day ten. well home again

we finished off our ride today.  back in the good old BC country.  that was one long ride.  never went that far on a bike before.

had good weather the whole way.  no rain at all.  but the sun did get a little hot at times. when you are riding and the sun is beating down on the pavement it makes it extra hot.

today went through the Stevens pass.  that was a little cooler for us.

My only draw back is the fact that my arthritis started showing itself on the last two days.  My back and legs are really starting to stiffen up now.  that last little leg of our trip I could tell I was starting to get in a little trouble.  Wanted to get off real bad but we were just about home.  so stuck it out.

I did admit I had my misgivings about going.  Now that I have done it I admit I had a good time.  Saw allot of country and did get to see some sights that I wanted to see.

well tonight back in my own bed.  aw!!!! that is what I always want

Day nine. One dang hot day

We only did a short bout today. Left later today and then headed for a Harley dealer. Yeah we found one to look at. Found out they were having a four year anniversary. Could get some pretty good deals. Unfortunately how would we get it home. Only have the bike with limited space. So nothing coming home with us. Didn't really see anything worth getting anyways. I usually just buy a t shirt but didn't even want one of them.

So we made our way into the desert again. Hot hot hot is what it is. Saw one sign that showed the temperature and it said 97. Dang hot I say. We had to make frequent stops to have a drink of water and to stretch. Not much of any shady spots to stop so the sides of gas stations would do.

Finally got into Wanatchee Washington. Found a Best Western to stay at. Where not going any further in this heat. Will trek for home tomorrow. Are really racking up some points with them. Well I hope anyways and will be able to use them sometime.

Home tomorrow. Yeah back in my own bed and off the bike. I am really starting to hurt now. Have to get off at least every hour to get the blood back into my legs. I don't know what will happen tomorrow. Hopefully I will make it home without too much pain. The arthritis is really starting to show its nasty side right now. Hurt hurt is all I am doing right now. So I guess biking isn't for me either. I do like to travel but I do like to be a home body as well.

But I don't want to be walking like I have been on the back of a horses butt for a long period of time. I mean something with horse power I have been sitting on and it is making walk like I am bow legged and stiff. I am glad I have a few days off before I go back to work. If I went back a day after I got home it would really be a hurting thing.

Well home at last. Just four hours away. Hopefully not a hot one will not make a good ride if it is. Well will see tomorrow. I think he wants an early morning to keep out of the heat as much as possible.

No inter net tonight so will publish this tomorrow when I am home along with the last blog for this trip.

Day nine. Another hot day of driving

Need water please. That was one hot drive. We made it the last legs of Montana and are now in Idaho. The temperature in very hot here. I think it made it up over 35 degrees while we wet driving. To top it all off we end up behind slow moving cars and construction, which made it slower going then what we wanted. It was suppose to be an easy 5 hour drive and took about seven by the time we were done. Then to get into Sandpoint Idaho we find out it is a beach town and the Best Western is full because it is down by the beach. Yeah we figured we would get here early enough to get a room so didn't book ahead. Well we are now at a Quality Inn just off the main road. Don't really care were we are as long as there is a bed and a place to relax for a while and get out of the heat.

We started out this morning with coats on but as the day progressed it started to get really hot. Off came the coat and then a little while latter off came the vest. Wanted to roll up the sleeves on my shirt but then I would have ended up with a sunburn like you wouldn't believe. The sun was just a beating down on us and was starting to feel like we were going to dehydrate. That was one hot drive.

So tomorrow it is going to be an easy drive. Well so he says. One minute he says will drive for a couple of hours and then the next he says will get up early And hightail it for home. My legs are not going to take that. I have enough trouble getting up the stairs now or for that matter trying to walk too far.

So tomorrow I am hoping for a short ride. Just have to wait and see though. Sometimes there are always other plans. I just am not going to take too much more before things start to go wrong for me. I am still holding my own, but everyday seems to get a little more stiffer.

Well two more days and should be home. At least I am hoping

Day eight, well it is bug city now

Okay bad joke. When do you know you are looking at a happy biker? He is the one with smile full of bugs. Ba ha ha ha. Yeah I know bad joke.

Well we went through bug city today. The bike is just covered with them. So tonight had to give a little of a wash when we got to the motel. Yuk! What a job.

Montana besides cattle and large ranches, they have bugs that just love to fly into your bike and face and sometimes up your nose. Ew!!! My pants are full of bug splotches.. More Ew!!!

Anyways to get ahead of traffic this morning we got up early. Williston is just so full of traffic and most of them being trucks. Found out why this morning. There is oil in those prairies . Well there was always oil in those prairies but now they can drill sideways instead of straight down so they are able to get more oil. Between Watson City and Williston the trucks just keep a moving. These trucks are doing big damage to the highways. You drive down the road and the ridges were tires have gone over are so deep it made it hard to control the bike on the road.

So as soon as we left Williston this morning the traffic went back to zero on the road. Montana was quiet. The awed truck and a few cars and lots of bugs. Not even much in the way of gas stations. We came close but made it to one. That was good don't want to be looking for gas on foot. No fun at all.

Well we made half way across Montana. Tomorrow should be in Idaho if all goes as planned. Haven't figured out how far we will make it just as long as he doesn't decide to hightail it for home. My legs just couldn't take it of he did. One long ride was enough on this trip. To get to Rapid City was along drive and I had to stay off the bike for a day to get my legs back in some order. They are still not good but I can make a bit at a time. Just allot of wiggling and he is telling me I am wiggling too much. Can't help it got to keep moving.

So now bike is sorta clean and we are sitting here relaxing after a nice supper. Hope that he doesn't want to get up too early tomorrow and try to get as far as he can. I guess I have to be ready for anything. Especially if I want to get home. No plane ride for me. Have to suffer the ride home as well.

I can say I am having a good time. Except for the pain in my legs and back while I am riding. Just a few more days and I will be home in my own beddy by. Then a couple of days rest and then back to work. Aw!!!!

Day seven, one the road again. Please no

Well we got up sorta early this morning to head on the road again.

The weather is kinda chilly. Had to wear my coat and best most of the day. So much for saying that the weather is too hot for riding. I felt like I was freezing most of the day. The wind came up as well which didn't make it much better for riding. Those cross winds make it hard to keep a bike going straight on the road.

Oh I forgot to mention that yesterday we went for a ride on an 1800 steam train as well. The ride we took had us on a trip for an hour. If you would have drove that distance it would have only took you ten minutes. The wind being a little cool that day also made for me feeling chilled because people had the windows opened. Yeah I am
Just a whimp when it comes to the cold.

As we left South Dakota the traffic started to pick up. We are now back on flat land and dang dusty as well. Went through a little area were you would call it the bad lands. Then right back into dusty flat land. With the cross wind coming up all the more and then the traffic started to accumulate with truck after truck after truck. These truck were filled with all sort of things for construction. The further north we got the more trucks and traffic we came across. North Dakota is booming. We also noticed that we had a time change again. I thought the time change would have been if we were under Manitoba but I guess it is somewhere in between of Sask. well now we are two hours difference in time.

Well being back on the road my aches and pains have started to show their wildly ways again. I am hurting tonight. Legs were pretty stiff all day. Had to raise one cheek then the other just to keep the blood flowing. My exercise for the day. On cheek up then put it down then the other cheek up and put it down. Move my foot to the front of the peddle the move it back again. I try not to move too much and hubby starts to motive the bike wiggling around a little. He does stop every so often to get off. At half a tank and then stop for a stretch. Then tank empty get off again to fill the tank. So I am getting stretch time. Happy about that.

Well we made it into Williston around 5 o clock. To find a place to stay though was not easy. With all the construction going on here the motels are all full up. Took us a few places to ask before we found something near the airport. Expensive that is. But at least we have a place for the night. So for tomorrow we figured out where we where going to hopefully be and made a reservation. Go figure found another Best Western to stay at. The points are starting to add up. Maybe will get to use the points sometime or rather after we get home.

Well tomorrow will be an early morning so will stop blogging for now. He wants to get on the road early before all the traffic starts showing its ugly head again. Those trucks are not fun to be around when you are on a bike.

Day six. Did a bus tour instead of driving

Today was a bit of a chilly day. Makes for a change from all the hot sun. Had a pretty good day today. Staying an extra day in Rapid City. The Best Western got another day out of us. Should get a free day voucher when we get home and check e-mail to see of voucher is there. Not checking home e-mail on the road just the g mail.

Started out with waiting for a bus at seven in the morning. Didn't get there until seven thirty. Nice but we were one of the last to get on. Nice motor coach with air. So not too bad. They then served us breakfast which was a plus.

So our tour today took us by bus to Mt Rushmore were we saw the monument of the presidents. Was real interesting to see even if we are Canadian. I love looking at things that are done in carving. We even walked the presidents walk, which wasn't too hard to walk. Going down wasn't too bad but when you had to walk back up the steps, well that did get a little tough on the knees. I did make it though without too much trouble. When you take that walk you can get right up and almost personal with their nostrils. Yep got to see up their noses.

After that we got back on the bus. Road over through Keystone and then to Hill City. A couple of souvenir places. Hill City is were a Harley dealer is. That caught someone's eye. So we may be driving over there tomorrow before we head out. You know just to take a look. Or he has already found the address in Rapid City and maybe we will be stopping there before we head out of town. Yeah!!!! Such fun.

From there we headed for the other monument in the area called Crazy Horse. It is still being worked on, but the head is done and they are blasting away in order to work on the horse part of it. When it is done in probably another fifty years it will look magnificent. It will be bigger then the the tallest buildings in the world. The carver that started it has now passed and his family have taken over to keep the dream alive. This gentleman has made many carvings in his life and was also an apprentice on the construction of Mt Rushmore. It is a big facility and to see all the crafts done by natives also at this facility was interesting.

The last place we went was on a drive through Custer National park. We're suppose to see buffalo there but none seemed to show themselves. Did see a few deer and elk though. At the end of this drive the driver took us up Iron Mountain. That was allot of switch backs to get up there. Up and up we went. Nice view when we got to the top though. On the way back down we came to a part of the road were they said it was not able to make about three miles of road to meet back up with highway 16. So a surveyour went into the bush for eight days to figure out how it could be done. He came up with a plan and this bus drove back down it. Well the road was made for model T's not big buses. You drive like you are going around a pigs tail. First you go over a bridge and then you circle around to go under this bridge. Then you go down the road a bit and then do another pig tail. The bus going through this was doing it very slowly and cars coming the other way did not want to move over to let the bus through. We did make it down. Boy was that ride fun.

So tonight are figuring out our plan for tomorrow. Yeah he wants to see the Harley dealer, you know just to take a look. Then it is on the road again. We are heading for home. Which way will be decided as we go. He has about four routes in the GPS and he will pick on on the drive out of town. I just hope it isn't t to round about way again. It takes forever and we seem to get nowhere. My legs and back just start getting sore just thinking about it. Well just have to see as we go. At least we are heading home and not south we're the weather is dang hot.

Well I had a good time today. No riding the bike and giving myself a. break. There was a walk on there I could have done without but it wasn't too hard. That felt good to take a break as my legs were cramping something fierce when I was trying to sleep last night. They are doing better now though and I should be able to head off tomorrow. Just have to wait and see. He says it will be an easy day. Well let's hope so.

Day five. Well that was a long drive

Well we made it Rapid City South Dakota. That was a long hot drive.

We got up early this morning to miss some of the sun and we had an eight hour or so drive ahead of us. The landscape went from mountains to flat to mountains again and then just plain flat. The sun beating down on us most the whole time and getting hotter and hotter and hotter. Oh such fun.

The mountains looked like they were clay red. And sometimes they looked like you would see in a roadrunner cartoon. The flat land looked like tumbleweeds and brush and big range farms with sheep cattle or horses. They say it is big bear country and rattle snakes. Thank goodness we didn't see either.

The cross winds kept us hopin as well. A truck would go by or a cross wind would come up. It would feel like you were one of those bobble heads. You know bounce this way and then that. Yes sir no sir just what ever you want sir.

Oh and so much construction put us back an hour on the road as well. You just get back up to speed and then have to slow down for another road of gravel. Thank goodness they didn't wet it down or that just would have been a big mess to drive through on the bike.

There was also the fact that we decided the night before to take a bit more of the expressway to get there faster, but part way down the road someone changed the GPS to take alternate routes away from big areas. That added at least another hour onto our trip. Mind you country side was nice to look at but to get we're there is no gas and it takes longer to get someplace. Oh come on please. As I said before LET ME OFF NOW SO I CAN STRETCH.

Oh so far we have gotten lucky on the rain. We came through one area were it had just rained but we didn't get hit with it. I guess I shouldn't speak too soon on that as it still might break out on us.

Anyway we did make it to Rapid City in one day. Had a reservation at the Best Western here. Took a couple of times going around the block to find the entrance but finally we are here. I can shower and get the grime off. Felt so good to do that. Now if I can just get my legs to work again. Yeah I am sore and stiff from my feet to my hips. I just hope he doesn't take another long trek again or I may never be able to walk right again. My knees are feeling shot right now as well. I know complaining again but it is the truth. I still say I would like to ride side saddle and keep my legs together so the blood does not stop flowing to my feet. I felt like they were swelling as well. Boy I am in rough shape here, right?

Well anyways tomorrow is a relaxing day. We are taking a tour so no driving for us. Starts at 7 in morning and goes until 4. They serve us breakfast and Lunch and supper. Take us to Mt Rushmore were we tour around there. Then we get on a train and take a tour around the area and see a few other things. Better then looking at it yourself. You get to see a lot and don't have to figure out driving yourself. Works for me and gives us a rest as well.

From here we are heading home. I have had enough of the heat so we are heading north a little and then heading back west. Should take a few days to get home. Oh someone whom is traveling with me said since we are so close to Ontario we should just head there. Uh!!! NOT ON YOU LIFE. I do not want to take longer to go home. I think I have been a good sport so far and have not flown home on him. I may not be able to walk by the time I get home but I am sticking it out.

I guess that is all for today. Talk again tomorrow night after our tour of Mt Rushmore.