Monday, June 30, 2008

O.k. so I'll start with the basics of the day and then I'll go into the stories (I've got a couple). So I met up with Phil at a little after 11:00 am and went for lunch. On our way to lunch we found construction on central. We didn't really get into the construction zone, but there was tar all over the road. We decided to avoid central for the rest of the day. And that's how our whole day went. It seemed like a day for avoiding construction. After lunch we decided to go for a little boot before we went to work in the parking lot. We headed out highway 16 east to do the airport loop. That was all good until we started coming into town on highway 97 south, where we found more construction. So we took a quick right on airport road and ended up coming back into town the same way we had come. We spent about 2 hours at CN centre so Phil could get some practice in.

When Phil got tired of that, we took a VERY long route home. We went out on Foothills to Chief Lake Road. We then headed farther out of town and came back into town on Old Summit Lake road. Once we were back into town, we had to head over to Ospika because we were still avoiding central. From Ospika we headed home.

O.k. now for the stories. While we were going down Old Caribou Highway, Phil randomly pulls over. He was worried about a high pitched squeal he kept hearing. I asked him a few questions about it and didn't really have any suggestions on what it might be. My only suggestion is to try and consistently duplicate the sound, so that we could narrow down the problem. So the next time we stop, Phil is kind of sheepish, and tells me he figured out what the sound was. It was the wind whistling through his helmet.

My other story is more of a piece of advice. Always make sure to cover ALL exposed body parts with sunscreen. It was again VERY hot (about 30^C) and the only protective gear I was wearing were my boots, helmet, and gloves (fingerless gloves at that). This equates to a lot of exposed skin. I thought I had done a pretty good job with the sunscreen this time, but alas, I still got burnt. My shoulders, arms and neck are all fine, however, I did not use sunscreen on my chest (I don't know why I always forget there). I do have another funny tan line though. You can see exactly where my necklace was sitting all day. Also, as I discovered this evening, my shirt was riding up a little. The small of my back is burnt as well. I guess I'll have to make sure fix that next time.

Start: 35,402 km - End: 35,547 km - Total Distance: 145 km

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Can you guess what Phil and I did today?



That's right, more practice for Phil. I met up with him at about 4:00 pm and he came over to our house for dinner. Then it was off to the ICBC building for some practice. It was closed for the weekend, and we figured since that was where he was going to take his test anyway, it would be a good spot to practice. It was really nice actually, because it had all sorts of marks all over the ground for different parts of the test.

We were there until about 8:30 pm. When Phil had finally had enough we met up with Ryan for a well deserved ice cream break. It was super warm today so neither Phil or I were wearing our jackets. But that last ride was a little chilly. We decided to take the "direct" route back to his house. (ie: via airport road) By the time we got to his house the sun was almost set, so coming back to my house was really chilly. I'm sure I've mentioned before, it doesn't matter the time of year, that last ride home is always a little chilly. ;)

Start: 35,320 km - End: 35,402 km - Total Distance: 82 km

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Well, I met up with Phil this morning to get some parking lot practice in before his test.

We weren't really in a parking lot, because they've got a vehicle mega sale going on in the CN centre parking lot. :P So we ended up at the end of this dead end road. It worked o.k. but there really wasn't enough room. He's doing really well though, he had the slalom down within a few tries.

We did go for a bit of a ride along old summit road. Its a nice and twisty road, which is always a lot of fun.

Start: 35,223 km - End: 35,320 km - Total Distance: 97 km

Trip Statistics

So now that I'm home from my trip to Edmonton, I thought I would calculate a few statistics about the trip. So here they are.

Length of trip: 7 days
Distance traveled: 2186 km
Gas Consumed: 133 L
Average Fuel Consumption: 16.4km/L or 38.6 miles/gallon
Average Price for Fuel: $1.41/L

Monday, June 23, 2008

I am so very glad that I spent the night in Hinton. I woke up this morning at about 8:00 am to dry roads and sunshine. The weather was still a little cold and windy, but not being wet makes a BIG difference. I even stopped a few times to take some pictures.

These were taken at mount Robson. As you can see, it wasn't a perfectly clear day, but none of the clouds were rain clouds. I was very appreciative of that. So now I'm home and unpacked (mostly) and spending some much needed time with my hubby. I do need to pick up some of my riding gear, since its all sitting in a pile near the door.

I think my kitty missed me too. He also does this with luggage. He thinks that if he lays on our stuff we can't leave him again. Oh well, I'll leave him be for now.

I also should mention my animal count for today. I saw 3 (1+2) bears, 3 (2+1) deer, a herd of elk and one eagle. I like to think my daddy sent him to check up on me ;)

Start: 34,764 km - End: 35,223 - Total Distance: 459 km

Sunday, June 22, 2008

So today I got a very late start. I didn't get on the road until about 11:00 am. (Could that have something to do with that fact that I was up until 4 in the morning?) The day started out the same way this trip started, with rain. I went to Edmonton in the rain and I left Edmonton in the rain. My spirits were not very high. It was only drizzling when I started, but the farther I went, the worse it got. It was wet and cold and miserable. I decided that with the late start and the wet, there was no point pushing all the way to Prince George today. So I decided to get a room in Hinton. So here I sit, in a hotel room, and now the sky is clearing and the sun is out. Go figure. Oh well, hopefully the weather will be nicer tomorrow.

Start: 34,460 km - End: 34,764 km - Total Distance: 304 km

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Today was a pretty quiet day. I spent most of the day in the hotel room. I did venture out over to West Edmonton Mall. I had to exchange one of the DVD's I bought. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I think the high was 28^C. I took a different route home and went through down town and along River Valley Road. Its very pretty along there.

Start: 34,421 km - End: 34,460 km - Total Distance: 39 km

Friday, June 20, 2008

I woke up to warm weather finally today. I didn't have to worry about cold or wet, it was great. The day started out very much like yesturday. I met up with Dan at Timmy's at 10 am. We also met up with Dan's friend Russ. Actually, Russ and I got there early, so we had about 10-15 minutes to chat before Dan showed up. We headed out to Fort Saskatchewan to go and see Dan's sheep. They're not really Dan's sheep, they're his aunt's but that's another story. The black one is Olive, she was in "Love according to John" when she was little.

After that, I'm not really sure where we went. I was just following Dan and trusting that he would get me back into the city at some point. We did end up around antler lake, which is where the black part of our day occurred. We were in a residental area near the lake and the road was pretty windy. I came around this one corner and Dan was in the ditch. He was mostly o.k. (just a bit of road rash) and the bike was mostly o.k. (a few more scratches than before, and a bent brake lever), but it was pretty scary. No one's really sure exactly what happened, but we're pretty sure he took the corner too fast and didn't make it. But we re-grouped and carried on our way.

We pretty much came back into town at that point. We did stop at a little antique shop and looked around. We thought there was a tea shop there, but it was closed. So after that we went to Denny's for lunch with Russ' family. I had a really great time.

After lunch, Russ went home and Dan and I just hung around town. We headed over to West Edmonton Mall to do a little bit of shopping. We were there until about dinner, where we went over to Red Robins for dinner with Jason and then over to South Edmonton Common for a movie.

When the movie was done, Dan and I were sitting in the parking lot comparing bikes. We decided to switch for a little ride. It was just back to my hotel, but its always interesting to ride someone elses bike and compare it to your own. So that was pretty much my day. All in all it was really great (other than the black cloud).

Start: 34,204 km - End 34,421 km - Total Distance: 217 km

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Today I met up with Dan at 9:00 am at Timmy's. It was an early start for me (only because I stayed up too late the night before). We headed out to Two Hills. Its about an 1.5 hour ride out there. There is a grave yard there where my grampa and uncle are buried. My uncle's headstone had just been put in so I wanted to go and see it. I knew how to get to Two Hills, thanks to good old Mapquest, however getting to the grave yard itself was a bit tricky. I had only been out there a couple of times and neither time was under my own terms so I was really not in the state of mind to remember directions. However, it wasn't that bad, we only had to turn around once (although I did second guess myself a few times).

It was really good to be there and spend some time there on my own terms. The first time I was there, it was the first time I had seen my grampa's grave and we had to go with the entire family for what they called "green holiday" and it really wasn't a very good scene at all. And the second time I went it was to bury my uncle, also not fun. So this time no one made me go out there, I chose to go, which was much better.

I still think that this last headstone is very odd, but there were more like them throughout the graveyard, so I guess its just what people do. (Note: This is a double headstone for my grandparents. My grandmother is still alive)

Anyway, we spend about 45 minutes to an hour at the grave yard itself and then we headed home. We got spit on a little bit and it was pretty windy but all in all it was a good trip.

After I said goodbye to Dan, I headed back to my hotel for a nap, and I went over to Irene's for the evening. That's about it for the day. After all is said and done, another good day of my holiday.

Start: 33,853 km - End: 34,204 km - Total Distance: 351 km

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

So because I rode my bike to Edmonton, its my only mode of transportation. I didn't really go anywhere, but I did put a few kilometers on my bike. First thing I HAD to clean it. I am still amazed at how dirty it was. I found a car wash on 50th Street and sprayed it off. After doing that I realized that it was going to take more than that. So I took the car wash brush to it. (I don't usually like doing that but the spray just wasn't cutting it.) That got MOST of the mud off, but the bike still looked like crap. So over to the bike shop on Whyte ave for some cleaning supplies. Then over to Zellers for cleaning clothes. I spent the hour or so in the Zellers parking lot polishing my bike. I got a few weird looks but I didn't really care. I didn't really have anywhere else to do it. It was well worth the time however, I finally found my bike under all the grime.



At least the weather was nice for most of the day so that I could clean my bike. It was raining by the time I had to go to Irene's bridal shower (the whole point of this trip) so its a little water spotty again from that, but nothing compared to last night.

Start: 33,799 km - End: 33,853 km - Total Distance: 54 km

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

So today was the beginning of my mini-holiday. I washed and loaded up my bike last night so I was all set to go this morning.

I woke up to rain. Not the best way to start a trip, but oh well. I donned all my rain gear and a way I went. I only got to Purden before I had to stop and put on my clothes. (my hoodie and warmer gloves) My next stop was at Doom Diner, just to warm up a little. It was so cold. As I'm heading into McBride, (at about 180 km), my bike does a funny little jerk. I couldn't quite figure out what the heck had happened and then it did it again. I then realized that perhaps I needed to go on reserve. I couldn't believe it. As I mentioned earlier, I should be able to go at least 230-240 km before I hit reserve. But I guess with the wind and rain I did not get the fuel range that I should. I did make it into McBride though, so things were all good. So I stopped in McBride for gas. While I was there, I had to change back into my thinner gloves, because my warm gloves were soaked through. Yes, it was still raining at this point.

My next stop was at Mount Robson where my friend Steven and I were supposed to meet for lunch. (He was going to PG, while I was going to Edmonton) We arranged to meet at 11:00 am. Note to self: if we do this again, remember to specify BC or Alberta time. Unfortunately, Steven and Carol had to sit and wait for my for over an hour. I also had to buy a new hoodie because mine was soaked though. I changed my shirt too. Fortunately it had stopped raining by this point. For a little while at least.

Next stop: Jasper, for gas and more clothes changing. I had to get dry pants at this point. It felt like I did a lot of that this trip. But there was a lot of rain this trip too. ;) The trip was mostly quiet after Jasper. I stopped again in Edson and Entwistle for gas. It mostly stopped raining after the park but it was brutally windy and cold. I was just happy when I hit the "Welcome to Edmonton" sign because I knew my trip was almost over. So I thought.

It took me nearly another hour to get to my hotel. Taking the wrong exit onto the Whitemud didn't help, but what really slowed me down was the stupid construction on the Whitemud. Grooved pavement at 30 km and slower for 20-30 minutes is NOT fun. I finally got off at Fox drive instead of going all the way down to Calgary trail. I know Edmonton well enough to be able to find at least SOME alternate routes thank goodness.

Once I finally got into my hotel I spend a good hour cleaning all the mud off me. (I'll leave the bike until tomorrow).

I am not sure I have ever seen my bike so darn dirty. I was so tired of being on the bike though that I wimped out and got Dan to come and get me for dinner. I need the evening away from the bike to recover from today. It was a cold and LONG day.

As a point of interest, here is my animal count for the trip: 2 moose, 1 bear, 4 fox (a family), countless mountian goats. Amazing I saw all of these before I hit Alberta. (O.k. that's not completely true, the mountain goats were in the the park)

As much as all of this sounds like I didn't have a very good trip. And all though the trip was very cold and wet and windy, I did have a good time. Its the first time I've ever taken any sort of long trip by myself. I was proud of myself for doing as well as I did.

Start: 33,037 km - End: 33,799 km - Final Distance: 762 km

Thursday, June 12, 2008

So, my chap project failed before it even got started. Fabricland didn't have the proper elastic I needed to make my chaps bigger. And since Fabricland is about the only place in Prince George to buy material, my project was sunk. I gave into the fact that I was going to have to buy new chaps and so the hunt began. I came home and jumped on my bike, joined up with mom and started shopping. Unfortunately, chaps are hard to find. Well, that's not really true, we did find chaps at a few different stores, but chaps that fit me are hard to find. So we ended up at the harley shop again, and found what I was looking for. We were going to go for a ride after that, but by the time we finally found what we were looking for, it was raining. After a frustrating morning, both my mom and I decided to go home.

Start: 33,023 km - End: 33,037 km - Total Distance: 14 km

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

So today was a pretty nice day. I had planned on doing a few other things, but after my husband nearly pushed me out of the house ;), I decided to go for a ride. My plan was to go out to bear lake to see if it was open yet. It was nice and sunny, a few clouds but really nothing to worry about. I was cruising along the highway and really enjoying the ride until the weather was all of a sudden not so nice. I didn't even really see it coming One minute it was beautiful, and the next it was pouring down rain. So I only made it to about summit lake and I turned around. I did have full intentions of taking some pictures of the lake to post up here, but since I didn't make it, there are no pictures. Sorry.

After I decided to turn around, I had to find somewhere to actually do it. As I'm getting very wet, I watch FOUR semis pass me going into town. Yes, I got stuck behind them. I did 120 km/h all the way out, and 90-100 km/h all the way back into town. Not really a great way to come home. (Especially considering 3 of the 4 trucks were big white Peterbilts :P ) Anyway, I decided to come home and wash by bike. It was defenantly needed. Now I'm working on altering and restoring my chaps, I'll take some pictures and post them up here when the project is done.

Start: 32,913 km - End: 33,023 km - Total Distance: 110 km

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

So today was an interesting day of riding. I jumped on my bike this afternoon to go and meet my mom. I realized that I should probably fill up soon, but decided it could wait until after I met up with my mom a Canadian Tire. I had full intentions of filling up there, but after about 1/2 hour of shopping, I completely forgot and we headed up to my mom's house to drop of our purchases. This was still not a big deal. I can fill up after we stop at mom's. Once we were ready to go again, my mom asked if we wanted to go and see if Bednesti was open for the season yet. It sounded like a good plan and off we went down the highway. Bednesti is about a 1/2 hour drive down the highway and I had not filled up with gas yet. Fortunately there is one last gas station at the very edge of the city limits. As I saw it approaching I remembered my fuel tank and flagged my mom down and we pulled in to fill up my tank. I would like to find out exactly how far I can go on my reserve, but that's not really the way I want to do it.

Anyway, as it turned out, we only went about 10 km and it started to rain, so we turned around. It seems we were out running the rain all day actually. We headed back into town and headed past Artnaps. We sort of did the airport loop but made it a little bigger by going through some farm land areas east of the highway. As we were coming back into town it started to rain on us again so we decided to call it a day. We never got very wet, but it was enough to send us home.

Start: 32,810 km - End: 32,913 km - Total Distance: 103 km

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

So I did do some riding today, but only a little. I ordered a sissy bar for my bike and went and had it put on tonight. Reg also but the passanger pegs back on. I'm not sure why the previous owner took them off, but they're back on now. I also wanted to change my oil because I really had no idea when the last time it was done.

We did go for a little bit of a ride once the work on my bike was done. We just went for a little boot up and around chief lake road. It was really too cold by that point to go anywere else.

Start: 32,766 km - End: 32,810 km - Total Distance: 44 km

My Boots

So these are my riding boots. I was told that I needed more pictures, and I was specifically told that I need this picture put up so here it is.



My mom bought me these boots about three days before I bought my new bike. She told me they were a "Welcome back to the riding world" present. I think it was her way of making sure that I actually got a new bike so that she would have a riding partner again. Normally I wouldn't take a picture of my boots, but I was telling a friend about them and he wanted to see a picture so I obliged. I proceeded to post it on facebook and everyone teased me about it. Its all good though, I'm used to it. ;)

Monday, June 2, 2008

So today the motorcycle was just basically a mode of transportation. We went for lunch, then we went up to my aunt's to babysit my little cousin. After that we bombed around town (tried to go and see Reg but he wasn't home AGAIN) and came home.

I do have to share a story about my little cousin however. He is 2 and a half and very imaginative. He plays make believe all the time so he has lots of different hats to aid the process. While we (my mom and I) were watching him, he takes one of his black hats, puts it over his face and says "This is my helmet, I'm ready to go for a ride on my motorcycle." To this my mom responded, "But Braeden, a helmet goes on your head not your face, how are you going to see like that?" To this my very bright little cousin replies "Yes it does aunty, look" and proceeds to go to the window and point at my bike. Although my mom's helmet (a half helmet) goes on her head, my helmet (a full face helmet) also goes over my face as well. He was very correct. He continually surprises me to just bright and observant he can be.

Start: 32,715 km - End: 32,766 km - Total Distance: 51 km

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Ryan and I went camping this weekend so I didn't get any riding in until today. However, it was worth the wait. It was beautiful today and it was so warm that I didn't even wear my jacket. (I know it's stupid, but we've decided that as long as we are aware we are being stupid, its all o.k.) The bad part about riding without a jacket is that it leaves burned shoulders (from the camping trip) exposed to more sun and burning (ouch). My mom came and got me at about 3:15 and we went to BP's for an early dinner. We then tried to go and pick up Phil. (He was sleeping so we planned to meet him later) We went up and over the university and then met up with him. Then we precided to take a very long route around the city: up and around the airport, up to the hart (with a donut stop at Timmy's), back down foothills and up to Parkridge Heights. I forgot how cold it gets down foothills but we all survived. ;) We also stopped by CN Centre to watch the sports bikes doing tricks in the parking lot. That was pretty interesting to watch. (Especially when one guy totally miss judged the length of the parking lot while doing a stoppie and nearly wiped out on the grassy hill in front of him.) I met up with Ryan at Nadine's house and we watched a movie. Which meant I had to ride my bike home in the dark. It doesn't seem to matter where we live, I always end up coming home way after the heat of the day and freeze on that final ride home.

Start: 32,606 km - End: 32,715 km - Total Distance: 109 km