“Reunited, and it feels so good"

Smoke in Little Canyon

Sometimes something happens that makes us feel out of step with the universe. I expect these things happen to all of us. Perhaps you’re ready for a bike ride and discover a tire is flat. Or you misplace something you need. Or you leave a bag of groceries at the check-out stand, and to make matters worse, the shopper behind you quietly takes it instead of turning it in. Maybe you find you only have half enough fabric to back the quilt you’re making. OR – you leave your phone at the town house when you go to the farm and have to endure a week without it. I’m sure there are other examples. These things are not the end of the world, but it sets you back, and you wonder how you can do better.

Hazy

So, yes, I left my phone in town last week. I didn’t discover I had left it until we were at the farmhouse. If it had been Mike’s phone, we would have had to go back for it, but I don’t have that many calls. Nevertheless, I missed it and was glad to be reunited. Mike and I often “call the roll” of important items as we drive away from whichever house. “Do you have your phone?” one of us will say. But we didn’t last week.

Mike & Bess, hunting

And I had looked forward to making progress on the Grinch quilt but discovered I had purchased only half enough yardage for the backing. It was not the end of the world – just an inconvenience. A trip to JoAnn’s rectified the situation, thank goodness, and as you know, I don’t mind going there.

Looking over north field -- smoky

We had a brief shower yesterday morning which might have dissipated some of the smoke, but it’s still hazy and Teakean Butte and Little Canyon are obscured.

It’s cooler now. The windows that we opened last week to capture the fresh air are now firmly closed.  

Mike has trained Bess to ride in the box on the back of the 4-wheeler. I guess you really can train an old dog to do new tricks. He trained her by putting a shotgun on the gun rack, and slowly driving off. She got the picture. “If I want to go hunting, I have to ride in the box.” Her love of going with Mike overcame her timidity. Well, sort of. She's still nervous about it.

And on a final note for those inquiring minds that wonder what will be planted in our fields this year, it’s wheat, and they will plant in about two weeks or so. KW

THE GREAT SEGUE INTO FALL

Mike and I couldn’t wait to return to the farm on Tuesday, Sept. 6, to escape the heat in the Valley, where temps were again in the triple digits.

“I wonder if I should wash my swimsuit and put it away,” I said.

“No!” said Mike. “We’ll have more hot days. We’ll go to the beach again.” Hmmm. I wasn’t so sure. As unreal as it seemed at that moment, autumn is on the way. I remember how it goes. Suddenly it’s not so hot.

And that’s what happened. Earlier this week at the farm, it was still 80 outside as we retired for the night and in the 60s (or even 70) when we arose, a continuation of “hot August nights.” However, I was mindful of what my mother said every year. By the 9^th of September, it was necessary to turn on the furnace in the morning to take the chill off the house, and if she didn’t, one  of us would take cold. That seasonal change just comes upon us, and often it’s first noticeable on or about the 9^th of September.

And lo and behold, the morning of the 9^th, the low was 46 while the high was 75 or so. The segue to autumn is upon us.

So, I changed the bed, pulled up the blankets, and pulled out my winter pajamas. And I haven’t been sorry.

And it’s fine. I’m a little tired of the summer drill. Of course, it’s not over yet. Questions loom. Will the blooms on the zucchini plant turn into edible squash? Will the tomatoes ripen? How much longer will the strawberries produce? Stay tuned for answers to these intriguing questions. 

I removed the hummingbird feeders on Sept. 6, and – wouldn’t you know it? – as I was lifting it down, one little fellow came up for a drink. “It’s time for you to move along,” I said firmly, and I guess he did because I haven’t seen him or his relatives.

And now that it’s cooler, we can actually bake in the oven. Mike made a batch of oat bran muffins. I baked cookies and a rhubarb crostata.

This post would not be complete without mention of the smoke from regional wildfires. Visibility is worse now than yesterday when I took these pictures. It’s not better in the Valley, and daughter Hallie says it’s smoky in Seattle, and they even see falling ash. KW

NORTH TO ALASKA - FINAL

The next day we got our usual early morning start and proceeded southeast down Hwy 6 to New Denver. Here a somewhat obscure Hwy 31A runs east to Kaslo. Sam had chosen it because it looked like it might be a fun motorcycle road. We almost didn’t take it because a log on a geocache said it was a “bad and dangerous” road. Fortunately we ignored that advice. It was the best road of the trip, running through a canyon along a stream with lots of challenging turns and NO traffic. I even saw a bull moose in the stream.

Funny cache container

At Kaslo we turned south on Hwy 31 along the western edge of Kootenay Lake down to Balfour. We stopped for a break there at a boat launch parking lot where the Kootenay River dumps into the lake. Here we turned west on Hwy 3A along the river and over to Nelson. What could have been a fun road was dampened because of the traffic, particularly slow moving trailers. At Nelson we took Hwy 6 south through Salmo and down to the border crossing north of Metaline Falls, WA, where the road changes to Hwy 31 in the US. The last 5 or 6 miles of Hwy 6 in Canada and Hwy 31 in the US down to Metaline Falls was some of the best riding of the trip. We stopped in Metaline Falls for another break and to gas up. We continued down Hwy 31 to Hwy 20 which veers south and then west over to Colville, another great road. At Colville we turned south of Hwy 395 for about 20 miles before turning right on Hwy 231. At Reardan we jogged west a short way on Hwy 2 before picking up 231 again all the way down to Hwy 90 where it merges into Hwy 23. Although 231 takes you through unremarkable farm country it was a surprisingly fun riding road that we thoroughly enjoyed. Hwy 23 continues southeast past St. John and all the way down to Steptoe at Hwy 195. At 195 we took the familiar route back down to Lewiston. At the top of the Lewiston hill Sam proceeded on down the regular highway but I turned off on the Old Spiral Highway which was a longer route because I wanted to get 2,700 miles for the trip and I needed to add a few to get that. After reaching the bottom I rode out Hwy 12 to Evans Rd to add a few more miles. When I got home I had 420 miles for the day and 2,701 for the trip.

In spite of the few weather problems and tire problem it was a great trip. I was most impressed by the vast unsettled area and thick woods in Canada and as on previous trips the friendly folks. M/W

 

NORTH TO ALASKA - PART 4

 After partaking of the Lodge’s continental breakfast a little before 6:00 we were soon on the road south toward Kamloops. It was overcast but at least no rain. We were still traveling on Hwy 5 along the North Thompson River. This river is wide with lots of water. I believe we stopped along the way for one or two geocaches. By the time we got to Kamloops the sun was brightly shining and it was a beautiful day. A little bad weather makes you really appreciate the fine weather.

At Kamloops we turned southeast on Hwy 97 down to Vernon where we turned east on Hwy 6 which eventually turns south down to Fauquier. We were on the opposite side of the Columbia River from Fauquier so we had to take a ferry to cross. We were the last of a long line going down a steep hill to the ferry. It was very awkward, at least for me, creeping down that steep hill on the bike. Unlike Washington, motorcycles do not move to the front of the ferry so we were stuck on the tail end. There was a little park on the other side of the river so we decided to stop and let the traffic in front of us clear out. While we were waiting I checked the geocaching app on my phone to see if there were any geocaches near and, sure enough, there were, so we hiked across the road into the woods and eventually found the cache. By that time the traffic was well ahead of us so we could do some spirited riding along the twisty roads unimpeded.

Cemetery cache at Nakusp

After crossing the river Hwy 6 turns north northeast along the Columbia up to Nakusp where we had reservations. Nakusp is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever seen. It reminded me of Coeur d’Alene 50 years ago only smaller and cleaner. It’s beauty plus boating and winter sports opportunities makes it a tourist attraction. There were lots of motorcyclists there. In fact, there was a rally of women Harley riders (of all things), although we didn’t see many. Having logged only 306 miles, we got there early in the afternoon and spent it separately, since Sam needed some refreshment in the bar. We both toured the town on foot. I visited a half dozen caches and found four, which gave me a pretty good tour. As it turned out Sam visited some of the same places I did.

Sam had found a place on the river he wanted to try for dinner. It was a beautiful setting and we were seated outside on a deck by the river. However, it was very crowded and probably for that reason the service was very slow. In fact, we almost left but one of the employees persuaded us to stay. Sam said his Southern Fried chicken was terrible. I don’t remember what I had but it was okay. I warned him about ordering Southern Fried chicken in Canada. What would they know about that? To be continued.  M/W

NORTH TO ALASKA - PART 3

At Vanderhoff while in the process of lubing my chain I discovered that my rear tire was in bad shape. I had replaced my front one for the trip and knew I was taking somewhat of a gamble by not replacing the rear as well. I lost that gamble. Canada is sparsely populated and the only town of any size anywhere near was Prince George two hours away. Sam kept calling it St. George and for me it was Prince Phillip. I guess between the two of us we had the basses covered. The motorcycle shops don’t open till 9:00 and we were there before 8:00. Sam had lost his phone charger and cord and needed to replace his broken sunglasses so we hit Walmart while we were waiting. We got Sam’s needed items and picked up some snack food as well. Even though it was still before 9:00, we rode over to the nearest shop to be there when it opened. I eventually got in a few minutes early but they said they had no tire in my size. I called the other two shops in town as well as a couple in Quesnet, another possibility south of Prince George. No luck.

Kenda Big Block tire

So I went back into the first shop again, the biggest in the area, to see if they could come up with something. The parts man told me to wait and he would go back and look some more. He finally found a tractor looking tire that would fit. As Sam said, “It’s round, it fits and it will get you home.”

Our original plan was to travel east over to Jasper and Lake Louise and then loop over to Revelstoke and back down to the states but the predicted rain and fog did not make that a good option. Instead we continued on Hwy 16 along the Fraser River, but before getting to Jasper we turned south on Hwy 5 along the mighty North Thompson River. Not long after turning south the rain began. And then it really starting raining and to make matters worse there was all kinds of truck traffic. Before leaving Prince George I had located a lodge in the little town of Blue River, so that was our immediate destination. Sam’s gear is more roadworthy than mine so he stayed relatively dry, but I suffered greatly. The rain covers on my saddle bags came apart in the wind and everything in them was soaked. Additionally the dampness and cold caused my right hand to be almost useless. The rain was running down the inside of my helmet so that I could hardly see. I had to make at least one unplanned stop just to try to clear my helmet visor so I could see.

Glacier Lodge - Blue River

Eventually, after 306 mostly wet miles, we reached the Glacier Lodge at Blue River where I had made a reservation while we were in Prince George. It was extremely nice as were the people there, like most all the Canadians we encountered. The clerk (who I later found out was the owner) immediately saw my plight and not only informed me about the hot tub but offered to dry all my clothes. As far as I could tell there was only one restaurant in this little town, and it was down the road a bit. However, we placed to-go orders at the small “Food Shack” adjacent to the Lodge and waited while they prepared it. Sam got a chicken wrap and I decided I would try a popular Canadian item called a Poutine which was ground beef, curds of cheese and French fries with beef gravy poured over the whole works. It wasn’t too bad but I didn’t eat too many of the soggy fries. It was a popular dish with the locals though.

Due to the weather forecast we decided to lay over the next day in Blue River. The rain continued in the night and some the next day. We went on a walk by a beautiful little lake in town used for swimming and canoeing. Taking a little wooded trail along the end of the lake yielded numerous mosquito bites. We spent much of the day walking around the beautiful little town. I took one of the Lodge employees up on her kind offer to wash my dirty clothes. She washed, dried, and folded them. I chose Sam’s dinner choice of the previous day for dinner. It was great and I had enough left over for lunch the next day. To be continued. M/W

NORTH TO ALASKA - PART 2

We were on the road a little after 6:00 the next morning continuing northwest on Hwy 16 and stopping for a couple geocaches along the way. Most of the BC roadside is thick woods but this road wasn’t quite so much to the extent as most others and had a bit more traffic. Hwy 16 eventually turns southwest toward Terrace and at about that point we continued northwest on Hwy 37.

After traveling on Hwy 37 for quite a while we made a gas stop, where a man riding a Suzuki VStrom the same as Sam approached him. He was a retired school teacher and writer who had been hired by Suzuki to travel all over the area for the summer writing about his experience. Not only that, they were furnishing the bike and paying all expenses. We thought that was a pretty sweet deal.

The cache

The falls

At one point we stopped and hiked in the woods and climbed down the mountain to a geocache at a beautiful little waterfall. It was by far the neatest cache I got on the trip. I like ones that require a lot of effort but offer a good reward at the end.

Sam ropes back up

Hwy 37 comes to a tee and we took the left one which is 37A. The 30 mile stretch of Hwy 37A undoubtedly has the most eye popping scenery I’ve ever seen. The river was swollen and almost over the road, and to the north were sheer cliffs with trees clinging to them in places and what looked like granite in other places with numerous waterfalls dropping hundreds of feet. I’m really bummed that I didn’t get pictures. I had intended to do so on the way back out but it was raining and so foggy I couldn’t even see the cliffs.

This road terminates at Hyder, AK, which is nothing except a bar and a small store just a mile or two beyond Stewart, BC. We stayed in Stewart after a 384 mile day. Stewart is a very interesting little town. All the buildings are very old and from the outside look like nothing has been done to them. The businesses are serviceable inside but still old. Our hotel (the Ripley) has each room furnished differently in an antique theme. After getting checked in we wandered around taking in the little town. We had dinner at a restaurant just across the street from the Ripley and it was good.

As predicted, it rained most of the night and was foggy and raining off and on the next morning. More rain was predicted as well. Sam had particularly wanted to go into Alaska and travel the 30 mile gravel road up to the Salmon Glacier but the road would likely have been muddy and it would have been impossible to see anything with the fog. So we settled with just crossing into Alaska at Hyder so I could log an Alaska geocache which was located in the store there. I’m sure a lot of folks do that because the paved road ends at Hyder – just a quick out and back from Stewart. Of course, this was another border crossing but this time it was very low key and friendly.

So instead of spending another day and night in Stewart we headed back to where we had stayed in Vanderhoff. We were in quite a bit of traffic in places but I thought it was a fun challenge getting around it. We got into Vanderhoff later in the afternoon having logged 379 miles. We lubed our chains, got cleaned up and went to dinner. (I also got my hat back.) To be continued.  M/W

NORTH TO ALASKA - PART 1

       Way up North (North to Alaska)
        North to Alaska, we go North, the rush is on

        Mike turned to Sam with his throttle in his hand
        Said, Sam, you're lookin' at a fast travelin’ man

        Where the river is windin', fun roads they're findin'
        North to Alaska, go north, the rush is on

            My apologies to Johnny Horton

Earlier in the year my frequent motorcycling partner, Sam, invited me on a trip up to Hyder, Alaska, and a tour of part of British Columbia. A tradition among motorcyclists I know is to get “Hyderized” by traveling to the tiny town of Hyder, AK, and getting a drink in the lone bar there. Of course, the trip is mainly about touring beautiful British Columbia. Their license plate says “Beautiful British Columbia” and it is true.

We departed before 6:00 am, Saturday, August 6^th aiming to beat the heat as much as we could. As it turned out “as much as we could” wasn’t too much. It began to get very hot pretty quickly. I tend to tolerate heat a little better than Sam and he was suffering early on.

The Cowboy Church

Of course, a trip with me involves at least a little motocaching and one notable geocache we got was “The Cowboy Church” located just east of the town of Creston, Washington. This was a tiny one room log church built in 1999 by a professional rodeo cowboy who won world champioships in 1955 and 1956 and was named Inland Empire Athlete of the year in 1955.

Inside the church

I believe it was about 102 degrees when we got to the border at the tiny crossing south of Chopaka. It was blazing hot and no shade except the overhang at the crossing office. The guard would let only one of us under the overhang while the other (me) had to wait in the sun. After about a 10 minute wait he allowed me to come to the overhang and then went inside with our passports. He must have kept us waiting 20 or 30 minutes. Sam thought he was just jerking us around.

From there we took Hwy 3 up to Princeton. We got into Princeton mid afternoon but our room wasn’t ready. It was 103 degrees so we went downtown to get some refreshment and ended up at the Dairy Queen after first trying the A&W. It was so crowded that we went across the street to the DQ, which wasn’t much better. Our room was ready when we returned but the a/c hadn’t been turned on and the room was hot. We went down town for dinner but it must not have been too outstanding because I can’t even remember it. I do remember that a previous flood in the year had degraded the water system and bottled water was all that was available and forget about ice. This was a 358 mile day.

We got our usual early start Sunday out of Princeton up Hwy 5A to Merritt. This was a good road but nothing to write home about as far as scenery and fun riding. At Merritt we took Hwy 8 northwest toward the Kloklowuk Indian Reserve 7. A bit of poor judgment on our part here. We both noticed a “Road Closed Ahead” sign but figured maybe we could make it through on our bikes. It was a fun road, both scenic and challenging to ride. However, after about 30 miles of enjoyable riding with a few broken gravel sections the road really was closed with a barricade. A man there related to us the tremendous floods they’d had recently accounting for the closure and gravel sections. Well anyway, we got to travel the enjoyable section again in the reverse direction. After returning to Merritt we took Hwy 97 up to Cache Creek where it turns in a little more northerly direction up to Prince George. The highway mostly followed the Fraser River and passed by Canim and Williams Lakes. At Prince George we turned west on Hwy 16 over to Vanderhoof where we stayed at the North Country Inn. It was a nice motel but the most memorial feature was the extremely soft water. It felt like it was impossible to wash off the soap after a shower. They were in the process of seal coating the part of the parking lot in front of our room so we had a little hike with luggage to get to the room – not bad though. Due to our unscheduled side trip, this was our longest day having traveled 515 miles. We had pizza down town but the dining room was crowded and hot so we moved outside to the sidewalk. In doing so I left my Death Valley hat on a chair at the table inside and didn’t discover it until a ways down the road the next day. (I got it back a couple days later when traveling back through.) To be continued.  M//W