Two days of riding - sore butt but feeling great!

At 5AM the sun was just thinking of peeking over the mountains as I rode South along Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam on my way to the Port Mann bridge. I'm a couple of weeks late in my "longest day of the year ride" due to weather mostly. I don't mind riding in rain a bit, but if I'm going to be in the saddle for 30+ of the next 48 hours I really want it to be dry, even if not all that warm.

Thursday, July 5th, was predicted to be warm and the clear sky at sunrise was portents of things to come. It was about 15C as I left Pitt Meadows - warm enough that I foolishly rode without golves; something I'd fix before I got half-way to the border at 176th st. in South Surey as it dropped to 13C just past the bridge over the Fraser river. I'd thought about taking the Albion Ferry but was anxious to get on my way as I was thinking hard about trying out my new Destination Highways Northern California book.

I'd ordered the book last year at the motorcycle show in Abbotsford and it had finally shown up earlier this year. I have the other two, BC and Washington State, and have ridden many of their excellent choices in the past.

I got to the border and encountered a new twist in US border guard activities - he wanted my wallet, even though I'd handed him my (expired) passport and otherwise answered his questions. "Are all these items in here yours?" he asked. Hey, I have nothing to hide - but I have to admit that this was just a bit more than I'm used to.

Anyway, having satisfied his curiosity he bid me a good day and off I went to I-5 and South. With only a maximum of 2 1/2 days before I had to be back I had decided to blast South as fast as I could. I got to Burlington before my stomach reminded me I had not yet eaten breakfast and that I needed gas. I pulled off and as I was passing the McDonalds noted another wing in the parking lot so pulled in. I don't normally eat at McyD's but breakfast is an exception as their Sausage-egg-muffins are ok for my diabetic diet in small quantities well spaced.

I had hoped the Campbell River store would be open at 8th Ave before the border to get some US$ but it wasn't - so all I had was Canadian and cards. The server offered me a whole $15US for my $20CDN (25% discount) which at a real exchange rate of about 10% was just a bit over the top for me, so I used my card. Dont' these guys know that our dollar has gone through the roof lately and is threatening to beat theirs any time now? Anyway, I got the muffin and coffee but didn't see the owner of the bike, so sat and studied my DH books. These trips are always a last minute thing for me - I look forward to them for at least 6 months - then don't plan but simply let things happen.






I got back on the bike and headed South again - but stopped in Mount Vernon for a bit of a think. The traffic by this time was getting heavier as rush hour was getting going, and I knew it would be worse by the time I hit Seattle, right in the midst of it. I've been in that traffic and was not looking forward to it, even if I was allowed in the HOV lanes.

I thought a bit about heading inland and bypassing the area - looked at the map a bit, and realized I'd have to make quite a detour and end up on some slower roads. This was not going as quickly as I'd hoped.

So I phone Shirley and told her I was giving up on California and going to spend some time in Washington again this year - and headed inland on 538 to Highway 9 - then back North to the Skagit River and South Skagit Highway - DH-WA-56. this is a lovely road, under a canopy of trees and beside the river for much of its length. Virtually no traffic and with the exception of what looked like work on a power line, no road work this year. Last year there had been several sections of loose gravel.

This year I didn't go the extra distance all the way to Saulk River bridge but instead cut accross to Concrete where I stopped for a coffee at a new restaurant. They didn't have any literature yet and were only just getting things fixed up to open, but treated me to a free coffee while we talked about bikes in general and I showed the manager the DH book. He was interested in getting known, so he may end up getting some advertising on their site. I know there are certainly lots of bikes that pass that way.

The coffee under my belt, I headed out onto Highway 20 - the North Cascades. This is DH-WA-1 - the top road in the state in the DH book and a lovely treat for people interested in both scenery and a great ride. I didn't take any pictures on the way up this time but took several just past the top at Washington Pass.

I met several riders in the viewpoint area where we swapped sun screen and mosquito repellant - the bugs were out for blook!. The visitor center looks out at one of the local peaks of sheer rock.








As you start down the hill toward Wintrop, you're surrounded by mountain peaks and at this time of the year there's still snow nearby - melting and giving off small waterfalls.



All this time the temperature had been more than pleasant. From Rockford on up past the dam to Diablo lake the temperature had actually been rising - to a comfortable 22C. It stayed there until I started down the slope after Washington pass - when it started to climb quickly.

By the time I got to the plains, it was a sweltering 38C and by the time I got to Wintrop I badly needed some liquid. It was 11:30 on the dot when I first tried the door of the brew pub that said it opened at 11:30AM - but still locked. I got out the camera and took a couple of pictures while I waited.

When the door opened a couple of minutes later a whole throng of us trooped in and the lonely waitress went into overdrive to get us all menus and our first beverage. I went for their IPA and was pleased with its taste - and of course the fact that it was cold and wet. I don't normally drink when I'm on the bike but I knew that one would go almost straight through me while I had some of their chili - great lunch and inexpensive too!

From Winthrop I headed East to Twisp on DH-39's TE-B then followed the same back road to Okanogan and back onto Highway 20 at Omak. From there it was highway to Tonasket where DH34 started. This road loops back to HW20 after passing through Nighthawk where there's a short road to the Canadian border and a short-hours border point. I thought about going that way and doubling back to Osoyoos as there are lots of little roads on the Canadian side of the border that I've been on before and are wonderful - but the heat made me thirst for another break so I set my sites on the full loop and getting up to Osoyoos for dinner and some more fluids.

The road is in good shape and has some acceptably interesting curves and sweeps but it is narrow and lacks a center line for most of the way. The temperature hovered at 39C and touched 40C for a bit. At the end of the run was Oroville, and it is only a short hop up the road to the border just below Osoyoos. There was a short line of cars for the two open booths but  short as it was, it seemed to take forever for each car to move - as I sat there in the 39C heat. Only at the last point was there any shade to sit in - then it was my turn. "How long have you been away and what are you bringing back?" - "crossed at 6AM this morning and I'm not even bringing back a full tank of gas" I said. "What have you been doing?" the guard asked somewhat incredulously. "Riding" I said - which seemed to satisfy him.

I stopped in at a friend's business - Osoyoos Rewinds - but he wasn't there; off helping a friend move his wife said, so I headed to one of the pubs for a light beer and some onion rings, figuring I could put lots of salt on them to replace some that I'd lost. Then I was off to Rock Creek and the beginning of DH-BC-7 - up the Kettle Valley to Kelowna.

I should have got gas at Rock Creek but figured I'd make it to Beaverdell with lots - and I did. But the local main station closed at 6PM and it was 6:30 when I got there. The people at the grocery store said there was another station up the road "but he's running low." A couple of riders from Kelowna (one on a Rune - first one I've seen on the road) offered to make sure I had gas even if they had to siphon some from their own tanks. We headed up to the station where we found the pumps seeming alive but nobody there. As we were standing there after looking all over for someone, one of the locals came by and asked if we were looking for the owner and he knew where he was - and off he went. A couple of minutes later he returned followed shortly by the owner. Since all he had was regular I opted for just getting "enough" to get me to Kelowna - another $5 worth to mix with the premium I had left.

As it turned out, I would not have made it without the extra unless I coasted down from the top - something I really am not interested in doing. I got to Ken and Carola's place in Winfield about 8PM just as they were looking at some road construction out front of their farm. I was actually expecting to head farther up the highway after a brief visit but was inveigled into staying the night - something about the beers they kept feeding me to bring my fluids back up. Just over 800Km for the day but I had been taking it easy and not pushing it. The cares were melting away.

By the time we'd had coffee and watched their collection of birds rummage around their flower garden it was almost 10AM before I left, heading for Vernon and eventually Kamloops. The run to Vernon is on HW97 - picturesque but lots of traffic and not much character to the road. There's a back way via Predator Ridge golf course but it has some dirt road and I didn't want to do that today. From Vernon I could go any of several ways but chose to continue up HW97A to Armstrong then get onto some Twised Edges to finally end up in Salmon Arm. I went up to Enderby and then back down on DH-64/TE-B to TE-A and across the East Salmon River rd. to meet up with DH-64 at a little grocery store/restaurant. I met up with a rider on a 1100 V4 Honda and we got to talking. He said his wife wanted him to get a Goldwing but he preferred the performance of his machine. I told him that the 1800 wing has performance that most don't realize and that he'd be surprised. We agreed to put it to the test and he headed off up the road. Good thing there were no "speed tax collectors" around that day but he was impressed that the wing kept up with him and was going to think about it.

We parted ways just before the turn off onto HW1 at the Western edge of Salmon Arm and I headed West toward Kamloops. I was hoping to get on some of the back roads, even if they were not "destination highways" just to get away from the traffic - but it turns out that the North side of the South Thompson is all gravel road until you get to Sonora. I could have detoured via Duck Hill on part of DH-77 then back on DH-68 but had some time limits in mind as I was hoping to get home that night if all went well. I crossed the river at Sonora and came out on HW5 at the native gas station, just down the road from the intersection that would lead me across the North Thompson to the West side, and Westyde Road.

The middle of Westsyde Rd on its way to Barrier is the McLure ferry. This river-powered ferry runs "working" hours so I had to get there before 6PM as the rest of the road from that point is gravel and "not nice" for bikes as heavy as mine. From McLure the road is DH-82 up to Little Fort where I would head West again toward 100 Mile House. I actually got there about 4PM - lots of time. The operator said the rest of the road was certainly not for a big bike so "get on board".

There are 4 nesting boxes on the boat but he said only two of them typically have birds in them due to the fact the other two are too close to the passenger area. This swallow sat about 2 Meters from me after feeding her babies.

The road to Little Fort was a bit crowded for me - but as soon as I turned off onto HW 24 - DH-45 I was all but alone on this great piece of road. The road gets high marks on the engineering scale - 10/10 but only 13.8/30 for twistyness - but that's ok as it is just a really nice ride. I took a bit of a side-road by turning too early on what I thought was the road to Horse lake - but turned out to be a partly oiled dirt road around Bridge lake. It was a nice ride anyway - no problem with the dirt as the road was wide and no potholes. About 5km in it turned to ashpalt for the final 20k - great ride.

I got to Sheridan Corner and took the correct road to 100 Mile House via Horse lake. This is DH-50 and well worth the ride - except at the end of it I hit the only bit of rain on the whole trip. The temperature had dropped to about 20C and some big juicy drops hit the windscreen just as I hit the outskirts of 100 Mile. As I turned left onto HW 97 I could see blue sky ahead of me so didn't bother getting out the rain gear. A couple of miles and I was again seeing the temperature rise and the rain stopped.

HW 97 is well engineered be also fairly well travelled. Much of the length to Clinton is 4 lanes. I stopped in Clinton for gas and some water, then headed South for Hat Creek Ranch and the turn off to HW 99 - DH-21 to Lillooet on the Fraser Canyon.

From Hat Creek the road was in not bad shape but as soon as we turned into Marble Canyon it was brand new ashphalt - not even the proper center lines on it yet. All the way from there to the Fraser Canyon was 100% excellent road and ride. At the canyon the road turned back into the older but still serviceable surface. The only bit that hurt was about 20 Meters of major road subsidance where there were bumps of almost 1' high and a bunch of signs telling everyone to slow down to a crawl. I slowed down but even so the last bump knocked my cell phone off its plastic back and I had to grab it as it tried to disappear down the steering hole in my fairing.

At this point I was racing against time as I really didn't want to do the Duffy Lake road in the dark. I'd stay in Lillooet instead if I had to but I really thought I'd like to get home that night. Sunset was scheduled for about 9PM but in the mountains the sun is lost a bit before that. I wanted to be past Seaton lake by 7:30 or so at the latest.

I didn't even stop at the gas station on the road in Lillooet but instead just kept going. I hit the bottom of the climb from Seaton lake at 7:37PM.

The Duffy Lake Road is rated DH-3 but is 30/30 for twistyness - and it is definitely twisty. The road is also in pretty poor condition. They've marked some sections for repair but have not done them yet - and some places marked "bump" are not as bumpy as some other places not marked. There are a couple of major subsidances on corners and it pays to keep to the center of the road as much as possible.

I was watching for deer and other animals (I've even seen porcupine in previous rides here) but didn't have much traffic on the road so could make really good time. I was "at one with the road and bike" and made it through to Lillooet lake in almost exactly an hour, just as the sun was getting low enough that it was mostly behind the mountains.

The trip from Mt. Currie home to Vancouver is one that I've done many times in the dark - mostly the Whistler to Vancouver section after skiing in Winter. The new sections are great but there's still lots of construction all along the whole stretch to Horseshoe Bay so it was a slow trip. By the time I got home at about 11:30PM I needed both a beer and a shower with the massage head running. The shower won out and I collapsed in bed a few minutes later - 1800Km in 2 days.