2014 - Canada and the Rockies

Later today I'll leave on a 5,000 mile solo trip from Houston up to Winnipeg and then across to Calgary before returning down the Rockies through as many of the National Parks I can find. Last year I had a great adventure with my son, David, riding up through the Rockies to NatSTOC. Unfortunately David is tied up at work so cannot join me so I shall just have STA5 :biker: for company. Busy summer season in the parks so I have booked motels for every night. This is my planned itinerary:

07-19: Home to Denton -278 miles (https://goo.gl/maps/9CtKP)
07-20: Denton to Omaha - 618 miles (https://goo.gl/maps/esOUz)
07-21: Omaha to Rosenort - 617 miles (https://goo.gl/maps/xUTO7)
(Stay with family in Rosenort)

07-24: Rosenort to Winnipeg - 38 miles (https://goo.gl/maps/Uyhtg)
(Enjoy family reunion for my mother-in-laws 90th Birthday)

07-26: Winnipeg to Calgary: 820 miles (https://goo.gl/maps/2cuOQ)
(Stay with friends in Calgary)

07-29: Calgary to Waterton via Banff & Golden - 472 miles (http://goo.gl/maps/QPxRZ)
07-30: Waterton to Glacier via Many Glacier - 109 miles (http://goo.gl/maps/UZaFq)
07-31: Glacier to Mammoth - 405 miles (http://goo.gl/maps/xFnV0)
(Day in Yellowstone)
08-02: Mammoth to Grand Tetons - 97 miles (http://goo.gl/maps/SchfY)
(Day in Grand Tetons)
08-04: Tetons to Moab - 571 miles (http://goo.gl/maps/gcnuz)
(Day at Arches National Park)
08-06: Moab to Chelly via Mesa Verde - 271 miles (http://goo.gl/maps/yTDJt)
08-07: Chelly to Silver City via Coronado Trail - 372 miles (https://goo.gl/maps/aC7lF)
08-08: Silver City to Alpine - 441 miles (http://goo.gl/maps/v4Roq)
08-09: Alpine to Home - 585 miles (http://goo.gl/maps/U4bXY)

Total Estimated Miles: 5,694 miles in 14 days of riding.

States: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico
Provinces: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia
Parks: Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Kootenay, Waterton Lakes, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Arches, Canyon Lands, Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, Davis Mountains

Spotwalla Link: https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=9f32538735016f331

Will post updates here, on Facebook and on my personal website

Be careful and have a great time.

Sounds like a fantastic trip! Enjoy and safe travels!

Oh how I wished I was able to ride. Would love to join you on this great trip but still can't ride.
Ride safe and have a lot of fun. Pics are a MUST!

Nice ride planned there!

Be careful and have a safe trip Andy. I'll be looking forward to your pics.

Left home at around 1:00pm yesterday. Nice ride up through Tomball and the Sam Houston Forest north of Magnolia to Huntsville. Then it was all slab on I-45 up to Dallas and through on I-35 to Denton. 85 degF leaving Houston it was generally overcast with only occasional sun breaking through. Cooled off to a very pleasant 77 degF south of Dallas. Overnight in Denton.

Got an early start today from Denton leaving just after 5:00am


Not a good start though as I was caught by a traffic camera turning right on a red light without coming to a complete stop onto the I-35 feeder. Could be an expensive day!

Today was a day of many states: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and finally back to Nebraska. I managed to get all of the signs except Iowa. Too dangerous to stop on I-29.
Oklahoma:

Kansas:

Nebraska:

Missouri:


STA5 (my 2005 ST130A) turned 75,000 miles just south of Norman, OK. 72,000 of those miles had my butt in the saddle!


64 degF all of the way across Oklahoma but it started to warm up in Kansas so that it was in the 80s as I crossed into Nebraska. Overnight in Omaha, NE.

Total Distance: 647 miles
Total Time: 9 hours 30 minutes

Heat advisory in effect through Monday 7:00pm for most of eastern Nebraska, South and North Dakota so I am going to make another early start tomorrow. Going to be looking for the Laurentian Divide before crossing the border into Canada.

Last night I was worried as they had issued a weather alert for Nebraska, South Dakota and southern North Dakota that it was going to be an effective 105 degF day.


So I was up early and out before 5:00am to discover that STA5 had settled two inches into the tarmac on the center stand! It took me a few minutes to twist and jerk the bike free. I left two nice holes behind!

Turning onto I-29 from Omaha, NE, my Zumo 550 gave me simple navigation instructions: 595 miles on I-29, then left on 203 for 20 miles to Rosenort. I could get lost up here!

Managed to get my Iowa State picture but could not stop on I-29 to get the South Dakota as it was very busy in Sioux City.


It was in the low 70s when I left and stayed that way all the way up to Sioux City where I stopped for breakfast. Thought it would get hot but it was suddenly overcast with low cloud that stayed with me all the way to the high ground south of Fargo when the sun burned through and it got up to the mid 80s. Very glad for my cruise control that I just set at 80 from Sioux Falls.

Everyone knows about the Continental Divide that separates the Pacific and Atlantic watersheds along the Rockies, but there is another Continental Divide that separates the watersheds of Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico / Atlantic. This is known as the Laurentian Divide. On SD-10 in northern South Dakota there is this great marker that recognizes this location. It is not in a high location, just another flat road between the corn fields.



This was the original border with Canada at the time of the Louisiana Purchase meaning that most of North Dakota and northern Minnesota came under the Union Jack! The treaty of Ghent in 1814 fixed the border at the 49th parallel.

I knew I was getting close to Canada after Grand Rapids as I had to clean my visor every 15 minutes from the bugs.

Crossing the border was simple enough as long as you don't answer "Yes" to the "Are you a terrorist?" question. The very nice Canadian border agent was thoroughly confused by the Texas number plate, English accent and Canadian passport!




So after 620 miles STA5 is safely tucked up in Rosenort, Manitoba sharing the garage with Jeff's Beemer.



Family time now as we all gather to celebrate Kathy's mother's 90th birthday on Friday.

On Saturday I set off on the 900 mile ride to Calgary.

Great pics, thanks for bringing us along.

Andy - Although your trip seems tightly planned, if you have never done it before I strongly suggest riding north from Banff to Jasper on the Icefield Parkway. Because there is no easy way to get back to your intended route, you will have to ride it back south again to pick up Highway 1 to Golden, but that simply means you will see that spectacular scenery twice, rather than just once. I rode it (twice, north and south) this past weekend and found it to be breathtaking. Carl

amorley said:

The very nice Canadian border agent was thoroughly confused by the Texas number plate, English accent and Canadian passport!

Click to expand...

He sounds just like the rest of us. Bring some of that nice cool weather back with you on your way home please.

That would be confusing to most and you DO look like a terrorist!! Lol. Just sayin.

Still A Badger said:

Andy - Although your trip seems tightly planned, if you have never done it before I strongly suggest riding north from Banff to Jasper on the Icefield Parkway. Because there is no easy way to get back to your intended route, you will have to ride it back south again to pick up Highway 1 to Golden, but that simply means you will see that spectacular scenery twice, rather than just once. I rode it (twice, north and south) this past weekend and found it to be breathtaking. Carl

Click to expand...

Thanks Carl! The Icefield Parkway is one of my optional extensions as it is over thirty years since I was up that way when we used to live in Calgary. I already have 472 miles planned for that day and so will have to see if I can squeeze it in. Wanted to have some time in Waterton as it was one of the first places I took Kathy so it is full of great memories. Not enough time and too much to see is always a problem on these trips.

Beautiful trip - thank you for sharing the pictures & taking us along! Humble prayers for good weather, and a safe memorable journey.

Regards,
Vishnu

You have not seen flat until you have seen southern Manitoba, site of ancient Lake Agassiz, the largest lake the world has seen since the Paleocene.



and then you have to see the size of the toys the boys use here to feed us!




Having fun with my family in Rosenort, Manitoba.

Might even get on STA5 tomorrow....

Loved those pictures, keep them coming as it is probably the only chance I will get to see that part of the world. Thanks. Jim.

Great, short ride with my brother-in-law, Jeff, out from Rosenort across the Red River to Steinbach.


Jeff exchanged his 2005 ST1300 last year for a BMW K1600GT which I lust after. Just the noise of those pipes is so sweet!


Southern Manitoba is sectioned off into perfect, one mile squares so no twisties here, just straight and flat. The Red River from Emerson to Winnipeg drops a staggering average of 1.5 inches per mile as it crosses the ancient bottom of Lake Agassiz.

Temperature was in the high 60s under a clear blue sky so it made for great morning to ride.

We visited the Mennonite Village Museum which gave a great insight into a people and culture that started in the Netherlands, went to Russia and then on to Manitoba, Canada, Mexico and Paraguay.

But after a great history lesson, we got to enjoy more than a taste of a Mennonite lunch.

Borsch soup, Perogies with white gravy, Polish sausage and sauerkraut with homemade bread. And then there was the Pie!



Just the best Blueberry Pie!

Looks like a good start to your trip, wish we where riding in the Rockies again this year.

Gerhard

Last Wednesday, Jeff and I took off for a ride across to Morden before heading back up north to Winnipeg to meet up with my sons, James and David who were flying in from Houston.





Morden is a small town on the edge of ancient Lake Agazzis fairly close to the US border. In classic Canadian style it has a wonderful paleontology museum with the best display of marine dinosaurs in Canada. "Bruce" the 43 ft long Masosaur was very impressive.





Glad he is no longer around when we are swimming in the ocean!

It is always interesting to find a connection with one's past.

At St.John's Cathedral in Winnipeg, we found a stained glass window dedicated to the grandfather of one of my cousins. John Wells was Bishop of the Caribou (western Canada) up to 1932.




Standing with Kathy, James & David in front of the Cathedral in Winnipeg.

07-26: Winnipeg to Calgary
Total Distance: 836 miles
Total Time: 14 hours, 15 minutes
https://goo.gl/maps/2cuOQ

On Saturday at 4:30am I departed Winnipeg at the same time that Kathy took James and David to the airport for their flight to Denver and then on to Houston. It was a cool start at 54 degF but only a few clouds to make the sunrise over the prairie of western Manitoba interesting.





Warmed up to the mid sixties as the sun came up but caught up with more clouds and then the rain started as I crossed into Saskatchewan.



It rained quite heavily and turned cold so I put on my liner and heavier gloves. On and off rain all the way into Regina.

Visited the RCMP Training Academy where I have great memories of dating Kathy when she was doing her training there in 1980.



It was dry leaving Regina and the sun started to break through but increasingly windy across the rest of the province.

Came into Alberta and saw more and more bikes out for day rides or all loaded up for longer tours.





Saturday evening traffic in Calgary was busy as expected but I had no problem finding my motel and checking in at 5:50pm. 14 hours in all with the one hour time change crossing into Sakatchewan helping.

Total miles to date on this trip is 2,618 so I am about halfway through the planned 5,600 miles.



I have two full days in Calgary to catch up with old friends and look at how much has changed around where we used to live in the early '80s.

Tuesday I head up into the mountains.