Day 60 September 3/14 Victoria, BC 14750 kms

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HOME SWEET HOME

We made it! we're back home now in Victoria, and will recap our amazing journey of 2014. The map shows all the places we overnighted.

We hit a total of 17 states, 8 of them new this year: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming (new), Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona (new), New Mexico (new), Texas (new), Louisiana (new), Mississippi (new), Arkansas (new), Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska (new), South Dakota (new), Washington.

Total states the wheels have rolled through: 33. Boaterbikers3 (you never know) to incorporate the rest? (with the exception of Hawaii !!)

Maintenance/Repair: the bikes are in desperate need of new tires. I have two nails/staples in my back tire alone, and Ian has little to no tread on both his front and rear tires. Cornering for the last few days for both of us has been a battle. Oil changes are also needed, as well as a good powerwashing! We would not make good Harley owners...

Mileage total: we ended up with just short of 15000 kms on this loop, quite a bit less than last year.

Extreme weather temperatures: ranged from 5 degrees in the last couple of days in Washington, to 48 in Vegas, Nevada. Humidity topped out at 80% in Louisiana,

Frustration #1: Headsets and terrible reception at times. Typical conversation on the microphones went like this:

Ian: Do you want to stop for coffee?

Helli: Says nothing back

Ian (louder): Hey do you want to stop for a coffee?

Helli: Says nothing back

Ian (in frustration): Oh for f__ks sakes!

Helli: What? You want a break?

Half the time, one or the other headset didn't register, mostly at the most inconvenient time in traffic and having to make a decision on direction etc. Remedy: new helmets with bluetooth?

Frustration #2:

Wet gear. Definitely going to look at textile pants for next trip, and Ian's jacket has lost all of its waterproofing now.



Improvements over last year:

- Having cold water that we could drink on the fly, via camelbacks in the tank bags.

- Spray mister bottles also in the tank bags

- For Ian, taking along the laptop as well as the ipad. Took up more room, but definitely worth it

- Taking the small compact pocket camera as well as the SLR, even though at times quality was compromised for convenience in packing around a lighter camera

- Neck cooler bandanas worked incredibly well

- Cooler in my topbag, with solid interior. We used it almost every day, with food/drinks on ice, but would still be better to have found a non-leaking collapsible model

In all, we were more relaxed this year, and enjoyed spending more than one night in a lot of places. Despite the heat, we had a great time, and coped with the conditions much better than last year.

Well, thank you all, once again, for following along our journey. We truly appreciate your dedication to our blog! We also appreciate all the comments we received, it kept us in touch. Thank you.

SLIDE SHOW, LIBATIONS, DEEP FRIED OKRA AND ALLIGATOR (OK, THAT'S A STRETCH), APPETIZERS ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 13/14 AT 6:00 PM, OUR PLACE. RSVP [e-mail] or phone one of us! Hope you will stop by, we've missed everyone.

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Photos

Washington State Ferry from Anacortes to Sidney BC
Arriving into Sidney, BC

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

2014
Hope your path takes you near us in 2015 so we can meet. We love La Conner. You should go in February/ March when the tulips are in bloom.

[boaterbikers2]

eastern adventures?
hi there, we actually talked about completing our tour of the usa on the bikes and heading east for our last leg - we were actually in New York in may for a week, and loved it, would love to return. will stay in touch, and hopefully we will get to meet one day! perhaps you will make it out to the northwest in the meantime?? thanks for all your comments, now I"m going to check out your blogsite! helen and ian.