Distanzias held up great, and rode exceptionally well.
My tire, and my 500 mile take-off from before the trip.
Kermit’s rear tire, still with some life on it.
As a matter of fact, we had nearly no mechanical issues at all. My GPS power wire broke after I adjusted my seat, and Kermit lost a low beam, and a Hella FF50 bulb, and that is it. I added half a quart of oil at 3500 miles, and it is still good. My bike has always used a lot of oil, but I guess at 53K miles it is finally broken in!
Both our bike are over 50K, Kermit’s over 60K, and neither of us hesitated a bit to take off with NO spare parts, antenna rings, or anything but the kit I usually carry. The bikes were absolutely flawless as far as we are concerned.
A few stats from the trip that I found interesting:
· 7300 miles (each)
· 17 states
· 6 border crossings
· 6 Indian reservations/reserves
· 5 national parks
· 4 Canadian provinces
· 2 countries
· 2 conformed bird suicides (a 3rd unconfirmed)
· 2 bazillion bugs killed
· 1 ride done, hundreds of ideas for more.
A few observations:
The best drivers are in the Midwest of the US and Canada, with Canada being better overall. The Canadians are generally more courteous, though we had nothing but great experiences with people everywhere we went in both the US and Canada.
Canada is a beautiful country! I have been in every US state, and several countries in Europe, and none are better than Canada in the West. As you go East it becomes harder to tell Canada from the US. The Canadian roads are good, if slow, with construction and low speed limits, but Canada’s short summers make for huge construction projects everywhere in summer.
Highway 101 north of Tillamook is one of the best roads I have ever ridden. Clean, fast, twisty with sweepers and light traffic!
There were bikes everywhere in the Midwest and Canada. Totally amazing to see the volume of bike traffic in the middle of nowhere, with cruisers covered in the same bugs as our bikes, and representing better than 80% of all the bikes we saw!
If you have never done a trip like this, you should try hard! It is amazing the things you see, the fun you have, and the feeling of release from everyday worries.
Here is the GPS for the end of the trip:
And for our Metric Friends:
Jim
PS I am missing Canada already, anyone up for a ride?
Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 12:37 amWelcome back. I would love to do a Montreal ride in the fall.
Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:11 amVery cool guys. Enjoyed the updates. Sounds like an experience of a lifetime. Very jealous. I would LOVE to be able to do somthing like this, but, I could ever take that much time off work. I need to wait till I retire.
Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:50 pmJim & Kermit,
Great report, great pictures, great trip! I'm completely envious, for a number of reasons. I'm really glad that you had such a good time.
Welcome back to the Mundane, Ordinary, Dreary, World of Your Normal Existence! And start planning the next great escape...
Rick F.
Great report, great pictures, great trip! I'm completely envious, for a number of reasons. I'm really glad that you had such a good time.
Welcome back to the Mundane, Ordinary, Dreary, World of Your Normal Existence! And start planning the next great escape...
Rick F.
Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:59 pmThank you Jim and Kermit for taking us along on your wonderful trip! Hope to see you both at Jim's Tech Day in a couple of weeks.
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:49 amwelcome back guys! looks like a ton of fun - and it looks like all went safely (except for the birds - but let's face it, they had it comin).
i look forward to hearing the not-fit-for-print stories one day soon. . .
so maybe a spin up to the maritime provinces next summer??
i look forward to hearing the not-fit-for-print stories one day soon. . .
so maybe a spin up to the maritime provinces next summer??
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:18 amEnjoyed reading of your C2C exploits. Looks like you had a blast. Got me fired up for my own summer trip. I'm heading NNE for 10 days of riding. Scott
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 10:45 amIt's good to hear that the cross-Canada route is rewarding. Most feedback is that it's dull, and you guys showed otherwise. Thanks for the reports and pics.
--John
(Hey, I grew up in the prairie -- there's lots of interesting stuff there, subtle, to be sure, if you know what you're seeing.)
--John
(Hey, I grew up in the prairie -- there's lots of interesting stuff there, subtle, to be sure, if you know what you're seeing.)
Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 7:58 amJimVonBaden wrote:Day 11, Back into Canada…
Up and early at 6, or was it 7? Kermit and I headed out towards breakfast. I told him to stop at the first McDonalds he saw for a quick and easy. He took me literally. Little did I know there are no McDonalds in all of North Dakota… Kermit rode, and rode and rode, for 216 miles, tank to tank, forcing him to stop eventually for lack of gas.
Now I like to ride distance like the rest of you, but I rarely like 3 hours on one stretch! (NO, I am not Iron Butt material, though Kermit apparently is!)
After fueling at nearly empty, emptying a very full bladder, drinking a large bottle of water, and eating 4 mini-burritos for breakfast, we were on our way again…
....
In the end, not a lot of miles, but good ones, and now we start the last push past the Great Lakes. Expect some good pictures from this part!
Not bad for a wimpy day!
Jim
PS For you ADV fans, I thought you might find this amusing…
Here is some irony for you, my friend at work took this picture on the border of SD and ND:
Not only does it say no McDonalds for ever, it is 205 miles!
Jim
Re: Jim and Kermit's Big Adventure (well, big to us)
Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 8:18 amMan I miss doing this. Especially with a new bike in my hands!
Jim
Jim
Re: Jim and Kermit's Big Adventure (well, big to us)
Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:38 amJimVonBaden wrote:Man I miss doing this. Especially with a new bike in my hands!
Jim
I enjoyed this trip immensely and often reference it in conversation.
I'd be up for another one sometime.
While perusing this thread I noticed that the links to my photos (few that they are) are broken. Much to my chagrin I can't seem to find the photos on my SmugMug account. Hmm...
- Kermit