Hey Grant, glad you're enjoying the trip. Having more time everywhere we go seems to be the developing theme to our trip. We've been thinking out loud about revisiting some of these spots when we get a bit closer to retirement, maybe in a small RV type vehicle. That way we can spend as much time as we would like, of course we may feel that way about everywhere else we go.

I have no idea how much time you've planned here, but I have a feeling it won't be enough

Cheers,
Mark

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The following morning was like Christmas for me. No I don't mean it was snowing, although it wouldn't have surprised us at all. I had been looking forward to getting to the top of Mount Washington for some time and though we wanted to get home, this was one stop I wasn't going to miss this time. Lori decided to remain at the hotel and get some administrative stuff completed (mainly some phone calls to family to let them know we'd be home in a few days), so I was off to the top solo. WooHoo!


The ride up was pretty cool, first the road serpentines through dense forest, eventually taking you above the treeline.


And views like this.


It seems everywhere we go there is still snow.


Found some playmates for the Tiger while I went sightseeing.


You can make out a hiking trail off to the right.


Hello ISS? Yes, this is Mount Washington calling...


It feels like I'm at cloud level here.


Built in 1853 and restored in 1987, the Tip Top House is a former hotel.


Some more sights at the top.


Mount Washington's very own Cog Railway






Fantastic 360 views at the top.


You can make out a couple of hikers in this shot. To get to the top, one can take the railway, tour van, your own vehicle, or my favourite; your own two feet. In fact many who thru-hike the Appalachian Trail will hike all the way from Georgia to here, before continuing on to Mt Kathadin in Maine (about 2182 miles in total). Another bucket list item for me, but that's another story.


Cool little factoid about Mt Washington




The old...and the new. My previous ride was the ST1300 much like the one on the right.


Time to head back down, I think Lori is probably waiting outside of the hotel by now (tapping her foot).










Short section of dirt. Of course going down, the driver of the vehicle in front of me must have thought it was ice, they were going that slow.


Apparently I didn't have to rush down, Lori was still on the phone when I got there. Because of the side trip up Mt Washington, we didn't get going till about 1130 yet still managed to ride 566km that day.


We finally got to experience (enjoy?) some of the heat wave we've been hearing about back home. Good riding (along route 8 I think) once we got into NY, we've always enjoyed going through the Adirondacks, another very scenic area.


On the way we passed through Mexico, Russia, Norway, Rome and of course, Poland. This was quickly becoming a real RTW adventure. Of course each of those was prefaced with Town of, or Village of but pretty cool none the less.

We have decided to take a break for a couple of weeks at home before heading west. I say home, but what I really mean is our hometown with family. We sold our home last November and have been living a vagabond like existence ever since. In the meantime we have a few loose ends to take care of here. The bike needs service, we have a few gear changes to make and also want to re-organize ourselves a bit before carrying on. It's also nice to see our family and friends again.

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Ummmm, the train looks broken
Enjoy the 'home' rest, but don't get too comfy.........we're waiting

You had a beautiful day on Mt. Washington. Thanks for posting the pictures. I went up it last year but the top was in the clouds so all I got to see was dark and cloudy. Good to see what I missed.

Enjoy your time at home. I look forward to the continuation of the journey.

Take care,

John

Thanks guys.

I know it can be hit and miss up there, so I was glad it was picture perfect.

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Hi Mark Lori, well done, you paint a super nice picture of Canada. It seems defiantly a country to take time to explore .

Would be interested in an equipment evaluation report if you can get it together, also how the explorer done & what mods you intend to make, mmmnnnn no rest for the wicked it seems But first a well earned rest & with family & friends.

Anyways gonna stay tuned, have fun & thanks for sharing Vince

Hi Mark & Lori.. great blog and brill pics. Like your take on destination planning... 'point the bike and ride to until we want to stop somware' good luck on ur inspiring trip and keep the updates coming. Would love to travel Canada sometime myself... Ride safe

Bones:mchappy

Thanks Vince,

I've been wanting to put something together in that regard but I'm running out of time before we get going again in a few days. Too many things to do and not enough time. Bike specific mods are few (other than what I've already done before we left in May). I've decided to add a roto-pax fuel cell and a couple of tool tubes both under the side cases.

I'm not planning on running with extra fuel day to day but the fact that we've nearly run out of fuel twice now concerns me a bit. Maybe it's because I've come from a 7.7 gallon tank of the ST1300 and I realize that's more my fault but still, I find the tank on the Tiger small. There are definitely a few places where we're going to have to carry a bit more fuel so I thought I would pick one up.


Thanks Bones,

Our destination planning seems to be as fickle as we are. One day we ride till lunch and we look for a place to stay while we stop for a coffee break, other days we go till dinner before deciding. Other days still, we know exactly where we're going to end up in before we even leave in the morning. One thing that we both agree on is that we'd like to stop much earlier in the day. This part of our trip is still a work in progress it seems, as some days we don't get going till 11am so it's hard to stop only 3 hrs later. So we often find ourselves riding a bit longer.

At the root of that I think, is the invisible schedule (that we're not supposed to have). We want to make it out to Alaska and back down to BC for the HUBB meeting in Aug.

With that said, we both really like being able to go where we feel like and the ability to change our minds and the direction when it suits us (or doesn't suit us as far as the weather goes). We both like letting our internal compass guide us. We've not experienced that before as there was always a schedule to keep, rain or shine, tired or not, we kept going because we had to go back to work when we got back.

Canada is very beautiful indeed, I'm glad we can give you a sneek peek. We've been to the east coast 4 times now and each visit gets better and better. We always find something new to see and it never gets boring. We're both very much looking forward to the west coast as we've never really been there before (except for a 2 hr layover in Vancouver).

Thanks for following along.

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Hi Mark, Lori
Yep a shortcoming on an otherwise xcellent bike. Her little sis the 800xc has the same problem, 19 litre tank. also same glitch with fuel meter, computer tells little lies. Am also looking for a solution. May also opt for roto pax mounted on the left hand pannier (zega pro TT) between wheel & pannier. There is a large gap there. Also thought about mounting 'em under the cases, but want to go off road & am afraid of wiping 'em out on a rock Will also look at water carrier as well. Or just buy jerry cans en route when needed.

Will also mount tool tubes but onto front of sump plate.

Looking forward to reading about yer next stage as I plan to come down from anchorage, at some stage still in planning stage

Ride save & keep the rubber side down .... Vince

View from the back of the bike continues....


Two weeks were not nearly enough time to see everyone and do everything we wanted to while at home. We have been thoroughly spoiled by our amazing family and are already missing them terribly. I'm pretty sure I've cried a couple of buckets of tears in the last few days. Again I have asked myself why would we do this? Again I come up with all the same answers. We are doing this to live, not merely exist in a life of workeatsleep that was our reality for many years.


We are anxious to see all the beauty the world has to offer (both nature and people) and in turn share it with our family, friends and anyone else who is interested and may not be able to see it for themselves. Most importantly we are doing this to inspire Michael and Kimberly that they can truly do anything they want in life. They just have to put their mind to it and push on. Life's not always roses but the rewards for putting yourself out there are by far the best.


Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to everyone and especially to John and BooBoo who have fed us, housed us and supported us on our crazy adventure.


We didn't take too many pictures over the last couple of weeks, but here are a few.


















Going through the bike tightening all the nuts and bolts that the dealership was kind enough to loosen off for me.



Taking a break for a photo bomb opportunity.





We are back on the road and currently in Ottawa.... Illinois that is. We pushed through a very long day yesterday to get beyond Chicago as we had no desire for the big city life even for a night. (Something I read about 87 shootings on the July 4th weekend reaffirmed that decision) Of course that meant a hotel stay for us as we are now soft from all the pampering. Our destination? West!


~Lori

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A few people have asked us about our gear and what has worked, what hasn't so far, and what changes or improvements we would like to make. After 10,500km over 5 weeks, I thought I would do a quick post and go over some of the changes.

The Tiger

With the exception of the tire issue we had at the beginning, the bike itself has been behaving quite well. There is however a "Service Bulletin" (as opposed to a recall, not sure what the official difference is but I suspect it's a legal technicality) on the Tiger for a a head replacement. Sounds pretty serious. It seems only some bikes are affected, however my bike falls within the VIN range of affected machines. So I've opted to have the heads replaced under warranty during out stop over at home. Although the Tiger comes with a 2 year warranty, my main concern is having to deal with this somewhere in Central or South America where dealerships are few and far between.

Post-transplant, the bike sounds much better than before the job. That chain-like rattle is now gone and she purrrs like a big cat now. Not sure if it's just me, but it also seems to have quite a bit more power. This one is more difficult to tell because I've removed all the gear which just seems to turn this adventure bike into a crotch rocket (minus the pin-your-knees-behind-your-ears-seating-position that most sports bikes have). Maybe some of you that ride loaded down notice the same thing when you remove all the gear, but she's ultra light and crazy fast now.

Incidentally I'm a bit disappointed with the dealership in London (Ontario) where I had the work done. Once home I noticed there were a several bolts that were not tightened well, they also pinched the Stebel horn wire when they re-installed the upper crash bars, rendering it useless and they did not reconnect my fuse block which powers all of my electrical accessories. The fuse block is an easy fix as I just had to reconnect the wire to the battery, but the horn not working is a safety issue. That's a big no-no to me. With that little attention to detail, I'm a bit concerned about what else they may have missed that I can't get to without stripping more pieces off of the bike. I realize a head replacement is not a simple job, but still. They also decided to replace the spark plugs without my knowledge or consent and only told me about this after the fact, at my cost of course. Also they did not replace the oil. Seriously? Yup, "we just topped up what spilled out" was the response. New heads need new plugs but not new oil? Maybe it's just me but that seems a bit suspect. Ok, enough ranting.

We've had an issue with the Globescout side cases, more specifically the gaskets on the lids. Not sure when or how, but they seem to have been squished in a couple of spots. My guess is something was sticking out at some point when we closed the lids. Consequently they now allow water to enter during heavy and prolonged rainfall. New gaskets have been ordered but we will have to replace them in the field as we are leaving in a few days and our supplier has to get them from his supplier first.

Adding a tool tube and a roto-pax to the underside of the side cases. Although I'm not planning on running with the roto-pax full of fuel day to day, there are a few places we're planning on going that I'm concerned about. Fuel capacity is one area that the Tiger Explorer is lacking, with a 20 litre tank it's a bit small for an adventure bike in my opinion.

We're also adding a top rack to the Givi E55 top case. I've actually had the rack for a couple of years now intending to put it on my previous bike but never did. Since I have it, I thought why not. Gives us another place to strap something small & light-weight to. So far I'm not sure I'm liking it. The extra weight causes the lid to flip over 180 degrees which puts extra stress on the little cables holding the lid in place. Before, you could simply open the lid and it would stay at about 90 degrees on its own, now you have to hold it which is a little inconvenient.

There are also a few mystery noises emanating from the bike while moving at certain speeds. One I've read is related to the Tourance EXP tires, the other sounds like a bad bearing to me. Both of which should be remedied shortly when I change tires. The tire we put on in Ottawa was actually the same stock Tourance so it's difficult to say whether that's the culprit. Another noise is also an deep sounding oscillating type noise and only during slower speeds (different than above). This one is new and only started after the head replacement. Could be a bearing getting worse or ??

Camping Gear

We're happy (ish) with our Sierra Designs Lightning HT 3 tent. It's a 3 person, 2 vestibule tent that works very well for 2 people. My main and only complaint with the tent is the amount of condensation on the inside of the fly, just seems excessive to me at times, even with the vent open. The seam sealing has started to crack and flake off and as a result, we are getting some water coming in during heavier downpours. Otherwise it's fairly light, quick to set up and has kept us dry and mosquito-free so far. I'm tempted to pick up another tent, a 4 person size to give us some more space. It gets a bit crowded with our motorcycle gear (helmets, moto jackets and pants) and us. But I don't really want to add another 2 lbs to our set up. Everything is a compromise when travelling 2up on a motorcycle.

One of the changes we're making with our camping set up is our mattress pad, although not by choice. We've had a cat-astrophic failure with one of our Exped UL7's when one of the cats where we've been staying pierced the Exped a few days ago. We walked in to the room to see a cloud of feathers floating around everywhere, exacerbated only by the ceiling fan running. It was funny only in a sad sort of way. We sent the mattress back to Exped for some minor surgery as the hole was way too big to patch up ourselves and in the meantime we've picked up a NeoAir All Season air mattress to keep us going till we get the Exped back. Why NeoAir? Well you see, the Exped UL7's were on sale when we bought them last winter and I just couldn't bring myself to drop over $300 on another one at regular price. We actually bought and returned an Exped DownMat Lite 5 this week, we found it too firm and too thin after testing it for the night. The NeoAir was the next most comfortable mattress we found that didn't break the bank. After spending several nights on the NeoAir, I'm surprised to say it's equally as comfortable as the Exped, minus the down content of course. The NeoAir uses the same material as a space blanket inside the mattress itself vs down in the Exped. The downside is that it has a lower R value, on the plus side, a tiny little tear won't empty out the insulation like the we did with the Exped. So far so good.


This could be the culprit but he's not talking.

We're also putting our frying pan back in the bag, along with our zip lock bag of spices. This was a last minute cut back in May mainly to conserve space. We both miss eating healthier meals while travelling. With that, I'm also adding a second alcohol stove to the mix, the minibulldesign M4. We've been using a DIY cat can stove I made for hiking (which I absolutely love btw) and at 5 grams, it doesn't exactly factor as far as weight. Why alcohol stoves? Well the biggest reason is that I already had them. Fuel comes in the form of denatured alcohol or yellow bottle Heet, both of which are available at any hardware store or gas station all year round. I was even able to find Heet (which is used as a gas line antifreeze) in Hawaii. We now have a couple of stoves, so there should be no issues cooking a regular meal while we are on the road, something we both hope to increase the frequency of.

Moto Gear

We've actually made some huge changes here. This is a lengthy story that we'll get to another time. Basically we've decided to go with our original plan which is the Rev'it Sand 2 jacket and pants. We've had these for almost 2 weeks now and we both agree it's absolutely the right call. The Olympia stuff is a fine kit, it's just not for us, more specifically not for us on this trip. It would be nearly perfect as an all around set up if we were at home I think.


Sand 2 getting a little nikwax spritz.

Our rain jackets have been failing miserably (or maybe I should say failing exceptionally well?). We've had to return both our Rev'it Cyclone H2O jackets under warranty. The velcro tabs at the cuffs have fallen apart and there are loose threads all over the place causing failure in other locations. We're also disappointed with the performance of the single layer construction of the jacket as they get far too wet on the inside. On our 13 hour traverse of Newfoundland, these did not protect us at all it seemed. We had soaked through multiple layers and changes of clothes that day. I realize that 11 hours of rain on any day is a lot but we both feel they should have performed better. The short length of the Cyclone is also to blame here, I feel like a 3/4 design would work much better at keeping us dry, longer. With that in mind we have both switched to the Olympia Horizon rain jacket. 3/4 length, mesh lined, attached hood. We have yet to test them on the road so we'll have to wait and see if they really are an improvement.

Personal Gear

A common theme is that most over pack for a big trip, not sure we escaped this one. I think we were a bit over packed if only because there were things we did not use during our 5 weeks on the road. Not sure we would have done it differently as the weather was much colder than typical on the east coast.

We're leaving behind our puffy (down) jackets which we only brought because we expected to need something that warm off the bike. We also used them quite a bit while on the bike as we did not bring the (single purpose - meaning you can't really wear the stuff off the bike) insulation layer that came with our motorcycle jackets. We also nixed the liners on the Sand 2 gear as they really are single purpose. My intention is to pick up a couple of synthetic insulation jackets to replace both our puffy and bike insulation. We're making a few other small changes with our clothes but nothing extraordinary.

Our friend Henry had asked about solar power, something we don't have a need for as everything can get charged on the bike. Our comm units, GPS, phone and other electronics all get juiced up via the 12V on the bike while we are on the go. The only exception is our laptop but so far we haven't had a problem charging it up when we stop indoors somewhere. This is one area the Tiger excels in, plenty of juice on tap with its 950w generator.

Lastly, we've added a little orange buddy to our gear list - the SPOT. I've been on the fence about getting one but have finally succumbed to Lori's peer pressure and picked one up. We both like the idea of the SOS button and being able to check in with family when out of wifi & cell service range. Although we love getting suggestions for places to check out while we are in an area, we are typically a week or two behind on our blog so we often get them long after we've moved on. So we have added a link to our site with our current location.



Oh and I almost forgot, we also added a little pocket camera to the mix, a Lumix LX3. Something Lori can keep in her jacket pocket and is easily accessible while we are on the move. We haven't taken too many pics with it, but so far we're pretty happy with it.




Crossing over the Mississippi River

Ok so maybe this wasn't as quick an update as I had thought.

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From Ottawa IL, we zig zagged our way north west sticking to back roads mostly, stopping in Nashua and Sioux Falls to camp each night. We had an interesting delay riding through downtown Sioux Falls as traffic in front of us was stopped*while Harley after Harley rode past on the street we were about to cross. Another rider that was waiting with us said there was a Harley rally in the area*and there were about 10,000 going. Camping that night in Sioux Falls was a bit loud as a result.







My lack of appreciation for the "loud pipes save lives" mentality only grew as these life saving machines rode around well into the night. Of course it didn't help that we were camped out essentially right in the city at Tower campground. My theory is that helmets save more lives than loud pipes, although I seem to be in the minority in South Dakota. I've also noticed an interesting trend that goes along with that. Most of the non-helmet wearing Harley riders don't wave back and I'm wondering if perhaps they're too nervous about taking their hands off the handlebars because they aren't wearing a helmet? Lori and I just can't wrap our brains...around the concept of not wearing a helmet or worse, taking it off and strapping to the back of the bike like we've seen some riders do. Maybe I'm just missing the upside, but the downside would seem to outweigh any positive.



Getting to the Badlands was a bit anti-climactic as we spent most of the last day on the I-90. A straight and windy run west but at least it was blowing consistently from the north west. Not a lot of fun but looking at the map, there didn't seem to be too many interesting back roads to get here. Mileage on the bike took a hit as a result of the headwind and we averaged about 32MPG along here - yuck! Highlight of the day was watching a hawk dive down into the grassy median as we approached, only to come to a screeching halt and hover at about eye level as we passed by - cool!







We got suckered in by the map as the town of Wall looked like a good spot to stop before heading into the Badlands. If I had to offer someone advice on staying in Wall it would be: Don't!*I have to say that if I never see another sign for Wall Drug, it will be too soon. If you've taken this stretch of the I-90, you know what I mean. There is a nauseating amount of signage for the place, I mean one would think this is a national treasure of some kind and is the number 1 destination in the entire country. After all those signs, I wanted nothing to do with the place.



The Badlands were on both our bucket list's and certainly did not disappoint. It was quite spectacular and totally makes up for Wall.




























The Tiger getting in on the photo action













These guys were prolific in the area to say the least.

































The view from the back of the bike…sort of





Inspired by Neil Peart's Ghost Rider







We left the Badlands via Route 44 and although it doesn't look that interesting on the map, there were more spectacular views and virtually no traffic along here (as evidenced by the parked bike in the middle of the road). Tee Pee campground in Rapid City was our destination for the night.

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We decided to stay at the Tee Pee campground for a second night and do a bit of riding around the area. On the menu for the day: Spearfish canyon & Mt Rushmore.


Sunset at the Tee Pee

We took Nemo Rd and then Vanocker Canyon Rd into Sturgis and then headed south down via Spearfish Canyon. Decent riding and pretty nice scenery.








Heading down Spearfish Canyon

We stopped in Hill City for a break and checked out the Black Hills Central Railroad Company.











We finished the day by doing a drive by at Mount Rushmore, while discussing the commercialization of all things natural. Mt Rushmore isn't exactly all natural but I did not know that it has a multi level parking garage at the base. Maybe it's all for the best as it keeps people from crashing into each other. Incidentally I found Rushmore much smaller than I imagined seeing it in person, although still quite impressive.




Lori snapped this pic blind while we rode past, turned out pretty cool considering.




Pretty amazing none the less.

The Tiger needed new rubber and after calling around, the closest shop that had a set of Hidenau K60's that I was after was south in Fort Collins, Colorado. Hmmm, Colorado eh?

Oh and since I've done so much complaining about the crappy weather we had earlier in the trip, I thought I would mention how nice it's been since leaving Brantford last week. I'm usually a bit leery talking about this because I feel like as soon as I do, it's going to rain for a week straight. So we'll see how this goes. But if you never read about how beautiful the weather's been, you'll know why.

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We took another scenic route leaving Rapid City through Custer State Park, then looped north via Needles Highway before making our way south into Wyoming and Guernsey State Park for the night.



Going up 16A off Iron Mountain was just fantastic, the road spiralling upwards and taking us through several single lane tunnels.






Going through one of the tunnels, cool special effects looking shot.


Another view of Rushmore


Checking out where the buffalo roam

I have to say I was a bit worried riding down the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park at first. I wondered if it was even ok to be on a bike on the road but noted that I hadn't seen a sign telling us otherwise. It definitely would have been interesting had the buffalo crossed the road around us. Tiger vs buffalo? Typically I'd go with the tiger in the wild, but I think we may be a bit loaded down for a good fight...






I was really surprised to see these guys so close to the road, seemingly unafraid, except for one little guy that would take off when a vehicle drove by.




This guy was hanging out about two feet off the road.




It was difficult to believe but the views just kept getting better and better as we hit Needles Highway.





It was one phenomenal view after another. Hard to pass up and well worth it but it did make for a long day as we pulled into Guernsey Park just before dark. We both thought Wyoming was very pretty from what little we saw of it so far. No mountains to speak of on the east side of the state but rolling valleys, cattle ranches and views for miles in every direction. The next day we continued*south into Fort Collins and another state, Colorado.



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You went to Colorado for tires? Well it seems no one else has any Heidenau K60's in stock and this was the closest place I could find. Of course, I've always wanted to see Colorado, so it wasn't a difficult decision since we were only about 500km away anyway. A shop in Sturgis, SD had the same Tourance EXP's that I had been running so far, but I wanted to try something a bit more off road capable to get us up to the Arctic Circle. The K60's are a 50/50 tire so they should work well for that.

It was about 6:30 by the time the tires were done and we had dinner, and we still had no idea where we'd be staying that night. Our plan was to head out via Poudre Canyon as we'd heard there was lots of camping along this road. But after stopping at the GoLite store downtown Ft Collins on our way out, Cooper, who worked there, talked us into taking Trail Ridge Rd instead. This meant staying in town another night.

It was Saturday evening and downtown Ft Collins was alive. We both thought it would be nice to hang out and check out some of the awesome looking pubs, maybe find a cheap hotel near by. Yeah right! Everything was either booked up or well over $200 for the night. I knew there were several campgrounds heading out of Loveland along Route 34 so off we went.


Pretty cool view of the mountains from the Perkins parking lot the next morning.


Our route for the day.


The canyon scenery was mesmerizing as we snaked our way out of town west along Route 34 next to the Big Thompson River.


Once into Rocky Mountain National Park, the snow capped mountains getting closer and closer as we snake our way upwards.


We pull over at one of the scenic look outs. Yup, definitely scenic.


We seem to have this knack to be able to find snow everywhere we go.




I really can see for miles and miles…


Onwards and upwards.






We're essentially at the top here, 12,183 feet. The highest elevation the three of us have*experienced to date.




New rubber lookin' good…


The view was literally breathtaking. Just walking around with my gear on made me light headed and short of breath.


Looks like a dip in one of those lakes might be refreshing…It was a very hazy day, so not the best for pics


The temperature was 16C at the top. I imagine the snow doesn't last all summer. Of course the forecast yesterday was sleet, so maybe it gets the occasional re-fill. I later learned that some of these are permanent snow fields.


Nothing like some summer fun…in the snow.




As with most things that go up, one must eventually come down.




Near the bottom. I say that like we're at sea level or something, I think we were still about 8,000 feet here. In fact the rest of the next 2 days were spent above 6,000 feet. I noted how exciting*it was to get to the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway at 6,047 feet last time we were there, yet this was one of the lowest elevations around these parts.

On the way down, we passed a beautiful campground in a valley, surrounded by mountains. I regret not stopping to try and get a site. We ended up riding almost till dark to Craig, CO before finding a campground that was not full. One of the downsides of trying to camp in the middle of summer and in the middle of Colorado.

What a spectacular day!

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