2010 Yukon Solo Motorcycle Trip

Day 17 — Kelowna, BC to home...

My final day on the road. Saw lots of deer, but not as many as I see in our neighborhood on a typical day. A guy at the hotel told me that a fire had closed Hwy 97 where I was just a day or two ago. I might have dodged another re-route there. Whew! Missing three of the major roads I'd planned was bad enough...

It was weird again Tuesday, as I was riding roads I'm quite familiar with and ride every year. Only this time the color was all washed out. Normally the sky is deep blue, and the trees are bright green. This was in about the middle of Hwy 33 in BC between Kelowna and Rock Creek, where the smoke was the least. The camera didn't quite completely capture the golden weeds in this field, but I still thought it was worth including.

Home at last! Got to our house about 2pm, 17 days and 4,900 miles after I departed. Man, it was GOOD to be home.

The Shinko 705 rear tire I was worried wouldn't last still has some thousands of miles left in it. The F800GS worked great — didn't use any oil, the chain never needed adjustment, it didn't leak and nothing fell off. The Mud-Sling I added in front of the rear wheel kept the shock almost totally clean, and the front fender extender kept the road spooge from piling up too badly on the front of the engine (where the oil filter lives).

My Giant Loop luggage system leaked a bit. This was my fix — Duct Tape. I chose this bag instead of buying hard luggage because it was about 1/4th the cost, and it encouraged me to pack light. I think it's better suited to a real dirtbike which is much narrower than my GS. Plus it covered the GS'es gas cap, which as you can see is on the right rear of the bike, not top-center as it is with most bikes. That meant every time I filled up I had to unhook the Giant Loop on the right side, and even then I couldn't see very well to fill the tank without overflowing it.