Sunday, June 29, 2008

I left North Battleford quite late, mostly due to an iPod that suddenly developed an attitude problem that no amount of online troubleshooting was able to fix. After a 5:00pm departure that was supposed to be a 1:00pm departure, I hit the road armed only with those things that I could carry on the back of Silver- my 2003 Yamaha Roadstar Silverado 1600. This would be our third adventure.

Many readers may recall the Easy Rider Tour of 2006, which was my first visit to the BC Interior since 1989, and my first major trip on a motorcycle. The journey was inspired by the movie Sideways and the focus was to visit the Okanagan wine country, but also included a short but enjoyable visit to Vancouver. This was a short ten day adventure that included entering the mountains at Jasper and return home via Banff.

The need to reprise the trip was so great that Ryan & Silver’s Excellent Adventure of 2007 was extended to 18 days and included an entire week in the Okanagan, a four day houseboat tour on the Shuswaps, and two trips through the Kootenays.

This year’s 20- day trip will include another week in the Okanagan and a visit to places I had never been before. After my most eventful and life altering year so far, I will be going as far west as I could possibly go while still being in Canada. I was going to Vancouver Island and the small community of Tofino.

This has definitely been a year of sailing into uncharted waters and the Magical Mystery Tour 2008 will be no different.

I arrived at Edmonton about four hours late at 9:00pm and eventually found my way to my friend’s condo where I was staying that night. I hate being late, and I felt very rushed getting out of the Battlefords because packing all of the right gear for the trip is very important.

After the four hour tour in the hot 32 degree sun I was wiped and ready for sleep. And I would need it: tomorrow’s trip would take at least 10 hours and it was supposed to be 38 degrees where I was heading- Lillooet, BC.