We're Ridin' In the Rain, Just Ridin' In the Rain...

 It wasn't a wonderful feeling. 

When we left Osoyoos we followed the first part of our ride from yesterday. The weather was cloudy and threatening rain but it didn't show up until we were almost at Rock Creek. It began with a very light drizzle that held until we arrived at Midway. We stopped at the Kettle Valley Railway Museum to stretch our legs and take some photos. While we were there we met John, a man who had mover there from Tumbler Ridge and who is now a director of the museum. When he was a boy he says that he lived near the KVR tracks and could remember the steam locomotives running near his house. When I was about four years old, my dad took me to see the first diesel locomotive to do the run from Smiths Falls to Toronto. When I told John the story, he said he had the same experience, and like me, he wished that his father had taken him to see the last steam locomotive run. It was a memorable random interaction of the sort that often happens when one is travelling by motorcycle. 

Our bikes at the Kettle Valley Museum and the 1900 C&W station

CPR caboose at the KVR Museum in Midway, BC

Mile 0 of the Kettle Valley Railway in Midway, BC

John in front of the Kettle River Museum

I stopped at Greenwood, as mall town that once housed one of the largest copper smelters in the British Empire. During World War I it produced much of the copper that was used in the war effort. When the war ended, the bottom fell out of the copper market and the smelter closed, never to reopen. Many of the Japanese who were interned and moved away from the west coast after the attack on Pearl Harbour were placed in Greenwood and some families remained there to this day. The Columbia and Western Railway ran by Greenwood and crossed the old highway on the east end of the town. At some point the road was widened and the concrete tunnel was pulled to the side of the highway. At one point more than one hundred flags were painted on it. Sadly, the vandals have shown up even in Greenwood, and the beautifully painted flags have been defaced and covered with ugly graffiti. 

Old Kootenay Light & Power powerhouse with the smelter smokestack.

Slag piles with 'bells' from slag pots that have been there for more that 100 years

Slag pile and 'bells' from the old Greenwood smelter.

Old Greenwood smelter smokestack.

Tunnel from under the C&W Railway.

The berm on the right is all that remains of the C&W embankment 

The Boundary Country had a long history of railway building which began near the end of the 19th century when mineral wealth including gold, silver, copper and others was discovered in the area. Along with the Columbia and Western, the Great Northern built a line to Eholt, which was built to service the large copper mine there. Just as the Greenwood smelter closed at the end of WWI, the copper mine at Eholt closed as well. Now there are very few remnants of a town which once had the first artificial curling rink in western Canada. From Highay 3 riding in to Grand Forks, the cuts in the side of the hills are the only evidence of the Great Northern Railway, which along with the CPR (which owned the C&W) brought copper ore to the smelters at Greenwood and Granby. There is lots of history in this country if one knows what to look for.

The drizzle became a little heavier as we approached Grand Forks where we stopped at Tim Horton's for a coffee and a bowl of chili. The rain began to fall heavily while we were inside so we donned our rain pants and headed east through Christina Lake. We stopped at the Paulson Bridge to shoot some photos then carried on to Castlegar. On the way we were followed by a semi with the logo 'Stark' and the Salvation Army shield on it. In BC there are pullouts at the top of steep hills where truck drivers are supposed to pull over and check to see that their braked are adjusted properly. This drive blew by two of those pullouts, totally ignoring what he was required to do to ensure the safety of his truck.

The parking lot at Tim Horton's in Grand Forks after the rain began.

The Paulson Bridge

Paulson Bridge with the C&W rail bed far below

The C&W railbed with weather in the background.

When we arrived at Castlegar, our first stop was at Canadian Tire where I bought a rain jacket. After riding almost one hundred kilometers in the rain my jacket was getting very wet and I was getting cold. My boots and gloves were totally soaked with my socks being sopping wet. After refueling we stopped at Starbucks but in Safeway stores there is no seating so we rolled on. 

Darlene and Gretel were lucky today because they were travelling in a warm dry car.

After a slight glitch leaving Castlegar and heading to Nelson, we made it downtown where we stopped at the first coffee shop we saw. It was good to get out of the rain and have a hot coffee in our hands. One of life's little pleasures. I made sure to take a photo of the mostly aptly named cannabis shop in Nelson. The main street in Nelson is named Baker Street. Tomorrow when we are downtown I will be looking for 221B.

Buddy's House of Cannabis on downtown Nelson.

Garry called Gretel to get directions and the young woman who was working in the shop also gave us directions. It was not difficult to find the Alpine Motel and it was a real pleasure to shed soaking boots, gloves, jacket and socks.

The ride today covered 275 kilometres with about 140 of them in the rain. I don't like riding in heavy rain for many reasons. We will be in Nelson until Saturday, but the weather if forecast to be wet and cold. The ride to Penticton promises to be a difficult one if the weather forecast is correct. But one can always hope.