Jamie's on the Road Again

Jamie's on the Road Again A place for family and friends to follow along on my motorcycle adventures.

We also visited a couple museums, one in Warner (not far from Milk River) and another at the Dinosaur Provincial Park vi...
08/20/2024

We also visited a couple museums, one in Warner (not far from Milk River) and another at the Dinosaur Provincial Park visitor centre. And went for more hikes.

So after Milk River we were off to Dinosaur Provincial Park, which is a couple hours southeast of Drumheller, Alberta. I...
08/19/2024

So after Milk River we were off to Dinosaur Provincial Park, which is a couple hours southeast of Drumheller, Alberta. It is truly in the middle of nowhere, which is actually a good thing for protecting this unique area. It's even designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

This was a camping outing, and my first opportunity to try out the new tent I bought! Not sure if I mentioned it before, but this is one big-a$$ tent! You can even park your motorcycle in the vestibule if you wanted to! That's not how I plan to use it, but...

I got the tent up, and when I started to set up the inside, realised I had forgotten something rather important... my sleeping bag!!!šŸ˜± Fortunately, my good friend Shaunna had my back, with an extra sleeping bag! How lucky was that???

I would highly recommend a visit to Dinosaur Provincial Park! A nice campground, a variety of trails to explore on your own, guided tours on offer, and family friendly activities available in the evening. We did a 2-hour bus tour into a part of the badlands that are not open to the public. Our tour guide told us about the history of the site, showed us various fossils, and explained how fossil-hunting has changed over the years (not much). It was cool to hear that the sites paleontologists work on here is based on where the fossils are naturally exposed by the erosion that is continually occuring throughout the area! It's not a matter of saying "let's dig here" and hope you find something; it's "look! It's a bone/fossil... let's see what else is here".

This is a past-tense postā€¦ actually, a series of posts. I was On The Road Again! šŸŽ¶šŸŽ¶I met up with a girlfriend in Milk Ri...
08/18/2024

This is a past-tense postā€¦ actually, a series of posts. I was On The Road Again! šŸŽ¶šŸŽ¶

I met up with a girlfriend in Milk River, Alberta. We explored some Canadian Badlands and Dinosaur Provincial Park together, then I carried on solo.

Being with someone else made posting less of a priorityā€¦ the point was to visit together, after all! Then when I was on my own, if I had any wifi at all, it was sketchy. So here we areā€¦ a retrospective trip report.

It took a couple of long days to get to Milk River from home, but the weather was good and it was a nice ride. Once in Alberta, the goal was to explore Writing on Stone Provincial Park. Shouldā€™ve taken a picture of the warning signs on the road: Rattlesnakes Migrating; Avoid Running them over! šŸ˜¬
Fortunately, we missed seeing any snakes, but heard stories from other hikers. Even more fortunate, it wasnā€™t until a couple days later that we heard stories of Bull Snakes (very large) hanging down from trees, close to people who were completely unaware! šŸ˜¬šŸ˜¬šŸ˜±. Glad we missed that excitement!

It was interesting to see scenery and rock formations reminiscent of Joshua Tree and Utah, but coloured differently. And apparently one can normally canoe/kayak/tube down the Milk River, but itā€™s currently a shadow of its usual selfā€¦ Locals told us that the Milk River originates south of the border, in northern Montana, where a dam and canal system provides irrigation water. The system is 100 years old, and needs upgrading, necessitating redirection of water that would feed the Milk River. Thus, the Canadian section of the River, where the town of Milk River gets its water, is currently a rocky channel with limited, shallow water in it. It will apparently take 2 years to complete the upgrade.

Time for pictures!

05/31/2024

In thinking about this trip, I realised there was something different from my previous trips.

When I did my cross-Canada trip in 2021, and any trips before that, when people noticed how far I had travelled, and that I was travelling alone, generally the response was "wow, you're brave".
This time, 98% of the time people said "good for you"!

It was really nice not to have to justify my actions, and not be made to feel like I shouldn't be doing this because I'm a woman. It was really great for it to just be acknowledged that I was having a great trip! Life is good! šŸ˜

Stats for the Utah trip:-5 weeks, 2 days (37 days)-9,323 kms (5,827 miles)-Enjoyment & Memories: Priceless!ā£ļøCurrent mil...
05/30/2024

Stats for the Utah trip:
-5 weeks, 2 days (37 days)
-9,323 kms (5,827 miles)
-Enjoyment & Memories: Priceless!ā£ļø

Current mileage on bike: 90,494 kms (56,559 miles)

05/29/2024

Well folks, thatā€™s a wrap! I hightailed it from Bend, Oregon to home yesterday. And yes, I got wet. Not many places it was raining, and generally not too hard or for too long, but you knowā€¦ road spray šŸ™„. But I have good gear, except those supposedly waterproof gloves that soaked throughšŸ¤Ø, and road spray will find your neck, so it wasnā€™t too bad. Iā€™ll admit I was freezing cold when I got home (I mean once I was in the house and out of my gear), but Iā€™m thinking itā€™s because Iā€™m not used to the humidity here! It was so dry down there, I could hang my shower towel and itā€™d be dry in minutes!

Anyway, it was an awesome trip! Iā€™m glad yā€™all came along! Iā€™ll be sorting through my pictures and videos, maybe playing with some different ways of editing (other than what was available on my phone, or to my inexperienced self), so I might post some updates in that regard. But otherwise, Iā€™ll be sorting through and cleaning up my camping gear, and thinking about where I should go next!šŸ˜ The bike will need some loving care as well, and I still need to take my end-of-trip odometer pictures! Sheā€™s been an awesome bike thatā€™s taken me on some amazing adventures, and weā€™re not done yet!!! šŸ„°

05/27/2024

Apparently Iā€™m in ā€œletā€™s get homeā€ mode. Yesterday I left Utah, passed through Twin Falls in Idaho, which is somewhere Iā€™d like to visit again, or at least get a picture from the bridge I went over! Then I carried on to the Boise area, which looks like a nice community. A couple in the Bunk-a-Biker community put me up, and today Iā€™ve high-tailed it through most of Oregon. It was a beautiful day for a ride, and the scenery was beautiful. Itā€™s much more familiar scenery, like parts of BC in a way, so it feels like I can understand these views, as well as appreciate them! Mind you, while I rarely had to clean bug guts off my helmet visor while down south, now Iā€™m back to collecting quite the crop quickly, and having to clean the visor multiple times a dayā€¦ not something I appreciate all that much šŸ¤Ø.

But Iā€™m also a little anxious to get home. Not sure how long Iā€™ll stay before heading out again, in some other direction, but it will be nice to be home again.

Tomorrow itā€™s forecast to rain in the Portland area, so Iā€™ll either find a way around it, or get wet šŸ˜œ. But either way I expect to be home in a day or two.

05/25/2024

I had in mind to go shopping today, and/or go for a scenic ride in the area, but itā€™s raining. Lucky me for not having planned to travel today! And, thereā€™s a Starbucks in walking distance!šŸ¤£ Seriously though, while I love an afternoon hot chocolate from Starbucks, I also love being able to fill up my hydration pack with Starbucks ice/water, because they have the best, no matter where you are!

05/25/2024

The Bonneville Salt Flats. Apparently they are 20 miles long and 5 miles wide! šŸ¤Æ
On the drive in, I saw a facility that looked like it processed saltā€¦ big pile of it outside. Made me wonderā€¦ is that for roads? or will it be table saltšŸ§‚ ? The stuff on the flats felt very soft, more like damp talc than salt.

05/25/2024

This dog was having a blast rolling in the salt! Her human figured she thought it was snow, because thatā€™s what she does in snow.

If I was talented, I would put this Ogopogo in my selfie salt! šŸ˜‚
05/25/2024

If I was talented, I would put this Ogopogo in my selfie salt! šŸ˜‚

Today I went to see the Bonneville Salt Flats. It was a long ride out there (90 minutes +). As I got closer to the main ...
05/25/2024

Today I went to see the Bonneville Salt Flats. It was a long ride out there (90 minutes +). As I got closer to the main event, you could see tire tracks where people had been driving on it. Apparently, if the conditions arenā€™t just right, people can get stuck in thick mud if they break through the salt crust, especially at the edges. I didnā€™t see anything like that, just an Ogopogo!šŸ¤£ Somebody had placed this Ogopogo figure in the saltā€¦ it made me laugh out loud, but I couldnā€™t get a picture because itā€™s a crazy fast highway.

The speed limits here, meaning US, are way faster than Iā€™m used to. Today my gps would be saying I was doing 129 kph, and I wasnā€™t even over the speed limit until I hit 130! The posted limit was 80 mph šŸ˜³.
Even going through towns, the speed limit might be 40 mph, which is like 60 kph. Seems fast when weā€™re used to 50 kph through town. Anyway, Iā€™ve gotten so I just go as fast as Iā€™m comfortable with, even if itā€™s a little less than the posted speed, and just keep to the right lane. Other times, usually when itā€™s busier, I just go with the flow of traffic, and give myself lots of space behind the lead vehicle.

Another thing I donā€™t getā€¦ no Mars bars here!šŸ¤Æ I keep looking, but no joy šŸ„².

Iā€™m spending an extra day here, to figure out my route home, and I think Iā€™ll go shopping! Besides, my bike will probably be safer at the mall than this motel parking lot! šŸ˜³šŸ˜‚

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