Date: Aug 11-26th (16 days)
Distance covered: 7354 Miles (11766 kms)
Average: 490 Miles/day (15 riding days)
Ride Start Point: Bashaw, AB
Ride End Point: Creston, BC
Route Map:
http://bit.ly/pl18Sg (not exact, but pretty close).
Photo Link:
http://on.fb.me/q7MXzD (Commented but Facebook account required)
http://bit.ly/mOrMJK (No Comments but open to all).
The goal was for my son and me to meet our ride steward BR (My brother in-law) in Bashaw, AB ride a crooked path to Prince Rupert, BC, take the ferry south to Vancouver Island and then ride back east along the Crowsnest hwy to Creston, BC. All I had to do was get from Tennessee to Alberta to start the ride, gathering my son in Milwaukee along the way and from British Columbia back to Tennessee to end it.
Pre-ride, I replaced the front brakes, a leaky fork seal and the rear shock bushings. Added a luggage rack, bought a cheap $30 motorcycle backpack from Wal-mart, installed a basic vista cruise throttle lock, changed the oil and hit the road. The fat lady performed flawlessly. Mileage at higher altitudes was rather pathetic but expected.
The Getting There:
Rode to Milwaukee on the 1st day and we were able to leave my son's place around 3pm on Friday. We super-slabbed it to Alberta to make the Monday morning ride start date. Fairly uneventful other than some flooding that closed a road on our planned route in southern Saskatchewan and we had to make a water crossing to get around it. Covered 860 miles on the Saturday which was tough on the backside after doing 650 and 400 each of the 2 days before. An easy 300 on Sunday and great visit with family for the rest of the day.
The Ride:
Monday morning BR lead us out to Stettler for breakfast and then down 22 to Pincher Creek finishing the day in Fernie stopping at Frank Slide, Sparwood and a few other spots on the way. Tuesday we worked our way up to the Kootaney Bay ferry and over the Veron for the evening. Beautiful riding although a little on the rough side. BR managed to get a big bug in his eye. His eye swoll up like he'd been punched and the eye ball looked torn. Stopped in at the clinic to get it cleaned out and called it a night. I looked much better in the morning but we had to hustle for the next two days to make up for the lost time. Between 100 Mile House and Prince Rupert we managed to ride smack into a hail storm for a few minutes that beat up the radiator on my son's new V-Strom. Hurt like hell but felt so good when it stopped. Also had a few miles of gravel to detour around an accident. All pretty minor. Just a good ride. Arrived in Prince Rupert about 8pm.
As for the views on this 1st leg of the ride…..Wow is about all that can be said. The views in Southern Alberta are immense, I just can't think of a better word. The Rockies are more than I recall from years past always breathtaking. I'll let my few pictures do most of the speaking for this part even though they don't even begin to capture it.
Ferry loading started at 6am Friday and left port at 7:30 if I recall correctly. You need to book it in advance, about $400 for bike and rider. Also recommend getting a room. You don't want to spend much time there but your not allowed to go down to the bike for most of the trip and it beats carrying your stuff around for that long. During the 15 hr cruise we saw Dolphins, whales and killer whales. Dolphins were close to the ferry, but the whales were quite a ways off. Also saw a heli-logging camp and chopper in action.
Met up with my brother and his wife for the next few days ride. Day one they lead us down the inside coast of Vancouver Island crossing at Nanaimo-Horseshoe Bay and heading to Whistler. However there was not a room to be had in town but we managed to snag the last room in Pemberton 30 miles down the road for $400. Kinda steep but it did fit all 5 of us. Timing kept us from taking a day to ride to Tofino and back (next time) while we were on the Island. Day two we continued to Lillooet and headed for my brothers place in Chilliwack. When we stopped at Hell's Gate for a short break and noticed that BR's rear tire was showing cord. Not much we could do there so we rode on to my brothers. He happen to have a spare tire that he couldn't use. BR carries a spare tube so we were all set.
Left Chilliwack Monday morning to follow the Crowsnest hwy with a goal of making Castlegar or beyond. We stopped at the overlook at Castlegar for a pic of the town only to see that BR's tire was almost flat and I had a nail in mine. We managed to get back to Castlegar only to find that they roll up the sidewalks at 5pm and it was 10 minutes after. The nearest bike shop that would have another tube and could look at it was 15 miles away anyway. So AAA hauled it the bike shop, since I run a CT I just pulled and plugged the nail hole and was done. We found some supper and the liquor store. Twas a fine evening.
Next morning I hauled BR over to the bike shop and they had him up and running by 9:30am. Playmor Power Products, great bunch. We burned across to Creston which was the ride terminus. Said our thank you and good bye and shot south crossing at Porthill ID. Our goal for the day was Great Falls, but we had to take the time to run over "Going to the Sun" road. Worth every minute.
The Going Home:
There isn't much to say about this part. After you've done it once you just need to get it over with. Thankfully, Montana is very liberal with their speed limits and more frequent with her service stations. The fat lady gets thirsty when she sweats. We ended the day in Wall, SD. Funny the difference a few miles makes. We ended up in a room (house) with 3 queens for $65 after paying $400 for 2 queens and a foldout in Whistler. We skipped Mt Rushmore because we were a little to late and Wall Drug on purpose.
The next day my son and I parted ways at Sioux Falls. He made it home that night (late) and I split my remaining 1400 miles into two. I arrived home late Friday.
Some people are story tellers and some aren't….I aren't. Hope you enjoy, I know I sure as hell did.
Keep the shinny side up,
Bob
