Just south of Cranbrook is a place called Steamboat Hill. It use to have a wicked turn at the bottom and lots of crashes until they realigned the highway several years ago. I use to run the old highway everyday when I was hauling up into the coal mines. This is the “Cemetery “ at the top of the hill on the south end.
Just south of Cranbrook is a place called Steamboat Hill. It use to have a wicked turn at the bottom and lots of crashes until they realigned the highway several years ago. I use to run the old highway everyday when I was hauling up into the coal mines. This is the “Cemetery “ at the top of the hill on the south end.
For all the names on the crosses
Rocky, enjoying your posts with the dedicated pics. Hope you’re still on for that rounder. Will look forward to more.
Your Pan is looking sharp in your cemetery shot. That story reminds me of the Lewiston Grade outside Lewiston, Idaho in the old days. Many spectacular wrecks before grade was modernized. Maybe you drove it. Here’s a sign that still around that’s kind of funny....your graduates would appreciate it😀
Rocky, enjoying your posts with the dedicated pics. Hope you’re still on for that rounder. Will look forward to more.
Your Pan is looking sharp in your cemetery shot. That story reminds me of the Lewiston Grade outside Lewiston, Idaho in the old days. Many spectacular wrecks before grade was modernized. Maybe you drove it. Here’s a sign that still around that’s kind of funny....your graduates would appreciate it😀
Thats a good sign. I have rode down the Lewiston grade, not up. Next time through I will do it. That one, the White Bird grade and The Winston Grade (all in a very short proximity) would have made Truck drivers out of anyone. And back when Jakes where none existent or as useless as holding your hat out the window to scoop air.
... I had a great sleep last night, 10 hours in bed. Got up and made a cup of Joe. I got one of those fancy-dancy Capachino machines, like my daughters and am really enjoying it. Watched the Sun from my deck get into the sky, then headed into the City. I live in Kimberley, which is about 40 minutes from work, where I keep the Panhead, so I get to ride my eGlide for a nice morning jaunt first thing after coffee. Once in town, I swap bikes out and head for the coffee shop, usually to met up with the buds, but I was running later today, so they where all gone and I got to have morning coffee and a breakfast bagel by myself...... so after sitting there for a nice hour or so, I decide to take the Pan out for a run. Usually when I do the Ft Steel/Wardner run I run clockwise, but this morning I ran counter to mix it up. I almost get out of town, and then remember I forgot to "bring" Bear along, so i head back to the shop and get his collar. I wear it on my right ankle when I Journey and feel odd when It is not there. So I get it, and head out.
My first stop is at the "Cemetery" on Steamboat hill. I have been wanting to stop and get a picture there for a while, so it was time. Thats the one I posted up. I took several more shots along the way and will post them up at the end of the tale. So, I get out to Wardner, running about 50/55 mph, which is the speed the old girl likes. I got my tunes on my Earplugs, blutoothing them from my iPhone, which I have mounted on my handlebars. I also have the GPS speed tracker going and it tells me the speed, as my speedometer is not working as it should..... It looks like 40 KPH on the speddo is about 55 mph on the GPS. I make a North and get onto the slow and twisty road heading towards Fort Steel. Running about 40 mph, enjoying the road and the Rocky Mountains on the right hand side..... until.... the Pan stops.
Now I have had this problem before. It seems the Fuel filter runs out of Gas, even though there is a lot of it in the tank. So, I tap-tap-tap the glass until it fills up... a couple of kicks and she starts up and then off I go..... until it happens AGAIN..... but this time, the glass is full.... so me thinks there is a vapor lock somewhere..... Anyways, after a few fellows stop by.... and most do when they see the bike as they think i must be in trouble when I am stopped.... and sometimes I am. I get her going again. I am beginning to wonder if the fuel line going between the cylinders is getting to hot and vaporizing the fuel.... I don't trust the fuel filter anymore, so will swap it out, and maybe I will reroute the fuel line to in-front of the motor. Worth trying anyway.
I stop at Fort steel for Gas to make sure I have enough, as I am still getting use to riding her and don't really know what the range is, but it looks now to be about 60/70 miles and it is time to fuel up, which is about right, as an hour on the old girls is a goodly amount of time.... I fuel up and park the bike to let it cool down. I got a juice and sat in the shade for a bit letting the old girl cool down, and when I went back to her 30 minutes later, there is a gas patch below here..... so I know the Fuel Overflow is working now..... With the oil dripping out of the Primary case, a gas puddle below her and vapor locks and running out of Gas, add in the shake and what the hell..... I got a Panhead operating just like she should....
I kick her into life easily and head back to town.... and one more stop at my Sunday coffee shop for a tall glass of cold caffeine... take a nice one hour break and then back to the shop, put her away, and ride the eGlide back home...... so a glorious motorcycle day in the Sun, enjoying both bikes, lots of stops, some "what the hell' moments, and chatting it up with folks who love old iron.
Some Pict's......
Sunrise over the Rocky Mountain from my deck.... this is my morning coffee view....
for Chelsey ....on the way down from Kimberley to Cranbrook...
for Corporal A. J. Coursen ....heading north towards Fort Steel, those are the Steeples Range of the Rocky Mountains straight ahead.....
for Lance Corporal Dana Tate .... up the road aways there is this old horse drawn grader.
When I was traveling over the last few seasons, I would see a picture and say to myself “that’s a good shot, I should stop and take it for the thread and “The Crew”...... It’s different now.... much more personal. I no longer just see the physical world around me with my own eyes ...... it is a shared experience...... not with strangers, just with people I have never met.
After I morning coffee at home on Sunday, I went down to the "City" for coffee, sat around for a bit having a cup of joe with a bud, then headed up to Fernie for lunch. It is about an hour to the East of Cranbrook. A really nice ride up, excellent sandwich and coffee at The Big Bang Bagel shop which is right downtown. This is a good place for a lunch if you are traveling through. It is right downtown on the main street through the core of the town. Then I rode back to Cranny. The traffic was much heavier as everyone was heading back to Alberta after a nice weekend. Lots and lots of bikes..... got back to my Sunday coffee spot... Hotshots. A pretty good place to stop for coffee and they make some great food also. Opens early, stays open till 8 or so. Its up Victoria avenue, so not on the main drag through town, but only a few blocks off. Worth finding, especially if you like to sit outside on a nice deck. I had a nice cold cup of ice coffee, then headed home.... here are a few pictures.
I don't have covered parking up in Kimberley, so I park the bike in-front of my truck. On nights it looks like it is going to get wet, I put the cover on it. I have all the locks locked and the alarms on, and I sleep just up the steps to the right with my window open.... but I wont bring the Pan up.
for Captain Nathan King
After morning coffee off I head east..... this is just before the tunnel and just after Elko. it is a nice sweepy piece of road.
Downtown Fernie. The deck in-front of Big Bang Bagels. Some of the nicest sandwiches in the East Kootenays. That is the world famous ski hill up in the hills above Fernie. It is further than it looks.
For George
On the way home, just west of Wardner, is Bull Mountain. It is the farthest mountain in the Steeples range. The Kootenay river separates us from it but you cannot see it in the Pict. There is a bridge a few miles back that goes over the lake.
I am heading to Vancouver for a week or so on Friday. I am taking all of my camping gear and will decide what to do when I leave Vancouver. That is still up in the Air as to what I will be doing, but the weather looks like it is going to hold out for a while so I will take advantage of it. I will take my passport so my options will be open. Sturgis looks to be not happening this year, but I will see which way the wind blows me. Robin, my mechanic at the HD shop, who does almost all of my work on my Pan, says he will go with me either next year or the year after as he would also like to ride his old Pan down. It would make for a great adventure, but having an Old Iron Mechanic with me would not hurt.
So, I suit up this morning to ride the eGlide into town, and the clutch doesn’t work ..... so I call HOG towing and they send someone to come fetch ...... young lad is in to much of a hurry and tips it over. Can’t lift it cause he don’t know how, so I give him a lesson on how to. Then make sure he doesn’t do it again. There is a bit of chrome scrape, not sure I care yet. See how I feel tomorrow about it.
07-08-2018, 03:13 PM
