Day 12 - July 4th
Al and I woke up after a good night's sleep refreshed and ready to go. Graeme and Bill were muttering something about mosquitos. Al and I looked at each other and said "What mosquitos?" We were in the back room and Graeme and Bill were out front, and the mozzies were coming in through a gap in the front door. They could have come under the door to our room, but since there was an ample supply of fresh meat to feed on in the front room, they never bothered. Our first clue to the mozzie problem should have been the mosquito coil "inside" the cabin. As we were packing up to leave I snapped a few pics of the lovely scene on the Dease River...
We hit the road south down to the town of Dease Lake and stopped for breakfast. This section of road had about 20 miles of gravel. At one point we passed some really slow moving RVs, and just after that I felt something weird near the back of the bike. Bill was on the radio immediately to tell me that one of my panniers fell off! I had become a little complacent about checking everything on the bike each morning, and here was the result. Realizing that I had two RVs bearing down on me, I made a quick U-turn and rode back, jumped off the bike, and got the pannier off the road just as the RVs were coming over the hill. The only damage was some scratches, and the dry bag I had strapped to the pannier now had a big hole torn in it.
We continued on to the town of Dease Lake and stopped in this little road house for breakfast. Al and I were sitting at the table and Bill and Graeme were using the phones. As I sat there I realized that today was July 4. This holiday isn't usually a big deal with my family, just a cookout and some fireworks. But for some reason it made me really sad to think about the holiday and not being with them to share it. I think the biggest thing for me about this whole trip was the realization that I do not like being away from my family for such a long time. I had a moment that morning when all I really wanted in life was to get home.
We all ordered the Talithan Hash - the food was awesome and I was feeling better after a good meal.
We continued south through the mountains of western British Columbia enjoying mile after mile of amazing vistas.
One of Graeme's favorite "grate" bridges...
Some more spectacular BC scenery...
Much to Bill and Graeme's disappointment, this bit of construction was regulated by a stoplight, and not a flag girl...
Later that afternoon it started raining. I kept hoping that we would get out of it soon, but it kept getting worse, and we pulled over so I could put my rain gear on. By now it was coming down pretty steady, and when we got ready to go, Graeme couldn't move. He radioed that his clutch wasn't working. We all turned off the bikes and proceeded to see what the problem was...
Turns out that there was no fluid left in his hydraulic clutch. Remember that stop we had to check Graeme's chain wear a couple of days ago? Well we think that some dirt got on the slave cylinder seal and caused it to leak...
How many motorcyclists does it take to fill a clutch cylinder?
After about 30 to 45 minutes, they had the fluid filled and everything put back together and we were off again. The rain gradually gave way to sunshine again, and as we rolled south we began to see more signs of civilization. The mountains and canyons gave way to wide valleys with farms and ranches and the landscape became distinctively less wild.
As the sun set and we began looking for a place to camp, a double rainbow appeared in the east.
Graeme commented at camp that night that he felt a little let down because the trip was starting to draw to a close. The adventurous part of the trip was over, and we were now into the final phase of making our way back to Calgary. There was still a lot of riding ahead, with more fantastic scenery and awesome roads, but the wildness of the the far north was behind us.
Mileage for Day 12: 574 (longest day on the bikes)
Total bike mileage to date: 4,620