Quick Exit from the US - Quick Entrance Into Canada....

Our last leg, on this great seaside motorcycle ride, was the 30 minutes to get to US Customs at the Blaine Truck border crossing.

Leaving the Inn on the northern side of Burlington, WA.

We were rolling shortly before 8:30 am.  The TV weather forecasters were calling for rain along the I-5.  We were dressed for that!

Everything looks so nice and colourful now that the leaves of spring have sprung.

I-5 was not busy. 

The rain held off

And it was smooth sailing through the city of Bellingham.  We were headed for an off site airport parking facility to retrieve our Nissan truck.  

Our Nissan was left here, one week ago Monday, May 6th, for our flight to Palm Springs.

Only 15/20 minutes north from the Bellingham airport and we were at US Customs.  The customs officer asked for the original Harley Davidson title, looked it over and compared it to the documents I had filed a week earlier, asked where it was parked for inspection, stamped the original title and sent me on my way. Export was completed without inspection.  She never even looked out....but likely could see on a camera TV screen. That only took five minutes.

Using our NEXUS border entry cards, Jeanette followed me as I rolled into the special lane and, after a few questions, was pointed to the parking area to file the import documents and pay the GST (Goods and Services Tax).  That took no more than about 15 minutes.  The timing could not have been better.  I was the only importer at customs.  Now....that is highly unusual.  Great timing though!

The Canada customs officer asked a few questions but did not bother to go check the motorcycle over or even to verify if the VIN # was correct. I was sent on my merry way.

I did stop into the RIV office (Registrar of Imported Vehicles) to file my documents, pay the RIV fee and receive a file number to proceed for a vehicle inspection which - in Canada - is done at the Canadian Tire stores.  

From start to finish, the export/import process took no more than 30 minutes.

At its resting place in our garage.

The Electra Glide is in serious need of a good bath and some fine detailing.

Shortly after we arrived home, the forecast rains came down heavy.  Man-oh-man....did it rain!  And to have avoided riding in it was great timing.

Today is voting day in British Columbia.  It is a Provincial vote to determine which party will govern our lives these next four years.  Once our duty is done, I plan to spend some time detailing the Harley and making arrangements to have the final inspection completed before registering the ride.

Jeanette and I caught up on some mail, emails, return phone calls and, when I settled in to watch the Game 7 Toronto Maple Leafs / Boston Bruins NHL hockey game, Jeanette drove off to attend an informal gathering of like minded nurses at a house party. The Boston Bruins won the first playoff round with an overtime goal.  

What a truly fun ride this was.....!

Oh how we enjoyed our motorcycle journey up coastal Highways 1 and 101....from southern California, though Oregon, Washington and back home.  It was an 1800 mile journey (2,880 kilometres).  We lucked out with the weather!  We have the better than 1000 photos to look back on too.  We both cherished the opportunity to experience such natural beauty.

With this ride completed, we have now ridden over 140,000 miles (224,000 kilometres), on motorcycles, these past 14 years.  That is an average of 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometres) per year.  Hard to imagine....but true!  We've enjoyed every bit of it; including the nail biter routes we sometimes found ourselves on.

Thanks for riding along.

Export / Import Day @ the US/Canada Border

Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon

We  motorcycled out of Tillamook by 9:30 yesterday morning (Sunday). The road was bare but there was a threat of rain.  There was little traffic.

Grey skies but we still had great views.

In our personal view, the Oregon coast features some of the best coastal topography on the Pacific seaside.  The west coast of Vancouver Island presents great views too but one gets to drive and view more ocean in Oregon.

This area signaled that we were nearing one of our favourite spots - Canon Beach.

This area is famous for winter storm watching. We spent about one half hour enjoying the surf at Tolovena Park in Canon Beach.

The famous 'Haystack Rock'

Good wave action and great surf sounds......

After taking in the sights and sounds, we continued north on the 101 towards Seaside and Astoria, Or.

The Astoria bridge over the Columbia River.

The Columbia River (with its headwaters in Canada) is a major shipping channel in these parts.  Large ships make their way up river to Portland and points further east into Washington State.

High bridge for ships....

We saw two cruise ships.  The one in the photo below was a Norwegian Cruise Liner.  It was at dock.

The smaller cruise ship, above, was in the Columbia River and making its way eastward - likely toward the city of Portland.

The City of Astoria  - taken from the ramp up towards the bridge.

At the very top of the bridge, we were held up for the placing of a construction crane on the deck.  That gave us the opportunity to get some great views of the surroundings.

Once the flag-girl waved us through the construction zone, we rode over the bridge and continued along the long, long, long floating bridge, over the Columbia River, and into Washington State.

We continued north on the 101 and within minutes, after entering Washington, the rain began in earnest.  It was not a continuous rain; nor was it a heavy downpour.  It was more of an on and off west coast style drizzle.

Foggy coastline

On and off drizzle.....

We left the Washington State coastline and headed east on Highway 12, towards the I-5, just south of Olympia, the State Capital.  Once away from the coast it was clear riding, with no moisture, all the way to our overnight spot, one half hour from the Canadian Border, in the small city of Burlington, WA.

We rolled seamlessly through Seattle....

Although Seattle's I-5 traffic always seems like an endless rush hour (even on weekends), we kept pace in the HOV lanes.  We rolled through this busy area without having to stop.  

Once in Burlington, we settled into a nice Inn before heading out for a nice Mother's Day dinner. 

We are soon to roll toward the US border to officially export the Harley Davidson motorcycle from the US and then cross over to the Canadian border to officially import it there.  We're only a 1/2 hour ride away from home.

Thanks for dropping by.

Georgeous Oregon Coast....

Many bloggers write about and photograph the Oregon coast and it's always a treat to read about their experiences.  This coast is not new to us.  We've traveled it several times, camped along it, witnessed the harsh winter storms in Canon Beach and enjoyed the numerous small fishing towns and ports along this famous coastline.  

THIS COAST NEVER DISAPPOINTS........

We had a mix of sun, clouds and a wee bit of mist along our route yesterday.  The 101 Highway is in very good condition, with the odd rough spots.  With endless coastal views, one almost starts to take this beauty for granted.

Our day began @ 9:00 am and ended @ 5:00 pm in the little famous town of Tillamook.  Their cheese is world famous.  It is really good.

 Oregon's coastline is dotted with huge rock formations that protrude out of the sea.

To motorcycle along this coast, on dry days, is a gift.  The coastal highway can so often fog in.  Although fog is nice, it's not so nice when one is there to view the scenery.  We hit it right!  No rain and no fog!

We took several short breaks to look out on the Pacific.  Of particular interest to me was to search out the wonderful port town of Bandon.  Not that I wasn't curious about its port history, I was more curious about the famous golf courses that is the rave in golfing circles.  Called Bandon Dunes, I kept mentioning to Jeanette just how important it was for us to ride in and check out the golf courses (three to be exact) and the facilities. She may have rolled her eyes a few times.  She was a good sport though.....!

Stunningly beautiful.....over and over and over.....

The town of Bandon is a delight to visit.  The local politicians and citizens are to be commended for keeping Old Town in pristine condition. 

We lagged about on the dock around Old Town for well over 30 minutes.  It just felt nice to be here.

Several small fish boats were coming back in to shore following a morning out.

We left the port of Bandon and headed north.  Within a few miles, I saw the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort sign.  Making a quick left turn, we rode around part of the resort area.  OMG!!! What a golf resort this is. 

The golf magnet was pulling hard to have me golf but I swallowed hard and kept riding.

Just north of Bandon is the larger port of Coos Bay.  We did not spend any time off the bike here.  It would be, however, a nice place to tour.  A la prochaine!

This is but one of the few bridges we did cross on the 101

As lunchtime approached, we rode past what looked like a really nice bakery/deli.  We turned around and rolled in.  This was a really good decision.  It was fantastic!  The fresh baked breads, combined with fresh produce and deli meats made for tasty sandwiches enjoyed outdoors.  These little gems can be found in any town and village.

We skirted along the famous Oregon Sand Dunes. 

Along our ride north we saw many trucks and sport utility vehicles heading south with sand buggies in tow.  Riding on the sand dunes is a popular activity in these parts.

Just below the rock in this photo is the famous sea lion caves.  In the distance is but a small part of the Oregon sand dunes.

We did stop at the Sea Lion Caves.   Here, tourists can pay to walk down a pathway and then board an elevator that heads into the caves where hundreds of sea lions laze about on the rocks. We hung out there for a bit but chose to ride on.

Jeanette caught the attention of a local woman who spotted us taking this photo.

We needed a little break in the wee little town of Cloverdale, Oregon.  This lady (who claims to have lived in this little town for 30 + years) came up and explained the history about these characters.  Legend has it that new owners of a small grocery store wanted the figurines off the roof.  They were going to trash them.  The town petitioned and the owners agreed to mount the figurines around their store sign.

This is the real tourist information building that also serves as the office of the local Chamber of Commerce.

A bit of trivia is warranted here: This little town is called Cloverdale, Oregon.  We also rode through a larger Cloverdale in California.  One popular little city, in the greater Vancouver, BC, Canada, area is also called Cloverdale.  There are likely many other Cloverdales all over the English speaking world.

With a bolt through his chest, this fella would not engage in conversation......Hmmmm!

Likely a popular stop for local fishers....

We thought about Lincoln City as our overnight spot but, once again, we both felt we could log a few more miles so northward we rode.  We settled into the quaint little town of Tillamook.  

Today - Mothers Day - we continue our journey north.  We'll ride past one of our most favourite and often visited west coast spots. Canon Beach is where we spent many winter holidays there listening and watching the pounding surf.  We would often take a three/four day post Christmas family holiday there.

It is our plan to continue along the 101 Oregon coast, over the Astoria bridge (over the Columbia River) and into Washington State.

We will overnight about an hour or so south of the Canadian border, this late afternoon.  We have to overnight below the border before exporting the motorcycle out of the US of A.   Exports are not allowed on weekends and holidays. That can only be done Monday to Friday between the hours of 8:30 am and 3:00 pm.  Our paper work was filed before we left home and the US Custom office is aware of our intent to export the Harley Davidson. We received word that our documents were in order.

Till the next writing, thanks for dropping by.  To all the mothers out there in blogland, wishing you a most wonderful day.

Crescent City in Northern California

We had a good ride yesterday.  We left Petaluma @ 9:00 am in full riding gear.  Marine cloud was keeping the sun at bay and it was quite cool. One hour later the sun was out and it got very warm.  The heated gear came off.

Riding on the edge of wine country

We rode past several small wineries along route 101.  This northern California country is very pretty.  Hillsides with grapes vines, trees and meadows, lit up by the sun, made for pleasant viewing as we rolled.

Before long we were into some big trees.  The Redwood forests are beautiful....pure and simple!

The 101 took us through seaside, hillside, meadow and big tree scenery.  We were kept busy taking in the sights.

Gentle riding through easy curves made this ride most relaxing.  The 101 is a real pleasure for motorcyclists.  And we met many more motorcyclists; including a group of 12 from Germany and later in the day, a group of 6 from Copenhagen, Denmark.  They all rode rented Harley Davidson motorcycles.  We exchanged some fun chatter with them.

The usual tourist pit stops

Chainsaw artists are truly gifted.  Most of their work with huge redwood stumps is incredible.

We arrived in Eureka, CA, in mid-afternoon.  We weren't tired and both agreed that Crescent City - further north - would be an ideal overnight spot.  So we pushed off.....!

Rolling through Eureka, CA.

It was not long before we were in the heart of the Redwood forests. The sun was out in full blast but once in the forest, all one gets to see are the sun flares glistening off the the moss and wet tree trunks.

Some curves but these were easily navigateable compared to some of the twists and turns from the previous day.

The seaside brought cooling temperatures and marine fog.

About 90 minutes south from Crescent City, the air cooled off quickly.  We had to stop and gear up with the electrically heated riding gear.  The Danish motorcyclists we met were frozen and complaining about the cold, unseasonable temperatures. They were most interested is seeing our riding gear.

Only a few sharp curves along the route today.

Likely millions of photos are taken in front of this Redwood tree.

I stayed plugged in with heat while Jeanette ran around getting photos....and getting me to take this photo of her inside the trunk of this 2000 + year old tree.

Marin fog rolled in....then out....then in.....

The marine fog worked its way through the Redwood forest too.  It had a mystical feel to it.

Once out of the Redwood forest, the marine fog abated and we had a better view of the sea shore.  The clouds did not go away though and the balance of our day was under cloud cover.

This restaurant was recommended by the young lady at the motel counter.  It was all she said it would be.  In our view....4+ stars!

Jeanette had a huge plate of clams mixed with other seafood and I had a combo plate of cod, scallops and shrimp.  It was really, really good!

Battery Point Lighthouse in Crescent City - First operated in 1856.

Early evening....

The Danish motorcyclists chose to overnight at the same motel as us.  We had the time to share road stories with these like minded riders.  

They are heading for Portland, Oregon today while Jeanette and I head further north on the 101 for the Oregon coast.

Thanks for dropping by.