Who would have guessed that this year’s Three Flags Classic route would be the best one ever? And if it wasn’t the very best it was certainly one of the top three! Not only were the roads beautiful to ride, the scenery beautiful to look at, and the weather absolutely beautiful to be in, but for three whole days I was virtually by myself almost the entire time. Wow! A biker’s dream ride. Every once in awhile a car may go by or you’d come up behind someone going in the same direction but these occasions were so very few and far between that I just couldn’t stop smiling. So having said that, here’s a bit about my vacation and this year’s Three Flags Classic, which also happened to be my 35th.
The plan:
- Drive my Super Tenere to Victoria and transfer the insurance to my old FJR that’s been sitting in my son George’s garage all winter.
- Hit the only five star motorcycle shop in Victoria BC, Adrenalin Motorcycle Co-op, and get the oil and filter changed and throw a new set of tires.
- Head south T.J. Watt Womens Jersey with an overnight in Marysville, WA.
- Then blast down to the Carmel Valley in California as quick as I can to spend as much time as possible with my great friends there before popping down to Tucson for the rally check-in on August 28th.
- Drive the 3542 km. rally to Harrison Hot Springs, BC in three or maybe four days and stay with friends outside of Mission until after the Three Flags banquet on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd.
- Then head back home via Victoria and another oil and filter change.
The trip:
Let me start by saying that I’ve been telling people for years now, if I don’t drive at least 8000 km. while on this two week vacation then it just isn’t even worth pulling the motorcycle out of the garage.
And it went like this. The weather was perfect when I left home in Gold River and it stayed that way for basically the entire two weeks. Once arriving in Victoria it was straight to George’s to switch the licence plate and the GPS from the Tenere to the FJR and it was then that I realized I had a big problem. The cord needed to plug the FJR sound system into my helmet (the Tenere cord is 5 pin and FJR cord is 6 pin) wasn’t around. This was a problem that had to be dealt with immediately. Riding for the next two weeks without my music or CBC radio, not if I could help it! A quick panic first and then a call to Mark Reis secondly to see if he had one at his shop. Mark said he’d be back from the Ironbutt Association meeting in Denver the next day (Sunday) around noon sometime and would definitely have one. Phew! That was close.
The guys at Adrenalin were awesome and had me on the road in thirty minutes. New oil and new tires always makes for a happy motorcycle. Visited my Victoria children that night and headed for the mainland the next morning. Crossing the US border was painless at less than fifteen minutes and the drive to Marysville was an uneventful cruise on I-5. My good friend Dallas and I went for dinner at Cristiano’s Pizza that night. This T.J. Watt Youth Jersey place has to be one of Marysville’s best restaurants. Great value and delicious food every single time! Then for a little fun we went to one of the local casino’s but after spending $20 I’d had enough. Smokers sitting at the tables is just no fun. Next day while waiting for Mark to get home we went for breakfast and then Dallas took us out to the site of the huge slide that killed so many people last March. It was quite something to see the amount of material that moved that day and all the devastation it caused. The pictures don’t really show the enormity of it all.
But enough of that, now it was time to grab the FJR and get over to Mark’s for that cord. It was good to see that he is recovering well from some major surgery last July and he was his usual happy self. He had the cord all right and now I had my GPS and CBC with a bit of occasional background music. Perfect! This meant a 13:00 start as I headed south on the I-5 slab. Only got as far as Roseburg, OR that night but I was ready to eat and get some sleep. It’s now Monday morning and after a great sleep it was time for a big breakfast. There just happened to be a restaurant adjacent to this Motel 6 so I ate before pulling out of the parking lot. It was only about 900 km. to Brian’s place in the Carmel Valley so I rolled into his driveway about supper time. There were fresh garden vegetables and barbequed fish being prepared as soon as I pulled into the driveway. His adorable woman, Jackie, prepared the salads and vegetables while Brian did the barbequing. What a feast we had that night.
Now it was time to look ahead a bit and make a plan for the next part of the trip. I knew that I had to check into Tucson sometime Thursday afternoon at the latest and knew that it was close to a 1300 km. drive to get there so I decided to leave the Carmel Valley on Wednesday morning. This made it a casual two day drive through the heat to get to Tucson. So with only one full day to visit I decided to make Jackie another clothes rack. The one I made for her last July was fir and this time I’d use redwood. There were also a couple of modifications made that would make this one even better. Jackie’s clothes racks are now coveted by the entire neighborhood.
So off I went on Wednesday morning. Out through the Carmel Valley to Hwy101 then south for awhile to Hwy 46 and then east to I-5. Wanting to stay away from Los Angeles I used I-210 and headed towards San Bernardino before cutting south to get onto I-10 east. Boring busy drive but I did have a little fun along the way. While driving on I-210 two CHP going in the same direction and on motorcycles merged onto the freeway just ahead of me. This was my first time following CHP while they were doing the infamous “lane splitting” maneuver. Following these two fellows for over 30 km. just reinforced for me that I did know how to lane split correctly. The temperature continued to climb the further inland I got so I decided that Blythe, CA (not quite 900 km.from Brian’s) would be good enough for today’s drive. Found a Motel 6 and called it a day.
Next morning, now Thursday, there were only 425 km. to go. This is basically one tank of gas and a little bit. Going through Phoenix and south towards Tucson the temperature kept climbing and peaked at 41 Celsius (105 Fahrenheit). Now it was getting warm!
Everything starts as you pull into the hotel parking lot. There’s motorcycles everywhere and you start seeing people that you haven’t seen since last year’s rally. It is such a wonderful feeling being surrounded by people that all love to ride as much as we do. After checking into the hotel and peeling off many layers of clothes it was time to register for the Three Flags. Now is probably as good a time as any to mention how well the SCMA has been doing over the last few years to be continually improving this event! This year’s very pleasant surprise was a big barbeque style banquet after the registration on Thursday. The ribs were delicious and it was a good time to visit with old acquaintances. Everybody has stories and when you get 250 bikers together in one place you’re going to hear lots of stories. So here’s one I just heard at the barbeque.
Sitting at the table during our rib feast was a man I’ve seen a few times over the years and he told me his story about being hit by lightening a year ago while driving his motorcycle home on I-5.
Not only did he get a direct hit on his helmet with a lightening bolt but afterwards he then drove from the fast lane on the left side of the freeway all the way over to the right hand shoulder where he then parked the bike on its side stand, and all subconsciously. When the eye witness got to him on the bike he was right out of it and had to be revived. What a wild story!! I’d always wondered what it would be like to be hit with lightening and now I know. You just can’t make stuff like this up!
After dinner I made my way back to my room and started getting ready for the weekend’s ride. After plugging much of this year’s route into my GPS I called the front desk for a wake up call. The starting window for this year’s rally was between 3 and 6 am. This means someone will be in the hotel lobby collecting the start cards at that time. This procedure means that no one leaves early and the “card collector” doesn’t have to wait for slow pokes. My wake up call came at 4 am. I got up, threw on some clothes, went to the lobby, turned in the start card, asked the front desk people when their restaurant opened and then went back upstairs to bed again. No way was driving anywhere until I had a good night sleep and a big healthy breakfast!
So I woke again at 05:45 and after loading up the bike I headed to the restaurant for its 06:00 opening and my breakfast. After washing down a delicious bacon and cheese omelette and a big bowl of fresh fruit with many glasses of water it was time to leave. I’ve never been the last motorcycle to leave the start before but it was already 06:30 when I pulled out of the hotel parking lot and there wasn’t another motorcycle to be seen. Heading north through Tucson was relatively painless. A few traffic lights and minimal traffic got me started out on a nice relaxing pace. The route started by taking us north for the most part but there were lots of twisty stretches as we traveled through some beautiful Arizona wilderness. After three hours of riding I started seeing a few other motorcycles either parked at gas stations or restaurants. My first stop was for gas in Pine, AZ but as I continued north I did get a photo or two, but not many. The next gas stop was a challenge. On reserve for 40 km. already before finally finding a place at Marble Canyon to gas up.
From there it was west and north to go through Kanab and Hatch before turning east again onto Hwy 12 towards the Bryce Canyon and carrying on towards Boulder and ultimately the Red Sands Hotel T.J. Watt Kids Jersey in Torrey Utah, our first checkpoint. The Red Sands had no vacancies but Torrey was hopefully going to have a room somewhere for me. The staff at the Red Sands were very helpful and phoned around to other motels for me until they found me a room just up the road. A 1060 km. day was enough for me today. After checking in I went for gasoline and dinner. A local Mexican restaurant made me a nice steak and I was back in my room and sleeping by 21:30. This motel’s restaurant was open every morning at 07:00 so my plan was to make sure I got my cheese and bacon omelette and bowl of fruit for breakfast before I even thought about leaving Torrey.
Got my full eight hours of sleep before getting up and loading the bike. Hit the restaurant at 07:05 but they weren’t quite ready yet. It didn’t take long though and yet again I was now ready to hit the road with a well hydrated and filled up body. From Torrey the route headed north and west again towards Loa before turning east onto Hwy 72 and then driving through the Fishlake National Forest towards Fremont Junction. There were a couple of miles of I-70 going east before turning north again, this time onto Hwy 10 towards Huntington, UT. Once in Huntington they had us turning north onto Hwy 31and driving through the Manti-La Sal National Forest.
Utah has wonderful riding when the sun is shining! We worked our way west to Hwy 89 then north to Spanish Fork and then Provo. It was a little busy on this stretch of road, but it was also very short lived. Before you knew it we were going through another national forest on Hwy 189 towards Heber City. From there we continued on Hwy 40 to Silver Creek Junction and my next gas stop. The next stretch was a little bit of interstate driving on I-80 west but before you knew it we were turning north on Hwy 65. This time we were going through the Wasatch National Forest. Twisty roads, great scenery, and almost zero traffic gives me a huge smile as I cruise. This rally kept improving with every mile. After driving by the East Canyon Reservoir we turned onto Hwy 66 towards Morgan. Here we had a couple more interstate minutes, this time on I-84 west, before turning north onto Hwy 167 and getting back into the Wasatch National Forest. Once in Huntsville UT they had us go east again on Hwy 39 until we got to the junction of Hwy 16 then north again to Hwy 30 where we turned towards Bear Lake and Garden City.
The holiday weekend traffic was a little thick in this stretch along Bear Lake but it was only for minutes and then we headed west and south again on Hwy 89 through the Cache National Forest. More fabulous driving on scenic twisty roads with no other traffic. Could this really be happening or was it a dream? After pinching myself I smiled, this was really happening and believe it or not, it gets even better! After driving through Logan and Collinston I went south on I-15 for a couple of minutes then merged onto I-84 and headed towards Snowville UT. This tiny little place was perfect to refuel. Both the motorcycle and the driver needed a top up as it was close to 15:30 and it had been awhile since breakfast. After getting gas I pulled down the street and found the perfect place to eat. It was called the Ranch House Diner and they had wi-fi available as well. Not
only did they have delicious pork ribs and mashed potatoes on special but I also got a piece of strawberry and rhubarb pie with ice cream for dessert. Total bill for this feast, $10.17! While feasting I also pulled out my tablet and booked myself a room in Boise, ID for the night. By my calculations I’d be at the next checkpoint in Twin Falls ID around 18:00 and Boise was only another 180 km. past there which would make a great days ride of close to 1300 km. Often times things just work out! Not 30 minutes from the time I checked into the Boise Super 8 the wind started to howl and then the rain came. Big time down pour! As I looked out my window I had to smile as the timing could not have been better. After loading the remainder of the route into my Garmin GPS it was time for another 8 hours of sleep.
Now it’s Sunday morning and I had to peek outside first thing and check it out. Perfect! Clear blue sky without so much as one cloud anywhere. And the rally continued to get better. This morning I had a bit of the Super 8’s continental breakfast first and decided to burn off the remainder of my gasoline before stopping for a proper meal. The route had us getting onto Hwy 55 going north all the way to New Meadows where we then headed south again on Hwy 95. Was I surprised when I hit brand new pavement. So new in fact there weren’t even lines on it yet. So the ride continued to get even better! I drove into Cambridge before noon and stopped for some brunch. While waiting for my eggs I had a piece of raspberry pie, first one I’d had in years and it was delicious. Mind you I did get some funny looks when I ate it first. Cambridge is your typical small town with only one hotel and one gas station but you can tell that years ago it would have been a bustling place. The ride took us onto Hwy 71 after Cambridge to a place called Oxbow where we turned heading west and a bit south again on Hwy 86. Pretty sure I’d never been on this piece of road either and it was another beauty. So now I’ll shorten the rest of this story up.
Pulled into Walla Walla, WA and the third checkpoint at 14:45. So now it was deciding if I’d try and find a room somewhere between here and BC or just ride through. Well it wasn’t hard to decide as I’d hardly gotten started yet today and traffic on the Sunday of the Labour Day weekend is very minimal and the very best day to be traveling. Up to the Cascade mountains where we went west on Hwy 20 through the North Cascades National Forest. It was dark before getting to the turn onto Hwy 9 near Sedro Woolley but that was okay. This is one piece of road I’d driven many times anyway and saw only 6 or 7 cars along the way. More happiness. Crossed the Canadian border at Sumas about 22:30 and was sitting in Dale and Karin’s kitchen eating fresh picked and fresh cooked corn on the cob. Three cobs later and some story telling til midnight it was bedtime. As they live just a little west of Mission I had about an hour drive in the morning to the finish line and a new belt buckle in Harrison Hot Springs.
Nothing like getting up at 09:00 to a fresh cup of coffee and oatmeal full of blueberries, one of my favorites. I left the house around 10:00 so I’d be in plenty of time to be at the finish when it opened at noon. There was probably close to thirty of us there waiting by then. One of the guys had a cat traveling with him. I’ve seen animals on motorcycles and in sidecars before but never a set up like this one.
The belt buckle looked pretty good and I did the annual swap of taking off last year’s buckle and replacing it with the new one. A couple of hours later my good friend Gloria pulled in. After getting her all checked in we went for lunch and exchanged stories about the drive to Harrison Hot Springs.
Before heading back to Dale’s place Gloria and I agreed that no matter who got to the banquet first they’d save a seat for the other.
The weather was very gloomy on Tuesday morning and it was raining a bit. So for the first time in two months I had wet roads. No problem as there were chores for me to do anyway. It had everything to do paying up an old gambling debt. I always pay my debts and this was my first opportunity in a long time to see my friend, Steve. It was only $75 but this had to come off of my “unfinished business” list. Steve`s brother Dave also happened to be there and they invited me out for lunch. I`m never one to turn down a free meal.
So it’s now Tuesday evening and time for this year’s banquet, the grand finale! My camera has been giving me some grief (probably dropped it 3 times too many) so I didn’t get as many pictures as usual. The Harrison Hot Springs Resort was the hosting hotel and they provided us with an outstanding feast! There were lots of door prizes from many sponsors as well the regular fun stuff. Oldest male driver was 88 and oldest female was 70 years young and riding a Harley Davidson. My good friend Holly has been the youngest female driver for some years now and at 41 she won again this year. The youngest male driver was still in his teens though and it was nice to see. More young people should be getting involved.
Blake also announced that next year’s 40th anniversary Classic will be the “Harbour to Harbour” tour and run from San Diego, CA to Victoria, BC over a five day weekend. Every five years they add an extra day and extra 800 km. to this rally in celebration of the anniversary. Historically there’s always been about 25% of the riders coming from Canada and this year was no different. Next year’s plan for the Three Flags route is to drive through a lot of BC for a change and get us on some of this province’s best motorcycling roads. The finish is going to be at Victoria’s Empress Hotel right in the heart of Victoria’s inner harbour and across the street from the parliament buildings and the museum. There’s already quite a buzz about next year and it wouldn’t surprise me to see 400 people sign up. Tickets for next year are to go sale January 1st, 2015. Just keep an eye on the SCMA’s web site for details.
Next morning it was time to get back to “the rock” ( Vancouver Island ) but first a quick visit downtown to see one of my sisters and then a blast out to the Tsawwassen ferry and a ride to Victoria. Firstly was another oil change for the FJR at Victoria’s Adrenalin Motorcycle Co-op and then seeing all the children that evening were the only two things left to do. It was time to head back to the “Heart of Vancouver Island” (Gold River) Thursday morning.
Total trip was 8142 km, gone for exactly 14 days, only a tiny bit of rain going to and from the banquet and running into Coquitlam on Tuesday to pay my debt….in other words ANOTHER TREMENDOUS VACATION!!
hope you enjoyed this, I’m always looking for feedback, either good or bad …..
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