Heading south to Mt. St. Helens

September 20, 2007 by bobcatou

I stopped back through to my brother’s and his wife’s place in Port Townsend. I have been have a minor problem with a fork seal on my bike. Small leak but enough to have to deal with.

Not as bad as it looks…just alot of small parts in the fork.

This short visit wasn’t too bad. My brother had out of town company and we ate well. Several crabs and halibut sacraficed themselves for us this night.

The aftermath!!!

In Canada I made it as far as Whistler, B

The town is ritzy but wasn’t as nice as I had heard. Might be different when there is snow.

I just finished looking at some job boards and sent a couple resumes out. I’m heading to Mt. St. Helens tonight to camp then going south from there. I wanted to go to Yellowstone Natl. Park in Wyoming but the nights are already in the 20’s so I think I will see if that changes before I head east.

More later…Hope for no eruptions.

Rabbits and Road Construction

September 17, 2007 by bobcatou

I’m happy to say that the weather is much nicer in Squamish this morning than yesterday.

I had a very good night sleep with the help of my motorcycle ear plugs. I had very nice private site next the a lake but there was road construction going on all night, so that made it a little noisy. Not bad with earplugs though.

View from close to my tent, taken yesterday.

This morning I had some company. Obviously he was a BMW admirer.

He and his little buddy hung out with me for about 10 minutes then took off.

I have seen several rabbits so far on this trip. I’m told that there aren’t many predators around so their population has been booming.

Well, I got to go. I’m at the Adventure Center in Squamish again this morning. I have to figure out which direction to head. Will it be north or south?

In Squamish, BC

September 16, 2007 by bobcatou

Well I stayed in my first motel of this trip last night. You get a bit of “Sticker Shock” when you have been paying $10 a night to camp. Granted you aren’t going to the bathroom in a hole with flies for company. That said, camping has worn on me pretty good this trip.

My second night on the road was a campground next to Lake Cowichan. I was a “stones throw” from the lake.

This is what I woke up to. Nice eh?

The plan for the next day was to go to Ucluelet on the west coast but I met an Irishman at the campsite that recommended that I just head up the east coast.

I stopped for lunch at Lizzy Lou’s Funky Fusion Cafe in Chemainus and had a very good vegiwrap (with red peppers) as a local recommended. I had a Mocha coffee as well but Lizzy was about being healthy so I got some kind of protein powered mocha instead.

A very sweet couple owns and runs the place. Tim the husband, kept saying how he came down to visit his wife…(and Eh,) she put me to work. (Eh)

That evening I stayed at a Provincial campground at Comox, BC near the ferry station where I would depart Vancouver Island the next day.

The following morning I took a very foggy ride from Comox to Powell River near the BC mainland. Guess what? I met another F650 rider.

We docked at Powell River at Hardy Island. From there I took the next ferry in Saltry Bay and headed toward Thormanby Island. This was a much more pleasant ride with great scenery and very little fog.

I overnighted on the island and FINALLY got a shower and shave after 4 days. I think bears were probably avoiding me at this point.

The next morning I took the ferry to West Vancouver. Headed to a BMW shop. (I’m addicted to these places.) I picked up minor things.

From there I took Rt-99 NE to Squamish. Man!!! It was a pain too. They are widening the road all the way to Whistler for the Olympics.

I’m staying an extra night in Squamish but at a campsite. $20 It’s just cool out and cloudy. I have to figure whether I am going to head to the Canadian Rockies or not. Weather isn’t the greatest and the evenings are around 32 degrees. Something to sleep on.

More later…