We woke up just North
of Mount St. Helens and after playing around on other gorgeous roads
our friend Matt had highlighted for us, we headed to what is still a
scene of devastation around Mount Saint Helens 34 years after the
volcanic event that “produced the largest landslide-debris avalanche in
recorded history.”
When
Mount Saint Helens erupted in May of 1980 it sent volcanic matter
80,000 feet into the air and when it was all over, the volcano stood
1,300 feet shorter, while the lake at the foot of Mt. St. Helens depth
was lessened by 295 feet.
Spirit Lake
The damage caused by this eruption is obvious today, but even so, it is
hard to imagine that a 24-square mile area surrounding this volcano was
covered in 150 feet of volcanic debris.
Still visible all around Mount St. Helens are the trees that laid down due to the force of the volcanic blast
While
taking in the recovering landscape at the base of Mount St. Helens, we
got to chatting with an interesting couple, about our parents age. Upon
hearing our route was going to take us through Portland and that we were
interested in staying in the area so that we could do some wine
tasting, Pat and Chris invited us to stay at the apartment they are
renting while Chris is on a medical rotation in Portland.
So
this is how we came to be tasting wine in Portland’s Willamette Valley
Wine Region with Pat and playing trivia (badly) at her son’s favorite
Portland dive bar.
Tasting at Eyrie Vineyards, considered to be a pioneer in the Willamette Valley, as they were the first to plant Pinot Noir.
Though we love beer, as a money-saving rule, we never
stop at bars or buy beer while on the road. But in Portland, a city
that is home to 56 breweries, we had to break our rule. When in Rome... you know ;)
(Awesome way to christen our first morning waking up in our "new home": peering out to see a fawn nursing!)
We
woke up a couple of hours outside of Seattle with the intent to head
directly into the city, but found ourselves to be completely exhausted
due to the rigorous travel schedule we’d both been on and the stress of
the “would we or would we not both get back into the US?” question. So
we putzed around the lovely area we had been advised to check out the
night before, wandered around arts/crafts fair and got an awesome idea
for how we might go about making a living in the future, and
eventually got on our way.
(Roel
could fit far more ice-cream in his top box than this couple did in
their sidecar... future career possibility, but pretty sure Roel would consume the profits.)
(The view near Anacortes)
We’d
met Matt from Touratech US back in Long Beach, CA and had kept in touch
(partly because he had sent me on my way back then with a Touratech
fuel can which has saved my rear a few times but mostly because he and
his wife keep an awesome moto-travel blog (2wheels2weeks.com) and seem like a couple we’d like to catch up with on the road).
(Pike Place Fish Co.: A MUST SEE on Roel's Seattle Tourist List)
Being
in Seattle, we stopped in to see Matt and he warmly offered to play
host during our time in Seattle. So, what we had thought would be
another city drive-through with a brief visit to see Matt, turned out to
be an awesome weekend, spent like a normal 30-something couple, hanging
out with friends with similar interests.
(Lucky us: it was Fleet Week!)
Sounds
pretty run-of-the-mill for most people, probably, but for us, this was a
real treat. Matt and his wife, Brayde, showed us the highlights of
downtown Seattle, introduced us to their favorite local watering holes
and found us a killer spot to watch the Blue Angels perform over the
Seattle skyline (we were lucky to arrive during "Fleet Week").
They
joined us for our journey as far as Mount Rainier National Park, and
we’re hoping we get a chance to ride with them again on some leg of
their upcoming journey to South America.
(Mt. Rainier National Park Blooms)
(Pesky clouds over Mt. Rainier)
We
rode around Mount Rainier for a while and found a campsite shortly
before dark along one of the incredibly twisty and scenic roads Matt had
highlighted on the map for us.
Back in Vancouver, our new BMW/Ducati riding Brazilian friends that we
met when Roel got to “rescue” the Ducati from the wilds surrounding
Whistler, hosted us at their lovely home in the city.
Paulo
and Cecilia are planning their own adventure and had lots of questions
and queries. We spent a lot of time talking about gear and equipment,
safety, etc. They thought others in their riding community might be
interested to hear our story and so they arranged to have us give a
presentation about our travels at their local BMW/Ducati Dealership,
which was a blast. We got to reconnect with Susan and Grant from
Horizons Unlimited and fielded a ton of awesome questions from those who
joined us.
Eager
to get back into the US and start our journey South, we headed to the
border early the next morning. We would have 10 days to make it to
Sonoma in time to begin our (paid) internship at Flowers Winery.
The
hectic thing about the US border, or any border I suppose, for a
foreigner, is that even if you have a visa, there is never a guarantee
that you will be granted access to the country you seek to enter.
We waited in line at the Peace Arch
crossing with all of the other cars to get to a little booth, whereupon
Roel (and I) were sent to another area to park. And yet to another area
inside a building to wait in line. And wait. And wait. To the tune of 3
hours. 3 nail-biting, pit-staining, silent "what-if" asking hours.
Quite possibly the longest, slowest-moving line I have ever stared down.
But alls well that ends well, and with Roel's passport freshly stamped, we were welcomed back into the US.
Cue "Giant Sigh of Relief."
Upon our return to Vancouver, Roel jetted off to the Netherlands and I
slowly made my way to the East Coast of the US, which included a night
spent atop a bench in O’Hare. Roel’s trip to get his visa was a success:
much ado about a 25 minute interview with the US Embassy in the Hague.
And I had a wonderful time visiting my family and enjoying the seasonal
specialties in New England. :)
While home, I anxiously anticipated the arrival of the UPS man, until he finally showed up toting a large box from NEMO.
While we were at the Overland Expo, I had spoken with a really cool
laid back guy from The Raven Workshop who reps NEMO, and told him how
much we’d love to do some product testing for NEMO as:
1. NEMO is a super cool brand from my home-region of New England, which is (and has been since it's inception) at the forefront of innovation, environmentalism and general bad-a$$ed-ness.
2. Their tag-line is ‘Adventure Anywhere,’ which couldn’t be more apropos for us.
3. I am sick and tired of waking up to a soggy bed every dang time it rains.
Well,
much to my delight, Eric apparently thought what we are doing is pretty
cool and went back to NEMO and told them such. So, we have a new home:
the Losi 2 Person tent which
will keep us sheltered, dry and well-ventilated. AND as soon as NEMO
has new stock of their incredible sleeping pads, Eric is going to send
those along to us, as well!
So naturally I went about setting up
the tent (on the deck), which I’ll admit was a bit more of a challenge
for me than setting up our Eureka tent which I am now able to set up in
pitch black darkness. BUT in exchange for a few moments more in set-up,
we’re getting incredible head room, 360 degrees of mesh through which to
enjoy starry nights and sunrises and what I’m sure will be a water
tight camping experience.
SO MUCH head room!
While
I refuse to believe that women are sold on cars because of cup holders,
I will admit that a gear caddy to hold bear spray, flashlights, etc. is
a pretty nice feature :D
Never mind that the NEMO Losi only
weighs a bit over 4lbs (2.2kg), packs down to almost half the size of
our old tent and the green fly will allow us to more easily pursue our
wild camping escapades… unnoticed :) (Again, we NEVER camp on posted
private property and we ALWAYS leave a site better than we have found
it.)
The Losi Pack
Now THAT is a pretty small pack size... room for more shoes, me thinks ;)
I love sleeping in my own soft pillow-topped bed, but I could not wait to get back to British Columbia and go camping!!!
Waking up behind the closed diner, that kept us out of sight from
everyone on the road, I thought back on last night. We luckily made it
to town over a long but beautiful logging road and found a gas station
that was still open. The women working at the gas station tried to help
us out with accommodation or a place to camp. It is always difficult,
however, for "normal" people to understand our mindset of living cheap
and not spending anything on accommodation. "That motel is only $60" is
something we here so often. And every time I think; "wow that can get us
about 400 miles further on our journey. And all that for a night of
sleep in a strange bed.
We were very thankful for the suggestions
but decided for the safety of our tents and bikes anyway. Standing
outside thinking over the next step to solve the problem with the bike,
two guys showed up and we started talking. It was 1.30 AM! One of them
was a biker and one minute later he drove off to get a battery out of
his own bike to see whether it would work on mine. (the battery
connectors were on the wrong side so this did not work) The other guy
offered to load the bike on his truck and let us stay at his place out
of town. It was great to find all this helpfulness in the middle of the
night. But loading up the Africa Twin would be no easy fast and we had
already gotten comfortable with the idea of sleeping behind the roadside
diner next door.
I was fiddling around with the battery again
and really could not get it to work this time. The last times it had
jumped back into action after pushing on different spots. No not on the
connectors, but on random spots on the cell battery. I concluded that
the inside of the battery must have had enough of the bumpy dirt roads
like the Dalton Highway in Alaska and it decided to retire on beautiful
Vancouver Island. I could not run any checks with my Made in China
multimeter to confirm my thought since the cables had fallen apart. Note
to self: Invest in good tools!!!
I robbed Azure of her Transalp
and rode off to the local motorbike shop with my battery. We checked it
and it was not charging whatsoever. It had completely died on me.
Luckily they had one replacement battery sitting on the shelf. This
could have gotten us stuck for a while, otherwise. Two hours later we
were back on the road to Tofino.
Enjoying a rest in Tofino
Highway
4 was recommended to us by many people and we could see why. The
winding road ran along Kennedy Lake and through Pacific Rim National
Park. Though flooded with tourists, Tofino looked nice, but was not
friendly for our budget, so we headed back the way we had come. Given
temperatures in the high 90's (35c), the clear water of the river along
the road caught our attention. Knowing that a shower wasn’t likely in
our near future, we settled the bikes and moments later, we were cooling
down in cold mountain water.
That night we found a beautiful place to camp near another little river.
The
next morning we decided to make a run for Gold River via a beautiful
road through Strathcona Provincial park. Unlike Highway 4 to Tofino,
there was hardly any traffic on the road. While waiting for the ferry
back on the mainland, several riders had advised us on what roads to
take and what to see. One guy had mentioned this road but others had
said that it was not worth it and that we should stick to the south of
the island. Luckily we did not and we ended up in Gold River.
Here
we went to the Tourist information and a young guy told us all the
things we could do in the region, if we had the time. He started off
with a 70 kilometer wildlife infested dirt road that would lead to this
beautiful bay where orca's lived year round and where you could go on a
small boat that would launch you in a canoe as soon as you would get
closer to these majestic animals. This is where I stopped the guy from
going any further. Our hearts were aching. We did not have any time to
do all this stuff that I had been dreaming of all my life. We had to
make it back to the mainland to catch a flight to The Netherlands to get
my US visa.
Enjoying my office with a view before catching the ferry back to the mainland.
The Africa Twin's power problem persisted but a mile after breaking down
ourselves, we stopped to help these teenagers with a flat and a rusted
spare on the 120-ish kms/75-ish mile stretch of gravel, potholes and no
mobile service along the logging road between Lake Cowichan and Port
Alberni.
The
Africa Twin started back up, no problem, but 20 miles later the power
began failing again. Keeping above 2,000rpms for the remaining 40ish
miles, Roel managed to limp the AT to Port Alberni. We made it to the
outskirts of town just as dark fell and the power completely failed at
the top of the hill that leads to downtown Port Alberni. He coasted to
the bottom where there happened to be a 24-hr gas station. Unable get
the AT started again, and unwilling to abandon the bike in what seemed
to be a seedy section of town, we set up camp at an abandoned diner next
door and slept between the Transalp and the out-of-commission Twin.
Not
exactly ideal, but our gratitude to be in a town and hence within reach
of a mechanic overshadowed our surrounds completely.
(After
month of intermittent power problems, Roel was finally able to determine that the Africa Twin needed a new battery... Done
and done!)
The next morning we
continued in the direction of Vancouver, thoroughly enjoying the
picturesque Trans Canada Highway (Route 99), that ran along a raging
river for quite a while.
While fueling up in Pemberton, a solo
female rider on a BWM 700 GS arrived and hurriedly got off of her bike
and was trotting into the station. She paused upon seeing us and said
with a slight Brazilian accent “Wow! Looks like quite an adventure - I
would love to talk to you guys, because my husband and I want to do
something similar but I have to go call a taxi to go back to him because
he dropped his bike on the gravel road back there and has hurt his foot
too badly to ride.”
Roel offered to take the taxi back with her
and ride her husband’s bike back to the gas station while they took the
taxi to the hospital, so that they could avoid paying rural towing
charges. And mind you, this was not just any bike, but a Multistrada.
Perhaps he was overly happy to help out another rider in this instance
;)
When Roel returned, we continued on our way to Vancouver as we
had a ferry to Vancouver Island to catch. However, by the time we made
it to Whistler, we were so hot and miserable in the heat of the day that
we had to stop for a swim to refresh ourselves.
The Sea to Sky
Highway was gorgeous - no wonder it is a popular spot for Vancouver
riders any day of the week. We enjoyed the road and the views, and so
did everyone else it seemed, as the traffic was pretty thick. By the
time we made it through Vancouver to the ferry launch, we just made the
last ferry to Victoria.
(Ferrying to Victoria, Vancouver Island)
(Perks of taking the last ferry)
From
the ferry launch, we headed through downtown Victoria to the coast and
found ourselves on the doorstep of our friend Phoenix, who we met at the
Overland Expo back in Arizona. We had kept in touch via Facebook, and
when she saw we were planning to visit Vancouver Island, she invited us
to stay with her at the beach house she had rented for the summer.
(Delish breakfast with the Riding Lovebirds)
Reconnecting
with Phoenix and meeting her partner (who she met while riding in
Mexico), was good for my soul. Phoenix also rocks the
KLiM Altitude suit, but is a girl after my own heart in so many other ways. Spending time with her felt like hanging out with the big sister I’ve never had.
(Altitude Ladies & Roel (photo credit: Bobbi Bjornholt)
