A week ago Friday I was set to leave on my trip after driving the wife home from work.. The weather went down hill very quickly and I thought I had better go straight from work, so I rode in to the office and spent most of the day waiting to go. There was a very real possibility that it would snow up in the mountain passes and late in the evening it would turn to ice. So I was in a real rush to get going and be off the road before night fall.
I made it in good time, and spent an acceptable night in the City of Revelstoke. It is on the Transcanada Highway and is a pretty spot, and on a sunny morning it is nice to look around.
From there I turned south and away from the main roads. This area is lakes and mountains. The lakes are large and run for hundreds of miles. Bridges are few as the lakes are too large to span. We have a system of free ferries and Shelter Bay is the first one up..
This one was a strange stop, I got off my bike to take a few pictures and wait for the ferry. I saw a woman, of about 70 or so, I assumed , doing Tai Chi or something, only she wasn’t She was out in front of the public washrooms. She was --- uh --- urinating on the grass.
The washrooms were in working and clean condition. She just didn’t use it.
I have no idea why, but that is what happened. As they were the only other people at the dock she did come by and offer me a cereal bar and we chatted for a few minutes. She seemed normal enough – just strange --- habits.
Oh well -- The Dock is pretty
I was first on for the ride over to start the next leg of the trip.
And the lakes are well worth the travel to visit.
Once on the other side I rode through the town of Nakusp (see last years trip) and then on down to the village of Needles and another ferry. Smaller one this time and run on a cable. We were half way across when we stopped and were bought back to make room for two ambulances.
I found out not too long after that a Goldwing had gone down on a corner. It was a real wakeup call. The ferry runs every half our and waiting in the ditch is now way to spend a day.
This part of the ride is Highway 6 but it is also know as DH 2 the second best road for riding in BC.
There were signs along the road saying food in 5 km, and 4 km and 3km and so on. So I came around the corner saw the building and turned in.
There were no cars in the lot and only a sign in the window saying Will reopen after the divorce is settled. Fine, time to get back on the road.
This will be my new computer wall paper at the office
Nothing like a shot of DH2 to get one though the winter.
Down the road a bit I found this restaurant, and it is a really nice spot
There are 6 tables inside and another 6 out on the balcony which overhangs a cliff. It was a straight drop from my table of about 100 feet. The food was great and cheap too
I went on down the road, and I like to look at signs and things while I travel. I have always been interested in how people represent themselves. I actually read tee shirts to see what people us their bodies to advertise. These days it is mostly Orange County Choppers or Harley Davidson, but every now and then I find signs that through back to a different time like this place. I hadn’t thought about Arlo Guthrie in a very long time.
Then on down the road past the big tourist towns to Beaverdale and the bakery for a coffee and a cookie
In case you missed the sign in this one here is a close up
I made the City of Greendale before dark and after a quick ride through town I did a quick 180 and decided to spend the night.
The town, it is a town now, is restored to the turn of the century
The thing that causes me to stop was the mural it tells the story of how the City become a town.
The thing is that they let the school kids tell the story and the there is more truth there than they might want.
Panel one shows a prospector and the towns symbol the Phoenix the
In panel two the town dumps toxic waste and clear cuts all the timber.
And then in panels three and on they welcome you to the town.
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In spite of the confused message in the sign it is a nice little town and there was a killer Blue Grass Festival that weekend and the music was great.
I had a long ride planned for day two and headed off for the town of New Denver and the garlic festival. There was no place to pull over without a mile walk into town so I made a hard right and went down DH5
I didn’t get any garlic but it is hard to make a bad choice here.
The next town was Kaslo and one of my favorites.
I was sitting at an outdoor coffee shop when a couple of guys pulled in and joined me at my table. Actually I asked them to join me because I want to ask about the 1942 Indian they rode in on.
As we talked I discovered that one of the guys had worked his way though university as the blacksmith in the same historic Park and in the same shop that I did He was a couple of years before my time there.
We had a long chat about all things iron and then I went along to have another look at his bike.
I waited until they left to get one shot of the bike in motion
The next stop was the Crawford Bay ferry where I found myself parked behind one very nice truck
This was the last shot I took
Two bikes had ridden off a cliff just after leaving the ferry and I lost the desire to do much more photography..
The rest of the ride went well and without problems.
Topic: A round the south of BC in Three days (Read 3747 times)