O, Canada

It has been a year since out epic cross country trip with the Sister’s Centennial Ride.  Frank has spent some time scheming to take us on a trip in Canada.  We know the kids won’t stay small forever, so if we are going to do another big trip it is now or never.  We flew into Seattle to save two days of driving and had the bikes shipped up. Frank found a guy that delivers motorcycles from various cities between Seattle and San Diego a couple of times a week, so it worked out great.

Our delivery guy meets us at the hotel in Seattle, and the bike is dead coming off the trailer. Frank says the battery was dead  when they loaded it.  So from Seattle border  to the crossing, every time we stopped the bike needed a jump start. Luckily we travel with this portable charger we got at Costco. We also have some friends that love theirs, which is a different brand.

At the border crossing at Sumas, we got gas and Frank called a couple stores looking for a new battery.  We drove about 20 min into Canada and stopped at a shop in Abbotsford and bought a new one.  Yay, the bike starts now!  Hopefully that will be the last mechanical issue for the trip. We had a yummy lunch while we were in town and then hit the road on the Trans Canadian Highway.

Today would be a day of high milage to get into Canada as much as we could.  (We passed through some beautiful areas that I was unable to get pictures.) Canada has some great names for their cities.  My favorite of the day was Chilliwack!

Day 2: Another day of amazing scenery but less miles to cover.  We decided to enjoy the morning with a ride on a steam locomotive, the Kettle Vally Steam Railway in Summerland.  The valley it runs along is stunningly picturesque, and the volunteers on the train really make the whole experience.  After that the Highway paralleled a series of large lakes that seemed to go on for hours they were so huge.  We passed through Sicamous, the houseboat capital of Canada.  My second favorite name of the day was Revelstoke, which sounds like it should be in a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings novel. That would be our stop for our second night.

Fun fact of the day: We had never been to Tim Hortons before, we ended up going there for breakfast two days in a row.  Not only was the food good, they get bonus points for having outlets and phone chargers all over the place. I was so impressed I took a picture.  It’s the little things that make a difference, aye?