Finally we were off and riding, the goal was an easy 237 miles to Whistler, BC. According to Google maps, an easy four and a half hours, it took almost double that.

We left at 10:00 AM and thought Saturday traffic might be light so we mistakenly connected with the notorious Interstate 5 in Everett, WA. It was four lanes of stop and go for miles. We struggled north for nearly two hours in the heat and traffic. Not a fun thing on a motorcycle. It was almost 2:00 PM when we arrived at the border. Fortunately, we were admitted into Canada with only a few cursory questions. The next challenge was getting through Vancouver, the biggest city in British Columbia. The regional population is over 3 million people and again, traffic was a slog. If only we could get through the city and on the well known and scenic Sea to Sky Highway everything would be good, right?

Not. Traffic was even worse as we sat in stop and go madness on this scenic route. What was going on? At one particular long stop in traffic a bunch of Harleys breezed past on the shoulder. Hey, is that legal? Does Canada have the same rule as Mexico that shoulder riding is ok? I didn’t even have to ask Deby before she was pulling onto the shoulder saying, “I’m going.”

When in Rome?? I don’t know but I didn’t really care. We spent the next hour or so carefully passing cars on the right. Nobody seemed too pissed off and we just fell in with the rough looking Harley guys. Hey, who was going to mess with us. Right?

So, long story long… we arrived at the hotel at 5:30 PM thoroughly exhausted.  At least we booked a nice place. The Blackcomb Lodge right in the middle of the Whistler Village. Not inexpensive and no refunds so I’m glad we made it. I took exactly one picture of Deby having a frosty beverage on the main square. We spent the evening walking around the high end ski village and people watching. It was plenty crowded and judging by the many languages spoken it was people from all over the world.

Here is a short rendering of the route. Nice to get into the mountains.

Day two was 320 miles to Revelstoke where we rented a cabin for four nights hoping to use the cabin as a basecamp for day rides in the area. On the road by 9:30 AM we soon were away from the Whistler crowd and onto highway 99 in the coast mountains where we steadily climbed to over 4,000 feet. The weather was perfect for riding with blue skies and cool temperatures. We stopped in Pemberton for an excellent breakfast at the Town Square Restaurant in the center of the quaint little town. I took a picture of the bikes in front of the covered town square.

So far nobody harassed us about being from the US. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect because at the moment the Canadians are not very happy with the idea of tariffs and don’t dare mention the 51st state thing.

I took this picture along the road.

Zoom in a little and we have stickers showing our support for their country.

I’d say that sticker looks good with the new Honda color scheme and sends a good message.

We had a easy and fun ride to Revelstoke and the 300 miles were breezing by. The little Honda didn’t have any problem keeping up with the big GSA. On some remote sections we were going over 120 and she was doing just fine. Oh, I mean 120 kph, in Canada speak. About 70 mph in the US. When it came time to pass the occasional logging truck in the mountains we both whipped around like it was nothing. I kept asking her in our helmet communicators how the bike was doing and she had her usual response, “can we go a little faster?”

We arrived at the Glacier House Resort where we had the cabin reserved.

Here was our route.

Here is a picture from their website. It soon became apparent this was a lodge for use in winter by snowmobilers. I will say the picture looks good covered in snow but I’m glad we didn’t have any.

Here was our abode for four nights complete with hot tub.

As nice as the lodge looked on the internet and in pictures it wasn’t that great a stay. We were there in the slow season and the restaurant was running with a limited menu. The server actually apologized about the food and said he hoped we didn’t mind that it might take a while to get served. Sorry to say he was right and the food wasn’t that good. We only ate there one night. The other problem was the mosquitos! You couldn’t be outside at all without being soaked in bug spray. The front desk woman again apologized saying they didn’t have the budget to spray the swamp this year and it’s much better only a few miles away. Hmmm, Deby said, like at the next hotel? Deby asked if they had bug spray for sale. Nope. Seemed like a golden opportunity to make some money. The woman did rummage around and found a almost empty can of spray that someone left in a room. That would do until we got to the store.

It was about 10km into town where we stocked up on supplies including bug spray and a citronella candle. The demonstration of Canadian pride was everywhere.

The shelves proudly marked which products were Canadian.

There is a pretty serious boycott of all things American.

So we spent four days riding around and exploring the area. One day we rode about 100 miles due north on a fantastic road to the Mica Dam.  We stopped to take a picture of the Goldstream River where it crosses highway 23, awesome views were all around.

And finally a picture of the dam.

It’s a beautiful area and there is actually a visitor center at the dam that was closed. Darn, but we had a really good ride. We were concerned about the fuel range on Deby’s new bike since we didn’t really have it calibrated. One hundred miles up meant another hundred miles back to town and I was worried we would be pushing the little Honda’s tank. We stopped at a camp of buildings that Deby thought was for the dam workers in this remote part of Canada. There was an above ground fuel tank with provisions to pay with a credit card. Nobody was around anywhere, but the pump took my card and we put a few gallons in Deby’s tank. I was doing some mental math, 100 miles, two gallons about 50mpg?

The next day we did a 250 mile ride in one of my favorite spots, south from Revelstoke where we caught a free ferry across Arrow lake where shortly after we rode a nicely graded gravel road along Trout Lake. It was another chance to see how the Honda did in off-road conditions, the bike and Deby aced the test.  We continued to Kaslo, one of our favorite towns and then circled back towards the ferry and return to Revelstoke.

Here is the route.

Along the way the heat was getting to both of us and we decided to stop in Nakusp at The Hut, a famous ice cream stop, yum.

We got to the ferry to cross back and saw a really, really long backup.

Now, in Washington state motorcycles go to the front of the ferry lines. That used to be the rule in Canada but we were told that they changed that a few years ago. Now bikers need to sit in line like normal people. Geesh. The boat runs once an hour, we had to wait for the third ferry, that means almost three hours. We walked to the water to take in the view, a storm was rolling in. Here is Deby looking at the rain coming down across the inlet.

Should we be worried?

We spent time talking with other bikers in line and with a group of women who were in some type of singing group together coming back from a gig. They decided to strip down to their swim attire and walk to the ferry dock for a “cold plunge”, it’s a thing.

I had a deck of cards in my trunk and we sat for awhile playing crazy 8s before the rain started to fall. Time to suit up and sit on our bikes with our helmets on to stay dry. All in a day’s ride….

Finally on the ferry the rain stopped and we were moving. I took this picture of a rainbow landing on my pot of gold.

The last day in Revelstoke it was wet all day. We rode around town a little, found a restaurant, toured the Revelstoke dam and rode on a crazy switchbacking 10 mile road outside of town called Meadows in the Sky Parkway up to a scenic viewpoint 5,000 feet above the city. It was all clouded in and raining so we didn’t see much but it’s something we added on our list for next time.

We talked to plenty of friendly Canadians on this first half of the trip and found out a few things. Firstly, everything was so crowded near Whistler because it was BC day on Monday and it was a three day holiday for everyone. Imagine a popular tourist location in the US on Memorial day weekend, you get the idea. Second, we found all of the Provincial and National Parks in Canada were free for the summer. Why?? Because they launched a program to get Canadians to stay home and be tourists in their own country instead of travelling to the United States. In addition, they counted on attracting foreign travellers that are concerned about travelling to the US because of immigration hassles. As we would find out when we went to Jasper National Park, it was working splendidly for the Canadians, every place was packed with tourists. Third, without exception everyone we talked to, especially motorcycle riders, said they usually visit the US in summer but have chose not to until the current political situation resolves. These people were super friendly to us and  told us we were welcome but they are resolute in boycotting the US. Finally, we learned that riding on the shoulder to pass traffic on the right is expressly forbidden! Yikes, glad we didn’t get caught and deported for breaking the law.

Next, off to Jasper National Park and the Icefields Parkway.

Thanks for following,

Donn and Deby