Me,Leah,Murray, Carol,Chuck, Briand and Toby
Banf Jasper Parkway
Getting closer to home
Here's Diesel Guarding the bikesFriday, July 18, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
So. After I last signed off, the man was pissed at me because I was on the internet so much. I had to give it up for the rest of the trip home, even if the place we stayed at had WiFi. God, sometimes I swear I am the man in the relationship!! Oh well, when I FINALLY signed off and made it down to my bike there was a note on my tank bag from Brian saying he was next door having breakfast. So I trudged into the restaurant hoping to still be able to get some food without grief! There were some other bikers sitting in there and I could tell they were Harley riders because they didnt say hello, they just stared at me imagining me onthe back of a bike. yeah whatever. When I sat down, Brian asked me if I recognized this dude by the till from Dawson...holy crap! it was Frank from Pink Mountain!! I turned to Frank and said, "Great to see you finally made it off Pink Mountain!" he was equally surprised to see us. His wife Joan was there too and we gabbed for a few minutes about our next destinations. seems they were heading down the Cassiar as well tomorrow and then off to Stewart, so we said that we might see them there. they were headed off to vancouver and then the Island so i told them how to get to my mom's coffee shop in Parksville and they said they were going to try and get there. Which they did. My mom was quite surprised to meet them and hear abit about my adventure on the road. Note to all...she gave them a free bag of donuts because they knew me!! They are great people. After we left the restaurant we met a couple from the Netherlands on a Honda CX650 pulling a trailer, who had been on the road for 2 years already and they were heading to Alaska and wanted to know how the roads were. We told them abit about our adventure and they were happy to hear the roads werent as bad as they had been previously told. This couple were in their seventies I think...pretty cool. If I amstill travelling with my man when i am that old I am going to forget my hearing aids at home I think!!
Back on the road, we headed south on the Cassiar to Stewart. We had heard that the first 25KM or so were a little rough, but it was pretty good. I really like having to steer around pot holes and frost heaves. I definitly am used to it by now!! The Cassiar Highway was awsome!! Very beautifull and a great road to drive on. lots of curves and hills, a bit of gravel and the odd moose. There wasnt a whole lot of traffic but I did see a few bikes. I even thought that I saw Squonker(Ben) but he was going the wrong way. We passed this guy and a girl on an old Norton weighed down like crazy. It was a pretty cool looking bike. We stopped and chatted with them at the Frank Bell Airstrip and man was it hot there. FINALLY some decent freakin weather. The whole day was great. We made it to the Stewart turn off and pulled out the directions to Leah and Murray's cabin (friends of mine from the Island) they have a cabin at Meziadin Lake just east of Stewart. We arived there at 9pmish after my questionable driving instructions which I blamed on Murray, and they were in bed!! what a couple of old farts....I pulled into there driveway and started honking my horn, that got a little action in the cabin happening! I hadent seen them in about a year so it was so great to spend some time with them and the 16 million mosquitos. We canooed(?) on the lake which was just like glass. It was so beautifull there and I told Brian that we need to buy a cabin on a lake and get a canoe. We had a great couple of days there and it was really nice to have a break from the road. Leah cooked us some fantabulous meals and Murray always has alot to say...about everything, which always seemed to end up with those "Damn Politicians!" Murrays parents showed up on Thursday evening and it was great to see them again too. They are great people. We left on the Friday morning after taking a few group photos and after viewing them at home i was quite surprised to see Brian with his arm around Toby, Leah and Murray's dog. Being the HUGE (sarcasm) dog lover that he is. We headed out at our ealiest time so far, 9am , wow. We hit a rain shower early and got to Kitwanga for fuel where we met someother Albertans and it felt pretty good to be going home. We stopped for lunch in Smithers at Brian's favorite eating spot, Subway. Smithers is such a pretty town, I love it there. We drove all the way to Vanderhoof where we found a "Biker Friendly" motel which was owned by a couple from Whitehorse. They had just moved there last October and it really is a small world because the husband used to get his hair done where I used to work in Whitehorse! I didnt remember him but we had a good chat. It never ceases to amaze me how you can meet people in places far from home and they will know people that you do. It is truly a small world and I think it is getting smaller all the time. We saw a wood processing place in Vanderhoof, I think they made 2x4's and other lumber and the amount of logs piled up there was HUGE!! I am not sure if they had so much because of the low price of wood or because the demands for lumber has dropped so much but WOW! Amazing amount of cut logs. We got on the road early and headed east to Jasper. Prince George has really grown alot. The traffic through there was busy. It sure helped having 2 side mirrors now! I dont know how I managed in Anchorage with only one, that town has crazy traffic. Lots of beautiful scenery and a great road to drive on. Nice and smooth with some good curves and hills. We stopped at McBride, that is a nice little town. We tried to find a real estate office to see what the prices their were like but there wasnt one. The local paper had some listings in it and the prices were definitely cheaper than here. McBride has alot of farm land and it is kind of in the valley of some mountains. Very picturesque. I was happy when we made it to Jasper, almost home, YAY!! It was just crazy in Jasper, bikes everywhere. I think every Harley rider with a loud tail pipe went for a ride that day and they all ended up in Jasper. There were no hotels rooms to be had so we decided to go down the Banf Jasper parkway and see what we could find. If all else fails we camp on the side of the road. The first 2 places were completely full and so we kept heading south until we got to the Sunwapta Resort. They had a really nice room and we were set for the night. Why start camping now?!! We went for a long walk by the river to these falls and we kept going until we couldnt handle the mosquitos any longer. Holy crap they are bad this year. They are so relentless in their quest for blood but we werent in the mood to give up any so we went quickly back to the resort. The ride home the next day was glorious. I think part of it was because we were so close to home but, the parkway is so beautifull. Not too much traffic and so much to see. Even after 3 weeks of mountains, mountains, mountains, I am still amazed at the enormity and the beauty of them. What a fantastic ride this has been. I hope that I dont forget too much although combined, brian and I have accumulated 880 photos to be developed!! I think I will have to find a cheap spot for developing since we spent so much on hotel rooms!! oh well, we made it home safely and I was so happy to see the farm again even though all the weeds were 3 feet tall and our lawn looked terrible. More work to do before I even go back to work! oh well...holidays are over! Thanks for reading about our journey, it sure was fun writing it knowing my friends and family were reading along.
Back on the road, we headed south on the Cassiar to Stewart. We had heard that the first 25KM or so were a little rough, but it was pretty good. I really like having to steer around pot holes and frost heaves. I definitly am used to it by now!! The Cassiar Highway was awsome!! Very beautifull and a great road to drive on. lots of curves and hills, a bit of gravel and the odd moose. There wasnt a whole lot of traffic but I did see a few bikes. I even thought that I saw Squonker(Ben) but he was going the wrong way. We passed this guy and a girl on an old Norton weighed down like crazy. It was a pretty cool looking bike. We stopped and chatted with them at the Frank Bell Airstrip and man was it hot there. FINALLY some decent freakin weather. The whole day was great. We made it to the Stewart turn off and pulled out the directions to Leah and Murray's cabin (friends of mine from the Island) they have a cabin at Meziadin Lake just east of Stewart. We arived there at 9pmish after my questionable driving instructions which I blamed on Murray, and they were in bed!! what a couple of old farts....I pulled into there driveway and started honking my horn, that got a little action in the cabin happening! I hadent seen them in about a year so it was so great to spend some time with them and the 16 million mosquitos. We canooed(?) on the lake which was just like glass. It was so beautifull there and I told Brian that we need to buy a cabin on a lake and get a canoe. We had a great couple of days there and it was really nice to have a break from the road. Leah cooked us some fantabulous meals and Murray always has alot to say...about everything, which always seemed to end up with those "Damn Politicians!" Murrays parents showed up on Thursday evening and it was great to see them again too. They are great people. We left on the Friday morning after taking a few group photos and after viewing them at home i was quite surprised to see Brian with his arm around Toby, Leah and Murray's dog. Being the HUGE (sarcasm) dog lover that he is. We headed out at our ealiest time so far, 9am , wow. We hit a rain shower early and got to Kitwanga for fuel where we met someother Albertans and it felt pretty good to be going home. We stopped for lunch in Smithers at Brian's favorite eating spot, Subway. Smithers is such a pretty town, I love it there. We drove all the way to Vanderhoof where we found a "Biker Friendly" motel which was owned by a couple from Whitehorse. They had just moved there last October and it really is a small world because the husband used to get his hair done where I used to work in Whitehorse! I didnt remember him but we had a good chat. It never ceases to amaze me how you can meet people in places far from home and they will know people that you do. It is truly a small world and I think it is getting smaller all the time. We saw a wood processing place in Vanderhoof, I think they made 2x4's and other lumber and the amount of logs piled up there was HUGE!! I am not sure if they had so much because of the low price of wood or because the demands for lumber has dropped so much but WOW! Amazing amount of cut logs. We got on the road early and headed east to Jasper. Prince George has really grown alot. The traffic through there was busy. It sure helped having 2 side mirrors now! I dont know how I managed in Anchorage with only one, that town has crazy traffic. Lots of beautiful scenery and a great road to drive on. Nice and smooth with some good curves and hills. We stopped at McBride, that is a nice little town. We tried to find a real estate office to see what the prices their were like but there wasnt one. The local paper had some listings in it and the prices were definitely cheaper than here. McBride has alot of farm land and it is kind of in the valley of some mountains. Very picturesque. I was happy when we made it to Jasper, almost home, YAY!! It was just crazy in Jasper, bikes everywhere. I think every Harley rider with a loud tail pipe went for a ride that day and they all ended up in Jasper. There were no hotels rooms to be had so we decided to go down the Banf Jasper parkway and see what we could find. If all else fails we camp on the side of the road. The first 2 places were completely full and so we kept heading south until we got to the Sunwapta Resort. They had a really nice room and we were set for the night. Why start camping now?!! We went for a long walk by the river to these falls and we kept going until we couldnt handle the mosquitos any longer. Holy crap they are bad this year. They are so relentless in their quest for blood but we werent in the mood to give up any so we went quickly back to the resort. The ride home the next day was glorious. I think part of it was because we were so close to home but, the parkway is so beautifull. Not too much traffic and so much to see. Even after 3 weeks of mountains, mountains, mountains, I am still amazed at the enormity and the beauty of them. What a fantastic ride this has been. I hope that I dont forget too much although combined, brian and I have accumulated 880 photos to be developed!! I think I will have to find a cheap spot for developing since we spent so much on hotel rooms!! oh well, we made it home safely and I was so happy to see the farm again even though all the weeds were 3 feet tall and our lawn looked terrible. More work to do before I even go back to work! oh well...holidays are over! Thanks for reading about our journey, it sure was fun writing it knowing my friends and family were reading along.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)