A pleasant 2 day ride through Southern British Columbia

Doug, Fritz and I decided to make a trek to Nelson for the weekend. It makes for long riding days, but the views and roads that we encountered along the way all make it worth it.

May 7-8
Total Miles: roughly 900
Seattle - Nelson - Seattle
Tickets: 0
Mishaps: 0
Puckers: none

I decided that I wanted to take the GS out on a long weekend trip, this time for more than one day and heading east. What better time to visit my friend in Nelson, BC? I gave him a shout and told him to expect me for dinner on Saturday night. In talking with bizarro I found that he wasn’t working and was desperate for a ride. I enjoy riding with Fritz and thought that it would pleasant to spend the weekend with him. Then Zarly called and said that he was up for a ride despite his broken hand – the Three Musketeers were forming. The plan was for Doug to come down to Seattle Friday after work, have dinner with Fritz and me and then the three of us would get an early start in the morning.

The best laid plans of mice and men… Doug’s ferry was late and we weren’t able to start dinner until almost 9pm. By the time the steaks cooked, beers were consumed and stories exchanged it was almost midnight. I headed home to pack up for the next morning. The plan was to be on the road at sunrise but it was almost 7 by the time we rolled out of Fritz’s driveway and headed north to Hwy 2. I was on my GS, Doug on his GS (Adventure! ) and Fritz on his Speed Triple. The day was overcast but not threatening at all. We discovered the Sultan Bakery (in Sultan, no less) for breakfast. This needs a spot in the Greasy Spoon Archive, even though it’s not technically greasy. Big thick slices of homemade bread, a slab of ham that would put an Easter dinner to shame and a casual and friendly atmosphere. Mmmmm. After breakfast Fritz left Doug and I behind while he raced ahead over the pass, taking advantage of the Speed Triple’s capabilities (and his own inner-squid). It was a pleasant ride over 2 with little traffic, few LEOs and clear roads. There was very little snow at Stevens Pass but it was still chilly. We met up again with Fritz in Leavenworth and headed east to Wenatchee where we took 97/2 north until 2 breaks off east again. This area of the state is wide open with low rolling hills and almost no people. Fritz had his bike up to “considerable speed” and I reached 112 on the GS. Oops. After some time the road dropped down into a coulee and we headed north on 155, our destination being the Grand Coulee Dam. This stretch of pavement was really nice, as it hugged the edge of a lake and was surrounded by high basalt cliffs and open stretches of land.

Breakfast stop	Looking back on Rt 155 near Electric City

At the Grand Coulee Dam we took a 30 minute break in the sunshine and stretched out on picnic tables. Doug chased a marmot and Fritz lounged with his cigarettes while I had a bite to eat. The sun was out and it had become a warm and inviting day, with hazy clouds and spots of blue sky. When we went to leave the parking lot I inadvertently discovered the gas overflow tube on the GS works very well. We had just filled the bikes before our break and I was puzzled at the amount of gas still dripping out of the overflow tube and began an investigation. Doug and I compared bikes and Fritz offered his insight as well. Only when I opened the top of the gas tank was the answer presented to us: a large geyser of gas exploded from the top of the tank, having been released from the pressure it was under. Apparently my technique of filling the tank until it would take no more was too excessive and the gas had expanded in the heat, causing it to leak out the tube. Mystery solved, we got on the bikes and rode off, hoping to use up that excess gas before it all leaked away.

From Grand Coulee we headed north on 155 to Elmer City and then headed east on an unnamed road that would take us to Route 21 and the Kettle River. This unnamed road (which probably has a name, it just wasn’t listed on the map) was great! It climbed quickly from the valley of the river, cutting into the open hillsides. The views as we climbed were amazing and the rock formations very interesting. The road reached the top of the ridge and the landscape became covered in dry pines and pleasant twists and turns. Fritz led us on a merry chase over good pavement and with no traffic. We stopped for some pictures at an overlook and had the unfortunate occasion to smell a very large, very dead animal somewhere nearby. We hurried with the picture-taking and headed down the other side of the ridge, intersecting with Route 21. By coming this way we missed the Keller Ferry, but I think that the road we took made up for that loss. We turned north and enjoyed the quiet splendour of the Kettle River Valley, dotted with small farms and following the coursing river. The trees were thick with leaves, very bright in their spring garb and the river level was fairly high and looked very cold. The pavement was in great shape, we had very little traffic to contend with and the sun continued to poke through the clouds at us. Fritz led through most of this stretch, winding through the gears as he wound through the corners, all the time following the river. Doug and I were happy to follow on our GS’s, keeping our speeds moderated but still enjoying a spirited ride.

As we neared the Canadian border the clouds gathered their strength and began to spit at us, but it was barely enough to wet the pavement and not nearly enough to wash the bugs off our bikes and gear. The rain was intermittent and for the most part hardly worth mentioning. We gassed up (I should say Fritz gassed up ) in Republic where we were approached by an older gentleman who had just purchased a bike and had questions regarding our gear and our set up. He was very inquisitive and eager to hear what we (I) had to say so before we left I gave him an STN business card and suggested that he check out the site for more information. The spring STN Membership Drive has started!

It was a quick ride to the border where I got my new passport stamped for the first time – wheee! Doug took the lead and we rode up #3 through Castlegar and into Nelson. We had been on the road for 11 ½ hours and 450 miles when we pulled into the parking lot of the Heritage Inn. It was a great day.

That evening we met up with Norm, a local who was on the Mexican trip I took last winter. He joined us for a very tasty dinner in the restaurant of the Heritage Inn (now the Hume) and shared stories with us. After our hearty meal Doug was overcome by a food coma and was fading fast and eventually went up to the room for some sleep. Fritz and I chatted with Norm for a bit longer before I wandered off to bed as well. Fritz, on the other hand, had just gotten started. I was startled awake when Fritz came bursting into the room at 3am proclaiming how great an evening he was having. He clearly had a couple of beers in him and was quite pleased with the results. After considerable oration he left the room again in search of another party and I fell back asleep. Needless to say, it was a rude awakening when the phone rang at 6:30am for our wake-up call. We didn’t get on the road until almost 9am, after rousing Fritz from his slumber and having a hearty breakfast. Norm had come back to the hotel and ate with us before we left Nelson.

The "tank bag" lunch	High water on the Kettle River

Along the Kettle River	Cleaning the bugs off

The weather today cooperated only in that it wasn’t snowing. It was chilly and the clouds were low over the valley. It wasn’t long before we climbed up into the clouds and were damp with a fine layer of mist. The roads were clear though and it was a quick trip up and over 3 back to Castlegar. Fritz had to be back in Seattle by 6pm and Doug had to catch the 9pm ferry, so there wasn’t a lot of time to waste. We stayed on 3 until we reached Osoyoos, coming through various stages of rain and clouds, but always with good roads and little traffic. In Osoyoos Fritz decided to drop down 97 to Hwy 20 for a quick ride home while Doug and I stayed on 3 westbound to Hope, where we stopped for dinner. Doug and I then rode as far as Abbottsford together where he continued west on 3 to the ferry and I dropped down across the border at Sumas. I intended to take 9 all the way down to Arlington and enjoy the curves as much as possible, but the further south I went the harder it rained, not to mention the darker it was getting. By now it was after 8pm and I had no inclination to stay on these dark, damp and deer-infested roads any more than I had to. I jumped off 9 and took a short but pleasant back road over to 5, where I ran into heavy traffic for most of the remaining journey. I pulled into the garage at 9:30pm, making my riding time 12 ½ hours for the day, including a few stops as well as dinner. Total mileage for the second day was 450 (not entirely sure), giving me just under 1,000 miles for the weekend. Just enough to break in the bike and my new ‘stitch.

On the way to Castlegar	Christina Lake on the way home