8/07 bigfork montana

Man that was a long ride to nowhere. I tried to get to the road to the sun, but as luck would have it the few hours it was supposed to take me to get there must have been Alaska hours. When I was on the boat they said it was just over the hills up by the boarder. They were right about that, but the hills are very big here. It's sun down and I'm still not there. So time for a new plan.  So I pushed the button on the gps that takes me home. I turned south and went around a lake and tried to find a cheep motel for the night as I was wooped. No dice. So I kept going too the campground. FULL!!!!! Dam it man. After a bit further I found a cheep spot next to a gravel pit.
I went for a ride back towards town after setting up my tent and saw a little road and turned. It lead to this nice little village. Big money, the green money  people that travel by land have their own place, you knew.
I went in to one of the bars and had a beer. Nice place after a long day.
So now my plan is to follow the blue line on the gps for home. I have no idea what the route is but that's half the fun.

Photos

8/06 SUNSHINE.

I got up early and had a nice time packing up in the sunshine, what a difference that makes.
The ride out of eastern Washington state was wonderful, sunshine, warm and smooth roads. I made my way to this giant waste of government money. Some bone head in washington dc thought it would be a good idea to build this massive cement wall out in the middle of the desert. But being that the government can't do anything right they built it right on top of a river. Then the damm thing caused massive flooding on the other side, so much flooding that they had to put pipes in it and pump the water out. Dumb assesses that they are they sprayed it all over the desert and now all these fruits and vegetables grow their and that caused all these mexicans to flood across the boarder to sit out there and east to their harts content. And they did all this just to give a bunch of lazy people something to do instead of pulling themselves up buy the boat straps that they didn't have. Luckily the Enron corporation came in and drilled some holes in it and now sells nice, cheap, clean energy to all the little people in the valley, and there was light.
After my little side trip I was off to Hayden lake. My friend moved there right after high school. I hadn't heard from him in 30 years and nobody else had ether. I stopped at a small gas station and looked in the phone book, and by god there he was. So I headed over to his house and had a wonderful time. I spent the night on the softest bed of my trip. Man that was nice.
In the morning I changed my oil on the bike and being a good friend left my old oil for a little keep sake for him, thanks Norm.
I'm on my way home. Okay I'm acutely heading north, not exactly the way home, but I missed a road that everyone tells me I need to go back and do. It's call the road to the sun, or something like that. It's only a few hours in the wrong direction, up in a national park right, so I'm off. I think this will be the last day of sight seeing, then it's the big push for home.

8/05 end of the day

Finally I'm off the boat. I had to go to two suzuki dealers to find a tire but in the end I'm on new shoes. Man that feels good. I finally got out of town and found a wonderful road wa20  just south of bellingham and headed east. It turned out to be an awesome road. I stopped at a national park and met up with a guy from new york and we road to the top of hart pass. A ranger told me about it earlier in the day and it was impressive. The road up was all dirt, about 20 miles of it. On one side was a sheer rock wall and on the other a sheer rock cliff. We made it to about 1/2 mile from the top and were stopped by snow. It wasn't alot but it covered the road with about a foot for a good 100 yards. There was no way to get through. As a mater of fact when we got there we had to help a guy and his wife get there 4X4 un stuck. She was pissed and already saying I told you so. But we got him out and all was right with their world. After we got down we split up, he was of to canada and I was headed east. As night started to fall every campground I found was full, I finally found a KOA and set up in the dark. It's nice to have dark, but one more hour of daylight would have been nice. It feels good to be on the road again. I'm currently in a town called winthrop, WA. I have no idea what's going on here, but it's big. The place is packed. Tomorrow I head east again, and closer to home every day.
Oh one other thing, I almost don't want to mention, but I was hot for the first time in weeks, it felt great but I can feel the complaining about the heat coming on.
So the end of my birthday and I'm tired, happy and ready for bed.

Photos

8/05

Thanks to everyone for the birth day wishes. I went to the ships bar last night with two couples I had met on my travels and we celebrated my birthday. It's 5:30am and I'm running just a bit slower than normal. It's pack up day and hit the road. Okay not hit the road right away. I need to find a tire bad, the belts are showing through in more than just one spot.
The boat ride was a good choice, I'm rested, I'm looking board to the ride home and ready to go. The google machine says it's just over 3000 miles, but I'm sure I'll take a longer route.
The weather looks good for the next few days. So I'm off
Thanks again for the birthday wises

8/04 the long ride to Bellingham.

It's now day 3 on the boat. After yesterdays stop at kitchican we go straight through to Bellingham, a trip of some 36 hours. A long and somewhat boring trip at that. I woke up to fog, very very thick fog. So now we ride through a tunnel, a long tunnel. It's morning now so I have 24 hours to go.
I have just about finished "the journey" by james michener
It's been very interesting reading about the difficulties the gold seekers had in 1897, and comparing them to my very wimpy issues during my travels. Those men  and women had to be made of stone.
I on the other hand am made of flesh and blood, and apparently many bones that tend to creek each morning when I get up. Today was better as my bones seem to be falling back into their traditional location.
So the trip home looks like I will be running across the top of the country before diving down into the heat and and making the final push for home. It always feels good to be on the way home.

The trip so far has been everything I had hoped for. I found small roads that led to small towns that most travelers never see. I can see how anyone that lives their lives in these small towns could have a vastly different understanding of our nation than I do. If you watch tv and see the government spending all this money on roads, healthcare for the poor, subways, trains, food programs for children, aide to other countries, thousands of government workers,
and the list goes on and on, it might be hard to see how all this benefits you and your community. I think the bigger picture might be harder to see from here. The vast majority of Americans live in larger citys, they are the ones that buy the goods these small towns produce. They are also the ones that pay most of the taxes. New york city puts in way more to the federal government than it recives back. On the other hand rural towns get back much more than they put in.  They also benefit in ways that they take for granted. The fedral interstate system transformed this nation, but in todays world we won't even collect and spend the money to maintain it. With out this system these small towns would never be able to get their produce to market. The electofication of our nation brought all of our nation together in ways that those that pushed for it never would have imagined.
We have always worked together for the greater good of all, until now. It's is if we have turned into a nation of I got mine so you can get your own. They say the wealthy pay all the taxes, but everyone knows when you ask them that the rich just hide there money off shore or use some tax loop hole to avoid paying anything. We collect taxes on income, so the wealthy call the source of their money something else. The middle class and the working well off pay the taxes. They carry the load. They do the hard work of getting up everyday and not only provide for their family they provide for their nation.
I have met many interesting people on my trip, young and old, rich and poor, and people from all over the world. Crazy Walter from Germany, the two Swedes and few from south america just to name a few.
I road for days in Canada talking first hand to as many as I could. The boarder is just a line on the map, but the difference between one side of that line and the other is easy to see. And you can see it many ways that you might not expect. In Canada you can use US money dollar for dollar, but here in the states their money is no good, even though the shop owner would get 10% more for there goods. The towns are clean and everyone seems to go about their day in a slow but steady pace. Everyone greeted my with a smile and was always happy to help.
So as you can see things have slowed down here on the ship. I will get back to finishing off the call of the wild by jack london. (his mothers maiden name was chaney) and leave you with this. Perspective is important, but the truth is still the truth, changing your perspective may give you a better understanding of it but the truth still remains the truth.