Wow, thank you everybody for the outpouring of support! I received many offers of help for my mechanical problems ranging from tips about gasoline, through offers of financial assistance right up to someone asking if they could come and get me, bike and all! As it turns out I believe the issues were caused by sub standard fuel, perhaps as an unintended side effect of traveling on roads off the beaten path I may be frequenting low volume gas stations that sold me old or contaminated fuel.

I had filled it up last night and while it was idling somewhat roughly this morning, it ran as expected at highway speed. I ran it deep into the tanks range before filling it again at which point all previous symptoms completely vanished, and The Rocket's performance was restored to its former glory. While I admit to a certain amount of trepidation prior to leaving this morning I did not, in fact, take the Interstate route, I stuck to the back roads as I was confident that the problem would sort itself out. I was taking the advice of a friend and client of mine Anny Slegten, who teaches that if you have a Plan B you are already subconsciously committing to it, and I was sticking to my Plan A!

The secondary highway I was on wound its way alternatively north and west until we crossed into Wyoming and picked up I-20 at Casper. As we turned northbound, with the Grand Teton range on our left there was a brisk crosswind coming off the mountains. Highway information signs were warning of wind gusts 35+ MPH. Luckily it was a two lane road, luckily it was devoid of traffic, I could drive in the right lane, against the dotted line and kinda let the wind push me across both lanes.

Essentially I was driving whilst in a hard left turn, leaning into the wind except frequently the wind would let up for a few seconds and I would veer to the left. It was very tiring riding, made more frustrating by my desire to have a higher mileage day than usual so my Thursday could end in Canada, and my last day be shorter.

My upper body, head and neck were getting sore from fighting the cross wind so about 100 km south of Sheridan, WY I pulled over in a truck parking area and had a nap on the road next to my bike. I slept for about an hour, and while I was out, the wind changed direction slightly, I went to sleep in a crosswind and woke up in a tail wind. A change of slightly more than 90 degrees changed what was a serious detriment to a great asset!

My elation was somewhat short lived however as the road wound its way through the rolling hills of Wyoming the wind was alternately coming from either the front left corner all the way behind me to the front right corner. Also the hills on either side funneled it from unexpected directions. It was turning into another character building mental toughness defining day!

I had hopes conditions would change once we passed Sheridan, WY and then entered Montana. There is usually a terrain change at state borders, that is often what was used to define the state lines and the transition from Wyoming to Montana is no exception. The rolling hills of WY gave way to flatter hills of MT and the 35+ MPH crosswind gusts changed to 45+ MPH straight on headwind! From bad to worse!

I have been riding motorcycles for over 25 years, and I have gone on a cross country trip for most of those, granted not always of this scale, but a couple of times on trips even longer that this one, and I have driven in a variety of conditions. I have never driven in a headwind of this severity!

Holding 3000 rpm on the tach usually nets me 120 kph, in this headwind 3200 rpm barely gets me 80 kph! It feels like I am driving with my body pushed up against a hard piece of foam. My hair that sticks out of the helmet is vibrating so hard that is hurts where it touches my neck. The heavy collar of my leather jacket is vibrating with a high frequency clicking sound. Cars that drive by, still doing 80 mph I am sure, make a crazy buffeting sound. I am being pushed all over the road.

I stop to shoot some video, of the wind! Video rarely shows Mother Nature the way the eye sees it, rain never looks as hard as it is, mountain ranges don't look as big, imagine the challenge of showing how hard something invisible is blowing. None the less, here are 2 videos I shot at the side of the road in a 45 MPH headwind. The fact that I was having trouble standing up in the wind is a clue as to how hard it was to drive in it.



You would think after all these years I would have learned not to talk when a car is driving by, but I still do. Sorry, I can't remember what I was saying during the time the audio is unintelligible. I had about 200 km left at this point to make my self imposed mileage quota for the day.

Also working overtime today in the windy conditions was the Ram Bug Induction feature of my iiCON helmet. As we are driving through free range ranch land there are small black bugs in great abundance being vacuumed out of the ether. My helmet injected bugs directly into my eyeballs at least 20 times today, often both at once. I had to pull on to the shoulder, essentially blinded at least 5 times. Between the bugs and the dry air my eyes have turned this attractive shade of red, as evidenced in this, only slightly terrifying, selfie. I took this about 5 minutes after getting out of the wind so it might explain my maniacal expression.



I made it into Billings, MT about 1900h, having driven about 800 km, my highest mileage day of the trip thus far, in the worst conditions. I think given a choice, I would take pouring rain over brutal headwind. My choice might differ however when I am IN that pouring rain!

Just as I was exiting the Interstate into Billings I passed a Dodge dually pulling a fifth wheel with Florida plates that I am sure I passed many days ago. It was unique and stood out to me because it had a large gaggle of bicycles on a rear rack, and then 4 or 5 of those colorful things that spin in the wind. Whirlybirds maybe? I remember passing it early in my return trip home. Crazy! I still have not seen a Canadian license plate other than the Saskratchmybum plate on that RV.

I hope to make it to Ft. McLeod, AB or further today so it will be my last day in 'merica! I really love traveling in the US, the country's got problems alright, but the people are mostly good. Obviously I don't go to places where the people are bad, but I have always enjoyed traveling in 'merica, and I will do so again in the future.

Talk soon.........from Canada!