Enjoying the Day

Yesterday was the prologue to this year's Vintage Gentlemen's Annual Road Trip. Garry and I rendezvoused with Jim and his son Geoff in Hope yesterday, and began our ride, minus Tom who is attending a special birthday, today. As is our wont, our day had a leisurely beginning with a visit to Tim Horton's for a coffee and bagel.

Sometimes enjoyable and memorable moments come in small bits and one of them happened in the Tim Horton's line. I was standing behind a man and his about three year old daughter who was holding some small books. When she dropped one on the floor I picked it up and gave it back to her. Spontaneously, she took the book and reached out for a hug, so I let he hug me while returning it. As mall thing, perhaps, but what a great way to begin a day!

After ordering I was waiting when a woman who had ridden into the parking lot asked me what I was riding. We had a short conversation then I sat down. She came over to the table and we talked about motorcycling so I invited her to join Garry and me. She agreed and called her friend over to join us. It happened that Tamara, the woman I first talked with, and her friend Denise, were riding to Prince George and had already made it to Hope from the Lower Mainland in the time that we were getting breakfast. Tamara was riding a Kawasaki Concours and Denise a Suzuki Versys.

Tamara & Denise

Our conversation was about riding and as we were leaving Jim & Geoff returned from getting their gear from the hotel and the conversation began anew with more motorcycle talk. These ladies were great tot alk to and I admire their stamina in riding the eight hundred kilometres from Vancouver to Prince George in one day. I remarked that it sounded like it would be a numb bum day. Tamara agreed. After a photos the two left to head north, while we pointed our bikes east toward Highway 3.

Highway 3 runs across the bottom of BC from just east of Hope, BC, to the Alberta border. Because it crosses the Coast and other mountain ranges the highway is in many cases is a series of curves, some often quite sharp with low speed limits. It makes for some exciting riding. 

Between Hope and Princeton, BC, on Highway 3

Our first stop was at the West Portal of Manning Park to get photos of the Manning Marmot. We rode on and stopped at the lodge. The marmots are quite acclimatized to human contact and seem to have very little fear of people because they have been fed frequently. I took several marmot photos before we again hit the road to Princeton. 

The 'Boys' and The Manning Marmot

Before we left Hope, we decided that after we got to Princeton, we would ride Highway 5A from Princeton to Aspen Grove. At one time Princeton was served by two railways, the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) and the Vancouver, Victoria, & Eastern (VVE) both of which reached Princeton in 1915. The VV&E track was pulled up in 1938 and much of the railbed was used as the base for Highway 3. The KVR crosses the next mountain range and ended up in Penticton about one hundred and fifty kilometres later. This part of the KVR was closed and the tracks removed in 1989. It was the end of an era in that part of BC, and for many, it was a sad time. The KVR railbed is now part of the Trans Canada Trail system and is used by cyclists to travel from Brookmere to Castlegar.

Because this is early summer, people are bringing ot their classic and exotic cars and today we saw plenty of both. Between Hope and Princeton we saw dozens of cars ranging in age from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. It is great to see these cars being preserved for the future and being driven rather than being left in a garage or showroom. As classic motorcycle owners often say, 'Ride 'em, don't hide 'em.' There must have been a Lamborghini Rally somewhere this weekend because we also saw at least a dozen of them on the road and in Princeton. They're beautiful cars, but not something that moves me. For me the expression, 'Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul,' applies.

Highway 5A is another of those twisty roads that is at the mercy of the rough terrain of the interior of BC. We stopped at the Guilford Lake rest area where we saw hundreds of minnows swimming near the shore. Perhaps they will grow up to be big trout.

Jim at Guilford Lake rest area

Little fish in Guilford Lake

Highway 5A is a great motorcycle road with very little traffic, so it is easy to ride the speed limit and maybe a bit more, but it is just a fun ride. Upon reaching the Okanagan Connector we headed east to Peachland. The high point on the highway is the Penask Summit at 1728 metres (5700 feet). The wind had a definite chill and on north facing slopes that were sheltered by trees, there was still snow present. In fact the summit had about fifteen centimetres of snow about two weeks ago!

The ride to Penticton was uneventful until we began to ride along Okanagan Lake. The water level is quite high, almost to the highway and many beachfront properties around the lake have suffered damage from a combination of high water levels and high winds. We stopped at Tim's in Summerlad where we met two travellers from Toronto, ON, Gloria and Santo. Neither had ever been to BC before. They had flown into a car, driven to Banff, Revelstoke, and were now staying in Kelowna and doing day trips. They were excited by the beauty of the scenery here and planned to see Lake Louise and other sights before returning home.

Gloria & Santo

We stopped at Starbucks in Penticton for a coffee when a guy rolled in on an Indian Chief. It was the centre of attention and I have to admit that it is a fine looking machine. 

Geoff & Jim with the Indian rider

The Indian

Garry did his usual phone magic and got us rooms at the Best Western in Penticton where we are holed up for the night. The temperature when we arrived here was 25C, just perfect. 

Tomorrow we are going to ride to Keremeos where we will meet Tom and continue our journey east. We will have to sort out accommodation as it won't be fair ro have Tom paying for a separate room, so we may need to make arrangements for a cot to be put in our room and then we will have to take turns sleeping on the cot for one night out of three. We will work it out, however.

Today we did 335 kilometres and the riding was great. My hope is that the roads and the weather continue to cooperate.