Victoria

Crossing over to Victoria from Port Angeles after waiting 2 hrs and 45min. is a 1 hr. 10 min. ferry ride. It was a nice smooth trip that cost $36.00, 12 ea for Pat and I and 12 for the bike and trailer.

After departing and talking to the customs folks we headed up island on Hwy 1 to our KOA camp site. Vancouver Island is very pretty, lots of tall trees.

I had a lowbeam headlight out, so on Saturday morning I tried to replace the bulb with one I picked up in northern California. Well I lost a screw. So we stopped at Action Motorcycles in Victoria to get a replacement. Carl Gorman the service manager was very help full, found a screw and fixed the it for us, no charge and he found a fork seal leaking so setup and appointment with Carter Honda in Vancouver on Tuesday to replace the fork seal because he did not have the time or the part to do the job. If you ever need help in Victoria, I recommend Action Motorcycles.

So we stayed a third night at the KOA and will catch the ferry to Vancouver on Monday the stay there Monday evening ready for the appointment early Tuesday morning.

Vancouver

The ferry ride from Vancouver Island to Vancouver is 1:35 in length, and the ferry is a four car decks and two passenger decks much bigger than the Port Angles ferry.

Departing the ferry we just followed the road right into Vancouver down a very steep hill and out onto Granville Island. This is right across the river from downtown. We stayed in the Granville Island Hotel for two nights, the Carter Honda shop was within walking distance for the front fork seal replacement on Tuesday. A word of warning to anyone reading this if your Honda is purchased in the US the warranty is not honored. If you purchase a Honda in Canada the warranty is not honored in the US. So I had to pay 285 Canadian dollars for the repair. But will turn it in to Honda when we get home, should get reimbursed.

Wednesday we will leave about 9:00 for Kamloops, BC.

Vancouver to Kamloops

We were on the road heading east along route 1 and got pulled over by a Canadian mounty for not having a license plate on the trailer. I explained that in Ky we did not need one. He called it in to check and it was confirmed. He was very nice and told us ot have a great trip.

Kamloops, BC is nestled in a valley well kinda 3 valleys that come together. Kamloops is mainly in the confluence of these valleys, but stretches east along route 1 for quite a ways maybe 10km. We stayed the night in a motel 8, and had planned on going north east on hwy 5 to Jasper, but it was very overcast on Thursday morning so we decided to head east on hwy 1 to Lake Louise, but only made it to Golden.

Friday we will head on up to Lake Louise and find a camp ground for three nights. Then on Monday will go south to Banff and on to Calgary. The roads are great in this part of Canada, and very beautiful country. The mountains seem very tall, but they are only about 6,000 ft. but the valleys are only 1000 or less. Compair that to Colorado where Denver is 5,280 (Mile Hight) and the mountains are 12K to 14K feet, thats about 7,000ft difference

Lake Louise

Friday it is raining as we leave Golden heading to Lake Louise. We plan on staying in Lake Louise, but because of the weather we may not.

Banff Hotel

Lake Louise is a very picturesque place, the lake is surrounded on three sides with mountain peaks. On the remaining side is Freemont Hotel very exclusive. If you want to stay there you will have to make reservations and plan on 250 + per night. We just stopped long enough to take some pictures and walk through the Freemont because of the weather. We then continued on south to Banff drove around town for about 30 min. then continued on south to Calgary. Banff is a nice small town kinda like Estes Park, CO. very commercialized that is why we continued on to Calgary.

Calgary

Calgary Alberta is a good sized city, and was the host of the 1988 winter Olympics. Our KOA was just about 3 min from the Olympic village, in-fact we could see the tower for the ski jumping event. We stayed three nights, just drove around town during the day went shopping and to the movies. Sunday morning it was nice and clear so we washed the bike and trailer. I told Pat it would rain again, and guess what it did on Sunday afternoon. So we just listened to music and read in the tent, but it only lasted for a couple of hours. We will leave in the morning for Big Fork Montana and spend a couple of days with my cousin Martha and her family.

Montana

On Monday morning we headed south on Hwy 2 from Calgary, it was very windy and cool. The wind was the worst kind coming from the west at between 30 and 50 MPH. Your neck gets sore just trying to hold your head against the wind. Lucky it was only about 130 miles until we turned west at St. Mary Lake into Glacier National Park. Glacier is one of the most beautiful parks in the USA and can be one of the coldest. Today we were Lucky again it was 45Deg at Logan Pass with the wind blowing so it seemed like 10Deg. On the way up to Logan Pass you go along the north side of Saint Mary Lake then pass Going to the Sun Mountian at 9642 ft.

At the top Logan Pass the snow was still about 12 to 14 feet deep in places. They usually open the road the first of June, but this year it was the end of June. The Logan Visitor Center just opened at 11:00 today we arrived at 1:00. Heading down to the West Entrance you pass the Weeping Wall and it was not just weeping, it was crying large amounts of water spraying across the road like rain. Down before you reach the West Entrance you pass along the south side of Lake McDonald. We followed US Hwy 2 south west from West Glacier to my cousin Martha’s home in Ferndale just 3 miles east of Bigfork, MT.

Martha and Corky raise hunting dogs and like to shoot trap and skeet, so Tuesday evening we all went to the Bigfork trap and skeet club. It was my first time. I did not do to bad 12 in Skeet and 13 in Trap out of 25. Then we went to dinner at a nice place overlooking Swan Lake just east of Flathead Lake.