Jun 9 2017

The Untold Story

When we thought of doing this trip, a northern hemisphere summer round the world trip, we knew that we would be time and weather challenged but we both felt it was something we wanted to attempt.

Weather challenged we have certainly been for the past 2 months. We had hoped we would be late enough to ride up to Alaska but that was not to be. Winter across the USA, as it turns out this year, has been fierce and long and spring unseasonnably cold and wild. Instead we ended up going as far south as Arizona in pursuit of calmer and warmer weather but also to fill the time before our booked ferry trip to Vladivostok.

We certainly have had a great trip, enjoyed reconnecting with friends and family, making new friends, stumbled across gems we knew nothing about and simply letting fate or luck or whatever guide us to our next destination. But because of the freezing conditions, we have not camped as much as we had planned and accommodation has been horrendously expensive. While we have ridden in some pretty bad conditions, at the end of the day, if we want, comfort is never far, so long as we are prepared to use that plastic card… Having no fixed plan is something we have found we both enjoy. And yes, despite the weather, we’ve had a great trip so far.

The 2slowspeeds enjoying travelling despite the cold!

But… yes a big ‘but’ I wanted to share with our faithful readers. There has been a lot of soul searching. The but relates to the next stage of our trip. Due to the constraint we have put on ourselves of completing the trip during a northern summer, and due to visa restrictions (ie being limited to 30 days to cross Siberia, Mongolia and out of Russia before getting to Kazakhstan), we will have to rush this next part, Vladivostok to Ulan-Baatar especially, a mere 4000kms to cover in 10 days. How do we feel about this constraint? At least we’ll have long riding days with late setting summer sun. Do we really want to do this trip? Do we want this pressure? We can always back out at any time anyway. Should we rather just go to Alaska now and spend more time in Canada? And of course there’s the news of our unstable world at the moment – North Korea firing missiles, terrorists anywhere and everywhere. Our thoughts go back and forth… What shall we do?…

Anyway, all this just to let you know that we did question whether we should or whether we wanted to continue with our RTW trip. After much soul searching and checking with each other, we have decided it is something we both would like to complete. We really only finally decided about a week ago. The main aim was to visit friends we had made on the last trip and next on the list now, we really want to return to Uzbekistan and Iran (Turkmenistan willing). And discover Mongolia.

When we handed the keys to Streak and Storm to Justin at BMW-Ducati in Vancouver, I felt my first pang of excitement towards our next stage. This RTW is happening!!! Of course I will have to wait until the plane lands in Seoul before I can get really excited.

– Anne

Jun 7 2017

North Cacades Highway

The joy of travelling with no fixed route or destination or timetable is that you invariably stumble across more unexpected gems. Today was another such day. Another road closure along state route 20, a reputedly scenic route in the area, that would take us from the fruit growing area of Okanogan across the Cascade Mountains is closed in a couple of areas due to a number of landslides – pity as we were really enjoying the gentle scenery of rolling hills after the dramatic snow capped jagged peaks.

Outside Okanogan along US20

Outside Okanogan along US20

Fruit stands line the roads, hundreds of empty wooden boxes waiting for the fruit picking season to begin – the last couple of days have seen temperatures reach 30 degrees centigrade and we get delicious wafts of fermenting fruit as we drive by.

After an 80km detour, we are back on Route 20 entering the Methow Valley and stumble across a sign advertising espresso coffee on the outskirts of Twisp. Oooh, yes, let’s turn off: real coffee is so rare here in the US and it’s time for a stop. The place immediately looks interesting and it is not long before we are chatting with Dan the founder and owner of Blue Star Coffee Roasters and get a tour of the production area. It was fantastic seeing his modified and updated 1963 German Probat 22kg roaster – all those various pulleys, chains, manual levers. The whole process is completely manual, no fancy electronic gauges or monitors. And yes, the coffee was superb. Funnily, a week later, a friend we visited outside Seattle had Blue Star coffee at home!

Dan Donahue of Blue Star and his 1957 Probat coffee roaster

An hour and a half later, we are off again to give the local Smokejumpers a visit. This region, the Methow Valley, is the birthplace of smokejumping where, back in 1939, the first experimental jump was made to prove firefighters could safely and successfully parachute into the rugged timbered terrain and attack wildfires. 58 succesful jumps helped determine how best to land in inaccessible areas and 2 smokejumping bases were created, one here and the other in Missoula. Apart from the bravery of those souls willing to parachute into a burning area, it was interesting to learn that every firefighter suit is made to measure on site. The firefighters, in addition to having to be incredibly fit to carry 70kgs on their backs for up to 3 days, being able to parachute and get themselves out of trees when they inadvertently get tangled in branches on their way down, also need to be proficient with the sewing machine.

Smokejumpers’ suits ready to don

Smokejumper Jeff explaining their suits

Smokejumpers’ sewing machine

A couple of hours later, we’re off again and stumble upon Winthrop with its 1890 old Wild West store fronts and wodden boardwalks. Time for another stop and a sandwich.

Winthrop Town Hall built in 1891

Winthrop, WA

From the gentle rolling hills of the Okanogan and Methow Valley, we now continue along the North Cascades Highway and find out the reason for its name: sheer cliffs and multiple cascades shooting down along the highway. We climb up over Washington Pass, past more snow and impressive Liberty Bell Mountain. Then we see an ominous road sigh: severe winds warning. Shreds of pine branches litter the road. I am sure our training of riding in Cape Town and South America came in handy but it didn’t feel like it. The wind was truly brutal and it was scary but apart from taking shelter in a toilet block overnight and hoping for the wind to die down the next day, we had to soldier on. Pity as it is meant to be a stunning area. Anthony’s calming encouragement on the way down was very helpful. Luckily, the weather gods were kind enough to hold off raining until we got out of the windy area. Time to find a motel and stop for the day. We stop at the first one we come across, it is a querky little old place, we are the only guests but it is perfect for the night!! Amazing what feels good sometimes!! And that US 20 was amazing.

Liberty Bell Mountain, WA on North Cascades Hwy

Riding up Washington Pass on North Cascades Hwy

Diablo Lake, WA

Severe winds above Diablo Lake, WA

We are getting close to our original destination: Vancouver, the place the bikes are to be serviced and where we leave for South Korea from. First a breakfast catch up with Susan from Horizons Unlimited, catch up with one of Anthony’s second nephews, Gareth and his gorgeous girlfriend Mimi and finally dropping off the bikes at BMW-Ducati for their 45,000 miles service and new tyres. We chose Heidenau Scout K60 as they performed so well for us last time. We leave Justin with a list of things to check and fix on the bikes and head south in a hire car to Seattle for a couple of days to see an old friend.

Anthony with Gareth and Mimi

Back in 1985, Anthony and I hitch hiked to Alaska from Edmonton, Canada. A family moving from Seattle to Anchorage eventually picked us up – what fun travelling on top of a double bed in a dump truck for 2 days, watching bears along the road – and invited us to use their home as our Alaskan base. We would disappear for a few days, come back, camp in their front yard, do our washing and head off again. During that month, we formed a strong friendship, but over the years, one move too many and we lost touch. I recently found Elisa again thanks to my decluttering at home: I came across an old address book and found her parents’ address!! A quick search through Facebook and I found her and her son!!! Meeting up again 32 years later and having her kids want to come over to see us again was so special. Just as if we had last caught up a few weeks ago.

Finally together again after 32 years with Karen, Elisa and Anthony

Elisa and Anne

We make the most of a clear day to go up Mt Rainier:

Mt Rainier, WA

Christine Falls, Mt Rainier Nat’l Park, WA

From Mt Rainier, WA

At Paradise, on Mt Rainier, WA

Well, this North America section of this trip is coming to an end. It didn’t turn out as we had originally ‘planned’, hoping to revisit Alaska, but the wild weather has sent us on a windy South West heading before turning north again. Most days, we had no idea where we were going to end up at the end of the day. We have definitely enjoyed this freedom to go where we feel, where locals recommend, stay somewhere longer than expected and where the weather was less bad!!! No wonder many of you had no idea where we were, we didn’t either!!

We leave Vancouver on 11th June for Seoul, with the bikes on the same flight as us, then leave South Korea from Donghae on 18th June for a 24 hour ferry ride to Vladivostok. Wish us luck!!!

– Anne

Jun 2 2017

Video

Last ride in the Rockies

Jun 1 2017

Air Canada Cargo – Fly Your Bike

Holidays looming, Where to ride this to this summer? The Alps or Rockies again depending on whether you live in Europe or North America, but what about something different? Cross the Atlantic with your motorcycle and ride the other side of the pond. Difficult, costly and time-consuming you may say, but perhaps not. Have you seen Air Canada Cargo’s ‘Fly Your Bike’ offer? This innovative program enables transatlantic travel for motorcycles between May 1 and 30 September 2017 at extremely competitive prices. Below is my understanding of their destinations and pricing for 2017. Note that these prices are for Air Canada ticketed passengers and do not include local customs charges.

While not claiming to be airfreight motorcycle shipping experts, we have some experience as Streak and Storm are being prepared for their sixth flight from Vancouver to Seoul. We have shipped in crates, on pallets, directly with Airlines and through Shipping Agents on four continents. Each experience was different, but we have found that Air Canada’s Cargo’s ‘Fly Your Bike’ program is the easiest, quickest and most cost effective motorcycle shipping process. We have used Air Canada Cargo once each way across the Atlantic but I will not detail their process, best to read the relevant Air Canada documentation https://www.aircanada.com/cargo/en/shipping/shipping-solutions/ac-dgr/#tab_motorcycle then contact Air Canada Cargo directly with any questions. What I will say in our experience is that you can ride to and from Air Canada Cargo at each end without crating and it does not get any better than that.

Streak & Storm, ready to fly

Some may wonder why we have posted what could be considered an ‘infomercial’, but I simply think that the program is excellent value and in my view under publicised. We have not been sponsored by Air Canada in any way. Enjoy your 2017 Biking holiday whatever your destination and if you use the service, tell them the 2slowspeeds sent you!

– Anthony

May 28 2017

O Canada

O Canada, not the national anthem, but ‘oh Canada’, we have only been here for five days, only seen a small snippet, but how enjoyable, well, after the first couple of days and the snow, see the video for that. We crossed from the USA at Eureka and switched from miles to kilometres, at least we stayed on the same side of the road. Anne prefers kilometres to miles because she says they go quicker when it’s cold, so she is happy. Speed limits seem to be lower on highways, 100 kph /62 mph on the main highways and 90 kph / 55 mph where those roads pass through National Parks to protect wildlife.

Our second day seems to provide a cloudy weather window, without rain, to allow us to get to Canmore via Banff. We were last here in 1985 and are looking forward to renewing our acquaintance with the area. While cold it was dry, at least for the first hour, by which time we needed to thaw out! We stop at the town of Radium Hot Springs, hope the hot is natural… It feels good to warm up – Anne even got a refill of the tasteless American ‘coffee’. We start riding again in light rain and come across a Kootenay National Park entrance across the road, fees payable, but as it’s Canada’s 150th anniversary, we get a free pass for 2017 – excellent! Climbing up through the park, we have to cross a pass at around 6,100 ft / 1850m, the rain turns to sleet then snow, the temperature dropped to 33F / 0.5 C. As we slow and indicate for the car behind us to pass us, it slows down too and positions itself behind us for the first section of the pass providing a measure of protection – thank you!

After 20′ wait Anthony goes to ask how much longer – brrrr

Further the road, after waiting for 20 minutes for roadworks, we travel on, colder and heavier snow. While pulling over might seem like an option, there is nowhere in the National Park to stop, a cold tent does not appeal and especially having to setup in this weather. We need to clean our visors of snow every 10 seconds or so, just to see where we are going, then splat! we are sprayed with a wall of fast moving slush by a vehicle going the other way, that’s a new experience for us.

Soon there was no time for selfies!

No fun at all but nowhere to stop or shelter

It takes us two hours of this, with a couple of necessary thawing stops, to reach our destination. We see no other motorcycles out there and encounter no bugs. Are the two related? More research is needed on that subject, I see a government grant here. We did note that driving snow does clean all the dead bugs off the windshield really well.

We made it to Banff!

Two very cold, wet and bedraggled riders sloshed their way into the nice hotel in Canmore we had found online with 70% off. As we dripped all over the foyer, we were given keys to a great room with two baths. With wet gear in one and us in another, the amount of water was about the same, pure luxury. A nice bottle of South Australian red wine with dinner rounded off a tough day, but we made it through once again.

Refreshed the next morning, we are ready to head back to Lake Louise, a location we last saw in the summer of 1985 when we were hitch hiking back from Alaska via the Icefield Parkway. It was a destination that on paper, well post cards, I recall at the time thinking how the blue of the lake looked fake, nothing could be that blue, but it was. We arrive at Lake Louise, overlooked by the iconic Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise hotel, to find no magic blue lake, just an ice covered scenic wonder. What a difference a season makes. Surprisingly the place is busy with tourists, both domestic and foreign.

Thawing Lake Louise, Alberta

The raw beauty of Lake Louise, Alberta

Off again, then suddenly a gaggle of cars pulled over at the side of the highway, a breakdown, accident?, no a grizzly bear on the side of the adjacent railway track, slowly moving from clump of clump of vegetation, which can include dandelions which we have seen flowering and seeding prolifically during the last few weeks. Our first and last bear so far, at least it was a grizzly.

Our first grizzly, eating between the railway track and our road

Common road sign in BC, Canada

A couple of nights at a B&B gives us a chance to start sort out what we will take with us next month, yes while we have sent one package home, we think we can slim down a little further.

Great spot for some bike maintenance and a rest

This also coincided with a new phenomenon for us, blue sky and warm weather. After six weeks, we have blue sky and warm weather. We will now take a few back roads southwards into the vast expanse of the Canadian Rockies, winding roads, deep lakes, tall forests and snowcapped peaks. I will let the photos do the talking from here.