After seven and a half months of waiting, this ride to Sturgis began at 12:45 today. The weather was perfect - sunny and in the low 20s as we rolled out of my driveway on Big Red, with Garry on his Heritage Softtail. The day was quite uneventful as I suppose it should be when one is riding roads that are familiar. Vancouver Island doesn't really have a large number of roads that are paved. Logging roads, yes. Highways, not so much.
Garry and I are ready to roll.
In anticipation of the long days of riding to come, Garry bought a gel seat. I would never cast a disparaging remark about that but...
The 'royal wave' before we leave.
It was a straight run from Courtenay to Nanaimo and we arrived as cars and trucks were being loaded. Because of our late arrival we were almost the last people on the ferry. It was kind of a bonus though because we met Lorne who had just traded his Ultra Glide for a 1600 Triumph. He traded because the Harley was too big for him, then proceeded to load it up with all sorts of accessories so that it weighs about 70 pounds less than the bike he traded. Go figure. We met him later as he walked to the cafeteria with his wife. who was driving their car with their dogs. He stopped to talk and about fifteen minutes later realized that he was possibly in deep do-do with his wife.
Mount Baker in the distance.
The crossing was calm and it was beautiful on the water. It was the kind of day that makes you wonder why anyone would want to live anywhere but on the coast of BC.
Everything had gone smoothly to that point so we were somewhat justified in thinking that the universe would continue to unfold the same way. Until we reached the exit that led us to Highway 99. Ten minutes to do the first fifteen kilometres and 35 minutes to do the next two.
Vancouver Island from the BC Ferry.
Vancouver Island from the ferry.
The border crossing was uneventful. Garry's line moved quickly, but as usual I picked the slow line. While cars in the next line were blowing through in twenty to thirty seconds, cars in my line were taking three or four minutes. Garry had pulled over waiting for me to come through but I was so long getting through that he started to walk back to see what was wrong. In the time it took to pass the two cars in front of me, the Customs officer in the next row had passed eight cars.
I figured that this guy was going to be a ball-buster but when I got there he looked at my license plate and passport and said, "Sturigs, huh?" We had a five minute conversation while everyone waited in the hot sun, including Garry in his leather jacket & chaps. He had been to Sturgis in 2001 on his 1996 Electra Glide and just wanted to talk about the trip.
The rest of the ride for the day was easy. We rode through Bellingham and stopped at Burlington for the night. Tomorrow we'll catch the I-90 and head west at Bellevue with the goal of reaching Spokane or even farther east. For the first day of our trip this one wasn't bad, except for Vancouver traffic which we probably should have expected.
