BC Heading North

On our way to the border from Arlington we had to tag along behind a small group of motorcyclists due to the fact they were travelling quite slowly and taking up the whole road which being narrow and winding prevented us overtaking. Just after a piece of road works their leader indicated left, turned right then did a U turn in front of his group. It was very nearly a disaster but some very heavy braking avoided disaster.  We took our opportunity to zip past them.

Shortly after I misinterrupted  Mrs Google's instructions and consequently we ended up on some very very rural back roads before popping out on our intended route.

Made it through the border check point but not without getting growled at by the border control agent for riding up to her window with my passport between my teeth. She was less than impressed.

Got to John's place about lunchtime,  had a coffee, loaded up the bikes with the rest of our gear and headed off. We headed north via the Fraser Gorge. What a stunning bit of country.  Sadly I didn't take any photos.

Made it to Cache Creek where we spent the night. This town seems to gave more motels than anything else.

We had breaky the next day in a lovely little cafe in Clinton. Thank goodness we decided to share the omelette, toast and hash brown type things. It was massive.

Marty had contacted a guy in one of his e groups so we arranged to meet him at the Tim Horton coffee shop in 100 Mile House. Spent a pleasant hour or so there before heading off to the lovely old town of Quesnel where we are spending the night.
I made a dramatic exit from the gas station resulting in my first off. No damage to bike just riders pride hurt and a few bruises on my already well battle scarred right leg. I failed to notice a small concrete wall at the end of the row of petrol pumps and as I left my right hand panniers clipped it and thus tossed me and the bike over. This us why I much prefer my roll bag which bungees across my rear seat.

 This is the longest wooden truss walking bridge in the world. It opened in 1929 and is 831 feet long. It crosses the mighty Fraser River which is very fast flowing.

I had a lovely long soak in a hit bath tonight to ease my battered limbs. Lol

Looking forward to a good night's sleep and more good riding tomorrow.

Portland

We had a late night chatting to our host Doug. Bad for him as he had to get up for work st 4.30am. We slept in till 8 then had a leisurely breakfast and chat with Poppy our hostess. We walked the 2 odd km to John's place then packed a few things on the bike and set off for Portland 500 odd km away.
There was a bit of a queue at the border crossing but after paying another $6 each for a bit more paperwork we were allowed into Trumpsville.
It was here that the zip in my jacket decided it had had enough and it froze. We had to take drastic action to get it apart so I could take my jacket off. Never mind I have had over 12 years of fun  (and the occasional not so fun) times in it.
Traffic was horrendous from about 15 miles north of Seattle till 15 miles south of Tacoma. 60 miles took nearly 3 hours. We stopped for a break partway through this nightmare and the lady at the fast food outlet said her normal 7 minute commute to work had taken 45 minutes. I couldn't do that everyday.
We spotted this cool Chevy at a gas station near St Helens. Got talking to the guy and he told us it was the actual vehicle they used to transport the Cartwright boys up to the Ponderosa for filming. How cool is that all you Bonanza fans.

We eventually arrived in Portland about 9pm. Andrew and Jon had just about given up on us. We weren't long out of bed.

Didn't take long next morning for the boys to find their way into Andrew's man cave.

Most of the day spent was shopping. Mainly for a new back tyre for my bike so Jon, Marty and I piled into Andrews car and he took us to the bike shop. All 3 we visited didn't stock the tyre we required but all was not lost as Jon had a brand new one back home in his garage.  I on the other hand was successful in purchasing a new jacket, a roll bag and new sim cards for our phones and a free T shirt for Mr H.

A very pleasant evening around the BBQ. It sure is tough being on holiday.

Sunday afternoon Andrew took us to an Art and music event where we met his sister and a brother in law. Not only is he a very talented and successful artist but he has restored a lovely 1931 Model T Ford. A real beauty with a couple of modern features well disguised under the hood. (can't find the photo)

We went out and got burritos for tea and Marty had the young guy on a bit and he made us two ginormous ones. We shared one between us and even had some left for Jon's dog Ellie. Man they were big.

Monday morning started with a phone call to the T Mobile help then a wee walk to a local store to try and sort Marty's phone. 45 minutes later we had success. Yippee now we can hit the road.  We loaded up the bikes said our goodbyes and off we went. First stop the local gas station where we discover one of my mirrors is flopping in the breeze do it's back to Andrews to tighten it up. Attempt two, and with me in charge of the GPS we attempt to leave Portland. I did it, no dramas. We missed the drama of Seattle by turning off onto the 405 which wasn't all that much fun but a little less (and I mean little) congested than the 5. Stress levels weren't too bad although I did have a mild panic attack when I thought I had got us onto a toll road that we shouldn't have been on. I hadn't. Phew.
Stopped for the night in Arlington. Did a couple of hundred miles (350ish kms) today. More than enough for my first day in the driving seat.

Canada 2018

It doesn't seem that we are able to make trouble free exits from NZ. Firstly I got the day of departure wrong but not the date so I had us heading to the Airport Tuesday. Luckily for me I was doing some last minute paperwork and discovered that the 20th was actually Wednesday. Don't think Marty would have been impressed getting there that early.
Arrived at the airport in plenty of time as I had entries to the Koro lounge and we planned on a leisurely rest there.  There was a huge queue to check in with nothing happening. The passport scanning software had gone down so nobody could check in. Luckily it was fixed within half an hour. Checked in and heading to the Koro Lounge. 'Sorry to burst your bubble' the lovely guard lady said when we arrived at the door 'but we are not accepting anyone with vouchers as we are full, due to them allowing all the passengers in from a flight from Melbourne that had been turned back. But maybe you could come back and try later. Well we got half an hour in there so it wasn't all bad.
Onto the plane, settling into our roomy exit rows seats and looking forward to getting going. Taxi out, then the Captain says there is a technical problem which they have to check out. A fuel sensor had failed which was a major repair job so we taxi back in and are all off loaded and given a meal voucher. 5 hours later it's all fixed and we are ready to go. Yippee.
13hrs later we arrive in Vancouver where it was considerably warmer than home. Our friend John picked us up and dropped us off at our bnb at Cultus Lake. Nice place and hosts.

View from our bnb

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We slept very well.
Today we spent the day with John getting the bike sorted. Nothing major to do so was a pretty cruisey day. Tomorrow we head to Portland to pick up a bike for Marty.
The fun begins.

Marty and John getting my bike ready.