32-52-2013: Sunset over the Skagit River

11

August 11, 2013 – I didn’t actually take any photos today. This was the last leg of the journey; short, but stressful, and all we wanted to do was get home in time to pick up Gizmo from the vet clinic where he was boarding, buy some groceries to restock the fridge so we could have dinner tonight and lunch for work tomorrow (what was I thinking that I didn’t book off Monday!!), wash and polish the bikes, and just relax for the evening. We wanted to be home before 3pm, we made it by 2pm. But honestly, this is my favourite photo from the trip. It just sums it up so well, and what better photo for the last night on the road. It’s a perfect closing curtain.

We literally crashed last night in the hotel. When we got back from the brewhouse we shared a bottle of wine and barely managed it. I think we were both asleep before our heads even hit the pillows.

When we woke this morning, it was raining. We didn’t care. We only had 175km to go, an easy ride through territory we are familiar with and roads we know well. The only stressful factor would be the Vancouver traffic, horrible at the best of times, completely inane at the worst. Sadly, today fell into the category of high number of stupid drivers and ridiculous number of close calls.

But before we got to that point, it was a great ride. We lazed about, pushing the checkout time to the limit. Breakfast, and then another coffee, some internet time, then finally pull the gear on and pack the bikes. And by that time, the rain seemed to be done. We pulled liners on anyway because the forecast wasn’t great. I had my rainshell handy to turn me into an orange pylon in an instant. Not sure if the new tailbag is waterproof, cameras were packed tightly in ziplock baggies.

We headed back out the same way we came in, refueled, and rode up highway 9 through Sedro Woolley and headed North. Lots of riders were readying for the ride through Highway 20 and down towards Winthrop, not us, we were going the other way – heading home.

We’ve ridden these roads many times, and I thought about suggesting a few side routes, but then didn’t because really, at this stage, after nine days, it’s just about getting to the end safely. So we stuck to the plan and stayed on the main road, such as it is. I can’t stand the I-5 for anything but making up time. It’s crowded, ugly, and just totally uninteresting. So if we are heading North it’s usually through a twisty area along the coast, or in on Highway 9 through the farms. Today it was farm country.

Kirk was leading, actually he led the entire trip. Usually once we cross the line I am in front, but this time I wanted to be behind, mainly because I had some apprehension about riding some of these roads with the added weight and mental parachute of the luggage, and I didn’t want to ever slow Kirk down. With this bike catching up is no issue, but I didn’t want to be a hindrance ever.

At one point we came to a junction and Kirk flipped is signal to turn left, I flipped mine to turn right. I knew that the highway to the left is straight, boring, and not nearly as much fun as the road to the right. I’ve been down here more than Kirk. I can’t help but wonder what the driver of the car behind us thought. Probably back there thinking, “OK, stop quarrelling and figure it out.” Kirk looked back, saw my turn signal, and changed his to match. Driver behind must have thought “Smart man, agree with the woman.” 🙂

The ride to the Sumas border was without incident, crossing, the question of days and value were 9 days, $20 goods. Honest, I brought back two Christmas tree ornaments and a pair of earrings. That was our total purchase the entire trip. Everything else was hotels, food, drinks, and fuel.

The low point of the trip came today though. As we rounded a corner coming out of the US in the farm fields, we rode past a driveway and a tabby cat was lying dead at the side of the road. I made it two corners before I had to pull off and have a cry. Writing it makes me cry again. We have seen so much road kill this past 9 days. Deer, lots of deer, opossum, raccoons, a porcupine, gophers, chipmunks, squirrels, a fox or coyote – not sure which. But that cat, it drove me over the edge. Maybe it was a farm cat, but maybe it was someone’s pet and it wouldn’t be home tonight to curl up with its human. That broke my heart and I had to stop, turn off the bike, and just weep for five minutes or more. I finally looked at Kirk and said “I’m OK, I can keep going.” But writing that did just make me cry again.

And then we were back in Canada, land of the crazy, inattentive, self centred, distracted driver.

We only saw one accident in the US in 9 days. Somehow a woman had managed to fling her minivan into a ditch and end up facing the wrong way on an interstate highway. No other car involved, we couldn’t figure that one out. In 15 minutes in Canada we saw a three car crash. Within the same time span, Kirk thought a huge black SUV was going to rear-end me because the driver was texting.

Through Mission I thought my life was over as Kirk passed a Ford F350 that didn’t even look to see if there was another bike, and as I was next to his passenger door going by I saw the right signal come on and the front wheel cross the line into my lane. There was also a car pulling out from a parking lot in from my left. I saw myself being crushed. I couldn’t even get to the horn, not that it would have helped, and braked hard when normally I would accelerate, but that second car really made things dicey. The truck saw me at the last second and veered back into his lane, and my adrenaline spike left me shaking for a few miles.

But the fun wasn’t nearly over.

We crossed the Pitt River Bridge and a woman in an old Subaru station wagon came barreling up the the merge lane and split us. Kirk was furious because she was busy on her phone, and rode right up beside her window and yelled at her. She was completely oblivious, focused entirely on her phone, and something on the floor or the passenger seat. I ended up behind her, Kirk in front, and I was terrified she was going to rear end him. She was literally paying absolutely NO attention to what was in front of her as she was driving. Eventually an SUV cut in front of her and I came up the outside and rejoined Kirk.

The Barnet at least had no traffic, and East Hastings was light, then over the Iron Worker’s and through the chaos that is always at the the north end of the bridge where Mount Seymour Parkway joins and Mountain Highway exits. I felt like my eyes were pinballs in an arcade game.

Finally, onto Capilano road, a left onto Garden, a right onto Hope, one more dodge of a car exiting Capilano onto Hope, and we were stopped in front of the condo. Breathing a sigh of relief!

Then Kirk had to remember how to drive a truck since we had to get to the vet clinic to pick up the parrot. The cats probably couldn’t believe that we came in and left immediately.

Picked up some wine, got some groceries, and then poured a glass and went to spend some serious time washing the bikes. The only rock ship I found was on one of the panniers, but I think I blew about a quarter of a cup of gravel out of the bottom of my fairings! They have been dubbed the rock collectors, where the luggage is now known as the bug collector.

We had thought we’d get wet today, we didn’t. In fact, as we reached Mission, the skies opened up and by the time we got home we couldn’t get the gear off fast enough, and we washed everything down in beautiful sunshine and clear blue skies. go figure!

Finally, clean, dry, polished, and put to bed. We are done.

And I am so grateful to be home, safe, and surrounded by cats again. Our boys are happy we are home and are curled up next to us on the deck, and I am grateful to have such a wonderful neighbour who loves them when we are away.

There were a few casualties during the trip.

I think I lost my government ID along the way, pretty sure it was in my little purse, and by day two I no longer had it. Can’t find it at home, so that means I will be into work late as the Commissionaires office doesn’t open until 8am. Pretty sure that will be a bit of paperwork in triplicate. Update: Nope, found it, had it with me all along in a little brown pouch that I know I searched, but apparently not well enough, Guess I have to go to work on time tomorrow!)

I had bought a brand new pair of Rev’it gloves, that cost a pretty penny, about two months ago. they literally came apart at the seams. The stitching holdng protective padding on the thumb of one just disintegrated, and the seams on the wrists of both just let go. So much for $150!! I’ll be taking those back to Pacific to see what they will do.

And on the evening following the ride up and down Mt. St. Helens I was so dead tired that when I picked up my helmet to carry it into the room, it literally slipped out of my fingers. I didn’t have the strength to hang onto it, and it hit the ground and rolled across the driveway, scratching the crap out of my mirrored shield. I went online and ordered a new one that night, can’t live without it. It’s the best shield I’ve used and provides the perfect amount of protection in the bright sun, but is light enough to get through the dappled shadows in forested areas. Oh well, it lasted a season and a half. But it was also an interesting measure of how tiring riding can be.

And on that same note, I almost dumped my bike at one point we stopped and I was so tired that I almost set the bike down without putting down the kickstand. Almost. . . but I caught it at the last moment. I had heard of people doing this when tired, now I understand it!

We also realized that on a trip like this, a loop of sorts, that you see people/cars/bikes repeatedly. We saw several people several times. And it was fun to see things like the Corvette Club (15-20 Corvettes) over two days along the road.

When we got home I punched the trip meter and saw the coolest number. We did, from home to home, 3,456km. I think my original route was about 3,000km, so we picked up some additional roads along the way. And we realized that part of it was a reconnaissance mission. We generally arrived in most places around 8pm, after shops and such closed. And we usually left before 10am, before things opened. When we planned the route it was based on roads that appealed for twistiness and scenery, not destinations. We then subdivided the route into distance chunks and started to look for places to stay within a 350-450 km transit. the places we stayed were based solely on convenience, not on tourist attractiveness. But for the most part it worked well.

We’d like to visit Astoria for a full day, and maybe Bend too. We’d also like to go back to Florence to actually experience the dunes, without the added adrenaline of a a life threatening ride before.

Here is today’s ride, short and sweet.

And here is the trip in its entirely.

It was great, we covered a hell of a lot of territory, and we’d do it again in a heartbeat. Amazingly, the distance across Canada, from Victoria to Halifax, is roughly 4.475 km. We came only a thousand km shy of crossing Canada. But the scenery sure beat crossing the prairies! I’d never want to cross Canada on a motorcycle unless I could ship the bike across the mind dulling straight stretches and ride a train or something. I’d rather duck across the border and do some more interesting stretches on the US side. But it’s  amazing to think that another two days ride and we could have achieved the distance.

So that’s a wrap. 3,456 km on the bikes. And at the end of it all, we can see the appeal of a dualsport, so in the future there may be another pair of very different bikes added to the collection, because some of the roads we covered are better suited for the reliability and functionality of a Suzuki V-strom, or a Kawasaki Versys, or a Triumph Tiger, regardless of how damned ugly they are! I now see the usefulness. . .

And last but not least, just so I can get Burns off my case, here are three photos that actually include me! The first is above the Oregon coast. Before the winds kicked the shit out of us, obviously, as I am still smiling!! The second is at Seaside on the way down the Oregon Coast. No ocean in the background because it’s totally fogged in. The third is at Fort Klamath after a ride through Crater Lake, and you can see the smoky air behind.

Standing tall above the Oregon Coast – pre-crap-kicking!

Seaside Oregon, the End of the Lewis & Clark Trail

Enjoying a beer in smoky Fort Klamath, at Jo’s Motel