To Alaska

Day 1 From Lansing to St Ignace

We have made the 4 hour drive from Lansing to St Ignace many times over the years. St Ignace is one of our favorite weekend getaways and way point to other destinations in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Here are some pictures from St Ignace.

The Mackinac Bridge connecting upper and lower Michigan. The bridge is 7 miles long and was completed in the auspicious year of 1957.

Dinner at Jose's Cantina. Whitefish tacos with a large margarita.

View from my motel room. Lake Huron in the background.

Day2 St Ignace to Rapids

Leaving St Ignace east on highway 2, the road follows the north shore of Lake Michigan. There are many views of this great lake. Unfortunately on the day of my trip it was overcast with intermittent rain. Here are a few pictures.

Lake Michigan east of Brevort.

Harbor where the Manistee river flows into Lake Michigan

Day 3 Rapids to Duluth

After taking a break and visiting my father for a few days I continue on to Duluth. This area of the country have some Finnish influence.

Not related to Stockman's in Helsinki but perhaps a distant relative.

No time to take a hike, perhaps next time.

Lake Superior just east of Duluth.

Day 4 Duluth to Grand Forks

This was a shorter day since I stayed in Grand Rapids west of Duluth. It rained most of the time so I did not take any pictures. Grand Forks is on the eastern edge of North Dakota. Tomorrow I will drive across North Dakota.

Day 5 Grand Forks to Williston

North Dakota is very flat. The road between towns is mostly farm land. Towns are separated by many miles. I have to be careful not to run out of gas. I can see the towns coming up from a good distance. I am comforted if I see a water tower in the distance, this means the population is big enough to have at least one gas station.

Day 6 Williston to Great Falls

Eastern and central Montana look much like North Dakota. There are fewer farms and more ranches.

The mothers planned their first play date. The babies were not interested. They just want their mothers.

Grain storage cathedrals are in many towns easily overshadowing churches of lesser gods.

Day 7 Great Falls to West Glacier

This was the day I was to take the Road to the Sun through Glacier National Park to cross the Rockies. Unfortunately as of today June 29 Logan Pass is still closed. The park has yet to clear the snow through the mountains. So I will ride as much of the road as I can up to the pass and then backtrack south to across Rockies to get to West Glacier. For the last 1000 miles or so I have occasionally had an engine control warning. The error goes away after I turn off the ignition and restart the bike. I will have to find a service center soon to look into this problem.

This is the Missouri river. Lewis and Clark traveled this river heading west.

Approaching the Rocky Mountains.

Lake St Mary

Logan Pass is closed.

Day 8 West Glacier to Banff

I stayed in Kalispell just south of West Glacier. I stayed an extra day in order to rest. I rode north along the western side of the Rockies into Canada. I crossed over the Rockies at the Banff National Forest to Banff.

Banff downtown.

Banff downtown.

Day 9 Leaving Banff

I packed up and stopped at a gas station on the way out of town. I could not open the gas cap. My keyfob battery was low. In such a case the computer locks the gas cap. Unfortunately this day was Canada Day, Canadian independence day. Most stores are closed. So I rechecked into the hotel and started looking to buy a battery for my keyfob. I finally found one and replaced the battery. Unbelievably it did not fix the problem. So I could start the bike but could not add gas to the tank. I spent the evening doing research. I found a BMW dealer with a service department in Calgary, about 100 miles to the east of Banff. It is always possible to hack a computer to bypass its logic if you have physical access to the device. So I removed a couple of bolts and was able to gas up and ride to Calgary the next day. After arriving in Calgary, I bought another new battery for the keyfob and my low battery problem was fixed. What are the odds of buying a bad battery. Thing are looking up.

Remove these bolts and the bracket.

Open sesame. We don't need no stinking computer.