Going Our Separate Ways

Today is a day that we have been looking forward to for the past several days. A special day, if you will. First, it is the forty-second anniversary of beginning of Kerry's, Jim's and my departure from Toronto to begin our journey to western Canada. It is also quite likely to be the forty-second anniversary date of the manufacture of one of my Norton Commandos, but most importantly, it is Jim Knight's sixty-fifth birthday. Now he can get half-price fares when he travels on BC Ferries from Monday to Thursday, and he will begin to get his Canada Pension, and his Old Age Supplement. Truly, it is red letter day. Perhaps even more momentous than all of that is today is the day that Jim has really become a 'vintage gentleman'. Now there are three of us on this ride. Tom reached that milestone a couple of years ago and I did last June. Kerry will follow in July, leaving Garry as the only one who has not yet reached 'vintagehood'.  So congratulations from all of us to Jim on this special birthday.

 

As is our custom, by the time we had our breakfast and loaded our bikes it was around ten o'clock. We are tending to have leisurely starts on this ride so today was no exception. Our plan was to ride the Westside Road, allowing us to have an excellent ride to begin the day and, to avoid the tangled traffic mess that is Kelowna.

 

Garry's motorcycle has developed an oil leak but it doesn't appear to be too serious at this point so instead of going to the H-D dealer in Kamloops he decided to stick with us on this ride.

 

Tom lead us north form Vernon to Westside Road and we began the ride through level country at the north end of Okanagan Lake. Soon however, the road began to show its true self as it began to follow the edge of the lake and the contours of the land that rises from the west side of the lake. Hence the name.

 

I rode trail and it was a real pleasure to see a row of four motorcycles following the same line one after another on all the curves. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, it is a 'sinuous dance', a 'ballet on two wheels'. Seeing motorcycles moving like this is aesthetically pleasing, at least to me.

 

On many occasions the road curved around promontories that gave clear views of Okanagan Lake and the surrounding countryside. The landscape here is varied but inevitably beautiful. It is a pleasure and a privilege to be able to enjoy this beauty in a way that many never experience. I often post videos in order to show readers what we who ride these roads have the chance to see. It is a completely different experience than driving this road in a four-wheeled vehicle.

 



 

About halfway to the south end of the lake we pulled over for a break but I continued onward so that I could find a viewpoint from which to take photos of the lake and countryside. After I left, the guys told me that as the were talking a guy was driving his car by the pullout. He looked at the guys, slowed down more as he passed them, then turned around and came back. When he stopped he offered them some donuts from Tim Horton's. Who would have thought that Tim's delivered halfway up the Westside Road.

Riding the Westside Road along Okanagan Lake



Views of Okanagan Lake taken from Westside Road near Kelowna, BC

What I was doing while the guys were eating donuts

 

As it happened this guy had delivered a dozen donuts to a crew that was working on some job near there and they had left four donuts. The guy driving by had four donuts in the box, saw four guys standing by motorcycles at the side of the road, made the connection, and offered them the extra ones. It was a once in a lifetime experience for them. They accepted the donuts, thanked him, and then he was on his way. And I missed it all.

East side of Okanagan Lake

 Kelowna, BC in the distance

 

We continued the ride to Westbank with me in the lead as I used my GPS to find a Starbucks store. For some reason the GPS took me to the end of pavement on a back street where there was nothing but a dirt road and a rundown house. I programmed another Starbucks into the GPS and this time we arrived where we were supposed to. I have no explanation for the GPS error, but we saw a part of Westbank that we otherwise would not have seen.

 

As we waited for Kerry at Starbucks we enjoyed the sunshine and passed the time talking an joking. These guys are really easy to have a good time with. Kerry arrived with cheesecake so we could celebrate Jim's birthday in style. He gave Jim the birthday card we had signed, and served the birthday cake. My present to Jim was the carton of cigarettes that I had bought at the border on Wednesday.

 

Jim with the card honouring his landmark birthday.

Dig the shirt!

The riding crew eating cheesecake at Starbucks in Westbank, BC



 

We took Highway 97 to Penticton, fueled up there, then continued south to Kaleden where we turned on to Highway 3A toward Keremeos. This again is another road that isn't too challenging but it is fun to ride and the scenery is terrific.

 

Keremeos has a unique setting. To the south is a massive rock face that has several slide chutes on its face. When you see it you know that you are close to the town. Tom pulled over on the man street and led us into the K Café where we had a late lunch. I ordered fish and chips and had two of the largest pieces of fish I have ever had with this meal. It was quite tasty though.
 

Lots of fish & chips at the K Café, Keremeos, BC

 The guys eating, yet again. K Café, Keremeos, BC

 

To the west the sky appeared to become darker as we left Keremeos and by the time we were thirty kilometres west it seemed to be getting worse and as we pulled in to Princeton, rain began to fall. The sky looked positively menacing in our direction of travel so we had to make a decision about whether or not to continue on. Since it was after 3:30 and still 140 kilometres to Hope, and rain was beginning to fall, we called it a day and took rooms for the night in Princeton.

 

Tom lives in Merritt, so he took his leave and headed north toward Aspen Grove where the sky looked more promising. He expected to be home in about ninety minutes. We said our goodbyes and watched him roll out toward home. This was the first concrete evidence that our journey is coming to an end. We have had a terrific ten days but our ride is winding down. Kerry expects to leave very early tomorrow and Jim will split off to take the ferry from Tsawwassen while Garry and I will carry on to Horseshoe Bay and head home from Nanaimo.

 

Tom says 'Goodbye' before heading home to Merritt, BC



 

We have travelled more than four thousand kilometres in sun and rain and in temperatures that have ranged for 5C to 29C, and elevations from sea level to seven thousand feet. Our motorcycles have run flawlessly with the exception of a small oil leak from Garry's bike, we all got along well, and we managed to arrive here without losing anyone. By any measure this has been a successful trip.