There were several "maybe, wait and see" at last Tuesday's meeting, and the decision was made Saturday morning.
After some discussions we decided to go to my family home at 100 Mile House, where my niece and her husband are developing a farm. They were hosting a "Farm to Fork" dinner and party. We did not have tickets and they were sold out, but they welcomed us to come for the party anyways.
It was raining in Prince George, and about half of the "maybe, wait and see" guys opted out. I was wishing more had opted out because I was not very keen on starting a ride in the rain, and would have gladly opted out as well. As it was, I couldn't be outdone by three older guys (Neil, Clayton and Donovan) determined to go riding. I am always prepared for crappy weather to happen during a ride, but I seldom like to start that way. I knew that if we went to my folk's place, I could make sure we could find a place to dry out, and we did. We all bivouacked in the garage and the woodstove dried all our gear. We slept warm and dry.
The party was great. It was way better than us camped somewhere in the rain or staying in some motel where all we'd do is watch TV. As it was there was the "Woodshed Saloon" with $5 beer, wine and cider, and live music, a bluegrass square dance group and a rock trio. Half drunk I danced in front of the bandstand by myself, until a few others felt sorry for me making a fool of myself and joined in.
We did not have rain all of Saturday, but certainly for most of it, and I was soaked to the bone and cold. We went to 70 Mile first because we wanted to ride the Bridge Lade, Horse Lake to 100 Mile circuit, but because part of Hwy 24 was closed we couldn't. We had hot rums at the pub, and headed to Forest Grove for dinner at the Legion before going to my folk's place.
On Sunday, we had breakfast in town and then looked at the map to see how we could fill the day riding home. We went east at Lac La Hache en route to Horsefly. The map we had (not a Backroads Atlas, just a BC Highway map) showed that the road was about half gravel and half paved. It turned out to be gravel the entire way, and in parts pretty rough. At one point we took a wrong turn onto a forest service road that after about 6 km got worse and worse. I was looking ahead at what appeared to be a slick mud patch and hit the brakes. Donovan who was close behind me was not expecting me to stop suddenly, and he went into the ditch to avoid hitting me. He didn't get hurt too bad (tweaked his knee), and his bike wasn't damaged, but it was the deciding factor in determining that we were clearly on the wrong road. We back tracked and followed the correct road and made it to Horsefly. We visited with some other motorcyclist in Horsefly, and then took the paved road to 150 Mile. The motorcyclists we met had some older bikes at home (they were riding a Ducati and a Honda), and were familiar with our Club having checked this forum before. Neil made sure they got our Club business card.
There is a route between Williams Lake and Quesnel on the west side of the Fraser River, that I had never been on before. I have travelled the west side of the Fraser on all parts between Lillooet and Prince George but for this section. It turned out to be an awesome road, and I can't wait to take Lauri through it (although not on a motorcycle). It was mostly paved except for some steep switch back grades before and after a small steel bridge crossing the Fraser, and another bridge crossing a small river closer to Quesnel.
The two detours added a few hours to our trip, and I did not get home until about 7:30 which was perfect ... just getting dark and cold. Lauri had a hot rum for me by the time I unloaded the bike and got out of my riding gear.
I was reflecting later that other than stopping for gas, and a can of beer beside the road, we basically rode non-stop all Sunday. Fortunately it was mostly sunny all day, and no rain.
Peace & Grease, Dennis
