Day 11

Day 11

Heading out for my last day of riding, from Princeton to Richmond to turn in the bike. It's been wicked hot but I think I'm leaving at a good time, they just said the temp is going up to 40 C...holy *^&#@. Again not much of a chance for pics cuz it is all sharp twist and turns and I'm not about to do the cruise control and one-handed photos on these roads. Some of the roads are so steep when I got stuck behind a truck I was going as slow as 16 MPH.  But still a beautiful ride with my last chance to see some snow capped mountains. I pulled into Eaglerider's at 1330 and it was locked up even tho it was supposed to be open till 1500. Not good! So I call and fortunately Steve, the owner and the guy I made the reservation with answered. He was not too happy his co-worker didn't tell him I was coming in today and was not too happy with the way his co-worker handled the recall. Steve wan't there to handle the recall himself cuz he just broke his leg in a motorcycle accident where a lady ran a red light. So when Steve showed up and we discussed my concerns of the rental he went ahead and deducted over $300 of the bill; even gave me a ride to the hotel. So tomorrow I head home after logging over 2400 miles in the beautiful Canadian Rockies.

Day 10

So I get up this mourning with a bike that needs repairs, a ticket to pay and no credit card and with limited Canadian dollars left. Having breakfast with Joy and her husband basically laughing about the sudden rush of bad luck, nothing earth shattering but still....  When i asked if there was a bank nearby so I can exchange American for Canadian Joy made the swap for me to save me the time of running around. Now on my way from Kelowna to Kamloops, 2 1/2 hour ride to get the rental repaired...at least it was a nice ride and the brake never locked up. The inspection takes 30 minutes, I was there for two hours since the inspection failed, today is basically shot. They did recommend taking rte 5a to Princeton, my next stop, and again it was a great ride. Oh yeah, I reached into the pocket of my white riding shirt and found my credit card!!I never have shirts with pockets so obviously never use them; have no recollection of putting my card there or why. But, once you put the block action on the card there is no going back, you will get a new card and that number is dead to you.I did get a few pics but not many cuz my camera battery pack died, of course!  I had just charged it all nite so I guess it's really dead.I get to my room and start taking some stuff out and notice I couldn't find my toiletries. Did I leave them... So I call Joy and as soon as she hears my voice she breaks out in laughter, apologizes and laughs some more and says yes I have your stuff. Then she offered to mail them to the house. While entering this blog it appears I went back in time, nope, now my watch battery dies. I sure hope this weird stuff stops before I fly back in a couple of days.

Day 9

So after finally getting an internet connection that allowed me to open a link from Sarah concerning 2014 HD touring model model being recalled because the front brake can lock up, I ran it to the HD dealer and found out this bike IS affected and shouldn't have been rented. That's exactly what you want to hear after about 2,000 mile up and down mountains! So the bike gets fixed tomorrow, but it gets better...went to get something to eat parked the bike in a normal looking restaurant parking lot came out and had a $35 ticket. Seems there are these ticket dispensers for a fee that was blocked from my vision by an illegally parked van! So payment options are mail and online. So I figure I'd go online and get it over with and voila...can't seem to find my credit card. Now that's a day chock full of fun!

Day 9

Earlier in the day I figured it must be my lucky day. I was riding maybe just a tad faster than I should have when I saw these rocks painted like lady bugs and i figured i'll turn around and take a picture for Sarah. Turned around, took the pics and as I started off again I was still tucking the camera back up my shirt when there was a cop around the very next corner. If I didn't stop for that pics I know I would've been in a whole heap of trouble. So here are the pics Sarah, thanks!

day 9

Today started off as a cooler day since i was heading straight for the mountains. It went from mountain riding to a decent that went on for about 30 minutes. It was so steep there was a run away lane about every quarter mile. the ride was quite pleasant until I got to Osoyoos and Oliver, city traffic and back up to 10000 degrees; worse, this bike runs VERY hot Osoyoos and Oliver wee towns lost in time. It was 1970 all over again, long hair, headbands, guitars thrown over their backs...very weird.

 

Day

Pulled into Creston and tried to check in and Ruth says she doesn't have a reservation for me. I asked how can you give me routes to ride when we talked on the phone but not write down my reservation. And the light came on, she remembered I was coming up from Florida and then was all apologetic...weird cuz she had a room. So since she was giving me the king size bed a good AC and special parking for the bike I had to ask. Do you have fingernail polish? What a look I got. I said I need to wash off the excess duct tape from the gas cap,  eagle rider made it clear about tape marks or taping stuff to the bike. I used a little duct tape to hold my garmin auto mount to the gas cap. So she comes out with this all natural organic cleaner that she swears by. So she sprays it on the gas cap and wipes it clean; as a joke I said what about all the bugs on the fairing?  She sprayed some on the fairing and the bugs just wiped off! This stuff appears to be quite awesome, she actually gave me a little; hope it makes it thru custom. Later she, her husband Bill and myself sat out and talked bike all night. He has an Ultra and she a Road King.Really good people.      

Day 8

After visiting Kaslo for a while and and having some lunch it's off to Balfour for another ferry ride, this one is for 35 minutes. Can't wait to feel those cool lake breezes, it is so freakin hot. Again the view of the mountains while riding along this smooth as glass lake are beautiful.

Day 8

Once in Kaslo made a quick stop to look around. This is the S.S. Moyie sternwheeler is one of the most significant preserved steam passenger vessels in North America. The Moyie began service on the Nelson-Kootenay Landing Route on December 7, 1898, and was retired in 1957 after a 59-year career with the Canadian Pacific Railway’s BC Lake and River Service, it was the last operating passenger sternwheeler in Canada.

Day 8

Once I got to New Denver it was on to rte 31a to Kaslo. This ride is right up there with there Cabot Trail;claims to be one of the best rides in all of Canada. Long sweeping curves skirting along the edge of the Kootenay valley mountains with the Kaslo river rushing along side of you the entire 30 miles. it's as if the the river is racing you to the village of Kaslo; I won! Seems I can only upload a couple of pics of the net goes pfftttt!

Day 8

The ride from Naksup to New Denver was again a perfect ride, excellent scenery everywhere. When pulling over to take a picture I noticed a camper that didn't make the corner. It was obvious had been there a little while.

day 8

Last night before heading to supper I ran into my two new friends, Lucy and Buck (I think) and ended up playing catch with these two dogs for about 45 minutes; Lucy is an Australian kelpie and a beautiful dog, used as a herder in Australia. This morning it was finally a B&B that served breakfast and Christiane (that's how Peter, her husband, says it is spelled) brought out all kinds of breads, yogurt with granola and pistachios, cantaloupe, strawberries and what looked like a six egg omelette (fresh from her chickens) with ham, mushrooms and scallions and 3 strips of bacon. Needless to say the morning started off good. The view from her breakfast room is quite spectacular. After breakfast Lucy was waiting outside with the ball so there was a little more play time before hitting the road.

day 7

Found my cabin for the night, in the middle of nowhere with (sacrificial) goats running around, crazy eyed proprietor and all magic books in the cabin. I'll probably be craving flies come the morning!

Day7

my new friends

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Day 7

More riding pics.

Then had to board a ferry to get to Nakusp, it was the MV Columbia and it was only 2 weeks old so everyone was confident we would make it across the river (I'm guessing they break down a lot).  The ride was so smooth you could barely tell you were moving. It was only a 30 minute ride but it did give you another POV of the mountains. I forgot to take into consideration the time zone change (back to PST), actually thought it would be at my next stop, so I got here a little early.

Day

This is cool, a spiral tunnel.

Day 7

Nice early start today but rather chilly. Major drop in temp since yestrday; when I left it was 42 degrees. Once I got riding it felt more like 22 degrees. Had to stop and add another layer of clothes then all was well. Not much for pictures riding from Banff to Golden cuz I can't take pics with the winter gloves on. It's a shame to cuz the scenery is amazing. I did pull over when I could and snapped a few off. Within a couple of hours the temp seemed to go back up to a gazillion degrees.

Day 6

Another good ride, this time to Lake Moraine; and again glad I was on the bike. Cars parked half way down this mountain also. A crystal clear blue lake surrounded by ten mountain peaks. while walking around saw a guy with a Patriots hat on so I asked if he was from New England.He says no but close enough, We're from New Brunswick. Ok, guess that's close enough. It's been three great stops and since it's about 1,000 degrees time to head back.

Day 6

At first this doesn't seem to make sense, a small archway where it could have been wide open like the rest of the road. It's actually designed for wildlife crossing and it works. They have cameras mounted and have tapes of its use. They have several of these along the Canadian pkwy.

day 6

Nice guardrails

Day 6

Off now to Lake Louise, a huge tourist trap but....The ride out was nice and I'm glad I was riding because the parking to this lake ran half way down the mountain. But with the bike there is always a place to squeeze in close to the lake;and i did.  It is a beautiful lake and there is the Lake Louise Inn Hotel with shops being the primary shop n stay place. I stopped in for a bite and saw they had reuben's on the menu except they are made a little different. Its a warm bison reuben sandwich. Has corned bison brisket, gouda, smoked paprika mustard sauce; very good! Another beautiful lake in the mountains.