I finally got the chance to go for a little ride. My bike was tuned up and ready to go. My friend Roger has been doing the DamTour (http://DamTour.com) this year and wanted to pick up his last dam; the W.A.C. Bennett Dam near Hudson's Hope, BC. We also are doing the Oregon Grand Tour and Jasper, AB is a bonus checkpoint. Roger is an IronButt veteran and he knows I am interested in that type of riding. I think he is trying to get me addicted to this type of challenging, competitive riding. I have been improving the comfort on my Blackbird bit by bit, and this would be a good test. The only downside of this trip was, we had to ride a ways to get away from the rain in NorthWet Washington.
Click here for Route Map in EveryTrailRoger rode up from Salem, OR after work. We decided to get as close to the border as possible on Thursday night to make sure we got to Hudson's Hope before sundown for pictures of the Dam. Friday we headed north for a 730 mile day of riding. Heading up Highway 1 then 97, it rained pretty steady for 200 miles. Then it was on and off, then sunny and 65 for rest of the day. Took gas stops at Cache Creek and Williams Lake. Last time I had ridden to Willams Lake was to celebrate Mr. Prestwich's (SABMAG List) graduation. Those 400 miles seemed easy this time. We had lunch at Subway.
We kept riding and riding, stopping to take mini breaks and fill the tank, and ride some more. It was about 68 in Prince George. Late in the evening we passed through Hudson's Hope and headed out to Walter A Bennett Dam. I hadn't really thought about what we were going to see, I just thought of it as our destination. But wow, we came around a corner and here is one of the largest dams I have seen in person, a huge earthen dam. It looks larger than the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state. And it holds back the largest lake in North America, Lake Williston. It was an interesting location. We went through some security checkpoints, and then we rode across the Dam to an overlook. After we took some pictures we dropped back down to Hudson's Hope for the night. This area was thick with deer. On the way out to the dam, I was proud of myself as I had spotted a deer way out in front of me. I had raised my hand, and flashed my brake light. We slowed way down to look at the pretty deer off to the left side of the road. Then when the deer saw us he jerked and jumped..., and so did his friend that was standing directly in my path on the road. Talk about a heart attack I couldn't see the deer closest to me as he was in the glare from the dropping sun. I am glad I had slowed so much. On the way back to Hudson's Hope we even saw many more deer. We rode slowly. We checked in about 9:30pm and all the restaurants were closed. Good thing we had snacks. I went out after dark and watched the faint Northern Lights.
In the morning we started early again, and decided to ride north some more in the good weather. We rode up highway 29 to Fort St John. 29 is a sweet piece of road, some tight corners and many smooth sweepers. We rode past groves of aspen trees. At one point we climbed to a viewpoint of the Peace River. The scenery was awesome! At Fort St John we headed south to Dawson Creek on the Alaska Highway. Got the obligatory picture at Milepost 0. Man we were far north! From here we continued south to Grande Prairie and Grand Cache on Highway 40. I got to borrow some fuel from Roger from his aux fuel tank here. We then continued down to Jasper, AB, entering from the park from the north. As we got closer to the Rockies the weather turned back to rain. As we climbed in elevation it got colder and colder. At different high points it snowed a slushy snow and got down to 35 degrees. I had my electric liner and grips on full. Well it turns out I was draining my battery quicker that my dying stator was charging. Roger was kind enough to push start me at the Jasper Park tollbooth. Roger had recently gone through a similar problem with his FJR. Coming into the park the clouds were low, limiting the view of the awesome peaks of the Rockies, but the low show was also spectacular. We picked up the Jasper Grand Tour bonus checkpoint. We kept going down to Valemount, BC. I quit using electrics and found that the battery would basically trickle charge. I have since replaced the flaky stator. Valemount is a nice place. This was approximately a 450 mile day.
The next day we headed from Valemount. Another 450 miles more to Marysville for me, and 750 to Salem, OR for Roger. We decided to put some miles on before breakfast and rode down to the Sandman in Blue River. After breakfast Roger let me ride his fully farkled FJR (FFFJR). I didn’t stop for over a hundred miles. At Barriere I felt guilty that Roger might want his bike back, so I stopped. I really like the FJR, especially the way Roger has set his up with bar risers and a comfy seat. I rides like a Goldwing, you can put miles on with ease. But it also will turn and burn well. While riding the bike we passed through the area of Little Fort. Smooth sweepers along the Thompson River. It is just a beautiful area.
We rode a safe pace, slow and steady in the monsoon rains, and smooth through the sweepers. We saw deer, elk, moose, mountain goats, a few black bears and more deer. We saw a lot of awesome country, bagged a dam and a checkpoint. It was a great weekend for riding! I found I was comfortable on long days on my bike. This type of riding is contagious. ;-) I like watching the country go by.
