Adventures By Guy

Morning routine and on the road by 8 am. Another sunny day. Temperature 57°F and slowly worked its way up to the mid 70’s and by late in the day 84. Good day to be traveling. That’s what we did… all day. Mike and Dick were going to travel with us for most of the day but someone said fires were bad and roads might be closed going south ( they weren’t). So 60 miles East in Prince George they said goodbye and headed East before going south. So it was down to Jeff and I… almost. So two days ago when I decided to go 60 mph for a whole tank when those guys bugged out 3 minutes ahead of me because I usually catch up. Well this time I decided not to so at Dease Lake gas station I honked and waved as I went by… Well they met Scott who was also on his way back from Northern Alaska.1 I guess they talked to him for a bit as he said he had a place to stay in Stewart. They told him we were staying in Hyder… except there is nothing in Hyder…so we pulled into Stewart and got a hotel and there was Scott. Talked to him some more. I don’t know how but he was at breakfast this morning too. Jeff and I were going to part ways just south of Clinton BC and I was taking 99 through Whistler where the 2010 winter Olympics were held. Scott said that he was going that way too. So it was the 3 of us traveling together now. Scott seems to be a very nice person so he was welcomed into our caravan.
On one of our rest stops he said where are you staying? I don’t know yet. I’m staying at a Hostel in Whistler for $38. Sounds great to me… so I booked it on line. I am sleeping in a bed that an Olympian slept in… Scott’s in the top bunk. Jacob from Australia is a here on a work visa waiting for the ski season so he can snowboard. Some other kid is from Quebec. There are so many European 20 somethings getting jobs and working in an area then moving on to see another area. I was going to do that then somehow I joined the Navy and had an adventure instead!
So I was leading all day and Jeff was going to leave us in Clinton, BC. Pick some place to eat in Clinton Guy. I roll into town and see this Road Kill BBQ. I pulled in and it was an odd looking place in an RV Park. We went in and a nice oriental woman greeted us. Oh, we are not open until 4:30.
Oh, that’s in an hour. Ok, bye. Then a guy wanders over and he is missing some teeth. You guys should stay. You’re missing out. Then a guy pulls up and says it’s the best BBQ around this part of BC and the food is cheap. Jeff said… we can be down the road a whole hour. His reply… what’s your rush? You have your whole life to get down the road an hour. Ok, we’ll get gas and come back. Turns out the guy in the car might have been a little biased as he is the owner. The woman I believe is his wife. They had a sign Mike and Anna welcome you.
Mike was correct the food was delicious and inexpensive for what you got. About $22 American. Ribs, anything on the buffet. Mike the owner is very engaged with his customers too. Asking questions and handing out humorous quips. We are sitting there all three of us very full and agreeing that it was a good thing we stayed when Mike asks… You boys want some Homemade Black Cherry ice cream. We all groaned and said we were full. Come on boys… IT’S ICE CREAM it doesn’t take up much space! Ok, I will have a serving. It was so good. Jeff, you gotta try this stuff. No, otherwise I will have a bowl. He likes ice cream. I got him to finally try a spoonful. The look on his face said it all. 3 minutes later Anna goes by… Anna, can a get a small amount of that ice cream. Just a small amount. Sure, and brings him out a 2/3 portion. I said small! Anna in her cute accent… that is small for ice cream. He ate it all. I asked for another bowl and Scott took a spoonful out of that too. He was good. They had a zucchini casserole with spices in it that was delicious. I asked if he minded giving me the recipe. No go…
We said goodbye and I wanted to get their picture. They had to have it by their Donald Trump… Mike goes you don’t often see Trump in Clinton . Referring to the Clinton’s of American infamy.
So we parted ways and it’s just me and Scott. We go down 99 which winds its way through some mountains. When we were standing at an overlook Scott makes a comment on my riding ability as I am looking around and leaving him behind then slowing way down in the straight sections for him.
We go on and I start thinking to myself that I need to go over some basic riding physics with him. I find a nice place by a river to pull over and we talk about things that people talk about when they are getting to know each other. Finally I ask him if he would like some tips on riding. Sure! We go over how to position yourself for entering a corner depending upon which way it turns and why. We talk about trail braking, when to use the rear brake and never use it when you’re leaned over as it will stand your bike up. Same with engine breaking. To much and it will try to stand you up. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Trail brake through the corner until you see your exit then accelerate and it will then stand your bike up as you leave the corner. We were just about to take off when I ask him if he knows what counter steering is. What’s that. So we go over that and I tell him to try it a little bit on straight sections to see how it affects the bike. Then we went down the road and there were a lot more curves. It was almost an immediate improvement and another 20 miles down the road he was not falling behind much at all. Many times he hung right with me. Wasn’t going hard but I wasn’t loafing either. I told him people say I should open a motocycle riding school in my retirement. He agreed that I should. That would be fun but it would have to be a small class or private lessons. We were both happy that he was doing much better. Me, because he was much smoother which means safer.
So we end up in Whistler and we stay up late talking like two teens on a sleep over.