After the raggedy start to our day, we are finally on our way. We picked Saturday July 30 because we knew it would be good weather and maybe the holiday travelers would have already got to where they were going.
Wrong!
We decided to carry on with our original plan of going to Abbotsford for breakfast instead of staying in Langley (although it’s pushing 11:30 by now). We made an illegal left turn out of Western Powersports…..otherwise it would have meant a right turn onto the Bypass and a ride quite far along to turn around and come back….and we were hungry….and dr_bar hasn’t had his coffee yet.
We headed east on the By-Pass to make our turn to gain access to Highway 1. The access is quite long and curved. It is not until you are at the point of no return that you can actually see the highway.
What the heck is going on?!!!? Traffic is bumper to bumper and moving along at a snail’s pace. We can’t turn around and go a different way. We have no choice but to merge in and hope the traffic clears. This is when it is handy to have an “assertive” attitude. Dr_bar can muscle his bike and then he backs off to leave a space so I can move in to the line.
After we crawl along for what felt like an eternity….what’s that I see in the distance? Why, it’s those hideous orange “construction ahead” signs. You have got to be kidding!
Who is the bright spark that plans to do construction on what is quite possibly the busiest highway in the province on what is the busiest holiday weekend of the year? Even the Sea to Sky construction takes a break on weekends.
Every once in a while dr_bar’s tactic of changing lanes and then making space for me to change, too, does not work. He had made his lane change and just as I was speeding up to make my move, the person in front of me put on their brakes and the moron in the red pickup beside me sped up….I cannot move over…so I wait a bit and when it looks like a gap is there, I once again try….dang…the person in front brakes again…the red pickup once again boots it so I cannot move over…It should be noted that the person in front of me is simply responding to conditions ( however, if they weren’t following the vehicle in front of them so close they wouldn’t have to constantly be braking). Also the vehicle in front of me is van with darkened windows so I cannot see in front of it.
After a couple of more attempts to change lanes, dr_bar finally slows enough so that he can hold back his lane. Keep in mind I’m only a car length behind. The red pickup kept purposefully blocking my access. Every time the gap opened up and I would attempt to move, he would give it gas and prevent me moving over. Suddenly the red pickup accelerates and swerves at the same time to blow right by dr_bar forcing dr_bar to move onto the shoulder.
Yes, that’s correct, the pickup passed him in his lane so that he could get in front of dr_bar. Then he slammed on his brakes. I just don’t understand that sort of mentality. We are all stuck in the traffic going nowhere fast….I don’t know what the driver of the red pickup hoped to gain….as it turned out later he gained nothing….
I was able to now move into the same lane as dr_bar so that we were once again riding staggered. Once past the construction zone (mercifully it was a very small zone) the pace picked up. Suddenly the right lane is zooming along so I make the lane change into it and dr_bar follows suit. The passing lane is still crawling while we are suddenly flying past them in the slow lane….Hey, look at that! There’s the red pickup asleep at the switch stuck in the passing lane while we go riding past….
There is justice…..
We have finally made it to the Sumas exit. We headed north under the freeway and pulled into the CrossRoads restaurant. Ah-h-h-h, it has air conditioning, cold water and fresh coffee…..We had an enjoyable breakfast while we decided what to do with the rest of our day. Neither one of us wanted to take a chance on Highway 1. We decided to abandon our plans to go to Hope to visit some friends. It’s a good thing we had not called ahead.
We decided to make our way through Abbotsford to Mission via Highway 11. This was a smart move on our part. The ride went smoothly and unobstructed for the rest of the trip. Once in Mission we got onto Highway 7 and carried on to Hemlock Valley.
NOW, I DID NOT KNOW dr_bar needed fuel.
In my rear view mirror I can usually see when he puts on his signals. I never saw them today. Apparently he kept putting on his signals to go into a gas station, but I just kept on riding. Finally at a stop sign, he pulled up beside me and told me….the next gas station you see, pull in. I told him in future if I miss his signals he should pull over to the side of the road or speed up and blow by me…..
Case in point….yesterday we were riding…dr_bar behind me….I saw his signals go on implying we would be turning at the next turn bay….so I put my signals on to move over….oh, wait, his signals are off now….he must have made a mistake and this is not where he meant to turn after all….so I keep going to where I was originally going to turn….When he got beside me at the red light he said I wanted you to turn back there. I said I was going to turn but you had turned off your signals…..They are self canceling signals and he hadn’t noticed that they had turned off…..
Meanwhile, back on Hemlock Valley road, dr_bar tells me we can go another 20km before we have to turn back. So, I look at my speedo so that I will know not to go too far.
Hey, look up ahead! We are in what appears to be the middle of nowhere and there is a gas station. While we were there fuelling, there was a steady stream of business. Although it appeared we were in the middle of nowhere, there is actually a reserve there. This one gas station/store is a really bustling community. We chatted with a couple of locals before heading off to the DH twisted edge road. It is a beautiful location. The road meanders along a river then starts making its way up the mountain. We crossed a one lane bridge over the Chehalis river.
The road up is very challenging. For me, that is. There was a couple of kids on dirt bikes making their way down around the twisties. We’re talking 20kmh twisties….The kids had their feet on the ground as they leaned around the curves…they were having a blast….I wonder how long the soles on their shoes will last…..
The road has very steep, very tight curves. There is sand and gravel on these curves so I need to be extra cautious. On the curves where there is no sand and gravel I am much more confident. We have made our way quite high up when I see the road ahead no longer has pavement. Dr_bar said that in the DH book the map showed the road ending. We surmised it was gravel and decided we’d go as far as we could. We stopped where the paved portion ended and turned around. Dr_bar reminded me to be extra careful going downhill on those sandy corners. I thanked him for his reminder and said, “I will be very careful.”
Once we got away from the sandy bits, the rest of the ride down was smooth sailing. We took a break at the one lane bridge so we could enjoy the fresh clean air and enjoy the view of the river and the mountains. The Chehalis is crystal clear. There is a campsite here beside the river. It would be a lovely spot to come back to with a tent and stay for a couple of days.
Back in the saddle, we are now headed to Harrison Hot Springs. We pass by corn fields and dairy farms along the way. This is when your mouth breathing skills come in handy. Sometimes it really smells bad out here when the farmers have fertilized the fields. I point to the sky….there are some parachutists floating down….
Unlike the last time I came here with dr_bar, which is detailed in an earlier blog entry, I have more experience now. This time I can actually spare a second or two once in awhile to enjoy what is around me.
We entered into Harrison and made a slow cruise along the main drag. We, at first, were considering going to Sasquatch Park to have our packed picnic, but suddenly a truck in front of us stopped. The truck let someone off who then got into a big 4x4. The big 4x4 then pulled out right in front of us.
How rude! I truly don’t think the person looked.
I made a lightning fast decision. Suddenly there was very large parking space that has opened up right beside me….Beep, Beep! I pulled into the parking space to claim it. The beep, beep had caught dr_bar’s attention, who then made a u-turn to join me in the parking space.
Parking is v-e-e-e-e-r-r-r-y hard to find along the shoreline. Dr_bar agreed with staying here in Harrison. It was just so darn nice here. We parked our bikes angled in. As we were unpacking our bikes, a little red headed boy came along and was looking at us with rapt attention. I smiled and said hi. He smiled and said hi back at me. He was with his Mom and sister. They kept walking past a few meters, but then the Mom came back and said that her little boy was just crazy about bikes. She said she was worried about when he got older and would want to ride….I assured her that with lessons and the right attitude, it wasn’t so bad. We could tell the little boy was just fascinated, so dr_bar asked if he would like to sit on his bike. He was thrilled to death, so he asked his Mom. Dr_bar put his bike on the centre stand and put the little boy onto the seat. I then let him put on my helmet. His Mom said it was this little guy’s birthday today and that he had just turned four. She was wishing she had her camera for this. Dr_bar took a photo and said we could e-mail it to her. The sister was feeling a bit left out, so dr_bar picked her up and we got another pic with her sitting pillion. Shortly after that family left, a couple of people on bikes came by and pulled into our parking space. We had commandeered this huge parking space which was big enough for 5 or 6 bikes.
Smiles all around.
We chatted for several minutes with this couple. He had a big Harley dresser…..she had a new 1100cc V-Star…Finally the man of this couple says, can we get going…I’m needing something cold…..
While dr_bar and I collected our gear, a group of what appeared to be “hard core” bikers walked past. Dr_bar smiled and said,”How ya doin’ today”?
They mostly ignored him…the last guy in the group acknowledging with a grunt…..
I had the impression the friendly Harley guy was referring to a cold beer…..You can never make assumptions about people….We saw them again a few minutes later having their cold ones….at an ice cream parlour
Dr_bar and I were also in the same place having some cold juices when in walked the aforementioned “bikers with attitude”. There they were having ice cream and frozen mochas…..I have the pics to prove it, too. Seems they are just like everyone else after all….they just don’t want anyone to know it.
The Muddy Waters café where we were all sitting had a tent set up on the boulevard. It was for a live 3 piece band that was just setting up. After we finished our juices we sauntered over to the beach to find a place to have our picnic. As we perused the place looking for a shady spot, I asked” Any reason why we couldn’t sit on that bench right in front of us?” D’oh! It was in the shade of a willow tree. Lucky us!
We people watched while we enjoyed our food. There was a nice breeze today and on the other side of the “man-made lagoon”, lots of people were taking advantage of it. There were sailboats, parasailers and sail boarders. Wow! Every once in awhile one of those parasailers would catch a draft and leap high into the air.
We stayed on our bench in the shade for quite a while. The band that had set up was playing some good music and we had no reason to leave. We commented how fortunate we are to live in a place where people could go and play on a beach and swim in the water without fear of having a bomb drop on them. In so many parts of the world, there is so much unrest, it makes me glad to be here.
Eventually, we decide to take a walk along the spit and around the lagoon. It is so beautiful here. We can see Echo island one way and when we turn around we see forests and when we turn around again we see the mountains. There is a reason why our province is called “Super, Natural BC.”
The time is now getting late. We have a couple of hours riding ahead of us to get home, so we start making our way back to the bikes.
It turns out now, ana or not, that it was a good idea to get my light fixed after all. Half of our ride home will be in the dark.
While we were waiting at a stop sign to leave, a white Corvette came by. Apparently there was an attractive woman in the car…..dr_bar said we could swap places….I think he wanted to flirt with her….
It was a good ride heading back. The sun was obscured by the mountains so we didn’t have it glaring into our eyes as we headed west. By the time we got into Mission the sun was getting dim, so we pulled over in town to change from sunglasses to regular glasses. I also took the opportunity to put on my reflective ankle bands.
We carried on through Mission towards Maple Ridge. It was dark before we reached Maple Ridge, but there is decent lighting and the road is in good condition. We took the Mary Hill By-Pass, United Blvd and Lougheed Hwy to get back. I wanted to avoid the freeway. Dr_bar came by so we could have a bite to eat before calling it a day. It was a long day, but a good day. He took my camera chip home with him to put all my pics on a CD. I can now share some of the biking pics.
We rode close to 300km today and I could feel them in the shoulder blades….although I think that may have more to do with the ride up the mountain on those scary tight twisties…..
Iron Butt ride….here I come…..
Mike 
