After Monday's visit to the museum and a generally restful day, it was time to head home. Jim & Sue had dropped Sarah off at the airport and were back just after 7:30. After saying my goodbyes to them and the 'girlies' I headed off at about 8:00 a.m.
Traffic into Kamloops was moving quickly and there was no trouble making it to the western side of the city and the open highway to Cache Creek. I arrived there after 9:00, gassed up and headed toward Lillooet. The bane of summer riders reared its ugly head again. CanadaDream and CruiseCanada motorhomes cluttered Highway 99 once more and after long stretches of double lines I was able to pass several of them in addition to two semis, one of which had a heavy load of steel.
I was making very good time and had hopes of easily making the 3:10 ferry from Horsehoe Bay to Nanaimo but this is where things started to go off the rails. As I approached a railway underpass about fifteen kilometres from Lillooet I saw a flagperson waving their SLOW sign. So, I slowed down and stopped. The flagwoman told me that she was waving to tell me to go faster and because I had slowed down I had missed the end of the line of cars that was going through the construction by less than thirty seconds. She called her boss but he wouldn't let me through so I was stuck with a ninety minute wait until the road was again open for one-way traffic.
There was no point in being irritated although my opinion of her boss was that he was a bit of an a$$401e for not letting me pass. Fortunately I had two litres of water with me. Lillooet is often one of the hottest places in Canada and today it was making a good effort to take that honour again. I took some photos of the surrounding area because it is quite beautiful.
Because I was on a bike and at the front of the line I spent some time chatting with the flag woman who was a member of the local band. She filled me in on band politics and why there was always construction at that overpass. In all the times I have ridden Highway 99, this section is never paved. Apparently there is a spring under the road and it moves so every few years the road has to be rebuilt and it is never paved. I was told that this has been going on for thirty-five years.
Fraser River flowing south near Lillooet, BC (r. to l.)
View of the Fraser River upstream near Lillooet, BC
Another view of the Fraser River
Traffic line up waiting to pass through road construction.
At 11:50 traffic again moved. I was at the head of the line so I didn't have anything to slow me down on the way in to Lillooet. However once I climber the long hill south of Lillooet I fund myself behind three motorhomes that were barely making 40 kph in a 60 kph zone. Again I was forced to follow these guys until I found a straight section of the highway where I dropped down a gear rolled the throttle over and let the Harley stretch its legs.
The rest of the Duffy Lake Road was a great ride. The scenery on the highway is spectacular and even though I was trying to make time I continually stole glances of the snow capped mountains and deep green lakes.
The ride in to Pemberton again was slow because and Alberta driver in a small silver car seemed to have trouble driving at the 60 kph speed limit. I passed through Pemberton and was able to maintain the speed limit through Whistler and to the south when the road opened up to four lanes for a while. Passing slower vehicles was not a problem so I began to make time still having the hope that I would catch the 3:10 ferry.
The ride to and through Squamish went easily although time was becoming a problem. The ride along Howe Sound is again, incredibly beautiful but there was no time to stop to sightsee as I needed to cover ground. Approaching Horseshoe Bay the highway takes a convoluted approach to the ferry terminal. It is necessary to ride six kilometres east of Horseshoe Bay, take an exit, cross Highway 1 on an overpass, and then reverse direction back to the terminal. Not the best traffic arrangement I have seen.
When I pulled into the booth to pay my fare I found that I had missed the ferry by about eight minutes and now had an almost two hour wait. I had been on my motorcycle for three hours and twenty-five minutes non-stop and had covered 263 kilometres. I think this is the longest non-stop distance I have ever ridden on my Harley. My butt told me that it doesn't like sitting on a motorcycle seat for that long. The display telling me how many kilometres of gas I had left had given up on numbers and was just displaying a 'Lo' message.
After an uneventful crossing the immediate priority was to fuel up and I found a Chevron station just a few kilometres up the highway. From the amount of gas I was able to put in the tank my guess is that I was down to my last half litre when I filled up. That was cutting it too close.
The ride to Campbell River on the Inland Highway was quick and easy and I pulled in to my driveway at about 8:40 p.m., almost thirteen hours after leaving Kamloops. The final total for this year's ride with Jim was 4326 kilometres. It was a terrific trip except for some rainy weather and we're already looking at where we will ride next year. It's looking like Idaho and western Washington are in the cards for us. Now it's time for two weeks rest and them Garry and I will be off for a three week road trip to Sturgis, SD, for the 75th Annual Black Hills Rally. This is looking to be one of the best motorcycle riding summers yet.
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