It was now time to move on and cherish the fine memories we experienced in Yellowstone Park.

The trip down from Yellowstone was quite beautiful. We crossed the state line from Wyoming to central Montana on route 89. The sun was shining for us again and it was very warm again. The first town we met, we just had to film up and down the street. This was another charming cowboy town, this time in Montana. This part of Montana was reallybeautiful. The hills and mountains and the running rivers and of course the Bison Farms along the way.It wasn't long before we reached I-90 and it was getting late so we decided that we better find a place to rest out weary bones. This would take place in Bozeman, Montana. We found room at the Bozeman Motel just across the road from Wal-Mart. After checking in we drove to Wal-Mart to find something to eat. It was getting late and Km wanted to look around the store which once again didn´t have the patience for. We decided that it might be best if I went back to the motel and waited for her to get tired and come home.She did get home very shortly after I did. She was looking for some shorts and didn´t have the energy to remove her boots to try them on so she went back to the motel.She decided that the shorts she had on were good enough for the time being.The shorts were mine!!! We ate dinner while enjoying the view of the mountains from our motel window and got a good nights sleep and were on the road the next day at 9am.

We continued along I-90 west towards Spokane in the state of Washington. Our destination was the Okanogan Valley in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. I had some friends living there for many years ago and they were so impressed with the valley. This and the fact that we were entering Canada on the west coast, was something I was looking forward too.We would finally make it across the continent. I still remember this man in the states who after me telling him about Km getting tired of mountains when he looks at us both and says… "man… you guys haven´t been looking at mountains.You´ve be looking at hills man." Wait until you get to British Columbia. They have mountains !!!!!We still had quite away to go yet but I was hoping that in two days we would cross the border. Our first stop for gas was in the town of Butte just 150kms west of where we started. Found a gas station and to Km´s delight, there was a little coffee shop just seconds away. I filled up the tank and Km was off for the coffee. While filling up I noticed a motorcycle shop in the same parking lot and there were some motorcycles in front with about as much luggage as we had. I drove over and started to talk with them and they were very nice people. We talked for about 20 minutes and then they were off. I then went into the service department and asked if he could check my tire pressure. His name was Matt and was the owner of Two Wheelz. Had a good talk with him about my shadow and when I asked him how often one should adjust the valves on this motor he said that there was absolutely no reason to open up the motor. It adjusts itself. Just change the oil, filter and sparkplugs and keep it filled with gas and a good battery and you´re all set. That´s the kind of news I need to hear.He gave me his card and told me if I needed any help in the states, he knows lots of people who can come out and help me. I thanked him very much and told him it was not to be taken personally but I hoped I didn´t have to talk to him anymore. He smiled and we were on our way again. Our next stop was for lunch where we once again sunk our teeth into a nice juicy Buffalo Burger.Gotta go to Aarup, Denmark when I get home and buy a Buffalo of my own. I can keep it out in the fieldat the summer house and just break pieces off when I need them.

This northwest part of Montana was just spectacular. The same goes for Idaho near the end of the day. The "hills" and rivers and streams and gorges were really a delight for the eyes.At one point on the highway, we see four motorcycles waiting on the side of the road. We saw the person they were waiting for a little farther down the road. He was signaling traffic to slow down. Unfortunately we witnessed our second motorcycle accident. There was a man laying on his back and there were people trying to comfort him.Sure makes you think about how quickly things can change for someone. Somehow the throttle was relaxed on the bike and we pass by hoping the best for the man. We pull in to the next resting area to find out where we are exactly, so we can make a plan for our next stay. We´re sitting out on the grass minding our own business when out of the bushes comes about 4 or 5 ground squirrels. They were pretty cute and people were feeding them. They were quite tame. Km quickly takes out her camera and snaps a few pictures. We decided to head on down the road and let the Gps find our next motel. I put in my silicone earplugs, put on my helmet and sat up on the bike. I later that evening find out that Km put her silicone earplugs in her mouth, chewed on them for a bit, then realized that something was wrong. Good thing that they are waterproof. She admits that they don´t taste very good so don´t try this at home.We continued west on I-90 and eventually crossed the state line into Idaho. The scenery was so incredibly beautiful along this stretch of the highway.The trees and cliffs and gorges were amazing.The Gpssteered us in the direction of Kellogg, Idaho. A little town with all the necessities. We checked into the Trail Motel on the second floor then jumped on the bike. When we drove out to the main road we could see the grocery store on the other side of the street so we took the bike anyway. We did meet an interesting lady in the parking lot out front who wanted to know if we had weapons with us. Km tried to explain that where we come from, we´re not allowed to have them. The ladies response was that we´re not in Denmark now. We told her that we would think about it and get us some weapons in the morning.We ate dinner back at the motel and got a good night sleep.I asked Km to remind me to phone my friend Helene in the morning. I heard that she might be in the Okanagan Valley so it would be nice if we could hook up. Km thought I said to remind me not to call Helene. We had a little bit of a laughing fit over that and started adding to the list of people not to call. We were obviously overtired. We had a last long haul tomorrow. We were to cross the border into British Columbia, Canada.We were off to the Okanogan Valley which I heard so much about and now wanted us to see.

We were about to leave the next morning when I noticed that the luggage on the back of the bike covered the rear brake light somewhat. There wasn´t much to do except unpack and pack again. This delayed out departure about 20 minutes and then we were off in the direction of Spokane in the state of Washington. We arrived around lunch and after a quick stop in Wal-Mart we headed north on Hwy 395 towards the border crossing at Cascades. Not sure if this belongs to the States or Canada but we crossed over without a problem. The border officers were very nice for the second time in a row. Never forget the idiots at Niagara falls in 2005. We rest for about 15 minutes in the shade before moving on down hwy 3 towards Grand Forks, Canada. It was nice to be back in Canada after so long in the States. These are my kind of people. We headed down the road and it wasn´t long before we read a sign that we have seen before. It read " Motorcycles use extreme caution." To our luck they just put down a fresh load of tar and then stones on top of that. Now instead of driving the normal 80 kms/hr we are down to about 60.I got a little irritated at one point when I hear from the back seat…Are we soon there. I thought I had some little kids sitting back there. It turned out to be a little misunderstanding between Km and I. She thought this was to be a main highway up to Canada. That it wasn´t. The main highway goes to Vancouver and Km was not at all interested in seeing that. I must admit now that I was a little disappointed that she didn´t want to go there but we are two people on this trip and we have to work things out. She was of course tired of seeing mountains which is pretty difficult in the western part of North America and at the same time I keep hearing that man we met in Salt Lake City say… Man… you haven´t seen mountains, you´ve been looking at hills. If you want to see mountains, you have to go to British Columbia. We were so close but yet so far if we didn´t go to Vancouver I was sure that we wouldn´t see them. Oh well, you can´t have everything. We´ll have to do that another time. Now at least I know I have a cousin in Vancouver who has a motorcycle shop and will set me up with a bike whenever I need one. It´s nice to know because I´m already thinking about a 1 month trip from Vancouver down hwy 101 towards California. That's the leg of this trip which we had to give up because of the size of the Usa. We reached Grand Forks at around 3 pm in the afternoon and decided that we would call it a day. The sun was shining and it seemed the right thing to do. Our first motel we stopped at was having problems withwater pressure and the noise outside from the workers trying to repair it. No discount there but she gave out free drinking water which was another problem she was experiencing. The next motel was owned by a china man who thought he was sitting on a gold mine. Very over priced so we decided to backtrack 1 km to Riverside Motel. We walked in the door and this lady told us that a room here would be 65 dollars plus tax. Then her husband poked his out thedoor and smiled and said 50 if we paid cash. That's what I said before… These were my kind of people. They turned out to be so nice and the man even offered to drive us up to the store to shop which we of course said thanks but we really didn´t mind the walk. He then said that we could use his BBQ if we wanted. That was good enough for me so our shopping list became some type of meat, corn on the cob and some cold ones. He recommended that we also went for a swim in the river behind the motel. He told us to take some beer down there and promised that we wouldn´t be bothered. We walked into town and Km got her eye on a dentist.She was having a problem with filling. We went over to see if they could help her.It wasn´t long before she was sitting in the dentist chair and for a small 55 dollars she was as good as new.Did our shopping and returned to the motel and took some cold ones down the river to check it out.It was a real delight to swim down there. Wow… here we were, swimming in a river in British Columbia. Who would have thought?We met a man was staying at the motel named Duncan. He was a helicopter pilot on standby for the forest fires raging in the Okanogan Valley. He was one of three people. It was him who first told me about Dry lightning and rain which never hit the ground.It apparently dries up before it ever hits the ground.It could be a wicked storm with lightning hitting the ground and starting fires but without the rain it creates a big problem.

JP, the motel owner had a stone dog as well. This was the type of dog that chases nothing but stones. He asked us to make sure that if we threw a stone, it was to be thrown in the water so he couldn´t find it or make it big enough so he couldn´t swallow it. That´s apparently what the dog does when he finds them.It was getting late so we went up to get the barbeque started.The corn of the cob was soaking in the pail ready to be throw on the grill. Wasn´t long before we were eating a fine meal. We were joinedby the motel dog who didn´t see it problem to jump up on the picnic table and lay down and watch us eat. I know some people in Denmark who would love to have seen this.Yes, there are a few pictures for them.The mosquito's arrived in full force so we entered into our little room and sooner or later fell asleep.

The next morning after breakfast we´re on our way again. Our next stop is to be the Okanogan Valley.The rain had slowly begun to appear from the sky. Where was the dry lightning when you needed it.It rained most of the way there until we reached the start of the Okanogan Valley. The drive down to the valley was breath taking. Everything is also nicer in the sun and we were lucky enough to have it with us. We stopped for lunch in Penticton before moving on to Okanogan Falls where we were to camp for a few days. Unfortunately, the clouds moved in quickly and the rain began again. Only the firefighters were happy about this.We stopped in at a restaurant by the road. The phone kept ringing and people kept driving in to warn the restaurant that a new fire has broken out just up the hill. While sitting there ourselves we here some thunder and then on the other side of the valley we see some more smoke rising from the forest.We now had to make a decision.Do we take a chance and camp here hoping the fires get under control of move on.If we stay, we run the risk of getting cut off our route and then we have to return to where we came from. That would mean not getting to Banff and Lake Louise which was a must for us. There was also the smell of smoke everywhere so we decided to head for Vernon just north of Kelowna. While in Kelowna, we met this man John and his wife.After talking with them about the fire situation and other things, they invited us to stay with them if we liked. He ran a Bed and Breakfastand I was quite sure he didn´t want money for it. We thanked him very much for the offer but thought it would be wise to get up to Vernon and away from the fire. We made a quick stop at the information centre to see if there was any news about the fires. Even here in the building it smelt of smoke. There was not much change in the situation and they were still evacuating people east of the valley. I think we made the right choice and checked in at the motel in the little town of Vernon.Our host was quite a character.Didn´t matter what we said or asked, his response always began with Oh..ooooooooooo!!! The motel was nothing special but it served its purpose as a place to sleep.It was clean but by no means cheap. We awoke at 7:30am and ate breakfast and were sitting on the bike at 9am.Our goal from here was to find a nice camping place before leaving British Columbia. We wanted to camp in this province since we missed the Okanogan Valley.We headed northeast along Hwy 97 and hooked up with the Trans Canada Highway 1 and stopped for lunch in little town of Golden.We found a little sixties restaurant and filled our stomachs. By the time we were on our way again the clouds were moving in.It was really a shame but we had to stop and put our rain clothes on again and waited a bit for the rain to ease up. We were on our way through the gorge but unfortunately could not enjoy it as much as we could have in the sun. That's the way it goes sometime. We experienced it this way on several occasions.Not the gorge but that it rains when you least want it. We were on our way through the Yoho National forest.The mountains in this region were breath taking. This is what the man from Salt Lake City was talking about.These are mountains !!!It wasn´t long before we arrive in the town of Sicamous, British Columbia. The sign read that it was the Houseboat Capital of Canada. There was a beautiful lake in the town and yes there were houseboats everywhere. This was a real Tourist getaway. We checked out the town andafter a quick visit to the visitors center, found an address of the nearest campground. Our new home and resting place would be called Homestead R.V. Campground and Resort.We are still not sure why they called it a resort. It was not only for sale but it was long overdue for a facelift. It was quite obvious that he didn´t care much for the place anymore but for us, it was near a river and it was quiet. Okay, at least till the train blew its whistle about every hour during the night. By that time it was too late. We were set up. We blew our air mattresses up and placed them under a tree and relaxed out weary bodies.What a delight to be spread out under the tree in the warm air. It is quite amazing that for a couple of hours earlier we were driving through the rain filled gorge and now this. We relaxed for a few hours and then decided to head into town to buy some dinner. When we got into town, my mouth is saying BEER, BEER. Km was saying Coffee, Coffee.There were not many places for this considering it was a tourist town but we managed to find a lovely bar down by the river were they rent the houseboats. Man these houseboats were big. We finished our drinks and then hopped on the bike again to look for a place to shop.We ended up by a little beach and agreed that the following day, we would be laying on this same sandy beach. That was the plan. We found some Buffalo burger and frozen vegetables and some beer and returned home.These vegetables were really great for keeping beer cold. They tasted pretty good as well.It got dark pretty quick as the sun set behind the mountain so it was early to bed and that was just great. The next morning after breakfast, Km did some laundry and I gave my bike a well needed wash from the many days of driving in the rain. It´s always nicer I find, driving a shiny bike and it wasn´t long before I had such a bike once again. With us both finished our chores, we loaded the bike with beach things and headed off into town. We had lunch at a cozy little restaurant which took its time serving but our waitress was sweet anyway. She reminded me of Jim Carrey with the"All righty" she said after every sentence.It was then time for the beach. This we were both very much looking forward too. The sand was burning hot which is a good sign when on the beach.The water was also a delight. Really refreshing.The swimming area was also blocked off by big logs which showed how far you were allowed to swim out.Made three attempts to climb up of the log and stand up before I was successful. Wow … Log rolling looks way easier then it is.Just when the fun was at its peak, the wind started to blow which in turn caused a sand storm and signaled the end of the day. We were more or less burned from the sun anyway so it really didn´t matter that much. We got some dinner and returned home after another well deserved relaxing day. Our plan was to now to get up early the following morning and move on to Province of Alberta.