The Joy of Norton

During events like this Norton Rally you meet all sorts of people. Yesterday I met a gentleman named Jerry Kaplan who rides a 1950 Norton ES2 that has seen better days.  Much better days.  The bike looks like it hasn't been cleaned for a while and it is covered with dirt and oil.  It is what some might call a 'rat bike'. 

Jerry Kaplan's 1950 Norton ES2



When I met Jerry yesterday we talked about shooting video with his GoPro Hero3+ video camera.  The mount on his handlebars didn't work too well so he mounted it on a chest harness.  The only problem was that because of the wide angle of the camera lens his arms came out of the side of the picture. 

Jerry is one of those characters that just don't seem to give a s@#% about things.  The condition of his bike indicates that but on Thursday morning I saw tangible evidence that he's a one of a kind.  In preparation for the morning's events there were quite a number of Nortons lined up for the 'Minute of Thunder' and then the roll out to begin the ride to Crater Lake.  The dirt where the bikes were parked was uneven and Jerry's bike has a short side stand.  When he put the stand down the bike began to tip, so to prevent that he took out his wallet and put it under his side stand.  It worked but once again, Jerry didn't worry about the wallet.  He just did what he needed to do.

Jerry's wallet keeping his ES2 from tipping over.

Two events were planned for Thursday morning.  The first was the 'Minute of Thunder where people started their Nortons and ran them for a minute in memory of those Norton riders who are no longer with us.  Wit more than 30 or so Nortons revving it was a loud experience but one that I'm glad I didn't miss.



Norton 'Minute of Thunder'

Following that, the group that was going ride the 168 mile round trip to Crater Lake, OR, rolled out to begin the journey.  There's no motorcycle sound like a Norton and when a large number of them roll past it is a sound that isn't soon forgotten.

 

Norton convoy leaving for Crater Lake, OR

Jim and I decided to take it easy, look at bikes, have breakfast, then do a short ride.  We headed down the mountain in to Ashland where we found a Starbucks.  We had coffee and I took the time to do the blog from our first day at the rally.  There is no WiFi at the Howard Prairie Resort because we were about 30 km from Ashland in the mountains.  Most people weren't even getting cell coverage and it seemed to be a problem for some.

In Ashland the temperature was about 37C and wearing a leather jacket made the temperature a bit hard to take whenever we stopped.  We left town after completing the blog post but without the GPS we were at a bit of a loss.  We stopped at a tire shop to ask for directions and the sales person told us we were on the right road. 

We followed his directions and found ourselves on Highway 66, not the famous Route 66, but simply a state highway.  The road wound its way into the hills and we began to climb.  The road here clings to the sides of hills as it climbs to the summit.  The road shoulders are very narrow and there are no guard rails so one has to be careful rounding curves because it is only a few feet from a good ride to disaster. If a rider went over the side it might be a long time before he was found.

Jim was ahead of me and rounding a corner I saw two people on the side of the road standing beside a motorcycle.  I stopped to ask them if they knew where we were.  The couple was on a BMW and were stopped for a bit of lunch.  They had a map which gave me an idea about where I was so I continued on to find Jim stopped on the side of the highway about five hundred metres further on.  He had stopped at an isolated restaurant which was opposite the road back to the resort.  He didn't know it but after seeing the couple's map and talking to one of the waiters in the restaurant, I was able to point us in the right direction.  The ride back was excellent with a twisty road and no traffic and we arrived back at the lake with no further problems.

We stopped at the lodge and saw quite a few bikes parked there.  Some were in incredible condition.  A considerable amount of care, attention, and money has gone into some of these motorcycles.  It's just a testament to how many Norton riders really have an emotional attachment to their bikes.

Norton Commando

Norton ES2

Norton Commando with aftermarket paint job

Norton Interstate

Norton Dominator

Norton Commando.  The engine seized on the way to Crater Lake.

Norton Commando

Norton Commando detail

On the way back to the campsite we passed a group of people from Winnipeg, MB.  They had several extraordinary motorcycles, including a 1936 V-twin AJS, a Colorado Norton Works Norton Commando, and a 1950s Norton, in addition to a Commando.  They had an amazing trailer which was pulled by a Cadillac and was able to transport three motorcycles.  There was some serious money at that campsite.

1936 AJS V-twin

AJS exhaust pipes

AJS V-twin engine

1936 AJS

1936 AJS

Norton ES2. Don't know the year.

Colorado Norton Works 1975 Commando

Primary chain case CNW 1975 Norton Commando

Back at the campsite we met a guy from St. Albert, AB.  Clint Campbell had a 1968 Fastback Commando which he takes very good care of.  The bike is always spotless and he has a special trailer to take it to Norton rallies.  Last year at the INOA Rally he won best of class for limited production Nortons.  The guy beside him has a 1962 Matchless which he transports in the back of his 1967 Chevrolet pickup truck.

The chipmunks were back and were hanging around our campsite so we gave them a few more peanuts.  The larger one spent a good deal of time chasing the smaller one away so he could get all the spoils from Jim and me.  In two days he had us trained quite well.

The campsite chipmunk

Prior to the movie we had dinner at the resort.  There was a large group from Vancouver at the next table.  Their conversation was dominated by a zaftig blonde who spoke loudly, had an extremely irritating voice, and never shut up.  Needless to say, dinner was not a pleasant experience and we were glad to pay our bills and leave.



The evening activity was a showing of 'Hogslayer' the movie about the twin Norton engined dragster ridden by T.C. Christenson in the mid 1970s.  It was supposed to be shown at seven o'clock but the event didn't seem to be too well coordinated.  The movie didn't begin until nine o'clock and it was projected on the ceiling of the meeting tent.  All in all, combined with the lack of scheduled field events pointed to a very poorly organized day.  Still, spending time with other people who love Nortons, seeing the wide variety of bikes, and just hearing them when they are rolling down the highway is a beautiful thing.







Nortons, Nortons, Nortons!!!

It's quite wonderful to wake up and know that you have less than fifty kilometres to drive until you get to the destination that you have been heading to for the past two days and 1100 kilometres.  Medford, Oregon is a quiet little town about 25 kilometres north of Ashland, OR.  After getting a coffee at Starbucks, we quickly got back to I-5 and were soon rolling south at 70 mph. 

A short distance out of Medford we passed a rider on a yellow Norton.  It was then that I got the distinct feeling that I was a 'pussy'.  Here's this guy riding his forty year-old bike on the Interstate while we were trucking our Nortons and sitting in air conditioned comfort.  It wasn't a good feeling, but after thinking of the weather over the past two days, the feeling quickly passed.

As we entered Ashland, OR, we exited I-5 after a day and half and about 800 kilometres to get on to a secondary highway.  Shortly after that the GPS indicated that we should turn left on 'Dead Indian Memorial Road'.  This is probably one of the most unusual names I have ever seen for any road. 

 

Very unusual road name



We carried on climbing and rounding innumerable turns before topping out at almost 5200 feet before dropping down to 4800 feet and arriving at Hyatt Lake Road.  As we approached the rally destination, I became 'giddy with anticipation' before finally arriving to the sight of several dozen Nortons of various ages and conditions.  At any time several of them were fired up and ready to head off on any number of rides through the mountains here.

Classic black & gold Commando

My bike's sister

Nortons, Nortons, everywhere!!



After checking in we drove around until we found out campsite and set up the tents.  The campground is a great place to camp.  The sites are large and at this altitude the temperature  doesn't seem to get above the high twenties while it is in the mid to high thirties in Ashland.  There are quite a few mature pine trees so the sun doesn't shine directly on our site during most of the day.

After getting set up we rode down to the main area.  Jim went for lunch while I attended the first tech session where two guys who knew just about everything about Nortons explained what could go wrong with them and how to fix the problems.  I won a voltmeter as a door prize.  I don't know how to use it but I'll learn.  I stayed for the second session and again won a voltmeter which I gave away to another guy.  He was really happy.  He said that he had already burned up two of them so I wondered if giving him another one was the best idea.

I met a guy from Las Vegas, NV, who had a bike identical to mine.  I checked out his engine number and found that it preceded mine by nineteen numbers.  The bikes were probably built on the same day.  Mine was sent to Canada while his ended up in Nevada.  We put the bikes side by side and took a few photos of the sister bikes which we finally reunited after more than forty years. 

Sisters, reunited after forty years.

Still looking good!

Side by side.



We rode back to our campsite only to find a fat chipmunk running around.  We gave him a few peanuts and very quickly he was running up my leg to grab a peanut from my knee.  Jim put two on his legs and the little guy ran up, grabbed one, sat and ate it then moved on to grab the other one.  After that he ran onto Jim's arm and sat on his hands looking for more.  He was a brazen little guy.

Looking for nuts.

At ease on Jim's knee

Getting really friendly now.

The chipmunk was pretty brazen

Love those nuts!



WE walked down to the main area to get dinner.  Across the road one guy has an early sixties Matchless which he trucks around in a 1967 Chevrolet pickup.  Both are vehicles he wanted as a kid and now he has them.  On the way down we met an Australian guy who had built a bike using a Hillman engine and Royal Enfield frame.  It was a one of a kind and Jim was really impressed.  The guy is a machinist so he built most of the bike himself. 





Early 60s Matchless

Home built Royal Enfield

Jim checking out the home built Royal Enfield

Hillman engine with radiator from a mini cut in half an placed on each side.



Many guys had ridden their bikes there and we saw a wide variety of Nortons including a 1950 ES2 which an old guy named Jerry was riding.  We chatted about GoPros and how to use them as he had a Hero3+ which he was using with a chest mount to record his rides.

 

There was quite a wait for dinner at the big tent and before I joined the line which was barely moving I met a guy from near Courtenay who was attending the rally as well.  Colin Kelly is, I would guess, a transplanted Irish guy who loves Nortons.  He is the Canadian representative on the International Norton Owners Association (INOA). 

 

 

Colin Kelly (l.) chatting with other Norton owners

 

In the last issue of the Norton Owners magazine he made a comment about feeling used by a guy in Campbell River who had stories in two motorcycle magazines about the Norton Racing Team bike he had.  I asked what the story was behind that comment and he said that the guy was passing himself off as a retired guy who was looking for an old Norton to fix up as a project.  His ad had been running on Craigslist for about four years and from time to time he buys one for dirt cheap from someone who thinks they're helping out an old guy.  He then has some work done on it so he can sell it.  Apparently the guy has no love of Nortons and he doesn't even ride.  He just grabs Nortons for cheap, bolts some pieces onto them, then sells them as the real deal.  And he has been using the magazines to give his 'Frankenbikes' legitimacy.  At present he is selling a Norton 'Race Team' bike for almost twenty-five thousand dollars although there is no proof that the bike actually was a team bike.  He is also selling a John Player Norton for more than sixteen thousand dollars.  Without the cosmetic stuff bolted onto them those bikes would probably sell in the eight to nine thousand dollar range.  The guy is running a bit of a scam, if I read Colin correctly, and the author of the piece on the 'team' bike heard what he had to say but didn't include it.  Anyway, as someone who loves the Norton marque, he is pretty steamed at how this guy is doing business.

 

We headed back after dinner but it was getting dark and we missed the turn to our site so we spent a good deal of time walking in the dark hoping to find out campsite.  We finally did and we wrapped up the day just after tem o'clock.  It didn't seem like a long day but we were both bagged so it seemed like a good time to finish up the day.

I have never seen so many Nortons in one place and it does my heart good to hear the sounds of 750 and 850 Commandos, Dominators, ES2s, and other models.  Our campsite is just below the road so when a group ride leaves the sound is really quite impressive.  This is great!  As we arrived we thought that we might be the guys with 'rat bikes', but there are a lot of bikes that don't run or look as good as ours.

Tomorrow a group ride is going out to Crater lake but I'm not sure that I want to do a ride of that distance (168 miles) on a forty year-old motorcycle with people that I don't know so I may just do a shorter self directed ride.  Anyway, Day One was amazing and Day 2 should be just as good.

Too Hot...Even for Me!!!

Today's blog will be a short one.  We left Centralia, WA, at about 8:30 with the goal of making it to Medford, OR.  The drive south was reasonably uneventful although Portland's maze of highways and bridges over the Columbia River can be somewhat confusing.  However, we passed through without incident and rolled on to Salem where we stopped at Salem, H-D, a friendly dealership right off I-5.  Jim bought two T-shirts, while I decided on one shirt and a pair of fingerless gloves.  It makes things easy to take when there is no sales tax.

Nortons ready to go.



The drive through the middle of Oregon is quite varied with farm forests, wheat and corn fields, and several mountain ridges which the highway has to climb to cross over.  We saw fields of wheat which were being harvested by as many as eight combines.  The fields went on for miles.

We were able to maintain a good speed all the way to just north of Medford.  Three miles from out planned stopping point traffic slowed to a crawl.  Apparently a vehicle had burned on the Interstate causing a lane closure and the delays which occur when two lanes of traffic have to funnel into one all the while drivers rubberneck the incident.

After parking outside the motel to register I got back in my truck to move it.  That is when I took this photo which shows what the temperature was where my truck was parked.  This is probably the highest temperature I've ever experienced.

Kind of hot this afternoon in Medford, OR.



Tomorrow we will drive the last thirty miles (fifty kilometres) to the rally, liberate the Nortons and hopefully enjoy the rally.  Projected temperature tomorrow is forecast to be 36C and 34C on Thursday, so our camping experience may be difficult.  We'll have to see how things work out after a full day of being in extreme heat.

Norton Road Trip

After a few days at home from my ride with Jim at the beginning of July, two days at the Vancouver Island Music Festival, I am in the road again, this time with my friend Jim Knight.  We are heading to a state park east of Ashland, OR for the International Norton Owners' Association rally.

 

I pulled out of my driveway at 6:00 a.m. this morning with my 1974 Norton in the back of my truck.  The plan was to drive to Sooke, load Jim's 1974 Norton, head for the Black Ball Ferry from Victoria to Anacortes, WA, and head south as far as we could get.

 

 

 

My 1974 Norton Commando ready for a ride.

 

!974 Norton Commando all tied down and ready to go.

 



I arrived at Jim's at about 9:30 and we immediately began to load Jim's bike.  Putting a second Norton into a pickup truck is about four times more complicated than loading one.  It took us about an hour to get the second bike loaded, get everything tied down and then to pack Jim's stuff.  We left after 11 o'clock and arrived at the terminal in downtown Victoria at noon.  Because all the reservations were taken we arrived three hours early for the sailing with the hopes that we could get on the ferry early enough to be able to make some distance before we had to stop for the day.

 

 

 

A brace of 1974 Norton Commandos. Note the tie job!

 

Nortons ready to head for the ferry

 



When we got on the Coho, we asked a couple if we could join then in a booth.  They agreed and as we left the harbor Jim asked me to take a photo of a large sailboat that was tied up.  When I got back I told him the name of the boat.  The guy looked it up on his Smart phone and told us the boat, the 'destination' was a forty-two metre long boat with a width of nine metres, registered in Georgetown, in the Cayman Islands.

 

We got in to a conversation with him and when I told him I was from Campbell River, he said that he was too.  It was Jason Beaulieu, a very well-known car racer.  He has raced for thirty years and won pretty well everything in the Pacific Northwest on stock cars.  He now races dirt track and is based in Bates, Arkansas. He races all the way from Florida, to Kentucky, to Nevada, and places in between.  His base is within driving didtance of one hundred and  fifty tracks so he can race wherever he wants. He had just come back from a tour of North Dakota and southern Saskatchewan.  He was heading to Port Angeles to meet the driver of his semi that had his cars and engines and who was bringing it back to Canada.

 

He also owns about fifteen tugs, some up to a hundred feet long so he has the money to indulge in his passion for racing.  During the ride he told us about some of the weather conditions his tugs have to deal with.  I can only say that I'm glad I don't have to make my living on the water.

 

The ride was a bit rough with a 20-25 mph wind and up to four foot waves which caused the ferry to rock back and forth.  The captain was kind enough to quarter the waves so the ship didn't roll too much but it cost us an extra twenty minutes sailing time and we weren't off the ship until about 5 o'clock. 

 

After stopping for coffee in Sequim, WA we took Highway 101 south.  The drive was quite smooth until we pulled up behind a car from BC whose driver consistently drove 10 mph below the speed limit and who wouldn't pull over in one of the many pullouts to let us pass.  We followed this guy for about sixty kilometres before we passed him.  The driver was either totally oblivious to the fact that he was being followed by a truck for mile after mile, or he was too ignorant to know that he should pull over and let us pass.  I finally passed him in a 35 mph section of the highway and never saw him again.

 

We joined I-5 at the south end of Olympia and headed toward Centralia, WA, where we decided to stop at Motel 6.  We checked in at about 9:30 ready for a good night's rest.  I can say that I'm considerably less tired after driving all day in air conditioned comfort rather than being on a Harley in leathers in thirty-five Degree C. heat.

 

Tomorrow we'll try to make it to Medford or Ashland, OR, before getting a room for the night & checking in to the rally on Wednesday morning.  The weather is beautiful, the roads are good, and the Nortons seem to be well tied in.  Should be a good drive tomorrow.

 

 

The Way Back Home

The last blog post of any trip I have done has always been written several days after I return home and this post is no exception.  However, this time I have to roll two days into one entry because the last day of the trip with Jim was a short run from Vernon, BC to Kamloops, BC, a distance of slightly more than one hundred kilometres straight up Highway 97 to the Trans Canada Highway.  From the junction it is a relatively short run west to the Old Shuswap Road then to Jim's house.

We settled in to our motel on Saturday afternoon after finding one that didn't require us to sign away out first born and take out mortgages on our houses before we could get a room.  Not more than forty-five minutes later it began to rain but the shower was of relatively short duration so Sunday morning dawned bright, sunny, and warm for the final portion of our journey.

We arrived in Kamloops shortly after 11:00 a.m., unloaded the bikes and enjoyed the air conditioning in the house before heading to Costco where Jim bought a pizza, some New York strip loin steaks, and some ribs.  The 'girls' (Jim & Sue's Schnauzers Molly and Maggie) greeted us when we arrived.  They are extremely affectionate dogs and they love being with people.  They also have wildly different characters.  Molly, at thirteen, is much more reserved and ladylike.  She calmly awaits to be scratched or petted and she eats her food very daintily.  Maggie, at three, on the other hand is pushy, wolfs down her food and pushes her way to the front even when I pet Molly.

 

 

 

Molly, Jim & Sue's ladylike Schnauzer

 

Upon returning to the house I got out my iPad and sat at the island in the kitchen asI checked out the email that I had ignored for several days.  Maggie raced over to me, put her front paws on my leg and watched what I was doing.  I thought nothing of it until she started pogoing on her hind legs trying to see the screen.  That's when I figured out that she wanted to see the computer so I tilted the screen so she could see. She was very attentive but when I moved the screen she began to jump again.

 

 

 Maggie, the iPad obsessed Schnauzer with her favourite toy.

When Sue arrived home from the lower Mainland I tld her what had been going on.  She told me that she usually pulls up a chair so Maggie could jump up, sit there and watch YouTube videos.  She loves videos of - you guessed it - schnauzers.  Sometimes she even tries to touch the screen with her nose to get closer.  Later in the week I posted two videos to YouTube.  She loves them and I think she actually recognizes herself on the screen.  She loves watching the computer so much that at one point she was outside and saw me using the computer so she began jumping up and down on her hind legs.  Molly, on the other hand, could not care less about the computer.  I guess the younger generation is just more technologically knowledgable than the oldsters.

On Sunday evening after having some pizza, Jim and I had a taste of the single malt scotch he had bought at the Duty Free.  The Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban was very smooth and it demanded that we taste it one more time.  At least.

I spent three days in Kamloops enjoying Jim and Sue's hospitality and great cooking before heading home on Thursday.  The final day's ride was also the longest, all the way from the east side of Kamloops to Cache Creek, then to Lillooet, Pemberton by the Duffy Lake Road, then on to Whistler, Squamish, Horeshoe Bay to the ferry to Nanaimo, and then to Campbell River, a distance of almost 600 kilometres with a two hour ferry ride thrown in for good measure.  The temperature was generally in the mid 30s until I crossed the mountains where it dropped to the low 30s or high 20s.

 

 

Kamloops Lake, west of Kamloops, BC

View north over Kamloops Lake



The ride to Cache Creek was a straight run with some stops to view the beautiful scenery across Kamloops Lake.  On the west side of Savona, BC, I could see the tourist train, The Rocky Mountaineer, as it made its way to Vancouver along the CN tracks along the Thompson River then along the Fraser River to Hope where it would make the final run down the Fraser River to the main terminal in Vancouver.  The train's paint scheme is beautifully designed and from a distance it is quite striking.

 

The Rocky Mountaineer on CN tracks on the north side of Kamloops Lake

 

The Rocky Mountaineer

 

 

The length of this train is testimonial to the popularity of this journey

Head end power on the Rocky Mountaineer.

Head end power has no problem pulling this train.

Dome car on the Rocky Mountaineer

 

 

A variation of the Rocky Mountaineer dome car.



 

The highway to Lillooet runs through Marble Canyon and several First Nation reserves before dropping down to the valley, crossing the Fraser River, and entering the town before striking south and west and climbing several hundred metres to cross the Coast Range one last time.  Of the four mountain crossings I made on this ride the mountains here were most impressive, climbing to the sky with many of them still cloaked in snow.  The road clings to the sides of the mountains with dropoffs a regular feature.  If one went into a corner hot and overshot the curve, he might end up several hundred metres down the side of a mountain and not be found for a very long time.  It pays to ride carefully in these mountains..There are very few straight stretches between Lillooet and Birkenstock Lake.  This part of Highway 99 is a rider's paradise if you're into throwing your bike through continuous curves.

 

 

Riding along Crown Lake



 

Cayoosh Creek just before it joins the Fraser River

 

View west from a viewpoint just east of Lillooet, BC

View to the northwest from a viewpoint just east of Lillooet, BC

 

The Fraser River near Lillooet, BC

 

Mountain view near Lillooet, BC

 



View to the north from Highway 99 south of Lillooet, BC

Cayoosh Creek which flows from Duffy Lake to the Fraser River.

 

Typical sight along Highway 99 south of Lillooet, BC

 

The section of Highway 99 that runs between Lillooet and Pemberton, BC is called the Duffy Lake Road.  Over the last several years the highway has been improved over much of its length and has been turned from a road with broken pavement and generally rough conditions into a very good motorcycling highway.  South of  Lillooet I pulled over to take a photo when I met a family from Devon, England.  The two sons who were in their late teens, were on a road trip with their mother.  In the two weeks they had they were planning to drive to Kamloops, up Highway 5 through Clearwater to Tete Jaune Cache then east to Jasper.  From there they would turn south and drive the Icefields Parkway to Lake Louise and Banff before doing more exploration of the area.  It sounded like a trip of a lifetime for them.

 

Highway 99 runs along Cayoosh Creek for a good distance and crosses it in several places.  The creek runs fast and it is almost entirely composed of rapids so any view of the creek is also a view of white water.  It is quite a spectacular piece of river.



 

Cayoosh Creek

Cayoosh Creek

 



Duffy Lake lies about halfway between Lillooet and Pemberton and provide some of the best views along this highway.  It is surrounded my mountains, some of them snow capped and the end of the lake has a large log jam at the entrance to Cayoosh Creek.  The water here is a beautiful blue colour and is very clear, having come from the snow melt in the mountains.

 

Log jam at the north end of Duffy Lake

View to the south over Duffy Lake

 

View to the south over Duffy Lake



 

From Pemberton to Horseshoe Bay the highway becomes a lot more 'civilized' with very few low speed curves, and some car drivers tend to drive accordingly.  I'm fond of the saying, 'Stupid should hurt,' and some of the drivers I saw on this section of highway are in for big hurts.  

 



From Whistler south, this section is called 'The Sea to Sky Highway', and it deserves the name.  closer to Whistler snow capped mountains appear aound every curve, and south of Squamish, the Stawamas Chief, a huge batholith reaches several hundred metres into the sky and is a favourite destination for extreme rock climbers.

South of Squamish the scenery changes with beautiful views of Howe Sound with its milky blue waters abound.  It is difficult to keep one's eyes on the road at times as one rides along the water.

Creek south of Whistler, BC

Creek south of Whistler, BC

Mountain view along the Sea to Sky Highway

Mountain view along the Sea to Sky Highway 

 

 

Mountain view along the Sea to Sky Highway

Howe Sound, south of Squamish, BC

Howe Sound, south of Squamish, BC

 

Further along the highway and the CN Railway track crowd the shoreline at Britannia Beach, a community which was established early last century to mine the copper which was abundant here.  The railway used to be the provincially owned British Columbia Railway (BCR) until the 'Liberal' government under Premier Gordon Campbell sold it to CN under conditions which are still unknown.  Our present premier was involved in the decision and when two of the premier's assistants were found to be guilty of passing along information to the highest bidder, the province paid their approximately six million dollar legal bills and despite calls for an investigation, the powers that be, in what many suspect to be a rather successful attempt to protect themselves politically, have resisted any attempts to get to the bottom of the matter.

 

CN tracks with the old mill in the background, Britannia Beach, BC

Old mill at Britannia Beach, BC, now the BC Mining Museum



 

CN trackage at Britannia Beach, BC 



Arriving at Horseshoe Bay, I was just slightly early for the sailing as the workers had already begun to load cars onto the ferry.  I was one of the last five bikers aboard and two cyclists were forced to turn around and ride onto the lower deck.  The ferry was as tightly packed as I've ever seen it and I was lucky to make the sailing.  At the tollbooth when woman in the tollbooth began to charge me for the ticket I reminded that, although she'd never know it, I'm officially a 'geezer', having attained the venerable age of 65 years on June 29th.  Her response: 'But are you a BC geezer?' to which I handed over my driver's license.

The ride was uneventful and on the Nanaimo side, I pulled in to get some gas and then roll on to Courtenay where I filled up with the least expensive gas of the whole Canadian portion of the ride.  Then it was last forty-five kilometres home to Campbell River.

I never cease to be amazed at the beauty of this country, no matter where I go.  Whether it's the Rocky Mountains, the Kootenays, the Prairies or eastern Ontario.  I'm not a fan of the ride from Kenora to Sault Ste Marie although others may be.  Many parts of the western United States are comparable and seeing them from a motorcycle is a complete sensual experience as you feel the wind, experience the smells of fresh cut hay, canola fields, farms, the smell of the the land after a rain, the sea coast, lakes and rivers, as well as diesel fumes and other less pleasant smells.  Colours seem more vivd from the top of a motorcycle and the sound of that big twin engine ticking away for hour after hour is somewhat soothing.  Not only is it a privilege to see much of this land, it is also a joy to see it from a motorcycle when you are riding with a good friend or friends.

I don't know how much longer I have to keep riding but I plan on taking advantage of every opportunity to go touring before I'm too old to be on two wheels. Then it may be on to a trike!