After a very good night's sleep at the Red Coach Inn, we departed 100 Mile House at just after 7am. We fell into our regular routine of Bear Bingo, stops every 50 miles; and for the whole day only saw one deer in the early morning and one eagle after we arrived back in the states.
At one of our rest stops in Clinton, BC, there was a nice sculpture of a cowboy bathing and a little rubber ducky with him.
Tim2 remembered that he had acquired 4 rubber duckies at a trade show (2 yellow and 2 red), so we all installed them on our radio antennas. Of course Tom led us in a chorus or two of the Rubber Duckie song.
We took on fuel at Cache Creek and noted that the terrain had changed dramatically from the alpine forests we were used to to dry sagebrush.
There was also a major car show just beginning, so we were treated with all sorts of cool custom cars coming towards us much like several days ago outside of Watson Lake.
The next part of the ride was one of the real treats: Riding down the Thompson and Frazier River Canyons. Traffic was light and Tom rolled on the throttle.
Not another waterfall:
One of our goals was to stop at the Hells Gate Tram on the Frazier River which we did and rode the tram to the bottom, took pictures, had a nice lunch (2 salmon burgers and two regular burgers).
While down there a fellow approached us and complimented us on our bikes. He was riding a GL1800 like 3 of us, but his had a turbo installed on it. Here are a few pictures of that bike.
Then it was more riding down the canyon and through many tunnels.
There were also lots of rapids and water movement.
We also observed lots of bikers out for their Saturday ride, and little did they know our grizzled pack of 4 had just returned from The Great Land.
Arriving at the US Border around 2pm, we cleared customs and took a break to call our respective loved ones.
And we got our "ducks in a row" if you know what I mean.
We then decided to not ride the super slab home; rather take WA9 south. While it was twisty, some traffic tended to hold us up. But we stuck with it and eventually connected with WA522 and then I405, I90 and our eventual destination of the Mercer Island Lid Park for a little end of ride celebration. My wife, Angela, and Tim2's wife, Cindy, showed up to photograph us coming in and that was very special and moving. After taking a few pictures to commemorate the end, we enjoyed some cold drinks that Cindy had brought.
Neil, Tom, and I then rode south on 405 to our respective homes.
It was a great 10 nights and 11 days with 4 friends. We all learned more about each other, worked through the challenges of each of us being "wired" differently, appreciated each person's contribution to the ride, and even dreamed about doing something in the future. Who would have thought that I could don mesh vented clothing in Seattle and ride to Alaska, BC, and the Yukon and be totally comfortable. I didn't wear my thermals or electric clothing that I brought.
And now to one of the last steps:
But that will have to wait for another day.
I'll post an epilogue in a day or so before signing off this blog. Suffice it to say, it was a fabulous trip, a dream of mine to be able to visit my native state on the 50th Anniversary of statehood. Doing it with 3 friends using our respective motorcycles was just icing on the cake. Like we said many times during the trip, "We're living the dream!" We just didn't stop with the dream. I would encourage you to live your own dream whatever that may be.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about a ride of this sort.
