Across the Coast Range to the Okanagan

After a momentous weekend - a Queen concert at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, the Heart concert on Sunday night at the Save-On Centre in Victoria on Sunday, and reaching the venerable age of 65 years as well on Sunday, June 29th, I'm on the road again.

 

After the Queen concert last night, Garry drove us back to Campbell River where we arrived just before 2:00 a.m. this morning. By the time I put out the recycling, ran a laundry to clean the beer that a jerk at the concert had spilled on me, (he also scored a direct hit on Garry's wife Gretel) and did some final packing, it was close to 3:00 a.m.  My alarm went off at 6:15 so I finished packing the last items and was on the road at 8:15 a.m.

 

Upon my arrival at the Departure Bay ferry just after 10 o'clock I was directed to the front of the line. It was fortunate that I was riding my motorcycle because the 10:40 sailing was already full for the four wheelers. There were at least a dozen motorcycles on the sailing. On top of all the other great things about riding motorcycles, getting on the ferry every time is an added bonus.  In addition, when the ticket agent told me that the fare was forty-four dollars, for the first time I was able to inform her that I was a 'senior' and I saved $8.75.  Getting old sucks, but a) it beats the alternative, and b) it takes a little bit of the sting out of being a 'geezer'.

 

I met some riders from Edmonton when I parked. They had ridden to Prince Rupert, taken the BC Ferry to Port Hardy, and rode around Vancouver Island before taking the ferry back to the mainland. They were great people and we chatted for a while about riding and being on the road.

 

In the passenger I sat beside an older couple from Australia.  John is a motorcyclist who has a VStrom Suzuki in Australia, and a big Honda sport bike here.  We talked about a variety of things including the teacher strike and the negative influence of his countryman, Rupert Murdoch, on American and British politics.  I told him that there are a lot of people in North America and Europe who would be very happy if Australia took that nasty piece of work back.

 

 

John & Judy from Sydney, Australia

 

John, and his wife Judy, move back and forth between Australia and Canada.  Judy is studying to get her pilot's license at almost seventy years of age.  John was born in England but grew up in Australia.  Quite an interesting couple.

 

On the way back to my motorcycle I walked by a car with a mother and her year-old girl.  The child had a big smile so I stopped and talked to them.  The baby was a real cutie and I asked if I could take her picture.  The mom agreed so here she is. I think you'll agree that she's a real 'sweetie'. 

 

 

Little 'Sweetie' on the ferry

 

 The traffic on Highway 1 was relatively heavy but it moved along quickly until I was near Langley, then for some unknown reason traffic slowed to a stop and go horror show for almost twenty-five minutes.  When it resumed speed there were two more slowdowns but I wasn't able to see any reason for the obstruction.  One hundred and twenty kilometres from the ferry I stopped in Chilliwack for coffee and fuel then resumed my ride to Hope, BC.  The almost fifty kilometres went quickly as traffic was moving at close to 120 kph. 

 



 

Crossing the Port Mann Bridge near Vancouver, BC.

 

 







 

I pulled in to the Chevron station a few minutes after 3:00 p.m. and saw Jim fuelling his bike.  We stopped for a drink and snack at the White Spot then headed to Highway 3 to Princeton.

 

This highway is a great ride although the pavement is deteriorating badly in a lot of places so the riding includes dodging lots of cracks and holes in the pavement. Outside of Hope we stopped at the site of the 1965 Hope Slide where the side of a mountain let go after a minor earthquake burying the valley, a lake and about three kilometres of highway under 70 metres of debris. It's still pretty impressive today, almost fifty years later. 

 

 

Hope Slide sign

 

The scar on the mountain and debris from the slide

 

An amazing volume of rock & mud slid off the mountain

 

The entrance to Manning Park is marked by a huge marmot sign. Last time I was through several years ago some idiot tried to torch it. He didn't destroy it but did cause ome damage but it has since been replaced with this sign.  The road from Hope to Princeton is a mountain pass rad with lots of sweeping turns and many very sharp hairpin turns.  Even with a heavy cruising motorcycle like my Harley this road is a lot of fun to ride.

 

 

Manning Park marmot sign

 

About 15 kilometres from Princeton lies Copper Mountain. During World War I it supplied a great deal of that metal for the Allied cause.  The mine has been opened and closed intermittently over the last hundred years, based mainly on the price of copper.  Across the valley the excavation covers a large area and is quite impressive.

 

 

 

Copper Mountain mine near Princeton, BC



 

On the way to Princeton we stopped a few times for photos. At Princeton where we stopped to gas up, I met the Edmonton guys from the ferry.  They were trying to make it to Osoyoos. I suggested that they might want to stop in Keremeos like we were planning on doing because Osoyoos is a big tourist are with the big lake there in addition to the Canada Day weekend. If there are any rooms available, they will be extremely expensive.  However, they pushed on so I hope they were able to find a place to stay.

 

We pulled in to Keremeos after 7 p.m., found a motel room then went to  pub for dinner. This place is quite beautiful in the summer and despite all the orchards and fruit stands, it really is a sleepy little town.  One thing though, about independent motels is that almost universally their internet connections really suck bad.  The connection here keeps dropping off and it's so slow that I am unable to upload photos or video to this blog so this posting will look quite barren until I find a place that will have enough speed to allow me to add photos.

 

Tomorrow, we'll ride to Osoyoos, cross the border at Oroville, WA, and head south to Omak where we will turn west again to ride the North Cascades Parkway to Burlington, WA. The weather is beautiful, it's good to be riding with Jim again, and the bikes are running beautifully. Life is good!