30.7.2014 night

Night time in Fort Mcleod ,arrived here about 12.30 and found a motel $35.00 each for the night on the main drag , very small town not much to do but it's chill out time been a few hard days riding and we just need to relaxe. 34 degree c at 1.00 so went and did laundry and back to motel ,caught up on e mails and had a couple of beers and yes Ocker got mislaid again but found us about an hour after we arrived. Supermarket acros the road so we purchased a couple of cooked chickens and salads, fresh bread etc, so cost for tea 7.00 each plus 10.00 each for refreshments priceles
Tomorrow is going to be a big on we are going to do the " ride to the sun" highway which is way up in the mountains about 7000 ft up and has a reputation of being one of the best rides in the country.
Am I bit peved as yesterday I had a go camera and all around the ride through those magnificent mountains I was slowing down ( got a remote as camera attached to my helmet ) holding up traffic clicking away for still shots, taking videos  for about 3 hours thinking " peter Jackson eat your heart out " and I got nothing as camera shut down.

OMG no one got lost today, ( only one road to take so couldn't go wrong ) big day today left  Fort Mcleod at 8.00 am and changed where we were going and ended up in Helena about 500 km and with the stopping and starting arrived here at 7.00 pm but had a lot of stops on the way. Today we traveled through Glacial National park and this has been the highlight if the trip as we road the top bike ride in the USA it's called " ride to the sun" . Kiwis go on about Milford sounds, the west coast but this ride is spectacular , you have to ride it and see for yourself words can't describe this road and scenery. Got some good photos and will post later . Thank god I am using 70 plus suntan lotion so still very hot here and haven't got sunburnt yet. We are in Montana now so you don't have to wear a helmet so fairly exposed to the weather and we had a lucky break as could see a big storm coming up but it went to the side of us.
Tomorrow Billlings

It's morning at the casino watch says 5.45 I pad say 6.45, we are leaving at 8 but don't know what time the guys are on and Ocker not here he has gone walk about about an hour ago don't know where only one road and only thing to see is casino. The night before we left Seattle he woke me up said it was 6 o'clock and was going for a walk so I dozed for an hour woke and it was only 3.30 so his body clock is still out . Did a post last night took me about an hour with Ocker in the background asking me question tried to add some picture and lost the blog, thank god I have Steph back in NZ helping me with this it stuff but still trying to send pictures. on to Fort Mcleod today should be there by lunch time. Today is laundry day, and catch up day so going to chill and relax

Sorry everyone for the lack of blogs but has been full on for the lasr 4 days.
Ok last report we were in Seattle nod on the Sunday 27.07.2014 dave myself Coxy and Ocker went to the boing factory for a tour , the site is the biggest building in the worl ,410000 staff are employes here there are 19 cafés on site has its own fire brigade and security and it was certainly worth a look around. We have had some big days riding, with most days the last few days riding an average of 350 miles a day or about 6.5 hours on the bike . The guys are amazed at the scenery fron the big redwood forests to coastal rides, now we are up in the Canadian Rockies with huge mountains big rivers ,lakes ,waterfalls you name it we are seeing it and the best thing is the highways , big long straights and sweeping bends and some tomes the sped limit is 120 km an hour .there has been no major dramas some of us tend to get lost or side tracked most days or go down the street on the wrong side of the road but no one has received a ticket yet. Mark had a bit of trouble getting into Canada after us waiting in line, on our bike, in about 32 degree c heat for about 55 minutes, we got through ok but he got taken to a room and questioned, this is what happens when you own a Yamaha road star bike. On Monday we stayed in Kamloops which was a nice wee city/ town but went to get some beer and what a price on a par with NZ $22.00 for a 15 pack where in USA $18.00 for a 24 pack Bud , taxi driver to us to a nice bar/ grill for tea and the food was great. We are all eating healthy with salads and a lot of veges and fruit and dring lot of water with the heat, I think I have dropped a couple of KG ( or is that wishfully thinking)
Today we road from Kamloops to Banff about a 7 hr drive and this was through some national parks and went past lake Louise which was full of tourist and we're going to stay the night in Banff ( reminded me of queens town ) people every where and all accommodation was booked out or was going to cost $250.00 a night so we went down the road and staying at a Casino.
Right am going to try and attach some pics

Just let everyone know I have done a blog but it won't let me publish it. So in short Phil and Brian have arrived ,we are in Seattle and today we visit the Boing factory. Have written a bit on blogspot but the wifi is so bad it won't send . Just arrived in Hope Canada and am at McDonald's waiting for other guys. We got separated at the boarder.

22.07.2014

Day 2 here in LA and today we went and picked up Ockers bike left about 8.30 am and got on the freeway heading in the right direction which was a good start but about an hour into trip made a cock up which threw us of our route but got sorted and got back on track once again and arrived at Chucks place way out in the desert only about half an hour late and thank god there was a gas station there as we're very low on gas.instead of coming back via the motorway we took a back road called Angeles crst highway 2 which took us about 5000 ft up into the hill behind LA with some great views over the desert. During the winter the road is closed as it gets about 20 ft of snow. The road was good with lots of bends and had to drop down to 25mph on some of the corners so a slow trip back to LA and it was hot, about 90 which is 32 in NZ. After coming of the mountain this is when things turned to custard we got separated and some how I ended up in down town LA and I can say that was some thing I will never forget so stopped to ask directions twice and then I was back on the I110 s freeway and got back to motel about 5.30. All up clocked up about 220 miles ( 350 km ) for the day only annoying thing was Ocker beat me back to motel and he got lost also. Mark and Dave have arrived and have already put a scratch on their rental and they have had to shift motels as their room was canceled for last night, not a very good system here for checking in etc. A few beers we're had last night and went to the casino for tea again $40.00 us for 3 Stella and 3 meals can't go wrong. Big day Wednesday as head to San Fran.

21July2014

The day has finally arrived, left Invercargill @ 3.00 pm on the 21.07.2014 ( should have been 2 but plane delayed )  so missed flight in CH CH but got next one so all went well as left Auckland at 9.30 on the flight we were booked on . Not a bad trip apart from the big air pocket and turbulence about 3 hours out, plane dropped about 50 feet all of a sudden and red wine went every where aperture from that dozed all the way. Got out of LAX  airport about 3.30 so dropped bags off motel then on to Kiwi shipping to pick up bike and had bit of trouble starting but loose connection was found and fixed so all go . Once again the service at Kiwi shipping was excellent with them going out of there way to get us on the road. . Got a bit lost coming back went east instead West so ended up in run down part of town but all good after some locals put us the right track so have arrived at LA Adventure hotel which is a back packers and is a bit run down and I think we are the oldest here.  Unpacked  and had a couple of beers by the pool then a 10 minute walk to a mall and sorted out our phones with Ocker buying his first cell . Went to a casino for Tea , interesting no pokies only tables for cards etc? Early start tomorrow as going to pick up Ockers bike.