Cooter does a road trip

[HighwayHum72]

bitchin!

[jl551c]

Great ride report. Enjoyed it !!

[BuellyBagger]

took the kids and the camper to the black hills in June. Went during Sturgis (with my old sporty) when I was 17. No matter when u go it's a must see area! Looks like you got a good look cooter!
My son admiring the presidents and daughter doing her best crazy horse..

[lancruza]

Thanks for the trip Cooter!

[Cooter]

I'm not done yet! That was only about 800 miles of it. I'll post up the rest in a bit

[Silverrider]

Cooter , Looks like you had a Great time!!! Thanks for Sharing !!!!!!!!!!!!! We want more !!!!!!

[Cooter]

Ok, Kiddies. Sit right here next to the fire, grab a S'more and let ol' uncle Coot continue his story

Since my buddy grew up around Spokane, I'm expecting some pretty epic riding and he does not disappoint!

First some maintenance though. The M-2 has a little fuel drip from the float bowl, so a quick call to the local V-twin store and I get a really comprehensive re-build kit, but only want to swap out the needle and seat. (No Impending Doom music, it worked perfectly). But thats all fine only if you can get the bowl off
{Rant on}
Japanese carburetors have never had phillips screws in them. Never. Yes, I'm aware they look just like phillips screws, but I assure you they are NOT. They are JIS screws. That stands for Japanese Industrial Standard. Go buy some now. I'll wait. Really.
Here's a link:
https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...l_6whqb0gor1_e
Every real mechanic just sighed a bit of relief, thank you
{Rant off}

Not quite ready to go though. The Café front wheel bearings are a little loud and thats saying something over the exhaust! He just had both wheels on both bikes powder coated and replaced the bearings on both bikes about 1000 miles ago? Oh well, we got the tools, and the knowledge, and the parts! Win! (Now you can insert impending Doom music)

After a really late start (becomes a habit on this trip), we go North out of town on 20, along Lake Pend Oreille (Pond-o-RAAAAAYYYY) towards Nelson B.C.. Man what FUN! Well maintained roads, breathtaking views and knee dragging sweepers on a 4 lane without another vehicle to be seen! About 50 miles from the border theres a sign that says the border crossing we want is closed due to the massive fires they're having up there. What they don't have at that sign is cell service. Nada. Remember when you could find a paper map? Me either Whatever, ride North and hope for detour signs. We found a route through the Wildlife refuge and up next to the Columbia river. The long way to be sure, but so perfect to get some quality miles down. Theres a noise on the Café and it's the Voltage Regulator that has broken off the temporary mount we made oh so long ago... The electrical tape we use to secure it would make MacGuyver proud. Onward! We get to the first gas stop and the very nice neck and face tattooed lady (also a theme during this trip) lets me have some zip ties from her personal stash. I can't tell you how happy I am that they are bright Neon and it's gonna kill him to be seen like that It's so bad that even with failing light, he stops at a Walmart to get black ones...

Lame gas up shot at Whittys (snicker): Hey! I'm too busy riding, man!
IMG_1184 by Cooter!, on Flickr

The land of Canadian Bacon!
They spelled Canadia wrong, idiots!
IMG_1191 by Cooter!, on Flickr

Since we left so late it was getting dark by the time we hit Nelson and had dinner in this cool old hotel that J. Fred Hume started in the early 1900's!:
IMG_1196 by Cooter!, on Flickr

and hit the only bar left open, where we doubled the occupancy just by walking in, and apparently it's ok to hula hoop to the awful 2-piece band?: Canucks...
IMG_1197 by Cooter!, on Flickr

[Cooter]

Trees man. Whoa...
They must import a ton of these things! There's so many!
IMG_1190 by Cooter!, on Flickr

Theres a room available at a sensible Chalet, so after all the hula hooping madness, it's g'nite and farther North in the morning.
IMG_1199 by Cooter!, on Flickr

We go up 3A. That's a good Canadian joke BTW:

"What road is this?"

3A

"Three?"

3A

"So Three then, thanks! have a nice day Eh!"

I choose this route 3A (snicker) because Ferry!
IMG_1208 by Cooter!, on Flickr
It goes across Kootenay Bay, it's beautiful, and it's even free! We slurp our waffle cone ice creams and enjoy the bay...

They got hippies up there too:
IMG_1203 by Cooter!, on Flickr

And 3A follows the HUGE Kootenay Lake back south to the border:
IMG_1213 by Cooter!, on Flickr

I couldn't stand the itching in my helmet anymore so I shaved off my face hair right here with a pathetic electric razor. A single AA battery against a months worth of face hair equals a painful process
IMG_1219 by Cooter!, on Flickr

YES, they did let me back in Suckers!:
IMG_1223 by Cooter!, on Flickr

[MakingPAIN]

Badass man, looks like a good ride.. and I second you on the JIS screws. Picked up a set of drivers years ago for my old mikuni and keihin carbs...

[Cooter]

Our goal is Kalispell, Montana, so that we are striking distance the next day to the Going-to-the-Sun road in Glacier Nat'l Park. I NEED to do this road! I had been up here in 2010 in my RV and had bypassed it on purpose so that I would have something to come back too. But I almost didn't make it this time, again...

We drop back into 'Murica (where we know how to post realistic speed limits), cut the top corner of Idaho, and into Montana. Theres nothing up there but unspoiled beauty. Nothing but quiet places to camp, no cell service, and the eternal threat of death by deer. Topping off the tanks, I grab a look at the map before theres no more service for good and plot our path towards Kalispell. There is some confusion with Wild Turkeys (the animal not the drink, I swear!) and he ends up leading. Cool! He has downloaded the off-line Google map, So I know he's found a better way and it's getting dark. Again. (cue that Doom Music please)

He shoots past the turn off, just past those wild turkeys, and I happily follow Mr. Off-line Map Guy for 30 miles before I start to worry. I KNOW we are going north, and I KNOW Kalispell is south east of us. Haven't seen a human for 90 miles. I give him the universal shrug of WTH? and he pulls over immediately. Not good.

A short, loud, discussion generally focusing on the impossibility of someone (him) to follow someone else (me) from the FRONT very effectively means that we are very close to our maximum range, no signal, no people, and I small raw gas. The Café doesn't leak. Yay! Unless it's running. And thats when it pisses raw gas on a hot engine. We know theres nothing behind us, and the tiny dot of a city 25 miles up isn't very hopeful either.

He had noticed a sign for a campground about 8 miles back, and quick maths tell me I better be a lucky boy. I'm counting on someone being there. I'm counting on them having some gas, I'm counting on it being in a can, and I'm counting on the generosity of the world I live in to provide these things to me. For him. Oh, and If all that happens? I'm going to coast into that little dot on the map way past maximum range and hope it's got a station there.

Doug. Doug is my hero. He is the generous human that had a 2 gallon gas can full of premium fuel, happily sipping a bloody Mary in the evening after fishing with his family and dog in the most beautiful secluded camp spot I think I've ever seen. No I'm not telling you All he asks is for his can back. He can't help fast enough and won't even take money from me. Faith in humanity restored!

IMG_1226 by Cooter!, on Flickr

I get back to the Café and dump in the can. It's not enough to share so onward he goes. We slip some cash in the top so Doug will find it and I double back to return it.

Amiright!?!
IMG_1228 by Cooter!, on Flickr

'Dot town' did not have gas. But the next town did and being next to the highway, we just burned down to Kalispell in the dark. Still pissing gas. Was burned down a bad metaphor? Well, we made it
IMG_1229 by Cooter!, on Flickr

BUGS! Ain't just a Bunny.
IMG_1230 by Cooter!, on Flickr