Home Sweet Home

In case anyone was worried that the lack of blog updates was a bad sign...

We've both arrived safe and sound at our homes, me in Vermont on Friday night and Dad in New Brunswick on Saturday night.  We both had a couple of days off to relax and recuperate before returning to work this week.  I plan on going back and making updates for the last several weeks of this trip, so they'll be more pictures and some stories if you check back in a while.

Raucus Night at the Holiday Inn Missoula

Last night Dad and I walked about an hour to a theatre to catch the late showing of "Inception".  The movie got out at 00:30, so we got back to the hotel around 01:30.  Around 02:30, we were woken up by thumping of feet (or was that bowling balls?) and slamming of doors.  This had happened around the same time the night before as well.  This time I called down to the front desk, and in about 20 minutes the noise stopped.

It took a while to fall back asleep again, soon after which we were woken by the fire alarm.  We had a balcony that overlooked an indoor courtyard in the middle of the building, so I watched for a while to see what was happening instead of immediately evacuating.  The alarm stopped after a while, and instead of going outside I saw other guests just sitting around the courtyard.  We went back to sleep.

In the morning there was a letter slid under our door apologizing for the noise from the guests upstairs, and promising us free breakfast at the hotel's restaurant.  All I wanted was sleep, but I'll take food as well.

While at breakfast we got some more of the story of last night.  The thumping was drunk kids coming home from the bars.  They were disturbing the whole 4th floor, not just us below them on the 3rd floor.  They got kicked out.  Sometime after that EMTs were called in when a guest collapsed as he exited the elevator on the 4th floor.  Apparently he fell right out of his own shoes.  Sometime after that someone pulled the fire alarm.  Not only did that wake up the whole hotel, it also resulted in some other teens getting busted for smoking pot when the fire department came and swept for smoke.  They hadn't set off the alarm, but they got caught because of it.

The motorcycle is expected to be repaired late today, so instead of getting an hour or two down the road and having to setup camp, then break it down again in the morning before riding, we've decided to stay one last night in Missoula and get going early Sunday morning.  That is, of course, if we get some sleep.

We're staying in a different hotel tonight, but not because of anything I've mentioned.  I originally booked two nights via Hotwire and I'm not able to extend our stay at the same rate, which was about 40% of tonight's regular rate.  I found another good deal on Travelocity, so we're off to another hotel.  It's a bit of a hassle, but we've nothing better to do today.

Repair Estimate: $2600

Well, the techs at Big Sky BMW-Kawasaki in Missoula MT had a look at my bike this morning, and the front u-joint on the drive shaft is definitely dead.  No ideas on why that happened.  The kicker is that the failing u-joint thrashed around inside the swing arm enough to ruin it as well.  The swing arm alone is about $1000.  The total estimate is $2600.

At first I asked them just to replace the drive shaft and get it running again; I'd ride home with the swing arm beat up and patch it up myself.  Then we rode to the dealership to have a look.  The swing arm is structurally sound, but the beat up portion won't allow a rubber boot to seal properly, which could allow water and debris to get in and possibly cause another failure in time.  The inside of the swing arm is hardly a clean environment, so I didn't think anything serious could happen in a week of riding even if the boot didn't seal perfectly.  I wanted to just ride home with the damaged swing arm and try to complete the seal with JB Weld or some other filler, but Dad thought that could be risky because debris might get in during the week's ride home.  The tech who was working on my bike seemed willing to discuss doing my JB Weld idea, but noted it'd take time to clean up the beat up swing arm and get the JB Weld set with the proper clip and rubber boot.  Even if he'd try it, we wouldn't be rolling until Monday.  The service manager didn't like the JB Weld idea at all, so I'm not sure if it was really an option.  I really didn't like the idea of replacing a $1000 swing arm that is still structurally OK, but a failed u-joint can be pretty dangerous, potentially causing a rear wheel lock up.  It was a tough decision, and I only had a few minutes to consider it because it was right at the deadline for ordering parts overnight.  In the end I decided to go with a new swing arm, at the cost of what Jess and I usually spend on a week's vacation per person.  No vacation in 2011, or rather, Jess will have to go by herself.

It may have been the fact that we hadn't eaten yet, but when I got the $2600 estimate around 13:30, I felt sick to my stomach.  I've never paid that much to repair any vehicle before.  I don't think I've spend that much on repairs in total for my 2001 Honda VF750 Magna with about 55,000 miles on it.  I'm not feeling any love for my Beemer right now.

The good news is that parts should arrive by tomorrow, and they'll do whatever is necessary to have it running by the end of the day.  They have two other bikes that are broken down right now, so they've got their hands full with emergency jobs.  I'm happy with Big Sky's service, but not my motorcycle or the situation.


Ug.

Stranded - again

I'm still behind by a couple weeks on my full updates, but I've unexpectedly found myself with some "free time" so I'll be working on rectifying that today. I am, you see, stranded once again by my BMW.

Yesterday we were cruising at about 120 km/h (75 mph; the speed limits are reasonable in MT and was 70 mph) south down highway 287 just south of Townsend Montana. Just as the cross wind really started to pick up, my bike started to get a funny vibration. I downshifted, and it seemed to get worse. I shifted back up, and it seems to get better... for a few seconds. It then went from "funny vibration" to "I must pull over NOW", which I did.

The short of it is, I was eventually towed 260 km (160 miles) west (wrong direction!) to the closest BMW Mottorad dealership. It seemed that the problem could be the gear box, so I figured my best bet for a speedy and proper repair would be at a dealer. My AAA membership covered the first 100 miles of the tow, but it cost me about $230 for the remainder. The tow truck driver was awesome and did everything he could to get AAA to cover the entire thing, but none of our schemes worked out in the end.

On the tow again

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Joe, from the service department at Big Sky BMW-Kawasaki in Missoula MT, was kind enough to come back to work an hour after closing to let us bring the bike inside for the night. (He lives across the street, but it's still working on his personal time.) He and a service tech whose name I didn't get had a quick look over the bike and found a disintegrated u-joint at the front end of the drive shaft. Hopefully nothing else died along with it. I smelled burning clutch plate and am concerned there is clutch or, worse yet, gearbox damage due to the resistance of the failed u-joint. We're waiting to hear back from the service department with an estimate right now.

I Hotwired us a hotel while sitting in the ally behind Big Sky BMW after the bike was put away, so we're staying in a cushy Holiday Inn with beds! electricity! internet! shower! and even a pool! I've nothing planned today except internetting, waiting to hear about the bike, and maybe seeing a movie tonight. I think Dad is going for a swim at some point.

The best I can hope for right now is to be back on the road Saturday afternoon, with some money left after the repair work to buy food. ; If that doesn't happen, it'll probably be Monday. Monday would mean really pushing hard to get back in time for a day's recovery before I have to be back at work, skipping all nice highways and just flying down the interstate almost all the way across the continent. Ug.

Quick Update

I know, I know - it's been a long time since I've updated.  Even when I've had internet access, there just hasn't been time to make any posts.   Things have been go go go, which is great from one point of view, but isn't really conducive to maintaining a blog.

Dad and I are still both alive and well, and having a great trip.  We're staying with an old childhood friend of my Dad's in Blind Bay BC tonight, and are going as far as his cousin's in Fruitvale BC tomorrow.

We only have 2 weeks left for the trip, but that should be plenty of time to work our way back across North America.  I might even find some time for a few more updates!  I'm almost 2 weeks behind on my full entries, but I'm going to try and make an update or two for back around Aug 3 right now.

No "Top of the World" for you!

Well, it looks like The Top of the World Highway will be closed for the next several days.  We don't have time to wait for it to re-open, so we've turned around and headed south from Dawson City.  Our first alternative was to ride a highly recommended scenic loop between Haines Junction YT, Haines AK, and Skagway AK.  It would be tight on time, but at least we'd get some riding done in Alaska and see some wonderful mountain views.  Unfortunately, we discovered the ferry schedule between Haines and Skagway wasn't going to work for us at all, so that side trip is out.

We stopped in Whitehorse to nab some wifi

The Beard Shame continues

Having cut out the Haines/Skagway route we should now have time to ride out to Telegraph Creek BC off the Stewart Cassiar Highway, that is, if the Stewart Cassiar isn't closed due to forest fires.  That latest news is that they're piloting groups through the fire area, so we'll show up in the morning and see what we see.  We've ridden as far south as we can today, and we're still a couple hours north of the start of the Stewart Cassiar.

Tonight we've just setup camp down a trail on the side of the Alaska Highway.  The first trail we tried  tonight started with a climb up a rough hill with some large rocks.  I bounced up the trial OK, but Dad hit one of the rocks dead on, and when the back end came up I think he accidentally twisted the throttle.  The back tire landed and immediately whipped out counterclockwise a full 180 degrees, leaving the bike on the ground pointing downhill.  I didn't see it happen, but the bike is fine and Dad swears he's OK.  We rode a bit further down the road and found a gentler trail to camp along.  We're not far from the highway so the trucks are still pretty loud, but I'm sure we'll have no problem sleeping.

Layover in Dawson City YT

Today we were supposed to ride the Top of the World Highway from Dawson City YT into Alaska, including a stop at the curiously named village of Chicken.  Much to our disappointment, we awoke to discover the highway was closed for the second time in as many weeks due to a washout.  It had rained pretty steadily in Dawson City over night, and apparently the TotWH got much, much more rain than we had.

There was no way we'd get to Alaska today, so we took advantage of a break in the rain to cut some wood for the bath house I complained about in the last post.  There was no chopping block, and I didn't want to abuse my hatchet so we used the unbelievably dull one (hereto referred to as a "mallet") provided by Dawson City River Hostel, as well as a buck saw we found that was in good shape.  We sawed logs into lengths with one of us on either end of the saw, and split them with the mallet.    We started a fire using our own matches, and continued to cut more wood for the next weary travelers.  I did my best to cut up some of the shipping palettes using the mallet, but it mostly just bashed them into splinters.  I cut up one ankle when one particularly bothersome board finally exploded.  While Dad enjoyed the bath house, I kept at the wood.  When we were done we had a pretty good pile, nicely stacked in a dry section of the wood shelter.  We also stacked wood and kindling neatly under a bench in the bathhouse.

If there is dry wood available, you've got your own sharp hatchet, time to cut wood (including sawing the tree, not just splitting logs), your own matches, and time for the water and bath house to heat up, then the bath house is a great way to get clean!  The sauna aspect was very relaxing, and it felt great to pour that hot water over myself and finally wash that Dempster mud off and out of my hair.  Unfortunately, the bath house is not a reasonable way for a tired traveler to get clean at the end of a long day, if it's after dark, or if it's late enough that chopping wood would wake up other guests.  It's a novelty, not an amenity.

We took the ferry across the Yukon River into town, and stopped by the visitor's centre for news on the wash out.  The repairs wouldn't start until the rain stopped, and the rain wouldn't stop for a day or two.  We'd heard stories of motorcyclist being let through previous wash outs, so we decided to stay around one extra night and see what news came from other travelers.

We went to the Dawson City Hotel for some food and to look for the previous owner, now employee, Dick.  The adv riding couple we'd met while at Liard Hot Springs knew Dick, and said we should look him up if we had time.  We definitely had time now.

Dick is one of the founding riders of the Dusk to Dawson ride, which now attracts hundreds of riders to Dawson City each year.  He knows all about traveling by motorcycle in the north west (as well as other locals, I'm sure), and is The Guy to Know if you've got motorcycle problems while in the area.  He's got a collection of used tires that can help you get by if you've a flat or need help changing a tire, he let us use his wash station with a pressure washer out behind the hotel, and is a great guy to have lunch with on a rainy Yukon day.

I stayed in the hotel's restaurant, The Jack London Grill, all afternoon catching up on blog posts, while Dad went out and played tourist for a while in the rain.  I washed my bike up, in the rain, which might sound funny unless you saw how muddy it was after the Dempster Highway in the rain.  We were still sitting at the restaurant come dinner time, so we had dinner there too before heading back to our tents.

Even though I'd already used the bath house in the morning, I thought I'd do so again before heading to bed.  After all, we'd cut, split, and stacked a bunch of dry wood up that morning, so it should be pretty easy to get hot water this time.  We discovered that the wood we'd stacked under the bench in the bath house was taken and scattered in front of the wood shelter, getting soaked on the ground in the rain all day.  Much of the wood we'd stacked in the shelter was missing too.  Dad gathered enough wood to get the small bath house warm again, and I went to ask the camp owner if he knew what'd happened to our wood.

He told me it was very dangerous where we'd stacked the wood under the bench.  The sharp splintery bits (because we smashed the wood with a mallet instead of having a proper ax) could poke people.  I agreed that made some sense, but wondered why the wood was scattered on the ground instead of being moved as a stack to a dry place.  "Look, it's not my job to cut and stack wood."  He was quite upset.  I wanted to complain about his false advertising of a "hot bath", but decided to just walk away.

The next morning, as we were getting ready to leave we struck up a conversation with a fellow motorcyclist.  Like us, he was turning back because the Top of the World Highway was still closed.  At one point he asked if we'd had any problems with the camp owner, noting that he'd found him to be odd and in a really bad mood yesterday and this morning.  The camp owner had even gotten angry at him for shaving after dark!

This happy HD rider from Michigan also found the owner of Dawson City River Hostel to be a angry oddball!