Who remembers these guys....

[Madmountainman]

Those who know Phil and Kate, from Cheddar, will also know they snuck off very quietly to the Americas for an extended wander. They've sent the odd email back, updating their friends of there adventures and i thought it might be nice if i forwarded them onto here;

Hi y'all,

Just a quickie to let you know we are both safe and well and enjoying the company of friends in Edmonton, Alberta - yes we are now in Canada. It's 1st July - Canada Day and we have been experiencing the parade in the small town of Tofield, meeting lots of jolly people enjoying themselves. We are staying with John and Donna who we met in New Orleans and then Gordan and Jose who we met on our way to Las Vegas at the Hoover Dam. Our other reason to be here is yet more tyres! 30,000 miles means two more rear tyres making that number 4 on my bike and 3 on Kate's since last September. Also, we have to collect some very important immigration forms otherwise we will not be allowed back into the USA!

We have just spent a week looking around the Canadian Rockies - absolutely incredible and stunning mountain scenery. Wildlife is abundant - we have seen bears, elk, marmots, osprey, hawks, trout and small rodents. No grizzlies yet! We have hiked to glaciers and watched avalanches caused by the hot weather, soaked ourselves in hot mineral springs and found an Irish bar in Banff with 20 or so beers on tap including Tetleys and Kilkenny. So life is wonderful! I've also just been told that my Career Break has been extended for another 12 months - we just need to win the lottery or premium bonds to keep going!

The bikes are holding together well - mine has now topped 60,000 and Kates 25,000 miles - the last service at Seattle cost us an arm and a leg but its not too bad living on beans and Idaho mashed potatoes. My expensive rear Ohlins shock absorber is stuck on max. preload, the adjuster has failed and I hope Ohlins will put that right as its rough and too hard without a load.

Decision made for me to return to UK late September for 2 weeks - to sought out Carnets and International Driving Permits, visit friends and family, prior to heading south from Texas if we decide to continue as first planned. Kate is well up for it. We've heard good and bad about Mexico but we shall be researching the issue during a 4 week holiday in Cody, Wyoming in July/Aug. We'll be RV sitting and dogwatching for friends Malc and Karen when they return to the UK. (To those unversed in American camping terminology, an RV is a recreational vehicle - a campervan the size of a bus.) A few weeks of luxury to look forward to and - Tom and Cindy - I will be able to make Sturgis if you are still up for it? - but Kate doesn't feel able to cope with the drunkeness and nudity! (It's just that it would be too embarrassing if I got my boobs out for the boys and no one noticed! - Kate.)

Since we were last in touch we've spent about a month in California visiting Yosemite and giant redwood forests then traveling up the coast from LA (Bay Watch - no babes or Hasseloffs) all the way to Washington. We stayed on the coast with 2 BMW biking German families we had met in Death Valley, thanks Macks - we had a great time despite the weather. Volcanoes around the Seattle area were amazing - the most recent explosion was 1980.

When we leave here next week we shall be returning to the USA and hopefully renew our visas.

Best wishes,
Phil and Kate.


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[Madmountainman]

Dear All,

We were in Edmonton, Alberta last time we wrote. We're now in Cody, Wyoming. We traveled down the east side of the Canadian Rockies, then crossed back into the USA, spent some time in Glacier National Park, then Hamilton in the Bitterroot Valley, Yellowstone Park and now Cody.

We had an uneventful border crossing; the imigration official was human for a change (probably because she was female). We were a little worried that we would not be allowed back into the USA, given that we only left it 3 weeks earlier. I had been reprimanded for abusing the 6 month visa system when I returned to Florida in February after a month in the UK. The system is designed, apparently, to allow foreigners into the country for 6 months each year, not to come and go continuously. So, coming back in from Canada, we used the "speak only when spoken to" and "give sensible answers" technique. (Saying "That bridge" in response to the question "What brought you to the United Satates?" didn't go down too well at Niagara Falls.) It worked. We asked for four months and they gave us six, so we could stay till January.

Montana was great, although seeing all the crosses along the roadsides marking fatal accidents was a little disturbing - the maximum number of crosses in one place was nine! The roads were dead (??) straight too. Luckily, we missed the 4th July celebrations. Three of the small towns we passed through got a mention in the local paper the next week. Flathead - police were kept busy with "a predictable blend of alcohol and explosives". Kalispell - a teenager was arrested for "tossing fireworks out his vehicle window on Main Street". And the best one is Hungry Horse - "a bar patron was struck in the chest by what authorities described as 'an artillery shell'. Blistered and burned, she did not await the ambulance".

Glacier was beautiful but cold and wet so we didn't get chance to go out walking. Hamilton was hot and dusty, and had an excellent Bluegrass Festival to keep us amused. Phil sniffed out the Bitterrroot Brewery which kept him amused for more then enough time! Had a great time exploring the dirt road mountain passes. Most paved roads in that area of Montana run north/south; we took a few shortcuts east/west.

It was baking hot heading south towards Yellowstone Park. Phil, with visor up (mine's always down, I learnt that lesson when a pigeon expolded in my face near home), caught a bee in his helmet. Like any sensible bee would, it stung him. After almost crashing into the back of him when he slammed his brakes on, I went to assist with first aid. He pointed to where it hurt and asked me to pull out the sting if it was still in there. I could only see something that looked like a hair, but I pulled it out anyway to keep him quiet, then applied the sting relief. We set off, but he pulled up again a few minutes later, complaining it was no better. This time he applied the sting relief himself - to an area an inch or so away from where I'd applied it. It seems I'd pulled a hair out of a mole and put the cream on there! I may have worked with a bunch of general practitioners for 10 years but I never claimed to have learnt anything from them!

Yellowstone Park was full of geysers and trees, which is how it's supposed to be. Nothing much had changed since I spent the summer cleaning cabins there in 1989, except that the ones I tried so hard to keep up together are now semi-derelict shacks used for employee accommodation. My parents came out to visit a week or so ago so we had another trip to Yellowstone then, but have otherwise spent the last four weeks being very lazy in the RV we're looking after for friends.

Phil never made it to Sturgis. I never intended to go. Too busy there. We met people who had been there and left before the event started because it was so crowded and expensive. $70 to put a tent in someone's garden. 500 000 were expected to attend. My idea of a complete nightmare.

Navigation has not improved. We lost each other in Missoula, Montana, looking for a BMW dealer. My fault; I turned onto the correct road. Phil went sailing past it. Usually he notices I'm gone and comes back to look for me. Not this time. After waiting a few minutes, I started following the directions Phil had given me earlier after he checked the map. They took me down a dead end road to a gate in a horse field. Right road, wrong side of town! Inside out, back-to-front map with east and west in the wrong places again! Good job we're not in the southern hemisphere where the sun's upside down as well!

After great expense and a lot of phone calls, Phil has managed to get his rear shock absorber mended. The pre-load adjuster unit had 'blown'. Seems he had the lighter-weight spring and was carrying too much weight (he brought at least two of everything with him - I call him Noah). He now has a rebuilt unit and stronger spring (but I still can't make him throw anything out). ( After much deliberation I actually got some good advice from a guy who knew what he was talking about and contacted Ohlins USA on my behalf. Thanks to him Ohlins did a great job rebuilding the unit and returning it to me within 4 days. Cost me best part of $500 but well worth it. Only trouble is every time I get on the bike I feel like Zebedee of Magic Roundabout driving a one ton truck rather than a motorbike!!! - Phil)

Back on the bikes next Monday, planning to go to South Dakota, then back to Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Texas. Phil is flying back to Britain for two weeks on 6th October. I'll be hanging around in Texas looking for some mates.

Best wishes,
Kate and Phil.




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