I was pretty much ready to go early but we had decided it was best to wait for traffic to thin before heading out. I said my good-byes (after setting up Rodger's laptop on my Dad's new Wi-Fi) at about 8:45 which would give me enough time to get across island and grab the 10:00 AM ferry.
On the approach the sign said No Waiting, 27% Full. Yippee. The lady didn't even charge me for the trailer. Excellent.
A shiny BMW LT was the first bike in line, then mine. Then the roar of bikes came up. Twenty bikes, mostly Harleys, lined up behind me. The were all from New Zealand! Wellington, I think. They had all shipped their bikes over and there were about 36-38 riders.
They had to split all the bikes up to either side of the ship and mine ended up getting lost in the crowd. They were all worried about their bikes falling and moving about and were chocking their tires (tyres), etc. I said, I don't know what ferries are like over there but this one is pretty smooth.
I was aboard the Queen of Saanich, formerly the Queen of Burnaby. I guess Burnaby pissed someone off.
I then wandered around the ship, snapping some photos. And having photos snapped of me.
The ferry arrived without incident and I let all the Kiwi's go ahead of me so they could stay together. The BC Ferries always let motorcycles on first and off first.
I was going to take a longer, more scenic route toward Calgary but in Surrey, saw that I was in trouble on Route 10, heading toward 1. This caused quite a detour and delay.
After getting out of that mess, I stopped at the Chilliwack Visitor Centre to eat my Tim Horton's Walnut Crunch and to verify that I was heading in the right direction and that my impromptu route change I was going to make was OK. ("One of these things is not like the other...")
By the time I got to the site of the Hope landslide, things had cooled off quite a bit. I ran into quite a bit of rain along Route 3 but by the time I turned to head north on Route 97, things had dried up and warmed up. I stopped just south of the city of Penticton which lies yonder at the northern end of Skaha Lake. Route 97 runs through several towns and meanders along the shores of several long lakes including Skaha, Okanaga (home of Ogo-Pogo), Wood and Kalamalka before splitting off for Route 97A North - which I then took. Just before 97A runs into 1, the Trans-Canada Highway, it runs along the shores of Shuswap Lake - very picturesque - and very tempting as a stopping place as there were lots of campgrounds along it and it was still light. But I wanted to get to at least Revelstoke to reduce the run tomorrow.
Night was quickly approaching - it hits fast once it drops below the hills. On the right is the sunset at my back as I ride east toward Revelstoke. I got into Revelstoke about 9:15. The first inn was full but I got in at the next one. Nothing to speak of but it's home. For tonight anyway.
Tomorrow, I'll try and connect with Sage and the Mural Mosaics in the town of Cochrane just outside of Calgary.
1 comment:
CAN I GO NEXT YEAR??????
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