I made a few changes to the bike before the trip. Put on a tall Parabellum windshield, and a leather Corbin seat. Tried a set of bar backs earlier which didn’t give me the wrist angle I wanted. Bought some billet alloy and machined a pair of my own design with a built in ten degree twist that rotated my wrists up higher, the same angle as my old 1980 R100RT.

My luggage was regular hard bags and a small Krauser top trunk, plus my tenting gear in a 30 liter waterproof Sealine kayak bag. I carried a two man Kelty Vortex 2 tent ( good dome type rectangular tent ), a Thermo-rest self inflating pad , and a Woods city 350 liteloft bag that is rated to five deg C and packs up about the size of a loaf of bread . This all fit in the waterproof bag I kept on top of my rear seat with bungees. I kept clothes to a bare minimum. Took two pairs of jeans, one pair shorts, a bathing suit, half a dozen T shirts, one fleece sweater, and my touring boots. No extra shoes or sandals as luggage space was pretty limited.

Carried all my camera gear in a small Pelican 1200 waterproof case inside the hard saddlebag, a Pentax MX body with 4 lenses, 28mm, 40mm, 50mm, 135mm. I like the MX because it is the smallest 35mm camera Pentax ever made, and is totally mechanical, if the battery dies you still have all your shutter speeds. Shot mostly negatives and a few slides.

Day 1 : July 21st 1998. My family was overseas visiting relatives , and I had just finished working as a focus puller on a TV movie here. It was good timing for a trip, and I had one month to do it. My last trip had been after the Titanic film here two years ago. (As key rigging grip I got to hang a 20 ton Russian deep dive sub in the studio). James Cameron made us all somewhat richer, so I went rafting through the Grand Canyon for a week. This time though, I was ready for a good long distance two wheel flog. I left Halifax with 16,400 kms showing on the odometer. Went direct to Moncton, then north up backroads thru Rogersville to Miramichi river and over to Grand Falls , 28 degrees C here. Made it to Riviere du Loup by late afternoon and took the ferry to St. Simeon on the north shore of the St. Lawrence river. This is a nice boat ride, about one hr and approx $ 30. There were a few bikes onboard, one Harley was towing a trailer made from a big wooden beer barrel with a tap on the back. The top was cutoff and a dog had his bed inside. Drove up the west side of the Saguenay River to Robertval about 10pm and tented. Managed to do about 1100 kms for the day.

Day 2 : I’d always wanted to drive the road to Chibougamou over to northern Ontario. It is 200 kms shorter to Thunder Bay (from Riv du Loup) than the transCanada and had some other great advantages I soon found out. Imagine a 600 km road (from Lac St Jean to Senneterre) with great scenery ( ahh . . yes . . . and a lot of trees too), long straights, gentle curves, almost no trucks, no tourists, and for a real bonus . . . no police. There’s a station in Chibougamou, but that’s 20kms off a T junction down a dead end. Well, if you want a trip to long distance speed nirvana , this pretty well qualifies, short of driving to Montana or Nevada. I ran between 120 and 150 kph for most of it. Lowest temps were 14 degrees in sun , got better as I hooked south again. From Senneterre I went west on paved backroads to Cochrane ( still no traffic to speak of ) and hit thunderstorms and heavy squalls after supper. Put on my rainsuit and rain boots. Took a cheap motel in Kapuskasing for $ 25. About 1200 kms total for the day.

Day 3 : Hit rain and dirt construction sections, miserable day. Picked up a stone in my throttle pulley V groove, noticed lumpy running below 2500 rpm. The local BMW mechanic Ed, found my first one last year, so I looked again and there it was, got it out with a toothbrush. Voila, smooth again. Feeling happy with myself I charged off into the “ughknown” and managed to run out of gas in the butt end of nowhere. I had added 3 liters to the tank capacity ( total now is 26 liters ) with an RT filler neck before I left and was obviously feeling too cocky. As my Kansas City friend used to say, I was now a victim of the six P’s :
". . . Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance . "

Standing in the rain, I held my one liter oil can over the tank upside down while pointing to it as people drove by ( not many people going by either out here). A fellow biker driving a pickup truck stopped and took me to a fishing guide 6 miles away who had a gas pump and a beat up Harley, everyone else within 30 miles had two stroke mixed for the next chainsaw derby or whatever. I only lost about 90 minutes and swore that would be the last time…. and it was. Made it to Thunder Bay as the weather kept improving, then had a great ride to Dryden through the woods on a twisty but good road in the evening and late twilight. Splurged on another cheap hotel, $ 50, and hoped it would be my last. ( not ) 1000 kms today.

Day 4 : Back in the transCanada traffic I left in New Brunswick , doing 3500 rpm, at 110 km/h. Ho hum , sure do miss Chibougamou. Temperature picking up on the digital thermometer, hitting 30 degrees. Bypass Winnipeg to my north, look at the aviation museum in Brandon then across the ‘bald ass prairie’ to Moose Jaw for a night tenting. $ 6, a new low ! Park beside two his and hers Harley Davidsons from BC, one towing a trailer. My four day target to reach Calgary is not going to happen. Needed another 2 hours a day in the saddle to do that. Still happy with the pace so far, 1000 kms today.

Day 5 : 700 kms left to go to Calgary, things starting to get really hot at Swift Current, 35.4 deg C. Funny how you feel better when that readout drops even two tenths of a degree. Open my boot flaps down to catch more wind, soak the T shirt in water, let it hang out at the waist and leave the leather jacket on half open to grab more evaporation. This lasts at least 2 hours if you control the jacket intake, your armpits and back stay cool and wet for a long time. I learned this from travelling in Australia years ago riding in a car all day at 42 deg C on dirt roads…. ( sounds pretty ugly doesn’t it ?) Leave your shirt off, put a dripping wet towel around your neck and spread it across your chest, turn the vent windows in and suddenly you’re “ a bloody big canvas water bag, mate “, getting all that free evaporation effect. Worked for me this time too. Made it to Calgary by 3pm, noticed the temperature dropped 5 degrees an hour east of Calgary, must be the cooler air coming off the mountains, was a big relief. Stayed with Dave, an old skydiving friend from Halifax.

Day 6 : Sunday. Visited relatives and planned my next move, now that I had successfully made it this far. Most people back home thought this was my final destination. My philosophy is : why tell them where you’re going if you may not get there, tell them where you’ve been .