Monday, Sept 7, 2009

The ride home from my annual tour is never fun, but there are always two or three days of ‘mountain’ riding before bursting out of the Rockies back onto the prairie. This year, however, there would be only one day. I had to be back in Saskatoon by tomorrow evening because of political commitments, and so riding like a tourist and enjoying the scenery were a luxury I could not afford.

I slowly packed my things and loaded them back onto Silver. I was most impressed with my ability to store 13 bottles of wine in my bags. This is a feat I had not repeated since the Easy Rider Tour 2006. I had another 17 bottles shipped home a few days ago, bringing my total up to 30. The Magical Mystery Tour 2008 holds the record with 37. Ryan & Silver’s Excellent Adventure 2007 saw me bring home 20, but Scott & Gill brought those to Saskatchewan for me later in the summer. Believe me, the extra weight and bulk is very noticeable on the bike.

After a short breakfast in Penticton I was riding back up the lake, though Kelowna, and then on to Sicamous where I stopped to refuel. The day was very cool and overcast, and it was threatening rain all morning. I had not been back to Sicamous since riding the houseboats on Ryan & Silver’s Excellent Adventure, and it brought back a lot of memories.

I then rode the Trans Canada all afternoon in the pouring rain until I reached Golden. I had stayed here last year on the Magical Mystery Tour for a few days, but this time I simply refueled and headed further east to a small lodge called the West Louise Lodge where I scored a nice little room for 59 bucks. I got there quite late (nearly 9pm local time, although there was a time change when I crossed Roger’s Pass). I was cold from the rain and found my way to the sauna after a nice dinner in their restaurant. I went to bed very early, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a very long day back to Saskatoon.