Day 7 - Prince Rupert to (at sea)

Got up early this morning. The ferry leaves at 11:30am and we're supposed to be there 3 hours early. We want to get breakfast first. We actually arrive at about 7:45 and begin the wait. After waiting we waited more. We talked to lots of people who were also waiting. We waited together. We waited in circles. We waited in groups. The bugs started to eat us. We waited more.

We met some interesting people. First person to come up and say hi was a guy who was driving his 1965 Corvette to all 49 capitals for their 40th anniversary. It took me a little while to figure this out. When he first told me of his trip he said something like "we decided for our 40th anniversary we would do all 49 state capitals". Naturally I assumed there would be a wife sitting in the Corvette. I peek forward and look. No other person. Hmmmm. It become apparent this guy is a Corvette fan. Just came from Florida via a San Diego Corvette show and and was on his way to Juneau. (If I ever start using the pronoun "we" to refer to me and a car hit me with something very hard!)

Met a couple of Germans who are touring the states. One explained the BMW logo to us. The blue and white are colors of the Bavarian flag and are for the colors of the sky and the clouds.

Met a guy from east Texas that was a lot of fun. He and Don had a lot of fun talking about hunting and such. Most important thing we learned though came about when some seagulls flew nearby. Walt made some comment like "flying rats". Our Texan friend said something like "you know about Alka-Seltzer and them right?". We didn't. So he told us that down where he lives a favorite event is to take some Alka-Seltzer and feed it to the seagulls. Seems they have no way to release the gas....

The story we got from the guys that load the ferry is that this was the first time they had ever had so many big vehicles and so few small vehicles Then or so motor coaches, a bus, lots of 5th wheels, trailers, cab over campers, a huge highway-sized snow plow, three or four cars and three motorcycles.

We finally got onto the ship about noon so I figured we were late in our departure. Wrong! Once we get onto the ship we change time zones to Alaska time by moving the clock back one hour. We're back on schedule.

Now we wait. Eat. Wait. Read. Wait. Eat. Sleep. Wait. Eat.

Ketchican Alaska 

Inside passage 

Walt's waiting too 

Actively waiting 

Still waiting 

Waiting 

Flag on the ferry 

Eagle 

Day 6 - Burns Lake, BC to Prince Rupert, BC

Two songs titles/lines keep running through my head.

It's too late to turn back now!
North to Alaska

Directions are pretty simple. Go north and turn left.

What a fantastic day today was! I didn't expect this leg of the trip to be the best so far. After the lake district we started to the coast. The colors of green are amazing in the trees. With some pine and lots of birch and poplar type trees in light and dark green mosaics it is a beautiful quilt.

We shortly start seeing snow capped mountains lining our route. I think this leg of the ride may follow some old glacier and river valley routes. Shortly we find that the highway is following a river with fantastic lush forest and snow capped mountains nearby. This goes on for miles and miles.

The weather is cool and with a high gray cloud cover. Even the color of the gray skies against the whites of the snowy mountains paints a pretty picture.

As we follow the river it gets wider and wider. Within 30 miles of the coast the river now is about a quarter to half a mile wide. Some sea birds can be seen and it seems like there is a the smell of the ocean in the air.

As usual we checked in at the nights lodging, had some dinner (fish and chips with fresh Halibut!), coffee and a chocolate oat bar for desert at a local coffee shop. We scouted out the area to find where to catch the ferry tomorrow morning.

For the next two days will be at sea going up the inside passage.

Ended the day doing a little adjusting on the travel reservations, blogging, TV, reading, and bed.

Local travel agent and blogger 

This is where we catch the ferry to Alaska 

A rest stop 

Following a river to the Pacific Ocean 

Moose crossing 

Alaska preview(?) 

Mountain view 

Day 5 - Williams Lake, BC to Burns Lake, BC

Today was pretty uneventful but was a sampling and test run for possible future events. When we woke up it was dry but by the time we started packing the bikes it was raining. We got partly prepared for rain and went to get some breakfast. Fortunately by the time we finished breakfast the rain shower had passed over us. It was good to think through the preparation for rain without having it pour on us.

It was also our first encounters with wildife. The first was Walt's up close and personal encounter when a bird flew into his bike's front wheel. The bird was cuisinarted (never felt a thing) and there was an explosion of feather around Walt's bike. An interesting site for sure.

The next encounter was our first bear. Alongside the highway it was just watching the cars with a perplexed look. There was not a chance to stop and get a picture. The highways here have very narrow shoulders and very few places to pullover for pictures.

A bit further down the road we ran into some highway construction. Did a little traveling on packed dirt and gravel temporary road. We hear that we'll encounter this type of stuff in places along the Alaska Highway.

We've been starting each day pretty early. Usually getting packed and ready to roll by about 7:00AM. First order of business each day is breakfast. In a typical 300 mile day we get done riding between 2:00PM and 3:00PM. We've been having a granola bar, Clif bar, and and occasional ice cream cone for a midday snack. Then we have an early dinner, some coffee, and wind the day down. End of the day is sometimes checking in via internet/phone where available. After that we read and talk, prepare for the next day, and are usually in bed by 9:00PM.

On this day we were getting an early dinner when we heard thunder and it begain to rain. Walt and I had to ride a few miles back to our KOA cabin and got a little wet. It wasn't raining enough for us to want to bother with the gear. Once the rain started it kept going for several hours. We passed time in the KOA office lobby reading.

That evening a couple firefighters from Sacramento rode up on a Harley and an Indian. They were drenched and cold. Walt stuck up a conversation after noticing that the Harley was a firefighter special. These two riders hadn't planned like we did. They just decided to go and threw some stuff together and were off. Made me glad we had prepared more. Turns out it is probably good to start early since thunderstorms are likely to hit in the late afternoon. The Sacramento riders noted that they stayed in a dump at 100 Mile House. We've been fortunate so far. All of the places we've planned on staying have been pretty good choices.

Went to bed at 8:00PM tonight. Got lots of sleep.

Remains of first road kill 

First rain at Williams Lake, BC 

Lake District scenery in British Columbia 

Day 4 - Lynden, WA to Williams Lake BC

Got up early this morning and were on the road just after 7:00AM. We wanted to get to the border which was only 10 miles away. Only one car was in front of us when we got there. Walt was first to cross the border. He made it straight through. Don and I both got pulled aside for more paperwork.

Agent: Where are you going?
John: Alaska
Agent: Citizenship?
John: US
Agent: Carrying any firearms?
John: No
Agent: Ever been arrested?
John: No
Agent: How about DUI?
John: No
Agent: Anything else you'd like to tell me?
John: (Is this a trick question? What does his computer say?) Ummmm, nope!
Agent: Pull over and go inside. (handing me a piece of paper)
John: (drat!)

Just had to get a couple of things stamped and I was out in less than a minute. Don took a couple more minutes and we were cleared.

Walt explained that he told the agent that his parents were born in Canada and that he visits frequently. I guess that makes Walt an almost-Canadian-citizen.

Once we crossed the border we stopped at a bank to get some Canadian money and have some breakfast.

The ride from the border to Hope is what I thought all of British Columbia would look like. (It didn't!) The mountains were heavily wooded, lush, and green. From Hope we turned north the ride up the Fraser river. The river was very full with a fast current. Must still be lots of winter runoff coming down.

Surprising to me was the change of landscape just after Hells Gate. The landscape changed to look like the eastern side of the Sierras. Dry, brown, brush, gravel, desert. It stayed that way until we got to Cache Creek.

(Quick side note on Hells Gate. If you can tell from the picture it is a gorge with lots of water going through it. A sign nearby said that there 200 million gallons of water per minute goes through at peak times. That's two times the rate of Niagara falls.)

From Cache Creek north the landscape changed to what I think we'll expect a lot of. Rolling hills, wooded, but not dense. It feels "northern". The days are getting longer now.

Weather is still being quite good to us. Riding temperatures are in the 60's. It feels good to be all bundled in riding gear with the fresh cool air.

I'm finding that my mind is not as active as it was the first day. I can pass a lot of time not thinking about much but the scenery and counting miles/time.

(P.S. I gave up checking gas mileage and gas costs. With gas prices in Canadian cents per liter and the conversion rate it wasn't worth bothering with. Gas prices have been from 85 to 97 cents so far. You can figure it out if you want.)

My pet paranoia: I'm going to lose something. With all the unpacking and packing every day something is going to get left behind.

End of the day, the laundry is all done, we've all caught up on our email from home. Just a little more tech business, trying to get my GPS recognized and loaded with maps from Walt's computer, and we'll be off to bed.

Hell's Gate sign

Hells Gate

Fraser River in BC

Canada

John's in Canada now

Don made it into Canada too!

Day 3 - Albany, OR to Lynden, WA

Getting out of Oregon went very quickly. Portland was a breeze to get through.

Getting through Tacoma/Seattle and that area was a drag. I thought we had left the crowd behind when we left San Franciso but I guess I was wrong. We probably spent 2 hours in the mess. Once we got through the Seattle area it was smooth going.

Craziest sight was a couple Harley riders with ape hanger handlebars. When I first saw them I couldn't really figure out what I was seeing from a distance. These guys had their hands WAY up in the air. You could do pullups on those handlebars!

Walt took us on a little tour to Stanwood where he spent some time growing up. We took the back way through the old farms in the area to hook back up with I-5. The highway from Stanwood to just outside Bellingham is very beautiful. (Can't stop on the highway to get pictures!) One of the farms had miniture horses for sale. We startled a herd of 10-15 in the pasture and the ran away from road.

We ended up in Lynden. Lynden is a very clean, manicured, Dutch town. Look at the pictures of the KOA campground pictures. It has a pond and putting green lawns. We took a little ride through the downtown area. Lots stuff for the antique and crafty types.

More Lynden KOA

Lynden, Washington KOA

Day 2 - Crescent City, CA to Albany, OR

Pretty slow day today. I think this day is a day of just getting there and learning to slow down mentally. Lots of things were on our checklist yesterday but today is mostly putting miles in.

Got up about 7:00 today and were on the road to breakfast by 8:30. Breakfast was good but a little slow. We didn't get on the road for real until 10:00. Good thing this was not a 400 mile day!

The best part of today's trip was the redwoods just outside of Crescent City. Need to plan a trip back to Jedediah Smith Redwoods. Past the redwoods the road followed the Smith river to Grants Pass. A very easy and pretty road.

Silliest sign: "Congestion". We say a yellow traffic sign with this on it in a town of a few buildings. I guess congestion there means you can see another car while you're driving!

Southern Oregon is very pretty forested hills/mountains. Once we got past that it turns more into valley farmland.

Might have a picture to post for this leg tomorrow of the three of us crossing the border into Oregon. (The camera is not with us here.) We found a bookstore/coffee shop with free internet so they got our business instead of Starbucks across the street.

Major conversations today were all about will Walt sell his GS when he get's back and buy a 2004 or 2006 BMW RT.

Don thinks I should sell my Harley softail and buy a smaller Harley. Maybe a low-rider or one of the new Sportsters. Other speculation on future bikes for me revolve around BMW's possible replacement of the F650GS with a new model.

Don's comments: Need to work in better meals. Don needs 3 complete meals a day. (Walt and I work more on the 2 plus a light something)

Walt's comments: Sore butt!

John's comments: I'm really looking forward to getting to the Canadian border. That's where I think the trip really starts!

Albany, Oregon KOA

Oregon border

Day 1 - Sunnyvale, CA to Crescent City, CA

Well, we started out at 7:03AM just as we had hoped. The worst traffic we'll hit on the trip we probably hit today. Going up 19th Avenue to the Golden Gate bridge. We got through it with no problems - just a bit crowded. Once we got across it felt like we were on our way and leaving the crowd behind.

101 is a very nice ride. I was surprised by Ukiah. It reminds me of the hills behind Stanford but covered with vineyards. Once we hit Willits we started hitting redwoods and lots of gusty cross winds.

We stopped for lunch at Samoa Cookhouse. A historic meal club(?) that was for lumberjacks and is now open to the public. It's and all you can eat place served family style. We had chicken noodle soup, bread, salad, beans, peas, chicken cattchitore, and desert.

The ride from Eureka to Crescent City is very nice. Some parts of the highway are right at the edge of the ocean. No pictures, we'll have to make that a priority from now on.

Camping tonight is at a KOA. Looks like an ewok village from Starwars. We're in a redwood grove. Dinner tonight is just coffee and a sandwich at a coffee shop. (This is where the blog is being updated from. Yeah for free wireless!)

It'll be an early night and off again as soon as we're up. probably early......


Strangest sign: Adopt-a-Highway by Humboldt County Pagan Network (are there druids up here?)
Unexpected signs: Elk crossings (didn't see any, didn't know there were any in California)
Cheesy tourist places. Bigfoot Landing with a redwood status of bigfoot, Curious Hill, Mystery Trees, and such.
Things to come back for: Redwood grooves, seashore.

Biggest mistake: John spilled a cup of tea at the coffee house on Don. Testing his riding gear!