Bow Tie Tour

We awoke early, loaded our bags back on the bikes and I led us through a few wrong turns on the way to the dealership. When we pulled up, we knew that this was going to be a good place.

A smiling employee greeted us with a handshake and welcomed us to “Team-Bozeman Motorsports” I browsed through the tire selection and found the exact set that I was hoping they might have. After turning the tires over to the mechanic, Ethan and I set about looking around the expansive showroom.

That’s where we discovered this high priced beauty:

After hopping on the dealerships wireless internet and putting up a post here, Ethan and I discovered something interesting… A board with details about the “World’s Fastest Yamaha Warrior” which is ridden by the dealership’s owner.

We tracked down the owner, and asked to see it… A few minutes later, we did more than just see it!

It currently runs 174.5mph, and with the new parts (See below) he’s hoping to make it up to 200mph

After getting the tires mounted and balanced (and hearing the insane noise that it makes when running… Shakes the building!) Of course we had to get the rider/ owners signature, so we did!

And the coolest signature yet:

Pretty cool eh?
We also snagged another cool signature… His son’s!

See?

We didn’t leave Bozeman until around noon, but we figured that it was time well spent, and I wasn’t riding on threads anymore! We shot North towards Canada and made fantastic time up the Interstate until we neared the border and started hitting massive patches of rain.

We stopped twice just before the border, first to put on our rain gear and then to pull out our passports and prepare for the crossing. At the second stop, I grabbed the camera and started shooting. The scenery was wild; blue skies behind, dark skies ahead, and nothing but distance in between.

Truly “Big Sky Country”

Looking North into the storm:

A look to the East:

The path we’ve followed thus far:

And of course, a look to the stark West as well:

At the last minute, we decided that we should get some fuel at the border to save at least a few dollars before we started buying in Liters. It was a good decision too, since we were practically out of fuel.

The problem was, that the entire town had their power knocked out by the storm we’d just ridden through… So, we waited.

After about an hour, hanging out in the liquor store/ gas station, we decided that we’d had enough and that we were going to attempt to make it across the border and then the 8 miles to the next gas station.

We crossed the border without any major issues (It pays to carry your passport!), and made our way through the rain to the first gas station. I smiled when I saw the “$1.15″ sign, before remembering that they were talking about Liters, instead of gallons… $50+ later and both bikes were filled, so that we could be on our way.

As we rolled North towards Calgary, I was struck by the stark differences in the land, the signs, the people, heck even the bloody metric system. NO WHERE did you spot any trash by the road, NO one refused to return our waves and smiles, some how it just felt “lovely”.

Less then 150 kilometers into Alberta the rain stopped. Ethan and I pulled off the main road to do our ceremonial urinization on new territories and take a few pictures (Not of the ceremony, don’t worry )

The sky looked amazing and we were even blessed with a beautiful rainbow:

A better shot, sans bikes:

This was NOT the road we were riding on to Calgary, but it was our first adventure on gravel, so I had to document it!

As we rode, we began to see yet ANOTHER storm system growing rapidly as we approached. It was awe inspiring to look at, as lightning crackled from one end to the other, but I have to admit that I was worried as we rode towards our “impending doom” and the promise of a warm shower and drink.
We stopped to put on our rain gear (again), and I snapped this shot:

Just as we entered the outskirts of Calgary, the storm hit… And did it EVER?!?!

The rain was incredible, I couldn’t see more than 50′-100′ ahead of my bike at any given time, the water was puddling between 2″ and 6″ deep across the entire roadway, and the glare from the streetlights made it nearly impossible to see out of my helmet at all.

With Ethan guiding us towards our hosts home, we slowly wove our way through the streets that were rapidly becoming waterways.

As we crested a hill, I saw that the roadside was lined with WHITE… Shocked, I thought to myself “SNOW, in August?!?!” and though it seems that I was wrong and it was actually small hail, it was still a startling thought.

It was quite late when we finally rolled in to our hosts home, and we were both fairly exhausted… So, after a round of drinks and some great conversation, we headed off to bed.

(All through the day, I’d been experiencing extreme amounts of pain in my upper left molar tooth and wisdom tooth… With great joy, I was told that an appointment would be made for me to see a dentist on the ‘morrow)

P.S. More photos and posts coming soon, we’re about 17 days behind currently, and will have to catch up when we get home… Currently tired, blessed and heading to bed, in a lighthouse hostel… Northern California