Monday, June 3, 2013
Left Edmonton under slightly cloudy skies about 11 a.m. Cool riding to Edson but manageable. In Edson light rain started and followed us to Hinton. Stopped to have a hot chocolate at the McDonald's and get our bearings in terms of needing to make a decision to keep heading west hoping the weather would improve, or hole up in Hinton. Decided to head west and the weather did improve. Luckily we didn't get too wet on the bike...for one thing it wasn't a downpour and for another the gold wing seems to deflect the wind and rain around the bike much better than the shadow did.
Made it as far as Valemount and checked in to a beautiful Best Western. Were a bit chilled so thought a hot tub was the answer but the water was tepid so we opted for nice long hot showers instead. Definitely the bikers way to take the chill off after a cool day of riding. Figured we did 530 km day one...our butts are getting toughened up!
Tuesday, June 4 2013
After a yummy full breakfast at the Best Western we were on the road heading west. The morning was bright and sunny and the scenery breathtaking. Temps starting out were about 13' but each mile it semed to warm up! We stopped for gas and to check out the tourist info in Clearwater and decided to take a 47 km detour up the mountain to see Helmican Falls, the third highest falls in Canada, in Wells Grey Provincial Park. A wonderfully twisty, turny road...always such fun on a bike! It was definitely worth the extra two hours it added to our trip...breathtakingly beautiful. We had a picnic at the falls and it was a lovely way to spend some time in nature.
Back down the mountain headed south on the Yellowhead ... a boring few miles.
At Little Fort we turned off onto highway 24, called the Highway of 100 lakes and we sure knew why...mile after mile of beautiful lakes, both large and small. Thought of Liz and Rick (Harry's sister and brother in law) as they love fishing so much. We turned off this onto the Caribou highway 97 heading south. Out of nowhere we came to the Fraser River and a gorge that was so deep we were stunned! It seemed to go on forever and we were struck by its rugged beauty. It kept taking our breath away.
We had hoped to make more time this day but stopped lots and were sure happy we did...it is, after all, supposed to be about the journey and not the destination. :) Long story short, :), we ended up staying at the Pines Motel in Lillooet...used to be a booming logging town but now is one of those little towns that seems a bit down on its luck. Kinda sad to see but when there are no jobs it's hard for people to make a commitment to stay. Made about 600 km day two.
Wednesday June 5
We were up early this morning and on the road before 9 ... onto highway 99, called the Duffy Highway. More and more wows and holy cow moments!!! Another biker's dream of a road with lots of turns and twists...and the scenery...our photos will never do it justice. We even got some photos of snow banks! We stopped in Pemberton for coffee and continued on our way on the Sea to Sky highway (or highway 99 or many other names it's called by!) through grassy areas for quite some time and about the time we hit the Whistler area it became mountainous again. Stopped briefly for a quick tour around Whistler...to see how the other half lives...very luxuriously it turns out! :)
Arrived in Vancouver and thanks to the bike's great gps system made it to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry Terminal easily. However, once there we had a couple of challenges, whereby the navigator Janice had Harry going up a do not enter ramp, but we finally managed to figure things out and got onto the ferry heading for Nanaimo at 3:15 pm. Janice's navigator status was originally in some question, but it turns out it wasn't her fault, but rather the fault of poor signage and a missing ferry terminal staffer who was supposed to be directing traffic... :) But I digress... We found our hotel easily thanks to the bike's gps....I am now a big fan of the thing!
Did some laundry in the hotel's laundry room (really loving the Best Western hotel experience) and then we popped across the street to Superstore and picked up some salad for a lazy and simple dinner in our hotel room. We were tired of all the heavy food we've been eating the last few days so really enjoyed the greens!
We are doing some reading and research for our day tomorrow (and I'm typing this email to send you :)) and will spend the rest of the evening just relaxing...with a stop in the pub downstairs shortly for a change of scenery and a Black Russian for me and a glass of wine for Harry. :)
Our plan is to be up and out of here early tomorrow to spend the day touring in the area...heading Tofino way, then back here to the same hotel in Nanaimo tomorrow evening.
More later...warmest thoughts and love to all...Janice and Harry
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