There are very few things as disconcerting as losing your wallet when you're on a road trip but that's what happened to Jim last night. When we were packing to leave Jim noticed that he didn't have his wallet. We almost literally tore the room apart looking for it, but no luck. To double check Jim retraced his steps last night and walked to the Chevron gas station on the highway. The woman at the counter said that she couldn't find it where lost stuff is usually stored so Jim asked her to call the woman who was working on Saturday night. She wouldn't make the call, so Jim was faced with the prospect of riding home with no driver's license, no money, and no credit card, and the prospect of having to replace all of his ID, credit and bank cards and the possibility of losing a significant amount of cash and gift cards. It was not a good situation but we had no choice except to push on to Kamloops.
After Saturday night's thunder lightning and rain we were hoping that we could avoid getting wet on the 350 kilometre ride to Kamloops. The skies were threatening with low grey clouds with wisps of rain falling from them as we turned on to Highway 1 in Golden. Less than ten kilometres west of Golden a heavy rain began to drench us. Knowing that we needed to get to Kamloops we ploughed on and about ten kilometres later the rain eased off then stopped.
We carried on to Revelstoke where we stopped for a brief break before continuing on toward Salmon Arm. We passed Craigellaichie, the spot on the Canadian Pacific Railway where Sir Donald Smith drove the last spike on November 7, 1885. We didn't stop, but it is amazing to think that this small roadside stop with a section of rail that was manufactured in 1883 is the location of one of the most important events in Canadian history. A large cairn commemorates the event but it doesn't seem like many people stop there any more.
The weather steadily improved as we rode west and when we stopped for gas in Salmon Arm the sun was shining and the temperature was beginning to rise. The rest of the run in to Kamloops was uneventful if you don't count the construction and we arrived back at Jim's place early in the afternoon. We were met by jim & Sue's daughter Sara who told Jim that the Golden RCMP had his wallet. The woman who worked at the Chevron on Saturday night had held it until the end of her shift then turned it in to the police.
Needless to say, Jim was extremely relieved on one hand but somewhat irritated on the other. If the woman at the counter on the morning had called the cashier from the night before, she could have told Jim where the wallet was and he would have been able to go to the police station and collect it with none of the worry and concern that he had to go through. It is amazing the difference in service that two people provided at the service station. One went out of her way and delivered the wallet to the RCMP to make sure it was in good hands while the other person couldn't even be bothered to make a short phone call that would have saved everyone a lot of worry, time and effort.
We had a celebratory libation of the 10 year-old Glenmorangie single malt Scotch whiskey that Jim picked up at the Creston Duty Free on Friday evening. It was very smooth and tasty and went down quite easily. Jim says that this whiskey could be dangerous because it is so easy to drink.
On Monday morning Jim & Sue drove in to Kamloops and Jim got a temporary driver's license that he could use until his wallet arrived at the Kamloops RCMP station.
Last month I was reading article about a tour that a guy from Ontario had done in the Okanagan. In the article he mention the DreamWorks Motorcycle Museum in Sorrento, so after Jim got his driver's license straightened out we drove east to Sorrento, BC to check out the museum.
A little diversion here. Near Parksville, BC, there is a motorcycle dealership that sponsors a classic motorcycle show on the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend. The guy who owns Spunky's has been doing this for years. In 2012, Garry and I rode down to check it out and we saw some incredible machines. Among those on display were two HRD Vincents, a 1938 Brough Superior with side car, (It was immaculate.) an Excelsior, a blue Hendee Indian that was built in Toronto in, I believe 1915, hence the blue colour as Indians were usually red. That bike was actually on a Canadian postage stamp a few years ago. However, the highlight of the show was a 1911 Pierce motorcycle, one of only twelve known to exist.
At the entrance to the museum a 1946 Indian Chief was on display. It was for sale for the paltry sum of $35 000. To be fair though, it was in beautiful condition and someone who loves Indian motorcycles might be tempted to fork over the cash.
The next year when I asked about it I was told that the owner had traded it for a Ferrari, a Manx Norton, and forty thousand dollars cash. When I searched it on Google, I found that the last one at auction had sold for US$137 500 (more than CDN$175 000 at the time) so this bike was obviously quite rare and valuable. apparently they were made from 1909 to 1912 and were quite expensive. When we walked in the door of the museum, there it was, the 1911 Pierce. The owner of the museum was the guy who had traded for it. It was a pretty impressive item to have at the entrance.
The story that the museum owner tells is that the guy who owned it was riding it in the English countryside one night during the war when he realized he was riding a motorcycle that had flame at each end, a gas tank in the middle sitting over a hot engine, and German aircraft flying overhead dropping bombs on any light they saw. He decided that riding his motorcycle at that time might not be the best idea so he parked it & left if there. It sat there for seventy years and a generation or two of the family until the latest owner passed on and the family decided to part with the motorcycle. It went to a good home where people can appreciate it.
I had a slight twinge when I saw a 1972 Suzuki GT750 LeMans two-stroke liquid cooled motorcycle. It was identical to the one I rode to BC way back in 1973 with the exception of the colour. This one was a shade of burgundy while mine was a light green. The twinge went away though when I thought of always having to carry a litre of injector oil, replacing the alternator twice because it failed twice, and leaving a trail of blue smoke on the highway when I opened it up after riding in town for a few days. There were some fond memories but it was a bike that was functional but that I never really loved. Jim Knight says he's never ridden a 'water buffalo' but I can proudly say that have, on many occasions!
We spent more than two hours in the museum finishing up by watching part of the movie Why We Ride. I wished we'd had time to see the whole movie because it explored almost every aspect of motorcycle riding and the story was told from riders' points of view.
We left the museum and returned to Jim's place where we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Sarah was flying to Winnipeg to meet her aunt, see her brother and his wife and visit with her cousins before driving back to Kamloops with her aunt Colleen. Sue is looking forward to the visit.
The final day of the trip was the return to Campbell River on Tuesday. This leg of the trip is more than six hundred kilometres, and with the ferry and no delays still takes most of a day. But one has to get home and the weather promised to be good so the prospect wasn't too daunting. It certainly was an excellent ride through southern BC, Idaho, and Montana, and Jim and I are already thinking about next year's adventure which will probably include riding more of Idaho, including the Lolo Pass.
A little diversion here. Near Parksville, BC, there is a motorcycle dealership that sponsors a classic motorcycle show on the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend. The guy who owns Spunky's has been doing this for years. In 2012, Garry and I rode down to check it out and we saw some incredible machines. Among those on display were two HRD Vincents, a 1938 Brough Superior with side car, (It was immaculate.) an Excelsior, a blue Hendee Indian that was built in Toronto in, I believe 1915, hence the blue colour as Indians were usually red. That bike was actually on a Canadian postage stamp a few years ago. However, the highlight of the show was a 1911 Pierce motorcycle, one of only twelve known to exist.
At the entrance to the museum a 1946 Indian Chief was on display. It was for sale for the paltry sum of $35 000. To be fair though, it was in beautiful condition and someone who loves Indian motorcycles might be tempted to fork over the cash.
1946 Indian Chief. Only $35K
The next year when I asked about it I was told that the owner had traded it for a Ferrari, a Manx Norton, and forty thousand dollars cash. When I searched it on Google, I found that the last one at auction had sold for US$137 500 (more than CDN$175 000 at the time) so this bike was obviously quite rare and valuable. apparently they were made from 1909 to 1912 and were quite expensive. When we walked in the door of the museum, there it was, the 1911 Pierce. The owner of the museum was the guy who had traded for it. It was a pretty impressive item to have at the entrance.
1911 Pierce motorcycle
1912 Indian Model D
Right now there are more than eighty motorcycles on display ranging from an unrestored 1912 Indian, to many British marques including HRD, Scott, Douglas, Triumph, BSA, Matchless, Royal Enfield, Ariel, Panther and Norton, although there were no Commandos on display. Several of the British cycles dated back to the 1920s including one 1925 Triumph that had acetylene lights. This bike had been put in an English barn in 1942 and had sat there forgotten until the owner died recently. 
HRD (Vincent)
Manx Norton
Manx Norton
Douglas
Ariel
Scott liquid cooled two stroke. Decades ahead of its time.
Early BSA tank badge
1925 BSA with acetylene lights
1927 BSA
Matchless
'Bathtub' Triumph
Norton
Triumph
Matchless tank badge
1936 Panther 600
The story that the museum owner tells is that the guy who owned it was riding it in the English countryside one night during the war when he realized he was riding a motorcycle that had flame at each end, a gas tank in the middle sitting over a hot engine, and German aircraft flying overhead dropping bombs on any light they saw. He decided that riding his motorcycle at that time might not be the best idea so he parked it & left if there. It sat there for seventy years and a generation or two of the family until the latest owner passed on and the family decided to part with the motorcycle. It went to a good home where people can appreciate it.
I had a slight twinge when I saw a 1972 Suzuki GT750 LeMans two-stroke liquid cooled motorcycle. It was identical to the one I rode to BC way back in 1973 with the exception of the colour. This one was a shade of burgundy while mine was a light green. The twinge went away though when I thought of always having to carry a litre of injector oil, replacing the alternator twice because it failed twice, and leaving a trail of blue smoke on the highway when I opened it up after riding in town for a few days. There were some fond memories but it was a bike that was functional but that I never really loved. Jim Knight says he's never ridden a 'water buffalo' but I can proudly say that have, on many occasions!
1972 Suzuki GT750 LeMans liquid cooled two stroke
We spent more than two hours in the museum finishing up by watching part of the movie Why We Ride. I wished we'd had time to see the whole movie because it explored almost every aspect of motorcycle riding and the story was told from riders' points of view.
We left the museum and returned to Jim's place where we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. Sarah was flying to Winnipeg to meet her aunt, see her brother and his wife and visit with her cousins before driving back to Kamloops with her aunt Colleen. Sue is looking forward to the visit.
The final day of the trip was the return to Campbell River on Tuesday. This leg of the trip is more than six hundred kilometres, and with the ferry and no delays still takes most of a day. But one has to get home and the weather promised to be good so the prospect wasn't too daunting. It certainly was an excellent ride through southern BC, Idaho, and Montana, and Jim and I are already thinking about next year's adventure which will probably include riding more of Idaho, including the Lolo Pass.
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