The Road Less Traveled: Canadian Rockies '18: Day 7

START LOCATION: Missoula, MT
END LOCATION: Spokane, WA
MILES TRAVELED: 407.8
TOTAL MILES TO DATE: 3893.7
WEATHER SUMMARY: From bad to good

Before the Day 7 update, here are some practical things from the road:

1. I did laundry again tonight. That makes three days in a row. Because while I only PLAN to do laundry every other night, and only NEED to do laundry every three days, I do laundry when there is an opportunity to get it done without waiting for a washer and dryer. So... three nights in a row.

2. Because I did laundry tonight and only had one change of clothes to wash, I'm going to wear the same exact clothes tomorrow that I wore today. The clothes are clean, of course.

3. I missed being able to talk to my kids and grandkids today. We're in the Pacific Time Zone now. By the time we arrived in Spokane, it was too late to call. Lindsey sent a video of Lorelai "talking' to Papa. This made me smile. I was able to have a most humorous text message exchange with Jaimee and Lindsey tonight while at dinner. This made me laugh.

4. I have "appointments" to call Lorelai and Ruth before I ride tomorrow. This will make the day a good one no matter the conditions.

5. I miss Annette, and I'm counting down the days until she joins me in Calgary, Alberta.

6. I got to FaceTime the last two evenings with my dog, Berklee. He doesn't understand technology.

7. I had to jam on my brakes today to keep from having an uncomfortable encounter with a moose. Sadly, the GoPro wasn't running then. But we were able to see and appreciate this magnificent creature.

An overview of where we've been so far,
as recorded by the SPOT Gen3 satellite tracker.

Now, to the Day 7 update:

I have no words. I mean... when we ride the northeaster US and eastern Canada, I expect this. It's usually dry out west.

One of the last things I did last night was check the weather forecast for our starting point and ending destination. I really thought we'd have a good weather day. So I packed my rain suit away and cleaned my bike. A gentleman visiting Missoula for a fishing adventure said, "You're wasting your time. It's going to rain on your riding and my fishing." Nope. I did not receive that. Not for a moment.

I went up to my room to brush my teeth and came back down to find all of the other guys in full rain gear. The sky had turned gray, and light rain was beginning to fall. I suited up. I got cranky. And we set out in yet another day of nasty, annoying rain.

Many of my friends have heard me say my strategy in planning these adventures includes finding the most challenging roads I can find - roads with curves and elevation changes - and riding them as fast as we dare. It's a grand venture. Lolo Pass offered all of that. It's a high mountain pass, and is rated as one of America's 15 best motorcycle roads. There is little traffic and excellent road surfaces most of the way. Unless those roads are wet. Wet roads make me nervous and create a barrier to our experiencing the rush of exhilaration these routes offer. I got crankier.

If that wasn't enough - and if I had not already had more challenges on this ride than the previous six rides put together - I realized my GPS wasn't working properly. We all have the route loaded into our GPS, so it wasn't as though we would be in crisis. Randall was able to load the route into my Harley-Davidson Infotainment system. But I'm comfortable using my Garmin Zumo 665... knowing where to find all of the information I might need, like distance to the next turn, current speed, current speed limit, distance to destination, ETA... I'm familiar with the functions that help my find gas and food quickly. The Harley-Davidson GPS can provide all of this information, but not as easily, and I certainly don't have the familiarity I've developed with the Garmin after riding tens of thousands of miles with this GPS unit. So... you guessed it: I got even crankier.

I had planned a stop at the Lolo Pass Visitor Center, and this stop offered me an opportunity to figure out what was broken with my GPS. The guys were very patient with me as I reloaded the route to no avail, then began reloading maps to my GPS. This lengthy process was progressing well when I left my computer and Garmin device to return to my bike for a moment. There were probably ten seats in the area where my computer and GPS were syncing. But the little old lady coming in as I was going out seemed to want the seat where my computer and GPS were working. So she closed my computer and moved it. Stopping the map-reloading process. I'm not sure why she chose to do that. I didn't ask. I internalized my growing crankiness and decided we needed to get back on the road.

But amid all of this crankiness, there was good news: The sun came out and the road began to dry. Shortly after leaving the visitor center, we began to find dry roads, and we were able to lean into those curves at speed as I had envisioned. The ride got fun.

In the time of riding without my GPS, and while I started having problems with my PackTalk communicator (I know, right? What else can go wrong??), we missed our planned lunch stop. We picked a random little place in a hole-in-the-wall town, and Dad's Diner actually turned out to be pretty good. While there, the guys waited patiently again as I reloaded maps into my GPS. This effort was met with success, and we were finally in business, heading out to finish our day.

I still had issues with my communicator at times, but managed to leave the crankiness behind. The sun continued to shine most of the time. And the laughter returned.

I'm thankful for friends who are patient and compassionate. I'm thankful for friends who pray for me in the difficult moments along the way. And I'm thankful that tomorrow will be better day. Tomorrow, we'll ride again. And tomorrow, we'll meet the 6th wheel on this bus as Trent joins us for our ride across the border and into Canada.

I didn't take many pictures today because we didn't stop very often. I'll post what I have below. I put a quick video together of our ride through Lolo Pass. You can find a link to the video below, as well.

Yes, tomorrow will be better. And we'll ride on in search of more roads we've never traveled.

Here is the link to the Lolo Pass video:

https://gopro.com/v/71Brnp110bzN