After much anticipation I was finally headed out for my annual two week vacation. Every summer, for many years now, I take a two week motorcycle ride. One week before and one week after the Labour Day holiday weekend. The center of the vacation is participating in the “Three Flags Classic” motorcycle rally. This year was extra special for a couple of reasons. First, it was going to be my last vacation as an “employee” and second, the rally was taking us to Nelson, BC and Hwy 3A. The rally would take us right over the stretch of Hwy 3A between Creston and the Kootenay Lake ferry. This piece of highway is rated as BC’s number one motorcycle destination highway and the last time I’d been on this road was too many years ago.
On August 22nd I left home and the first stop was for a night at Harold’s place in Yellowpoint, BC on Vancouver Island. He’s been a great friend of mine since junior high school in Victoria. Leaving Harold’s on the morning of Aug. 23rd, I caught the Duke Point ferry from Nanaimo to Tsawwassen. The plan was to spend the night in Marysville, Washington and see both Mark and Dallas. Dallas is a Harley rider that I met many years ago on a Three Flags Classic. Mark was the one that had done all the wiring for all the “gadgets” on my FJR1300 before doing the 49 states run in 2007. He is nothing short of magical when it comes to this kind of stuff. He’s got the satellite radio, CB radio, GPS and radar detector all wired into one plug and into my helmet. I wouldn’t leave home without this stuff now. After the shop work Mark, Rosie (his wife), Dallas and I went out for dinner to this superb little Italian restaurant called Cristiano’s Pizza. Not only is the food delicious, but the portions are very generous and very reasonably priced. A night in Marysville just wouldn’t be right without some time in a local casino so Dallas and I dropped into the Tulalip Resort Casino for an hour or so. I actually came out with $20 more than I went in with! I do love it when that happens.
After a super sleep and a good breakfast I was on the road and headed south about 8am. There’s many roads that a guy could take going south, but my next stop was Carmel, California. My friends are so important to me that the way I drive is this…the sooner I got there the more time I get with my friends so it’s never been an issue for me to sit on a “slab”, gobble up miles, and get there as soon as possible. For me, two or three extra hours of visiting time is just so much better than extra time driving. So I-5 was the choice. After a casual and uneventful 900 km. drive I spent the night in Weed, California. Reasonably priced rooms and their Hi-Lo Cafe are a winning combo. Friday night dinner and Saturday morning breakfast were Hi-Lo meals. Breakfast has always been important for me so when I pulled out of Weed on Saturday morning with a full belly I had a huge smile on my face. I was RIDING…AND the bike was running great…AND the sun was shining…AND the traffic was light…AND I was on a “paid” vacation…AND I was going to see my good friend Brian in Carmel. (I met Brian outside of Victoria, BC in the summer of 1973 and have gone to visit him almost every year since then.)
I-5 never really changes much but some of the things I ponder as I make my way south are … will the wind be nasty in the Sacramento Valley today and will there be many law enforcement type people hiding out along the way? The first surprise was a temperature of 40C in Redding. It’s usually hot alright, but that’s the warmest it’s been for me in this part of California ever. The wind was mellow until the San Pablo Bay area but it didn’t last long, and the traffic was relatively light so the rest of the drive to Carmel was uneventful until the last little leg. Brian lives out in the Carmel Valley so as you come in from Salinas and Hwy.101 there’s a road that goes over the hump between Hwy.68 and the Carmel Valley Road. It’s called the Laureles Grade Road (Hwy G20). 9.5 km. of sweet twisty roads with many tight corners. Scraping foot pegs is such a lovely way to finish off a day of freeway driving! Once over the grade it’s only 6 km. to Brian’s place and because it was only 625 km. of driving today, I was there in the early afternoon. Brian had a refrigerator full of fish that he had caught so we had a fresh fish barbeque for dinner. The next morning our friend Steve came over to Brian’s and the three of us went riding out in the Carmel Valley on Sunday.
There are so many twisty narrow roads around there. The Arroyo Seco Road and the Reliz Canyon Road are a couple of wonderful examples. We had FUN, FUN, FUN! Steve had to go back to work on Monday so Brian and I went out riding again. I had a stop to make after dinner on Tuesday in Long Beach so, reluctantly, I left Carmel on Tuesday. When there is no hurry, I love traveling on Hwy.1 down the California coast. The road is twisty, scenery is awesome, and the temperatures next to the ocean are never extreme. I had until 6pm to drive only 560 km. so the coast it was. Sometimes the traffic can get get thick but with a motorcycle advantage it’s never unbearable. As I headed down the coast mid morning my first stop was the shop, Local Colour, in Big Sur. They sell all kinds of local clothing and art works here and it just happens that Brian’s next door neighbor, Cesca, is one of the owners so it is a regular stop for me when I’m on Hwy.1.
We had a coffee and I bought a small gift for my granddaughter, Julia. The drive down the coast was another 200 km. of pure pleasure and then Hwy.1 rolls into Hwy.101 in San Luis Obispo. From here it was Hwy.101 to Los Angeles then I-405 to Long Beach. I spent the night here with Gloria’s son, Stan and his girlfriend Annabella. Wednesday morning we hooked up with Stan’s mom, Gloria, and we headed out for Tuscon, Arizona. Gloria was on her Harley and she packs her own “support” truck. Gloria and her late husband Stan had done many Three Flags Classics over the years but when Stan Sr. passed away a couple of years back, Gloria wasn’t comfortable doing such a long trip by herself so that’s when Stan Jr. and his girlfriend started doing the drive in the truck as support. This year saw the addition of, Jose, an old family friend and ex-business partner of Stan Sr. He helped with driving the truck. The drive to Tuscon couldn’t happen fast enough. The heat as we headed inland on the freeway got up to 45C! The air conditioning in the rooms was a welcome relief. Thursday morning we left for El Paso and after checking into our rooms, Gloria & I registered for the rally. Every year it’s so much fun to see a lot of the same faces that we’ve been seeing for years. The smiles are all as big as ever, but we’re really starting to show our age. In 1980 when I rode my first Classic I was a twenty-five year old “kid” and now thirty-two years later I’m still one of the kids. There’s a free dinner for rally participants and it was delicious. They were opening the start at 3am. Friday morning, but we decided that 3am was a way too early so we’d try for somewhere between 5 & 6am. Sleeping the night before the Three Flags is always hard to do but before you know it was rally time.
When we finally pulled out of the hotel parking lot it was close to 6am. I’d ridden with Gloria for the last couple of years and was planning to ride with her again this time. That meant we wouldn’t be following the “route” exactly. She’s not a big fan of slow winding narrow roads so we did a bit more of the “slab” driving than most other riders.
The weather was perfect the whole time and we had trouble free motoring but when we got to Bonners Ferry in Idaho I left Gloria with her support crew. We were now on the home stretch and there was things I just had to do, specifically Hwy.3A at my own pace. The border crossing was painless and it’s always a nice feeling for me when I’m “back in Canada”. So now comes the fun part. I filled up in Creston and then drove to the Kootenay Lake ferry at a “brisk” and very safe pace. Then I spoke to a ferry worker about sailing departure times and headed back to Creston again.
Most bikers appreciate that a rode driven in the opposite direction is like a brand new road, so the “new” stretch of 80km. highway was even more fun than the first time because there was virtually zero traffic. Then it was refill the bike in Creston and then back to the ferry again. Driving the number one destination highway three times in one afternoon was well worth the entire trip. You couldn’t get the smile off my face! In fact it’s fair to say that, every single biker that I saw over the entire 2000 mile rally weekend was grinning from ear to ear. A biker’s dream: good weather, good roads, no traffic and a few good friends to share it with. It has been quite special so far.
Once I got over the lake it was short drive to the finish line in Nelson and the ritual of checking in and getting this year’s belt buckle. My collection of Three Flags buckles is now thirty-three strong and with any kind of luck at all I’m hoping for at least forty of them. Jose and I checked into our room, freshened up and then went for a cold beer or two.
I didn’t stay up too late and slept like a baby Monday night. The big wind up banquet was going to be on Tuesday night and there was a bunch of riding I wanted to do on Tuesday while I was in that part of the province. After a great breakfast Tuesday morning I headed out from Nelson towards Crescent Valley on Hwy. 6, followed that through Slocan and continued to New Denver. Once there I turned onto Hwy. 31A and headed towards Kaslo and Kootenay Lake.
Once on the lake Hwy 31A turns into Hwy. 3A which I followed down the lake and all the way back to Nelson. Once there I turned around and did the entire drive in the opposite direction! Different direction makes it a whole new rode…lots of curves, no traffic, sunshine and very seldom driven roads made it a very memorable drive. Just for some added fun I took my trusty GoPro with me and got some great footage of the drive. Now it was party time and a banquet.
Probably the biggest surprise of the night was hearing that the average age of this year’s participants was sixty-four! There’s fewer and fewer young people coming along every year and many of the riders are now retired, like I’ll be next year. And speaking of next year, the 2013 Three Flags Classic will be going from Deming, New Mexico to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Now that will be an interesting ride….. I wouldn’t want to miss it for anything. After the banquet it’s time for saying goodbyes to the many people that we won’t see again until we meet in Deming next year. Again I just got to say, “what a wonderful way to spend a few days on vacation.”
Wednesday morning it was breakfast, a few more goodbyes as I packed up the motorcycle and then off to Mission, BC. When going to college from 1975 to 1977 there was a fellow in my class named Dale. He grew up in Mission and still lives there today. We have been great friends all these years and I try to stop in for a visit with Dale and his lovely wife Karin when ever I can. They were expecting me this evening. It has to be the best time of the year for riding! All the kids are back in school and the traffic is very minimal on the highways and at the same time the weather is still fabulous with a tiny little hint of autumn in the air. A nice little cruise on Hwy. 3A to Castlegar and then followed Hwy. 3 west through Manning Park and to Hope where this highway runs into the Trans Canada Hwy. 1. A few miles west of there you turn off in Abbotsford onto Hwy. 11 and go north over the Fraser River towards Mission. Dale and Karin live a few miles west of Mission on a chunk of land with many fresh vegetables ready to eat this time of year.
What a feast we had. Potatoes, green beans, corn on the cob, and lamb… all grown in the back yard with a fresh rhubarb pie for dessert. All fresh, organic, and delicious. We stayed up many hours swapping stories while drinking icy cold beers. But like most good things, we had to call it quits around midnight. Dale had work he had to do in the morning and I had to catch a ferry to Victoria so I could see three of my four children before I had to head back up island. So we did dinner Thursday night in Victoria and I headed back up island on Friday. It was now September 7th and there was still a few chores to do on the way home. I ended up spending the night in Campbell River at my carpenter friend’s house. This was another late night of story telling and drinking many beers. There was a lot of laughing going on that night and we finally packed it in around midnight. Did I tell you how much FUN I have doing this two week vacation every year? And of course while all this is happening, in the back of my mind, I know that when I do go back to work on Monday morning it will only be just a few short weeks to go until I can stop working permanently and retire! A thirty-five year plan coming to fruition. And if I haven’t already mentioned, the highway running from Campbell River to Gold River, Hwy 28, is the number four motorcycle destination highway in BC. A road that I affectionately refer to as “my T.J. Watt Authentic Jersey driveway.” And just for the fun of it I stopped in at “the Elk” in the Strathcona Park for a quick photo. This is a popular little stop and is just before you go over the Buttle Lake bridge and head towards Gold River, “Center of the Universe”, with the best drinking water on the planet coming out of its taps. It was another great vacation and this year was a year where there were no “performance awards” handed to me. In fact the last one of those was given to me in August of 2011. Almost an eternity ago. All the rest of the photos from this vacation are in my gallery under 2012 Three Flags Classic.
Hope you’ve enjoyed some of this 🙂
Some of my earliest work. Always looking forward to feedback, good or bad.
cwrides