Bill & Kelly's Continental Divide Ride 2022

13/08/2022

Our ride is done and we are home. What a trip, so much experienced and learned (that will be another post soon). Anyway, after our hairy day in the mountain in Montana, we decided to do a bit more pavement for awhile to recover. Also, my ankle was crunched in one of my falls when the bike went down and a few days later became blistered and infected, as we were camping. This turned out to be the driver for how the rest of the trip played out. We made it to through Wyoming camping, and into Colorado. Then on to Winterpark, to stay with friends Kevin and Troya for a night at their condo. They were so awesome and fun, feeding and taking care of us. What great hospitality! (They have a perfect 3 BR, 2 BA condo right across from the mountain for rent BTW, message me if interested).

When I arrived in Winterpark, I went straight to the doctors clinic at the base of the ski mountain. What better place to go as they treat mountain bikers every day with every kind of hand, ankle, leg, shoulder, rib and other injury you can imagine. They were awesome! Confirmed nothing was broken in my ankle and gave me antibiotics. So, needing to tend my ankle now, we kept to the CDR on pavement as best we could, but remote camping was out. Wow, what beauty we saw along the way. Due to the heat, once we got close to Sante Fe, we turned left and headed home. Great to go adventuring but just as great to be back home. BTW, my ankle will be fine after a few weeks my doctor tells me, if I am patient, which has not been one of my gifts, but I’m working on it.

04/08/2022

This video show more, two bulls turned around and that we we became concerned and started backing up as you can see.

04/08/2022

Campsite last night.

04/08/2022

Rode through the Tetons and had a closer encounter than we wanted. They kept coming closer and we were backing up as fast as we could. Would have preferred being in n a car at that point no doubt, but really awesome to see wild Buffalo that close.

Last night outside Dubois WY, we found a pretty lakeside camping spot with a view of the Tetons. On our way now to Encampment WY.

02/08/2022

Well Bill and I fought the mountain and the mountain won!! ⛰It’s called Lava mountain we now know that big bikes and old guys go around section 4. So after a VERY challenging day in the forest we had to rest and repair today. We got 25 miles into the forest on the same track we’ve been running and I was using technique I used racing small dirt bike when I was 16. Slide the back tire with the clutch in till the back end tries to pass the front then pump the brakes and hope the speed doesn’t exceed your ability to control. Kinda a controlled free fall down a rocky washed out mountain road. Then you get to a switch back with no place to stop and start again. Bill and I were separated when I got to the bottom because of dust I thought he was in the lead. I was thinking dam Bills’ off road skills are great. I waited about 10 minutes to be sure then I took off😳. Bad idea, because the slide I had just come down, there was worse in front of me with one exception now I was climbing! And the climb just went on forever 1/4 mile steep slope and about a 1/2 mile of oh sh— what the heck am I doing until exhaustion and the rocks got me. Just so we got a feel there was a 1000 ft elevation change in 1/2 a mile by my GPS. I fell about 50 ft short of the top. Thank God for my crash bars and my CV 2 rated pads in riding gear. After I rolled a few times I got up and determined I was ok it was time to check the bike. Nothing broken but now to get the beast back on the rubber. Mean while, what I didn’t know was Bill was behind me about 1.5 miles and fell on the way down not once but 4 times. He had to dig his bike out once to get it up again. Lifting that motorcycle up 4 times on the side of a mountain takes all you have. After help from a Jeep driver who took 2 tries to make the final claim I was in a “safe” place and a guy walking his bike told me Bill was fighting a losing battle behind me. What to do? Up hill every way out and we’re exhausted! So I skidded back down mountain to find Bill resting under a tree studying the GAIA map for a better way out. After going past a couple no trespassing signs we made it to the hi-way and to Butte! First order of business was to get a cold beer and water followed by food and a place to rest. If you haven’t been to uptown Butte it’s very historic! Take a look at the roaring 20s buildings. Butte has produced over $80 billion in metals and was a powerful city. We are staying in a historic hotel call Finlen Hotel modeled after the Astori in NY built in 1923 and has hosted the likes of Charles Lindbergh, Harry Truman and then Senator John Kennedy. We will be taking an easier route after almost 600 miles of dirt and trails. Ok you history buffs who’s the famous motorcycle stunt biker buried in Butte MT? TTFN

31/07/2022

Here’s the Waldo challenge: where’s the picture? You can give a range and bearing from Helena😉 if you want.

31/07/2022

Fortunately we haven’t looked like this but we sure feel like it!!

31/07/2022

Helena MT 150 miles total 75 miles of dirt. We took off it 0630 to beat the heat. We decided to stop in a very picturesque little town for breakfast. Ovando, MT, The restaurant was called the Stray Bullet. Bill and I have discovered that wrenching 650 lbs of bike and gear around to dodge holes, rocks and washouts is physically challenging. Our upper body gets exhausted. It’s hard to tell in the pictures but the washouts are 6 to 12 inches deep and about 12 wide. Once you are in you basically go where they go! So you have to pick your path at the start of a climb or decent and hope to have a place to cross if needed otherwise you wrestle the 600 lbs beast to a place to get out. Occasionally the decent are so steep you kinda control slid and skid till you regain full control. Our path picking and wrestling skills are improving. It all fun but then you get tired. We wanted to rest but the horse flys are always waiting so stops are pretty quick. Wish we could take pictures of all the beautiful views but riding definitely takes priority. We finished at 2 pm. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to curl a freighter by the time we get to New Mexico!

30/07/2022

Friday we stayed in Missoula to buy more mountain meals and camping odds and ends and also to do laundry which we stuffed in panniers to get it to the motel. Also, for everyone commenting on Kelly’s scruffy, dirty look, well let’s just say he was inspired today. We celebrated a great day with a delicious steak dinner with Brianna Crenshaw

Now we get some rest as wheels are rolling early in the LoLo National Forest to beat the heat ……. feels strange talking about heat in Montana when your from Texas.

29/07/2022

If you desire to look a map for each days ride, the link below has a map for each day. We thought Montana would be a relief from the Texas roaster…..but not so, it reached 100 degrees yesterday. So, we are shifting our ride time to leave earlier.

Map link below.

https://sites.google.com/site/gpskevin/adventurerides/great-continental-divide-ride/studying-the-great-continental-divide-ride

Select the ride section below and dream of the adventure. Riders can open each ride section below and are able to use the map to zoom into the trail and study it in great detail. GCDR Main route sections (20 Sections below) GCDR Section 01 Roosville(USA/Canada Border) to Columbia Falls MT GCDR

29/07/2022

This is my track using my inReach satellite tracking and SOS device by Garmin. The odometer on my bike says I’ve been 3500 miles of travel. The variation is because the timing for track points is 10 min. When we do switchback in the mountains it plots a straight track! The more we ride off road the bigger the gap gets.

29/07/2022

200 miles with 100 miles of forest roads. The pictures don’t really do it justice the pictures were from easy a place to stop. Parts of the road are just gravel road which are smoother but slicker others are double track (just 2 tracks in the dirt with grass or rocks in the middle. We can run anywhere from 10 mph to 30 mph in the forest. So when we road 100 miles in the forest it’s 3 to 4 hours and about 1/2 standing on the foot pegs to have better control and visibility. The shadows hide chug holes, rocks sticks and other stuff so we are pretty careful when you can’t see. Other off road hazards, bicycles they move slow and are all over the the trail wiggling around. They must travel twice the distance, I learned to watch for fresh tire tracks tracks. But the scariest thing are work trucks because they are driving pretty fast😳! We’ve seen deer and lots of chip monks other small animals. The other thing we found is: Louisiana mosquitoes and flies
don’t have anything on mountain mosquitoes flies and there ability to find Bill and I is perfect, thank goodness for Off with deet! We made it back to Missoula and will take a day to regroup and rest!

28/07/2022

Whitefish, MT, great place, just like the song “Back in the USA”. Who sang it first? Come on all you music buffs. We really enjoyed Canada but we have lots of trail to cover. Crossing was uneventful even for Bill what I didn’t know till Monday is that Bill was born in Canada and has dual citizenship but that didn’t change much in fact I think he got grilled more. But before we got back in the US we had a coal miner’s second breakfast in Coleman take a look at that French toast! Our last big adventure in Canada, a brisk swim in an ice cold river. Well let me qualify that Bill got clear in, I could only do waist deep. I’m still emotional about it!

We rode all day till almost 8 pm. The little black line (a purchased route) on the GAIA GPS navigation program we are using for off-road navigation has several difficulty levels, so far black has been gravel roads. Well when we decided what the heck let’s just run that next section at 4pm yesterday little did we know we were in for a much more challenging run than anything we have seen so far naturally after 150 miles on dirt roads and trails! Another memorable day!

Please, if there is anything in you that wants to go (physically or other) Just start - it will never be the perfect time nor will you be completely prepared! The rest isn’t up to you anyway!

27/07/2022

We just pulled off the road, no fees, no people. Perfect.

27/07/2022

The dirt and gravel greeted us today but not before a lumberjack breakfast of 3 eggs, 5 thick pieces of bacon and rye toast. After a short climb we were immediately encountered Bighorn sheep and they were licking the road? Maybe minerals?

We then ventured on a difficult side trail and Kelly taught me to stand up on my motorcycle but wow to my thighs burn! Oh, I forgot, there was a lady on her bicycle that told us of 4 grizzly bears just a few kilometers up the road, which certainly peaked out attention. But we never saw them and I was about disappointed. 120 miles later we discovered our campsite by a river and a million dollar view. So remote and peaceful…..no cell signal.

After making camp, Kelly filtered water from the river and we ate spicy sausage pasta and spicy chicken curry for dinner. A campfire was a must. Right before hitting our tents, Kelly chased away a herd of cows. When you here rustling sound outside your tent……you just don’t sleep.

27/07/2022

This is a day late getting posted cause we were too tired Monday and last night we had no signal. Good Morning World! From Canmore,AB, Canada. Canmore is just a few kilometers (yep I said kilometers .6 x a few miles) south from Banff and way less high cost and touristy. Kinda like Durango vs Aspen. Bill and I got up early Monday morning and drove strait to Kootenai Canadian National forest and when we pulled up to pay our entrance fee the bikers ahead of us had payed our fee and just drove off a little lagniappe in the Morning we never saw them again. God bless them for the kindness. We rode through the forest a magnificent drive to Lake Louise to see the glacier and lake as well as lunch. The only available parking, yep motorcycle parking! We had a great lunch and took in the views then back to the road but not before walking up on Rudy and Gabby. They were riding on a side car Ural they had shipped from Germany 🇩🇪 to Montreal. They had rid-in all across Canada and were on their way to the west coast and down to California where they will ship the bike back and fly home. Check out the spare tire and wheel plus another tire! Off we road again humbled by others adventure. On to beginning of the Continental Divide Ride Trail (CDT). We arrived unscathed in Kelly’s case with 2900 miles in his rear view mirror! Back down the hill to Banff beautiful but packed with people and a bit pricey for Bill and I but we had a beer and visited with a coupe folks but I don’t think there is anyone that is actually native in Banff. Now after a day like that it wouldn’t be to right to end without a beer, dinner and a short time in the hot tub after 2 days sleeping in our tents. Chinese was choice we got a local beer and take a look at the great philosophy on the can! We also got free entertainment at the Asian Bistro when a intoxicated person had to be hauled off by the police after causing a scene! No better way to finish the day than an ice cream sold out of a school bus scene 2005. That was day!

26/07/2022

Good breakfast in Canmore, now getting rolling. Plan to do about half this map today, more off-road. Will post about yesterday this evening……if we have a cell signal

25/07/2022

We are getting much faster now in this camping motorcycle adventure. Left the National Forest camp in Sandpoint to a breakfast invitation with new friends and fellow motorcycle adventurers Jack & Jen! We were camping just behind their house as they back up to the forest. Awesome hospitality and we hope to return the favor when they venture Texas’ way.

The 220 miles yesterday took us to Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia, stunning beautiful. We found a campsight, and headed for a great burger but the “cherry on top of the cake” was Radium Hot Springs…..102 degrees of “oh my Lord” that feels good. We soaked till we could stand no more, then crashed in out tents.

Lake Louise, Banff, and the official start of the Continental Divide Ride on top of Mount Norquay awaits us today. But right now……another cup of camp coffee.

24/07/2022

And the track.

24/07/2022

Here we are somewhere in a small piece of National Forest that was recommended by a volunteer at the full pay park because it was full as is everything else. It is just south of Sandpoint ID. What an amazing accident or I prefer to think blessing!! The original place we wanted to stay wasn’t working so off we went in search of a place to sleep. And just a bit of perspective I included a full track, take a look at my current total trip. We will go to Canada tomorrow. Today we met a local here in the forest, they were cutting firewood for the winter because it is their primary form of heat, meet Jake. He and his wife ride so he was quite interested in the Bill and my adventure and is now following along. Two more highlights of the day the Flathead River is so beautiful it forms many lakes and Lake Pend Orielle it is so large and with mountains resembles the San Juan Islands. I may have to return here and enjoy hanging at the lake.

23/07/2022

Bags packed and it begins, we are rolling and 180 miles now, having lunch on Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho. Gorgeous!

23/07/2022

Sorry for the break. But we are back and ready to start the rest of the adventure! Work got in the way and I was really tired. The miles and weather did take its toll but it was a great trip. Here’s the catch up. I am setting in Missoula MT with a total of 2300 miles behind me. Learnings: my rear end thinks custom seats are cheap!, 100 + degrees is hot and it wears you out, people are generally interesting to meet, it is great fun to ride an adventure bike through the mountains, riding an adventure bike like I do in the mountains will wear out your tires prematurely. I ran from Rangely CO to Rock Springs WY on Monday morning and met Lisa and we conducted training and exercises Tuesday and Wednesday. Monday night we had dinner with the locals at Old Chicago brew house where we met Charles and Lela. Charles is retiring next week after 46 yrs and they been married longer than that. They are planning travels and enjoying life! They were supporting prize beer stein’s only awarded to people who have drank 1000 beers at this place. 😳😉. You need to know they can only get credit for 4 a night, so setting next them meant we meat everybody including the servers and the couple that got married in the private rm in back. Btw, Flaming Gorge and the Ashley National Forest are amazing! Put it on your bucket list it rivals Yellowstone without the geysers and masses of people. After 2 days working I took off again for the last l 560 miles to Missoula, MT to meet Bill and begin our adventure! It a 100 miles N of Rocksprings to the base of the mountains going into Jackson WY just a few miles S of The Grand Tetons and for the next 200 miles it was mountains and high plains simply a beautiful ride. A quick night in Idaho Springs and then up and off on the final run to Missoula. I arrived at the Aspen Hotel about 2pm local time on Thursday to see Bill and his bike! It was A hard interstate run of 350 miles in just about 4 hours I’ll be glad to have a riding friend and a slower pace! The speed limit was 80 the whole way on the last run except for about 25 miles. Again this bike has performed very well. Now we are all assembled,packed, new tires on the bike and checked we are ready to get started. Glad we got to spend time with Bri and her friends at a brewery and a free concert on the river it was actually kinda hot 94 degrees but yep it was a dry heat! Saturday we finally depart for a short 200 miles to Sandpoint ID to find our 1st campsite! More to come!

21/07/2022

Lagniappe! The best “Take your Dad to work day” ever.

Lagniappe (as Cajuns already know) is a little something extra, an unexpected bonus we might say.

I’m up here preparing for the ride and visiting my daughter Brianna, who is a geologist. She works for a start up mining company searching the US for “rare earth” mining prospects. So, today I assisted her climbing mountains and crossing streams exploring for rocks in Montana.

The machine pictured measures the key rare earth potential in a rock, and if prospective, she describes and bags it for further work.

I will sleep really well tonight but had so much fun with Bri and honored she invited her Dad for a special day not soon forgotten.

My Africa Twin is arriving Thursday! Will send pics once it is geared out. We are planning to ride out Saturday!

19/07/2022

My trip started yesterday as we left the house at 5:30 AM ( thank you Mary) and headed to Austin airport. Had all my gear packed in two bags and landed in Missoula to about midday and it was clear and a 76 degrees! Wow, such a nice change.

The adventure now is waiting on my Africa Twin to arrive. It was scheduled for delivery July 8? Then July 15? Now July 21. Say a prayer please. As I say sometimes, “there’s the plan, and then what happens”, so this is all part of this adventure.

Getting to hang out with Brianna Crenshaw for a few day up here is a blessing (yes, Saturday is her birthday). Might get a Different Garmin if I can find the right model. It will all come together, then the trail awaits us!

18/07/2022

One last thing - the local Pub was closed on Sunday night. That required me to bring a beverage back on the bike, something hadn’t planned so I had to McGiver it. I’m pretty sure the guys at Mosko didn’t think about this option but being a responder type- there just isn’t many times the answer is ” I can’t do that”. And that was a wrap in Rangely UT.

18/07/2022

Day 3

Here I set in the not so busy city of Rangely CO. Today 300 miles - hot 109 that’s hot - don’t give me that BS about dry heat. Do that on a motorcycle and explain DRY HEAT. Beautiful country, but hot and I mean real HOUGHT! My good friend and riding buddy Tim Archer road part of this back in 2020 while a lot of people were hold up hiding from the plague. Thanks Tim, I wish you were here! There is nothing like looking off a cliff at 6700 elevation into the vastness of Disappointment Valley, really it’s a place - look it up. You can see hell from there, I know cause I road right through it. But even with the heat it is an AWSOME empty, people free zone. You can literally see for miles!! Then after what seems like an eternity I arrived at Naturita, now the last time I was here it was an accident but not this time. Because the run from Naturita north has to be close to the fictional town of Radiator Springs, for 30 miles you ride along the river on hi-way 141 north toward Grand Junction and I know for sure that has to be the road where Lighting McQueen chases the tail of that baby blue Porsche and falls in love! You know the movie, when you have kids it’s a great excuse to watch kid movies and sing to great songs “Life is a hi-way”. Thanks girls! Well when I found out that the temp in Rangely CO was 104, I knew that was my excuse to ruff it in a motel. So after I call and booked the room the girl said how long? I said its only 80 miles a little over an hour. She said oh no it’ll take at least 1.5 to 2 hours. When I introduced myself 1 hour 10 min later after going over the pass - she said “ you weren’t kidding were you”.. I said I don’t kid! Its too dam hot to be out there one minute longer than is absolutely necessary!

18/07/2022

Meet Kelly the Hiker!

18/07/2022

Day 2

Wow, 450 miles. The 1st 200 miles were more flat land. Then finally after getting to Las Vegas - no - (calm down Mike Drieu) NM yes they have one too -definitely not the same but at the base of a beautiful run over the mountains to Taos, as I said earlier way too many people in Taos on a Saturday so I just passed thru. After Chama NM, I headed headed to Pagosa Springs. But before I share that I have to tell about the guy I met in Chama. So, while I’m eating my burger at the bar up walks a guy. He is obviously not a local and naturally I needed to get his story. He said I’m from Austin - and I’m HIKING the Continental Divide😳. Did I mention he said he was 67 - he said I just don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to do this so I wanted to do it. He started at the boarder of Mexico and was hiking to Pagosa Springs. It has taken him most of the Yr because of fires and other interruptions but wow made my little motorcycle ride seem a bit easy. BTW, when I asked his name his reply “Kelly”

My challenge to you is this: what is that you want to do? Start by saying it, then if you really want to put it out there, share it here now - if not now, when? You never know what the future holds, so why not?

Now here’s the Paul Harvey: after leaving Chama and an hour riding towards Pogosa Springs I can see I am going to get rain and put on my gear. I was shortly rewarded with rain -not just an afternoon mountain sprinkle, I’m talking cow peeing on a rock rain then lightning and thunder. The heavens had opened up - well that canceled the camping and I plowed thru to Durango and a hotel. After all that, I showered talked to my girls and went to sleep. That was a day!

16/07/2022

350 miles in 4 passes Taos was crazy so I left it to the masses. Ran a couple more passes and found a great bar for a burger and a local beer in Chama NM. 950 miles another 100 or until I decide my butt can’t go anymore.