Im in Costa Rica as I had to leave and re-enter the USA to renew my B2 visa having already had a visa extension application turned down. I left my bike and most of my possessions in Montana where I was waiting out the winter until it was warm enough to travel again.
The last few weeks on my ranch in Montana were spent looking at weather forecasts waiting for a warm dry spell to make a dash south to Utah. The weather would be warmish for a while then it would snow and make motorcycle travel hazardous and chilly.
Just When You Think It Is Warm Enough To Leave (12th April 2010)....
I feel like a bit of a tourist dashing from one place to another in an if its Thursday it must be Arches National Park kind of way. Were all tourists really of course but some of us with illusions of grandeur prefer to think of ourselves as more worldly wise 'travellers'.
Following the sandstorm at Monument Valley I carefully checked the weather forecast before heading for the south rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. A cool 53F (12C) maximum with isolated thunderstorms was predicted.
I entered Zion from the east travelling through a mile long tunnel blasted through the rock in the 1930s. I couldnt figure out why the GPS still worked with metres of solid rock on all sides when it refuses to work within normal house walls. The GPS correctly logged progress through the tunnel and showed each bend inside the tunnel.
I made my escape from Las Vegas on minor roads avoiding the interstate as usual. I had wanted to ride through Death Valley from south to north then continue to Yosemite and through the Great Divide at Tioga Pass on Hwy 120. At 9948 feet, Tioga Pass was still closed due to snow from four feet to six feet deep across the road. My second and third choices of Hwy 108 or Hwy 4, both to the north of Yosemite were also closed.
Having taking my fifth option of passes through the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first four were closed due to snow I rode through Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument climbing up into the snowline and dropping into warm valleys several times a day.
In The Sequoia National Forest Snow
San Francisco was one of the few cities I wanted to visit on this trip as I am mainly travelling between national and state parks and keeping to the more rural areas. I was here once before a long time ago and wanted to revisit some old haunts and reacquaint myself with the city.
San Francisco Waterfront
Point Reyes is a peninsular just north of San Francisco, it covers a large area of green hills and valleys inland as well as coastal cliffs and beaches.
San Francisco Shrouded In Mist From Muir Beach
Another wet day with periods of heavy rain and gusts of strong wind saw me leaving California and enter Oregon along highway 101 with a wet tent strapped to the bike.
Gold Beach Oregon In The Rain
Fortunately I was heading for a friend of a friends house in Bandon. Oleh and Tina have a super cool 1952 school bus converted into a mobile home that is used for guest accommodation.
Crossing the bridge over the Columbia river from Oregon to Washington State I headed to Cape Disappointment State Park to camp for the night.
Cape Disappointment Lighthouse
Arriving in Victoria on Vancouver Island from Washington State by ferry was like entering a different sunnier world compared to the wet temperate rain forests of Washington State. First impressions are how green and English it all looks with its imposing ivy clad hotel, lawns and red double decker buses. The top portion of the British Columbian flag is taken up by the Union Jack.
As twenty miles of the Top Of The World Highway (From Tok, Alaska to Dawson, Yukon) had been washed away in heavy rain closing the road I missed out on returning south by a completely different route from my northbound ride. I returned on the same roads for about 700 miles from Tok, Alaska, through Whitehorse to the top of the Cassiar Highway. From the Cassiar junction I stayed on the Alaskan Highway (Hwy 97). The Alaskan Highway is a bit longer than the Cassiar but a similar road as far as traffic and scenery are concerned.
US customs confiscated an orange even though it had been grown in the USA when I re-entered from Canada. They then had to go into the back office to use a different computer to verify my British registered bike. An almost fruitless search was made of all my luggage before I gained entry into the land of the free by which time there was a long queue of traffic waiting their turn to be processed.
'My' Montana Ranch
I left my Montana Ranch heading south to Lewis Lake in the southern part of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. I had been to the north of Yellowstone National Park twice but on both occasions the roads to the south of the park were blocked by snow. On the first occasion in the autumn of last year one road was blocked by snow and the other by a wild fire which made me think some greater power didnt want me to get to the south of the park!
