Saturday, August 8, 2009 (Day 13)

Even though we thought we were well rested, the scheduling threw us off. Getting up at 4 am (Alaska time zone), and be on the bike by 6 am didn’t do the brain much good. I was so dozy that I had to stop at the side of the road, and ate some KitKat to wake up by 10 am even though we had Grand Slam breakfast at Denny’s at Terrace at 8:30 am.

Prince Rupert Bay

At Prince Rupert, because it was an Alaska ferry, we had to clear Canadian Customs in order to enter. I think they put the junior trainees here. They asked all the standard questions and very slowly, such as any weapon, alcohol, tobacco, $10,000 cash, etc etc.
 

Smithers

The weatherman would have a very good day with us today. At Prince Rupert, we had 16C and drizzling. At Terrace we had rain and 18C. At Hazelton, we had sunshine and 19C. At Smithers we had hail (about 1/2cm diameter) and 12.5C. At Houston, we had overcast and 16C. At Burns Lake, it was raining and 11C. The forecast tonight is thunderstorms and 4C. Fortunately, tomorrow looks good.

These northern towns are all the places that I have heard often. I am glad that I finally have a chance to visit them. The towns get bigger and more prosperous as they get more southward.

I think the 8 riders are starting to get sick of each other. I was mainly riding on my own. Thank goodness for the GPS. The scenery was great. It must be the rain……the forests look so “green”. BC is truly beautiful.

I was very glad that I got a new set of tires for the trip. The gravel road already took chunks of rubber off the tires. John Valk was telling me that I will probably need new tires by October when the odometer hits 20,000Km.

I will recommend this motorcycle to people. It is really a good all-purpose sport-touring bike.

I saw a man fulfilling his “bucket list” today. It was a man may be 60 yrs old, limping, walking with a cane. He was riding a modified/converted tri-motorcycle towing a trailer, with his wife on the back seat. His wife had to help him off the bike, held the cane, changed his jackets……….etc etc. What a lovely sight.

We had checked into a motel in Burns Lake. How many of you have heard of it? Ha Ha. The owners were Tran’s. Their attached restaurant also served Vietnamese food. I guess we were going Vietnamese tonight. The scheduling is totalling messed up. I guessed that most of the riders were still napping right at this time.

The insight of the day:  Vancouver is a heavenly place to reside in.

SC : re Alaska citizens’ opinion of Palin. It is a phenomenon that I have observed. It may be true that US citizens have strong opinions of their politicians, and may disapprove some/lots of them, but they “don’t” quite express that to non US citizens. They do tend to have a united front as US citizens and tend to support their leaders. Do you notice that?