I was going through some draft posts on my blog and came across an outline for an account of a motorcycle road trip from back in 2013. It was originally written shortly after the event and, although it is in bullet form and rather sparse on detail, it does account for some events I had partially forgotten or mis-remembered.
And, since it was the only motorcycle trip I’ve taken with both my brothers Ron and Colin (my third brother, Dennis, doesn’t ride motorcycles 😉 ), I didn’t want to lose it. I’ve cleaned it up a bit, added some pictures, and now it is here for posterity.
Pretty pictures first…
Warning: this slideshow will take a while to load, and will be ‘blank’ until it catches up. I’ll try to make it better in the future.
June 22, 2013: meeting at Revelstoke
- I was on my own for most of the first day as our meeting place: Revelstoke was our ‘mid way’ point between our homes in Alberta and BC
- saw the Burner restaurant, Malakwa, BC… which has apparently since changed hands under not completely amicable circumstances
- briefly stopped near Eagle Pass at Craigellachie, the site of Canada’s ‘Last Spike’
- arrived in Revelstoke several hours before Colin and Ron; they had been delayed by Canmore area flooding
- beer and pizza were had by all at a nearby restaurant
June 23: travel to Mirror Lake
- core sample bridge
- Shelter Bay ferry near Nakusp
- arrived at Mirror Lake during a dry spell that lasted most of the evening, south of Kaslo; three camp sites and duck
- lots o’ beer
- the rain starts late at night, and goes on and on and on
June 24: travel to… I forget, but a hotel out of the rain
- we woke up to a soaking wet camp, which we then had to tear down and pack up
- memory: sheltering in my tent as Ron and Colin take their’s down
- record-breaking 8 hours of riding in the rain; wet cedar bark, water in boots
- made it safe and sound to our destination, wherever that was, and stayed in a (dry!) hotel
June 25: Our last day… and more rain
- rode via Hwy 97C between Kelowna and Merritt which was cold *and* wet
- We decided to take the #1 via the Canyon instead of Coquihalla
- still got rain, but at least it was warm rain
June 28: A Farewell ride
Colin and Ron spent a couple of days in the Lower Mainland doing their own thing. Then it was time for them to return home, and I rode along for the first few hours of their journey.
- met up at my sister Connie’s place painfully early in the morning
- our ride together seemed intent on mirroring our earlier morning; it was cold and wet most of the way to Kamloops
- we parted ways in Kamloops and I returned home; just to prove how fickle the weather can be, it started to get comfortably warm on my way back