Usually when I finish a long motorcycle trip I wait a few days to write the final blog post for the journey. It sometimes takes a day or two to round up all my thoughts, but for some reason things didn't come very easily this time. It has been two weeks since we returned from the ride through Washington State, Oregon, and Northern California and I'm finally getting around to wrapping up my blog posts for the trip. I'll be doing another ride with my friend Jim from Kamloops in three weeks so it's time to clear the decks I suppose.
Despite the journey beginning under cloudy skies and intermittent rain, we had gotten used to the nice weather we experienced in southern Oregon and Northern California on the way south and on the return journey north. The ride from Wilsonville, OR to Burlington, WA was a little cooler than we were used to so it was good to have the new jackets hat we bought in Tigard, OR on Saturday morning.
When we checked the weather on Sunday morning it had been raining and it was still a bit drizzly. The hundred kilometre ride to the border was wet with intermittent rain but the road was wet most of the way. Nothing exceptional in the ride to the border. It was just a regular 65 mph ride with reasonably light traffic. We stopped to fill up at the Chevron station just south of the truck crossing and then proceeded to the Duty Free shop to bring back some relatively cheap booze and cigarettes.
Cigarettes, you might ask since anyone who knows me knows that I don't snoke. However, Jim does and with cigarettes being around one hundred dollars a carton, so I've been told, it made sense for us to pick some up for Jim when we crossed. Duty Free America, the store I usually stop at when crossing the border has a ten dollar off any purchase over fifty dollars and after stopping at the tourist place in Tulalip, WA, to get tourist books with the coupon in it and finding the place closed early, probably because it was the Memorial Day weekend in the US, we were out of luck. Serendipitously however, when we were checking in at the Stirling Motor Hotel, I saw the books on a rack in the lobby. Surreptitiously, I scooped four of them, gave Jim two, and took the others to my room where I cut the coupons out.
So, when we went to the duty free we had four coupons. Since neither Garry nor Kerry drink or smoke, they were able to pick stuff up for Jim and me. I used my coupon on a bottle of 12 year-old Cragganmore single malt scotch and got Garry to pick up a bottle of Hennessy Black cognac. Kerry and Jim used their coupons on Player's cigarettes while I picked up another carton for Jim. So we were able to save forty dollars US on that stop. The cigarettes cost sixty-three dollars US but the shop accepts Canadian money at a five percent discount instead of the usual ten or eleven percent Charged everywhere else, so all in all we got the cigarettes and tobacco for about as cheaply as we could and Jim had three cartons of cheaper cigarettes to fuel his habit for a bit longer.
There was no problem crossing the border since it was pretty early on Sunday morning and the shopping throngs from the Lower Mainland had not yet begun to return to Canada with their cheap gas, cheese, eggs, milk, and other stuff. There were only five or six cars in the lines ahead of us so we were through in under ten minutes. We stopped to give Jim his cigarettes and then headed toward the ferry.
Kerry dropped off at the New Westminster Highway if I recall correctly while Jim, Garry and I continued on to catch the BC Ferry sailings at Tsawwassen. Jim took the ferry to Patricia Bay which took him to Sooke the fastest way, while Garry and I took the ferry to Duke Point.
The sailing was uneventful but when re debarked at Duke Point it was raining again, so the first twenty-five kilometres was not pleasant with rain in our faces and road dirt being kicked up by the heavy traffic off the ferry and on Highway 19 north. It did ease off as we reached the north end of Nanaimo, so after a short stop at the Starbucks in Chapters we resumed our ride home. For most of the way home the weather was cool but the rain held off for the most part.
We stopped in Courtenay to refuel then continued on home along the old Island Highway. One of the things that lets me know I'm getting close to home is when I approach the Driftwood Restaurant because the highway runs right along the water for about two kilometres and gives spectacular views of the the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Salish Sea), the Coast Mountains, and the Mainland. Even on a grey, cloudy day the view is incredibly beautiful, so as well as being close to home we get a little dose of awesome right at the end of the ride.
Garry and I arrived home at about five o'clock and I parked Big Red in the garage and proceeded to unload the tourpak and saddle bags. But boy, was she ever dirty! A week and 3631 kilometres of rain and road dirt had taken its toll. However, except for a worn out battery, which is to be expected after 64 000 kilometres, once again Big Red had run flawlessly.
Monday morning was warm and sunny and I wasn't working so I pulled Big Red out of the garage to give her a thorough cleaning. Two hours later, after being washed, waxed and polished, Big Red looked as awesome as ever. It was probably the dirtiest she had ever been. And after that was done I fired up my 1974 Norton Commando, one kick, by the way, and did a tour around Campbell River.
Some final thought on the journey are probably in order. Riding with Jim and Kerry for the second time in forty-one years was as much fun as it was when we crossed Canada on our motorcycles in 1973. We had a lot of laughter and many reminiscences, although at times, as Jim said, we would listen to a story and say, "What trip were you on?" I have ridden a lot with Garry over the past four years including a three week 7500 kilometre ride to Sturgis, Reno, Portland, and Seattle. All four of us had a terrific time, so much so that we are already thinking about doing another ride like this next year. Twenty years at our ages, is too long to wait to do another trip like this. The really great thing was how comfortable we all were with each other, and there was no drama at all except when Kerry found a piece of meal in his rear tire, or when the wind caught my tourpak lid and flung it open at 80 kph. But those are things that happen and are dealt with as quickly as possible without being a big deal.
The geography that we experienced was spectacular as were many of the twisty secondary roads that went over the mountains near the coast. It's fun powering a nine hundred pound motorcycle through 20 mph curves. By the way, on these roads when a road sign before a curve says '20 mph', it's not a suggestion, it's the real deal, although I suspect it might be a bit faster on a Norton. And more fun too.
Finally, I for one, am very aware of how fortunate I am to have been able to have these experiences with good friends. Many people aren't as blessed as I have been. On many occasions we had guys stop to look at the bikes and then remark how they wished they could be doing the same thing we were. A UPS driver in Ferndale, CA who was talking to me about doing tis sort of trip said, "You guys are living the dream. Good for you." I have to agree. It is a dream to be able to take off for a long ride with good friends. Again, this was a 'blessed' trip. No real mechanicals, no close calls, no #$@holes, and no really terrible weather. What more could a guy ask for?
This is the last entry for the California trip. I didn't take any photos on the last day so this entry is all text. My next blog post will be around the end of June when Jim Urquhart and I take about a week to ride across the Cascade Mountains three times in three days then head into the West Kootenays for some riding there. Life is wonderful right now.
