Banff Run ‘07

[bubba zanetti]

Folks all ended up at my house late last night as there was no room at any of the hotels in Nelson due to the big car event. A tired bunch, they all left this morning via Kootenay Pass and headed to Banff.

A beautiful late summer's day out there with highs near 28C. Pains me that I cannot ride along, but my tires have not arrived yet. Drat!

[faststage1]

Hey Traveler,
Check your private messages. I have some more questions for you regarding NE Oregon.
Thanks

[Kootenanny]

Met up with the group in Salmo, did Kootenay Pass with 'em, but I just don't have time right now to take more than a day--so I rode back up Kootenay Lake's east shore (DH#1), crossed on the ferry, then carried on up to Kaslo, across to New Denver, and home.  A pretty good day--I hope the rest of the group made Banff with no problems.

By the way, DD sure flies on that KLR...

[KLRchickie]

Folks all ended up at my house late last night as there was no room at any of the hotels in Nelson due to the big car event. A tired bunch, they all left this morning via Kootenay Pass and headed to Banff.

A beautiful late summer's day out there with highs near 28C. Pains me that I cannot ride along, but my tires have not arrived yet. Drat!

We most appreciate the place to crash last night!  Your house is definitely on the top #? list of the hotels we have stayed at in the last two weeks.

We arrived home about 8:30pm.  In the last 16 days we have spent 15 riding, tallying up approximately 7,600 km.  Tomorrow real life must restart.

It was great to meet the people that we managed to hook up with this weekend.  Some wonderful riding through some of the most beautiful roads one can find.

KLRchickie & ZED.

[bubba zanetti]

Glad you had a great holiday and enjoyed your visit. The end of time off is always a downer and the routine hard to swallow. I enjoyed meeting you two. Now that you know where I live do stop by.

 

[Kootenanny]

Bubba and I, and everyone on the ride, noticed the large number of bikes in town over this past weekend.  In particular, I saw a very large group of sportbikes parked in front of the Best Western in Nelson.  

Well, I checked on another site, and found the reason for the invasion: http://www.speedball.overthetop.ca/

[bubba zanetti]

That and it was the Toy Run here yesterday with about 2000 motorcycles.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Hey all! Great trip so far. ZED and KLRchickie blew through Banff to get home so it was just RocketJock and I for dinner. We didn't see anyone else in town. I am on a tighter time schedule that he is, so I left him to explore Banff/Lake Louise on this own while I wandered my way back to Nelson and now bubba's (he's going to give Dr Gil a run for his money on the B&B&B&B).

Great weather today, although it was 3 degrees C when I left Banff this morning. Darn you Zarly for not insisting I bring my heated jacket!  

traveler - what did you end up doing after you left Nelson? And Rocket - how's your ride home going?

ZED and KLRchickie - it was great meeting and riding with you!  

Faststage, Nitro & Kootenanny - thanks for meeting up with us along the way!

[traveler]

Well, that was an abbreviated Banff Run for me, but it was sure worth it. I had a great time, and enjoyed meeting everyone. Great riding, roads, scenery and fellow biker trash .

Saturday night I made my way to Castlegar and got a cheap motel room (Twin Rivers Motel), and had a great dinner and some good brew at the nearby Nealy O'Brien Pub. Good people there.

Sunday I rode to Salmo, and from there crossed back into the U.S.A, along with a bunch of hot rods from the Nelson gathering. I even had to endure a baggage search . Rode 31 and 20 over to Priest River, Id., then up to Priest Lake, where I had lunch. Backtracked to 41 south to I90, where I connected to 95 for the ride south to Moscow (Idaho, not Russia  ). Got a motel room in Moscow, where I encountered a fellow rider (Dave, on a BMW 1200RT), who was from Alberta. We hit the local watering holes and played many games of pool and consumed mass quantities of beer. Dinner followed, and then it was lights out for this traveler.

Dave was headed to Pendleton for the yearly Roundup, so we rode south together to Lewiston and Clarkston. What followed was twistie heaven - 129/3 south to Enterprise, Or. We parted company there, and I headed for Joseph and the Hell's Canyon backcountry, going south through even more twisties down to Halfway and 86. A quick blast east and I was again running along the Snake River in Hell's Canyon. Connected with 71 back in Idaho (love that road) and finally back on 95 south to I84 and home to Boise (with a brief stop in Cambridge for pie, milk and coffee). Got in about 6:30, really beat. This old man was tired.

One thing worth mentioning, while enroute between Joseph and Halfway, I must have encountered at least one hundred head of cattle (conservative estimate) in and along the road. The largest group, numbering about fifty, was being "driven" by a lone cowboy on horseback, along with three or four dogs. They filled the road completely, and the cowboy told me to go ahead and ride through them. Now that was some scary shit. It took about ten minutes to very slowly ease my way by them, never knowing if they would spook and stampede me. My good fortune I didn't stall or burn up my clutch. Oh, and fresh cow shit is slippery.

So, a little over 1800 miles and a bunch of cow pies later, I have safely arrived home, with some good memories and a few pics (sorry, not digital).

Here's hoping everyone else had as good a time and also arrives home safely.

[ZED]

Here's a couple of pictures I took during the ride  (the rest are waiting until I can sort through about 400 of them and do a proper trip report for the 16 day trip). 

Rocketjock caught up with us while we were having dinner at the Hume in Nelson.  We were all shocked and very pleased.

The first is the start with KLRchickie, DantesDame, Nitro, Rocketjock.  (ZED is taking the picture, note the gelz are conferring behind the very sexy new? Ducati )
the second is at Pentictan the night we met up with Travelar.  (the gelz seem to keep taking the spotlight, how's that work?  oh yeah, they're much more photogenic than the rest of us )

P.S. - Sorry Kootenanny and faststage1, I meant to get pictures of the line-out of bikes at our meetings too, but forgot as there were too many good conversations to be had.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

I should probably pipe up that I made it home today. I bunked at the Canadian B&B&B (Bubba's Bed & Breakfast) Monday night and had a long haul back into Seattle tonight. Played tag with a KTM950 coming down I-90 from Snoqualmie Pass all the way into the city, just to pass the time...

[ZED]

Cool!  Glad you made it home safe Dantes.  
I bet the KTM was a bit pissed with a lowly KLR playing tag.
(he was wearing good riding gear though I hope, hehehe)

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Cool!  Glad you made it home safe Dantes.  
I bet the KTM was a bit pissed with a lowly KLR playing tag.
(he was wearing good riding gear though I hope, hehehe)

oh yeah, he looked hot    and he even waved at me  

[traveler]

Hey Traveler,
Check your private messages. I have some more questions for you regarding NE Oregon.
Thanks

Chris,
Did you get my pm? If yes, I hope it helped. Any questions? If no, let me know.

[faststage1]

Hey Joe,
That was fantastic info thanks a ton! I'm already pacing the floor waiting for next summer.
Thanks again,
Chris

[ToadRide]

Hi All.
Made it back a couple of nights ago and have repeatedly tried to post pics with my message using Photobucket. So far no luck. Maybe I'll try posting the link right on the message board here. Anyhoo, got back safely after opting out of the longer US run and just hopping on the Coquihalla, DD. It was really great metting and riding with all of you. And an especially warm thankyou goes out to Mr. and Mrs. Bubba for their hospitality. Again.
And if anyone is in my neck of the woods, please don't hesitate to look me up.
Doug
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[ZED]

Glad to hear you made it home safe.  We'll have to drop you a line when we get out that way one day.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Hey Joe!

Did I hit that bird on 6? I think it was a partridge. Something hit my foot when I went by!  

[Nitro]

Hey Rocket!  let us know what you end up with for exploring  the island backroads eh???  

Dante..Looking at a zip around the olympic penn this fall, generally how late in fall can the season be decent before it gets too wet? Think I have a few weeks yet?

thanks!

[traveler]

Hey Joe!

Did I hit that bird on 6? I think it was a partridge. Something hit my foot when I went by!  

I seem to recall some birds at ground level somewhere, can't recall exactly where, and don't know if you hit one. I have hit birds before, and knew it right away. Had one in Arizona knock my left arm off the handle bars. It hurt. It also died.