To Begin, begin.

July 05, 2016 by Matthew Minor in Canada, United States

"To Begin, Begin."

It was something our hearts knew they needed before our brains could understand.

And when Kristen and I got married 11 years ago, I think we subconsciously gave each other“permission” to live with a certain recklessness that had eluded us when we weren't together. Not in the dangerous sense necessarily. What I'm talking about is more a freedom to completely and totally sell out to something with the full encouragement from someone that gets you. We push each other to go for it and it just flat out works for us.

Every time we fall away from this ideology our lives just don’t seem to make sense. We get bogged down and everything feels just… wrong. So when Kris said she wanted to learn to ride her own bike, everything kind of balanced out and made sense again.

We’ve lived within the brilliance of William Wordsworth for so long. “To begin, begin.” In so many other words, we’ve said this very phrase to each other so many times. It’s an encouragement. It’s a dare. It's our language. "If you want to go for something, first off, just do it. Secondly, I have your back."

So now we've made our way out of the heat in Texas and up to New England. We just spent the past 4 days playing around in New Hampshire's White Mountains and it was spectacular. Kristen was challenged with mountain winds and dirt and gravel roads and she absolutely killed it. The Ducati even took its first spill which made me weirdly even more proud of her (don't worry, it was at a standstill in the mud).

We also found the most incredible free campsite on the north side of the park. 10 miles down a gravel road and so isolated. Such a great find on a busy 4th of July weekend.

Crawford Notch is super cool. I think we may have to come back through to get some more shots.

So we got the Triumph serviced this afternoon, we're getting a much needed shower tonight and we'll head up to Canada tomorrow for some more riding.

Life is good.

Two Wheels to Newfoundland

June 27, 2016 by Matthew Minor in Canada, United States

For about 10 years, Kristen has been acting as a navigator/passenger as we've traveled around. About a month ago, she decided to flip everything on its head.

She went through the a riding course, got her license and now the proud owner of a Ducati Scrambler! I admit that as I saw her in my rear view mirror for the first time, carving around a curve, I legit teared up. I'm crazy proud.

After rearranging some things and saying goodbye to a few old friends (adios Suburban with 200,00 miles and Honda), we purchased a used Ford Transit cargo van, kitted it out for hauling bikes around and are headed out of the heat out towards Canada later this week.

One last thing: we are a Scrambler family now.

Happy birthday/4th of July/Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter to me! Lesssggoooo!

Bring it on Banff!

September 08, 2009 by Matthew Minor in Canada

Yesterday was about survival. First, we escaped certain death at the hands of a mysterious stranger with the nickname Johnny Big Lure. In all reality, he and Kim were great and it was a pleasure to get to know them. There were, however, some real concerns coming from home.

We received this email from Kristen's dad:

"What does Johnny Big Lure mean? You didn't really share a room with them did you?"

Kristen laughed so hard she actually cried. But I really think that meeting John and Kim was such a great part of why traveling is important. We're learning more and more that it's good to reach out and get to know people that we probably would never have connected with otherwise.

Safe travels, my friends. Hopefully we'll catch up with you both on a scuba trip one day!

Pretty much right as we left our roomies, Kris had a strong allergic reaction to something and the glands in her eyes swelled to an unbelievable size. It began to pour freezing rain, the traffic was pretty nutty and we had a serious disaster all within the first hour. Kris hopped out of the sidecar and forgot the camera was on her lap. The Canon G9 took a pretty dramatic tumble and died before our eyes...

All that to say, we were both in a pretty foul mood when we walked up to Lake Louise. Nature gave us a swift slap to the face and we came to our senses.

We're looking pretty thick with every bit of clothing we have on our bodies.

I think we get why so many people come here.

We left after looking around the hotel on the lake (which I'm sure is insanely expensive) and drove north to the Ice Fields Parkway. As we got to the gate, I stopped on the side of the road to fish my wallet out so I wouldn't hold up traffic when the girl in the booth started yelling and waving us over. We drove up, confused, and she exclaimed, "I've been waiting for you! Your friends passed this way about an hour ago. I'm so glad to see you guys!" We were understandably confused, but it turns out Kim and John had taken the same route and had chatted it up with this girl. We talked for a bit and then she said, "Best be on your way", with a wink before I could pay. We rode onto the parkway feeling a bit better about things.

Let me tell you, the Ice Fields Parkway that connects Banff and Jasper is the most stunning ride I have ever been on. Jagged mountains are everywhere, glaciers and glacial lakes and rivers dot the scenery and the trees are unbelievably thick.

I think Bow Lake was even more blue than Louise:

Kristen wanted me to mention that she didn't alter the blues in any of these pics. The lakes are just that blue.

We crossed over Bow Pass when we hit our first bit of serious weather for the trip. We were riding along when all of a sudden a white wall formed in front of us. We were engulfed in snow. Thankfully, the heated clothing made the whole thing enjoyable. The snow lasted for about 30 minutes and then dissipated. We had never experienced snow on Elga and for some reason, we couldn't stop laughing all the way through the pass.

We saw these goats:

And we saw several ravens that probably weighed more than Bacon:

We rode a bit further into Jasper National Park and climbed into the Columbia Ice Field where we were blown away by the chance to hike onto an actual glacier. We don't have any pics from the hike (the snow and wind was intense) but I do have these:

After hanging out in the visitors center for a bit to try and get my wet socks to dry, we headed down into the lovely town of Jasper (we saw several wolves and an elk that was so close Kristen could have pet it).

We survived the day and slept very, very hard.

The Eyes of Texas Are Upon Banff

September 07, 2009 by Matthew Minor in Canada

Kristen and I could have never imagined that we would meet so many people because of a little motorcycle. The Ural is the ultimate icebreaker - in the sidecar world it's known as UDF (Ural Distraction Factor). Every single time we stop we are swarmed by people that want to hear about our trip. It honestly may be the most redeeming part of our travels. We've received a multitude of business cards and phone numbers scribbled on napkins from absolute strangers offering food, lodging or aid in case of emergency. It has really opened our eyes and I feel as though we're being taught a lesson in generosity.

Before we left Pincher Creek today we had a nice breakfast with a family we met in Glacier the day before. The Callaways are great and their two young boys were absolutely in love with Elga. We said our goodbyes and headed off across the windy Alberta farmlands towards Banff.

We stopped for gas in Longview and saw a three-wheeled contraption for sale that we should buy for our next big trip.

A local gave us some advice that differed from our plans, so we took off west of 22 towards Peter Lougheed Provincial Park and the Kananaskis. Despite the rain and wind and cold, the views were worth it. It is a wild park full of uncultivated beauty.

We had to laugh at the name of the cattle guards here in Canada. Texas Gate!

We then kept heading north until we ran smack into the superslab that is Highway 1, then headed west to Banff National Park. Upon entering the park, the weather turned sour and seeing as Kristen was threatening physical pain if I made her sleep in the wet and cold outdoors, we headed to the town of Banff to find a hotel room.

After I turned around on the highway, we were suddenly being followed by a suspicious red BMW. They followed us for several miles and even into the gas station we stopped at when we arrived in town. It turns out that the owner and his wife almost bought a Ural for their current cross-country trip and were super excited to see one on the road. It turns out that they weren't quite as sketchy as we thought, and we ended up having dinner and sharing an expensive hotel room with them.

Here's to you Kim and Johnny Big Lure!

Tomorrow we head through the park!

Oh Canada!

September 06, 2009 by Matthew Minor in Canada

Kristen and I spent the past few days hanging out in Bigfork, Montana at a house right on the Swan River. It was pretty difficult to leave, not only because we were very comfortable and relaxed, but also because my neck and back is absolutely seized up at this point. Apparently, my riding position is not very healthy. There is a nasty pinch in between my shoulder blades - I'm pretty sure it's a nerve thing.

I have been feeling so bad that I actually spent $50/tire to get my tires changed out because I just can't do the work myself. By the way, Heindl Engineering was really great in getting us some parts and the tires quickly. The dealer network for Ural is just ridiculous!

Anyway, we got back on the road and headed into Glacier National Park.

Following the suggestions of several other riders, we headed straight to the "Going to the Sun Road" and found it to be inspiring.

The only problem was that halfway up to the summit, we ran into some pretty serious weather. The truth is we got caught in a downpour. Not only that but it was cold and windy and extremely busy with traffic. I think I would like to come back some day and do this again at a different time because the clouds covered much of our view and I really think that this could be a special ride.

Either way, we left the park after finishing the road to find some lunch, but before doing so we gassed up. At the station, an attendant, named Ivan, came up to us and said,

'An Oooral! You 'ave an Oooral!'

It turns out Ivan was from somewhere in Eastern Europe and was absolutely in shock to see a Ural in America.

'Zees ees sheet! You need a Harley... Back een my cuuntree, my fazer 'as many Ooorals. But he would trade zem all fer a Harley.'

What I thought was most funny about the encounter was that he could not believe that my bike had an electric start. I have a feeling the Urals that he's used to are very different than my 2007.

Anyway, we left the park and headed northwest towards Waterton Lake National Park but before we arrived we achieved a major accomplishment: we made it to Canada! On the way to the border:

We then crossed the border and spent a good amount of time enjoying Waterton Park (which is actually only split from Glacier by the border and is equally as impressive).