August 24
During the night i lay awake listing to thunder storms in the distance....then slept well till 0500. Then all hell broke loose...first the rain then the wind and then lighting so bright no torch was required. I was sent in the tent getting wet and holding it up (the tent that is).
I made a decision to pack up and get out of the field and somewhere dry. Somehow, i put all kit on (and the waterproof liners), packed up the rtoll mat and sleeping bag. Put the laptop in the waterproof bag that the tent normally lives in and made a run for it!! Kitted up the bike with all the kit, shouted to John "meet you somewhere dry in the next town" and rode out the field. It was wet and i slipped and wheel spun up and down the slope to the road. I saw an advertising hoarding (spelling?) for MacDonalds......i was there at 0730 driping wet. I dived in,got a hot coffee and watch the news of the severe weather in this (and most of the US) area.
John arrived 3 hours later - "i saw the hoarding and knew you would be here".
We left Ronalds place and headed east on the 2 towards Minot...on the way we endulged in our new sport of tent flying....similar to kite flying but there are no strings:
It started to rain again and by the time we reached Minot we were wet...a motel was in order!!! Then we went out...John even put on his new shoes that Daniel from Protland gave him!!
- Posted by mark stowe on 25/08/2006.
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August 23
A windy night...i laid awake wondering when the tent was going to lift off....luckly i was still in the same place when i crawled out.
The bike ran its 50000 mile today!!! 
N48.37.702 and W 109.54.941 Well done bike...not far now!!!
Was really tire when riding...had to stop and have a power nap....stopped, removed helmet and glove, laid next to bike and slept for 15 minutes. Felt much better!!
- power nap location.
When i woke, i had a quick look at John engine...it was leaking again!!! We managed to ride the 60 miles to Glasglow with no problems. The first shop in town was a Yamaha dealer!!! (yes, i know it says Honda....but the sign next to the road says 'Yamaha').
The oil was not leaking badly and the man convinced us it was just a oil well leaking...we decided to push on and ignore it. The man at the shop told us about Fort Peck - a bit earth dam. So we went and had a look - the dam was not that impressive, but the spillway was!!
We rode into North Dakota and John found us a great camp site...it was warm and quiet.....i hopped for a good nights sleep.
- Posted by mark stowe on 25/08/2006.
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August 22
Rode to Calgary....and around the ring road and headed for America. It almost started to rain.......then, the sun came out and the last 100 miles od Canada were so hot!!! The border crossing was easy - the town of Carway was the point of entry and then into Montana.
We turned onto Highway 2 - we were both keen to get home and this road went due east for a good portion of the US. Although the roads were long and straight, there was plently to look at - funny hilly landscape, very long trains, small 'hicky' towns and animals!!
In Shelby we stopped at the worst MacDonalds ever...no soap in the toilet and no uniforms for the staff....standards were dropping, i need a word with Ronald!! However, it did have a great sign to phot in the evening sunshine!!
The ride to find a campsite was away from a lovely sunset!!!
- Posted by mark stowe on 25/08/2006.
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August 21
Woke cold and only a little grumpy....not finding flat smooth spots to sleep on. The 45 mile ride to Jasper was very cold....it was 0800 in the morning, the sun was hardly up and we were surrounded by mountains. The scenery was stunning though.
We faffed around in Jasper eating and updating the website till 1200 and then left town - paying out 4 pounds each (entry to the parks). The scenery was even more stunning....it is plain now why this group of mountains is called the Rockies. Just massive lumps of rock towering high into the sky. In places, it looked like what was once flat ground had been push up into the air....it is hard to explain. I am not sure of this is right...but on some rocks, you could see what loked like a river bed from when it once laid flat?!?!? Maybe the rock people out there can educate us all?
The road was very smooth...we met a Harley rider who wished she 'had packed my kindney belt it was so rough'....Did she ride the same rode we had done? Who knows. Had a slight wash at a big waterall.
- Posted by mark stowe on 24/08/2006.
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August 20
Woke cold and grumpy....really cold and really grumpy.
The XT started and we rode into Grande Prairie - again. We really knew the town well now. Straight to Wendys for food, tent drying (plus the normal 'did you sleep in the carpark last night' questions)
...and a final check over the XT. We could see no oil leaks....so we rode to Wal-Mart to buy oil and then to starbucks. Victor and Brian (maybe Bryan) boosted our confidence....they knew a thing or two about engines and we all finally agreed that it was just a blown gasket and John noticed before the engine ran too hot and siezed. Phew. Thank you Victor and Brian. (apologies to Victor if i insulted you reference the gift - did not mean too).
Once John had bought some new shades - i suggested that they make him look a bit gay
- we headed for that Starbucks that we promised ourselves. We sat and drank coffee confident that the XT would go at least a little further!! We even managed a shave - as the saying goes 'a shave is as good as a wash'.
- Posted by mark stowe on 24/08/2006.
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August 19
Cold but sunny start....we arrived in Grande Prairie by 0900...but we lost an hour yesterday as we crossed into Alberta...so it was now 1000. I sat inside Starbucks whilst John wrestled changing his front tire and told the world the story of our trip. A trip across town to a Yamaha dealer - i spent a hour explaining our story to various people whilst John fitted a 40 tooth sprocket!!! A faster ride to New York now!!!??
It was 1500 once we had eaten, dried the tents and gassed up.
33.5miles out of town, John stops. His bike is hot and sounding rough. We check the oil and top it up....with almost a liter!!! She start and dumps most of the oil on the road. 2 hours later, with a fair number of bolts removed, we get the rocker cover off....it looks like the 'gasket' had gone. There was no gasket...it had been sealed with 'instant gasket'. John hopped on my bike and rode back to town - in search of instant gasket. I sat at the side of the wrote and wrote emails on the laptop and waited for the plethora (sp please Mr T) of people to stop and help out. Only a few people stopped....some people slowed down to have a look and once they saw i was tapping away on a laptop, they passed by. Dave did stop - a really nice man with a ranch and tools only 1 hour away....he was willing to come and pick us and the bike up if we could not repair it!!
2 hours later (and the GPS showing John was leading the score board having hit 97.4MPH on his trip into town) he returned and we put the XT back together with the instant gasket. In Russia we had seen truck drivers with whole cylinder heads laying in the dirt as they replaced pistons at the side of the road - we felt Russian - bodging the engine back together with a good amoun t of dirt getting in everywhere. However, we were sober and not wearing slippers - the two main rules of being a russian truck driver.
The instant gasket took 24 hours to cure - we started her up after one and guess what....she started 
and kept the oil inside the engine!!!! I could not believe it!!! I had visions of us living in Grande Prairie whilst we waited for parts to be shipped in!!! We headed back towards town...very slowly. It was a painful ride because 1.doing 40mph 2.it was the wrong direction!!!
We stopped short of town and found the worst campsite ever. Slopped, deep grass, bumpy and next to silver birch.
- Posted by mark stowe on 24/08/2006.
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August 18
Really did not want to get up....a bad night listening to birch trees blowing in the wind. I was a bit quiet and grumpy and we dried the tent out in the morning sunshine - the first we had seen for almost a week!!
The riding was boring...long straight roads....the only thing that was mildly entertaining what what we might find in the next town that was called Pink Mountain. There was nothing camp about Pink Mountain - men in trucks and signs on the restaurant door that said 'remove your muddy boots'. Also, the mountains were not pink....well..not yet....read on.
We got chatting to Boyd and Verina (i think i have her name right...apologies if not). They were on their way to survey some land - they were driving a Hummer truck. We had all noticed a pink liquid dripping onto the ground from underneath their truck...Boyd poped the 'hood' (bonet) to take a look. The coolant reservoir was the same colour pink liquid....being the type of person that likes to take things apart, i started to loosen the coolant lid. It was not hot and no steam escaped.....so there was (from my past experience) no issues with removing it. POP. The lid shot off and the pink liquid sprayed everywhere....if it was within 10 feet, it now had pink oily liquid on it. Yes, even the mountains were pink, but not camp....are you keeping up? If you cant....you have to read this imagining i am talking it...then it make sense. Emma Ryan...you out there? This is how you write emails....they make very little sense until you read them imagining your are speaking it!) Anyway....so here we are...four of us, a Hummer and a mountain covered in pink gunk.
- Posted by mark stowe on 24/08/2006.
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August 17
August 17
A 10 mile ride to Liard Springs - we sat and washed in wonderfully naturally hot springs for about an hours - now soap was allowed....so lots of scrubbing. Across the road we had breakfast and got chatting to a lady called Lynda - she was very interesting and we spent a few hours shooting the breeze with her. She had written a book about her experiences in the Arctic....it was about to be screen written - she reminded me of an Arctic Diane Fossey.
It was 1400 and we had managed 10 miles.....not a good day from that point of view, but we were clean (although we put back on our dirty clothes - apart from my boxers that were drying on the back kof my bike. Riding 'commando' was quite liberating!!).
Only 5 miles down the road i slammed on the brakes....i had seen something of great interest sat at the side of the road!! John went sailing by...his brakes combined with his bald front tyre meant braking was not his strong point.
Sat at the side of the road next to the 'Silver Dream Machine' was Rosie!!!!!! How excited was i!!!! (if you have no idea who Rosie is - www.rosiearoundtheworld.co.uk).
- Posted by mark stowe on 24/08/2006.
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August 16
Another early start and rode to Ross River. We found a heavly disguised cafe that also had the town phone box. I called home whilst John chatted with Elvis - well, the owner with huge side burns who reminded me of Elvis. Apparently, it was 20 years ago to the day that he passed!?!?!?!
It was 240 miles to Watson Lake - all loose gravel. We had enough fuel, but the leak from John's fuel tap was back. 3 long riding stints with only the odd piece of wildlife to break it up. 80 miles, 90 miles and then 70 miles. When we reached Watson Lake i was shattered. John ran out of gas 5 miles form town and filled up from his gerry can. It was 1400...it had been a long day!! We hung out in Watson Lake for a while. 4 guys on bikes rocked up...the average age was about 55....they had already ridden 459 miles today!!! It was only 15:00!!! We had something to aim for!!!!
Dinner was at a little cafe that was closing.....chilli and toast was all they had. We were sucked into the TV on the wall that was showing the movie Johnny English....i won a date with Natalie Imbrulia - the heroine of the movie (John bet me a date with her to the fisrt person that thought of her name). Mackenzie, the young lad that served us asked 'would you like it [the tv] louder'. I said no....John looked confused. A few minutes later John quietly asked me 'why would we want a ladder?'....the ear plugs was playing havoc with his hearing!!!
- Posted by mark stowe on 24/08/2006.
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