Day 18 - July 17

Today I was supposed to continue my journey south and east towards Idaho, unfortunately there was a little problem this morning. Remember earlier in the trip when I had two days in a row where I had road kill of birds? Well, today it was a deer - yes you read that right.

I left this morning as planned and was going on a nice country road (the one between 97 and 5 in my trip map for the day). All at once a deer came out of the ditch and was beside me. He (small fork buck) collided with the left side of my bike. With help from God, many years experience, and some good luck, I was able to keep the bike up right and not crash it. It all happened very fast but I never felt in danger of tipping over. The deer never moved after the crash, I had to move it to the side of the road so it didn't cause another accident.

I'm fine, I only got few scratches on my leg - not sure what caused them. The bike is another story. I could tell the radiator was loosing a small amount of coolant and that the fan behind the radiator was damaged - these were my biggest concerns. It looks like all the plastic on the front fairing and around the gas tank will need to be replaced along with the left side controls and parts of the fairing.

Since the bike was still drivable and I could see a small town about 1/4 mile ahead, after moving the deer and moving some of my plastic off the road, I drive the bike to town and went into a small market. I told them what happened and asked who I should call (remember I'm still in Canada). They were not sure. There are a couple of organizations that deal with the insurance in Canada that the lady behind the counter mentioned but I wasn't sure that would be of much use. I suggested calling 911 and she said that would make sense. I called 911 but since I was OK they were not concerned and referred me to the insurance groups again. Not much help.

Next I called Cathy to let her know what was going on and she contacted our insurance agent in the states to let them know about the accident and find out what I needed to do. Since the bike was still drivable , I decided to drive it to the largest town near by (Kamloops B.C.) that has a Honda dealer. When I was ready to drive to the Honda dealer, 3 bikers (I will call them my angels : Jim, Joe, and Hank - 3 brothers) came along. I told them what happened and they just happen to be riding to the same town as I was going to. The three of them were out riding together on their vacation. They said if I waited until they drank their coffee, I could ride with them and they could help if I had any trouble - thus my angels. The good news is the ride to the dealer went without any problems - the bike stayed cool the whole time despite losing a little fluid. I thought they were going to ride with me all the way to the dealer, but when we got close and they knew I would be fine they waved and took off so I never got any contact information for my angels. Fortunately at one of the stops we made on the ride, I did get to thank them for allowing me to ride along with. Having them along with me on the drive took a lot of worries off my mind.

The dealer looked at the bike and we determined if the radiator is replaced, the bike should be able to to be driven back home where I can better deal with the insurance and repairs. They placed a rush order for a radiator from Vancouver - they should have it by 9:30 on Friday morning. The hope is they can replace the radiator and I can then drive the bike back home as is.

Now I just need to map out the fastest and most direct way home. I will be cutting this ride short to get home. I don't want to push my luck by driving the bike any more than I have too. It has been a great ride and I was able to get to the places I wanted to see the most. The rest would have just been icing on the cake!

I will try to keep you posted on the progress of repairs and my return trip. I will also post my final thoughts on the entire trip when I return.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers during my ride.