Day 6 – To Edmonton
N53º 32.858' W113º 33.635'
This morning dawned hot and blowing. And I was alone, thank you very much, so get your minds out of the gutter.
There is very little open at 6:30 in the morning for breakfast in Kamloops (should you ever find yourself in this situation, you may want to keep this in mind). Several establishments open at 7:30am, of course, but I had a long day ahead of me and my goal was to actually be on the road by then. Fortunately, Zack’s Coffee, across the road from the hotel, is open most of the time (6:30am to 11:00pm). And they roast their own coffee. They make a mean Americano, and a damned fine latte as well. Given that you can also get a breakfast bagel with egg, ham and processed cheese slices, all is good. Or at least interesting people watching, for most of the patrons that show up at 6:30am are local and know each other. I get a table in the corner and watch the floor show.
The Heritage Plaze hotel in Kamloops.
A hot wind was blowing down the main street as I got packed and ready to head out. The sun was already well up, and wreathed in a red glow from the smoke of the forest fires. It’s going to be a while yet before the fire crews get a respite. The papers this morning were talking about additional help being flown in from as far away as Australia and New Zealand.
The main street in Kamloops. You can see the smoke from the fires around the sun.
By the time I got to the highway, Alessandro was warmed up and ready to ride. Approaching the highway, I spotted the sign for Jasper (and Abottsford and Vancouver, which was a little confusing).Leaning into the on ramp in first gear, the bike dug in and we merged smoothly into traffic, completely oblivious to the fact that once on the highway you have to immediately exit again if you really want to go to Jasper. Excellent riding finesse, perhaps; navigational proficiency, not so much, as I find myself launching back up the hill out of town and towards Merritt, the GPS quietly protesting my decision (or lack thereof). 50 metres to one exit but five kilometres to the next one means that this particular detour is going to cost me some, although it does provide a beautiful view of Kamloops as I descend back into the valley (and yes, I recognize I used the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘Kamloops’ in the same sentence — I think the place must be growing on me).
Zack’s Coffee. They roast the coffee, and the locals roast each other.
The ride to Edmonton from Kamloops is just over 800 kilometres (803, to be exact) which makes it slightly longer than the trip from Mendocino to Lincoln City on Saturday. This will be an all-day expedition, but it will be worth it to get home. The nice thing about travelling on the Tuesday after a long weekend, however, is that the roads are for the most part delightfully empty. Anything that I come across I can almost immediately pass, and through the morning I set a good pace. By all accounts a very good pace, in fact, as at one point I had accumulated two SUVs and a courier truck who apparently decided after I passed them that I made good bait. Given that I’m riding a bright red sportbike, they’re probably not wrong.
My first gas stop is in Blue River, roughly halfway between Kamloops and Jasper. My current plan is to stop every 200 kms (here, in Jasper and in Edson) to refuel and take a break, and apart from that keep on going. The Petro Canada in Blue River seems to be astonishingly popular with bikers ,though. After me, a silver Gold Wing (not sure if there is irony there or not) with a trailer pulls in, followed by a pack of Harley riders. Correction, a gang of Harley riders. For, judging by their clothing, they are a gang. However, judging by their appearance they’re more Hell’s Bookkeepers than they are Hell’s Angels, but that’s just me.
Ordinarily, I’d say a polite hello and carry on my business, but what stands out is that while as a general rule, motorcyclists acknowledge their own kind, this group does not. No nods, no ‘good morning’, no smiles, not even a snarl of recognition. Either they haven’t learned the etiquette just yet, or they’re a powerfully surly bunch before they’ve had their morning cup of coffee. According to their leather vests (and yes, they have leather vests… with patches, no less) they are the Badawgz (sic) motorcycle club of Sacramento. And not only do they have the vests, but they have the pimped out Harleys, the beanie helmets and the custom-moulded ear plugs. These dawgz are way bad. Or at least entertaining. I cannot imagine the scenario that would make me turn to my friends and say “Hey! Let’s start a motorcycle club! I’ll be president, and we can get vests made, and our logo will be a flaming dog collar!” Yet somewhere, somehow, this conversation must actually have happened. Go figure. Having filled up Alessandro and emptied me (yes, Breton, that does actually happen) I let the four puppies of the apocalypse go their way, and I went mine.
From Blue River, I wended my way progressively further north. For the most part, the rest of the ride was uneventful, save for a new forest fire just starting up about 50 kms south of Valemount. Smoke was starting to billow from the hillside, and crews were actively clearing brush along the roadside to make a fire break. This is going to be one hell of a summer in BC. Fortunately for the fire crews, as I moved further north it got more overcast and cool. Actually, it got more overcast and cold. By the time I reached Jasper the temperature was down to 11ºC and I was seriously regretting wearing my vented jacket and gloves — wind chill is a major consideration at 120 km/h!
Traversing Jasper Park. Those are real clouds, not smoke.
The rest of the trip was an exercise in keeping warm and keeping awake. From Jasper, the highway is two lanes of monotony for pretty much the entire trip to Edmonton. Of course, this was enlivened some by the exceptional turnout of the RCMP, with no less than nine radar traps in a 100 km stretch of highway, but that sort of excitement will only get you so far.
It’s not just ominous-looking, but cold too!
I arrived home shortly after 6pm, after 9.5 hours on the road. All told, the journey involved 2,966 kilometres, five days, 16 fuel stops and 46.5 hours of riding, with somewhere north of 20 radar traps (nearly half of which were within an hour of Edmonton) and zero speeding tickets. Where Alessandro was running extremely roughly when I left him in California, on the trip home he has been flawless. The ride has been a huge amount of fun. Getting some time just for me has been a welcome change, and it has been good to spend some time in my own head. Without question, however, it is equally good to be home.