First ever touring trip

bd43

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First time ever, I just completed a 4000km, 8 day tour, and glad I bought the K13S to do it on. Before I get into the trip itself, I just want to comment on how well the bike performed on the trip. The bike barely used any oil, rode smooth through heat and rain, hard cases worked well and I got really good at packing them by the end of the trip. I loved the heated grips and the heated vest I bought for this trip as going through the Rockies between Valemount and Jasper in the morning saw temperatures drop as low as 6°C. Wow, what a bike!

Day 1,

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goal was to leave Edmonton and head to Golden, BC via the Icefields Highway from Jasper to Lake Louise but because of the forest fires in the area and the closure of a portion of that highway, we decided to alter our route and come in from Cochrane to Canmore on 1A, a really nice stretch of newly paved highway. Glad we did it because I’ve never been on that stretch of highway on the motorcycle before. We stopped just outside of Golden for this shot and you can see the smoke filled valley in the back ground.

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Day 2,

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no deviation from the planned route. Left Golden in the morning rain and headed south on 95, then to 93, then 3A, crossed the ferry at Crawford Bay on Kootenay Lake and stopped overnight at Ainsworth. Passed this house made of embalming bottles, weird, why anyone would do this. Also, here’s us sitting waiting for the ferry to come in.

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Day 3,

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had to stop in at Kaslo for an awesome breakfast at the Treehouse Restaurant. We then headed towards New Denver, then west to Nakusp, over to Vernon, and stopped at Kelowna for the night. I will say this, that was some of the best roads I’ve ever ridden on. Great twisties and fine asphalt. Some of that stretch of road is rated number 1 in the BC Destination Highways book, and I can certainly see why. Here’s a look at Kootenay Lake in the morning from the balcony we stayed at in Ainsworth. Bridge into Kaslo. The Marina at New Denver on Lake Slocan. Needles Ferry crossing Arrow Lake. Diner near Cherryville we stopped at for lunch.

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bd43

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Day 4,

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from Kelowna took us eastward away on 33 for a bit, then we landed on some more descent twisty roads heading south into Osoyoos, Princeton, Hope, Chilliwack, and finally North Vancouver for the night.

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Thai food anyone? We stopped in at the Benja Restaurant for lunch in Osoyoos. Great food!

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BTW, my trusted Canon 24-105mm “go to” lens crapped out on me and gave me that error 1 communications problem that is an apparent issue for this lens but didn’t know till today. The lens is now on its way to Canon for a $300 out of warranty repair. They should reimburse me for the lost memories! Some of these pics are now being taken with the iPhone.

Day 5,


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met up with another riding buddy waiting for the 9:40AM ferry at Horseshoe Bay to Langdale.

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Not our riding buddy, but “Buddy” was also waiting for the ferry with his master.

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We went up the Sunshine Coast Highway to Powell River. For some of you who might have remembered the CBC TV show, The Beachcombers, we did a brief stop at Gibsons Landing to see Molly’s Reach. I barely remember the likes of Bruno and Nick on that show, nice to see though.

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Continued up the coast line and stopped for some fresh coffee in Sechelt.

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Caught the final and 3rd ferry of the day just after 5PM at Powell River to Comox on the island.

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The Sunshine Coast Highway turned out to be some nice twisty roads as well, and some of the coastal scenery was very nice on the ride.

Day 6,

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go figure, it would be raining to our final destination, Tofino. We had to stop at Cathedral Grove to look at the Douglas fir.

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Shoot, just reading the sign now, we didn’t go to the south side of the park to see the biggest trees. Oh well, maybe next year. Nice bit of highway to Tofino, but definitely wasn’t in the mood to test the wet traction capabilities of these stock tires around the turns, so we kept it very tame and some of these turns were crazy. We went into Ucluelet for lunch on the boat, best hamburger I’ve had to date, highly recommend it. Mind you one of the riding buddies had the best burger he’s ever had at the Tree Frog in Powell River. All I can say is the west coast people know how to make burgers.
 
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bd43

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Day 7,

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raining again leaving Tofino, but not as bad as yesterday, we made good timing to catch the ferry at Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay.

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Today, our destination was Pemberton up the Sea to Sky Highway. Overcast and threating rain, but we managed the new stretch of asphalt between Squamish and Whistler. We were told that due to lack of gravel, this portion of road is extremely slippery when wet. Again, great coastal scenery. One rant I have is the Husky gas station is the only station in Whistler along the highway. We pasted that one thinking there was more up the road, nope, had to turn around. WTF. Recommend eating at the Mile One Eating House in Pemberton. Food and hospitality was great.

Day 8,

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destination Valemount through Lillooet, Clinton, Little Fort, Clearwater, Vavenby, and Blue River. Wow, that stretch of highway to Lillooet is amazing. New asphalt and very curvy. The only downside is it is a 60kph zone but still great to ride.

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Last day,

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homeward bound. We were within 500km of home and left bright and early as we have done on every day. The temperature dropped to 6°C at times between Valemount and Jasper. I was sporting the heated vest and had the grip heaters on for most of that leg. Glad I decided, safe than sorry, to buy the vest even though I was expecting for late July, the temperatures throughout the trip would be in the 20’s and manageable. Made the stop at Mount Robson Provincial Park to look at the mountain, of course.

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After all those beautiful roads in BC, this last leg was totally anticlimactic to ride on. I will probably never view the roads around here to be anything other than roads to get me from point A to point B. Guess we’ll have to plan another trip to the coast next year. Yup, I said it, this experience turned out to be very positive, the whole experience of the open road, the people we talked to along the way, the scenery, the freedom, all great reasons to take up motorcycle touring. That’s all I have to report, so until next time, ride safe!
 

lytehouse

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Geez D! It's about time you got this report up! LOL! :thumbup:
I'm so happy it turned out to be a positive experience. How was the stock seat?
You still managed to get some great pics in there despite the camera fiasco....which gives a lot of credit to the photographer!
 

Red Wazp

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Bike of the month? Very cool picture

Bravo, really enjoyed all your pictures and write up. Long distance touring is a blast, not much is better than great riding and getting to meet wonderful folks along the way.
 

kenh

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Bike of the month? Very cool picture

I was thinking the very same thing.
Those are some very beautiful pictures. If I had to choose another country that I would want to live in, it would definitely be our northern neighbor. :thumbup:
 

bd43

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Geez D! It's about time you got this report up! LOL! :thumbup:
I'm so happy it turned out to be a positive experience. How was the stock seat?
You still managed to get some great pics in there despite the camera fiasco....which gives a lot of credit to the photographer!

The stock seat only started to feel hard when we stayed on the bikes for >150km at a time which we only did twice. Otherwise, we were stopping frequently anywhere around 80km to 120km because we took on fuel whenever a gas station showed up.
 

bd43

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Great write up and pics! Thanks for sharing. Many photos look a lot like Oregon.

Some of the motorcyclist me had the opportunity to meet along the way were saying just that. One ride buddy of mine suggested that we should plan a tour that way across the border.
 
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