I thought I would repost a blog I wrote in 2019 about riding in the rain. It’s been raining nonstop here in So Cal for days. When I say nonstop, that’s what I mean. Ordinarily when you get caught in the rain, it lasts for a while and then stops, and then maybe starts again. With this atmospheric river (the meteorological term) we are experiencing, it has literally been constant rain. I’m staying warm and cozy with a cup of coffee here in my home, but looking out the window, I’m reminded of past rides in the rain…and with that intro, here’s our previous blog.
Wow, it has been pouring here for the last week, with little respite other than this past Sunday. Sunday was nice. Every other day this week and the tail end of last week has been nonstop rain. Big time. Buckets full. And my iPhone just started buzzing with a flash flood warning for this area. Wow again.
So I’m sitting here at the computer, enjoying a hot cup of coffee, looking out the window, and I’m thinking about what it’s like to ride in the rain. We’ve all had those rides. Those memories stick in my mind. I remember every one of those rides like they happened yesterday.
The first was the return leg of my first international motorcycle foray, when good buddy Keith Hediger and I rode up to Montreal and back. That was in the early ‘70s, and we didn’t call them adventure rides back then. They were just motorcycle rides. I was on a ’71 CB750 and Keith was on a Kawi 500cc triple. It rained the entire length of Vermont at about the same intensity you see in the video above. We had no rain gear. It wasn’t cold, but it sure was wet. We were soaked the entire day. Wouldn’t trade a minute of it. It was a great ride.
Another time was on the second ride I ever did in Baja with good buddy Baja John. It was pouring when we left at 4:00 a.m., and it didn’t let up for the entire day. I was on a Harley then, and we finally stopped somewhere around Colonet to checked into a cheap Baja hotel (a somewhat redundant term, which is becoming less redundant as Baja’s march in to the 21st century unfortunately continues). Leather, I found out on that trip, makes for lousy rain gear. I went hypothermic, and I had the shakes until 4:00 the following morning. It made for a good story, and the rest of that trip was epic. Down to Cabo, back up to La Paz, on the overnight ferry over to Mazatlan, out to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, back up to Nogales, and a thousand-mile one-day dash to make it home on New Year’s Eve. Wouldn’t trade a second of it.
Riding with Marty on the ’05 Three Flags Classic, we were caught in a downpour the second day out as we rode along the Dolores River in Colorado. It was a magnificent ride, with Marty on his K1200RS and me on my 1200cc Daytona. It wasn’t a drizzle. It was a downpour, just like you see in the video above. I remember it vividly, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Colombia had lots of rain, but it only hit us hard on the very first day. It was raining hard that first morning as we rode out of Medellin and into the Andes early on that fine Colombian morning, but it lightened up by breakfast. I had real rain gear and the only issues were visibility and passing 22-wheelers on blind curves, as my Colombian riders did with gleeful abandon. Exciting times. But good times, and certainly ones I remember. Colombia was an adventure for the ages. I wouldn’t trade a second of it for anything else.
I’d have to say the heaviest rains I ever rode through were in China, where it rains a lot. It probably rained 25% of the time on that trip, and the first few days were the worst. Imagine riding up into the Tibetan Plateau, in the dark, on dirt roads, in rain way heavier than what you see in the video above. That’s what it was like, and I loved every mile of that ride. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else on the planet.
You might be wondering…why no photos? Well, the simple truth is that my cameras on each trip were tightly wrapped in plastic bags, and I wasn’t about to break them out in the rain. That’s something I guess I forgot to mention in my earlier blog about what to bring on a Baja trip: Garbage bags. They take up almost no space when you’re not using them, and they work great for keeping stuff dry when you ride in the rain.
Yep, it’s going to be the CSC RX4, and I’m pumped about the ride. There’s not a lot of information out there on this bike yet other than here on the ExNotes site, and I’ll give you the link for that at the end of this post.
Steve Seidner (President and CEO of CSC Motorcycles) and good buddy Matt (motorcycle maestro extraordinaire), the two guys who are prepping my RX4 for the 3FC19 ride.
I’ll be the first guy to take the RX4 on a major road trip in the US, and I’ll be the first guy to ride it internationally on a single ride. I think that’s pretty cool.
Steve and Matt prepped the bike for me by changing the oil, adjusting the valves, installing spotlights, installing the cell phone holder so I can use Waze to navigate, and more. It was cool visit, and I enjoyed seeing the guys at CSC again.
Down to the frame, just to make sure everything is ready for my 4,500-mile epic international journey. It wasn’t necessary. The guys found nothing wrong.These are going to turn night into day for me. I like them!Check out the double disks, and hey, Orlando…look, it’s orange…the fastest color!A subfender. Cool!A new rear tire and chain lube. It’s going to be a great ride.I spec’d out the Tourfella aluminum luggage on this bike…I’ll be carrying my laptop and all my camera gear, and like always, I’ll be blogging from the road every night. You’ll be able to follow the entire trip right here on the ExNotes blog. Hey, do you think the top dawgs at Harley or Honda personally prep bikes for their rally riders?
So, about that additional RX4 information…you can find it right here on our RX4 page! And hey, check out the CSC Motorcycles site, too!
What? You haven’t signed up for our automatic email blog updates yet? Hey, you can do that right here!
Want to read about some of our other epic rides on CSC motorcycles, Royal Enfield motorcycles, Janus motorcycles, and the odd Harley or two? Take a look at our Epic Rides page!
Wow, was I ever surprised when a young guy in a pickup truck held up this note as we rode south on Highway 101!
The photo you see above popped up in my Facebook feed this morning letting me know it was 4 years ago that I posted it, and that meant it was four years ago that we finished the 5000-mile Western America Adventure Ride. Here’s what I originally posted on the CSC blog about that “Hi Joe” sign:
We are in Santa Maria tonight. It was an easy roll once we got past San Jose, but the traffic on the 101 leaving San Francisco and all the way down past San Jose was rough this morning. After that, we basically put the bikes on cruise control and ran 75 mph all the way down.
Here’s a cool thing…on the 101, just past San Luis Obispo, a couple of guys in a gray pickup truck pulled up alongside our convoy and starting beeping and waving at us. When they were alongside me, one held up a sign that said “Hi, Joe!” Cool stuff. I have no idea who those guys were, but it’s a safe bet they’ll read this. Guys, when you do, shoot me an email. It made my day seeing you today. I had a good laugh over it.
I mentioned the above in the CSC blog, and later that same day I received this email from my good buddy San Marino Bill:
Joe:
My son just called me (3 pm) from the Paso Robles area and wanted to know where the CSC group was riding today. He is up there picking up his son. He was following a group of good looking bikes (10 or 12). I told him to make a sign that said HI JOE and show it to the leader. I hope it was you.
Bill
That was a pretty cool experience, and it kind of wrapped up how well the ride was received and how much good it did for the RX3 motorcycle and our efforts to show the world it is a great motorcycle. You can read more about that in 5000 Miles At 8000 RPM, the book about bringing the RX3 to America and the Western America Adventure Ride.
My 4-year-old RX3, with its Western America Adventure Ride decal. I still own the bike. It’s in my garage right now, just a few feet from where I sit typing this blog.
We sure had a blast on that ride, and people were following it on the CSC blog all over the world. I remember Pioneer Day in Idaho on that ride, where we literally rode in a parade and people lined the streets awaiting our arrival on the CSC motorcycles. I’ll post that story in another day or two.
Another grand adventure is a little less than a month away. I’ll be riding the new RX4 from Mexico to Canada in the Southern California Motorcycle Association’s 2019 Three Flags Classic. I last did that ride in 2005 (you can read the story about that here), and I’m looking forward to doing it again on the RX4. I’ll be blogging the ride daily, I have a commission for two magazine articles on it, and I’m toying with the idea of a short book on the ride, the RX4 bike, the SCMA, CSC, and Zongshen. That’s going to be good for CSC, Zongshen, the SCMA, and the Three Flags Classic event. It will be another grand adventure. Stay tuned, because I’ll be posting much more here on the ExNotes blog.
I am getting thoroughly pumped up about riding the 2019 Three Flags Classic this year on the RX4. There’s just something about the Three Flags Classic that’s magic, and I haven’t been this excited about getting out on the road in quite a while. It’s going to be grand and it’s going to be a blast, and you’ll be able to follow my personal ride from Mexico through the western United States on up into Canada right here on the ExNotes blog. I’ll have tons of great photos and the writing will be as good as I can make it. You’ll be able to follow first hand my further impressions of the CSC RX4, too. This won’t be a silly superficial set of impressions like you’d read in a half-baked one-page magazine article, either. Nope, this will be thousands of miles of international riding across three countries on the newest motorcycle to hit these shores. I’m not worried. I’ve never been let down by a CSC motorcycle, and I feel comfortable that the RX4 is going to be another home run for CSC and Zongshen. Whatever happens, you’ll get the straight skinny right here on ExhaustNotes!
I think it’s going to be great. If you want to read more about the 2019 Three Flags Classic, take a look at the SCMA site here! If you’d like to read about our 2005 Three Flags Classic ride, you can do so here.
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So there we were in Calgary. Wow. And we’d ridden there on our motorcycles through all three countries (Mexico, the United States, and Canada). It had been a grand ride, but it was only half the trip. Now, it was time after a fun two days in Calgary for the ride home.
Before diving into our ride home, though, you might want to catch up on the ride to Calgary. Here are the first seven installments of our story on the 2005 Three Flags Classic…
The plan after the events in Calgary was to select our own route home and ride it at our own pace. The official portion of the 2005 Three Flags Classic was over. It had been a blast. On the run home we would decide where to go, how to get there, and how long to take doing it. Our plan was to head west across Canada from Calgary toward British Columbia, turn left somewhere above Washington, meander over to the coast somewhere after Portland, and follow the Pacific coast home. It was to be another grand adventure, and wow, we were having fun!
On the first morning out of Calgary, we stopped in Banff and had a great breakfast. Smoked salmon and eggs, as I recall. It was delicious.
The road through Banff. It was a crisp morning and the riding was great.We walked around in Banff a bit after breakfast. This bear skull was for sale in a store window.Good buddy Marty posing with the 1200 Daytona in Banff.
The ride that morning was beyond glorious. Crisp, clean air, cool temperatures, and all was well with the world. The big 1200 Daytona was running superbly well and the scenery was magnificent. Every scene was a picture postcard, and I caught a lot of them. Incidentally, all of the photos you see in this story were shot with film. I had my Nikon N70 with me and just two lenses (the 24-120 Nikon, and a 17-35 Sigma). Great scenery, great photo gear, a great motorcycle, and great photo ops. Life was good. It still is.
After that great breakfast in Banff and a bit of walking around, were back on the road headed west across Canada. Our next stop was Lake Louise.
The Lake Louise Hotel.The Lake Louise Hotel lobby, courtesy of the 17-35 Sigma lens. This place looked very expensive. In our dead-bug-encrusted road gear, we looked out of place.A statue near Lake Louise, erected by the Canadian Pacific Railway, honoring the Swiss Mountain guides. When building the railroad through the Rockies, the Canadian Pacific Railroad needed guys who knew how to find their way around in this kind of terrain. They bought mountain guides in from Switzerland.Lake Louise. It gets its greenish hue from glacial silt.The road crew in front of Lake Louise.There were signs around Lake Louise advising us to be on the lookout for grizzlies. Wow!
We continued heading west and then south through Canada, and we spent the night in Penticton, about an hour north of the border. Penticton is an interesting resort town, complete with a large lake and a casino. I had a smoked salmon pizza for dinner. Love that smoked salmon.
We crossed the border early and re-entered the U.S. into Washington. We were honking along pretty good, not 30 minutes into the U.S., when a Washington State Patrol officer pulled us over for speeding. It was early, maybe 6:30 in the morning, and the officer was heading north when we were heading south. He lit us up as he passed by, I saw him do a “Smokey and the Bandit” u turn in my rear view mirror, and we pulled over immediately. The officer pulled up behind us. When we took our helmets off, he looked at us and said, “Ah, old guys,” while shaking his head. He told us to slow down. The trooper was an old guy, too. I think he felt a connection. No citation. We chatted a bit. We were lucky. Yeah, I’m an old guy, but riding that Triumph always made me feel like I was 18 years old. “I don’t know why you boys aren’t getting tickets today,” the trooper said and then he told us to ride safely. His strategy worked. We rode across Washington at a sedate 60 mph for the rest of the day. It took forever.
Somewhere north of Yakima, Washington.
We stopped in Goldendale, Washington, for a cup of coffee in a local bar, chatted with the locals for a while, and then we had one of the most scenic rides I’ve ever taken. It was to be one of the best parts of the ride, and it was through the Columbia River Gorge. The roads and the scenery were incredible. It was the first time I’d ever seen it, and I’ve been back there several times since. It was an area I knew I had to include when we hosted the Chinese for the ride through the American West, and I wrote a piece about the region for Motorcycle Classics magazine. The Colombia River Gorge is one of my favorite places in the world.
Marty, headed into the Columbia River Gorge.
We rode along the north side of the Columbia River for about half the length of Washington, and then we crossed into Oregon on the Bridge of the Gods. It was probably 300 feet above the river, and it was one of those iron mesh bridges that you can look down and see all the way to the river. It looked and felt like I was flying, and it was unnerving. I looked down once and that was enough for me. We then found our way into Portland, and checked into a hotel I knew from a previous business trip.
Portland, looking out over the Willamette River.
Portland is a very cool town. Marty and I had fun exploring it, and in particular, stopping for lunch at the Olympian. I later did a story on the Olympian, too, for Motorcycle Classics. The Olympian has a fantastic vintage motorcycle collection.
Kelly’s Olympian Bar. This is a cool place to have a drink.Inside the Olympian. It’s a “must see” spot on any ride through Portland.
We left Portland before sunrise early the next morning and headed southeast toward the coast. Oregon is a wet state. We had a lot of mist in the morning riding through the rain forest, and it was eerie. I half expected to see Sasquatch jump out and grab me every time I wiped my face shield. Then, we arrived at the Oregon Coast Highway, and yep, that ultimately became a story gracing the pages of Motorcycle Classics, too.
Sasquatch is down there somewhere.Hippy Bob, who we met on Oregon’s Pacific Coast Highway.
The people you meet are the best part of any motorcycle ride, and on the Oregon Coast Highway, we met a guy who introduced himself as Hippy Bob. Hippy Bob had hit the Oregon lottery for $5,000 and he immediately bought a Harley basket case for $4,500. Bob was taking his time working his way down the coast from Portland on that motorcycle (Bob had been on the road for two days when we met him, and he had only traveled about 200 miles south of Portland in that time). I was really interested in Hippy Bob’s motorcycle, as I hadn’t seen a Shovelhead Harley on the road in years. His was a 1981 model. I used to own a 1979 Electra-Glide (with the Shovelhead motor), and I called it an optical illusion because it only looked like a motorcycle. Things were constantly breaking on my Harley. I asked Bob if he had any problems with his Shovelhead, and that opened the floodgates. Bob just went on and on about the nonstop challenges he had faced keeping his Harley running. He was still talking about it when we left.
We rode the Coast Highway all the way south to Highway 138, and someone told us to watch for the elk further east. We did, and wow, were we ever impressed.
Wow.Wow again!A bambino.
We spent the next night in Roseburg. The hotel was literally next door to the Roseburg Harley-Davidson dealer. We looked at the new 2006 Harleys (it was the first time I had seen them, and they looked good). I bought a Roseburg Harley T-shirt. There’s that old joke…you know, for a T-shirt company, they make a pretty good motorcycle…
Our destination the next morning was Crater Lake. Was it ever cold that morning! We rode through more beautiful scenery, but the temperatures were damn near debilitating. I need to tell you that we had been seeing signs warning of elk crossings for much of our time through Washington in Oregon, but the only elk was had seen so far were the ones off Highway 138. I had mentally dismissed the elk warning signs until what happened that morning. We saw another elk warning sign, I was trying to stay warm with my electric vest cranked up all the way, and then all of a sudden about 300 yards further up the road, the largest elk I ever saw stepped in front of us. I stopped, Marty stopped, and the elk stood broadside, just staring at us. He was daring us to proceed. That bull owned the road. He knew it, and he wanted to make sure we knew it, too.
Now, you have to picture this scene. We were the only ones out there, having a staring contest with this elk that was the size of a house, on a bright sunny freezing morning. Steam was coming out of the elk’s nostrils, and mine, too. I flipped my visor up because it was fogging over. The elk stared at me. I stared at it, wondering if I could get the bike turned around if the elk charged. I could see the headlines: Motorcyclist Gored to Death By Enraged Elk.
After what seemed to be an eternity, the elk looked away from us, crossed the highway, and disappeared into the forest on the other side. I started to let my clutch out, and then a female bounded out of the forest on the right and followed the bull into the forest on the left. I stopped and waited a second, and then started to roll forward. Then another female elk appeared. We stopped again. They just kept coming. Big ones, little ones, more big ones, more little ones, and well, you get the idea. I realized: Those elk crossing signs are for real.
Then it was on up to Crater Lake. It was beautiful, and it would become yet another Motorcycle Classics article.
My Daytona parked along the road circling Crater Lake.Yep, that’s snow. It was cold up there!
The area around Crater Lake was downright scary. There are steep drops on the side of the road, no shoulder to speak of, and no guard rails. There are lots of signs warning that you could get seriously hurt or killed up here. On the way down, we encountered ice on the road. I love riding; I hate riding on ice. I was concentrating intensely when out of the corner of my eye I saw a yellow motorcycle closing in on my right rear and I remember wondering who else would be nutty enough to be up here riding on the ice, and who in the world would try passing under these conditions? Then I realized: It wasn’t another motorcycle. It was my motorcycle, and the ass end was sliding around. The back end of my Triumph wasn’t going in the same direction as the front end. That was a close one.
After Crater Lake, we buzzed down to the California border, almost got stopped for speeding again (the CHP cruiser going the other way hit us with the lights but didn’t come after us), and we made it to Davis, California. We had dinner with Marty’s son, and then headed home the next day.
A trip like this is one of life’s grand events. It’s hard to say what part of it I liked best: The camaraderie, the people we met along the way, the scenery, the riding, the wildlife, the memories, the photo opportunities, the sense of adventure, or just the sheer pleasure of being alive and out in the world.
Here’s a summary of the miles that Marty assembled:
• 9/1/05 Upland, CA to Tijuana, BC: 139
• 9/2/05 Tijuana, BC to Gallup, NM: 657
• 9/3/05 Gallup, NM to Grand Junction, CO: 419
• 9/4/05 Grand Junction, CO to Driggs, ID: 569
• 9/5/05 Driggs, ID to Whitefish, MT: 526
• 9/6/05 Whitefish, MT to Calgary, AB: 366
• Total for Three Flags: 2,676
• Miles ridden within Calgary, AB: 6
• 9/8/05 Calgary, AB to Penticton, BC: 430
• 9/9/05 Penticton, BC to Portland, OR: 468
• 9/10/05 Portland, OR to Roseburg, OR: 288
• 9/11/05 Roseburg, OR to Davis, CA: 469
• 9/12/05 Davis, CA to Upland, CA: 427
• Total for return trip: 2,082
• Total for round trip: 4,764
The Three Flags Classic Rally is one of the world’s great motorcycle rides, and if you’ve never experienced it, you might consider signing up for one of these rides. You can get more information on the Three Flags Classic on the Southern California Motorcycle Association website. I’ve done some great rides in my life; the Three Flags Classic was one of the best.
Good buddy Marty (with whom I’ve been riding for a long time) sent this email and photo yesterday…
Joe,
That is me, about 1954, on a 1953 Triumph T100C. It had a 500cc alloy engine, and (fanfare) twin carburetors (thus earning the C for competition). I loved this bike, it handled well, and for its time, was a road-burner. I ran it so hard that I collapsed a valve, and instead of fixing it, traded it on a 1957 Triumph Tiger 110 (which wasn’t as fast!). Good times, good memories.
Marty
Very cool, Marty, and thanks very much.
Marty and I have traveled a lot of miles together, including trips through the US, Baja, and the Three Flags Classic covered here on the ExNotes blog. This is a more recent photo of Marty and his BMW…
So, good buddy Marty and I completed the 2005 Three Flags Classic motorcycle rally and we were in Calgary. That didn’t mean the riding was over, though. We would stay two days in Calgary, and then plot our own course home to California. That part of the ride was great, too. This blog focuses on our two days in Calgary. Much as I like riding, after riding from Mexico to Canada, it was good to be off the bike for a couple of days!
Before diving into our time in Calgary, you might want to catch up on the ride. Here are the first six installments of the 2005 Three Flags Classic…
Calgary was fun. It’s a large and modern city, and we had a good time walking around and taking pictures. About the only riding we did in Calgary was finding a motorcycle shop and getting a new rear tire for the Triumph (you might remember that I patched it). Only one shop had the tire I needed, they knew I needed it, and they soaked me pretty good. It cost $300!
Some of the sculptures along Stephens Street in downtown Calgary, as seen through the Sigma 17-35 lens. I’d heard these were supposed to cut down on the wind noise between the buildings.Interesting graffiti. Classier than the stuff you see around LA.An interesting sculpture in downtown Calgary. It reminded me of one of the guys who rode with us on the rally.I couldn’t resist this shot.An underfed Canadian horse?A chess set in a Calgary store window.Looking up in Calgary.A steam engine in downtown Calgary. I had a new super wide angle 17-35 Sigma lens. It was about a third the price of the comparable Nikon lens and it did a good job.
We spent two nights in Calgary, and we went to the Three Flags Classic banquet in our hotel. About a thousand people attended. I won a $100 Aerostitch gift certificate. It was great. Then they announced how many people rode each different brand of motorcycle. There were lots of Harley, BMW, and Honda riders. There were a few Suzuki and Yamaha riders. But there was only one Triumph rider, and that was me.
We had fun in Calgary. Like I said above, it felt good to be off the bikes for a bit. We spent time just sitting around in the hotel drinking coffee, we talked about many different things, and we solved most of the world’s problems. Then it was back on the bikes for the run west across Canada, with a left turn to head back into the US as we neared the Pacific. That’s coming up, folks, so stay tuned!
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Day 4 was a grand day on our 2005 Three Flags Classic adventure! Before you get into it, and if you haven’t read the first three days, you might want to catch up by reading our prior blog posts here:
Day 4 of the 2005 Three Flags Classic. We started in Driggs, Idaho, and we stopped to spend that night in Whitefish, Montana.
I did a dumb thing on the 2005 Three Flags Classic. Well, actually, I did it about a week before. In those days, I was using my Triumph Daytona as a daily commuter, and on the way into work one day, I had picked up a nail in my rear tire. The tire didn’t go flat right away. Nope, we had to make a trip to China Lake later that morning, I rode my Daytona there from the San Bernardino area, and the tire decided to go flat in China Lake. It was a lucky break for me. There’s a lot of nothing on Highway 395 in the Mojave Desert, and the Daytona had the good manners to go flat once we were in town.
Fortunately, there was an independent motorcycle repair shop in China Lake, and he plugged the tire for me. The Daytona ran tubeless tires, and pulling the nail and plugging the tire was no big deal. That’s where I screwed up. I should have replaced the tire, but I didn’t, and it was just one week later that we were off on the Three Flags Classic.
Well, that morning in Driggs, Idaho when I mounted the Triumph and pushed it back, it wouldn’t budge. That’s when the coffee kicked in and I realized the bike wasn’t leaning as much as it should on the sidestand. Uh oh, I thought. I got off the bike, and sure enough, the rear tire was flatter than day-old beer. It was cold that morning, and I was looking forward to getting on the road and feeling the glow from my Gerbing electric vest. What was I thinking, I thought. It was at that moment that I realized that leaving home with a plugged tire had been a dumb move.
Marty had one of those little electrical compressors you attach to your motorcycle battery, so we hooked everything up. Damn, those things take a long time. I’ll bet we sat there for a good 20 minutes, before the sun came up, with Marty’s BMW idling and that very noisy little electric pump banging away. It took that long to get the tire inflated, and I pumped it up to 45 psi reckoning that I would need to either find a new tire or pump it up again most rickety scosh.
I guess I had done okay (or rather, the Triumph’s rear tire had) until I started taking some of the sweepers at high speed the day before in Idaho. A couple of Three Flags riders on FJRs passed me, and we played cat and mouse with those guys for a while. We took the turns at high speed, which probably flexed the tires more than the usual amount, and that most likely loosened the plug that had been installed in China Lake.
We were on our way after pumping up my flat in Driggs, and when we stopped at a gas station somewhere later that morning I found that the pressure had dropped to about 20 psi. So, I plugged the thing again. The new plug would hold all the way to Calgary, and that was a good thing, because I didn’t see another motorcycle shop until we reached that destination. I wised up and bought a new tire in Calgary, but that’s a story for the next blog in this series.
This is the gas station in Idaho where I re-plugged my rear tire. And it worked. While we were there, a kid pulled up in a yellow dune buggy. We had an interesting conversation and then we were back on the road.Breakfast in Ennis.
The next day took us into Wyoming. Wyoming had magnificent scenery. We stopped at a bunch of great locations to take it all in. The best parts, for me, were the riding, the photography, and the interesting folks we met along the way who were also riding the 2005 Three Flags Classic. The oldest rider in this event was 89 years old. He received a standing ovation at the banquet a couple of nights later in Calgary. The youngest was 17 years old.
I took this picture somewhere in Wyoming. This is John and Joyce, married 45 years. They rode in from Virginia to participate, each on their own motorcycle. They won the award for the longest distance traveled to participate in the Three Flags Classic.
We stopped for lunch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was touristy as hell. It had some great photo ops, but the prices were crazy and the traffic matched the prices. I’d never been there before, so I was glad to make the stop for bragging rights. But (trust me on this) Jackson Hole is not the real Wyoming.
This is Jackson Hole, a tourist town, but with good eats. We had a great Mexican dinner there. The arch is made out of real antlers, and there are four arches like this at the corners of the town square.A door handle on one of the many art galleries in Jackson Hole.
Later that day and we rode into Montana. Montana is another beautiful state. In fact, the scenery on the entire trip was unbelievable. We also saw a lot of game. I saw an entire herd of deer in Montana.
It was getting very cold. I was glad I was riding the Triumph, and I was glad I had that Gerbing electric vest. The Triumph threw off a lot of engine heat, which is not a good thing in the summertime, but it was wonderful in the cold weather. And, that electric vest was heavenly.
Later that day, we hit the checkpoint in Missoula, Montana. It was good to stop for a while and chat with the other riders. Here are several photos from that checkpoint…
Good buddy Bob’s RT-P BMW at the checkpoint in Missoula, Montana. These are amazing machines. Bob can ride any motorcycle he chooses (he owns a BMW dealership, Brown BMW in Pomona, California), and this is his weapon of choice.Bob’s route card. When I wrote The Complete Book of Police and Military Motorcycles a few years ago, I learned a lot about these police Beemers. They are impressive machines. Two batteries, a stronger alternator, an oil cooler, and ABS braking. Plus the normal BMW niceties, like heated handgrips.This Gold Wing is actually one of the oldest bikes in the event. We spoke with the rider for a bit, and he told us that this bike is on its fourth engine.Check out the mileage on this Canadian Gold Wing! 900,000 kilometers! That’s well over a half million miles!Carl and his beautiful K1200LT BMW at the checkpoint in Missoula.This rider and his wife flew in from the Netherlands to participate in the Three Flags Classic. He had never been to Mexico, Canada, or the United States. A friend let him borrow this yellow DL1000 Suzuki. Like all of us, he and his wife were having a grand time.An older airhead BMW boxer twin.One of the FJR riders. The FJR is a very impressive machine.
That night, we stayed in Whitefish, Montana, just south of the Canadian border. We walked into town from our hotel and found a microbrewery, and we had a fabulous dinner. Whitefish is a cool town. We walked around a bit and then called it night. The next morning we would ride in Canada on Day 5 of the 2005 Three Flags Classic!
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The third day of the 2005 Three Flags Classic motorcycle rally would take us from Grand Junction, Colorado (where we stayed the second night of the tour) to Driggs, Idaho. Wowee, we were covering some miles! You can catch up on the ride by reading our prior blog posts here:
Day 3 of the 2005 Three Flags Rally. Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho…it was magnificent.
As you’ll recall, it had rained big time during parts of Day 2, and it had continued to rain that evening. The next morning, though, was a bright, crisp, Colorado day, and after a great breakfast, we pointed the bikes north and crossed over into Utah.
The Gold Wing (shown here in Utah) was the most popular bike on this trip. They sure looked comfortable compared to my Daytona!
Utah was amazing. I continue to believe it is the most scenic of our 50 states. Although I had been to Zion and Bryce on previous trips, the Three Flags Classic was taking us to places I had never seen. We had a checkpoint in Vernal, a most interesting place in the heart of Utah’s dinosaur country.
Check out the way this guy has his Harley packed at the Vernal checkpoint. Think he might be dragging a bit in the corners? Harleys and Gold Wings were the most popular bikes in the 2005 Three Flags Classic.
We rode north, up to and around Flaming Gorge Reservoir. These were all magnificent destinations. The folks who planned the tour route did an amazing job.
Looking down into Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Utah. The colors, the brightness, it was all amazing. All of these photos were on film, captured with a Nikon N70 camera.Marty and his Beemer, with Utah as a backdrop. Marty is the guy who invited me on this ride. He’s another serious long-distance rider, having put nearly 100,000 miles on this BMW. The machine looks as if it is brand new. Today in 2019, it’s still parked in his garage.With Marty near Flaming Gorge.Marty and the motorcycles, with Flaming Gorge Reservoir in the background. The photo ops on this ride were amazing.
After leaving Utah, we entered Wyoming for a brief period, and then we were into Idaho. Idaho is a beautiful state. We saw quite a few dead animals on the road, and in particular, a lot of dead skunks. We also saw a few larger roadkill carcasses that I didn’t immediately recognize. I later learned they were wolves!
My friend Dave on his BMW in Driggs. This is a beautiful R1150GS. Check out the custom lighting (just below the turn signals) and the custom wheels. Dave’s bike was always spotless. He cleaned it every night.
We would our night in Driggs, Idaho, at the end of Day 3. It was an interesting night, with forest fires raging around us. We had a great dinner, more great conversation, and I was getting to know the guys better. Marty, as always, was an easy guy to travel with. I got to know good buddy Dave, shown in the above photo, a lot better on this trip, too. Dave was an absolute fanatic about keeping his bike clean, which was a hell of a challenge considering all of the rain we had ridden through the prior day. We had a bit of rain that night after dinner, too, and I remember talking to Dave as he was wiping down his GS, in the rain, cleaning it as the rain fell on the bike. I told him he was going to have a hard time, washing a bike in the rain, and we had a good laugh about that.
Looking due west after dinner in Driggs, Idaho. Smoke filled the skies from fires raging all around us.
And that, my friends, wraps up Day 3 of the 2005 Three Flags Classic. The following day would take us way up north to Whitefish, Montana, just south of the Canadian border. It had been an amazing three days so far, and we still had a long way to go. But that’s coming in future blogs.
The second day of the 2005 Three Flags Classic motorcycle rally would take us from Gallup, New Mexico (where we stayed the first night of the tour) to Grand Junction, Colorado. You can catch up on the ride by reading our prior blog posts here:
Day 2 of the 2005 Three Flags Rally. Good times. Great roads. Gorgeous scenery. A grand ride in every respect!
To continue the adventure, we were up early and we rolled out of Gallup, New Mexico on a beautiful day. The bikes were running great and Marty and I were in high spirits. It’s hard to put into words what it feels like to be on these kinds of rides. You’re out in the world, on a powerful motorcycle, seeing things worth seeing. It’s a great experience and a great feeling. Everything just seems better to me when I’m on a motorcycle ride. I sleep better, the food has better flavors, the people are friendlier, the bikes feel stronger, and on and on it goes. You need to experience it to really understand it. You folks who ride the big rides know what I’m talking about.
We spent very little time on the freeways on the Three Flags Rally. Most of our riding was on magnificent roads like the ones you see in the photos below. The folks at the Southern California Motorcycle Association who planned the ride did a fantastic job.
Another cool shot on the road in New Mexico. That’s Marty and his K1200RS BMW, with my Daytona in the background. Marty still owns the K1200RS. It has 144,000 miles on the clock.Another Daytona shot in New Mexico. That’s Shiprock in the background.
If it seems like there are a lot of pictures of my Daytona here, well, I guess there are. I loved owning the Daytona, and the more I rode it, the more I liked it. For a cool story on how I came to own this bike, check out this blog entry I wrote a few months ago.
A few miles up the road from this location, we crossed into Colorado. This was my first time in Colorado, other than passing through the airport in Denver a few time on business trips. But those stops don’t really count…a layover in any airport could be a layover in, well, any other airport.
Mesa Verde, Colorado. Wow…this was a great ride!
Marty wanted to stop in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. I had never heard of the place (I don’t get out enough, I guess), but I was up for it. Marty was a very easy guy to travel with and he didn’t have many preferences. He was a judge (that is to say, he’s the real deal…a Superior Court judge), and he told me that he didn’t want to make any decisions on this ride. Where we stayed, where we stopped to eat, and all the rest were up to me. I think that’s because Marty was paid to make decisions all day long. Making decisions was his job, and he wanted a break. So when he asked to hit Mesa Verde, it was about the only time he expressed a preference on where to go, and I was all for that. It was a good move. Mesa Verde National Park is an impressive place.
The ride up to the top of Mesa Verde (it literally means “green table” in Spanish) was awesome. It’s a multi-mile climb to about 8500 feet, and the vistas are incredible. You can see clear into New Mexico from the top.
All of the above, as you can see from the photos, was grand. But the main attractions at Mesa Verde National Park are the ancestral Pueblo Native American ruins. That part of the Park is almost beyond belief. It’s real Indiana Jones stuff.
Ancient Indian cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde. If you’ve never been to Mesa Verde National Park, trust me on this: You need to make the trip. Watch for the next issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine…it’s got all the good info on where to stay, where to eat, and more.
Mesa Verde is a very interesting National Park. I liked it so much that Sue and I took a road trip there last summer to explore the area in more detail. I’d been thinking about it in the 14 years that have elapsed since the 2005 Three Flags Classic. I wanted to see it again and bring my wife so she could see it. The Native American cliff dwellings are amazing and the scenery is magnificent. I have a story coming out on Mesa Verde in the next issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine. It really is a special place. Marty made the right call on this one. Hey, he’s a judge. The guy makes good decisions!
After Mesa Verde, we rode through heavy rains along the Dolores River and stopped in Telluride, Colorado. The sun came out just as we entered town. The ride along the Dolores River in Colorado was beautiful even in the rain. We were having a grand time.
Downtown Telluride, washed clean by a torrential Colorado rain.
We had a checkpoint in Rangely, Colorado. It was a great experience. I had a conversation with a guy named Pat (a BMW GS rider), and it turned out he lives one street over from where I live in California. I mean, think about that: Here we were, probably 1300 miles from So Cal, two guys strike up a conversation, and it turns out we’re practically neighbors (but we had never met before this ride). What are the odds?
Good buddy and GS rider Pat, a fellow Californio, at a checkpoint in Colorado.
We made Grand Junction, Colorado, where we would be spending the night, and we reconnected with our friends at the hotel. Dinner was great, and then the rain started again. I felt like taking more photos after dinner and I wanted to play with a couple of new toys. I had just purchased an ultra-wide Sigma 17-35 lens and I wanted use it. I had also purchased a Sunpak MiniPro Plus tripod for the trip. It looked like it was going to be a good idea, but it was a bust. One of the legs broke off halfway through the ride, and I threw the thing away. I almost never travel with a tripod any more. They’re just too bulky, and I can usually find something to steady the camera for evening shots.
Our bikes, parked in the rain at the hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado. I used the 17-35 Sigma for this shot, and my uber-cheap tripod (before it broke).
That wrapped up Day 2 of our Three Flags Classic ride in 2005. It was a great ride. We were two days into it and we had already ridden halfway across the United States. Out tally so far was two countries and four states. We still had several more states and another whole country to go. It was magnificent.
There’s more to come on this grand adventure, folks. Stay tuned for Day 3!
I am getting thoroughly pumped up about riding the 2019 Three Flags Classic this year on the RX4. There’s just something about the Three Flags Classic that’s magic, and I haven’t been this excited about getting out on the road in quite a while. It’s going to be grand and it’s going to be a blast, and you’ll be able to follow my personal ride from Mexico through the western United States on up into Canada right here on the ExNotes blog. I’ll have tons of great photos and the writing will be as good as I can make it. You’ll be able to follow first hand my further impressions of the 
Joe,
