This short writeup provides some observations on the RCMC Grand Tour for 1998 as undertaken by cousins Cliff Wulff (RCMC member) and Dwayne Simpson, both of Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada.

I (Cliff) had lived in Vancouver, WA for 18 months returning to Sherwood Park, Alberta in late August 1997. During this period I actively and enthusiastically participated in RCMC activities. This "gem" of a MC club has to be the very best. Lots of activities, great riding opportunities, great members, and a fantastic leadership by Char (President) and John (Road Captain) both of whom gave "all" so very often organizing so many rides and activities, including volunteering the club members for charity functions. The extensive club of the services and events take a lot of time and organization but no mind they just carry on. The sincere and true friendship they provided to all is exceptional. I have been the recipient on several occasions. Yes Char and John you are and continue to be fantastic.

The 250, 500, Western States 1000, and the Grand Tour of 1997 (completed 100% of the 19 check points) all got into my blood because of the continual great riding experiences and the great organization of all activities.

Work kept me away from the Western States 1000 in June 1998. I had planned to ride from Edmonton to Portland arriving the Friday before the Western States 1000, do the 1000 with my buds Jack Arms and Jim Fisher on the weekend. I had planned to meet the group in Osoyoos, BC and returning to Portland with them. I had planned to take the week following to do some of the check points, returning to Alberta later that same week.

Work also caused me to miss going to the Can-Am in Osoyoos, BC at the end of June. That is an annual event for my cousin Dwayne from here and my brother in Richmond, BC (Vancouver area) and a friend of his. We use this as an opportunity to meet and ride for a week. Even though I did not make it, Dwayne went from here. As a result only had one week of annual leave left. This dashed any thought of us taking an extended ride together, like the '98 Grand Tour.

The dream of doing the Grand Tour and being able to ride those fantastic roads in the NW, never left me, however.

As August approached, I could see an opportunity to get two weeks time off from my work. I raised with Dwayne the possibility of us doing the Grand Tour roads in mid to late August. He had seen some of Oregon in 1997 but most of the places the 1998 tour would take us were new roads and new country for him. He agreed to approach his employer for time off (the week he had coming plus possibly some addition time with two full weeks being very unlikely). Low and behold he was granted the two full weeks vacation. The planning then started in earnest. My leave then was requested and for various reasons I was again not sure I could get away due to work demands, but on Friday, August 14, 1998 we sat down at work and agreed I could get away for two weeks. My two weeks of leave were now approved. However, my daughter was moving that Saturday morning. I had promised to help. I did and we got away at noon on Saturday, August 15, 1998 and returned 5:30 P.M. on Saturday, August 29, 1998.

Two hours after leaving, and just half way to Jasper, AB it started to rain. The sun was shining and it was warm in Edmonton when we left. It continued to rain for three days. Not until we got into eastern Washington State did the skies clear. That was the last of the rain in our 14.5 day ride.

We visited all 19 of the check points. Dwayne rode with me to all the check points and did not join the Grand Tour nor collected any of the stamps. A dedicated riding buddy and an enthusiastic motorcyclist don't you think?

Some observations and memories

• Worst weather:
  The rain from Edmonton, AB to Lillooet, BC route, and on highway 20, western Washington (the worst of the storm) to near Winthrop, WA.

• Best weather:
  Osoyoos for the balance to the GT

• Lowest Temperature:
  Burns, OR and at Seeley Lake, Montana both were at 4 degrees Celsius.

• Other lows:
  
  • 7.1 degrees Celsius, Avola, BC
  • 7.0 degrees Celsius, Bend, OR
  • 9.0 degrees Celsius, Hells Canyon, OR

• Highest temperature:
  34.5 degrees Celsius Yuba, CA

• Best motel shower:
  Shelby, Montana, all the others were chest or navel high at the best.

• Worst nights sleep:
  Travel Lodge in downtown Reno, Nevada

• Best Roads:
  
  • Little Fort to 78 Mile House, BC to Lillooet, BC
  • Highway 99, Lillooet, BC to Whistler, BC
  • Highway 20, from Burlington, WA to Winthrop, WA
  • Randall. OR to Cougar, OR
  • Highway 66 from Ashland to Klamath Falls, OR
  • # 299 Canby to Baker City, CA
  • # 205 Denio, CA to Burns, OR
  • ALL roads in Hells Canyon in NE Oregon (you have to ride these roads)
  • Cambridge, Idaho to Oxbow and onto Baker City
  • Milton-Freewater on #204, # 82 to Enterprise and # 3 to Lewiston
  • # 89 from the north entrance of Yellowstone to Great Falls, Montana

• Worst Road: Cody, Wyoming to Yellowstone (construction) and a very rough road north in the park

• Straightest Road:
  Merrill, OR to Canby, CA (and we thought we had straight roads in Alberta)

• Best Check Point:
  All 19

• Distance to the First Check Point:
  1010 km's or 632 miles.

• Distance home from the last check point:
  1387 km's or 867 miles (Via Cody, Wyoming and Yellowstone to Edmonton, AB, Canada)

• Most interesting bikers we met:
  Five fellows (father, son and three friends) from Longmont, Co. They were all on Harley's. Not wearing helmets is a bit strange to us Canadians as we have no choice. The seven of us happened to be in the same motel in Seeley Lake, Montana. The next day Dwayne and I went to Cody, Wyoming. The five on the Harley's had no plans. To our surprise and theirs, about 7:30 P.M. they drove into the same motel in Cody that Dwayne and I had stopped in several hours earlier. We remade acquittances, and swapped some new stories.

• Most curious:
  Dwayne riding to all the Check points and not joining the RCMC Grand Tour? I had copied the book for him and still he did not collect any stamps.

• Best Motorcycle Shop:
  The Yamaha Cycle Town shop in Phoenix, OR just south of Medford. My rear tire was showing wear and rather than try to get home on a worn tire I stared to look for a shop on the Friday (and kicking my self for not having put on a tire in Portland). I called a shop in Grants Pass on Friday morning, who did have a tire that would have worked, but he referred me to two dealers in Medford. One was a Yamaha dealer. I called at 10:00 A.M. and they said "sure, just show up." We did the check point at Gold Hill, OR (and due to our rush we could not stop to eat there - they have famous omelets). We arrived at noon at Cycle Town, they took us right in and we left in just less than two hours. Hooray for Cycle Town in Phoenix, OR. We recommend them highly. A Honda shadow owner came in for service so they obviously have a good reputation. The owner also owns the Harley shop. The service people delayed their lunch just to put on my tire. Great service which "exceed the customer's expectations." It works every time.

• Japanese technology:
  Dwayne rides a 1995 25^th Anniversary Goldwing. I ride a 1986 Yamaha Venture. By the time we had reached Medford we had done about half of our 9422 km's (multiplied by .625 provides miles). Amazingly our bikes at this point had clocked the same milage except for 1 km, a difference of .625 of one mile. By the time we got home our difference was 11 km's or about 5.5 Miles' difference. Dwayne had recorded 9411 km's and my venture had recorded 9422 km's. (5889 miles)

• Wild life:
  • Too many deer
  • Elk in Yellowstone
  • Buffalo in Yellowstone, who we saw charge a car with two women in it
  • Yearling black bear on Highway #3, 2/3 the way up the pass east of Lewiston, ID
  • Coyotes
  • Bald Eagles (many)
  • Grey Whale feeding just south to Battle Rock, OR

• Memorable people at the check points:
  
  • Lillooet, BC
  • Upper Lake, CA
  • Brothers, OR check point who lobbied us to urge Char to let them be a check point in 1999. We were the 125^th RCMC Grand Tour visitors not counting some they had missed earlier in the year.
  • Milton-Freewater, we could have visited for many more hours with Terry

• Best Milk Shake:
  Fields, OR; can only be eaten with a spoon, a great bonus to a great road

• Nicest RCMC people:
  Den and Jane along with their friends Terry and Carolyn who changed their plans so they could stay at the Desert Inn in Osoyoos, BC so we could visit. We had a very good visit.

• Most traveled Chinese Jan-Jan sauce:
  When we were in Richmond BC, my brother's wife gave me a jar of Chinese Jan-Jan sauce and it went with me to 17 check points and on to home for a total of 8122 km's or 5076 miles.

• Best/worst fuel milage:
  39.5 mpg and 37.4 mpg (based on a US gallon which is 20% smaller than a Canadian Imperial gallon which is now irrelevant given we now have liters, of which it takes 3.8 to make a US gallon).

• Best Museum:
  Wild Bill Cody, Cody Wyoming

• Best Seafood:
  Chowderhead restaurant, Gold Beach, OR (how does the chowder compare to Moe's?)

• Daily milage:
  
  • longest day 823 km's
  • shortest day 427 km's
  • average 650 km's

• Best whale:
  Just a mile or so past and south of Battle Rock, OR a great grey whale was feeding. While he/she was a bit of a distance from the look out it was still a great and marvelous sight.

• Best part of the Grand Tour:
  No bugs. In Alberta you must wash your window after each tank of gas because of the bugs. We had very few bugs on our whole trip. The ones we did have were big babies.

The best part, of course, is the wonderful people you meet and the experiences you gain for meeting them. Also, as a motorcyclist, the roads and the thrill of just being there.

I hope you found the above interesting and worthwhile. If it inspires you to be a motorcyclist or to do more riding if you are already one or whether it just provided a light moment for you, then you will have found some enjoyment and pleasure from my and Dwayne's riding adventure. Of course none of this would have been possible but for the RCMC leadership.

Respectfully submitted,

Cliff Wulff
Motorcyclist

September, 1998

Cliff Wulff