OldHog: The Adventure Begins

While it may be presumptuous to call this ride an adventure for us it is. Kerry has made this ride many times over the last 30 years but this is only my third time and the first one since 1974 so it does qualify as an adventure, at least for me.

When I left Campbell River on Saturday morning it was about 10 degrees, the sun was rising over Quadra Island, and my bike was running perfectly with its new rear tire. The ride to Courtenay was relaxed and after filling up at the Chevron with $.96.9 gas, it was off to Nanaimo and the ferry. There were about 25 bikes on the ferry and the riders were as varied as their bikes, I talked with a man who owned four Harleys, two in Port Alberni, and two in Yuma, Arizona where he goes for the winter. The extra bikes were for his twin brother so they can ride together when he visits. What an excellent brother that guy is!

Vancouver traffic was crazy but after adding a luggage rack and new grips to the bike I rode out to see Darlene's dad at the home he is living in. After some cajoling, and "I didn't ride this far for a, 'No,'" comment, he got in his wheelchair and I pushed him out to the parking lot. This 89 year-old man never seems to smile much but when he saw the bike his eyes lit up and when he heard it he had the biggest grin on his face I have seen in a very long time. It was worth the traffic for that alone.

Kerry says thet when I arrived at his building he was on the phone with his sister but he told her that I had arrived when he heard the bike in his 6th floor condo. It was really great to see him again and to retell old stories and catch up on people that I haven't seen for more than 30 years.

This morning we hit the road at about 9:30 but rode to 8th Avenue in White Rock, just north of the border and took the back roads to Abbotsford where we got on Highway 1 to Chilliwack. We rode past Hope to Othello Road to the Quintette Tunnels Provincial Park. The Coquihalla River was running fast, loud, and green and the tunnels themselves are incredible pieces of construction considering that they were blasted out of the living rock almost one hundred years ago and then cleared away with pick, shovel and hand carts. There was no modern machiney there in those days.

We beat the rain to Merrit where we visited Kerry's friends Tom and Sharon. Sharon is violunteering to help with the Merritt Bike Rally next week. They expect about 5000 bikes (with their riders) to show up. Had we not been travelling it sounds like it would have been a great way to spend a few summer days. We raced out of town just before the rain - yes there is rain this year even in Merritt - and made a quick run to Kamloops. As we were in the last three kilometres to Jim & Sue's house a crow flew into the front of my bike and seemed to explode when it hit the left fork. In all the years I have been riding that was the first time I have ever hit a crow.

We're staying at my friends Jim and Sue's place just east of Kamloops and the evening was a great one of reminiscing, eating a great dinner and having some good laughs. Kerry, Jim & Sue are the friends I have known for the longest in BC, and Kerry and Jim were part of Darlene's and my wedding party in 1983. Kerry says that at our ages we won't be making any new old friends so we had better take care of the ones we have. A wise thought, I think although I think Kerry might not expect to be called 'wise'.

Kerry and John ready to roll.

Me, because it's my blog!

It occurred to me on the ride up that we have ridden together on and off for more than 40 years. It's still good. Tomorrow we will be riding with Jim to Revelstoke where he will turn back, but we will continue to Field to stay overnight with friends of Kerry who have lived there for some time. The trip is off to a great start with the weather holding despite some rain here in Kamloops tonight, and the bikes are running flawlessly. It's great to be on the road again!