Today I rode highway 3 into Osoyoos and wow! The views coming down the pass overlooking Osoyoos Lake were pretty impressive to say the least. The clear sunny day really made the reflections coming off the lake really pop a beautiful clear blue. Unfortunately all the scenic turn offs were in the eastbound lanes. With a dividing wall in between lanes – I assume to keep cars from head on collisions through the hairpin switchbacks and distracting georgous views at every turn – I had no opportunity to stop to take a picture. I did get some video while riding down so hoping it came out. My video camera has been hit or miss on actually recording and producing usable files. Every time I pull the card from the camera to check the footage out on my computer, I find I am missing lots the shots I know I recorded. On top of that, a percentage of the files that are on the card are corrupted and just show black screen when trying to view the video. I guess I got another lemon with this helmet cam – my second as this one is a warranty replacement for the original which had completely failed on the South America trip.
My destination for the day was Cawston which is just a short distance northwest of Osoyoos. Cawston is a small valley town loaded with fruit orchards – and lots of fresh fruit stands! I was there to visit my friend Cynthia who I originally met in Panama a year ago December. Last summer I also had the pleasure to meet her friends Rosie and Vanessa on my way up and down from Alaska. They are great people and loads of fun to was really looking forward to the visit.
Shortly after I arrived at Cynthia’s orchard cabin, we headed out on the bikes up a dirt track and then back down a narrow one lane trail to a nice quiet lake. It was a hot day so a cool dip in the water was so refreshing! I am now quite sure my rear shock has lost all its oil and is more or less useless. Riding up to the lake on the rough uphill sections was a challenge as my rear tire wouldn’t stay on the ground. With no rebound dampening for the shock, the wheel just bounces up and down on the spring uncontrollably. I was a bit worried because there was a lengthly narrow downhill section coming down to the lake that I had to ride back uphill on the way out. Luckily I made it without incident but it was hard to finding the right speed to get the rear wheel to stay on the ground and maintain some traction.
That evening we connected with Rosie and Vanessa and enjoyed some delicious morel mushrooms (that they had picked and frozen earlier in the season), veggie sushi, summer cocktails and local hard cider. The local fires last summer had produced perfect growing conditions in the spring for the morels to thrive. Morels are not farmed and must be wild gathered so it was a special treat! We ended up eating, drinking, chatting, laughing until almost 2am! Such a good time with friends! Cynthia is leaving for her motorcycle trip south to Ushuaia in about 3 weeks. I’m so excited for her and can’t wait to follow her journey through Mexico, Central and South America! Thank you so much Cynthia for your hospitality once again and I hope to see you again someday soon!
Tuesday morning I packed up slowly and didn’t end up on the bike riding out until about noon. Probably was procrastinating because I knew I would be leaving Canada on that day. After the past 10 days I have decided without a doubt that British Columbia is my favorite of the Canada provinces. It’s just so beautiful and diverse. I still haven’t visited Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island so technically haven’t been everywhere in Canada but so far in my travels it seems BC would be tough to beat! Newfoundland and Labrador is still on the riding wish list so hopefully will get to see that province someday soon. Word has it it’s pretty darn good too!
I made it only to Spokane on Tuesday – had to stop due to the 100 degree heat across northeast Washington. The hot wind was like a hair dryer on high setting, was inescapable and making me sick to my stomach. Camping wasn’t going to happen so I grabbed a cheap motel with air conditioning by the interstate. I spent the afternoon/evening drinking water, reading and basically doing nothing. I didn’t even go out for dinner and just ate from my bag of granola/gorp. Wednesday also turned out to be crazy hot so I decided to stop at noon and camp in Coeur d’Alene by the lake. The weather was supposed to turn cooler on Thursday so I decided to just wait out this heat wave. The lake and the shade trees in camp were much nicer than trying to run interstate in the sun and heat. It was so nice I even took a nap under a tree on my Pilates pad. Some days it’s just nice to not be on the motorcycle and this was one of them. My wait it out strategy paid off – this morning it is in the mid 50’s and forecasted to only reach the high 70’s at peak for the day. It appears I’ll probably hit some rain down the road at some point but will have so much better riding temperatures!