Spending the night in the car at a CENEX truck stop is probably more fun in your 20s. But when you can’t get a motel room after trying for about an hour — and you’ve been in a major thunderstorm and are tired and it’s late — you do what you have to do.

In the ladies room at the restaurant across from CENEX, I get to explain to two women from Alberta that the “wah-wah-wah” sound they heard last night (“Was it a tornado warning?” was the emergency warning system announcing the thunderstorm. They spent the night in their truck instead of their tents. We’re all tidying up; no shower but large sinks!

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We get off to a slow-ish start after sampling the motel’s enhanced continental breakfast. After a gorgeous drive through Glacier National Park on the Going To The Sun Road (west-to-east) we aim towards North Dakota.

I’m looking for a Radio Shack because I’ve left my iPhone USB cable at home (I have at least three of them) and I can’t charge the phone. This is a big oops. (I don’t think about WalMart as being a probable source – they do sell Apple products and iPods. Eventually I buy a cable at a Target in North Dakota.) It’s a good thing I also brought along the baby Nikon camera!

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The summer of 2010 trip turned out to be a car trip, not a moto trip, because I was worried that my sleep apnea would make a moto trip too risky. Plus, we can take Katie in the car. So we rented a Hertz Sebring (leather seats, Sirius radio, moonroof).

D-day … we get a late start because we can (4-wheels are more forgiving) and because we need to. Route: Lynnwood WA to Kalispell, MT  with a stop in Coeur d’Alene ID for Hudson’s Burgers. Our motel room is next to a half-dozen Harleys; they hit the road earlier than we do Wednesday morning. (Google Map; the trip summary page)

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I’m thinking about taking a trip to San Diego in July. I can ride my motorcycle: it would be a not-too-difficult two-day ride (1300 miles one way) and cost about $200 in gas plus two nights hotel (~$60 per) or room/sofa bummed with a friend.

Flying? About $350 round-trip plus dealing with transportation while in San Diego. Non-stop, 2.5 hour flight plus travel to airport plus hour advance check-in: 4 hours.

Train? There is no direct train from Seattle to San Diego and the Amtrak reservation system isn’t smart enough to suggest how to get there: it simply tosses out an error message.
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About this time of year, 10 years ago, I started thinking about riding in a fundraiser for breast cancer called the Pony Express. I had been inspired the summer of 1998 when the PE ride came through Seattle. I don’t think I had yet bought my 1981 R65 BMW; I remember attending the event with Jim and Barb Horton.

Originally, I was only going to ride the first leg: Seattle to San Francisco. I’d only been riding about 18 months; I’d ridden from Seattle to northern California in August 1999, but my friend J.C. and I took three days to make the trip. With urging and support from WetLeather, I decided to ride to St. Joesph, MO. But I wanted to do most of the ride solo. (I’m still not a fan of large organized rides.) I rode about 6,000 miles in two weeks (and 1.25 back tires). Read the rest of this entry »