A few days in the Salmon Arm area.

Well I wrote a page full previously but somehow lost it. Hopefully I can remember some of what I had written here.

I managed to get a campsite in one of my favorite old provincial campsites, Harold park. We came to this park as a family many years ago when it was first started and before it even had running water. A good friend of mine was involved in starting up and building this park and this is how we found out about it. It has changed a lot since those days and now caters to those that demand what only used to be found in the private campsites, but it still feels good to come here.

Harold Park Campsite

I was able to visit with a couple of my friends from the reunion we had in North Van on June 6th. as they live in Salmon Arm. It was great to visit with them and I enjoyed the many good memories that we have in common after so many years. It was nice to see how well they are doing and what good parents and people they have grown to be.

I also had the opportunity to ride a Harley. Now I can at least know first hand why I don't own one. It was interesting but this old body couldn't last more than 15 minutes or so.

I went to Church on Sunday and ran into two people that I know. One was a family friend my parents age that I haven't seen in about 43 years. It was great to spend the day talking about family memories.

Time to head home after a great time with friends, family and the beautiful roads and scenery of BC. It was a great trip.I spent a nice afternoon in the sun of Nakusp  and enjoyed the the roads of the Kooetnays and then ended up at a campsite that I often seem to stop at in Yahk. Colder in the morning so glad I am heading home.

Yahk

Well I seem to have put on a little weight while away, time to get back to the exercises and get caught up on the realities of  life.

I originally started this blog due to the interest from my Daughter but as that interest seems to have disappeared I think this will be the end of my attempt to write on my motorcycle travels. As you can see there also has been a great lack of photos lately, sorry.

Over to Vancouver Island and back through BC.

I'm off to Vancouver Island to visit my Steven and family. I quite enjoy there two little ones as they are seldom boring, although I think they could be quite a handful if I was the one looking after them 24/7. The youngest at just a year old hasn't seen me since Nov. so was a  little shy but warmed up to me somewhat after a days or so. Nothing better than hugs from the Grandchildren. While I was on the Island I took the opportunity to take a ride over to Port Renfrew on the west coast of the Island and cross over to Cowichan Lake. it was another great ride and I soaked in the sun and swam at the lake which was actually quite warm. The weather has been warm and sunny most of the time I have been on the coast but a change is in the air.

Had A nice visit with fellow bikers on the ferry while leaving the Island, then stopped to pick up some things I had left at my sisters and headed up to Penticton to visit friends. It was nice ride up #3 and as it was the last day of warm weather I stopped at the beach on Skaha lake for awhile and was surprised that it was colder than Cowichan lake. It was great as usual to visit my old friends from my sidecar days and felt very welcomed as always. I try to visit everyone I know and my kids at least once a year, wish I could say the same for my siblings but they seem a lot more distant these days.

Weather was changing as I left Penticton and I ran into rain and it got kind of cold from Kelowna to Enderby but then warmed up a bit. Salmon Arm seemed to have escaped the rain, which makes for a much better camping experience. So here I am, relaxing, catching up on my blog and hopefully finding some nice roads to explore in the area.

Off to the big city.

I don't seem to be very good at proof reading so hopefully you don't mind all the mistakes.

I left Sechelt and headed to Langley to spend a few days visiting as well as having a place to stay so I could go to the get together with old friends in North Van. June 6th.

So it's June 6th now and I am heading to North Van to reunite with some Old friends from high school and early 20's time in my life. I was a little late as I stopped by the Costco to get my hearing aids tuned up so I could actually here what my friends had to say. Arriving a bit late I was a little overwhelmed trying to scan everyone at once and figure out who was who. So some guy come up to me to shake my hand and I have absolutely no idea who it was, trying to figure out why he was there as he surely couldn't be one of the old gang. Well after quite sometime and when I had time to just sit and look and listen I finally figure out that it was Rod. Later communication via email confirmed that he knew I had no idea who he was and had a good laugh about it. Every time I think about it now or look at the photos of us I can't stop laughing and I'm sure Rod does the same.  (The good thing Rod is, that your looking good in your old age.) So those that were there are - Rod, Doug, Ray, Norm, Wayne, Mike, Barry, and myself. I had some trouble figuring out Norm, Doug would have been a hard one except I had seen him on Face Book, the rest I could figure out. I certainly had a good time as I am sure everyone did. I'm so glad I returned early from my trip down south to attend the gathering of the old gang. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that has a somewhat fading memory. Lots of great stories shared some accurate some maybe not so much but all fun and interesting for sure. Hopefully we will be able to get together again in the not to distant future. I think I won the beat hair contest again, as I quite often did in my younger years, Although being the only one riding a bike did put my hair at a disadvantage due to helmet hair.

I stayed another day with my sister and then headed to the Island to visit my youngest, Steven and his wife and 2 children.

Heading to the Coast, June 2015, Day 3!

Well it's been a great ride so far and lucky me in the morning it still hasn't rained so I pack up as quick as possible, put on my rain gear and head towards Whistler, and yes soon the rain begins. Stopped in Whistler to add my pin lock to my helmet visor ( it a second layer that helps prevent the visor from fogging in wet and cold weather) It's the first time have tired it and it worked great. Happened to have a nice BMW car pass me that wanted to drive fast, so of course I always welcome a rabbit in front of me to follow so as to lesson the chances of a speeding ticket.

Rain had stopped by the time I got to the ferry. I'm now heading to Sechelt to visit some good friends of mine for a few days. I had a great visit as usual with my fiends treating me like a king and spoiling me. It's always so great to reconnect with friends, no matter how long it has been. I also had some help with my online dating profile and some new and improved photos to post, well so I thought, It seems things are pretty dead in my online dating site regardless of my new and improved profile and photos, so I guess that's they way it's meant to be for now.

Well, I'm sitting in a Library in Salmon Arm right now, taking some alone time to try catch up on this blog. I have been staying with other people for the last 10 days so although I get lonely by myself it is sometimes nice for even me to be alone,( for a short time), so I can organize my thoughts a bit and also do what I want when I want. I was fortunate to get a campsite in one of my old favorite places, Harold park. I first started going there many years ago when a good old friend of mine Rod, was the Ranger there and he was involved in building the park from the beginning, so it seems special to me, although just not the same as it used to be.

Yes I know, no photos, and I'm afraid I don't think I have taken any but will check and post them later if I do, but for now packing it in for today as my hip is pretty sore sitting here and I'm getting hungry. So off to Subway it is! Take Care!

Heading to the Coast June 2015! Day 1 and 2

Well although my trip down south was kind of short and this blog was supposed to be about my travels to all 49 states and back across Canada, I have put that on hold for now so will write of my other travel adventure as the mood moves me to. I am now able to head to the west coast to meet up with a few of my good OLD friends, some of which I haven't seen for almost 40 Years.

I took a nice long route to the coast. From Creston I headed up to Crawford Bay and took the ferry across Kootenay Lake and then up to Kaslo. The road was great and the the weather just as good. This is a road I never seem to get tired of, lots of curves and lots of beauty and fortunate enough to be an a bike that makes it all even more fun. Spent the night in the town campsite where they seem to have a reputation for treating people on bikes better than some others.

Following morning the weather seems to be heading for a change but still looking pretty good. Headed from Kaslo to New Denver, An even nicer road that the one yesterday. LOTS of great curves and good pavement all while enjoying the beauty along the way. Traveling this road you will also have the view of beautiful snow covered peaks in the distance. This is a road I highly recommend riding, even if you have before, I think I have ridden it every year for the past 5 years and it's still great.

Picked up some batteries in New Denver and got my Spot working again and then headed towards Nakusp. Yes, yet another great road and the weather is still hanging in there. Stopped in Nakusp to stock up on a bit of food and then headed down to the ferry at Fauquier that crosses the Arrow lakes to Needles. The road on the other side is yet another great road with lots of very tight corners along the way to Lumby.

I now headed to Kamloops, skies are threatening rain but it is very hot so not putting on the rain gear yet. As I headed up to Logan lake thinks cooled off and it started to rain, so on goes the rain gear. As I drop down into Ashcroft the rain has stopped and things are heating up again and even though the skies are still threatening rain I could stand it no longer and stopped to take off the rain gear.

Massive tailings lake of the giant cooper mine near Logan Lake

Now heading towards Pavillion and Lillooet and down the Duffy Lake trail as they call it.  This is another road that is very enjoyable on a bike and well worth taking. Some rough spots but lots of new pavement in the last year so overall quite a good road. Rain started soon after Lillooet so back on goes the rain gear and then I tend to slow down as even though I have great tires I am pretty cautious in the rain. I managed to make it to a campsite just past Pemberton where it wasn't raining and actually hadn't yet rained, so quickly set up the tent hoping that I would be lucky enough for it also to be dry when I packed up in the morning.