Back Out On The Highway

Northport, WA

I took the day off today to visit with Dave and Sue Chambers and reflect on the trip thus far. Around lunch Sue and I walked over to Rick and Vicky Johnson’s for a short visit with them and their son Joe. Barbara, Sue’s mom was up for a visit and ended up hospitalized in Colville with a serious staff infection. We went to see her before going to dinner at a little pub in Colville.

Over the day, I reflected on my experience thus far on the trip and several things came to mind:

Bear Camp Road: It’s easy to be an armchair quarterback. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the second day out, I took the same route that CNET Editor James Kim took in December of 2006. I remember reading the news reports and thinking “what was he thinking taking his family out on a back country road like that?!” Having actually been there and experienced it, I now know. The road starts fine. It’s broad, well paved and is clearly a two lane highway. It just gradually gets narrower and narrower and rougher and rougher. I hate to admit it, but as someone that has had quite a bit of wilderness and survival training, I sat in judgment of Kim’s decisions — all based on the news reports. Now, having “been there — done that” I’m reminded that the news rarely tells the whole story, and I’ve vowed to come to conclusions much more slowly in areas where I have no direct experience.

Friends: Pete said it well: “Good friends salt a trip like this.” Getting to catch up with Bob Rankin, being there when Connor smoked his first cigar, riding with Pete, meeting Tim and Mrs. Moon, listening to Master Chief stories, and spending time with Dave, Sue and Barbara have really made the trip special. The people you choose to spend time with say a lot about you — because they have the biggest chance to influence your outlook on life. This has been an amazing trip – filled with people that have passion, character, and vision — exactly the influences I’m looking for. Special thanks to the Rankin’s, the Moon’s, and the Chambers for their generous hospitality!

Things happen for a reason: And most of the time we have no idea what it is. Pete mentioned the couple we meet outside of Banff, Barry and Paula. After they had driven off and Pete told me about Barry having cancer, I spent the next leg of the journey thinking about my interaction with Barry. I regretted not being able to offer him some level of encouragement until it donned on me — perhaps spending 20 minutes interacting with a fellow motorcycle enthusiast in a normal way was encouragement enough. In fact, they were probably more of an encouragement to me. Paula said they had been married 44 years and they obviously had a very positive outlook on life despite their situation. I regret not exchanging contact information with them. Had Pete and I not lingered over coffee that morning, would we have met them?

Sitting in a saddle watching the scenery go by gives you a lot of time to reflect. I’m reflecting a lot right now on the decisions that I’ve made in my life; the good, the bad, and the colossally stupid. I’m looking to learn what I can and keep making good decisions, taking advantage of opportunities as they are presented, and setting a trajectory toward the person I want to become.

Now I’ve gone and gotten all pseudo-philosophical on you. Back to the road trip tomorrow.

Valemount, B.C. to Seattle (Pete)
Valemount, B.C. to Northport (Bill)

Dry, well rested on 10 hours of sleep, and with sunny skies, we saddled up for Pete’s last leg of the journey. The only wildlife we saw today was a very large black bear on the side of the road. I rode by thinking “Sit! Stay!” It did, and we made good time to Merritt, B.C. (the “Country Music Capital of Canada”) where we had lunch, grabbed a quad espresso and split up with Pete headed to Seattle and I back to Northport to spend a another day with the Chambers.

While this ride didn’t have the grandeur of the Rockies, it was beautiful nonetheless. About an hour and a half of the ride was down Hwy 97 beside Okanagan Lake.

I’ve been thankful for many things on this trip, but after nine hours in the saddle, I was most thankful that Jeff Meehan loaned me his AirHawk air seat. It was a Godsend, thanks Jeff!

Our routes:

Well, Pete has about said it all. And Bob was correct, the ride from Banff to Jasper is one of the most picturesque I’ve ever experienced. I made a trip from Denver to Banff in 1983 and fell in love with the Rocky Mountains. With every mile I can feel that love affair being rekindled.

Here are a few more of the over 100 photos that Pete and I took on the way up to the ice fields.

Just past the ice fields, it started to cloud up and spit snow. Pete convinced me to suit up for rain and it’s’ a good thing he did — just past Jasper, the bottom dropped out. That kind of riding will test you. Two hours later, when we finally found a safe place to stop and wait out the rain, we decided to forgo the remainder of the day and find a place to dry out. All the gear worked well except the gloves — after about an hour in the rain they were no longer waterproof.

Here is a detailed map of a trip we highly recommend you take:

Here’s where we went during my six days with Bill …

To quote the kid at the end of the movie Hook; “That was a great story.”

We started saying our theme would be” finding a sustainable rhythm to life” but quickly changed it to “this does not suck.”

Some thoughts …
– The road from Banff to Jasper has to be the most beautiful scenery on this continent. Rankin was right on this call … from his tour guide college days.
– Every man should do this.
– I love seeing little boys in the back window wave … you know they are dreaming of growing up and riding the mountains. I think I heard Bill say, “all the men who see us want to be us and all the women want to be with us.” But I could be wrong?
– Riding down the mountain from Jasper in the pounding rain with little visibility and slippery roads will test a man and make him appreciate a hot cup of coffee.
– There are beautiful women everywhere.
– This was great but would have been even greater if there was a group of us riding …
– Dave and Sue Chambers are wonderful people.
– Marble gets close to a sustainable rhythm to life.
– I felt more close to the Bald Eagles I saw soaring over the Rockies in Banff than ever before.

– Having the proper gear is mandatory. Riding in the cold and rain was no problem since we bold could just ‘gear up’. Only the ride down from Jasper was a bit of a test. The rest of the time we were warm and dry and having the time of our lives.
– Good friends salt a trip like this well. Our time with Bob and Conner to start the trip, Moon and the Master Chief in the Tri Cities and then Dave and Sue Chambers in marble were as great as the ride and the scenery.
– The Master Chief has no end of stories. He owes us two he couldn’t tell in front of Jake.
– Moon has no end of Moonisms.
– You meet some wonderful people on a ride. The others are easy enough to ignore.
– Seems that everywhere has a great local Pale Ale?
– The Salt Lick in Banff is a great place to eat.
– The Duck Brand is a great place to stay in Winthrop. We had the perfect bowl of oatmeal there.

When we were here … … a man walked by and gandered at the bikes twice (can’t remember his name … Bill will). So we started talking to him. He was from England with his wife Paula. He said he dreamed of being a Harley man but so far only had the hat. As Bill showed him his bike and gear Paula told me he was dying of cancer and this was their trip to make the most of the rest of his days since they didn’t know how many he had left. I told her I had several friends that beat cancer but she said he’d already had all the surgery and chemo and it kept coming back. Pray for them. He was a delight; told us about his motorcycles and his “Bubble car” that had never been rained on! I asked Paula if she liked to ride behind him; she said she did but knew he wanted to get out on the road alone and not worry about if she was ok back there so she sent him out alone.

We will do this again … to be continued …

Looking forward to ‘watching’ the rest of your trip Bill. Make the most of it.

The rest of you need to start planning to get a bike and join us on the next ride. And we’ll all have to start figuring out how to take Paul Jackson up on his invitation to ride around New Zealand! We can all fly down and rent?

This is a great way to live!

Banff, Alberta to Valemount, BC

Here is a taste of the early part of the day:

Banff, Alberta to Valemount, BC

Here is a taste of the early part of the day:

Then it turned stormy on the other side of the mountains and we spent another three hours sans sunshine. Tomorrow is a big day and we have over 100 photos to sort through and a very slow connection, so I’ll save the commentary until later and leave you with these shots for now: