lonewolff
Well-known member
I posted this on the VTX board as both my buddy Jim and I still ride with our friends there all the time. Of course I now ride my 2006 FJR and my buddy Jim rides a 2012 BMW 1600 sport touring bike. No pictures as we had a long way to go and were moving too fast to stop for them. Here is the ride report I copied and pasted here.
Yep just like the title says...... this is a ride report. Jim ( Irish Red) and I took a very nice ride into Canada this past weekend. My total miles for Saturday and Sunday was 667 and I think Jim said his were around 800 miles. Saturday was the longest day with about 400 miles and the remainder was on Sunday.
Jim arrived at my house last Friday around 5:30 and I was just finishing the BBQ ribs, ceasar salad, twice baked potatoes, cold shrimp for an appetizer and I even saute'd some shrimp in butter with fresh garlic. We left Saturday morning at 7:00 and headed to the border. That was a quick crossing as I was asked maybe 4 questions and Jim was asked 2-3! On to hwy 1 to Hope for breakfast at our favorite restaurant there. We then continued North and onto hwy 5 to up to Merritt. From Merritt we took one of my new favorite roads which is hwy 5A along a lake and lots of country side. That was a very scenic road along the lake and an awesome road to ride on a bike. Lots of sweepers, twisty turns and nice to ride. A very cool road to ride on a sport touring bike for sure. That put us into Kamloops, which was the farthest North we went on this trip. We stopped at the visitor center to find out where a bike shop was as I had to get a latch fixed on my bags. This turned out to be an awesome stop as Jim inquired about some back roads to ride to get to hwy 97 on our way down to Vernon. We got the information needed to ride a nice twisty road. After a little confusion, we both found the right road to be on and for a while we didn't see any bikes or anything but country. We were both thinking maybe the guy sent us out in the middle no where. But then we started seeing a lot of bikes on this road and were very happy we got the directions to find it. We found a great biker pub / saloon for a later lunch and again talked to the locals about which route was best. This was another great time to find out where to ride. As it turned out it was one of the best roads I have been on for an awesome ride on the twisties. It just went on forever with a lot of very scenic places. Of course we didn't stop for pictures and with having the two sport touring bikes set to warp drive all day we didn't look around too much either! And yes... it was the preverbial........ James T Kirk (Irish Red)...... warp drive Mr. Scott....... I'm giving it all she's got! Of course that wasn't true because I will never be able to out ride the capabilities of this bike. Come to think of it I don't think I have what it takes to push it that far to the limits anyway! This road was on the West side of Okanagan lake or Lake Okanagan. It went on forever and was constant turns, twists, up down, sweeper road I have ever been on. It is now my favorite road of all time. We eventually made it down to Kelowna. I was pretty wiped out from concentrating so much on the road and having a permanant grin attached to my face. We stopped at a Starbucks and got some ice tea and relaxed for a bit. Then off we went farther South on hwy 97 and onto Osoyoos. We stayed in Osoyoos for the night in a hotel that was right on the lake. Sunday we got up, ate breakfast and headed to the border. Another quick uneventful crossing. We continued down hwy 97 to Okanagan and cut over to loop loop pass. Man that was another fun road especially since we were now rested and ready to ramp up again. A quick fuel stop in Twisp and off to the pass. The weather was perfect and the twisty road was exactly what I wanted for day two on the trip. We stopped at my favorite BBQ place when we got to Marblemount and enjoyed some time and off we went again. Jim cut of at the Darrington exit and took some more back roads to Renton and I continued to Sedro woolley and onto I-5 to head home.
I would recommend this trip to anyone that loves great scenery, awesome roads and a permanant grin attached to your face! I will be putting this on my list to do again next year for sure. I have taken several longer rides into Canada in the last couple of years and plan to continue exploring the roads up there. It's a great two day ride and you don't have to put as many miles on in one day like we did but you will have to be moving along to get the trip done in two days.
Scott
Yep just like the title says...... this is a ride report. Jim ( Irish Red) and I took a very nice ride into Canada this past weekend. My total miles for Saturday and Sunday was 667 and I think Jim said his were around 800 miles. Saturday was the longest day with about 400 miles and the remainder was on Sunday.
Jim arrived at my house last Friday around 5:30 and I was just finishing the BBQ ribs, ceasar salad, twice baked potatoes, cold shrimp for an appetizer and I even saute'd some shrimp in butter with fresh garlic. We left Saturday morning at 7:00 and headed to the border. That was a quick crossing as I was asked maybe 4 questions and Jim was asked 2-3! On to hwy 1 to Hope for breakfast at our favorite restaurant there. We then continued North and onto hwy 5 to up to Merritt. From Merritt we took one of my new favorite roads which is hwy 5A along a lake and lots of country side. That was a very scenic road along the lake and an awesome road to ride on a bike. Lots of sweepers, twisty turns and nice to ride. A very cool road to ride on a sport touring bike for sure. That put us into Kamloops, which was the farthest North we went on this trip. We stopped at the visitor center to find out where a bike shop was as I had to get a latch fixed on my bags. This turned out to be an awesome stop as Jim inquired about some back roads to ride to get to hwy 97 on our way down to Vernon. We got the information needed to ride a nice twisty road. After a little confusion, we both found the right road to be on and for a while we didn't see any bikes or anything but country. We were both thinking maybe the guy sent us out in the middle no where. But then we started seeing a lot of bikes on this road and were very happy we got the directions to find it. We found a great biker pub / saloon for a later lunch and again talked to the locals about which route was best. This was another great time to find out where to ride. As it turned out it was one of the best roads I have been on for an awesome ride on the twisties. It just went on forever with a lot of very scenic places. Of course we didn't stop for pictures and with having the two sport touring bikes set to warp drive all day we didn't look around too much either! And yes... it was the preverbial........ James T Kirk (Irish Red)...... warp drive Mr. Scott....... I'm giving it all she's got! Of course that wasn't true because I will never be able to out ride the capabilities of this bike. Come to think of it I don't think I have what it takes to push it that far to the limits anyway! This road was on the West side of Okanagan lake or Lake Okanagan. It went on forever and was constant turns, twists, up down, sweeper road I have ever been on. It is now my favorite road of all time. We eventually made it down to Kelowna. I was pretty wiped out from concentrating so much on the road and having a permanant grin attached to my face. We stopped at a Starbucks and got some ice tea and relaxed for a bit. Then off we went farther South on hwy 97 and onto Osoyoos. We stayed in Osoyoos for the night in a hotel that was right on the lake. Sunday we got up, ate breakfast and headed to the border. Another quick uneventful crossing. We continued down hwy 97 to Okanagan and cut over to loop loop pass. Man that was another fun road especially since we were now rested and ready to ramp up again. A quick fuel stop in Twisp and off to the pass. The weather was perfect and the twisty road was exactly what I wanted for day two on the trip. We stopped at my favorite BBQ place when we got to Marblemount and enjoyed some time and off we went again. Jim cut of at the Darrington exit and took some more back roads to Renton and I continued to Sedro woolley and onto I-5 to head home.
I would recommend this trip to anyone that loves great scenery, awesome roads and a permanant grin attached to your face! I will be putting this on my list to do again next year for sure. I have taken several longer rides into Canada in the last couple of years and plan to continue exploring the roads up there. It's a great two day ride and you don't have to put as many miles on in one day like we did but you will have to be moving along to get the trip done in two days.
Scott
