Blues: Here is the answer (I write slowly!)

Cont.....

Sitting on the east side of the bride we watched the two ladies cross the lake and turn right. That was the way that I went last time.......maybe this time it would be worth adding a couple of hours on to the day. After hanging our for a few minutes we decided to go for it...or at least I did. I don't think that Jen would have went for adding a couple of hours to the day if she had known! After crossing the bridge we came across a couple of tees in the road. The first one took us into cottage country just south of the Canadian border where the traffic was non-existant and the scenery was great. However after following our first route the road came to an end about 15 minutes in.
We stopped to grab a pic:

We turn around and back-track and find the orignal road that I had followed many years ago. As it turned out it was much better this time around but still rough with patches of scattered gravel to keep it hairy. Maybe I'll try it again in another 10 years.....

From here we head on to Sandpoint, Coeur D'Alene and on towards Moscow. As with my California trip I still love this stretch of countryside even if a little more of the rolling country road has been lost to the 4 lane straightening machine forever. The second week of August makes it all that much better with the fields in their prime and the views incredible. It's hard not to crank it up a little and let the Viffer sing. Yehaaw!
A rare sretch of straight road by Moscow...

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That's ok.....I read slowly.

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1st motorcycle 2004 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic.

Cont....

We make it to Clarkston Washington that evening after taking time to rip down the historic old hwy in to Lewiston (just like on page #3 of this blog). This stretch of pavement never gets looses it's appeal but this time we only take time for a single run down in to town as our back-roads detour have made it a long day.
Why not one more picture looking over Lewiston?

The next morning we head out for the Lolo pass, the road made famous by the road sign showing "curves for the next 77 miles". It's a nice road, but the famous sign has turned it in to a magnet for bikes and there seems to be an inordinate amount of riders along it that are in WAY over their heads. When roads like this get hyped up on the internet it seems like they become a right of passage for every new rider, and on this day it seemed like they were all there. After getting frustrated by following a motorhome wallowing through the corners for 5 miles we discover that it was being held up by the $50K chopper in front of it! It's crazy how all over the road this guy was

Once we could stretch the legs of the bikes it was an awesome ride. I've noticed a hot springs along the way when I travelled through here before but never stopped. It looks like today is the day!


We stop and get in to our suits. On the 1/2 mile hike up to the springs we get warned that it's a favorite spot for nudists. It turns out that there are quite a few nice hotsprings on the hill but all the nakedness makes it tough to get a good picture. I manage to snap this one on the way out without getting anyone in the shot
It's not the best of the springs but it is hairy azz free....

And this one has been cropped for undisclosed reasons.....

After Lolo we head through Missoula and on to Kalispel where we almost missed getting a room for the evening.

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You don't need to crop.....photoshop blurs out the naughty bits....

I'd love to visit a natural hotspring.

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1st motorcycle 2004 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic.

I thought better of posting a pic of Mrs. HighSide in her swim suit on the internet.....photoshop or not! Now you've made me disclose my undisclosed reason.....

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Come on, what's with the double standard??? She looks hot in her riding gear... (You lucky Bastard!!!) Having met Mrs. HighSide in person, I feel I'm qualified to say just how lucky you are to have such a beautiful riding partner...

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"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul!"

No double standard here, I would have posted them in a minute if I thought that she wouldn't mind. But yep, I agree I am a lucky bastard. Unbelieveably lucky.

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It is so refreshing to hear a guy say that about his wife. Thank you.

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1st motorcycle 2004 Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic.

Thanks Blues. Things are great - I'd never complain

cont.....

Being determined to take a different way home we decide to take a rip around the Old Man Dam Lake near Cowley Alberta. Today this place is beautiful, and none of the pesky Alberta Sherriffs are in sight. After stopping for a picture the VFR gets to sing catching up to Mrs. HighSide


While Cowley looks great on a day like today, they put all of those windmills here for a reason and we are lucky that business is slow as we pass through!

By the time we get to the chain lakes we just over 1 hour from home. The long days of riding the Monster have started to wear down Jen and we stop to take a break by the lake. Times like this make me really appreciate the VFR. This is a bike that feels a little bland when you first ride it but then you get used to the subltleties of how it sounds and feels it all comes together. It feels surprisingly refined for a 12 year old bike and on the third day you still feel comfortable and ready for more.

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Kananaskis Fall Ride '08
Highway #40 through Kananaskis country is one of the prettiest stretches of road in Alberta and we are lucky to be living right next door. We try to get out for a few rides here every year but like my previous posts said, riding was really limited this year. It is starting to feel like fall as we leave Calgary and I'm hoping that we can catch the trees in full fall colours at the higher elevations.


While it's always beautiful out here we ended up being a week too early to catch the changing of the leaves. The weather was trying to speed this along on this day as temperatures dropped to near freezing at the top of the pass. This gave Jen a great chance to try out her new electric jacket and she was loving it. Even though it started to rain at these low temperatures as we abandoned our planned lunch stop at Kananaskis Lodge, she was toasty warm. I used to think that electric gear was not for real riders but after getting some and using it on fall and winter rides, I have to wonder what I was thinking. Great stuff, all of it.

And this was pretty much the end of the line for the GT1000. I've owned it for a year at this point and could never get on with it. A retro Ducati sounds like a cool idea but in reality the suspension completely sucks and the fueling was horrible. If Jen's Monster wasn't such a great bike I might not ever look at another Ducati. As for this one, it's gone....to a better place......someone else's garage! Next year I might even buy the new Monster 1100, but not without riding it first.

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