April 30
Rain and more Rain. The night before I broke my phone charger. Officially phoneless and I have to say I don't really care. It won't work in Canada anyway. Emily let me stay another night at her place. Canada in the morning. Thanks again Emily!
 |
| Emily! |
 |
| South of Bellingham looking into the sound. |
 |
| Playing "fetch" |
May 1. 169 mi/ 271 km. 1 boarder crossing. 1 Ferry.
On the road by 10 am. Stopped at a WellsFargo to get some Canadian cash. The blond lady at the boarder gave me a bundle of shit.
"So you lost your job because of the economy? why are you coming to Canada"
"No, I quit my job to travel. I am going to Vancouver island, then Whistler and up to Alaska"
"Why?"
"..Why not...?"
"Please pull over to the left. We need to look at your vehicle."
 |
| My kilometers at the US/Canada boarder. |
 |
| My "miles" at the US/Canada. |
 |
| Looking north to Vancouver. Time to change over to kilometers, liters and degrees C. |
Once in Vancouver, I met up with Cort from ADVrider and he bought me lunch after a small tour of the city. He also has a ktm 690. I caught the 3:00 ferry from Horseshoe bay to Nanaimo for $41 Canadian. On the Ferry, I met another guy from ADVrider named Lane and he got the honors of signing British Columbia on my fairing. The Ferry ride was somewhat cold but the views were great. The 110 km from Nanaimo to Courtenay was a nice smooth ride along the eastern shore of Vancouver island. Finding the Cona Hostel is somewhat hard but once you do, it's pretty nice.
 |
| Cord |
 |
| Crab burger. You guessed it... it was amazing. |
 |
| Vancouver |
 |
| Vancouver. Those clouds look like rain. |
 |
| Lane on the ferry |
 |
| Rear tire after 3500 miles |
 |
| Front tire after 3500 miles |
 |
| Inside the Hostel |
May 2nd.
I keep saying I got a late start when I get on the bike by 10:30 even though that is my normal timing. The 110 km ride north from Courtenay was wet the whole way. Infact, the whole day was wet. I met up with a local named David at Sayward Junction. He took me on some amazing back roads, behind a waterfall and to a camp site on Vernon Lake. I had no idea Vancouver Island would be so amazing. The mountains, lakes, trees and rivers are huge. Iwill return to fly fish and explore this island when I have at least 2 weeks to a month to explore.
 |
| Logging roads |
 |
| David's blacked out KTM 640 adv |
 |
| Some where on the east side of the island.. up north |
 |
| Can you see David? |
 |
| What about now? |
 |
| This dog's name was bear. For good reason. |
 |
| What happened to the road David? |
 |
| The bikes on the other side. |
 |
| Vernon lake |
 |
| Nearly full moon and campfire |
May 3rd
It rained off and on throughout the night and everything was wet in the morning. The sun showed promise of poking through so we took our time packing up camp. Breakfast for me was fried burritos and coffee. We rode to Gold River and had lunch at "the Piper on the Ridge". They had the best salad I have had at a restaurant in a long time. It had lettuce, red peppers, green peppers, yellow peppers, mushrooms, celery, carrots and tomato. The BLT was good also. From Gold river we road east toward the coast along Campbell lake. It was pretty amazing. At Campbell river we split and I booked it for the Nanaimo ferry and David went north to catch his ferry. Even leaving the island was beautiful because I got an epic sunset on the ferry. I can't wait to return. Next is Whistler BC to snowboard for 4 days.
 |
| Dirty KTM |
 |
| I didn't feel bad eating a BLT with a "side salad" like that! |
 |
| The view from our table at lunch |
 |
| Our awesome server |
 |
| Katy M all alone. :( |
 |
| Horseshoe Bay |
As a fellow rider I was wondering do you have a GPS track of the ride ?
ReplyDeleteI have a GPS track logged every day. I am assuming you want the tracks on the island? Email me and I can send them to you in a GPX file.
DeleteNoah.horak@gmail.com