Majestic Mountians

We woke the next morning (Monday morning) feeling a little sore, but ready to hit the road. We ate breakfast that we took along (Actually, Eitz ate a normal breakfast and I ate left over spaghetti from the night before.) We cleaned up, packed the bike and were on the way- just had to pay for the room. At the reception, a man said that there was a lot of construction work on the road between Hemavan and Mo i Rana. There was a lot of large gravel on the road, making it difficult to keep control of motorcycles . He suggested that we drive 15 kilometers back to Tärnaby, and then drive in to Norway from there. We would end up a little south of Mo i Rana, but it would be a worthy ride. So we opted to take his advice. I called home to let the kids know of our change in plans, canceled our reservations in Mo i Rana, and we hit the road.
The new road was a bit bumpy, but compared to the gravel, it was just fine. We started seeing more and more lakes, and beautiful mountians behind them. We stopped at one rest area to take a few pictures and to rest our weary bottoms. (By now we both were feeling the effects of having riden a long time the day before and the bumps and hops inthe road we were on.) We had a quick break, took some pix and were on the road again.

It wasn't long till we got to the Norwegian boarder. Of course we had to stop for a foto or 12.

They had cut down the trees and cleared a path to mark the boarder the whole way down one mountian and up the side of the other mountian! There was a boom but it was up, allowing us to go right through without checking our passports or anything.

It honestly looked like the road went into the sky! I couldn't help but think of an old song- "On the highway to heaven" So, we started off again, and soon we were greeted with some absolutly majestic mountians! The mountians in sweden were ant hills compared to these monsters. Some of the mountians even had snow on them- in the middle of a very hot summer! It really was hard to concentrate on driving and I found myself drifting to the wrong side of the road on more than one occasion. The view was awsome! I felt a little jelous of Evelina being able to sit on the back and soak it all in. But soon the green eyes went away and I started laughing histericly.
Anyone that has riden a motorcycle for any length of time knows how boring it is on straight roads. After a while, you start wishing for winding, turning roads to be able to tip the bike, accelerate and brake.
One sight of the winding twisting roads of Norway had me almost jumping up and down with glee. I laughed out loud and started the fun ride to our youth hostile. The aches and pains of the trip thus far disappeared. We stopped at a gas station to rest, and have a snack. (I splurged a little and bought a large hot dog with bacon wrapped around it) We rested a little longer, talked with some other bikers from Sweden, then drove north to Sandvik, where we were hoping to be able to sleep. They had one room left, and we took it.We had arrived a lot sooner than we anticipated, so we took it easy, had a nap, ate some supper. I felt like taking an evening ride, but Eitz was a bit worn out. So, I drove back into town, gassed up the bike and checked out the town to see if there were any interesting sights. (There were) I decided to stop for a light beer before I headed back, and stopped at a resteraung. The waitress said that they could not serve me a beer because I was driving. They could serve an alchahol free beer... I ordered a diet coke. Then I returned to our room, still thirsty for a cold beer, but just not thirsty. Oh well! While I was away, Eitz had made an aquaintence with a fellow from Switzerland. We chatted while Eitz and I played rummy. Then he asked if we knew how to play poker. I said that I would not play for money, but that I knew how to play. So, the rest of the evening we played Texas Hold'em using another deck of cards as chips. Our friend had never been on a Harley before, so I offered to give him a ride. He really enjoyed it, and offered me a beer for the experience. FINALLY! I could only drink about half of it, but boy did that taste good!
It was a little after midnight till we finally got to bed. I said my evening prayers, solved a couple sudokos and fell asleep to Keith Green singing, "Oh Lord, my Lord. How majestic is Thy name in all the earth..."