July 30, it's a shorter day from Lewinston, Idaho to Drumond, Montana 447 kilometers (280 miles). We get up at 6:50 am (not much later than to go to work), breakfast, shower, folding the tent and loading the motorcycle. We arrive at the local BMW dealer to change Alain's tyre at 9:00 am. We finally hit the road at 10:30 and ride through the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail.
Their expedition was the dramatic first step in the westward expansion of the United States. The temperature went only to 33 degrees celsius. Today, a bird was the victim of the road. It hit my jacket while I was riding at 90 kilometers. The police was not called, but I had traces of blood and probably what I assumed is brain matter on my jacket. Tonight, we are the only campers except for another guy sleeping in his car.
July 31: Drummond, Forsyth, Miles City 660 kms (412 miles). Hot, hot, hot ! The temperature started at 16 degrees this morning and went up to 38.5 degrees celsius The temperature hit the 38 degrees celsius. We have given up on wearing motorcycles jackets and pants. We ride in T-shirts and jeans... Not as safe, but the feeling is great ! Hard day because of the heat anyway. The road was flat except for the first 200 kilometers.
August 1 : Miles City, Enchanted Highway (North Dakota), Bismark. Another 577 kms (360 miles). The rain threatens us all day. Tonight, in the campground, we are invited to put our motorcycles under a shed as there might be hail ! Enchanted Highway stretches for 32 miles where you can see some of largest scrap metal sculptures in the world : Geese in flight in 2001, Deer Family 2002, Grasshopper in the fied 1999, Fisherman's Dream 2006, Pheasants on the Prairie 1996, Teddy Rides again 1993, Tin Family 1991. All these sculptures were created by Gary Greff, a teacher in his former life. This is not spectacular, but worth seeing and probably our only souvenir from North Dakota.
The winning formula of the day is : "better slowly than never'', this has become my motto, when Alain asks me: "where are you?" or tells me I should have bought a bicycle... As there is not much to do on the road, we spend our time chit chatting through our communication systems. A lot of nonsense and empty jokes most of the time. This keeps us busy and entertained.
August 2, Bismark, Remer (Minessota) 570 kilometers (357 miles). In the end, there was no storm, and we leave under a blue sky, however with a strong side wind. We live North Dakota for Minessota, the State with 10000 lakes and already it looks like the Quebec Province. Too bad, we are not quite ready yet. We have already driven 2800 kilometers since Mount St. Helens, but our bums are still as sore at the end of each day. We camp behind a motel tonight for $ 29.00.
August 3, Remer, Duluth, Marquette, 570 kilometers again today. Great weather, 27/28 degrees, no humidity. We camp close to Lake Superior. Lake Superior is so huge that it looks like a sea, with waves.
August 4, Marquette, North Bay 695 kilometers (434 miles). Another long riding day, but we are now eager to arrive home. We cross the border at Sault Ste-Marie without any problem. The event of the day was the fact that I was stung 4 times by a wasp on the belly (did not wear my jacket again). Apparently, I screamed quite a lot in the helmet and we stopped. Luckily, thanks to the first aid kit and the soft hand of my beloved husband, the burn faded quite fast. For our last day of camping, we went to celebrate duly with nachos, chicken wings and a beer !
Our last campsite
The last notes for the blog
August 5, North Bay - Home 490 kilometers (306 miles). We stop quickly to have breakfast and arrive home at 3pm. We are happy ! The lawn needs to be mowed and there is one year of cleaning inside that needs to be done. However, it is still standing !
A total of 37,773 kilometers for Alain (23,608 miles)
A total of 27007 kilometers for Francoise (16,880 miles)
This is what our itinerary looked like in the United States (you need to click on the map to see it completely). A great motorcycle trip altogether ! A lot of great memories, so many people met along the way ! It went by very quickly
Thank you to all who have helped us before and during our trip, Jean-Claude and Yves from Pointe-Cascades in particular for showing us the basics of mechanics before we left, the Lunsford family who very kindly hosted us in Nashville, Memphis and Los Angeles (friends of the family mean really something for them), Bruce Amshel in Pittsburgh, John and Wilma Branigan in Houston, Devita Cains Widmer and her husband Steve in Dallas (our charming Texan hosts), Tom Grohmann from TheMIGroup in Los Angeles, who let us store our motorcycles for 6 months for free, Kate Adams (a spontaneous, generous Harley rider) and her daughter Laura from Springville, California, our dear friends Oscar and Alicia in Linares (Chile), the bubbly Pia Lopresti in Hawaii as well as Damal in Hawaii , Quiet Lily on the Island of Chiloe (Chile), Olga in Chile, Jose and Maria in Argentina. Thank you to all of our faithful followers, colleagues, friends and family, who encouraged us to continue the blog regularly. Your kind words and comments really helped us keeping at it !
In addition, we would like to thank particularly our friends, Vincent and Christine, who kept a close and discreet eye on our house and our son, Julien. Without them, it would have been very difficult for Julien to stay on top of our mail, administrative work that was waiting for us at home. They were always here to help him out, whenever needed !
In addition, we would like to thank particularly our friends, Vincent and Christine, who kept a close and discreet eye on our house and our son, Julien. Without them, it would have been very difficult for Julien to stay on top of our mail, administrative work that was waiting for us at home. They were always here to help him out, whenever needed !
We will have another posting on this blog in a month or so with ''the indispensables'' of such a trip and with our first reactions after being back...
Some of you have already asked... On the Road Again...? Where to next ?...
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