Boxer Shorts, August, 2004 - 1 of 4
Out and Back
by Kit Wise
After nine days on the road and 4,400 miles
(BMW miles, not as many by GPS) I'm taking
a day's break from my ride across country
and back. I'm visiting with family at Whistler
ski resort in British Columbia. The kids
are doing a week of ski camp - they're skiing
on the glacier! A little later this morning
I'll take the lift up the mountain to watch.
I once called myself Lucky Kit - you know, I won both 50/50s at my first YB meeting and hit the deer and didn't go down. I will surely jinx the rest of my ride by declaring this now, but the luck is still with me. My first good fortune was to be able to ride most of the way to Spokane with just the right people. This is not so much luck as it is the advantage of belonging to the Yankee Beemers and making the right connections. Irene Boettcher has been a terrific mentor to me on the subject of long distance riding. She knows when to go and when to stop. And new member Chace Wessling did a fantastic job on her first long ride.
I left home on Friday afternoon and Sunday took the fast ferry across Lake Michigan to meet Irene and Chace in Milwaukee. We blasted on I-90 across Wisconsin, Minnesota and most of South Dakota. I had heard all sorts of stories about how dull this ride is supposed to be, but I loved every minute of it. The changing landscape is fantastic.
Before we got to Spokane we managed to visit Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Bear Tooth Pass and Yellowstone. And we got to ride the famous Lolo pass. Our luck was perfect - only ten minutes of light rain on the whole ride, no mishaps, good meals, comfortable campgrounds, and little sign of enforcement.
On Thursday we got to the MOA Rally in Spokane right on schedule. Irene is doing a report on the rally which will eventually make it here in the Shorts. The rally was fine, as far as rallies go. But I happen to feel that rallies are mostly an excuse to go for a ride, and perhaps also, I must admit, to exercise the MasterCard.
Saturday morning Jim Bud, Roy Bertalotto, Maurice Kornreich and I took off from the rally and headed to the Grand Coulee dam. Jim turned back to Spokane, but the rest of us headed north toward BC. Here the luck took a mild turn for the worse. First, it was really hot. At one point just before a gas stop, Maurice thought his bike was handling oddly and wondered if the tar on the pavement was so soft from the heat that he was losing traction. When we stopped I realized that his rear tire was nearly flat. We found the hole, but it was such a peculiar shape that we felt a plug wouldn't work. But, luck still being with us, there turned out to be a Les Schwab tire dealer just down the road. We got enough air into the tire to get there, where they took the tire off the rim and found and two inch long, v-shaped splinter of rib bone inside the tire. A vulcanized patch, at no charge, (thanks guys) got us on our way.
We headed into BC and after a hunt found a Provincial Park campground. But of course it was Saturday night on about the hottest day of the summer, and the campground was full. A plea to the ranger to find a place to wedge us in got a roll of the eyes, a smile, and an offer to pitch out tents in the private, fenced-off campground where he had his own trailer and the campground maintenance stuff. Ranger Dave gave us his own supply of beer and we gave him supper. Lucky or what?
Roy and Maurice headed to Banff, and I came on up here to Whistler. Tomorrow I'll head down to Colorado for the Advriders rally, where I expect to find Pete Munro, Rob Nye and Dave Swider. Then off to North Dakota to meet Moose Laramee for the ride home.
Knock on wood, and the luck may hold out.
Kit Wise
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