First Post from the Road

Happy Canada Day!  As expected, I've had some connectivity issues that have kept me from posting until now, so here's my first update from the road.  Sorry the formatting's not going to look very good...without an Internet connection I'm trying to use the Blogger app to write this, so that I can upload it when I do get connected, and it doesn't appear to be nearly as functional as the Web interface...

6/23 Got a late start, but in the end accomplished everything I needed to do to get on the road...at 10p!  After only about five hours of sleep combined the prior two nights I still managed to pull an all-nighter and cover the 551 miles to Salt Lake City, arriving at about 7:30a.  Had a quick visit and an excellent dinner with my friends Jason and Giselle, then hit the sack at their place for half the afternoon, ate dinner together, and was back on the road at about 9p. (Mileage +551 / 551 mi)

6/24 Another mostly all-nighter, which I decided I didn't necessarily mind, since the temps were so brutal during the day and I could cover some good ground flying under the police radar.  I arrived at Mountain Home AFB (just outside of Boise), got a room I slept two hours in, then was back on the road at 7a... (+402 / 953 mi)

6/25 ...to meet my friends Dave and Carmen in Walla Walla for lunch.  After a too-short chat, Dave and I hopped on our bikes and did the VERY hot ride west to Plain, WA, for the Touratech/Overland Rally.  We arrived four hours later, set up camp, then enjoyed an evening catching up.  My uncle Bob was supposed to meet us, but unfortunately didn't make it out, which was a big bummer.  After the sun set the temps dropped and boy did I have a great sleep! (+540 / 1493 mi)

6/26 While Dave did a group ride I attended a few classes:  two on GPS, a tire repair clinic, and a seminar on overland travel to Mexico and farther south.  After Dave returned we finished the evening by listening to Quinn Cody talk all things Baja and then we watched the "ADV Olympics", where a bunch of guys did a poor to excellent job hustling their big bikes around a cool obstacle course.  I wanted to give it a go myself, but I shoved my ego in my pocket and decided it was too big of a risk considering my not yet completely healed leg and the trip ahead of me. (+0 / 1493 mi)

6/27 The last day of the rally, and by the time it was over I was definitely ready to get out of there, as standing around in 100+ blazing-hot sun for over two days was starting to get to me!  I did get to attend two fly fishing classes I'd really been looking forward to before I left, and the guide who taught us even managed to get me to sling a fly fairly well...for a beginner!  Dave headed home and I made the nice, quick ride in to my aunt and uncle's in Sultan, WA, just in time for a great Mexican dinner and another half night of sleep.  Great to see my family as usual! (+71 / 1564 mi)

6/28 A 4:45a wakeup had me on the road at 5:30 for the ride up to Anacortes, WA, to board the ferry to Sidney, BC, which is on the southern end of Vancouver Island.  This was what I considered to be the "official" start to my trip, as it was the first day I'd be getting into areas and covering roads I'd never seen before.  I've wanted to take the ferry up through the San Juan Islands and ride Vancouver Island for quite a long time, and it turned out to be a beautiful morning for it.  After a very enjoyable ride the ferry trip went great and I was back on two wheels north up the island to Port Hardy, BC.  I have to admit that the ride up the southern half of the island really wasn't anything to write home about -- lots of traffic and a pretty boring, strip mall-lined road -- but the northern half was great...I thoroughly enjoyed it and made great time once through Nanaimo.  I pulled into my hotel in Port Hardy at about 8p and enjoyed the rest of a very nice evening relaxing a bit. (+437 / 2,001 mi)

6/29 Another early start in order to make it to the nearby ferry terminal by 5:30a, and what a beautiful morning it was!  Seemed the super hot temps had finally diminished a bit, and of course it helped that I'd traveled a couple thousand miles north since my start!   We began loading onto the ferry at about 7, in time for our 7:30 depart, but then suddenly they closed and locked the gates with only half the vehicles on board.  A few minutes later we got the bad news:  the cylinder head in one of the ship's diesels had cracked and we weren't going anywhere.  Very unusual for BC Ferries, who usually throw a fit if any of their ships are even 5 minutes late, but there we were.  To their credit, they had the new part (and an attending mechanic) flown in, the repair done, and we pushed out just after 2p...but that was nearly seven hours behind schedule and threw a kink in my plans:  instead of landing in Prince Rupert, BC, at 11:30p (it's a 16-hour day cruise) to meet Jason, then stay the night at a hotel he'd booked and hit the road in the morning, I'd end up sleeping on the boat to simply meet up when we landed in the morning and take off from there.

It was a beautiful, beautiful passage that I'll never forget!  The weather and visibility couldn't have been better, the ship's facilities were great, and the scenery was over-the-top!  I'll let the pictures do the talking... (+323 / 2324 mi)

6/30 As hoped, we landed in Prince Rupert this morning at 6a and I was fired up and off and going at 6:30...but with a different riding partner than I'd expected.  Turned out Jason decided to skip coming over to meet me, and instead just continued north on his own.  I arrived and was on the road at exactly the time we'd planned, but my guess is he was afraid that wasn't going to happen, so he continued-on, and I guess I'll be solo for the rest of the trip.  Instead of meeting Jason I road east a couple hours with a nice guy named Mario that I'd met waiting to board the ferry.  He was from an area inland of Prince Rupert, but had recently gone south and was heading back home with a brand-new and beautiful KTM 1190 Adventure R he'd just picked up.  We had a great, but short, ride then after a donut and some coffee in Terrace, BC, we went our separate ways.  Today's ride has definitely been the best so far:  the weather is much cooler up here, and of course the scenery is starting to get pretty epic.  Hit my first section of dirt & gravel -- only 30 miles of it, but great nonetheless -- and even saw some wildlife:  3 black bears, two bald eagles, and two moose.  The moose, a cow and her calf, were crossing the road in front of me, and when I rode up on them they just started trotting up the road, away from me.  I tried to get my phone out to follow and video them, but unfortunately missed by just a few seconds!  After ripping through my first 300 mi tank and getting well into my second, I was fully expecting to get myself up into the Yukon Territory and heading west towards Alaska on the Alaska Highway by the time I threw in the towel this evening, but alas I've run into more unexpecteds:  at 6p as I rolled into Dease Lake, BC, a road worker jumped out in front of me to tell me that the road ahead was closed.  Seems a guy flipped his RV (the traffic up here had been surprisingly light) and was getting extricated from out from under it. He has unfortunately perished, and they're having to keep the road closed to wait for the salvage equipment and coroner to arrive and for an investigation to be done.  Latest they've told us is that they'll update us at 3a.  There's no way around, so here I sit, but I'll tell you if it was going to happen it couldn't have happened in a better place; after traveling hundreds of miles today and only seeing two gas stations and no towns, there is at least a small diner (that I already grubbed at) and a small grocery/gas/liquor store here.  Thinking I'll grab a couple beers and throw my tent up somewhere.  Heck, the sun's not going down up here until 10:30p, so I might even see about wetting a line before I catch some Zzzz's... (+455 / 2779 mi)

Post script:  So I'm sitting in the parking lot of the diner, getting ready to settle in for the duration, and the cook strikes up a conversation with me.  After telling me where he thought I should pitch my tent, he says "f it" and offered to let me crash in his camper.  We shared a couple beers before he took off to baby sit for the waitress, leaving me alone in his place.  It's not the most luxurious place in the World, but hey I've got a place to lay my head, a couple beers, and even cable TV...it could be a hell of a lot worse.  As always, I'm ever impressed with the friendliness and generosity I've always experienced north of the border...Go Canada!!