Kootenays or Bustor "How I learned to stop worrying and love the borscht"Having missed WCRM 4 due to health problems, I was eagerly looking forward to my first long, multi-day ride of the season. Dave (BigBlock) and I had planned to revisit Baker City, Oregon and even went so far as to pick a weekend and make reservations. Somewhere along the way we realized that the Kootenay Borscht, Burn and BBQ was the same weekend. After a brief deliberation, we decided to swap destinations and my trip to Canada was set.
Leaving Seattle on Thursday, the trip up was fairly uneventful. I opted to head east across Hwy 2 to Wenatchee and then take 97 north to Penticton, BC where I would overnight with Dave, his wife Sandie and their dog Bear. I probably would have gone a different route had I bothered to check on the status of Hwy 2, a long stretch through the pass was ground down and grooved in preparation for paving. No issues, but it did decrease the fun factor a bit.
Now east of the Cascades, the gray skies and cool weather of Seattle gave way to sunny blue skies and my first taste of the weekend’s hot temperatures. I crossed the border at Oroville. After a few routine questions the Canadian border guard seemed a bit obsessive about firearms… Do you have any firearms with you? “No” Do you own any firearms? “Yes” Where are your firearms? “At home” How are they secured? “I have a gun safe” Do you regularly carry a firearm? “No” Determining that I was no threat to Canadian security; I was finally waved on my way.
Having gotten a late start leaving Seattle, the sun was beginning to dip behind the mountains to the west as I motored up through Osoyoos, Oliver and Okanagan Falls. The combination of mountain shadows and orchards being irrigated created a cool, pleasant evening ride. I joked with Dave after I arrived that clearly Canada’s Celsius is much cooler than the US Fahrenheit, though I would be disabused of that notion in the coming days.
Friday we got an early start and began by heading back south to Osoyoos. This included Dave leading me through a stretch of one-lane, road construction. I suspect it was to give me an appreciation for the hard work Canadian road crews invest in maintaining the beautiful roads we were going to be riding all weekend.
Our first destination was a scenic viewpoint on Hwy 3, the Crowsnest Highway, overlooking Osoyoos Lake. It was a grand start as we carved up the mountainside to the top before pausing to take in the vista. We then set out across Hwy 3 through Grand Forks to Castlegar. At a brief rest stop in Greenwood, Dave introduced me to Clamato juice, declaring the mixture of clams and tomatoes to be just the thing to refresh on a hot day. I opted for a nice, cold Apple juice… crazy Canucks.
We arrived in Castlegar with plenty of time to check into the Twin Rivers Motel and relax and cool off before heading over to Jim’s (Bubba Zanetti) for the evening’s festivities. Dave suggested we clean up the bikes a bit, I pointed out that there were no bugs on the front of his Hayabusa while my ZZR-1200 was dripping with them. While I chipped off dried bug guts, Dave added another coat of polish to his gleaming cowling. Afterwards we headed off to the party.
There we alternated between hanging out in the backyard with cool beverages and trooping out to the driveway to greet each new arrival as they trickled in. When the time was right, the borscht was served and we enjoyed hot brats off the grill and the best potato salad I think I’ve ever stuck a fork into. After partaking of the world-famous borscht, I am a convert… there is no substitute. After an evening of great comradeship and fantastic food, Dave and I headed back to our motel to rest up for the next day’s ride.
Saturday morning dawned cool and clear. Our tentative plan was to get an early start, meet at Jim’s to ride a warm-up route on a nice local back road out to Crescent Valley and then split into smaller groups for the rest of the day, hopefully finishing up before the full scorching heat of the day was in full force. After a series of group splits, Dave and I were eventually riding alone though we were to cross paths with other groups throughout the day. We began by riding Hwy 3A through Nelson up to Kaslo, a route with sections of wonderful twisties. This stretch brought the only dark moment of the weekend as we rounded a bend just south of Kaslo and came across an accident site. Our concern skyrocketed when we recognized riders and bikes we knew along side the road.
We quickly pulled off and started chatting with other riders. Apparently Bob (Canuck) had come around the corner and had a car begin to pull out in front of him. He got on the brakes hard and somehow lost it and wound up sliding down the road. Fortunately his injuries were fairly minor, no broken bones, some stitches, bruising and road rash. The bike sustained minor damage also but was able to be ridden to a storage area by another rider. It was a sober reminder that these things happen when you’re on two wheels, and all you can do is try to prepare as best you can to lessen the impact when it happens to you.
Leaving Kaslo, we hopped on Hwy 31A and headed back west towards New Denver. The heat of the day was starting to come on and I was gratified every time we crossed a bridge or passed near one of the many glacier-fed creeks and streams as a blast of cool air came up from the water. From New Denver we headed north to Nakusp on Hwy 6, planning to stop there for lunch and then head back south on Hwy 6 to Castlegar. As we sat in the shade and enjoyed a burger from a little roadside restaurant, Czechmate showed up and stopped for an ice cream. He gave us a few more details on Bob and his bike, since he had ridden it to the storage location. We then parted ways and Dave and I headed back out into the heat.
On the way back south along Hwy 6, the heat really starting taking it’s toll and we started stopping more frequently for Dave to hydrate and for both of us to cool off. I was using a hydration pack this weekend and it proved to be worth its weight in gold, I’ll never ride long distances, especially in the heat, without it again. My favorite stop on this stretch was a cool, tree-shaded overlook high over Slocan Lake. The location was high on top of a cliff overlooking the lake and Valhalla Park on the other side. The combination of the shade and the cool wind rising from the lake below was very, very welcome.
We finished the slog through the scorching heat of the afternoon back to Castlegar and collapsed into air conditioned comfort. After considering our energy level and plans for a very early departure the next day, we regretfully opted to pass on the BBQ at the lake Saturday night and instead had a quick visit to Boston Pizza with one of the other Dave’s riding a Buell after he was unable to find a ride to the lake and had no map to get there.
I had originally planned to ride back to Seattle on Sunday by heading south from Castlegar and then slabbing across I90. Dave extended an invitation to spend another night in Penticton though, so I decided to take Monday off and instead spend Sunday riding with Dave.
Departing Castlegar bright and early, we headed back across Hwy 3 to Rock Creek riding through the cool morning air. Make that cold morning air, and then freezing morning air as we began climbing through passes. I finally had to put the outer cover back on my Joe Rocket Alter Ego jacket and after that I was very comfortable. From Rock Creek we headed north on Hwy 33 pausing in Beaverdell for a quick bite of breakfast at the Beaverdell Gas, Bakery, Deli, Towing and Diesel store.
As we walked in Dave joked that we should have the pizza he noticed in the deli case. Looking closer I noted that the pizza appeared to have scrambled eggs on it. Indeed, speaking to the proprietor we discovered that this was breakfast pizza! Ham, scrambled eggs, cheese, onions, peppers and mushrooms on a nice pizza crust… brilliant! We both opted for a slice and marveled that we’d never encountered this before. Another Canadian innovation and very tasty, highly recommended if you’re in the area.
Back on the road we screamed north to Kelowna. Somewhere along here at a rest break Dave smugly pointed out that he now had a bug on the front of his ‘Busa. I briefly considered kicking his bike over but refrained out of concern for sparking an international incident. Instead I muttered to myself and turned my attention to scraping the bugs off my helmet visor.
Kelowna was pretty much the end of the real riding for Sunday, from that point we slugged it out with traffic through town and all the way back to Penticton. Back at Dave’s house, he made me wipe my bike down before I was allowed to store it in the garage for the night. The rest of the afternoon and evening was consumed with shopping for a few souvenirs and enjoying a wonderful BBQ in Dave and Sandie’s shaded backyard oasis… a relaxing end to a weekend full of great Canadian riding.
Monday it was up early again to beat the heat and make tracks back to Seattle. Crossing the border went quickly as I retraced my route back south to Hwy 20. Maybe a little too quickly as I rounded a curve just a few miles south of the border and found myself staring at the grill of an oncoming WSP cruiser at speeds… *cough*… a little north of the posted limit. Sure enough, I see his brake lights come on in my mirror so I slide to the side of the road and shut down to wait for him. He must have appreciated the gesture as he gave me a friendly caution to slow it down and sent me on my way without soliciting a contribution to the state budget. I did indeed take it easy for a few miles and lucky that, as I passed his buddy just a few minutes later on the same stretch of road while idling along at just a few miles over the limit.
Soon after, I was up into the passes along the North Cascade Highway and enjoying a spirited ride through beautiful mountain vistas. The temperature was perfect, the traffic was light… a wonderful day to be a motorcyclist. From Hwy 20 I stopped at Rockport for fuel and a cool drink in the shade, and then hopped on 530 for the ride down to Arlington. Finally, with a sigh of regret, I merged onto I-5 to do battle into Seattle to my home in Tukwila, amusing myself by seeing how long I could avoid putting my feet down in traffic while inching along.
All in all, the weekend was a smashing success. I met new friends, spent time on fantastic roads, and fulfilled a personal goal to ride the ZZR up into Canada. I’ll be back, you can count on it! But I’m still not drinking the clam juice…
The Tale o’ the GPSTotal mileage: 1282 miles
Average speed: 53.04 mph
Max speed: 95.21 mph
Trip time: 24:12 hours
