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Just a kid at heart
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Calgary, Ab
Posts: 432
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2005 Three Flags Classic
Road Glider asked for Road Trip stories. Mine was already typed up so i thought I would cut and paste it in here. This was the 30th anninversary of the 3 flags classic and it ended in my hometown so it was a natural to put my name in. I was lucky to get drawn for a ticket.
Day 1, Friday August 26th. I hit the road from home at 7am heading west on Highway 1 towards Banff. It is clear, sunny and cool, about 7°C. I am heading for Osoyoos BC today to meat my Three Flags riding partner. Dave rides a Kawasaki 1200 Sport tourer and is down in the BC interior at the Sport Bike West rally. As I get closer to Lake Louise it gets colder so I stop to put on my vest, and I am back on the road. I pull into Golden, top the tank, eat an energy bar and get on my way. It is warming up but I leave the vest on. I roll through Revelstoke & Three Valley Gap enjoying the day. Traffic isn’t too bad and I am able to make pretty good time. I fill up in Sicamous around 1pm and carry on towards the Okanagan. I stop for a quick visit with Dodogas. He takes me for a tour up the Mountain to see Kelowna, followed by a coffee. Thanks buddy! I take off and get to Penticton around 4pm and try to look up my buddy for a quick visit but no luck. It is very hot here and I down a couple bottles of water. This will become a theme in the coming days, fill the bike and top off my tank with water. As I passed through town there were 100’s of people floating down the canal alongside the highway on innertubes & rafts. Soon I get to Oliver and spot a parking lot full of bikes; this is the headquarters for the SBW rally. I am overheated and need to cool off before moving on. I head for the air conditioned bar & down a few more glasses of water. There are dyno tests, vendors and guys on dirt bikes performing jumps behind the hotel. Once I am cooled off I click off the last few miles to Osoyoos where I hook up with Dave and we go for supper. I haven’t eaten anything today but the energy bar in Golden so I am famished. Lesson 1, don’t starve your body for food or water, it could mean disaster. I am on the road for about 1o hours, but killed off 2 ½ on my visits. Distance travelled 754 km/468 miles.
Day 2, Saturday August 27. We wake up to a beautiful morning and get on the road by 7:45. It’s really 8:45 because of the time change so we gotta get moving. A few minutes later we are stopped at the Border while the Customs agents check out Dave’s paperwork. It seems he had a little problem when he was younger involving herbs of a smoking nature. He had the proper papers showing he was pardoned and safe to enter the US so we were soon on our way. We headed through Wenatchee to Leavenworth (all the buildings are a Swiss or German Alpine design) then backtrack a few miles to head south on 97 then catch a couple of Interstates to Yakima. It is hot! From there we head west over Whites pass where we catch stunning views of Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens. At every stop for a break or gas I fill up with water. It is refreshing in the Mountains, but hot whenever we are at lower elevations. Once out of the mountains we jump the interstate down to Portland then west to the Oregon coast near Seaside. We stop and take a break and our first look at the Pacific Ocean then start looking for a spot for the evening. Because we don’t know where we will end each day we have no reservations. We finally call ahead to Newport to secure a room ($180 US, ouch), and ride about 1 ½ hours in the dark to get there. Lesson 2, try to get off the road before the motels all fill up. I hit the sack and fall asleep almost immediately. Distance travelled 1100 km/685 miles.
Day 3, Sunday August 28. We are up early and have a quick breakfast. It is damp and foggy on the coast but we can tell the sun is about to break through for us so we get on the road around 9am. The plan is to stay on Pacific Coast Highway #1 all the way down to San Diego from here. The temperatures will be more moderate along the coast and the roads along the Oregon and California coast are awesome. Dave takes the lead from here on in because he has ridden here before, and I haven’t. Dave likes to ride that sport bike hard, so every time we depart a stop he is soon out of sight. Fortunately he always stops ahead and waits at a fuel stop or where we take another route. From Newport we head south through a number of towns that seem somehow familiar; Florence, Coos Bay, Gold Beach, and Brookings where we cross into California. As we are stopped along the ocean a new BMW K1200S blasts by us. Back on the road Dave takes off as usual and after a while he catches up to the BMW. He has a saddlebag that is coming undone so Dave flags him over. It turns out Jason is heading back to New Orleans from Vancouver. He owns a restaurant there and his manager is busy boarding the place up as New Orleans is being evacuated and Kartrina is about to arrive. He doesn’t want to be there, but he does want to get closer to home so he can commence damage control as soon as possible. We decide to ride together for the day and ride some absolutely amazing roads, through Redwoods and cliffs. We ride one road that connects the 101 at Leggett back to PCH 1 near Fort Bragg. It is back to back 15 mph curves and must have a name like the “roller coaster’” or “the snake” or something like that. I am working my tail off on the Road Glide trying to keep up with the two sportbikes and I reach the end a minute or so after they do. Jason plans to stay with some friends who own the Pacific Star winery in Cleone and he insists we come meet them and check out the winery. It is right on the cliffs of the ocean and is in the most beautiful location imaginable. Robert and Sally own this little bit of paradise which they share with a couple of dogs and a couple of pet sheep. They help us book into a little hotel called the Cleone Gardens Inn and we get an amazing suite for an unbelievable price because of Robert's connections. We have dinner in a little Mexican restaurant down the road from the hotel called the Purple Rose as guests of Robert and Sally. Great food, great tequila, and lots of laughter end a perfect day. Distance travelled 735 km/456 miles.
Day 4, Monday August 29. The day dawns a little foggy, but this burns off as we load the bikes. As usual I am awake and showering at between 5:30 and 6am, while it takes a little longer for my partner to get going. This is starting to become a trend. Every time we stop for fuel Dave takes his helmet and jacket off. I do too, but within 5 minutes I’m back on the bike ready to go. He has to put his back armor on, then zip the jacket to the leather pants of his racing suit, clean the visor on his full face, plug in his headset, don the helmet, adjust volume on his Ipod and start the bike. Meanwhile my arse is starting to roast from the heat and I have switched the bike back off again. It would be a lot easier to be patient if wasn’t so damn hot. After 15 minutes we are back on the road. Lesson 3, try to pick a riding partner that has the same riding style as you. From Fort Bragg we continue South down some of the twistiest roads I have ever ridden, one turn in to the next, back and forth, up and down, mile after mile after mile. It was breathtaking riding. We continued along the coast into San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was beautiful and clear, we could see Alcatraz as we crossed the bridge. We followed the scenic route through S.F. and down the coast to Santa Cruz where we ran into rush hour traffic. It was smoking hot and my rear end was starting to bake. I don’t remember my evo ever throwing that much heat. Sure glad I installed an oil cooler before leaving home. After about 5 bikes passed by us we decided to give lane splitting a try. I have never even imagined I would do that, but I tell you it sure felt better to me moving even if it was only 1st or 2nd gear. Out of the traffic and down to Monteray where I thought we were stopping for the night. I didn’t see Dave (he had raced ahead) so I pulled off the last exit. No Dave. $*@#&%*^%#$#@ I got on the cell phone and left him a message where I was. Meanwhile he was a few miles ahead, calling me. I decided to get back on the freeway and in a few minutes I caught up to him. Lesson 4, make sure you have arranged some method to communicate in case you get separated. We decided to carry on as it was still light out, so we headed down through Carmel and to the part of the coast known as Big Sur (Big South). The highway hung onto the cliffs as it traced a path along the coast. I pulled over to get some pictures of seals sunning themselves far below. There were also cows climbing along the cliffs searching for something to eat. I have never seen a cow climb like a mountain goat before! Soon it started to get dark and we needed to find a roof for the night. We pulled into the Gorda Inn about 7:30 as it was getting almost impossible to see. Fortunately they had a room, but it cost us $165 for the few hours we would use it. We got into the restaurant just before they closed and had a great meal. I had an amazing chowder and baked duck with fresh veggies. I was famished as we really hadn’t eaten anything all day. Thank god I drank lots of water. The bike has been starting to act up a bit, backfiring as I use compression to slow the bike through the curves. It also has a slight miss just as you roll the throttle on lightly. Total distance travelled 600 km/372 miles in 10 ½ hours.
Day 5, Tuesday August 30. We are up early as Dave has his bike booked for a service and new tires at San Luis Obisbo Motorsports at 9am. It's only an hour ride down from Gorda past the Hearst Castle and a few lighthouses. We get out of there just after noon and head off toward Los Angeles. As we arrive in LA around 4pm and we realise we are about to head into rush hour traffic which is not a good idea. We pull over for fuel on the exit near some friends of Dave in the Agoura Hills just above Malibu. It also happens to be right across the street from Paisano Publications, so I popped over to renew my subscription to Easyriders. They gal at the front desk said they do that in Colorado, but I could have a couple of complementary issues for travelling so far for nothing. Dave called to see if his friends were home...no answer. We decided rush hour could wait so Dave took me to check out some twisties in the Malibu canyons, as if we hadn't done enough twisties already. We rode the Mulholland highway and the Latigo canyon road up to the Rock Store which is a favourite biker destination every weekend. The surface of the road had been resurfaced and was really smooth, just right for riding the tight curves. If that road was in Calgary they would put speed bumps on it to slow us down, in LA they resurface it. While we are at the Rock Store Dave checked his messages and his friends had called him back insisting that we stop by. It was only ½ hour away so we agreed. When we arrived they said we had to stay for dinner and spend the night. Who can argue with an offer that good? They have a great home, and they have a beautiful pool and hot tub in the back yard which we put to good use. Karen and Tim are both originally from Canada, but are loving life in LA. They kept us entertained with some beers and snacks before supper, great wine and food, lively conversation and an after dinner aperitif Canadian style (XL), then we crashed for the night. They are terrific hosts. Total distance travelled 480 km/300 miles. Fortunately we are getting close to Tijuana with two days to get there.
Day 6, Wednesday August 31. We get up to a gray sky but it is nice and warm. Karen and Tim’s kids were starting school today after summer break, so we took pictures of them on the bikes. We wait until 9am to leave so we aren't in morning traffic and head out to San Diego. The morning haze burns off quickly. From here the PCH 1 stays in the city for a long time. It is sunny and hot and being in leathers isn't very comfortable. We travel through Malibu, Sunset beach, Newport beach, Long Beach and a bunch of others I have always heard about, but now I got to see them. It was just outside of Long Beach where I had my only brush with stars! As we were travelling down the freeway Jesse James passed us on the opposite side of the divider. There was no doubt, I have seen too many pics of him riding on TV and he was less than ten feet away when he passed by. We stopped for fuel in San Juan Capistrano but my bike wouldn’t fire when I went to leave. The starter just went click click click. After a ½ hour break for lunch we headed for Oceanside to a Harley dealer. They troubleshoot the bike for a couple of hours and think they sort out the problem by charging the battery. We head off to San Diego and have dinner in a little bar called Dicks by the Petco Stadium, home of the San Diego Padres. After a few refreshments and some nachos the bike barely starts, but finally kicks over. We drive back up the freeway about 30 miles to Temecula where we are staying with a friend of mine. My bike is still acting up so I decide to search out the dealership in Temecula first thing in the morning. Distance travelled, 370 km/230 miles.
Day 7, Thursday September 1. I get up bright and early and put a bit of a shine on the RoadGlide. We head down to Quaid Harley Davidson shortly after they open at 8:30. I explain the trouble I have been having and they book it right in. They said go have breakfast a few doors away and they will find out what is going on. By the time we got back they had not only diagnosed the problem, but had replaced the battery and had the bike outside ready to go, great service. Lesson 5, if you need service while travelling, get to the shop early. Soon after, we are heading down the freeway to Tijuana. We cross the border without fanfare and spend half an hour sorting out our Mexican insurance. It only costs us $11.00 each for 24 hours. The fellow that sold the insurance gave us great directions so soon we arrive at the Tijuana Grand hotel and are greeted by security, who direct us into the underground parkade. One of the lower levels has been set aside for Three Flags participants and is full of motorcycles, almost 500 in all. We head up to the lobby of the hotel to check in and find hundreds of riders milling about in excitement. Many are repeat participants, some having participated in this event 10, 15, 20 and even 25 plus times, over the last 30 years, this being the 30th annual. I was a little surprised at the average age, many of the riders are into their sixties, seventies and even into their eighties. I get a chance to catch up with many old friends that have also made the trek. At around 3pm the doors to the registration opened and riders started pouring in. There were about six or seven stations we had to visit in order to be completely processed. It was very well organized and went off without a hitch, these folks know what they are doing. There was also a welcome buffet where we get a chance to meet many more new friends. Today was an easy day, but tomorrow will be not be. We get to bed early, lights out by 8:30pm in anticipation of the early start. Distance travelled, 135/85 miles. Total distance from home about 4400 km/2735 miles.
Day 8, Friday, September 2. Dave and I are jarred awake at 2am by the alarm clock. We have a riders meeting at 02:45, we hand in our start cards and the Three Flags Classic Rally is officially underway at 03:00am. Some will hang back, but we are leaving early to get through US customs before the lineups start, and more importantly to get across the Arizona desert before the heat gets too oppressive. We and about 400 other riders depart the hotel. It is an amazing sight as everybody arrives downstairs to load up their bikes and pull out of the parkade virtually at once. The parkade rumbles with the sound of the bikes and as we hit the streets and the cool morning air the sound echoes through the quiet of the early morning. It is a short ride to the border where we line up with the dozens of cars already there, and process through one at a time. People are jostling for position, trying to get ahead of the next guy and through customs. A new line is opened up just for the riders and I am able to sneak the bike between some posts to be first in line. Good thing I am always practicing those slow speed maneuvers! A couple of quick questions and I am on my way. I meet Dave on the other side and off we go in the dark. It is the last time we will all be together as a group until we are in the Hyatt hotel in Calgary five days from now. We strike out through the darkness under a starry sky, across California and into the Arizona desert. It is warm and humid as we leave Tijuana but the weather quickly cools as we head into the desert and gain some altitude. I am glad I put my vest on under my jacket. We head north on the Interstate and catch I-8 heading east. As we travel out of town past the last gas stations, I start to have doubts about fuel. We didn’t fill the bikes since we left Temecula the day before, so I will have 135 km’s less range. Will we have to wait until 6 or 7am for a station to open? Fortunately an hour and a half later we come upon a fuel stop where several riders pull over. The riders are starting to get more and more spaced out now, but during each stop many motorcycles roar by, each one waving acknowledgment to their fellow participants. Our destination today is Holbrook Arizona (checkpoint #1). We decide to vary from the posted route a bit and avoid going through Phoenix. We want to minimize our exposure to the intense heat of the desert and the big city traffic. At the very first light of the sun the temperature starts to climb and we know it is going to take it's toll on us. We had decided to head through Prescott AZ, Jerome and Sedona, then up to Flagstaff and over to Holbrook. It will get us into the high country sooner and hopefully we can avoid some of the worst of the heat. The roads into Prescott are amazing, very tight sweepers and switchbacks for miles and miles as you start the climb into the mountains. At every stop, I add fuel, drink a bottle of water, grab a spare and wet my shirt down. We stop for fuel in Prescott just before noon, and decide to take a break in the central park. We remove our leathers for a bit to allow our bodies and our core temperature to cool down. As we sit in the park a few raindrops start to fall, but before you know it we are in a thunderstorm of biblical proportions. We make for cover in the tourist and convention office across the street. There is no way to get to the bikes and gear up without getting soaked. There is no wind and the cloud parks itself over the city and just rains and rains and rains. We watch the rain for over an hours nd a half. Our bikes are parked across the street and are now in the middle of a rapidly growing river of runoff coming down the street from the hills above. I watch as the water deepens to almost a foot deep as it rushes past my bike, waves splashing up the side. We several of our fellow riders coming into town soaked to the bone. They didn't even get a chance to get their rain suits on this hit so quickly. Finally the rain stops, and I gear up to go, but my partner wants to wait the roads are dry (See Lesson 3). After close to half an hour we are off to Jerome and Sedona and Highway 89A. Highway 89A crosses the Mingus mountains and has 158 curves in the last 12 miles coming into Jerome. Most of these are virtually switchbacks and it is another of many amazing roads we rode on. From Jerome through Sedona and on through the Arizona mountains to Flagstaff we travel through red canyons and evergreens that are beautiful beyond description. We run into one more short but powerful rain squall as we head to Holbrook, arriving around 7:30pm. We have spent almost 15 hours in the saddle and are too tired to consider carrying on, so we get a room for the night at a much more reasonable rate $60 US. We could have got a room down the street for $29, but we decided to splurge. Distance travelled 990 kms/615 miles.
Day 9, Saturday Sept 3. I wake up early, shower and load the bike. I am ready for the road at 7am. Unfortunately I realize that we will lose an hour today because of a time zone change. My partner is a little slower getting going so in reality we hit the road at 8:45. Our route today takes us north through the Navajo Nation up 191 and then east into Shiprock New Mexico and then up into Durango Colorado. The morning has been beautiful with only a few clouds. The route wound it's way through the painted desert and into the mountains of Colorado. What a beautiful ride. From Durango we crossed over the Red Mountain and Coal Bank Passes today reaching elevations in excess of 12000 feet. We passed through towns like Silverton and Ouray, each with a long and interesting history, but unfortunately they will have to wait for another day, there is no time to stop and explore. As we approached the top of the Red Mountain Pass it started to rain and the temperatures dropped. These are very technical roads and we decided to slow the pace down a bit, concerned about the available traction on cold wet roads. Sure enough as we reach the summit and start to descend Red Mountain we come across a 3 Flags participant that has gone down on a curve. Fortunately for bike and rider the damage is minimal and he will soon be on his way. At Ridgway we head west and north toward Telluride and on to Naturita and Gateway. We travel through some of the most awesome red canyons I have ever seen in my life. This area was filled with Uranium mines in days gone by and you can still see evidence of the mines as you slide by on back to back sweepers that are a blast to ride at 60mph. We have been running for a long time and as we lose the sunlight we discover we are nearly out of fuel as well. I can make it further, but my partner has been running on fumes for a while now. It is now 7:30 pm as we pull into the village of Gateway Canyons. Thankfully we find a single service station still open or we would have been stranded until morning. Lesson 6, be sure to keep track of your fuel and plan ahead. It has been raining off and on since mid day and as we continue on it is almost impossible to see through my rain spotted glasses, especially when a vehicle approaches from the opposite direction. Fortunately at this time of night we don’t see too many. We don’t dare go any faster than 50 mph on these dark mountain roads known for a large population of deer in the area. Finally we arrive at Grand Junction Colorado where we stop for the night at almost 10:30. We are cold wet and hungry, it is late and the restaurant at the hotel is closed. We manage two beers and a bowl of popcorn in the bar and head to bed. Distance travelled 960 km/600 miles
Day 10, Sunday Sept 4. I am up and at em early, hoping to make up for some lost time. My bike is packed and ready to go by 7:00am. It is a beautiful day, clear and sunny. We need to make checkpoint number 2 in Vernal Utah and then head into Wyoming. I head to the restaurant to catch a quick breakfast and my buddy meets there. After breakfast I am itching to get on the road, but Dave still needs to load his bike so I sit down and wait. Then he decides his bike needs to have yesterdays grime wiped off. Grrr, its not the only thing. Finally we are ready to leave so I suggest a road that is just as good as the posted route, but will allow us to make up some time. We head north on Highway 139 to Rangely, and then hit the Interstate to Dinosaur and Vernal. Once we get onto the Interstate Dave becomes a spec on the horizon and then gone. Even though several State Troopers pass in the opposite direction, they don’t even take a second look at my 75 mph. I get into Vernal & find my way to the checkpoint, no Dave in sight. There were 2 KOA’s in town and he went to the wrong one. About 45 minutes later he shows up and goes through the checkpoint. Time for a drink and a chat and clean the visor….. Finally we get back on the road. With 3 hours already lost in the day my hopes of finishing in four days so I can be home for my anniversary are going down the drain. North of Vernal I caught up to Dave as we stopped briefly for pics at Flaming Gorge. As we continue the road we are travelling on exits Utah and then weaves the borders of Wyoming and Idaho a number of times. We must have seen the Welcome to Idaho sign three times. The roads had long straights and sweeping curves that allowed the speed to increase. Slowly the landscape transitions from cattle range to mountainous terrain once again as we enter the Grand Tetons and make our way to Jackson Wyoming. It is about 6:30 pm and we could easily have done another hour or so and made it to Driggs, but someone mentioned that several people planned on hitting the Million Dollar Cowboy bar so we decided to stop early. At least 4 hours out of the day shot! We ended up having a great steak dinner but no one else showed up so we called it an early night. Distance travelled 755 km/470 miles.
Day 11, Monday Sept 5. Our plan was to get up early and sure enough we hit the road at 6:45 am. It is still dark and very cool as we load the bikes. The sky is clear though and it won't be long before the sun is up. As daylight begins to break we make our way out of Jackson Hole and over the pass out of the Grand Tetons. It is cold and Dave is getting chilled, so he stops and puts on some electric gear. I have several layers on so I am not doing too bad. We both expected it to warm up more quickly. We ride into the wheat fields of Idaho and Montana. There is a lot of dust in the air as harvest is under way, and this seems to contribute to the slow warming as the sun can’t quite seem to shine hard enough on us. We stop Ennis Montana for fuel, and then head towards Butte. I was on these roads a year ago at the Montana State HOG Rally. Many amazing roads, towns and sights. Soon we are on the interstate headed to Missoula riding hard to make up some time miles. Dave is somewhere in front of me even though I have the cruise set at 130 kph/80 mph. There is a fairly strong headwind but the next checkpoint is in sight, Missoula. I continue with no regard to the effects this has on my fuel mileage. I have travelled a lot further on this trip on a tank. About an hour short of Missoula I notice that my fuel guage has dropped quickly, too quickly. I start looking hard for a fuel stop as the reserve light goes on. I ease it back into fuel saver mode about 100 kph/60 mph, and the traffic starts to whiz past me. I spot a fuel sign and pull off the freeway and into a little roadside campsite / service center that has obviously been out of business for years. *^%$#@. Remember Lesson 6?!? I get back on the freeway once again and after many miles I see another sign that says next service 5 miles. I pull into the stop at the Rock Creek Bar and realize I have been here before, in fact I had told Dave I would show him this place if I could find it again. Rock Creek is the home of the famous Testicle Festival. As I pull up to the pumps I see Dave has stopped as well, although he had to push his bike the last several hundred feet. We fill up the bikes and decide to grab something to eat. The lady at the bar proceeds to show us the photo album of last year's testicle festival which was attended by 10,000 people. From the pictures it appears that most of the women who come here take great pleasure in showing their breasts and some even more. If you are ever in the area on the second weekend in September pop by for a wild time. It is almost 1pm now, the sun is shining and we make our way to Missoula and checkpoint 3 by 2pm. We waste no time here and get right back on the road to Kalispell, Whitefish and perhaps across the border before we run out of daylight. It is holiday Monday and traffic is heavy but soon Dave is out of sight again. There is a large group of Harley riders, fellow participants that are slowing traffic because they won’t split their group and allow traffic to pass. Finally they turn off to the backside of Flathead lake and I head on up to Kalispell. As I pass through town there is no sign of Dave, nor do I see him in Whitefish. I stop and fill the bike and try to contact him by cell phone without luck. I jump on the bike and carry on, I am getting close enough to home, I can almost smell it. I stop at the border and the fellow at Customs waves me through, he didn’t even look at my passport! I am really rolling now, soon I pass through Fernie where several rally participants are standing in Hotel parking lots. I keep going through Sparwood and stop at Blairmore for fuel. It is 6:30 and I know it will start to get dark shortly after 7pm. I fill the bike and check my phone. Dave called; I try his phone but no luck. I want to make it to Chain Lakes by dark because of all the deer on Highway 22 so I take off. I make a quick stop just before Chain Lakes to put on my vest, and keep going. It is getting dark and cold fast! Checkpoint 4 is at the Fortress Mountain Gas Station and closes at 8pm. As I pass Longview it is 7:30 and I know I won’t make it in time, but I can make it home! I continue north and decide to go through Millarville and Bragg Creek as it is much shorter to home. It is pitch black now and I worry about animals. I don’t dare go faster than 80km/ 50 mph. I finally pull into my driveway at 9:45 pm. The garage door opens and my wife is there to give me a Big Anniversary hug and kiss. I am beat and soon fall into my own bed, man, how good does that feel! I left Jackson Hole at 6:45 am and spent the entire day in the saddle. I travelled 1330 km/ 825 miles today in 15 hours.
Day 12 Sept 6th, Although I am home I am not done. I still have to pass through checkpoint 4. The Roadglide is running very badly by now, so I hop on my Wideglide and ride out to Fortress. Then it is into Calgary again and downtown to the finish line at the Hyatt hotel. 250 km / 155 miles today.
Day 13, Wednesday Sept 7th. I head back to work. Tonight is the wrap up banquet at the Hyatt for all of this year's 3 Flags participants. Dave and I meet for the first time since Missoula. We are done our ride but many of the participants are from the southern US and they still have to ride home. The dinner is great and a chance to catch up with many many new and old friends. They announce some interesting statistics and give away some great prizes. The oldest male rider was 89 years old and received a standing ovation from the group. The oldest female participant was a lady also 89 years old. She rode as the passenger on the back of her son's Goldwing. He is 67 years old. She lost her husband 7 year's ago and this is the 6th time she has ridden the 3 Flags rally since her husband died. What a great lady. The youngest male rider was a young fellow 17 years old, he rode a Honda ST 1300 accompanying his dad who rode a Goldwing. What a great father/son thing to do. The youngest female rider was 32 years old. There were 220 Hondas in this years ride, mostly GoldWings, 90 Harleys, 90 BMWs, 40 Yamahas, 5 Kawasakis, 4 Ducatis, 1 Triumph and a few others. The experience was fantastic. Dave and I may not have agreed on everything, but I wouldn’t trade that ride for the world. Thank You Dave!
I logged a total of 8300km/ 5200 miles on the trip in 12 days, although I know I could do it in 8-10 days…… maybe next time.
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