9-17-10
My Friday started out like any other, up at 4 and head off to work. I was itching to get on the bike and head off to upper BC to see an engineering marvel – the WAC Bennett Dam w_a_c_bennett_dam_visitor_centre near Hudson’s Hope but ya gotta work to pay for the ride. I took off around noon and headed on home. The bike was almost ready to go from packing the previous night. I tossed a few things into my saddle bags, trunk, mounted the tankbag and was ready to go. I wasn’t hungry but knew I wouldn’t stop for food until I got to Williams Lake BC, which is about 400 miles away so I crammed some food in the gut and took off.
The weather forecasters as usual had their heads in the sand (or up their…) and couldn’t figure out both temperature & precipitation information. I was expecting rain and temps in the 50’s so I dressed for that. I’m out riding along and the temps keep rising and rising, the sun was out and as the day wore on I saw the temps up to 78 and I was roasting.
Up I-5 to Bellingham then east over to Hwy 9. Bellingham was a parking lot, just crazy with traffic for an early Friday afternoon but I managed. I pull into Nooksak, WA and since it is about as close as it’s gonna get to the border I fill up the RT as much as I can because as soon as I cross the border the fuel prices go up over a dollar a gallon. The border crossing was downright painless. The angle of the RT’s rear license plate could not be read by the auto cameras, so the border patrol guy had to come out and write it down.
I zipped up to Hwy 1 and started beating feet to Hope. Now I really like the RT, however there are just a few quirks that are minor annoyances 1 of these is the speedometer. My RT is an ex-authority model which means it has a fully calibrated police speedometer which is dead on with my GPS, one thing it does not have is the metric conversion so I turned the GPS to metric and it really caused havoc with my brain the entire time in Canada – eh! I had my valentine 1 at the ready but figured I’d just find a rabbit and jam on with them and we made great time to Hope. Like Bill the Brit mentioned Hope has a bunch of nice wood sculptures along main street and it was fun to see them.
From Hope north up the mighty Fraser River Canyon the scenery is spectacular. The mountains just soar up into the clouds, very steep terrain. The road has about 6-7 tunnels through the mountains and at the end of the last tunnel is a watch out for deer sign. (Canada’s signs for Deer show a deer kind of leaping into the air.) Someone had drawn a black matching cape on this sign and I just howled. I wanted to stop and take a photo but there wasn’t a place to stop so I’ll try on my way back. I zip through Boston Bar and am about 185 miles up the road (almost half way to Williams Lake). I had traveled through the Fraser river canyon years before with guys on the Sabre/Magna list and the road has been greatly improved. I was surprised it was in such great shape, before there were spots where you could easily plunge 500-1000’ over the side and down into the river below as there were no guard rails and rocks had fallen on the roadway but this time it was just beautiful. Some of the gas stations we’d stop at in Spences Bridge were now safe havens for old broken down cars and weeds. For those that haven’t been up that way the landscape changes to more of a dry rolling hills type area, some farms grow hay, there are a little bit of cattle. There is sage brush and it’s kind of dry.
Cache Creek is my next stop for fuel and I hurry as it’s getting later and I need to make it to Williams Lake before it gets to late (& dark). I don’t want to hunt all over for a place to stay in those conditions. Did I mention that they still think it’s time to work on the roads up there? Construction was everywhere! I am totally lucking out by NOT seeing any animals this evening and it got dark just as I rolled into Williams Lake. By this time it was about 50 degrees and perfect. The stars were out and it turned out to be a beautiful evening.
I checked into a cozy little hotel then zipped over to one of the few places still open in town at 8:30 PM - McD’s for a quick bite. I wanted to check email and shoot a note to the wife but they didn’t have WiFi??? I asked the young high school gal behind the counter and she didn’t have a clue what I was even talking about. Shortly the entire WL police department came in for dinner or snack and I finished up then headed back to my room to plan Saturday’s big adventure.
Saturday 9-18-10
My goal for this day is to ride up to the Bennett dam and back down to Williams Lake which is roughly 800+ miles and pretty ambitious.
I usually get up at 4 so this will be a no brainer right – NOT! I wake up at 3 then fall back asleep, to 5:15 – argh! I wanted to get out and rolling by 4:30, oh well…… I get a saddle bag ready and take it out to the bike.
Hmmm… Frost all over the seat, mount the bag and look at my thermometer 34 degrees, no biggie, I’ve got electric socks, jacket, gloves. I get the rest of the stuff on the bike, fire it up and am on the road ~5:45 AM. Of course as soon as I get out on the road the temp drops down to 29, then 27…26… and it bottomed out at 25. Well the first 2.5 hrs the temp averaged 27 and my socks were acting up. One minute my feet were toasty and the next second I was being either electrocuted or burnt to death from a hot spot so I unhooked them and plugged in my gloves.
There was quite a bit of construction between Williams Lake and Prince George with gravel spots here and there to deal with. The highway kind of skirts the west side of PG and before I knew it I was past the town proper and heading up the hill outta there. I wanted to fill up with gas so I could make the next 190 or so miles up to Chetwynd so I thought I’d head up a little bit further and lucked out with a gas station. As I was filling up I see this huge pile of sand and a hole bunch of gals just shoveling like mad. They were sand bagging and putting them on pallets as fast as they could. I asked the guy at the full service area if there was a flood around here? He looked at me like I was from Mars and he said no it was for winter. I must have had that deer in the headlights look on my face and he said they sell all the bags for folks pickup trucks and cars to give them better traction in the snow. – Doh! What a gel-head, I remember those tricks from living up in Montana, Alaska, Wisconsin and Utah but I immediately thought of a flood, oh well..
I press on and braved the cold, at least the sun was starting to come out. Those of you who have never been up to Canada or British Columbia or north of Prince George, I’ll tell you a little secret, there aren’t many folks up there so if you break down a bear might be your help. There is a bunch of beautiful scenery up there and I was in the perfect peak season of tree changing time. The trees were spectacular. There are also lakes and more lakes and a little bit more of road construction tossed in.
My next gas stop to be was Chetwynd about 190 or so miles up the road. On the way there I passed the small community of Salmon Valley, then further north is Summit Lake and about ½ way is a place called McLeod Lake. I’m not sure I’d call them communities but there were a few homes around those kilometer marks on the ride. I found in the middle of nowhere a nice ski resort. (I’m not sure how you’d get here or where you would stay but a nice place to ski).
The Canadian folks are so nice and polite, it’s just amazing what you’ll find when coming around a corner. I’m riding my typical Iron Butt pace and why not, there are nothing but Ravens, trees and sunshine up here. So get this “right” (I got that from the guard at the dam - right!) I’m blasting along, come around a corner and there is a car or truck putzin along behind another “right or eh!” and I’m looking at this picture and thinking to myself “WHY are you behind this slowpoke?” Well there is a double yellow line of course. I follow for a while and then comes a passing lane, the first guy moves the right and the 2nd passes and everyone is happy. Well being in the middle of NOWHERE I kind of threw the double line business out the window and passed with care at reasonable spots so nobody would be “freaked out” which seemed to work just fine for everyone.
Chetwynd is a beautiful little community with a lot of carvings or wood sculptures lining the main street. The town had a nice wide main drag, with a park like setting on both sides, nice grass and 80’ wide strip on either side with big deciduous trees and between the trees and the road were a bunch of these very large carvings.
Anyway, I filled up at the 7-11 and pressed on to Hudson’s Hope which was about 40 min away. Up and over more small passes, enjoying seeing the Moberly Lake on the left and soon I was coming into Hudson’s Hope famous for Dams and Dinosaurs.
It was fun to see the signs for different buildings and community areas as they were large (2’x3’) with a green dinosaur on them with “swimming pool” or “Arena” on them, kinda fun. Did I mention all the towns had HUGE welcome signs with their specialty on there, a nice touch compared to the industrial (not even a welcome) ugly sign in my town of Everett, WA.
You go through Hudson’s Hope to the only “T” intersection and turn left towards the dam and put the hammer down. You’ll be at the dam in no time chatting with the guards. The guard that I talked to “Right!” looked kinda like a cross between WINSTON ROTHSCHILD III and MIKE HAMAR from the Red Green show eh!, http://www.redgreen.com/cast.htm
A very nice guy who directed me to a great spot for my photo. I headed on around to the dam and decided to not get a shot of the Blue green metal memorial down there at the top of the dam (this used to have a fossilized piece of a dinosaur bone in it and a bronze plaque inside – which looters stole a long time ago according to the guard). I zipped across the dam to the other side check the view point and took a few shots, then went to the top of the road where he told me to shoot and I got my good shots then headed over to the visitor center.
A very nice guy who directed me to a great spot for my photo. I headed on around to the dam and decided to not get a shot of the Blue green metal memorial down there at the top of the dam (this used to have a fossilized piece of a dinosaur bone in it and a bronze plaque inside – which looters stole a long time ago according to the guard). I zipped across the dam to the other side check the view point and took a few shots, then went to the top of the road where he told me to shoot and I got my good shots then headed over to the visitor center.
As I was riding across the dam I noticed this “dog” up ahead slowly trotting along and as I got closer I saw that it wasn’t a dog but a coyote! I slowed to take a photo but the little guy hopped over the side so I went over to the side and he was running along on the rocks. I figured I’d scared him enough so I pressed on to the visitor center, which had a variety of interesting exhibits. There were a half dozen bikes out there all from Alberta. There was a scooter another a Ducati sport bike and other sport bikes and cruisers, they had it all covered. After seeing the exhibits and eating my apple I climbed aboard the bike and headed on down the road. Now I could relax and take photos with ease.
I was in my own place riding with nature, smelling the fresh air, and enjoying the sites. The next thing I knew I was in Hudson’s Hope, then the peace bridge (it was really cool)
and Moberly lake. I stopped for a few photos at all these places, next was Chetwynd for shots of some wood sculptures. By now the credit card company thought I must be some wacked out freak and had stolen my card so no more pay at the pump for me. That’s ok I can play their game so in and out a few times to the 7-11 until I finally got the gals phone number and finally back on the road.
and Moberly lake. I stopped for a few photos at all these places, next was Chetwynd for shots of some wood sculptures. By now the credit card company thought I must be some wacked out freak and had stolen my card so no more pay at the pump for me. That’s ok I can play their game so in and out a few times to the 7-11 until I finally got the gals phone number and finally back on the road.
I must have driven some of the semi-locals crazy as I’d blow by them, see something I wanted to take a photo of, stop they’d pass and I’d blast on by them again. This happened quite a bit on my way back to Prince George. I did see a few bicyclist out in the middle on nowhere and was pretty jazzed to see them with all their gear just pumping along. I gave them a few fist pumps in the air and a “way to go” to help lift their spirits and they happily waved back.
I got into Prince George and thought I’d keep going to Williams lake but it was starting to get dusk.
I wasn’t relishing spending $100 on a room and traffic was quite thick with hunters probably from the Vancouver area so I figured I wouldn’t even find a room. I thought long and hard (since there is nothing else to do on the road) and figured I could just blast on back home through the night instead of waking up to sub freezing temps for hours at a time or RAIN!
I wasn’t relishing spending $100 on a room and traffic was quite thick with hunters probably from the Vancouver area so I figured I wouldn’t even find a room. I thought long and hard (since there is nothing else to do on the road) and figured I could just blast on back home through the night instead of waking up to sub freezing temps for hours at a time or RAIN!
Sunday 9-19-10
5 O’clock AM comes along and I hop up and get ready to leave. I take a Saddle bag out to the bike and it is just pouring – frog strangler style – dang it! I get my trunk and take it out, last is the tank bag. I leave the V1 in the trunk sense it seems sensitive to the rain. I leave my auto GPS on the bike and start heading on down the road. Well it’s just terrible riding, the visor has water drops all over it, fogging up somewhat on the inside, wiping the visor only smears stuff and I’m coming up to some FOG, in the DARK, in the RAIN – the worst combination and I’m going about 80 and that ain’t clicks either! I drop anchor and putz along for a while till the fog clears and keep on jamming. After a while I’m back up to Iron butt nominal and as I’m rippin around a curve I feel the bike do a two wheel power slide to the left then catch and on down the road just like Rossi – well not quite I had a few pounds of seat padding and vinyl I had to extract from my rear but nobody knows that but me! ;-) That little episode happened a few more times on the ride to keep me awake and on the ball.
Other highlights of the ride back were stopping in a car wash in 100 mile house (lots of road construction there) to put on my electric jacket. Seeing the fresh snow on the mountain peaks above the town of Clinton (one of the few areas that it wasn’t raining). Pushing the fuel limits by getting to Bostons Bar where I had my last fillup in BC before the slog back to the US. As I left Bostons Bar there was some more construction and (did I mention RAIN) a big F150 truck came up my rear and he wanted to fly so I waved him on at a “2 lane passing zone” and he was my rabbit. This guy (I’m thinking) wanted to see what I had under the hood (or tank bag) and took off like a wild man, well I can be just as wild and let him go then caught up and let him go and caught up. At one point I saw some quite excessive numbers on my speedo and when he got caught behind another rig I blew them away and headed on to Hope and a real 4 lane interstate type highway. I found another rabbit and made incredible time to Chilliwack. Between Chilliwack and Abottsford was the worst weather I’ve seen in a long time. The trees were all bent over and the wind was so fierce that the mist from the cars did not go back but sideways even at 60 mph! The wind got worse and folks slowed way down. I got in the right lane, turned on my hazards and gutted it out to the Sumas exit where I waited in the torrential downpour through 3 lights just to get off the dang freeway – argh! I would have stopped under an overpass to ride some of the storm out but there weren’t any. Waiting in line at the border my gloves finally got soaked all the way through. I could make a fist and watch the water just pour out. Once through the border I had to go through a puddle that went up over my feet as the sewers couldn’t handle all the rainwater. I made it home about 2:15 Pm for ~1500 mile weekend ride that for the most part was quite spectacular.
