Two Moto Kiwis Arctic To Antarctic May 2012 On...
Heya fellow Hubber's.

After discussion with Susan and Grant and my apparent lack of skill we are copying out Ride Report here for fello Hubbers to (hopefully) enjoy.

Welcome to our trip of a life time, we are Two Moto Kiwis, our blog is Two Moto Kiwis

We are Andi & Ellen Delis from Wanaka in Central Otago New Zealand, see here. Wanaka, New Zealand

I have been owned by 37 bike over 33 years, Ellen has only been riding the last two years.

We left New Zealand May 3rd leaving behind friends and family, our jobs and most of our responsibilities to come see America from top To Bottom, we have started in Anchorage AK and we are setting up here, Barb and Victor from Alaska Leather Alaska Leather have been absolutely instrumental in seeing TMK get off the ground so our heart found thanks goes to these guys.

Our plan is to travel around in Alaska first off then go to Prudhoe Bay, catch up with fello ADVers in Dawson at the D2D gathering, head north to Inuvik, fly up to Tuktayuktuk then head south taking in the middle and west side of Canada, USA, Mexico, Central then South America down to Ushuaia ... then decide where to go from there money and time dependent.

We are riding two DR 650s, Ellen has a 2011 White one, mine is a 2012 Grey one, both new through Alaska Leather, we decided given the distance we will travel and cost to ship my bike from NZ we both will start on new machinery.

We are running Safari 30 L Tanks, screens from Screens For Bikes in Australia, Sargent seats, Bark Buster Storm, AME heated grips, Garmin 660 GPS and my bike has a YSS damping, both bike have Intiminators.

In the next post we will show the gear we have chosen, we have to wait until Ellens trousers arrive

We have some acknowledgments to make first off to the people and businesses that been been of great help and sponsored us with product, I no particular order they are

Sponsors

ARAI Helmets USA - Have sponsored us with the new XD4 Adventure helmets, Ellens in White, mine in Fluro Yellow, these things rock, I have an ARAI Chaser for my road helmet and these have met all the expectations for teh same quality fit and finish.

Klim Adventure Gear - Have sponsored my Adventure Rally Jacket and Badland Pro pants as well as the Inferno warm layer top and bottom, this is the best gear I have ever worn in my life and I am very grateful to be wearing the best gear to cover all conditions.

Kevin and Keiko from Te Anau New Zealand - Keiko designed and drew our cards and logos, seriously cool given I don't have an arty bone in my body.

Delis Tools from Kaiapoi in New Zealand - sponsored our Kincrome luggage cases.

Icebreaker Clothing from New Zealand - sponsored our Merino gruds, socks and longs johns, we love Merino clothing and Icebreaker as it tolerates smelly stinky adventure bikers without stinking like cotton does and it is very warm to layer up with.

Alaska Leather - Barb and Victor, I simply can't say enough so I won't even try. Legends they are getting two foreigners of the ground in style.

Bark Busters- sponsored our Barkbuster Storms which Ellen has already crash tested and saved our first set of levers.

Sargent Seats - sponsored our low height comfort seats, they have saved our arse from one end of the planet to the other as the factory DR seats or shockers.

Mike and Mei Dawson in New Zealand for sponsoring a good contribution to riding to to make sure we make it safe back to New Zealand

Screens for Bikes from Australia, these screens are mint taking the wind blast off our chest and taking the load off our helmets, who says you can't have a few home comforts

So the next post we will put up gear and pics, just got the lappy and camera so learning quickly how to use them so please be patient

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

After 10 days of intense working, chopping, grinding, soldering, drilling, bashing, scraping and knuckle bashing Chiwi and Hobbit are finally ready to race. (we are STILL married) :evil



We learnt a lot about the bikes, everything we had prepared fitted like glove and we established that if we couldn't fix it with a big hammer it was an electrical problem.

We were going to take both bikes to Amy's - an ADV (adventure rider ) who rides Suzuki DR650 invited us a few other guys for a salmon feed on Saturday night (12th May), Andi took them both out on the drive way and got them started. Some how Chiwi took herself out off the stand and fell over, on the way down Chiwi blatantly attacked Hobbit and knocked Hobbit off his*perch*as well. Ellen rushed over turned both of them off. well, Andi's crash board on the side panniers took the hit and the left rear case took a beating where Chiwi bit him. Anyway, Chiwi seemed not liking the fall and wouldn't start when we picked her up!!. With the time pressure, we had to both jump on Hobbit and went to Amys.



The dinner party (our first official engagement) was wonderful, we meet some local ADVs as well. Amy cooked up a storm for us, Jack, Paul, Rodger and Katey all gave us some good advice on riding. It was the second time people asked us if we have heated vest, they said we would need them going up to the North. We think we will try what we have now - which is three layers of Icebreaker, see how it goes.

Sunday 13th May, we left Anchorage to Homer, which is 210 miles west of Anchorage. Andi gave Chiwi a blow job (per Amy) to get it started (remember it wouldn't start after falling over the night before, must have been an air lock in the fuel tube and stopped the fuel get into the carb).

We knew it would be cold, so two layers of Icebreaker long Johns and three layers for the upper body. Only just out of city on the highway a bitterly cold wind hit us, then came down with rain. With heated grips on full, our hands still cold.

We stopped at a service station, wanted some hot food to warm us up. The hot soup was nothing like the one we imagined, clear water with a few slice of noodles and chicken strips served with crackers! Not stopping here again.

After the luke warm clear water soup, we hit the road again. It's getting colder and colder, the rain turned to snow! We had to keep wiping our visor to be able to see through it. Ellen was thinking:"what the hell is it? Is not the same as what Amy said the night before." She couldn't see through her visor, and kind of lost the sense of balance. She was almost in tears, *just as well Andi found a bypass and we can pull over.







Fortunately, the snow turned to rain again after we came down a bit. The road was getting drier and the Sun almost came out. "It was lucky, " Ellen thought. However, she spoke too soon. The road turned wet again and this time, came down with hale! Ellen visor was fogged up inside, so she could not see through again. She tried to pull the visor up, then the hale hit her face like cutting knives. So she shut the visor, can't see the road. It was getting really dangerous now. She slowed down, kept the bike up straight, until finally passed the hale zone. "That was a ride in hell, I wasn't prepare for that."she thought.

After about 3 hour riding through wind, rain, snow and hale, it was still 95 miles away from Homer. The sky came to clear, the road was dry and it getting warmer. We were on boarder of thinking heated vest might be on the shopping list for next ride, but also understand we only need them here in Alaska, then carry them around the rest of the trip. Maybe we try 4 layers of Icebreaker on the way back.

There was no drama for the last leg of our trip, we started to see muse on the side of the road. GPS took us to Charlie's - another ADV rider. Homer welcomed us with sun shine and beautiful snow mountain and a Moose grazing in front of Charlie's front yard. The four seasons ( cold, very cold, very very cold and freezing ) we had gone through to get here - it worth it.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

So todays funnies.

Greetings Hubbers, well today (Tuesday 15th May) was very cool, beautiful day to play with greeted us through the curtains, we are lucky enough to be staying with Charlie at his home in Homer so 5 star.

We set off for a ride to Anchor Point the Western most point you can drive to, we were greeted with breathtaking views and a nice still day.





A total thrashing with the camera and poses galore we recorded our stop at Anchor Point, from there we went up to Nickolaevsk a Russian settlement with a beautiful church.





We headed back to Homer again to record our “been there done that and got the T shirt” in front of the Homer sign .... as ya do!!



Back for a quick lunch then off to See Dean at Full Power then out to Voznesenka however Ellen decided it was time to lay Chiwi down for a rest .. but she did this at a busy intersection much to the interest of other traffic., kids do not try this at home!!!

I went back to rescue the stricken maiden and her lovely stead, my “kiwi made” crash boards have paid their way and the Barkbuster storms have probably saved us a hundy on levers already!

Only two minutes later .... take two, we pull up to Deans shop and bang down she goes again from car park on an angle and some bad estimating, this time Dean had the honours of righting Chiwi back to rubber side down.

After recomposing our fair maiden again and standing round in the sun having a chat we set off to Barb and Victors cabin then headed out to Voznesenka, at the end of the road is a groovy track down to the sea.





With Charlie on his Wing and Ellen learning her skills the hard way I was the only one to go down, it was worth it and pretty easy but it woulda been a little more than Ellen’s current skill level.







After looking around we headed back for home where Ellen redeemed herself with a great feed of tempurad Hallibut.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

We survived Homer and the Homer-roids, we joined in a ride from Homer through to Hope, the rest of the team continued back to Seward to stay the night, sink some toxic lemonade and talk shit as you do.

Ellen and I already topping our milage limit for our first service continued on to Anchorage, we are booked in on Wednesday :clap, on the way in we were able to pick up our bank card and open our Smugmug account for photos and activate our SPOT.

Good news is my tank should be here on Friday so I can finally ditch the factory DR peanut tank and ride with something less to think about as far as fuel planning goes.

So these are the last of the Homer Photos, we will be in Anchorage for the week so not too many picture to come this week, this is our service and finish the bike week.

Charlie Ellen and I



Our new car ... plenty of room for playing chasing :evil



Mount Augustine



Chiwi having a rest



ARAI and Mountains



Salty Dawg at Homer Spit



Young Eagle



Can't explain this one



Gota roof bro!!!

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Charles and His Food Pantry

Andi met Charlie on the ADV forum. When we got to Anchorage, we realize he is a friend of Barb and Amy - and other ADV riders. What a surprise.

We arrived Charles' house in Homer in the brilliant sunshine, a moose was grazing in front of the front yard, with the snow mountain and ocean in the full view of the lounge, it felt just like at home in Wanaka - except the moose.

Charlie took us down to the Homer spit and showed us around. Most importantly, he told us about his passion - the city food pantry.



With Charlie at food pantry





The food pantry is similar to the food bank in NZ. They collect donations of food and distribute to the people who have the need. There are a few volunteers working at the food pantry. Charlie picks up food from local grocery shop most days and is also on call 24 -7. They have a system, people who registered in the system pick up their food parsel every Monday afternoon. So on Monday morning, we joined Charlie and his mates sorting out all the food.

There are donuts, muffins, cakes, tin food and also lots of fruit and veges. Although the fruit and veges are not in their best condition - that's why they are donated but they are still very good. In NZ, that would be thrown out but the people in Homer sorted them out, then give to the people in need.

While we were taking the rotting part of the veges out, a lady told me to put them in a seperate box, because "people will pick it up for animals, nothing is going to waste from here." I was wonder how does that work because the US for me is a country people suing for anything and everything. Charlie said they do have permission from govt to do so. What a great thing to do for the community. I think if our NZ could do the same, first will help lots of people, second will reduce lots of waste.

"Is there any who people abuse this system?" "Of course there is." Charlie said. The food pantry also has limited finance to support people. Charlie went and met a woman while we stayed with him, he came back not very happy. I asked how was the woman, Charlie said:"I told her not to come back to us." The woman who claimed was abused by her partner was driving a brand new rental car, but no money for fuel. Charlie went and paid for the fuel, she also wanted the receipt. Charlie said no and told her to change an affordable car as well.

Most people come to food pantry are genuinly in need of help. Charlie has been working for the food pantry for 3 years, and seeing the number of people coming to the panty is growing - this is his main concern. He believes America is in a bad shape.

Charlie also told us his romance with a Chinese lady he met on the Internet. He even sold all his belongings and moved to China to be with her. Unfortunately the hot weather there and cultural difference curtailed the romance. Charlie had to return to Alaska after a few months in China. Although he didn't make his life in China, they still remain very good friends. I even talked to the lady on Skype in Chinese - Charlie asked me to tell her in Chinese that riding motorcycle is not dangerous!

Andi spent couple of days help Charlie to fix his Honda 1979 Gold Wings so he can go riding with us on Sunday - actually the ride was on Saturday, Charlie messed up the day which he was most embarrassed.

Our stay in Homer had a shorter ending due to leaving on the Saturday rather than the Sunday but we don't mind at all as we met a few more riders and enjoyed the trip to Hope Cafe with them. We were so lucky to be able to stay with Charlie and get to know him and his passion. He made us feel at Home(r) as our own home. We can not thank him enough. All the best for Charlie, we wish you find a good company to share your love and passion.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Greetings, we have been away from wifi etc for a week and half ish so have not been able to get back to here prior, hopefully the following will enlighten you to the hard work and torment we have had to go thru JUST so we can come back and tell you

Friday 25th May

We were originally planning to go to Prudhue Bay with Amy and Jack however with the bike 600 mile service needing to be done, my bike still not running right and no big tank there was too much hanging in the air to confirm.

So in the events that followed, my Safari tank arrived, our bikes were serviced however my bike was still not running right, after a scrap with Suzuki and some stern words from Barb into appropriate ears they “found” some time to take serious look at it to sort it out and that was Thursday night then Friday morning, I am pleased to say my bike now runs like Ellens does and finally acts (almost) like it should.

With not being able to go to Prudhoe we took off to Valdez on Friday avo to camp at King Mountain reserve, great place and great scenery, Dicon and Leslie left after work and soon caught us up at camp.



Ellens new PINK Chair arrived so that seemed to be the camp fire fun for the evening ... weird people.



Leslie had a go...



Dicon sorta had a go...



Then the camera had a go



We were also generously donated 4 Goose eggs to have for breaky as a New Zealanders welcoming present by Nancy the camp host...too cool.



Greta night really without TV .... Food, wine, fire, photos, sleep.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

After saying goodbyes to Alberto and Naomi we sent them on there way on the secret adventure which they can tell you about and we carried on to the border crossing destination Mt Baker Motosports again hopefully for the final time.

At the border we were grilled by the friendly border guard who was full of jokes and happiness, we did get through easy enough as we had nothing of interest to them anyway.

On arriving at Mt Baker Motosports Luke lead us through the situation in which Suzuki are owning the problem having machined the cases oversized. They will be supplying new cases and will pull the motor and fix it which will be done in Fresno when we catch up with a buddy who lives there.

Mt Baker Motosports were very good to deal with and fixed thing as good as they could to ensure the seal stays put until the new cases arrive. We left Bellingham back over the border and were grilled by a nice lady who was full of jokes and happiness too, she must be related to the other guy, they seemed to be from the draught horse family ....draggin their hoofs and with long faces.

We arrived at Davids (Kiwi Cannuck) place to repack, regroup and spoon on the K60 Heidenau front tyre on my bike as the Trail Wing was spent and getting very dodgy.

Cultus Lake was to be the new destination for the night as we headed east toward Glacier Park along the Crows Nest highway (Highway 3),

On the way we were treated to four Vincents parked on the side of the road ... one of which was a hybrid of some descripts, still camera worthy tho.









Also a lake which took our interest, cool shapes.





Crows Nest Highway was nice but a quick stop at Mc Dees in Osoyoos to have cold coffee netted a better plan through a back road beside a lake, this was to turn out to be a great training ground for Ellen, Chiwi performed well and so did Ellen ... go girl.





This road went from Trail down to Seven Mile Dam and along the lake, neat wee ride and STINKIN hot, spot the soggy Asian....actually the whiteifoo camera man was just as bad



We stayed the night at a neat camp after Chiwi got too hot and lay down for a rest only 10 meters out from camp so I had to right her and encourage her to come right into camp .. mission accomplished.





Swims and food down we sat around a camp fire with marsh mellows the size of footballs, supersize me supreme and they were beautiful with a biscuit wrap and chocolate ... must be a Canadian thing eh.



Some of the beautiful rock work along the river.





Following morning we had a leisurely pack up and wondered on our way turning left right on the border at Nelway (didn’t wonna meet draught horse 3). This took us back out to the Crows Nest again and on to Creston and down to the border for the final time to exit Canada, a place that we will miss for sure.

On our exit from Canada we arrived at the Eckhart border, this guy obviously wasn’t part of the draught horse family as he was a dude, we were asked sensible questions and given great information from a guy who was actually interested in our shenanigans.

Farewell to Canada for the final time (on this trip), the most of Canada was simply outstanding and we loved it, could I live here hell yeah.

Chur fellas ,will see you again.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Managing to escape Canada (with reservations about leaving) and finding ourselves in the USA it is on to the next groovy location, destination Glacier Park.

We continued down Highway 95, turned off left onto Highway 2 then 508 into the back and beyond, stunning road that got narrower with less traffic as we carried on, perfect. This road took us through various small shingle roads and tar seal roads, we thought we were lost but turns out our navigational skills had improved so we should have trusted our own judgement first off.

Koocanusa Lake was our destination to camp that night however we stumbled across a small camp ground at Caribou Creek, there was only two other neighbours.

The family that was staying there had two VW campers and a MG car... not very American you lot!!!, Cath came out and promptly shifted her MG so we could park Hobbit and Chiwi and welcomed us in, totally cool, this will do us down to the ground!!



We had set up and organised ourselves when Thingymajig (sorry I can’t remember your name) pulled up on a 6 cylinder 1500 Valkerie Honda with a camper trailer, great setup you have mate (Ellen was specifically told not to get any good ideas)







He joined us and Toms family for a fire and coupled with some red wines and a chats we had a great evening, subject of discussion was my Star Wars Yoda chair and how I managed to fit my man bum into it ...... does this chair make my bum look big?? :evil :rofl

The following morning we set off toward Whitefish for supplies etc after watching the girls go fishing for breakfast.



Cath (sp) if you read this can you email the picture of us standing on the road with your big breaky catch, ta :clap twomotokiwis at gmail dot com

This bridge appeared .... quite a big bridge for such a back road ..... it then on to Glacier National Park, it was 103 F or 39.44 C for us normal people so just warm enough.





On arriving at the park we purchased a National Park Pass as we will be in and out of the parks throughout our US part of the trip, next thing was to find lodgings for the night so we went to the information centre, the place was packed with people pouring in and out like bees from a beehive, the only campground showing up as available being 40 miles away at Lake Bowman so off we went to get there before it filed up.

Now.. we have two directions, Mrs.Garmins and the Park map ... who to believe as they both showed different stuff. :eek1

Sensibility won over on this occasion and we used the Park map, this turned out to be an adventure in the making as some roads had been blocked by slips so it was combo to get to camp, Mrs.Garmin then sent us down a goat track in which a local agreed we should go that way... I don’t think he liked us.

From shingle road to dirt track to gravel lump to quad track we came upon a dry creek, the only way through was down across and back up, I knew Ellen did not have the skills so I did the riding part, only another 50 meters and we were back on relatively normalish shingle roads, this then took us into Bowman Lake a neat ride in itself and good practice for Ellen standing on the pegs on loose gravel, powder, rocks twisting and turning up and down.





This was camp for the night and look at the map to see what to do, the following morning we rode up to Kintla Lake and Ellen decided it was good enough for a swim, we mulled around for a while then made our way back down the road to hit the main attraction Going To The Sun.







The road was choca and it turned out to be a snail ride in a line of hundreds of cars...literally. Smoke filled the air from some wild fires further south but the views were still amazing, we stopped about half way up to have some lunch and pics still very very hot, spot the Harleys near the bottom of the pic.



Waterfalls everywhere there was so much to choose from to photograph, then right on the road side... very cool indeed.





Just a bit further up there was major roadworks so it was down to one lane and a sit in the cue, we only had about a 10 minute wait of the possible 30 so that wasn’t too bad... did I mention it was hot...warning moobs :eek1







Unfortunately from there was stop start stop start ride the clutch bla bla bla so not much fun to the top.

Stopping at the top the people were like ants all over the place so it was a quick stop and carry on down the other side to Highway 2, on the way down we were treated to seeing a young grizzly having a chomp on berries, nice looking animal he/she was.





We continued round the bottom of the park on Highway 2, Devils Creeks was the next destination to set up camp, was some soggy sweat filled gruds, socks and tees.



Wifi was on our list of wants at this point so we could update our ride reports and get some emailing done to sort Chiwis case change, just up the road from the camp is a cool pub with Wifi so everything came together.

ADV rider came to the rescue as we contacted shezonit (a Dudette from the tent sign up ) and she kindly took Two Dodgy Kiwis in, just happened a Hotrod show was on the weekend so our timing was mint.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

I am writing this on day 100 of Two Moto Kiwis, a trip of our lifetime, a new normal of new places, faces and spaces.

Hundy Day photo in Polson!!!!



How Andi Sees It

Highlights Non Motorcycle

Right grab a crate of , some hankies and sit back.

This is a biggy, Canada is somewhere Ellen and I have both been to but only to Montreal so the rest was an unknown thus we had no expectations.

Starting at the top, Dawson City, cool, cannot explain the place well enough to do it justice and I suggest you dust off that wallet and get there, you will NOT regret it.

Inuvik, done that now, enjoyed it and have ticked that box, was great to get virtually right to the top.

Whitehorse, meeting Otis and Daniel, Claire and JD our hosts who we couchsurfed with, Otis gave us the lead to Fort St James, on ya mate we were stoked.

Meeting Dick Hubbard and Ken Wilson coupled with their better halves in Stewart/Hyder, I always looked up to Dick (Mr Muesli in NZ) finding inspiration from his life and successes, we knew he did some motorcycling and to meet up with him and in Stewart/Hyder was huge.

To the bears at Lake Kitwanga, thank you for not eating us but you owe me ten bucks for new undies tho!!!

Fort ST James, amazing, hidden gem and both of us loved it, biggest thank you to Mel, the people were the icing on a cake that was already hearty, the location we were spoilt rotten with and I guess it is fair to mention mum nature who gave us a great run with weather after the Cassier cold.

Meeting Richard in Dunster, been to NZ, bought a bottle of wine up for a chat and gave Ellen a Greenstone tiki to take home, this will travel with us as our good luck charm.

Catching up with our great mates from NZ in Edmonton, Dickie and Elaine, great catching a wee slice of homely hooligans.

Banff, meeting Griff and Lisa, guys with worldy advice on helping us get off the ground and just Banff itself, simply stunning.

Nakusp area, stunning, great ride with Ken, Pierre may the frogs be with you buddy!

Meeting Mike and Jing in Canmore, what a surprise and a huge thing for Ellen to meet Jing having done what we are about to do.

Michael and Odette at Peachlands, very welcoming and great fun, we will be back for that hospitality and Gin!!!.

David Barret in Vancouver, what can I say other than he saved our arses BIGTIME, for Chiwi to crap out was bad enough but to break down where we had access to vehicle and trailer and more so a great guy willing to help it transformed a huge issue into a great opportunity, David, we could ramble on and on and can’t thank you enough, I say that with a huge public blokehug.

David (part two ...gunnerbuck), you made Vancouver Island for us mate, your company and Kandi was mint.

Cindy, well she took us in and it gave us the time and contact to sort out with David (gunnerbuck), on ya chick.

Alberto, Naomi, Graham and Nina, dudes, a pleasure meeting you all.

Canadians across the board were fantastic, the welcoming, help, friendship you simply cannot measure ..... not sure I want to leave!!

Lows Non Motorcycle

I struggle to think of one, for me it would be leaving Canada.

Only the grumpy lady at Mazadian Lake camp .. she needs to find a new job that does not involve people.

Motorcycle Highlights

Started from Dawson and ended entering the US.

Kaslo vintage bike show, what a treat for me, kid in a candy shop, Ken thanks for your company and the ride.

Seeing NZ stickers go riding past in my mirrors at Stewart/Hyder then chasing them down.

Getting Chiwi back up and going, ok thus far.

Being able to do the factory fork lowering on Ellens forks in Griffs garage with the proper tools and dry space, you don’t appreciate your own workshop until you need to do something technical away from it, thanks Griff, you have made my life a lot easier by making Ellens life a lot easier!!!.

Mt Baker Motosports in Bellingham, kinda US based really but was on our Canadian leg, they did the best they could with the time and parts, we thank you guys for the service you gave us to get us back on the road.

Motorcycle Lows

Undoutedly Chiwis Countershaft seal issues, we could EASILY have done without that.

The Heart Speaks

This round of The Heart Speaks is not as saucy as round one which was essentially the levelling platform to find our new normal, the new normal means being taken away from a daily routine which everybody hates (until you don’t have one), the new places, the new challenges of not just going to bed but first to find a place to put your bed.

When you come home from work, you raid the kitchen with flowing water, food galore and snacks at the ready, internet to check your emails in the hope that s o m e o n e might love you so these are all the things that are taken away from you when you live on the road.

Our new normal is rolling out our tent and sleeping gear when we are camping and pulling it back down and packing it up in the morning.

This has to be done rain or shine, windy or still, icy or dry, camping is great and a saves a lot on accommodation costs which is a fair proportion of the budget gone just to put your head down and suffering from insomnia I never get my moneys worth but you always meet neat people from around the globe doing their new normal.

Although Ellen and I can have our tent up within three minutes of pulling up we have seen some epic arguments on setting up... thankfully our turn to sit and watch and sometime larf quietly.

The rider training hit home with Ellen, she realised that not doing it at home under controlled conditions without house and contents on was a mistake and that my side of the trip was very hard and at times very unenjoyable, as you all know the harder side caught up with us both.

Ellen has been taking time out in carparks to practice under instruction (not just me), we have been lucky enough to have great words of advice from Grant Johnson, Mike in Canmore, Griff and lots of lady riders, basically all echoing the same words as me but not from the hubby so to hear it from others has secured her mind .... not that she trusts me now tho!!

Like all humans, we have had navigational tests sent our way, Mrs.Garmin is somewhat of a school teacher giving us unwanted homework, add to that dehydration, 35 - 40 deg C and hungry and the mix is never good.

We have learned to slow down, take a break and stop, maybe a cold drink and a nibble and not long after that life starts to make sense again.

I am happy to say that I still love Ellen and I have removed the add off Ebay “Female Suzuki Crash Test Rider For Sale”.

Ellen I love you and really appreciate the effort in trying to step it up to make our lives easier thus better, nothing like a good air clearing scrap to reset “How To Stay In Love On The Road 1.01”

As you were people, next ride report on its way soon.

Ellen’s Point of view

What can I say about Canada? Highlight is every where we have been and all the people we have met, only low is to say goodbye to this place.

Thanks Andi giving me the chance to improve my riding, when I said I started to enjoy the riding, it really freaked him out. I’m sorry dear you have to put up with me for next 21 months.

Andi Again

Ouwh shit!! :eek1

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Hello Two Moto Kiwis,

Enjoying your ride report, as well as your lovely photos. I just read you last report regarding your Highs and Lows and this caught my attention:

I am pretty sure this is the same grumpy woman that ruined our stay (my wife and I) at Meziadin Lake campground. You are correct, she does not like people! Well, take solace in the fact that you are not the only ones who have had a run-in with her. Lovely campground though. Happy Travels,

Regards, Mike.

Good Job guys, pleasure to meet you both and be able to help out fellow overlanders

100 days done and lots more to come - Keep livin the dream!

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

Leaving Glacier Park the weather continued to be very hot and great training for Central America.

The mission was to find a camp site that was suitable for tenting as everything we had seen was set up for RV’s with tarseal where you wonna put the tent up, everything else was on a hill or angle.

Devils Creek turned out to be the winner, although fairly close to the road we managed to get in behind a bank and trees to knock out the noise. Neat place with a creek so it was time to give the shirts a swim and dry.

During the evening we went to the local bar/cafe/pub and jumped on their Wifi to organise the next round of our trip and to see where we wonna go, with no idea of what was coming up we contacted shezonit from Polson from the ADV tent site thread as she had good offerings with local information.

Next morning we continued our way around the bottom of Glacier park, and started making our way to Polson not knowing if we had a reply or not, on arrival at Polson it was into McDees for a cold coffee and Wifi, shezonit (Maren) replied saying sweet so a quick phone call and we were sorted.

Maren had spare space for us which was cool and given she had been to Mexico a few times had some great information for us, while we were in town getting supplies she called Rocky so he could come over and see our bikes, well the small world thing happened again, just so happened we had bumped into Rocky and his riding buddies in Smithers in Canada, we had lunch in the car park with them.

Needless to say soon as he saw our bike he said I know these guys!!!!

On our return Maren told us that we were meeting someone who we had already met, classic!!!

Pizza from a local restaurant was on for tea along with discussions on travel and places to go. The following day was a local custom car show, there was some really beautifully done cars some with some serious coin poured into them.

48 Cadillac



A custom something



Groovy Rat Rod





Beautiful T Bird



And most importantly the bikes!!!





There are many more images of cars if you want to see them go here Polson pictures by Twomotokiwis - Photobucket

Ellens famous Sushi was made for tea after a big day looking at hot cars, again the map came out and with the ADV infosystem in full flight we drew lines all over our map for places to go, things to see, an indicative idea of where to go after telling them what we were into.



The following morning after a leisurely pack up we rode back up to Bigfork and round Swan lake heading to Missoula.

Lance from ADV lives in Missoula, he was keen to meet us and put us up etc, Lance is a good friend of Geoff & Gus from Australia who are soon to be setting off for South America as well Geoff & Gus's Blog so we will meet them there, looking forward to that as Geoff has been a great source of information and a tech head on IT stuff helping with our web site set up etc.

Upon arriving in Missoula we found our the demolition derby was on ... saweet !!







Sub Trip Within The Trip

Ellen got lost in Missoula

Left Polson, we headed to Missoula, to meet Geoff’s friend Lance.

If we took road 93 from Polson, there is only about 125k to Missoula. But Rocky said it is very boring. He suggested us to take the road back to Big Fork then going through a forest road, that is much batter.

We took this long way round, only 100k more and happened to see more forest fire again.

It didn’t take too long to find Lance’s flat thanks to GPS for once. He showed us our accommodation - Pink Lady, what a cool van. Lance is flatting with three girls, they are all very welcoming and I felt back to my old university time, flatting is great!

Then Lance asked what we want to do for that evening. Go swimming in the Clark Fork river or a demolition derby event?.

For me, I voted for swimming any time, they boys, of course, going to the car thing. Well, lets just lose each other for a while, do our own things.

Andi asked me if I want to take the GPS or Cell phone, I said no just in case someone steals it. I think I can find home (I call all the places we are staying home now) no problem, just a few blocks away from the river....what can possibly go wrong!!

Lance and Andi dropped me off at the river bank -- it’s in the middle of town, a concert is on for the night in the park which is right beside the river. I went down to the river - there were lots of people floating down stream on their rubber tubes, a natural water fall just under a big bridge which connects North to South.

I jumped into the big river to cool myself down, it has been more then 30 degrees, and the cool water just felt so nice. When I decided I had enough, it was nearly 7pm.

I thought I was walking to the right direction. After 3 set of traffic lights, still can’t find a over bridge which was a landmark I remembered. I walked back to the river, the concert is on and the park is packed. I tried another direction, after 100m, I decided to get back to where I started -- I got totally lost now.

What can I do now? I went back to the park, found a security guard, told him I got lost. He asked me: “Do you remember the street name?”
“Nope, but I know it’s not too far from here.”
“But how can I help you if you can’t tell me where do you want to go?”
“I have a phone number (I hope it’s the right one), if I can borrow your phone to ring my husband.”
“No problem.”
He dialed the number for me, but it’s an answer phone. I left a message - hope it was our phone and said I got lost, if he can come and pick me up on the way back.

It was too uncertain, firstly, I didn’t know it was our phone; second, I didn’t know if Andi took the phone with him; thirdly, if he did come to pick me up, I didn’t know when.

With some quick thinking, I remembered at Lance’s flat, we checked “spot” on our website see if it worked. If I can get on line I can locate Lance’s address, and if I can find a local map, the problem would be solved.

I asked around where can I get a local map, a gas station cross the river might have one. It took me a few minutes to get over there, I got the map. Now I need internet. It was nearly 8pm, Sunday night, all shops were shut. I found a Mexican restaurant, ask the owner if he can help me. He had an iphone, pretty small, however we managed to get the street address. It was on the corner of two street, which was exactly how I remembered. I had my map marked and off I went.

First, I needed to cross the bridge again. I thought it was a bit odd. I was sure we didn’t cross the bridge to get there. Maybe Lance’s took a shortcut. Anyhow, I had to trust the spot. I walked along the street, nothing looked familiar, it might be a different route. I walked and walked and walked, nearly a hour later, finally get to the point which marked on my map. The house is not there! On contrast, it looked like a big park with loud speakers telling people about the race. I was near the park where the car race took place! Andi must have taken the spot with him, and the last location is the car park.

What can I do now? It’s nearly dark, and I hadn’t had any food since Polson. I went into a transport company asked if they have computer for me to check my email. I knew Lance sent us his phone number earlier, at least I can call him. “No” they said, “ Maybe the shop two blocks away has it.” I was a little bit disappointed, but still there was hope.

I started to walk, all of a sudden out the corner of my eye Hobbit and Lance’s KLR sitting in the parking lot right in front of me. They are still here! I wrote a note and put it into Andi’s helmet: “I’m looking for you in the field, don’t leave without ME!”

As I was walking to the park, the event has finished. I saw Lance and Andi were walking towards me. It took Lance a few seconds to recognize me: “How did you find us?” “Thanks for Spot.”

It was such a relief seeing them.

Back To Missoula

My front wheel was feeling slightly out of balance so Lance took my bike to his work to check it, that is when the next level of disappointment started.

Per Ellens bike Hobbit threw his countershaft seal out only 100 metres from Lances house, he did not know until he got to work and he left a Hansel and Gretel oil trail for 2 miles to his work.

More calls to Suzuki and the local shop in Missoula, the local shop in Missoula being very disinterested and pretty unhelpful .... great!!!!

A couple of calls later to Leland Suzuki and these guys were on it and organizing things, I also discussed my 3rd gear which is whining pretty badly and our chain guards that had broken in half.

Not having a great start really for the want of buying a reliable DR!!, please Suzuki give us a sporting chance!!

Lance kindly lent us his workshop to do a temporary seal repair, this involved a large cleanup, clean the seal and surfaces, glue the seal back in and peen the case edges to stop the seal from bailing out again.







On the social side of things it gave us a sporting chance to take in Missoula, we took a trip to Weer Hots Springs which were VERY hot, watched the huge forest fire blazing on the back.



Tubing!!!! ... in truck tubes down the Clark Fork River, great fun and neat views, did get a bit cold at the end as sun fell but no one died so that was ok.





Ever wondered what a rail bridge looks like from underneath while floating past on a borrowed truck tube with a lima a rita in your hand, a wet arse and a train racing overhead... well ... now you do!!



Our great hosts Lance and Erin



That concluded Missoula and we said our good byes to Lance and Erin, next installment hopefully good news on the bikes.

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Afternoon all

Ok, we did a milage check the other day (when my bike was going).

We decided we wanted know how far the bike would go till reserve, I do not know what the reserve capacity of the Safari tank is so if someone does know please let me know.

So ..... riding the bike the speedo reads 60 mph, Mrs.Garmin shows 56/57 mph corrected.

That gives a correction value of approx 5%.

I travelled 441 miles so 709.7 km (approximately ) when is spluttered and I changed over to reserve.

Correction of 5% on Speedo would be around 419 miles or 675 km till reserve which is not too shabby.

We have yet to bend our fuel lines horizontal on the carb to get the last of the fuel out which I will do when we do the main valve service.

Anyway, hope this info is useful for someone ponding the merits of a larger tank for your DR 650.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Guy's you've had me spell bound for the last couple of days ,Ive read all of your posts,very much enjoyed looking at your photo's,will follow the rest of your tour with interest,Noel
p.s kiwi's beat us in the football again,this where i claim my NZ ancestry (mums a kiwi)

Heya Noel, glad you are enjoying our ride report, we are certainly having fun sitting the practical side then writing about it too.

Welcome to follow us, any suggestions for writing etc would be welcomed for us to improve for you guys.

__________________
Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere