5961 miles on the road this trip and here we are still on the West coast in Chilliwack, British Columbia, CA. A combination of miles, highway speeds of 75-80 MPH, and some extreme heat of air temps above 100 have tore into our rear tires. Wonder what temps the roads where. We could probably safely get another 1000 miles on them but we have a place here with all the tools and a man with the expertise to be able to use them.
We ordered and had our tires shipped to Eric and Mike. Fellow bike (KLR) riders just South of the Canadian border. We loaded the tires on to our bikes and crossed the border.
Norm was awesome! Having never physically met us just conversing through emails, blogs, and Facebook, he rolled our bikes into his garage and changed our tires.
I think Liz would like to be adopted by Norm.
Norm & Rupert
Norm, Rupert, April, Brad
We really enjoyed meeting and hanging with Norm and his family. Thanks to him and his wife April for their great hospitality. I hope we have the opportunity to repay them someday.
More giants! I've always wanted to see these things. Pictures just don't do justice to the size of these trees. You just expect to see a dinosaur walking out of the forest (they've only been around since the last ice age).
This is a living
Redwood tree.
Along the Oregon and Washington coast is was common to see tsunami warring signs. Many along the road reminded you, "you are not safe" and to seek higher ground. Good info but kinda made me nervous!
In general it seems most drivers in Oregon and Washington are very courteous, especially to motorcycles. However, we encountered a humorous situation in this area which someone should have planned for in the land of extreme politically correct.
Most coastal roads are two lane roads occasionally widening to four lane highways for several miles at a time. Sometimes only one side widens for about a half mile or less. This gives slower traffic an area to drive while faster traffic can safely pass. These areas are posted with a sign "slower vehicles keep right". While riding behind a group of cars doing about five to ten miles under the posted speed, we passed through several areas with slower lanes as posted so. I noticed and commented to Liz via our headsets, "I don't think anyone wants to be labeled the slower vehicle"! Liz came up with a more PC alternative, "speed challenged".
Sequoia National Park is a beautiful national park. We rode in from the South entrance on very nice tight twisties. Just inches from sure death most of the way up the mountain gives you a sense of adrenaline overload.
This young buck was just outside our tent the first morning.
Sam is in the red circle...
Last year one of these fell on an unoccupied parked jeep. See attached video.
Caught a whiff and then spotted smoke from the controlled burn just within the forest boundaries.
This is really a magnificent park with some of the most awesome trees and certainly the oldest in the world. As a whole, the park is well organized and maintained. However, sanitation facilities are not very good - bathrooms are in disrepair, showers are not all able to be used, and even the laundry room had two machines out of order. They are making thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, a day on the park with fees and souvenirs. It may be a case of money being collected by the Federal Govt. and not being redistributed back into the park system. Kinda wondered if maybe it could be handled better at a state level.
I could return many times and still look up and stare at these giants for hours!
