Into the maw of the dragon

Distance travelled: 571.7 km

Cumulative distance: 2767 km

Maximum speed: 157 kph (I DO remember that!)

Moving average: 90 kph

Temperature range: 18.8 – 32.6

We didn’t set an alarm for this morning, and we woke up around 7:30. It was 11:00 pm last night when I shut off the light and at that point, Nan had been asleep for and hour and half. It’s deceptive; motorcycling is surprisingly strenuous, even when the riding is not technical. We are out there in the sun and wind, having to sit in one position for a long time, only occasionally getting breaks by

getting off the bike to stretch, walk around, get gas, get a meal or get a drink. When I got up this morning, I felt like my head was in a fog and it took us an hour and a half to get packed up and get on the road. At first, I was enjoying not rushing too much but after awhile, I realized it was really because, well, my head was in a fog. I have a complicated arrangement to tie one of the dry bags onto the bike to keep it from flopping around and I just couldn’t get it this morning, and Nan ended up strapping it on, though it flopped around.

 Despite the fact that it was a brilliant morning, warm and not a cloud in the sky, my head just wouldn’t clear and I said to Nan it was like I had a hangover. We came to the conclusion that we (I) must be dehydrated, so today, I have made a point of drinking a lot more water and I feel better for it. We rolled into a campground today at 5:00 p.m. and though tired, I was feeling pretty good. Yesterday, we didn’t land till 7:00 and I could barely function.

OK, so I am happy to introduce you to another eating destination. My big brother Dan had suggested a place in Merritt when we were passing through last weekend, but it is closed Sundays, and since we were still being diverted because of the forest fires, we were happy that it was open today. The place is called Brambles and it does not cater to the hoards of traffic speeding by coming from or going to the Coquihalla as it is right down town Merritt. It

took us an hour to get there and it was welcome relief to take that first sip of latte, which I was sure would help me out. It didn’t, but I really enjoyed it. There was also some great baking and Nan and I each sampled some, and as well we each had a breakfast wrap. It seems that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs somewhat, though I managed.

The décor is simple but inspired. On the walls (and the door handle on the front door) were baking implements, like rolling pins, whisks and beaters and on the tables, pages torn from old cookbooks were shellacked in place so that you could just make out some of the old recipes or tips for (invariably) house wives. They had clearly never heard the old saying “A man’s place is in the kitchen.” Nonetheless, it was very charming, as were the staff. You should stop there for breakfast or lunch your next time on the way to Vancouver.

While eating breakfast, we made a decision about the next leg of the route. Last weekend, we had bypassed the Coquihalla in favour of route 5A from Kamloops to Merritt. Given that we are on the last legs of the trip, I wondered how Nan would feel about the direction home: on the Coquihalla, the route is very fast but not so interesting and 5A is beautiful, twisty and entertaining. She asked me for my estimate of incremental time and I said 15 minutes, so she

was keen to go back the opposite way. Virgin roads are always a treat for us and we had been on 5A north to south now twice but to go south to north was almost like an entirely new road as we would see and experience everything from the opposite direction. Once we got going, the GPS estimated an additional 20 minutes but it turned out to be only ten. I think we drove like we were on the

Merritt mural art. There were numerous country singers immortalized.

Coquihalla.

Once we were north of Kamloops, we were getting back into the smoky terrain. My high school buddy Daryl, who lives in Toronto, loves to ride a famous motorcycle road called The Tail of the Dragon, which is down in the U.S. He loves to talk about how there are 2,384 turns in the span of 11 miles. Or something like that. We have been riding twists and turns, maybe not quite like that but pretty good nonetheless and I figure that given we are heading into the fire and smoke, it might be like the mouth of the dragon.

Around Little Fort, which had been evacuated for a time after we passed through last week, the smoke was not hanging in the valley as much, though we could see dozens of small hot spots on either side of the valley – little fires burning off by themselves, probably to join eventually into one,

huge raging inferno. Further up the valley, in the Clearwater, we saw numerous more small fires and some larger ones, and we could see the flames from the highway. Helicopters carrying water flew back and forth over us; hopefully, they will be able to stop the progress.

We were finding it pretty warm and when we passed by the North Thomson River Campground, we decided on a break and rode down to the edge of the river. However, unlike the last time we rode to Tofino when, on a hot day we wore our bathing suits under our riding gear, today we just went into the water wearing our clothes. Soaking a t-shirt has long been the motorcycler’s air conditioning and Nan borrowed a cotton shirt from me to soak in the water and wear once we got going again. It is really quite amazing how much relief it provides, not just because

Cooled off... warming up.

the evaporation of the water is cooling, but it canj cool down your core temperature, so even though it was still 31 degrees when we came out of the water, we were both way more comfortable for a couple of hours.

We had as our day’s objective to make at least 500 km so that our day tomorrow would be guaranteed to be less than today. I knew the only provincial campground was at Mt Robson but I still watched for an opportunity to camp somewhere, like a provincial recreation site, which are not generally well marked. So, we ended up pushing through to Robson, and got here at 5:00 pm. I have ever really thought too much about it because we have never camped here but even though I have seen a second campground sign in the past, went straight to the campground on the west (river) side of the road. It was full save one site marked for handicapped patrons which left us wondering, at one point does that camp site become fair game? I recognize that it is meant for people who are handicapped but how likely is it that there would be handicapped people there every single night? Eventually, that tent site would fall to a non-handicapped user but does being handicapped guarantee you a spot much later than anybody else?

I dropped Nan off at that spot and went to look for another. This took me down by the gas station and

Nan contemplating a feast.

tourist centre, at which point, I was reminded that there is another campground. I zoomed across the highway and pulled in and saw a lot of campers, trailers, tents etc and I pulled into the first loop and the first spot was opened.  I went a little further on and saw two more but I also saw about three spots where people had “claimed” them by dropping a bunch of gear there. We don’t really have superfluous gear that we can use to claim spots so I raced back to the other campground to collect Nan. When I get there, she has stripped off her helmet and riding gear, is relaxing on the table and trying to get a cell signal and I race up and scream at her to hurry and get on the bike. Then she is yelling at me “just go” and

The Robson shot. Again.

she’ll walk but I say it is too far, so she is jumping on the bike and trying to dress as I ride down the service road.

That first spot was still open, as were two more but there were a lot of large trailers and motorhomes driving in, I presume looking for a site. Why they passed by the three in this loop is beyond me because a lot of them were pulling out shortly after, maybe thinking they were going to get a “better” spot but I think they would be hard pressed. We immediately set up our tent, Nan went to register and then we rode the three or four hundred metres down to the gas station to fill up for tomorrow morning, and to buy some “groceries” for dinner and maybe, a few beers.

It seems like there is not much grocery shopping at Mr. Robson. While I was filling the tank, they tell Nan that the nearest beer store is Valemount (about 60 km) and as for “groceries”, Nan comes out with a bag of popped popcorn, a can of beans and two packages of “Mr Noodle”. We don’t have a can opener with us.

We are also told that the cafeteria next door is probably open for another hour and that they sell beer. Nan announces she wants a salad, so I run the bike back to the campground and then we go next door, get small, pre-made salads out of the help-yourself coolers and four beers. It seems the beers are not too cold because it has been very hot today and they have sold a lot of beer, so there has been a lot of turnover in the cooler. I say we will take the two and to put the other two into the freezer. The fact is that, while maybe not the coldest beers we have ever consumed, they were still pretty darn good.

Editor's note: no cell service last night at Mt Robson and so I have posted this from The Bear's Paw in Jasper. We have some good pictures from yesterday, so I will post those a little later today.