When I got up, the sky was overcast and everything was wet from the
rain. I knew I had to pack it all up and get on the road. I hoped to
make it to Prince George, 600 miles away today. That was ambitious
considering the conditions.
As I pulled out of the campground, there was a little pavement so I
put the bike on the centerstand and lubed and adjusted the chain. It
really needs a good cleaning but it would be wasted time now as the
road ahead is still all gravel and, according to a guy from last
night, the road ahead is worse.
I reached the first construction zone in about 10 minutes. The
flagperson had just let folks through but she told me is was EXTREMELY
slippery. She was right. I was last in the line and I had an 18
wheeler ahead of me, then two pickups and then two other adventure
motorcycles. The 18 wheeler waved me around him (he was going VERY
slow) and, after the construction, the two trucks passed the bikes. I
rode with the two of them for 1/2 hr to the next construction and then
I introduced myself while we waited for the pilot car. They were from
MI and (sorry, I'm sure I've forgotten one guy's name) were Nick and
Hugo (?). They'd gone to Prudhoe and were heading home through CO and
AZ. I figured I'd follow them to Prince George but as soon as the
construction was over, they pulled in to get gas and I wanted to get
going so we parted.
The day alternated between cloudy, partly cloudy, and rainy. The
construction zone with the two other guys was the last significant one
and the road changed to mostly paved before long. I was able to make
90-100 kph the rest of the length of the Cassiar Hwy.
I did see three bears at three different times during the day. The
first was a bear crossing the road at a distance. It was just below
the crest of a hill and, while I hadn't seen much traffic, I knew that
was a dangerous place for a bear to amble across a road. Fortunately,
the car coming was cautious and slowed and only made the bear hurry a
little.
The second bear was eating clover on a steep embankment about 10 m
from the road. I got a couple of good photos of him.
The third bear was just a glimpse of a bear on the side of the road.
I also spied a coyote hunting alongside the road and tried to
photograph him/her but s/he hid well in the long grass. He caught
something but s/he also ate it in one gulp.
Last bit of excitement was a hawk that tried to hit me. It dove off a
tree and was on a collision course with me as it was crossing the
road. I ducked or it would have him my helmet.
The remainder of the ride was just a nice cruise. I had hoped to get
to Prince George but about 90 km from it I was getting tired so I
stopped in Vanderhoof. On the way into town I saw the biggest sawmill
I ever saw in my life. They had at least 30 stacks of logs (about 50
logs/stack) waiting to be sawn and then they had so many piles of
lumber of all sizes that I couldn't believe how much was there. I
rode through the town and decided on a nice motel (I deserved a room
tonite) at the Sunset Motel. It was clean and comfortable. I then
went to wash my bike at a truck wash and fill up before calling Ruth.
The truck was took either loonies ($1 coins) or toonies ($2 coins).
Perhaps this would be the last CaCl2 I get on the bike from the gravel
roads. I didn't get it all off but I got the top layer off.
I called Ruth and then went to bed.
--
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Todd Ryan; Hudson, MA
Westborough HS Science Teacher
MSF RiderCoach
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