#atl2arctic

Kelowna may either be regarded as the Vegas of Canada, or the Napa Valley of Canada.

It is certainly nothing at all like Las Vegas, and I mean that in a good way. And as far as a Napa comparison goes, this place is full of friendly natives, great food, a humongous fresh water lake, and vineyard after vineyard of superb grapes, yielding very good wines.

I only sampled a few since it’s not wise to drink anything at all and ride a motorcycle. However, with dinner at the Mission Winery, I paired up a Sauvignon Blanc from down Osoyoos way at the now infamous border crossing mentioned in the previous post. I also had a glass of the Viognier, a vibrant wine that had an amazing taste of peach.

We checked into the Super8. The desk clerks were super cool, there was a spa, hot tub, indoor pool, a diner, and gym.. at a Super8?! Yep. Price reflected it too.. C$145 per night. Ouch. Oh well. It’s vacation. Shout out to Manvir Gil. He invited me to visit India with him. He is Sikh, and just a super amazing guy. (I was watching a news broadcast, and my patter is now Trumpified. Amazing. You’ll love it. It’s gonna be the best. ;-p)

I took the bike into the Bentley BMW Motorrad dealership for service. I opted not to get the tires swapped out, but did get an oil change and a road inspection. Everything checked out, and I am good on the tires.. front 80% remaining, rear 75% remain. Having logged around 3800 miles to date, that’s pretty good tire wear for motorcycles, especially loaded down.

The road to the Northwest we learned was pretty much shut down owing to the wildfires. The smoky haze really hampered the view of Kelowna, which is a lake side area with beaches, mountains, ski resorts. They even have pianos put in the open for anyone to play, right along the beach.

It was a long day. I have been suffering from headaches for a few weeks now. They come on quickly, and go away after a few minutes. Painful and annoying. While the bike was being serviced, I grabbed a pricy cab over the hospital in town across the lake from West Kelowna. Turns out that Yanks are not given a free ride, nor is anyone else, at Canadian Health Services. Here is the minimum Emergency Room price if you have no valid insurance…$1115.00! Still that is probably cheaper than what you’d pay at home out of the “affordable deductible” Affordable if you are Bill Gates.

I was able to get m blood pressure checked, and rule out that as a cause of the headaches.

I also had the opportunity to meet Wilson, a volunteer service dog. A very welcoming fellow, this one!

I headed back to Bentley where Vick, Dave, and Jay took good care of me. They suggested I make sure my helmet properly fits. Already a perfect fit, we ruled out another possible cause.

I headed to WalMart where I was outside working on my computer on a bench, and a nice woman, Courtney, walks up, taking a work break. Turns out she is in the eye department, and tried to help me get an appointment, to also rule out vision as a cause of the headaches. I ended up going to Stickle & Strawn. Again, super duper nice folks. They had some advanced gear, and verified that my vision is better than 20/20, except for reading. I need to get some UV blue blocking reading glasses! Other than that, not a cause for the headache.

Bed rest and hydration were recommended by everyone involved.

So Be It.

 

We woke in Moses Lake, dawdled a bit, had a great breakfast at Sporty’s. We drove all the way thru to Kelowna. I will recount more of this trip tomorrow.

For now, here are the photos from the journey.

Leaving Taos Thursday, I stopped by the Earthship community along Hwy64, snapped some pics, and kept on trucking. I last refueled in Springer NM. This would later haunt me as I drove along 64 thru the Carson National Forest, not realizing there would be no gas for another 100 miles or so.

Hwy64 thru the Carson Forest was about as pretty as any national park. The road reaches 9000′ near Hopewell Lake, travels at that altitude for 10 miles or so, then goes on up to 10,532′ (per gps) at an unnammed, unmarked pass, surounded by for sale signs for large ranch tracts (5,000 acres and more).  I dropped into Tierra Amarilla and refueled at a place that was built by someone in the 50’s and kept as such since then,  a real time machine.

I connected with US84 to cross over into Colorado and into Pagosa Springs. What a cool town. Hot Springs, big 14,000 peaks surrounding the area.. great spot to get away and hide.

I drove thru Durango, it was hot down lower at 5000′. Then across the vast opens to Monticello UT.

The drive from Monticello to I-70 takes you thru Moab, and miles and miles of canyons, red rocks, and desert landscape. The La Sal Mountains loom large and green over the red and yellow landscape. Mt. Peale reaches 12,760′, a 6,100 rise from the bottom.

I linked up with I-70 for 20-30 miles. The posted speed limit is 80mph! There was a strong crosswind near the Green River exit that was shoving my bike all over the lane. I literally had to lean as if into a turn to keel the bike on a line.

Jumping off I70, I picked up Hwy 6 thru Price and Spanish Fork, taking me over Soldier Pass. The sun was setting, as I passed by the windmills at Spanish Fork.

Picking up I15, I had a 35 mile ride at high speeds. I thought people in Atlanta drive fast. These locals roll hard and crank their cars even though the Utah State Patrol was visible all along the route.

Around 9:30pm I landed at Tai’s house up near the entrance of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Long day. Start riding at ~8am. Stopped at ~10pm.  One long stop for lunch in Manco Colorado, several fuel stops, and that’s it.

It’s been a long couple of days since the last post.

Wednesday, I drove from Little Rock to Dumas Texas, about 50 miles north of Amarillo Texas.  That was long, but relatively uneventful in terms of mishaps! Just fast and hot riding. Read into that what you will.

I kipped at the Motel6. It was a pretty place to stay all in all. Dumas overcharges for hotel rooms, since it’s the only town in the area, and a major stopping over point for cross country travelers.

I left out around 10am. The day was fraught with family drama back at home. Phones are great and all, but the other side of that sword, is you are never really out of reach for any meaningful length of time.  Owing to this drama, I literally had to stop on the side of the road to 1- Take The Calls 2- Recover from the Calls.  Gotta love “Family Love”. Makes a body feel good. Makes a man feel mature and respected as such.

Not. and… Not.

I was able to enjoy the scenery without the infliction of more doses of “Family Love”.

I drove thru some beautiful country, and that was a nice contrepoint to the drama. I could see for nearly a hundred miles. I saw an entire thunderstorm, must have been 50-100 miles wide, and from the ground to the top of the clouds. Just at a glance you could see the entire storm. Endless fields of cows and horses, all on a high altitude plain. Luckily for me, mobile coverage was terrible. Texas secondary highways are pretty good. Nice wide shoulders, high speed limits, and very little in the way of traffic. You could tell when you reached NM. There was no actual state line sign. The road quality suffered, shoulders disappeared, and mobile coverage became even worse. I was within easy range of several towers. I guess they were turned off? (I am on Verizon..)

As pretty as that was, that all changed. I arrived in Springer, NM at a truck stop on I-25. I was heading across the expressway, not actually getting on it. In the distance a nasty dark thunderstorm, complete with lightning bursts stood in my way. So I dawdled a while, donning my rain suit, and waterproofing things just to be double sure. About an hour later, I mustered the courage, and drove into the storm.

I noticed a gap between the storm cells, and it seemed that the route I would take would thread the needle between them.

As I arrived in Cimarron NM, I figured I got it right. It was a bad storm, but not nearly as bad as what had just past, and what was coming along shortly. I entered Cimarron Canyon, and the smell of mountains, rock, and trees was welcome. Slick curvy roads with 25-35mph speed limits, and out of state tourists driving to their vacations made it slow going. Trout rivers alongside the road, big canyon walls, great views.

I popped out on the other end into a clearing the size of, perhaps, Atlanta. At an altitude of  8,500′, it was a high plain,  clearing large enough to have most of the downtown, midtown, buckhead.. heck I dont know.. it was big. This is aptly named Eagles Nest. A mecca for mountain vacations and fishing. I was going to fly fish, and discovered the night before that I left my fly reel back in Atlanta. Rather than forking over UPS shipping money, I found a fly shop in Eagle’s Nest, and picked up a Reddington 3 weight reel and American Angler line. Yeah, I know. Small tackle. The larger tackle would not fit in my luggage, so would likely have just been appropriated off my bike at some gas station along the way.

Better a small pole, than no pole. (There’s a joke in there somewhere that you can sort out on your own. 😉

I rode on through to Taos (El Prado) near the resort to stay with my friends, Andy and Nancy. They have a beautiful home, surrounded by gardens, and a 100 mile view from their back yard, and a view of the south face of the Taos Ski Mountain from their front yard. They live next to a full rodeo style horse farm with all the fixtures and critters.

We had a nice dinner at Medley. Our waitress was new, but super nice. She looked just like Sloan from Ferris Beuller! The food was great.