California 1999

So I kept a journal of my trip down to California in 1999. I had only been riding since the fall of the previous year, and I had only had my class 6 for about a month. I've decided to create a seperate blog and post my journal there. If you are at all interested in this blog, you might find my california trip an interesting read. Check it out at http://1000virago.blogspot.com/

Thursday, July 24, 2008

So today was test day. I went and picked up Phil at 12:30 and we headed down to ICBC. It was very hot and I was melting by the time he finished. He did awesome, he only put his foot down once in the u-turn, but he nailed it the second time round. So he can ride on his own now, and I don't have to feel guilty if I can't go for a ride with him. I'm sure he's very happy about that.

So because he can legally go about 60 km/h, we decided to go for a little ride. We headed out to Vanderhoof for a celebratory piece of pie.


Homemade rubarb pie and homemade strawberry pie = YUMMMMMM!!!!!! It was very good, but kind of expensive: 16 bucks for 2 pieces of pie and 2 cans of pop. Its o.k. it was a special occasion. I couldn't finish all of mine so Phil had to help.

I'm sure he was completely heart broken that he had to eat more pie. ;) I think he'll get over it.

So again I didn't wear my jacket, and again I got burnt. At least its in different spots, cause I was in different shirts. I'm going to have all sorts of funky tan lines by the end of the summer.

Start: 39,229 km - End: 39,451 km - Total Distance: 222 km

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

So today I took Phil out to practice for hopefully the last time. His test is tomorrow and I'm sure he will do just fine. I did wash my bike again, this time by hand, but I had limited time to do it so its still not very clean. It is better though. We'll see how many more times I have to wash it before I get all the Yellowknife dirt off of it.

Phil and I went for a little bit of a ride after we were done practicing. We went up and around the airport and then across town to university way. It was a nice little ride. I paid for not wearing my jacket today though. My shoulders are pretty burnt again. You'd think I'd learn. I should at least use sun screen when I don't wear my jacket. Also, you'd think I'd remember that its bloody cold down foothills and up university way without a jacket, but I always forget that too. It was refreshing though, so I won't complain too much. ;)

Start: 39,156 km - End: 39,229 km - Total Distance: 73 km

Monday, July 21, 2008

So nothing too exciting for today. After picking up my bike from my mom's, I took Phil out again for a little practice. Once I dropped him off I did attempt to wash my bike. That was a waste of time and money. I took it to a car wash and sprayed it off. It did get SOME dirt off, but it's going to take some major TLC to get it clean.

Start: 39,124 km - End: 39,156 km - Total Distance: 32 km

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Now that I'm back at home, things are back to some sort of normalcy. Phil's MST is on Thursday, so I'll be doing a lot of "teaching" in the next couple of days. I was supposed to clean my bike today to get all the road grime off, but it didn't happen. I did notice when I was getting ready to go and pick Phil up though that there was some cosmetic damage from my trip. I must have gotten a big rock in one of my lower windshield pieces, cause there's a big crack in it. :P


What is kind of hard to see in this picture is that there is a HUGE chip at the bottom edge of the crack as well.

When I was bringing Phil home we got caught in a rain storm so I rode to my mom's and she brought me home. So the bike is up at my mom's and I'll have to go and get it tomorrow.

Start: 39,092 km - End: 39,124 km - Total Distance: 32 km

Trip Statistics and Final Comments

So I really liked looking at some details of my trip last time, so I thought I would do it again for this trip. So here they are:

Length of Trip: 8 Days
Distance Travelled: 3502 km
Average Distance Travelled per Riding Day: 568 km
Average Fuel Consumption: 16.05 km/L or 37.74 miles/gallon
Average Price for Fuel: $1.46/L

I thought I would add some final thoughts about the trip before I put it to rest. I had a really great time seeing places I'd never been before. Yellowknife is DEFIANTLY the farthest north I have ever been. Dan and I seemed to travel pretty well together, although we NEVER seemed to be able to leave on time. Both bikes made the trip mostly intact. Dan does need a new chain, but I think that was coming regardless of this trip. My back brake seems to be sticking, but that might be dirt, its not consistent enough to tell at this point. The weather was pretty average. I've had better, but I've also had MUCH worse. All-in-all it was a great adventure and I hope Dan and I will be able to do it again soon. (A bike trip that is, not necessarily back to Yellowknife)

Friday, July 18, 2008 - Day 8

Today was our last day on the road. Because we went so far yesterday, we only had like 3 hours of riding, which I have to admit was kinda nice. (Thanks Dan for pushing us so far.) We met Ryan at Bejoux Falls and stopped to take some pictures.

Then we headed home. The bike is now parked, although extremely dirty.

Everything is unloaded and its all sitting in the middle of our living room waiting to be cleaned and put away, but that will have to wait for now.


For this evening I am going to enjoy my husband's company and visit with Dan one last night before he heads home.

Start: 38,781 km - End: 39,092 km - Total Distance: 311 km

Thursday, July 17, 2008 - Day 7

Today was a very long day. We rode for 12 hours and made it to Chetwynd. We got very wet between High Level and Manning, before we put on our rain gear. And of course, it didn't rain again after we put our gear on. (That's not completely true, but almost)

In Fairview, Dan and I had a difference of opinions on when and where to stop for the night. Lets just say tired and cranky Michelle and tired and cranky Dan mix about as well as oil and water. In the end we sort of compromised. We went farther than I would have liked but we're not on the side of the road somewhere as Dan would have liked. And Dan and I talked over the events of the day and things are good again.

Start: 37,868 km - End: 38,781 km - Total Distance: 913 km

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - Day 6

We had a fairly slow morning today. We got up around nine, and it took us until 12 to eat breakfast and pack up camp.


We then headed into town to do a little more exploring. We checked out the musium and drove through old town. Yellowkinfe is a pretty little town.

We got on the road at about 3:30 pm. It was actually surprisingly hot for being so far north. I actually tink I got a little over heated that morning because I didn't feel very good all day. For the most part the ride was pretty uneventful. However, like most days, there is once experience worth noting.

While we were on the ferry, a bug must have crawled into my helmet. About 5 minutes after getting off the ferry, the bug started crawling on my ear. I VERY quickly pulled over and took off my helmet. That is one sensation I can do without repeating.

Other than that, it was a great day of riding. We go in fairly late so we made some dinner and are now headed to bed.

Start: 37,342 km - End: 37,868 km - Total Distance: 526 km

Sunset/Sunrise

So its only 9:30 in the morning but I have to comment on last night. We had been noticing that the farther north we got, the longer the days got, but last night was something else. We decided at about 11:30 pm that we should go down to the lake and check out the sunset. We were down there until almost 1:00 am and the sun still hadn't completely went down.


I realized later that it never really got dark. There was dusk for a couple of hours but never complete darkness.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - Day 5

So today we headed to Yellowknife. The weather started out nice and we got a fairly decent start. It did try and rain on us a few times but it was never enough for us to pull over and gear up. The ferry ride was kind of fun. It seems to me that every ferry is different and therefore a completely new experience.

After the ferry is where we started seeing bison. Neither Dan nor I expected to see bison on this trip. At first we just saw one or two on the side of the road at a time. That was fine and kinda interesting. I didn't realize just how big they were in the wild. Then we had to ride through an entire herd. That was a little terrifying and spectacular all at the same time. There were a couple on the road that wouldn't move. A truck come the other way and cleared one of them for us. But there was another one on the shoulder that decided to run along side Dan. There were many others farther off being fairly aggressive with each other as well. It all turned out fine and we got through them without a problem. Dan then pulled over not very far past them to take pictures. I was a little uncomfortable with that but my desire for pictures outweighed my fear. Unfortunately, the pictures that I took didn't really turn out.

We had to drive in to Rae for gas. (We sort of missed Edzo) and then it was the final stretch to Yellowknife. We found the campsite with out a problem. After unloading we headed into town for dinner and a little exploring. The rest of the night was spent at the campsite: chatting, playing cards and exploring the lake.

Start: 36,816 km - End: 37,342 km - Total Distance: 526 km

Monday, July 14, 2008 - Day 4

Today was an awesome day even if we didn't do any riding. We got up around 7:30 am and Naomi made us omelets (which were great). Then we jumped in the Yukon and Naomi showed us around Hay River. This is a picture of Great Slave lake.

Then it was back to the house for lunch (lasagna). After lunch we headed to the museum in town. That was fantastic. They provided tea and we could touch and feel almost anything we wanted, including all the old books and journals.

I really enjoyed the old maps of the north. I can't even imagine pioneering areas like that.

After the museum we got a quick tour of the new youth church being built and then it was off to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were breath taking. There were two of them and we could walk (climb/scale/shimmy) right up to the edge of both of them.

The view that we saw is beyond words. (Waterfalls always do that for me) I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Even the pictures don't really capture the experience of being there. We stopped to meet friends of Naomi's. They showed us around the bible camp that they were building. That was an interesting project to see.

And that was pretty much our day. We did a little grocery shopping for tomorrow and cam home for dinner. (burgers this time). Now we're all packed and ready for tomorrow. It's off to Yellowknife for another adventure.

Sunday, July 13, 2008 - Day 3

We got a super late start today. It was partly to do with the fact that we were up so late last night, but that's o.k. We finally got out of Fairview at about 11:30 am. The weather was windy but nice. However that didn't last very long. Just outside of Grimshaw it started to rain. So we pulled over and geared up. Half an out later ... Yes, it took us that long to get all our rain gear on. Well, to be fair, it took ME that long. Dan was done and ready to go far before I was. Actually, it had almost stopped raining by the time I was ready to go. The rain gear was worth it though because it rained on and off on us several times between there and High Level.

We stopped in Manning for lunch. It was actually pretty decent food. When we left Manning I got totally twisted around and thought Dan was heading in the completely wrong direction. I quickly figured out that he was right and I was wrong. (That happens a lot when it comes to directions. That's why I make him lead.) Between Manning and High Level was pretty uneventful. It was cold and a little windy and wet. (I had my electric gloves on) but that's about it. We stopped 3 more times before we got to Hay River: Indian Cabins, the Border Sign, & Enterprise. We quickly realized that the bugs were getting bigger and more abundant the farther north we got.

I had to look through that for over 60 km until we stopped again for gas. (YUCK) We stopped at the border sign to get some pictures. It was actually really great because we could drive our bikes right up in front of it and get some really great shots.

Just one more thing to note about the trip. The road, for the most part was in decent condition. There were, however, at least 3 very large holes. Its a very good thing that they were very well marked. I think that if we would have hit them, they would have swallowed up our bikes and we would have never been seen again. They were that big.

But we are at Naomi's now and we are safe and warm and dry. And we'll see what tomorrow bring us.

Start: 36,158 km - End: 36,816 km - Total Distance: 658 km

Saturday, July 12, 2008 - Day 2

Today was Irene and Michael's wedding.

Irene was beautiful and the cerimony was awesome. We all had a really great time at the reception as well. These are just a few pictures I took. I did take several more but decided it would take up too much room to post them all here.


So Ryan and Kim are headed home tomorrow and Dan and I are headed north.

Friday, July 11, 2008 - Day 1

Today has been a VERY interesting day. We were supposed to get up at 7:00 am to be out the door by 7:30 am. I however woke up at 4:00 am and couldn't get back to sleep. We were out the door by 7:30 but after getting organized and gas, we weren't out of town until 8:00 am. I had all my luggage packed in the car and Kimmy was riding on the back with me. The weather was nice and sunny if not a bit cold in the morning.


Trouble started at summit lake (less than an hour out of town). We had half an hour of construction which included at least 10 km of gravel. Gravel is bad enough by yourself, but with a passenger going 30 km/h (or slower) it is even worse.


First gas stop was windy point. (It was supposed to be McLeod Lack but they didn't have gas & windy point was only another 15 km down the road.) So I get off my bike and take off my helmet and it falls apart. One of the plastic bolts holding the jaw piece of my helmet had come loose.

So I sent Ryan searching for a screwdriver in the trunk of the car. Once I had the tools I needed, I realized it was worse than just a loose bolt. It was stripped and would only barely grab. I attached it the best I could and got ready to go. In the meantime Ryan cleaned up the trunk and closed the keys inside with the doors locked. We were lucky and I was able to fish them out through the seam of the trunk. So on we went again.

The road from Windy Point to Chetwynd was really really great. Tight and twisty makes for a bad car road but a really great motorcycle road. In

In Chetwynd I realized the bolt of my helmet was completely gone and I would have to buy a new helmet all together. Unfortunately there aren't any motorcycle shops in Chetwynd or Dawson Creek. There was one in Fairview however. There was an issue about timing, but I managed to get there on time. Ryan and Kim and Dan went to the rehearsal while I brought all our stuff up to the hotel room.

When I got up to the room, I realized that it was not what we had reserved. I went downstairs to see what I could do. It ended up a VERY bad situation and nothing was resolved. So we are in a more expensive, less ideal room, but such is life. I decided not to let it ruin my night.

Ryan picked me up after the rehearsal and we went out to the Bosma farm for the rehearsal dinner. We had a really great time there. So we came home and now I'm sitting writing this journal entry. I thought that this is where I was going to end it, but one more event just occurred that I think is worth mentioning.

I'm not exactly sure what happened, because I was writing, but somehow Naomi locked us out of the bedroom. She dealt with it though and things are all good again. Kind of a fitting end to a crazy day.

Start: 35,590 km - End: 36,158 km - Total Distance: 568 km

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Today was a "Take Kimmy for a ride" day. Mom met us at our house and we went for a little ride. We had a couple of errands to do, so we finished those and then we were off like a herd to turtles. ;) We didn't really go very far because it kept threatening to rain on us. We did do the airport loop though. So Kimmy got a bit of a ride in, and she had a good time. That's really the important thing.

Start: 35,550 km - End: 35,590 km - Total Distance: 40 km

Saturday, July 4 - Monday, July 7, 2008

So I have both an electric vest and electric gloves that I used with my old Virago. I love them because my hands always get so darn cold. I didn't have them on my last trip though because I didn't have my new bike set up for them yet. I decided that I wasn't going north without being able to use them. (I'm a wimp and hate being cold) So I asked Reg to set my bike up so that I could use them. I dropped my bike off on Saturday afternoon and picked it up on Monday. (It was done Sunday afternoon, but I didn't get around to picking it up that day)

It sounded like it was a pain in the butt job. He had to build a bracket for the thermostat, but its all done and I am VERY appreciative. Thanks so much again Reg.

Start: 35,547 km - End: 35,550 km - Total Distance: 3 km

Sewing with leather is an interesting task

So I've been trying to get ready for my next bike trip. I had a bag that attached to my windshield that I had taken off when I first bought my bike, but it was a little hookie so I took it off. However, after my last trip, I realized that a bag there would be really handy. (ie: for my camera, sunglasses, etc.) So I decided to put it back on. After closer inspection I realized that someone had made it, and didn't really do a very great job. Being somewhat handy with a sewing machine I decided I could better. After collecting all the materials I needed, I started to work. It was a bigger job than I had anticipated and at 2:30 in the morning I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to finish the next day. I was really close though, and within 24 hours from start to finish, I have my new windshield bag.

There are one or two things that I'm not too crazy about with the final product, but I think for a first attempt at sewing with leather, I did not bad.

Canada Day Fireworks

So I didn't get out on my bike at all today, and this post has nothing to do with motorbikes, but its Canada Day and therefore I decided it was worth a note. We didn't really do anything to celebrate today, but we did decide to go to the fireworks. Prince George fireworks are never very spectacular, but it was cooler outside than in the house and it was something to do.

Little did we know when we set out, what we were to see. Fireworks in general are usually a good time, even in PG. This year was actually impressive. We're pretty sure that the city must have gotten a new sponsor.

Watching a lighting storm is always great. Human ingenuity can never out match the beauty of nature. However, put the two together and it is a site to see. We sat on the bank, next to the CN centre parking lot and watched human creativity set against God's creativity. It was absolutely breath taking.