Equipment:

Grant is riding a 2003 Honda VTX 1300. Jill on a 2003 Kawi Vulcan 800.

We have a Aspen Sentry tent trailer, a surprisingly small unit which expands into a queen sized bed with standing height dressing area and screened “porch”. Trailer offers 23 cu. ft. of storage accessible with tent top up or down.

We’ve chosen highly visible clothing, waterproof clothing designed for this type of travel.

Pre-trip Advice:

-Ride safe!

-Watch out for bugs in the prairies. They’re the size of saucers.

-Watch out for deer in Saskatchewan. They’re everywhere.

-Watch out for prairie gophers. Don’t bother trying to avoid hitting them. They’re everywhere.

-The prairies “are a surprise. They’re beautiful!”.

-Don’t drive or ride after dark in Newfoundland. There is an exceptionally large moose population. One presumes they’re everywhere.

-If you ARE in an accident, you are far more vulnerable on a bike than you are in a car. This information typically followed by second party anecdotal accounts of motorcycle accidents outlining the horrendous injuries sustained.

June 16th

Bikes loaded (overloaded). Tire pressure checked. Natural Gas turned off. House Alarm set. Cat in care of tenant. Protesting dog secure in carrier. Off we go!

1st stop- Following a gruelling .4 k, we pull into our local Starbucks. In our excitement we had left the house much too early, victims of Premature Departure.

Perhaps because of pre-trip anxiety, general excitement, a fully loaded bike with my precious dog on the back on top of concerns about riding in rain after weeks of dry hot weather,I feel nervous. Only took a few miles and I relaxed and enjoyed the swoops around Cameron Lake.

Several comments from folks on the ferry who had seen us on the highway & enjoyed Bodie’s random head bobs through the sunroof of his carrier.

Arrive in North Vancouver to see friends, family and drop Bodie off in the care of my daughters.

That evening in Deep Cove, we were treated to a Send Off Party hosted by my nephew Erick and his wife Kaylie. Four generations gathered on their patio surrounded by high wooden fences covered with grape vines. Erick wears a European style straw hat as he sets out the most wondrous food. Erick and bro-in-law, Alistair own the Arms Reach Bistro in Deep Cove. Forgive the blatant plug, but it is in your best interest to dine there.

Here’s a recipe for one of the appetisers served at the Send Off...

Cut Bocconcini cheese into finger sized pieces & marinate cheese for several hours in a mixture of one part red wine vinegar and one part raspberry syrup.

Drain & reserve marinade.

Wrap individual chunks of cheese in single leaves of radiccio.

Gently heat marinade and reduce.

Grill radiccio wrapped cheese on BBQ until cheese gets gooey, frequently brushing with thickened marinade.

Form a row on platter to serve.

Sweet, slurpy and delicious. Yum!

Wine, beers, hugs, kids, grandkids, my old mum... a rich evening.

We spend the night at my niece Leila & hubby Brian’s house. Kind of them given they are days from a move and have busy working lives and 2 young daughters, Ella & Annicka.

Spread pretty thin spending as much time as possible with family, but 3 months away seems a very long time.

June 17th- Awake at 6 am, anxious to be on the bikes. Stepped outside to teeming rain and anxious thoughts of a slippery ride through busy city commuter traffic.

Picked up the trailer stored at the Deep Cove Fire Hall and survive the merge onto Hwy#1 headed east. The further from the feet of the coastal mountains, the more the rain decreases and the roads are dry.

June 19- My nerves settle and we have a smooth ride in the HOV lane, leave the city and in no time are in Fraser Valley farmland. Traffic is light and bike purring in the cool air.

As I ride, I remember things I forgot to pack.

-my heated vest (very silly girl)

-my bathing suit

-extra battery (model specific) & charger for my camera

-Coffee

Gas stop & large cup of latte in Hope. It’s cold and grey and I wish I had my vest. Add layers, tell myself to toughen up then climb into Fraser Canyon.

Dry roads, but the sky is dark grey. The clouds close in the ceiling of the Canyon and the mountainsides thick with timber are a dark green, so dark it’s just shy of black. The road is eerily empty of traffic.

We are relaxing into the trip. Grant hits the horn and waves as we enter the first tunnel and I feel a rush of excitement at what we’re doing and a wave of affection for his solid orange presence ahead of me.

Roads are good and the lush walls of the canyon change within an hour. Vegetation more sparse and canyon walls rocky as we descend to river level. We reach the point where the Thompson River meets “the mighty Fraser”. Colours now pinks, pale orange and a light sagey green.

The sky has lightened and we stop just shy of Ashcroft to shed some layers & enjoy a quick chat with a fellow from Indiana travelling with his son who was returning to an army base in Alaska.

The hills around us are dry, rocky and moon like. I see a life sized plywood rearing horse. Sign reads “Cowboy Hat Store”.

Great lunch in 1920’s cafe in Ashcroft. Our waitress had visited Port Alberni the week before. Gas up then the climb to Logan Lake. We have the road to ourselves. In one day’s riding, we passed a variety of yellow diamond shaped caution signs that frame silhouettes of deer, elk, big horn sheep and here on the climb up to Logan Lake, a galloping horse. We later learn there are herds of wild horses in the hills around us.

We pass the huge copper mine with it’s vast pit and head into town to visit Norm and Marnie. Norm greets us with exuberant whoops. Marne with warm hugs. We are shown our king sized bed, handed cold beer and made to feel very welcome.

Logan Lake has an elevation of 3600 feet, so after the ride, beer & thin air, sleep feels good.

June 19th- A tour around “highland valley country” guided by Norm and Marne. Lots of trees killed by the Pine Beetle, the amount dead timber surrounding the town is alarming. Pockets of mountain lakes full of fish.

Cont. by Grant: We took a stop in the Bargain store that is much like our Bargain Bargain in Port. Jill replaced her missing bathing suit. Then we went to the little cafe that the bunch of us went to last year on the way through Logan Lake when many of you met cousin Norm. I can’t believe one person can be as enthusiastic about everything as he is. Back at the house we sat around gabbed and played with their new dog Lacie. Norm BBQed up some delicious ribs and told how last time he did them he burned them twice. He got distracted in his shop and let them burn. Marne scrapped off the burnt part and he put them on again and wound up back in his shop till they were burned again. He seems to love the story. For a lark that night we watched Ice Age Meltdown. With travel in mind we got an early night. Jill however made it an early morning. Waking well before 4:00 a.m. she was halfway through her day when we departed at 8:30.

June 20- Saying our farewells and taking some photos for family we got underway. Rather than get on the Coquihala we rode the old highway through farm country into Kamloops. Topped off our tanks there and headed east till we picked up Hwy. 97 to Vernon. 97 is a beautiful road to ride but is not the same as it could be if I wasn’t towing a loaded trailer. But just the same the ride is grand and it’s easy to make the adjustment knowing you have all that you need right with you. Past the beautiful Monte Lake and Westwold we took a break for coffee and cinnamon bun in Falkland. Vernon was our next stop for groceries and a top up. Highway 6 from there is a continuation of the magnificent vistas of BC. I thought to myself that we should really savour these kinds of roads because we are not likely to see anything similar for some time shortly.

I was a bit concerned about Jill tiring early because of her early start to the day. So a little ways past Cherryville in the Monashee Pass we came to a wonderful campground called Gold Pan. It is a spot that would be fun to bring the Port Alberni Good Time Riders to for a weekend. They have all kinds of old gold panning paraphernalia, old vehicles etc. around and numerous trails to old panning sites etc. there was an old pair of chaps hanging on the miners cabin that I thought would look great on Margaret. Horseshoes, laundry, showers and everything you need.

Jill made some sandwiches while I stocked up on firewood and got a load of laundry in. We poked around a bit and rather than hiking the trails we took the old 4x4 bus tour. We saw some old mining sites and actually went to a working site. The young man touring us started the slouse and demo-ed some panning. He pulled up nearly a dozen flakes. Back at camp the sound of the river running below us and the majestic mountains around us were a beautiful setting to relax at the campsite and dream of the days ahead. Gonna have a super campfire tonight.

June 21- A late start as the mountain air seems to make us sleepy old folks. We forgot to pack coffee so settled for hot chocolate before leaving. The roads were a little damp from a brief overnight rain so our pace was a little slow. Lots of deer on the road, I mean right on the road drinking from the grooves in the centre line. The skies were a quite unsettled and we hit a downpour just outside Nakusp. Stopped in Nakusp for our first coffees of the day. Hit the grocery store to pick up supplies. The roads to Nelson were dry and our pace picked up. At New Denver I decided to take the shorter route rather than go via Kaslo (which is supposed to be prettier). It was a good choice because the Silverton route is also very picturesque and you can drive better speeds. I have since learned that the Kaslo route has deteriorated quite a bit. Now Jill writes.

It’s June 22, but I’ll add to yesterday info that we got the full on rain baptizm yesterday shortly after leaving the Needles Ferry. It was that stinging kind of rain that makes it hard to see so we stayed with a group of 2 cars also driven by pensioners.

The country side here is breathtaking. The valley is so long and wide, driving along the upper reaches of the mountain on our way to Silverton, we could see all the way up Kootenay Lake. The sky looked nasty, but the roads dry and perfect riding temps.

My bike seems to like the cool mountain air and just purrs along. I’m finding if the warming signs for a curve say slow to 70, the bike is fine in 5th. If the sign says 60, I drop to 4th and find it handles better.

Houston, we have a problem. Grant is having some electrical issues with his bike. He lost his speedometer reading. It’s causing some stress and plans are to have it looked at in Calgary.

Last night we pulled into the Kookanee Creek Provincial Park which lies just beside our friends’ Donna & Norm’s place at 12 mile, just outside of Nelson.

Phoned Donna after we pulled in and she had supper waiting. Norm came over on his bicycle to show us the trail through the woods. Donna is an artist and their home is colourful and interesting. The food always good.

Took the trail home in the dark cautious about the local bear. Bed felt good!

Woke this am to the sound of a gentle rain. We learned some lessons about our tent trailer design, the hard way. Woke up to a flooded floor. The bed was dry. Yeah!

Also had a visit from mice who ate all our cookies & bagels. Lessons learned!

Luckily Donna was nearby to rescue it so this is a good place to learn our lessons. She’s driving us to town to get a tarp and more cookies etc. and drying our clothes.

We had planned to host a pit party at our campsite, but going to plan B, the pub in Balfour for some of their fine fish and chips.

So all’s well.