Thursday, September 16, 2010

catch up

i've decided since it takes half of a day to convert (mp4) a 5 minute video that i'll just get them up when i can...maybe try you tube...the blog has fallen behind, we're in newberry, mi.  after culberstson, mt. we were in north dakota in about an hour or so and shot some video and the standard photo of us by the state-entering sign... followed hwy 1804 (lewis and clark trail) until new town, n.d.  the wind was ridiculous and pushing us from the north, at its worst and from the back at it's best.  laru averaged out at a steady 60-62 mph when the wind was right.  got a burger in new town and were mandanned before we left for devil's lake, n.d.  we arrived during sunset at graham's island devil's lake, n.d.  just wanted to say thanks to the guy who offered us his farm to stay that night but i really wanted to shotgun a beer at devil's lake.  it was super manicured...no wifi, lot's of mosquitos and more "dogs"...i'm pretty sure we saw the eyes of a coyote near our site that night...shot more star trail shots and discovered tons of spiders under the picninc table we were camped out out...we figured this out after i saw a large spider crawl across wise's head...left the next morning (mon. the 13th) and landed at bemidgi state park, mn around sunset after the obligatory state sign photos...we  drank pretty heavily after a long ride...got a bottle of rebel yell and schmidt in the bottle (fancy), shot a couple more star shots and put chris, unwisely, on the bike to give him some "training."  after popping the clutch and almost running laru into some trees we called it quits on that genius idea...don't worry no one was there as no one has been at any of the campgrounds we've stayed... super hungover the next day, decided to stay and work on the bike...needed another tire (rear) already since idaho...alignment bad on the sidecar...instead of spending the $150 bucks i was quoted to change out my tire with my own tire, i called ural nw in bellingham, wa. and asked there advice...they gave me the break down and it was changed within 20 min, and i also aligned the sidecar, fixed the taillight again, and tightened the suspension all of the way...without the load the bike rides super rough...you can feel every bump on the road, but with the load everything's way better.  went to sleep that night early, reading chuck thompson's first book bashing the travel writing industry...pretty funny.  next day left around 8:30 am in the rain, and endured the worst day by far...super fucking cold and wet all day for about 260 miles or so...blew through wisconsin...( go pack go...for looper and the rest of the habetlers).  landed in ironwood, michigan around 5:30 pm at the cheapest and coolest motel so far...no laundry, slow wifi...but really nice ladies that run that place, (quinn motel $35 a night for a single) and really great italian beef sandwich and pizza from mike's too.  you should have seen this little room with every bit of our gear hanging everywhere with the heat on 80 to try and dry it all...caught some msnbc and south park, and fell asleep early...chris got the bed this time...woke up this morning to still wet gear and left a little late (10pm) with clouds, but no rain thank god.  lost an hour in the u.p. around marquette, mi. and couldn't believe the view of lake superior...beautiful inland beach...the bike did 60 mph all day...way to go laru!!  we just got to another motel...super cheap and good wifi...felt like it was needed to get this blog caught up...midge who runs this place is super sweet...when asked if she had wifi, she explained that it was great...it had a password and everything...how awesome is she??!!

about to go to bed, but not before uploading photos from the trip up until now....we've gone 3700 km or around 2200 miles or so...averaging a little over 200 mi a day, even with the time off due to fixing the bike and weather...have 6 states plus washington on the front fender...plan on being in port huron, mi by sat morning and staying the day to wait for my passport, and we'll enter canada sun morning.  probably stay in niagra for a day and watch football...you'll have photos from the beginning of michigan until the port huron on sunday or so...also now that we'll be on the east coast soon, we'll be able to keep up with the blog, i hope

goodnight,

----jleep

No comments:

Post a Comment