Pic Heavy Ride Report - MS to Bella Coola & Back 11,000 Miles Heat, Hail & Bears

[DK Custom Products]

For our Summer Trip, we knew we wanted to visit family, & we knew we wanted to explore more of Beautiful British Columbia. I asked Mary if she had any particular places in BC she wanted to see.

After a few days she told me she wanted to go to Bella Coola. It is as far as the road goes west in BC, has the highest concentration of Grizzy Bears in North America, and it is one crazy road to get there.

Here is a video we found on Youtube (that almost convinced me not to ride there )




So the plan was made. Head to the west coast to visit family, then north to visit more family and then up into Canada. Then head southeast back home, making sure to ride the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado on the way home.

Day 1-

Today our goal was to get from Mississippi to Texarkana. Making it a 4 State day. MS, TN, AR, & Texas.

We had test packed last night, here is most of the stuff that is going in the trunk for the next 45 days or so.




All packed up and ready to go!!! We left out a bit after noontime.





Headed down the driveway...no, I am not leaving Mary, she walked down to the gate to open it up.





We estimate we'll be riding 12,000 to 13,000 miles before returning home...depending on how many side trips/explorations we do.

Last time we'll see this familiar road for a while.




Crossing into Tennessee on some more familiar road.




Crossing the Mississippi River from Memphis into Arkansas, another familiar road.




There are tons of great riding roads in Arkansas, but we need to be in San Diego, CA three days from now, so we're taking interstate all the way across to get to the west coast.

I-40 toward Little Rock, AR always has a high concentration of trucks traveling it. We share the road carefully with them. About 15 years ago a local guy was killed on this section of road when a Semi lost a trailer tire which hit him. Pretty much every-time I see a Semi on the road I think of his families loss.




Passing thru Little Rock we start seeing lighting off in the distance. Mary tried to get a pic. No luck.





Taking the 30 toward Texarkana. Rivers are high, pollen is heavy, everything is really green, road is wet from a light rain, we are getting closer to the lighting storm.




It was only sprinkling as we traveled down the 30, but as we got close to Malvern we could see lighting all in front of us. Rain does not bother or stop us, but we do have an aversion to riding with lighting hitting around us, so we called it an early day and stopped there for the night.




It was a short first day, but a good start. Bike is running well, and we are settling in to a month and a half on the road.

Kevin

[Gorilla]

Be safe Kevin. That is an ambitious road from the video.

[Trikindan]

GREAT POST!!! Excellent Pics, keep em' coming! It's Like taking the trip with ya'll......Kinda.

[Zammy]

Great pics Kevin & Mary, looking forward to the rest of the trip.

[FuzzyWuzHe]

If Mary couldn't get a pic of the lightning, God didn't want her to have one ... I've seen the lengths she'll go for a pic ... LOL

[Ed Hobgood]

Have a great time on your trip and enjoy the many beautiful sights along the way.

[DK Custom Products]

Day 2

We left out of Malvern with the plan to go as far as Abilene, TX.

It was sprinkling a bit the first hour or so. Nice, keeping us cool.





Traveled for a while beside this guy on a Road Glide. There's a crazy amount of pollen in the air.





Yesterday our plan was to stay in Texarkana. It's a town that is 1/2 in Arkansas and 1/2 in Texas. My dad was born there, on the Arkansas side. As kids, my brothers and I always wanted him to have been born in Texas...just something cool about being from Texas.

Anyway, as we entered Texas, took a pic going from the Arkansas side of the city to the Texas side.




I never have enjoyed stopping for gas. Stopping at a lake, a river, or somewhere for Mary to get a pic...no problem, but stopping to get gas, especially when we're doing interstate to get to the west coast, just seems like a waste of time.

Well, unlike previous year models, the gas gauge on the '14 is dead on accurate. (I'm used to a little "wiggle room" when the needle is at the bottom of the "E".) Pulling off the interstate, on an uphill left turn, it started sputtering.

At the top of the hill, after completing the left turn it died, but still coasting. Flashers on, I took 1 second to hit the front brakes and wiggle the bike a bit. This sloshed what remaining little gas was left, back over to the left side of the tank and it started right up.

The gas station was at the bottom of the hill, on the RIGHT hand side and we pulled in and filled up.

Even with the 1.5" tank lift w/ the Deluxe Option, you can see that it takes a full 6 gallons of fuel.



I've promised Mary we won't be walking, and I'll do better at getting gas. (we have not picked up a gas can yet...will be doing that before we get into Canada). I'll just be stopping for gas when I still have 1/2 to 1 gallon left in the tank.


As we approached Dallas...




....even though it was mid afternoon, we started hitting some traffic....




....Lots of construction going on.




The speed limit had gone to 75 mph when we entered Texas, and I'd been rolling with the flow at 75-80 mph. It' didn't take long to get thru the traffic and we were back rolling again.


We're on the 20 now, and somewhere outside of Dallas this gal had started following us. When we pulled off to get gas (we still had a gallon left ) she did the same. Beautiful bike, very nice paint. I especially liked the marble treatment. She's headed to Waco.




Back on the road, we're chewing up the miles. Had a little rain here and there, but it was nice, keeping it cool.




We had planned on stopping in Abilene, but the weather is nice, the road is good, the bike is running well, so we headed on to Big Spring, TX. Just under 600 miles for the day. If ya gotta do interstate miles, we could not have picked much better of a day!



Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

Be safe Kevin. That is an ambitious road from the video.

Ambitious, is that close to Crazy? lol

GREAT POST!!! Excellent Pics, keep em' coming! It's Like taking the trip with ya'll......Kinda.

Great pics Kevin & Mary, looking forward to the rest of the trip.

We'll be updating most everyday.

If Mary couldn't get a pic of the lightning, God didn't want her to have one ... I've seen the lengths she'll go for a pic ... LOL

ROFL, you're right about that.

Have a great time on your trip and enjoy the many beautiful sights along the way.

Thank you!

[FuzzyWuzHe]

I know you love the Marble effects in paint ... sure was a pretty bike.

[DK Custom Products]

Day 3

Last night there was a lot of Rain and a strong lightning storm that carried on for a couple of hours. But this morning it was mostly clear and dry!

Day started out with perfect riding weather, mid 70's. Texas is a huge state, for the most part there is not much traffic and we're ready for another day of eating up some miles to get to San Diego.





Soon after starting out the speed limit bumped up to 80 MPH....





....I had enjoyed the jump to 75 MPH yesterday, and am liking the jump to 80 mph even more today.
Cruise control on 80, smooth road, good running ride, enjoying the ride with Mary. One of those "if I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand" moments.





I know there are some riding great roads in Texas, but hours yesterday, and many more hours today, of straight, flat roads can make even the slightest elevation change, or curve, interesting.




At some point we went from the 20 to the 10, then soon after we hit a little traffic going thru El Paso....





....what was most interesting, from the interstate, on the west side of El Paso, we were able to see the US/Mexico border Fence, and the City of Juarez in Mexico.




Mary has the stock passenger floorboards and the Kury Adjustable pegs, this gives her a lot of foot positions, but sometimes she puts her feet up on my legs to stretch out even more. In this pic I am holding her pant leg open to get a little cool air flowing (it had warmed up to the high 80's). Little did we know what was coming. lol




We hit the New Mexico State Line....




.... almost immediately we were riding into a strong headwind..maybe 30-40 mph. I kept it at 80-85 mph, bike was handling it fine, but the MPG plummeted down to around 22.

I changed my slip-on end caps the day before leaving. It is amazing how much difference there can be in power and efficiency with seemingly small changes in exhaust flow. I have ridden in similar conditions before with different end caps and matching TTI's and still maintained close to 30 MPG. I definitely should have tested these out before leaving...but knowing that I might want to change back, we had shipped the proven (and better) end caps and TTI's to Marys' moms' house in Idaho. I'll be going back to the proven set-up when we get there.

Anyway, so the headwind was pretty strong, that's ok. Mary got a picture of this metal sculptured bird soon after crossing the State line.




Soon after that we were getting gusts so strong, at first I thought something was the matter with the brakes...nope, the gusts were just so strong that it felt like someone was hitting the brakes.

Then the wind was jumping between a pure headwind and gusting crosswinds. We rode thru a pretty good dust/sand storm, dodged a couple of 8 foot 2x4's that got lifted out of the back of a pick up truck like tooth-picks.

Mary got no pics during this time. She had the camera out of the dust/sand and was hunkered down behind me. (she really does not like sandstorms or really strong crosswinds to terribly much)

This was the last pic she got of the New Mexico landscape before we called it a day at 475 miles in Deming, New Mexico.




Kevin

[bikerbillone]

Very cool, Kevin. The pics and the captions make for a very good read. Carry on if you can.

[DK Custom Products]

Very cool, Kevin. The pics and the captions make for a very good read. Carry on if you can.

Thank you! Yes, lots more to come!

[DK Custom Products]

Day-4

This morning is sunny, with clouds here and there. It is also COLD. 62* Which isn't really cold in the big picture, but, we've become acclimated to the 80's and 90's over the last month or so back home...so, yeah, it's cold.

Today's another day about chewing up some miles over the interstate, getting to San Diego.




No sand or dust storms today, but still have a strong headwind we're riding into....



....so the gas stops are more frequent.



Those of you that have read some of our other Ride Reports know that Mary really likes cloud pics...




....the one above she snapped at 80 mph this morning.



We've not seen that many bikes on the road, but at our next gas stop we saw these 2 Vic's and a SG






A pic of Marys' stash. Glasses, gloves, coffee, snacks, lip balm, sunscreen, tic-tacs, camera and who knows what else.






Cloud Pic #139....





...and Cloud Pic #157





The last couple of days have been mostly flat and straight, so a hill or a curve are novelties, both together are a treat! *





The Arizona State Line...



....still flat and straight, still a strong headwind, but we're enjoying the ride, listening to some good tunes and getting lots of cloud pics. *


More in next post-

[DK Custom Products]

Day-4 continued...

Crossing from New Mexico into Arizona, we have Cloud Pic #223





A different perspective....





....yet another perspective, looking behind us....





....and another perspective, from on top of my helmet.





Still headed west!





Look what's behind us!






Turning off the 10 onto the 8, toward San Diego, Ca.





Hundreds (thousands?) of acres of solar panels.





Another hill and a curve, but it's just another trick....




....there's just more straight flat road.




We stopped in Yuma, AZ after 480 miles. Just a hop, skip and a jump now to San Diego.

btw, for those of you that like flat straight roads, please take no offense. I just like twisty roads, preferably with elevation changes thrown in.


Kevin

[Rick Kay]

Love the photos and narration! Thanks for sharing, Kevin!

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Mary must of been in heaven ... so many clouds, so little time.

[Gorilla]

Nice ride Kevin. Thank you Mary for the pictures. The desert crossing does get boring except for the wind. We got hit with a small dust devil which was interesting. Watch for those. They can be powerful.

[DK Custom Products]

Love the photos and narration! Thanks for sharing, Kevin!

Thank you!

Mary must of been in heaven ... so many clouds, so little time.

Yep, she loves those cloud pics!

Nice ride Kevin. Thank you Mary for the pictures. The desert crossing does get boring except for the wind. We got hit with a small dust devil which was interesting. Watch for those. They can be powerful.

I will tell her...she does not go on the forums at all.

You're not kidding about the dust devils.


Kevin

[DK Custom Products]

Day-5

This morning we have a 3.5 hour or so ride to my folks house in San Diego. The 1900 miles of interstate are almost behind us. Gonna see my folks, brothers, sister, nephews, nieces and all the assorted kids they have.

Then the real part of the trip is going to start!

We had to get gas before starting out...saw this VW Trike pulling out of the station as we were pulling in...



....wonder if it is anyone from the TrikeTalk forum?



Almost immediately we crossed the Kalifornia State Line.





Soon after that we hit the first of THREE inspection stations between the state line and San Diego...




...each of them were on the interstate and there was a heavy presence of Border Patrol at each. Traffic backed up, lots of time and gas to just wave almost everyone thru. I think we saw one vehicle in secondary out of all three stations. I don't know the economics of what they're doing, but for the money being spent...seems there must be a better way.


Anyway, off we are. Seeing a lot more bikes on the road almost right away...here's another TG!





A pic of the "All American Canal" that feeds the Imperial Vally...water from the Colorado River.





San Dunes of the Imperial Valley...



....looks more desert-like here than in Arizona!



More long, straight, flat road. A look behind us...





...A look ahead....




...A look from the side...




...A look from up top...




...yep, it's pretty much all the same.

We have ridden to Cali a few times since moving to Mississippi, but we have always taken a more northern (non-interstate) route, and then jogged down into SoCal. This is the first time via this route.

More in the next post.

[DK Custom Products]

Day-5 Continued...

Another huge solar farm...





....and there are well over 100 wind generators in the valley also!





I have enjoyed the ride so far...but I gotta say, I am happy to finally have some hills and curves in the road!




Another inspection station.





We're now in San Diego proper, on the 8.

We rode all the way from MS to San Diego without one person cutting us off or almost running into us (although there were a LOT of texters weaving around)

...until we got on the 8 in SD. A guy in a Camaro just started changing lanes right into us..didn't even look til he was half in our lane. He was pretty shocked when he looked up and I was staring right at him about 3 feet away. lol I just shook my head and accelerated away from him.

Feels like we're in Memphis, TN.




Here we are! Got a couple of days we get to visit family...




...I won't bore you with loads of family pics...but here are a couple.

Myself with my two brothers.




Mary with my mom.




Kevin