EPIC! continued from pg 46
around and laugh as they pointed at what was ahead.
Just when we got to the high point and were prepared to cross the bridge, there was a big sign that said: STOP. There was construction on the bridge. Did I mention high gusty winds? Everyone turned around to make sure I was enjoying the view, and to revel in my misfortune. I would have given them the finger, but that would have required removing a hand from the bars, and that just wasn’t going to be possible until we got to the other side. Suffice to say that what I was thinking in the privacy of my helmet wasn’t anatomically possible. That’s what makes our trips so enjoyable. I travel with a group of guys who don’t mind sharing a single motel room and sleeping on the floor when required. Everybody gets to be the butt of a joke and we have a good time with it. There are the fast guys who don’t mind waiting for the slow guy (me). There are guys who don’t mind the 1,200 km days, because we’re going to have cold beers and a good steak at the end of the day, and ride better roads tomorrow. Family was part of this trip too.
We went up the Pacific Coast to get to Vancouver Island so we could stop in and see one of the guys’ kids and grandkids, and after being on the road for 10 days, maybe do a little laundry. The day trip to Tofino from Nanaimo revealed yet more giant Redwoods in Cathedral Grove, the market building with a growing grass roof and a herd of goats to keep it trim, and the essential difference between Canadian and American drivers. In the US, on the super-tight and twisty mountain roads, it’s the law in California and Oregon that if you’ve got a couple of cars behind
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you, you have to pull over to let them pass. It was great! Riding close hard on an impossibly twisty road, that Buick you just pulled up behind would pull over at the earliest opportunity... and would wave with ALL the fingers of his hand! Canadians? Nobody pulls over. Ever.
Back to the mainland and the urban
sprawl of Vancouver as we headed through the Fraser Valley to get to Kelowna, where two of the wives flew in to meet up with us.
Then it was my first trip through the Rockies to Calgary. The views were definitely better in the mountains of Canada. We visited more family in Calgary. We pulled into Lake Louise to see the magnificent view, and parked with the tour buses, because the car lots were full. It was fun to follow a bus load of Chinese tourists down the path and to hear the collective GASP as we turned that last corner.
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