Sorry it has been a while since we could get internet access, we are currently in Custer heading west, anybody keen to meet up let me know!

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

Made it home early this week, two and a half days on planes (Now there's another story to tell). Nearly 18000km completed on the bikes, some spectacular scenery, snow capped mountains, glacier fed rivers and lakes, wild bear, awesome roads and heaps of friendly people. Riding in the snow was a new experience for a Queenslander, and temps from -2 degrees C to +44 degrees C. Couple of minor bikes probs, overall weather was good (about 5 wet days out of 65), and the bikes were still shiny side up at the end of the trip. Can't beat that.
Only back long enough to make enough money to go again.
Would I do it all again, shit yeah!

Now where to next time?????

Glen

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

If your leaving from Vancouver I would suggest that after you get into the mountains hitting hyw 193 (i think it was) and heading South to the Radium Springs then continue South into the US. The further South you go before heading East again the better. Unless you really want to see the prairies, but they are pretty boring. It only took 2 days to get from Kenora (ontario) to Calgary (alberta) because its just a straight boring ride. And on the way home I went through Montana, North Dakota ect, and it was equally flat and boring, another 2 day trip (long days though). The mountains in Alberta/BC are not to be missed though. Northern Ontario is nice riding as well, Sault Ste Marie and Thunder Bay to Kenora, is beautiful.

Mike the information is pouring in, both on this thread and PM. Feel free to join us for part of the ride. I will contact you closer to the time.
Thanks
Glen

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Never enough time to fit it all in?

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

Are you prepared to camp? Doesn't mention this - but if you are:

Cambridge, Idaho isn't much - but it is gas and food for a while so don't forget to stop and fill up. Don't know that there's a motel in town. Not sure if there's a motel after Cambridge either, until you hit Baker City (or Joseph, see below).

There's a really nice campground - nice toilets/shower facilities, well manicured lawns - owned and maintained by the power company on the Snake River, near the Oxbow Dam (at the bridge crossing the river back into Idaho, takes you up to the Hells Canyon Dam - not a bad ride up there if you have the time).

When you leave the next day, I'm assuming from your route you are planning on taking Oregon Highway 86 over to Baker City and cutting up to LaGrande from there.

Better - and I'm guessing you're maps aren't detailed enough - there's a really nice paved Forest Road a dozen miles or so west of the river that cuts up to Joseph, Oregon. (should be a sign to Joseph or ask at the campground). There's a few overlooks along this road down into the canyon along the way. If you couldn't get a campsite at the river, there's a bunch of forest campgrounds along this road. However, no potable water (rivers, but you'll have to boil or treat it to drink it).

Of course, this brings you out north of LaGrande, but then again, LaGrande ain't that grand. You could continue on from Joseph to Hwy 204 and cut up to WallaWalla Washington. You're in Washington wine country then, so make sure you try a few bottles. I can highly recommend that ride - scenic as well as the road less traveled.

You'll also be in better position to hit Winthrop the next day. Take the road (U.S. 97) from Wenatchee up through Chelan - runs alongside the Columbia River - and then up through the Methow Valley (S.R. 153) to Winthrop.

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quastdog
Seattle, Washington USA
F650GSDakar

[This message has been edited by quastdog (edited 09 March 2006).]

[This message has been edited by quastdog (edited 09 March 2006).]

[This message has been edited by quastdog (edited 09 March 2006).]

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quastdog
Chiang Mai, Thailand

quastdog I am keen to camp but the 3 others in the group are not, majority rules I am afraid. There is still time for them to see the light! We are learning more and more about the route everday thanks to the help of people like yourself. I have GPS mapping software that is very good for finding the minor roads that you speak of. Sounds crazy but I don,t own a GPS, work that out. You just can't beat local knowledge can you!


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Never enough time to fit it all in?

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

Sounds like you are fine tuning the trip. On your itinerary you show being around yellowstone for a while. We are hosting a 1000 in 24 hours out of Helena Mt on the 17th of june. It will qualify for a Iron Butt ride. Have you checked out Motel 6 they are usaly the cheapest of the chain motels and they have a nice booklet of all the motels in the US. Definately a bland sort of place to stay but sometimes bland and predictable is good.

Bill I will check that motel chain out. Would love to go for 1000 ride if we had the time, but I can see we will have to visit again and take our time. Hope we can catch up and listen to those drums of yours.

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Never enough time to fit it all in?

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

Reply copy of PM. Rick thank you for the info, we seem to be getting very close to sorting out the bike issue. I have contacted several dealers in Vancouver and enquired about a buy back deal. They are offering 2 brand new ’05 Suzuki DL1000 Vstroms for $10000.00 and a guaranteed buy back at $7500.00. This equates to just under $3000.00 Australian. It was going to cost approx $3500.00 Australian to ship our own bikes and cause my brother inlaw in Vancouver and me a lot of headaches getting the complete crates moved to his house from the transport company. This would have required a crane truck etc etc, very, very messy. This seems to be the simplest solution yet, we will decide in the next week.
It is nearly time to contact the HU communities that we will be travelling through as the route info/suggestions coming back from the thread is drying up.



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Never enough time to fit it all in?
Can't beat local knowledge!

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

Great stuff.

It sounds like a lock on the Suzuki's. The best deal and a great bike. How can you go wrong. Give us a yell on your way by and we'll have a cold one.

Rick

Yes I am very happy with the bike deal. You should know by now the reputation that Aussies have, we love a cold . After all this we will have to make sure we catch up somewhere, and it's my shout.

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Never enough time to fit it all in?
Can't beat local knowledge!

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

Loxsmith:

I think your itinerary is way too ambitious, simply because you have not allowed any time to stop and smell the roses.

I had a fairly close look at days 1 to 30. Each of the daily travel legs that you set out is reasonable; however, you haven't left very many days to overnight twice in the same spot. For example, you only have two overnights planned in the Rocky Mountain National Parks - heck, you could spend two weeks there and not run out of things to do or interesting roads to ride on.

Unless you have an iron butt, I suggest you plan a 'rest' day (meaning, two overnights in the same spot) about once every 5 days - otherwise, you are going to get tired of the whole excursion very quickly.

FWIW, I ride around Europe for two months each summer, have done so for the last 5 years, and rarely spend more than 3 or 4 days going from town to town before I want to settle down a bit. Also, I just completed a 10 day trip Toronto - Winnipeg - Kansas City - Toronto (by car) and was pretty darn fatigued when I got home yesterday - and that was driving a 12 cylinder luxury car, and staying in good hotels on someone else's budget. My average daily mileage was just about exactly what your proposed average daily mileage is.

Also, a suggestion about your day 21/22 route - skip the entry into the USA and stay in Canada. It's becoming more and more of a huge PITA to enter the United States - it is a bigger headache to go into the USA today than it was to go behind the Iron Curtain 15 years ago. Honest.

Michael

Just to clarify that last comment about the USA - what I meant was that you might find it a bit too much of a hassle to go into the USA just for 2 days. I'm not suggesting you avoid the country - not at all - I'm only trying to point out that you might find that the border crossing process into the USA is a real headache, something that you won't want to do more than once.

Michael

Michael I agree we have taken on a lot to cover these distances in the short amount of time we have available. Like everybody in this mad world we only have a certain amount of time available to fulfill our dreams. Ideally I would love 12 months to do this trip, but finances and other commitments do not allow this just yet. We had a US border crossing experience in '03, this was relatively uneventful, except we had to pay in US dollars and only had Canadian currency. We will look at changing our route to exclude this problem. Thanks for the feedback. Glen Cochrane

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Never enough time to fit it all in?
Can't beat local knowledge!

[This message has been edited by loxsmith (edited 23 March 2006).]

[This message has been edited by loxsmith (edited 04 April 2006).]

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Feb 2014, currently travelling the America's on a Tiger 800XC

Live every day like it's your last, one day you'll get it right!!!

I have to agree with PanEuropean that your schedule is pretty packed. As mentioned in other posts, my wife and I are crossing Canada from May to August this summer. From past experience I know I can cover 700 kms in a 12 hour period of travelling (with no major delays), but this is rather gruelling and tends to become a marathon if continied for days on end.

I have planned our route with a daily average of ~325 kms/day, with a rest day every 4-5 days. Our trip is 25k kms and I have given us 90 days to do it (with some built-in flexibility).

We are also on a bit of a time schedule and, of course, a budget (most folks are!).

The reasoning for this pace is based on a few factors:

- this is a comfortable pace and allows us to stop 'and smell the roses', as Mike put it.

- we do not have to head out each morning at the crack of dawn, nor will we arrive at our daily destination after dark. We can set up camp in daylight, or if in a town, we can see some of the local sights and have a relaxing dinner.

- we can pull off the road for photo opportunities, snacks, or points of interest.

- if we are really enjoying a town/city, or if we meet other travellers we can spend a day sightseeing, resting, or taking a side trip.

Keep in mind that incelment weather will reduce your travelling speed as well.

The purpose of our trip is to see Canada. I am Canadian and have seen so little of Canada it's almost embarassing!! We will not have another opportunity like this for years. So we decided not to barrell through the country on the Trans-Canada.

Loxsmith...my route is 'generally' illustrated on my web site (motorcycle-overland.com). If you would like more detail or route ideas feel free to PM me, or contact me via my site.

- Lorne

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