Day 13 - Merritt BC (526 km) : It's getting harder and harder....

.... to diss the HD Doods 'cause I'm making so many HD friends ;-) This photo is of a vest patch belonging to one of the guys we met at the ferry this afternoon. He has 140,000+ km on his Electra Glide (I got names today; his friend has an EG Ultra) that I sat on - at his invitation ;-)

I left Tofino at 0750h today in a light rain or a heavy drizzle. Whatever it was, it kept my helmet shield coated. And the pavement wet. I seemed to make better time over that road today - perhaps because I was a bit familiar with it. The rain stopped at Sutton Pass Summit. In retrospect, that's probably where it started to rain yesterday. Perhaps that's the dividing line for climate changes on the Island.


I didn't say much about the scenery yesterday. It was, as usual, very beautiful - as D & B can attest having been there in the last few weeks. One of the striking features of the foliage along the side of the road and growing out of crannies in the rock face is what reminds of me of the goatsbeard that grows in my garden at home. I saw it along the road after I left Golden, as well. It's very beautiful with its green foliage and big cream-coloured plumes. the road going into Port Alberni is unique, too. I tried to think of how I would describe it and all I could come up with is: imagine walking in a forest- huge trees all around with a footpath winding through them. That's what the highway is like for a short stretch. I know a section (or pehaps the whole thing) is called MacMillan Cat/hedral Grove and it's magical.

I met up this morning with Barb (from Campbell River) and Tom & Pam from Huron, ON. It's great to be riding with a gang! We boarded the 1230h ferry and had a great time chatting with our Harley friends and a guy riding a Valkyrie. The V guy was running his stereo as we waited in line (showing off?!) and, as he found out later from the Harley guys, his lights were on as well. When it came time to board, his battery was all but dead so his bike wouldn't start! You should have seen this skinny-ass guy running with that big, honking bike toward the ferry ramp to push-start it! LOL! And THEN, 2+ hours later when we mount up to ride off, whose bike won't start? He kindly moved it out of the way so we could get by him and, we suppose, he would have waited for all the cars to disembark so he could get jump-started again :-)

Our route today was to take us to Merritt via Hope where we would make the decision of proceeding to Merritt up the TCH through the Fraser Canyon (remember Larry saying how this would have been the preferred route over the Coquihalla?) or up the Coquihalla - aargh. Tom, Pam and I thought it would be fun for Barb to take us over the Lion's Gate Bridge and ride through Stanley Park. And it was - until we got back over the bridge and got caught in North Vancouver commuter traffic - at 1530h! Good heavens ! It was HOT and 'stop & go' for what seemed like kilometers. We finally got up to highway speed and a couple of times, the traffic plugged up again - for no apparent reason?! If I had to face that everyday, I'd take my car to the top of a big hill, put it in gear and then throw myself in front of it.

We sped toward Hope, all the while eyeing the ominous black coulds in the Coquihalla mountains. It was around 1730h when we got to Hope - time to get gas, eat, put on more clothes for the mountains ride and make the route decision. We decided that since the Fraser Canyon route would have take us upward of another couple of hours, we'd take the Coquihalla to Merritt. We had just missed a big rainfall and the pavement was still wet for a short distance. The temperature dropped to 11 degrees just after the snowshed, but the sun broke through at Coquihalla Summit and it was 18 degrees by the time we got to Merritt in the Nicola Valley. We just got checked into the Best Western and got our bikes unloaded when it started to rain here. What's new?

I'm sure there's more to tell but this has been an extra effort tonight. We have only one green bar on our wireless connection in our room at the opposite end of the building from the lobby where the signal strength is excellent. Barb and I kept getting booted out so I finally picked up the wee 'puter (this after several calls to the desk and a rebooting of the router) to the lobby to finish the post. I saved it after every sentence - or so I thought. I finished, closed the computer and came back to the room - all set to head to bed. Barb checked the post and there it was .... NOT! Only half of it was there ! :-( So this is a last stab at it and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Am I annoyed? er....yup. We did manage to obtain a 10% reduction in our room rate - for our pain and suffering.

It's been great to meet Barb, finally, after months of emailing. And to see Tom & Pam again.

Onward and upward!