Mood:
accident proneI went for a ride yesterday...
>> after working and being "on call" for the last twelve days... it was time
> to
>> take the Shadow outta town for an adventure. I also wanted to see if the
> new
>> "flyscreen" windshield would work for long distance.
>> increased turbulence in the higher gears, otherwise it seems to work just
>> fine~
>>
>> The road to Whistler was strewn with the usual assortment of self
>> absorbed
>> beautiful people racing recklessly @ kamikaze speed to get to Whistler so
>> they can "relax" and be seen by others of their ilk....
>> I was riding in a t-shirt and a vest and found more than a few freezing
> cold
>> spots along that road.
>> As usual once I got north of Whistler Village, the parade of the "hell
> bent
>> for leisure" ceased and I could relax and begin to enjoy the road more.
>> Turning right at Pemberton I enjoy the long sweeping turns with the
>> mountains so close by, but realized very soon that there was the usual
>> assortment of pea gravel in the apex of the turns....
>> not zesty!
>> I stopped in the native village of Mount Currie for fuel... a tank of
>> gasoline for the bike and a can of red bull for me.
>> After waving to and greeting most of the townsfolk I proceeded back to
>> the
>> main road and smiled to myself at the road that lay ahead.
>> The Duffy Lake road is just as much fun as ever with the first hairpin
> turn
>> and steep (13% grade) twisties putting a grin on my face. there is still
>> abit of sand and gravel on the road if you go there, so be disinclined to
>> charge hot into the turns.. just at one of the last wooden bridges (still
> in
>> the middle of nowhere) I stopped to buy a bag of local grown cherries
>> from
>> two senior ladies standing there selling them in the bag for $3... why
>> not
>> eh?
>> Stopped at Lightfoot gas in Lillooet and talked with a guy from Texada
>> Island on a 650 V-strom who was coming back from a week long ride.
>> Now at Lillooet there are two choices once you cross the bridge over the
>> Fraser River... head north, or head south. Since I was now out of the
>> rain
>> forest and into the high desert, I decided to head north and further
>> enjoy
>> the blast furnace effect of the heat. (yes I had packed a litre and a
>> half
>> of water in the saddlebags, growing up a hundred miles from the Mexican
>> border teaches you these things) <G>
>> The road through Marble Canyon is beautiful as ever, and about 30
> kilometres
>> from the Hat Creek Ranch http://www.hatcreekranch.com/ they are paving
>> the
>> road and during the 20 minute wait for the pilot car, I broke out the bag
> of
>> cherries and shared them with a coupla yamaha riders. He had the Road
>> Star
>> and she was riding the 650 V-Star... We looked at each others bikes and
> when
>> we got going I followed them into Cache Creek a bustling town of 1100
>> people.
>> http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/explore/high_country/cities/cache.htm
>> My new found friends turned off for gas and I continued south for two
> miles
>> before stopping at Coyote Corners on a quest for information and some
> exotic
>> fudge. I had recently seen "An unfinished Life" with Robert Redford and
> knew
>> it to be filmed in Ashcroft the next town and a frequent stop of mine. I
>> just asked the woman there if (in the movie) the bus stops on Hwy 97C
> coming
>> out of Ashcroft. she hadn't seen the movie yet but told me all about
>> being
>> there while they were filming it. The ranch is in Savona
>> http://www.britishcolumbia.com/regions/towns/?townID=3900 I left Coyote
>> Corners armed with this information and a large expensive chunk of
> Chocolate
>> mint fudge and kept going... the local dragstrip in Ashcroft was packed
> with
>> folks for their weekend activities... but nobody was racing yet. Coming
> into
>> Spences Bridge I was following an RV when suddenly a three or four foot
> bar
>> with a chain on the end dropped out of the bottom of the rig and came
>> sliding towards me, but I was quite easily able to evade it's intension.
>> I
>> sped up to tell them about it but they musta seen it as they were pulling
> to
>> the side of the road... nothing else to be done here so I went to Lytton
>> where I met a couple on a BMW who had started out in Ontario and had been
> up
>> to Alaska and who were just finishing the last leg of their adventure
> before
>> leaving the bike in Vancouver and flying home again. I told them about a
>> couple more great places to see before they reached Vancouver and where
> they
>> could stay for the night. Stopped in Boston Bar and helped take a group
>> photo for some guys on bikes and then stopped at a restaurant I hadn't
> tried
>> before for a buffalo burger and a tall iced tea. I chatted up a young gal
>> there who was working with the road crew to the south and who had come
> here
>> for lunch and to escape the heat for awhile. Belly full I carried on
> towards
>> home with clear road (south of the construction there) and stopped at the
>> natural springs to refill my water bottles and rest awhile. back in the
> city
>> I saw a guy on a KTM with euro plates stopped on the side road and pulled
> a
>> u-turn to see if I could help. He was abit lost and I was able to help
>> him
>> get his bearings again and point him to a shop that will help him
> straighten
>> out the electrical quirks on his KTM. He is a swiss fella who had also
> just
>> come down from Alaska and was heading down the coast and into South
> America.
>> I shook his hand, bid him a safe journey and told him to say hello to
>> California for me... then I rode on home without further incident.
>> 500 miles or so, a wicked windburn, and all in all... a GREAT DAY!
>> wiLd biLL (Canadian Correspondent)
Posted by wildbillridesagain
at 8:52 PM EDT
