07-25-2010 Sunday 11:00 a.m.
Cheryl: I just finished pulling off hundreds of the stickiest stick tights from the dogs’ fur. I took them on a walk this morning where we had to walk in the underbrush to skirt around a puddle. That did it. We were carriers of plant life instantly.
Last evening we went to the awards banquet, which was very good food by the way (salmon, roast beef sliced before your very eyes, along with corn, four kinds of salads, peas and tiny carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy), and Frank won second place in the Café Bike category. It’s a nifty trophy, but you have to see it to understand. Maybe we’ll include a picture here.
I spent yesterday morning hiking with the dogs along a thundering wide creek on a lovely stage coach road. At the best places along the creek, picnic tables were stationed strategically. What splendid places to have lunch or just a snack. There were white rocky beaches where you could easily walk next to the water and see how clear and clean it is. Because I was so enthralled with my hike, I missed the group photo back in Lumby where Frank had taken the bike earlier to get set up for the bike judging concourse.
When I finally got there around 1:00 p.m., only an hour late, we grabbed a burger at a food cart and then took pictures and salivated over all the bikes lining the concourse. After walking around in the sun and all that hiking I did, we came back to the trailer and slept a couple of hours before the banquet. Frank got to stand up for applause as the founder of the club, and for the very first time, I got to stand up as wife of the founder. Gee whiz, I didn’t do anything, but marry the guy. Oh well, it was nice anyway.
Today we are packing to leave, and Frank discovered he’d left a couple of things back at the other campground in Lumby that he needs to secure the bike. So, while he’s there I’m doing a couple loads of laundry for only 2 loonies for both wash and dry. They’ve got a laundry lean-to set up close enough for me to walk from the trailer with one washer and one dryer at a dollar each. We couldn’t pass up this opportunity to do laundry so cheaply. I wanted to get on the internet so I could post this along with some pictures, but for some reason there is no connection this morning. The campground is just in the process of setting up WiFi and having some difficulty it seems. Oh well, we’ll find some free electrons somewhere along the way.
We’re making a little loop so we can cross at the ferry we missed on the bike adventure the other day and eat at the Mushroom Restaurant where we’ve heard you can order all kinds of wild mushrooms with your lunch. They even reportedly have Morels! Yumm! Haven’t had those in years. After that we’ll stay somewhere over by Silverton or New Denver (named for Denver in the US). Don’t know how long it will take us to do this scenic loop, but after we cross into the states, we’ll be on our way to Seattle to see our kids and grandkids.
Update: We're in Castlegar, BC at a fairly nice campground. We're just happy to be down for the night as we'd planned a short day, and it's now 7:35 p.m.! Yikes!
We saw wonderful scenery again today with several ARRBL's. However, we're both so tired tonight, we'll tell you all about it in tomorrow's blog.
“Catch you on the flip side” – (You guess the movie)
Russell Crowe, Meg Ryan, Peanut Caruso and Cleo Chica
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
The Ferry Not Taken . . . Yet
07-23-2010 Friday, 4:30 PM.
Frank: We tried to ride the ferry but didn’t make it. We left about 9AM and rode about 40 of the 55 miles and turned around as we were freezing to death. I had on a turtleneck shirt over a T-shirt under a lightweight jacket and Cheryl had only a blouse under a windbreaker. It seemed like enough when we left camp but when we got into the mountains the temperature dropped, the dark clouds covered the sun and the cold soaked right into our bones. When we got back to the camper we sucked down some hot chocolate and toasted some of the biscuits left over from the other day. Then we wrapped up in our quilts and took a nap. When I got up a couple of hours later I was still chilled and actually still feel chilled almost three hours later. We decided we’ll “do” the ferry on the way back to the lower forty-eight by taking a rather circuitous route back to Oroville. The big rally dance at the Lumby Town Hall is tonight so we’re getting ready for that. Tomorrow, Saturday, is a full rally day with field events, the concourse bike showing, judging and awards and then the big rally banquet. I'll post a few miscellaneous photos.
Frank: We tried to ride the ferry but didn’t make it. We left about 9AM and rode about 40 of the 55 miles and turned around as we were freezing to death. I had on a turtleneck shirt over a T-shirt under a lightweight jacket and Cheryl had only a blouse under a windbreaker. It seemed like enough when we left camp but when we got into the mountains the temperature dropped, the dark clouds covered the sun and the cold soaked right into our bones. When we got back to the camper we sucked down some hot chocolate and toasted some of the biscuits left over from the other day. Then we wrapped up in our quilts and took a nap. When I got up a couple of hours later I was still chilled and actually still feel chilled almost three hours later. We decided we’ll “do” the ferry on the way back to the lower forty-eight by taking a rather circuitous route back to Oroville. The big rally dance at the Lumby Town Hall is tonight so we’re getting ready for that. Tomorrow, Saturday, is a full rally day with field events, the concourse bike showing, judging and awards and then the big rally banquet. I'll post a few miscellaneous photos.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Rainbow Falls Adventures
07-22-2010 Thursday 7AM. Gold Panner RV Park, Cherryville, BC.
Frank: This time it wasn’t my fault! There we were once again on a narrow, bumpy, pot-holed, rutted remote and scary dirt road, and this time it wasn’t my fault! Someone, who shall remain nameless, (Cheryl) read about two beautiful waterfalls both of which were on one concise day trip. That person (Cheryl) read the descriptions of the two combined trips and that person (Cheryl) decided that as the roads were described as smooth dirt, and the hiking trails were described as “short, smooth and well maintained” that we should take said roads and trails and see the beautiful waterfalls. The first waterfall was a bust as it was simply the overflow from a not so big man-made dam. The second waterfall was spectacularly beautiful, tall, soaring, roaring, wild wet and misty and we were right next to the edge of all of it. Once again I’ll let the nameless one (Cheryl) write the pretty words.
I was able to find a sidestand and all the bits and pieces needed to install it for the bike and it is being FedEx’d to the campsite even as I write this. With luck I should have it installed by noon. Then nameless one (Cheryl) and I are going to ride to a ferry (the longest free ferry in Canada) across a lake and have lunch at a nice restaurant we’ve been told about.
Nameless One. (Cheryl): The hardy Canadian people evidently don’t require asphalt or wheelchair ramps to visit the stunning majesty of their outback. After choosing the “road less taken” that traveled down a small hill and meandered dangerously close to the banks of Sugar Lake, we finally emerged to a much wider, but still gravel road that led us about 20 miles to a tiny road marker and sign to Rainbow Falls.
When at last the narrow cedar-lined road opened into a wide parking area, we were surprised to find a van camper and a pickup camper with BC plates there ahead of us. The two gray-headed Canadians from the van camper were just entering the trail to the falls with their trusty ski pole walking sticks in hand. They obviously had ten years on us, yet they were blithely taking what had been described in our booklet as an easy 5 to 10 minute walk to the falls armed with backpacks and walking sticks. I think they must have been there before because when Frank finally got to the falls, they were already on the viewing platform and told him about a less apparent higher platform up a rather rugged little root tangled trail. They were off into unmarked territory along the river before Peanut and I arrived to take in the grandly misty mighty rainbow falls.
My mouth hung open in awe, and I agreed, for once, with the description in our booklet, “it’s well worth the trip!” We took lots of pictures and videos so you can hear the falls if you want to someday when we catch you off guard with our computer in hand. And that my dear friends, pretty much sums up yesterday’s unexpected back roads day trip.
We arrived at the trailer to find our electricity out due to some incident just south of the campground. It was off until 9:00 p.m., so we read our novel, and since Frank fell asleep, I attempted to bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with walnuts sans a recipe, using Bisquick for the flour and baking powder part. Thank goodness for battery powered lights and propane stove! The cookies turned out great! I just had one for breakfast. It looks overcast today, so don’t know if we’ll get our m/c ride in or not.
Keep tuning in for more exciting episodes of Great Canadian Wilderness Explorers – Love, Frank, The Nameless One, Peanut and Cleo
Frank: This time it wasn’t my fault! There we were once again on a narrow, bumpy, pot-holed, rutted remote and scary dirt road, and this time it wasn’t my fault! Someone, who shall remain nameless, (Cheryl) read about two beautiful waterfalls both of which were on one concise day trip. That person (Cheryl) read the descriptions of the two combined trips and that person (Cheryl) decided that as the roads were described as smooth dirt, and the hiking trails were described as “short, smooth and well maintained” that we should take said roads and trails and see the beautiful waterfalls. The first waterfall was a bust as it was simply the overflow from a not so big man-made dam. The second waterfall was spectacularly beautiful, tall, soaring, roaring, wild wet and misty and we were right next to the edge of all of it. Once again I’ll let the nameless one (Cheryl) write the pretty words.
I was able to find a sidestand and all the bits and pieces needed to install it for the bike and it is being FedEx’d to the campsite even as I write this. With luck I should have it installed by noon. Then nameless one (Cheryl) and I are going to ride to a ferry (the longest free ferry in Canada) across a lake and have lunch at a nice restaurant we’ve been told about.
Nameless One. (Cheryl): The hardy Canadian people evidently don’t require asphalt or wheelchair ramps to visit the stunning majesty of their outback. After choosing the “road less taken” that traveled down a small hill and meandered dangerously close to the banks of Sugar Lake, we finally emerged to a much wider, but still gravel road that led us about 20 miles to a tiny road marker and sign to Rainbow Falls.
When at last the narrow cedar-lined road opened into a wide parking area, we were surprised to find a van camper and a pickup camper with BC plates there ahead of us. The two gray-headed Canadians from the van camper were just entering the trail to the falls with their trusty ski pole walking sticks in hand. They obviously had ten years on us, yet they were blithely taking what had been described in our booklet as an easy 5 to 10 minute walk to the falls armed with backpacks and walking sticks. I think they must have been there before because when Frank finally got to the falls, they were already on the viewing platform and told him about a less apparent higher platform up a rather rugged little root tangled trail. They were off into unmarked territory along the river before Peanut and I arrived to take in the grandly misty mighty rainbow falls.
My mouth hung open in awe, and I agreed, for once, with the description in our booklet, “it’s well worth the trip!” We took lots of pictures and videos so you can hear the falls if you want to someday when we catch you off guard with our computer in hand. And that my dear friends, pretty much sums up yesterday’s unexpected back roads day trip.
We arrived at the trailer to find our electricity out due to some incident just south of the campground. It was off until 9:00 p.m., so we read our novel, and since Frank fell asleep, I attempted to bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with walnuts sans a recipe, using Bisquick for the flour and baking powder part. Thank goodness for battery powered lights and propane stove! The cookies turned out great! I just had one for breakfast. It looks overcast today, so don’t know if we’ll get our m/c ride in or not.
Keep tuning in for more exciting episodes of Great Canadian Wilderness Explorers – Love, Frank, The Nameless One, Peanut and Cleo
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday Morning Musings
Frank: We just had a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs, pan fried potatoes and onions, and fresh baked biscuits. I still marvel at how well the appliances in this camper work. The refrigerator and freezer are cold and efficient automatically working on either electric or gas, the microwave is quieter and easier to use than the one at home, the stove and oven get hotter than heck even though they are propane, and the water heater gives us (almost) boiling hot water within a few minutes of turning it on. The built in heating and air conditioning keep us comfortable no matter what is happening outside and we are as snug as bugs in a rug. All in all, RV’ing is not a bad deal.
Yesterday we went to the rally and registered. While there we found that the camp operators or the rally organizers had put the tent campers into the RV sites which have electrical and water hook-ups, and put the RVs into an open field with no hook-ups and are charging $15 per person in each RV to boot. For us that would be $30 per night with no hook-ups rather than the $28 per night we’re paying for a site with water, electric, and sewer. I don’t understand the logic at the rally site but I’m not about to ask, as putting on a National Rally takes two years of hard work and they don’t need my questions. I may be the founder of the club but I no longer hold any position to question how the club operates.
My Norton is vexing me a bit. The speedo died, the left side cover came unhooked twice (thankfully it didn’t come off) and the sidestand left for places unknown on the ride to Lumby. I think the sidestand spring came loose and the stand dragged on the ground and at some point snapped the pivot bolt. I heard it when it happened but thought the center-stand had lost its spring (it has happened before) and was dragging. So I was surprised when I finally was able to pull over and found the sidestand gone. That’s a new one on me. This morning I will call some of my vendors and see if anyone can FedEx me a new side stand and mounting bolt.
Cheryl: Today we thought we might go on a m/c ride to Needles and cross the river on the largest free ferry in North America, but Frank wanted to attend the INOA officers meeting, the chapter meeting and the tech session. We’ll probably do that ride east on Highway 6 on our own since we’re staying through the weekend (if I have my way!). There is a music festival Saturday and Sunday so I’d like to hang around for that.
The puppies have been waking us up with kisses about 5:30 a.m., so one of us is up and out walking the dogs fairly early in the morning. The dog walk goes up a hill and into the woods, so it’s a pleasant morning walk. This morning I spotted bear droppings on the trail and Cleo refused to go any further under her own power. After dog walkin' and checking out where the bear had his breakfast foraging in the trash right behind our trailer, I scurried home for coffee and breakfast.
Yesterday we took off for Lumby on the bike around 10:00 a.m. I’d much rather do Highway 6 on the back of the bike than in the truck. It’s very up and down and curvy, so it’s fun on the bike, but that Dodge truck just doesn’t have a smooth ride that I can enjoy on a road like that. Except for a tense moment when the side cover vibrated itself loose, the ride into Lumby gave Frank a chance to let the Norton just fly, and fly we did! The day was in the 80s, blue sky and just a hint of a breeze. We got our t-shirts, rally pins, maps, wrist bands, and info and met up with Susie Greenwald, the current and beloved president of the INOA. We strolled around the campground looking at bikes and then stopped at Anna’s Pizza for a quick lunch that we ate outside on a bench in the park where we could watch the Nortons zoom past.
We lolly-gagged the afternoon away back at the trailer and then decided to run back into Lumby in the late afternoon. Frank suggested taking the truck, but I wanted to go on the bike again. We stopped when the side stand decided to leave the bike and noticed some dark clouds looming above us. It was sunny all around, so we decided to continue on to Lumby since we were only 10 minutes away. Just as we entered Lumby the first rain drops hit, and by the time we parked the bike and ran for the registration canopy, rain was coming down in buckets. We stood for about an hour under the canopy talking with the Canadian organizers of the rally. Of course, we hadn’t brought our rain suits AGAIN, so we were worried about the trip back to Cherryville we might have to make in this deluge. And then the rain cleared, WHEW! So we walked over to a restaurant in town for supper while the bike dried out. We had scrumptious food at a German restaurant and brought our parsley boiled potatoes home in a piece of foil to frizzle for breakfast. Yummmm! Our dinner in the local pub on Saturday was splendid as well, so I’m thinking we should eat out as often as possible while we’re here, right?
The ride back to the trailer after dinner assaulted our senses with the soft air after the rain filled with the scent of new mown hay swirling around us. Sigh. “It don’t get no better’n this!”
Oh yes, I forgot to mention we ran into Josie our young friend who dog-sat for us at last year’s rally. At 18, she’s full of youthful exuberance and a pleasure to be around. At one of the recent rallies, Frank, Josie, Susie, and I danced up a storm. This year’s dance to be held in the Lumby Town Hall on Friday night promises to be even more fun. There are posters all over town offering tickets to the town folk, so it should be quite a large affair with live music of all kinds.
Well, I think I’ll find a woodland trail to keep the puppies and me busy until Frank gets home. More tomorrow from the exciting world of crazy cyclists, who sit astride 36 year old motorcycles on roads begging to be ridden flat out. Always remember and never forget, “Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down.”
Love, Evel Knievel, Annie Oakley, Trigger and Buttermilk
Yesterday we went to the rally and registered. While there we found that the camp operators or the rally organizers had put the tent campers into the RV sites which have electrical and water hook-ups, and put the RVs into an open field with no hook-ups and are charging $15 per person in each RV to boot. For us that would be $30 per night with no hook-ups rather than the $28 per night we’re paying for a site with water, electric, and sewer. I don’t understand the logic at the rally site but I’m not about to ask, as putting on a National Rally takes two years of hard work and they don’t need my questions. I may be the founder of the club but I no longer hold any position to question how the club operates.
My Norton is vexing me a bit. The speedo died, the left side cover came unhooked twice (thankfully it didn’t come off) and the sidestand left for places unknown on the ride to Lumby. I think the sidestand spring came loose and the stand dragged on the ground and at some point snapped the pivot bolt. I heard it when it happened but thought the center-stand had lost its spring (it has happened before) and was dragging. So I was surprised when I finally was able to pull over and found the sidestand gone. That’s a new one on me. This morning I will call some of my vendors and see if anyone can FedEx me a new side stand and mounting bolt.
Cheryl: Today we thought we might go on a m/c ride to Needles and cross the river on the largest free ferry in North America, but Frank wanted to attend the INOA officers meeting, the chapter meeting and the tech session. We’ll probably do that ride east on Highway 6 on our own since we’re staying through the weekend (if I have my way!). There is a music festival Saturday and Sunday so I’d like to hang around for that.
The puppies have been waking us up with kisses about 5:30 a.m., so one of us is up and out walking the dogs fairly early in the morning. The dog walk goes up a hill and into the woods, so it’s a pleasant morning walk. This morning I spotted bear droppings on the trail and Cleo refused to go any further under her own power. After dog walkin' and checking out where the bear had his breakfast foraging in the trash right behind our trailer, I scurried home for coffee and breakfast.
Yesterday we took off for Lumby on the bike around 10:00 a.m. I’d much rather do Highway 6 on the back of the bike than in the truck. It’s very up and down and curvy, so it’s fun on the bike, but that Dodge truck just doesn’t have a smooth ride that I can enjoy on a road like that. Except for a tense moment when the side cover vibrated itself loose, the ride into Lumby gave Frank a chance to let the Norton just fly, and fly we did! The day was in the 80s, blue sky and just a hint of a breeze. We got our t-shirts, rally pins, maps, wrist bands, and info and met up with Susie Greenwald, the current and beloved president of the INOA. We strolled around the campground looking at bikes and then stopped at Anna’s Pizza for a quick lunch that we ate outside on a bench in the park where we could watch the Nortons zoom past.
We lolly-gagged the afternoon away back at the trailer and then decided to run back into Lumby in the late afternoon. Frank suggested taking the truck, but I wanted to go on the bike again. We stopped when the side stand decided to leave the bike and noticed some dark clouds looming above us. It was sunny all around, so we decided to continue on to Lumby since we were only 10 minutes away. Just as we entered Lumby the first rain drops hit, and by the time we parked the bike and ran for the registration canopy, rain was coming down in buckets. We stood for about an hour under the canopy talking with the Canadian organizers of the rally. Of course, we hadn’t brought our rain suits AGAIN, so we were worried about the trip back to Cherryville we might have to make in this deluge. And then the rain cleared, WHEW! So we walked over to a restaurant in town for supper while the bike dried out. We had scrumptious food at a German restaurant and brought our parsley boiled potatoes home in a piece of foil to frizzle for breakfast. Yummmm! Our dinner in the local pub on Saturday was splendid as well, so I’m thinking we should eat out as often as possible while we’re here, right?
The ride back to the trailer after dinner assaulted our senses with the soft air after the rain filled with the scent of new mown hay swirling around us. Sigh. “It don’t get no better’n this!”
Oh yes, I forgot to mention we ran into Josie our young friend who dog-sat for us at last year’s rally. At 18, she’s full of youthful exuberance and a pleasure to be around. At one of the recent rallies, Frank, Josie, Susie, and I danced up a storm. This year’s dance to be held in the Lumby Town Hall on Friday night promises to be even more fun. There are posters all over town offering tickets to the town folk, so it should be quite a large affair with live music of all kinds.
Well, I think I’ll find a woodland trail to keep the puppies and me busy until Frank gets home. More tomorrow from the exciting world of crazy cyclists, who sit astride 36 year old motorcycles on roads begging to be ridden flat out. Always remember and never forget, “Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down.”
Love, Evel Knievel, Annie Oakley, Trigger and Buttermilk
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