A Wet Weekend Motorcycle Trip
Every motorcycle trip I go on seems to be cursed with bad weather! Since my previous trips took place late June to mid-July, when rain is typically heavier, this year I opted to go away for a weekend in August. Unfortunately, it was probably the wettest weekend all summer, to date!
But, we had fun. The trip was certainly an adventure. I used to be so much better at planning and executing those plans so that I was always ready for anything well in advance. This isn't really the way I have been acting lately (and maybe Bryan is just rubbing off on me). But, one week before our trip, I decided I needed a new helmet and a tank bag. The tank bag I bought turned out to be awesome - I don't know how I survived without one before! But, as anyone knows who buys a new helmet, it takes some time to work them in. I had some trouble finding a helmet that fit - my old one whistled like crazy and it squished my cheeks so bad that it gave me a headache. After trying on quite a few, I found one I thought felt comfortable. I wore it around the house for 15 minutes one day and then wore it all day Friday on our drive down to Montana! Halfway there, my forehead hurt so much that all I could think about was getting that stupid helmet off! There is a tight pressure point that was just awful. But, it doesn't whistle...
Anyway, we were packed and ready to go at 11:30am on Friday, exactly as planned. All 3 of our headset communicators were working, and we were off after filling up our tanks. Things were going well until halfway between Okotoks and Black Diamond, when suddenly we could see white stuff spraying out of Bryan's back tire. Well, we found a nail in that tire the week before and since not a single bike shop in the area had supplies or time to fix it, Bryan decided to fill the tire with some gunk that is supposed to seal the puncture from the inside. Somehow, the nail was pushed out and he had a sudden flat. Luckily it was inflated enough to get us back to Okotoks, where he plugged the hole with some kit from Canadian Tire. The problem is, once a bike tire is compromised, it's usually a good idea not to ride on it. So, 3 or so hours later, the decision was for him to grab his Jeep and follow Scott and I down to Kalispell.
Traffic was surprisingly light on the way down, which was a positive. We hit crazy hard rainfall on Highway 22 for a bit; it was so hard we had to pull over because we couldn't see very far ahead of us. Luckily it didn't last long and we got dry skies until we passed Fernie. Then, it was light rain all the way down to Kalispell, where we arrived around 9pm. Now, driving at dusk, in the rain, through forested areas is not ideal for me because it's tough to see, wild animals are often out and about and, especially awful in Montana, vehicles do not have daytime running lights! I was so happy to see the hotel, get checked in, and shower to warm up (even if it was the Travelodge)!
As none of us really knew what the city had to offer, we drove around looking for food at 10pm, hoping someone was still open. Luckily, Famous Dave's was open for another hour or so, and we were able introduce Scott to the wonderful BBQ that that place has to offer!
Up at 8 the next day, we decided to hit the Going-to-the-Sun Highway early to avoid traffic and rain. We lucked out on both aspects, as multiple bikers and vehicles were starting to hit the highway when we exited around noon. The entire highway was open, which was nice, as I had never been able to ride the entire length. The western half is definitely more scenic. There were a few annoying drivers that we go stuck behind, mainly people driving big pickup trucks that did not know just how far away from the right side of the road they were, blocking traffic and stopping for every little curve. But, we made it through, enjoying the view and being quite scared of the literal drop off lingering to the right. Actually, what made me nervous most of all was the vast space beside me, rather than knowing there was a cliff I could tumble down if I weren't careful.
We experienced driving through rather thick clouds at the apex of the highway; this was cool but unfortunate because we were unable to see much of Logan's Pass at the top. The lake we drove along as we reached St. Mary was breathtaking! There is something magical about glistening, clear mountain lakes!
After a quick fill up, we headed down Highway 89 to Highway 43 on route to East Glacier. Scott and Bryan seemed to really enjoy both highways, as they offer many, many tight curves to maneuver. I, however, got scared and did not enjoy that length of the drive at all! The wind was gusting so badly that it kept pushing me all over the road, including right over the center line! Luckily, traffic was light or I would have been in trouble. It seemed to hit me at the most inopportune times, right as I was trying to go into a curve. I was certainly glad when we hit East Glacier!
Driving into the town, a billboard caught my eye for a local restaurant that served Huckleberry Pie! I don't recall ever tasting huckleberry pie (or huckleberry anything), so when asked where we should eat, I suggested this place called Luna's. It's a decent sized restaurant, with home-cooked diner-style food in a cozy log building. The food was fantastic and my pie even better! Now I can say I've tried it, and it's probably one of my favorites. It was very much like saskatoon pie, only sweeter (that could have been the sugar, though).
The weather for Saturday forecast rain beginning at 2pm, and it began right on cue. We had about 85 miles to drive to get us back to Kalispell, and most of that was a lovely, heavy, pelting rain, making the roads, once again, hard to see, and making Scott and I wet-logged. Bryan was nice and comfy in his Jeep, of course! Arriving back at the hotel was such a treat!
The boys decided they wanted to shop once they realized the Jeep would be able to carry things back for us. Bryan hit up a sports store, very similar to MEC, but quite expensive. And Scott wanted to check out Cabella's. Between the three of us, I was the one who ended up spending the most money on a pair of winter boots (I blame Cabella's - the place was so friggin' cold inside that it was heaven to put those boots on and walk around the store for awhile!).
For dinner, we headed to Whitefish and walked around the main drag before choosing the MacKenzie River Pizza Company. The pizzas were amazing - definitely worth the money and they lived up to the hipe! After dinner, because Bryan wanted to have a few beer too, we headed back to Kalispell, parked the Jeep, and called a cab to take us to a bar called Scotty's that we'd seen. Scott wanted to go for obvious reasons. The place was fairly busy and there was a decent band playing some good classic rock. However, by 11, the guys wanted a changed of scenery so we called the taxi company who had dropped us off (and who even gave us a card) to come pick us up. Apparently, taxi's do not operate at that time of night because they are all out at the airport picking up people. No one would come pick us up, or even give us an ETA, so we had to walk back to the hotel. It turned out it wasn't that far, but it took us about 30 minutes. We stopped in at Mooses, which we'd heard was really fun; however, it was lame and no one came by to take our drink order, so we got up and left. Next time, we'll just book our hotel earlier and get into Whitefish!
The ride home on Sunday started off well. We ate breakfast at iHop, and headed to Whitefish for gas. It was there that Scott's bike started to act up - it wouldn't start, almost like it wasn't getting enough power to stay started. Finally, it did start and he was careful with where he stopped for gas the rest of the way, wanting to just get the bike back to Calgary. Ironically, I think, my old Ninja had no issues during this trip! Really, aside from a low tire during one trip, it's been very good to me on my multi-day road trips.
While it was a fun (albeit wet) weekend, I certainly was happy to see the house and park the bike. Sitting on that thing for so long really takes its toll - my butt, back, wrists and feet were so sore! On a positive note, that helmet seemed to be broken in and was hurting my head way less by Sunday evening! It's always fun to get out on the motorcycles and get away for a weekend. It's a relatively cheap way to see the countryside and travel some fun, windy roads, too!
But, we had fun. The trip was certainly an adventure. I used to be so much better at planning and executing those plans so that I was always ready for anything well in advance. This isn't really the way I have been acting lately (and maybe Bryan is just rubbing off on me). But, one week before our trip, I decided I needed a new helmet and a tank bag. The tank bag I bought turned out to be awesome - I don't know how I survived without one before! But, as anyone knows who buys a new helmet, it takes some time to work them in. I had some trouble finding a helmet that fit - my old one whistled like crazy and it squished my cheeks so bad that it gave me a headache. After trying on quite a few, I found one I thought felt comfortable. I wore it around the house for 15 minutes one day and then wore it all day Friday on our drive down to Montana! Halfway there, my forehead hurt so much that all I could think about was getting that stupid helmet off! There is a tight pressure point that was just awful. But, it doesn't whistle...
Anyway, we were packed and ready to go at 11:30am on Friday, exactly as planned. All 3 of our headset communicators were working, and we were off after filling up our tanks. Things were going well until halfway between Okotoks and Black Diamond, when suddenly we could see white stuff spraying out of Bryan's back tire. Well, we found a nail in that tire the week before and since not a single bike shop in the area had supplies or time to fix it, Bryan decided to fill the tire with some gunk that is supposed to seal the puncture from the inside. Somehow, the nail was pushed out and he had a sudden flat. Luckily it was inflated enough to get us back to Okotoks, where he plugged the hole with some kit from Canadian Tire. The problem is, once a bike tire is compromised, it's usually a good idea not to ride on it. So, 3 or so hours later, the decision was for him to grab his Jeep and follow Scott and I down to Kalispell.
Traffic was surprisingly light on the way down, which was a positive. We hit crazy hard rainfall on Highway 22 for a bit; it was so hard we had to pull over because we couldn't see very far ahead of us. Luckily it didn't last long and we got dry skies until we passed Fernie. Then, it was light rain all the way down to Kalispell, where we arrived around 9pm. Now, driving at dusk, in the rain, through forested areas is not ideal for me because it's tough to see, wild animals are often out and about and, especially awful in Montana, vehicles do not have daytime running lights! I was so happy to see the hotel, get checked in, and shower to warm up (even if it was the Travelodge)!
As none of us really knew what the city had to offer, we drove around looking for food at 10pm, hoping someone was still open. Luckily, Famous Dave's was open for another hour or so, and we were able introduce Scott to the wonderful BBQ that that place has to offer!
Up at 8 the next day, we decided to hit the Going-to-the-Sun Highway early to avoid traffic and rain. We lucked out on both aspects, as multiple bikers and vehicles were starting to hit the highway when we exited around noon. The entire highway was open, which was nice, as I had never been able to ride the entire length. The western half is definitely more scenic. There were a few annoying drivers that we go stuck behind, mainly people driving big pickup trucks that did not know just how far away from the right side of the road they were, blocking traffic and stopping for every little curve. But, we made it through, enjoying the view and being quite scared of the literal drop off lingering to the right. Actually, what made me nervous most of all was the vast space beside me, rather than knowing there was a cliff I could tumble down if I weren't careful.
We experienced driving through rather thick clouds at the apex of the highway; this was cool but unfortunate because we were unable to see much of Logan's Pass at the top. The lake we drove along as we reached St. Mary was breathtaking! There is something magical about glistening, clear mountain lakes!
After a quick fill up, we headed down Highway 89 to Highway 43 on route to East Glacier. Scott and Bryan seemed to really enjoy both highways, as they offer many, many tight curves to maneuver. I, however, got scared and did not enjoy that length of the drive at all! The wind was gusting so badly that it kept pushing me all over the road, including right over the center line! Luckily, traffic was light or I would have been in trouble. It seemed to hit me at the most inopportune times, right as I was trying to go into a curve. I was certainly glad when we hit East Glacier!
Driving into the town, a billboard caught my eye for a local restaurant that served Huckleberry Pie! I don't recall ever tasting huckleberry pie (or huckleberry anything), so when asked where we should eat, I suggested this place called Luna's. It's a decent sized restaurant, with home-cooked diner-style food in a cozy log building. The food was fantastic and my pie even better! Now I can say I've tried it, and it's probably one of my favorites. It was very much like saskatoon pie, only sweeter (that could have been the sugar, though).
The weather for Saturday forecast rain beginning at 2pm, and it began right on cue. We had about 85 miles to drive to get us back to Kalispell, and most of that was a lovely, heavy, pelting rain, making the roads, once again, hard to see, and making Scott and I wet-logged. Bryan was nice and comfy in his Jeep, of course! Arriving back at the hotel was such a treat!
The boys decided they wanted to shop once they realized the Jeep would be able to carry things back for us. Bryan hit up a sports store, very similar to MEC, but quite expensive. And Scott wanted to check out Cabella's. Between the three of us, I was the one who ended up spending the most money on a pair of winter boots (I blame Cabella's - the place was so friggin' cold inside that it was heaven to put those boots on and walk around the store for awhile!).
For dinner, we headed to Whitefish and walked around the main drag before choosing the MacKenzie River Pizza Company. The pizzas were amazing - definitely worth the money and they lived up to the hipe! After dinner, because Bryan wanted to have a few beer too, we headed back to Kalispell, parked the Jeep, and called a cab to take us to a bar called Scotty's that we'd seen. Scott wanted to go for obvious reasons. The place was fairly busy and there was a decent band playing some good classic rock. However, by 11, the guys wanted a changed of scenery so we called the taxi company who had dropped us off (and who even gave us a card) to come pick us up. Apparently, taxi's do not operate at that time of night because they are all out at the airport picking up people. No one would come pick us up, or even give us an ETA, so we had to walk back to the hotel. It turned out it wasn't that far, but it took us about 30 minutes. We stopped in at Mooses, which we'd heard was really fun; however, it was lame and no one came by to take our drink order, so we got up and left. Next time, we'll just book our hotel earlier and get into Whitefish!
The ride home on Sunday started off well. We ate breakfast at iHop, and headed to Whitefish for gas. It was there that Scott's bike started to act up - it wouldn't start, almost like it wasn't getting enough power to stay started. Finally, it did start and he was careful with where he stopped for gas the rest of the way, wanting to just get the bike back to Calgary. Ironically, I think, my old Ninja had no issues during this trip! Really, aside from a low tire during one trip, it's been very good to me on my multi-day road trips.
While it was a fun (albeit wet) weekend, I certainly was happy to see the house and park the bike. Sitting on that thing for so long really takes its toll - my butt, back, wrists and feet were so sore! On a positive note, that helmet seemed to be broken in and was hurting my head way less by Sunday evening! It's always fun to get out on the motorcycles and get away for a weekend. It's a relatively cheap way to see the countryside and travel some fun, windy roads, too!
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