On the Road Again...

It has been 3 weeks we got back from Yukon-Alaska trip... And we've got the itch to ride again... San Diego BMW Owners Club's annual Big Bear Rally was the perfect excuse... And we are on the road again. Left real early on Friday morning and took our time to get to Big Bear... 200 miles in about 4 hours. Had a nice breakfast at Red Kettle Cafe in Idlywilde... The weather is again was perfect...
Finally got to Big Bear, set camp and started mingling and catching up with friends we haven't seen for a while. Of course rubbed our Yukon trip stories to their faces as much as we could and as often as we could...
On Saturday after the breakfast, big riding groups left for the organized mountain rides. John, Walter, Rookie Fred and myself decided to go on our own. We took a real nice mountain road to Lake Arrowhead... John's childhood neighborhood. Beautiful place. Walked around in town center, got some comfort food and lunch then rode back to camp.
On Sunday, got up early again, broke camp and rode back home. This was a short but a very enjoyable weekend. We still have the itch for more riding. Keep checking back with us. You'll never know where we're gonna be tomorrow... EA.

Days 21-24... Home!

Sorry for the delay on posting. No buffalo or any other excuses this time. Just heat stroke. We rolled out of Toad Rock and headed south to cross the border back into the USA on Monday, and British Columbia was sad to see us go. It got all teary on us for about 30 minutes (read rained) and then cleared up as abruptly as it began, showing us a cheery farewell as we crossed over into the USA.

The rest of the run home was thankfully uneventful, save for a lot of heat (110F at one point!) and a wonderful respite at Shayne and Stephanie's house in Ogden. Thank you Rasband family!

All in all, it was a great trip and a great adventure with many interesting places and people all along the way. I'd like to say thank you to my trip compatriots and their families. It wouldn't have been possible without their support. Thank you!

So now it's time to rest our numb butts, share our stories and pictures, and, of course, start thinking about the next adventure!

Where should we this time?

-MGates

PS: Don't forget to check out my Flickr stream for all my photos from the trip!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/endersmind/sets/72157624365356399/

Day 20... Toad Rock Campground and MRT Rally

Sunday we spent the day hanging out at the campground. When booking our reservations for this place, we didn't know that there was a MRT Rally happening. Motobike Rally for Travelers is a non-brand based rally for people who do distance on motorcycles. Great crowd of people. We got to watch some presentations on people's travels and listen to their stories. Played pool behind the band while drinking beer from the self-serve-honor bar. Good stuff. The organizer of the event, Wolfgang, also had some informal field events and Enduro basics training. After warming up with some games (African Petrol station, Motobasketball, and a slow race), we learned/refined some slow speed balance skills. It was great fun for me to practice these skills on my huge dual-sport and Evan learned some new stuff to use on his F800 in tricky places. Tomorrow, we carry on south and cross back into the USA... -MGates

Days 19, Toad Rock

Saturday, we had a nice morning with the Hunters and got back on the road. While John went to Penticton to vist with Dave and company, the rest of us went on to Toad Rock Campground near Kootenay. On the advice of Jay, we revised our route out of town and to Toad Rock. We took a lovely winding road to Needles to pick up a ferry. On the way there, a couple Rockets (a Yamaha R1 and R6) caught up with us behind some cars. When we got past the cars, we picked up the pace and for a little while they stayed back there, but not close. At one point, the pavement got a little bit rough, and the turns got tighter and the rockets disappeared... in our dust! After the road straightened out and we were cruising along, they came blasting past. Guess they were trying to save some face after getting smoked by a couple fully loaded GSes...

Evan and I decided that we were up for a little more challenge for the day, since the distance was short and we'd have a good amount of extra time. While Walter and Cheryl went west at Nakusp to the 31A to get to Kaslo, Evan and I went north on the 31. It was a longer route with about 50 miles of unpaved gravel through a more remote area. Great stuff. Running through the high trees, that occasionally broke away to reveal great vistas of the lakes far down the cliffside. Aside from the occasional Deer in the middle of road, the gravel was in good shape, free of traffic and made for easy running and spectacular scenery. At one point, on a long straight, the pines made a canopy shading the road. As we cruised along, we could peer into the depths of the forest and see illuminated spots from breaks in the trees where the sun made a spotlight in the darkness. Very cool stuff.

We met up Walter and Cheryl again at the campground where there was an MRT rally going on... -MGates