Adventures By Guy

Jeff and I were goin to sleep in late as we figured that Dick would want to sleep in as he was at the hospital until late.
None of us were impressed with the Canadian Healthcare system. Hardly any patients in the emergency room. (2) Dick had his shoulder X-rayed within 20 minutes but then sat there for 4 hours as someone had to look at it. Dick said he was back there and they were all just chatting and eating snacks and nobody seemed to be doing anything for several hours. The other patient needed her foot x-rayed and she told Dick to get comfortable as it will be 3 or 4 hrs. She was right! Dick was in some pain so he only slept for an hr or two. That’s why they were up and packing the bikes like normal. So Jeff and I got ready and packed up the bikes and we went to A&W for breakfast. I haven’t seen a McDonald’s yet but A&W’s are all over like McDonald’s are in the States. I’ve seen DQ, Burger King. Another thing I noticed is that the gas stations don’t have ice dispensers at the soda machine. If they have a soda machine. When I stop for gas I refill my camelback with ice. So I am drinking ice water all day… except no ice? At lunch in Vanderhoof I asked if they could fill me up with ice. Sure! Yay!
After breakfast Dick went for a test ride to see if he would continue or fly home and store his bike at a Honda dealer. We told him if there was any doubt then cut it short. He got back and said he thinks he can go on. He is sore and taking aspirin. Ok then, and we got on the road. Didn’t Gopro anything today. Started out 70° and it seemed almost clear of smoke. About 10 miles down the road an Elk ran behind me and in front of Dick. I didn’t see it but Mike asked me what ran in between us. I don’t know it was behind me.
Mountains and ranch land in the valleys so beautiful. Then the land flattened out and the evergreen trees got smaller and more spindley as we went further North. Birch or Aspen started coming in more. We’d top a rise or ride around a shoulder of a mountain and a big long lake would be there. So many big long lakes between mountains.. I didn’t even see the really big one except on a map at a rest stop. Lake François or François Lake. Mostly we just rode the miles down. I wouldn’t see any ranch land for a while and I would think we are to far North and then pow… we’d round a corner and there is a large valley with ranches and pastures with fields of oats or rye. The towns are getting smaller but there are way more people up here than I thought.
We ate lunch in Vanderhoof BC and we followed Jeff around town a bit as he was lookin for a restaurant that he liked. They had German food. I learned schnitzel is basically a pork tenderloin. Jaeger schnitzel is just Schnitzel with mushroom gravy. Real mashed potatoes too. We had been riding in 88° weather and when we came out from lunch it was in the 90’s. Where is this cold northern Canada???? I was thinking about getting out my cool sleeves and cooling vest!
Back on the road and out of town we went up in elevation so hi 80’s to low 90’s.
Vanderhoof is the Geological Center of BC. So now I have been through the Geological Center of BC and North America. As we approached Smithers BC we saw some fires and we saw helicopters flying back and forth with big buckets slung by cables underneath them. I looked over to where they were going and then looked at the GPS map. Sure enough there was a small lake over there. I saw one stop and then hover for a moment then slowly descend below the tree line while the other one waited. I guess they were filling up the buckets. The helicopters were just silhouettes against the haze of smoke. After a while the haze lessened and it didn’t smell like you were riding through a campfire anymore.
It’s costing me around $18 American or a bit more to fill up. The nearest I can figure is gas is somewhere between $6 to $7 a gallon for regular. Now that it is hot I have been putting in 91 octane as that’s what it is supposed to have. I’m loaded down and going up inclines and it’s hot…. perfect conditions for pre-detonation (pinging) and that’s a bit more.. Not as bad as I was expecting as it was $6 a gallon back in 94 when I came up here last time. A big difference in pumping gas is that when you put your card in it authorizes it. Then displays a pre-authorization amount. I am doing $40 to ensure I can fill up the bike. About 30 dollars has been my max. My tank holds 6.1 gallons.
We got sprinkled on with big drops for a couple of miles and all it did was cool us down for a bit. We stopped at a rest stop and I took pictures of some flowers that I had seen growing along the ditches. Some daisies too. Then I saw ants going up and down this pine tree. It reminded me of my son when we stopped by a scenic overlook in Northwestern NE. After a while he disappeared and I found him squatting down in the tall grass watching a bunch of ants working away. He was fascinated. The world is a fascinating thing. We each have our own little universes within it. I came off a busy road to walk a short way into some trees to see another busy hwy and neither knew about the other.
After that break we did another 90 miles and got to the motel. Changed and went to Boston Pizza. They seem to be popular here. Good Pizza. While we were unloading the bikes I kept hearing thunder rumbling. We went to walk across the street and the wind came and was blowing dust everywhere. Hey, we better hurry! We got in and the rain came. As the clouds moved out I saw the sun shining through the clouds around the big mountain that is hovering over the town. Took a picture but it had changed and pics just aren’t the same. Then I looked south and we had just paid the bill so I said… we have to go NOW or stay a while longer. Why? I pointed to the next storm coming but it was to late. So as the lightning flashed and the thunder boomed we sat chatting watching it out the big windows until it had spent itself and the mountain appeared again… then we walked back. More rain has since come through and we are hoping it passes during the night.