Prologue - Already had a whole trip's worth of adventure

We typically plan our motorcycle trips starting about a year in advance. No, it is not because we are O.C.D. but because we are excited. Nan typically starts packing about a month in advance not because of her O.C.D. (there are drugs for that) but because she is excited.  There are germinations of at least three future motorcycle trips brewing: ferry to Bella Coola (more on that in a minute) the Continental Divide and the Mexican Solar Eclipse Tour in 2024. There is at least one more trip to which we have committed which is back to Mexico this coming March to ride with our good friends at Riders of the Sierra Madre.

The BC BUDdies Tour name honours our riding buddies, none of whom decided to join us for this trip, and BC's proclivity to produce that which will soon be legal in this country. FOR THE RECORD, to any of our American friends reading the blog, WE DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN ANY ILLEGAL OR NEFARIOUS ACTIVITY and thus there is no need to grill us at the border. Nan is my buddy and I am hers.

Last year on our Tofino Eclipse warm up trip, we were partying visiting with a friend of Nan's nephews who is a BC Ferries boat captain. (BTW, the Captain does not always go down with the ship, which would be breaking a union rule at BC Ferries. There is precedent. Captain Andy told us about the vessel acquired by BC Ferries from Greece, which was to be retrofitted to be a beautiful and lavish ferry to run the Port Hardy to Bella Coola route through the Inside Passage. Faithful readers of our motorcycle blogs will remember that we did the ferry run from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert four years ago and had a SPECTACULAR time. I always promote that passage as something every Canadian should do because it is a part of their own country that is not easy or common to access and it is incredibly beautiful; not using it will eventually lead to BC Ferries cancelling the service.

Captain Andy made a fervent pitch to us to be on the new ferry The Northern Sea Wolf  to Bella Coola and since we had had such a great time the last time we took a "BC Ferries Vacation" it was an easy decision. Now, the route is not without its challenges. The road out of Bella Coola to BC Highway 20 is gravel and at the steep pitch of 13%. Not really for the faint of heart, of which we have not.

Alas, it is not meant to be. At least, this year. Two weeks ago a very apologetic BC Ferries phoned me to tell me that the Northern Sea Wolf would not be ready this year and so if we really wanted to go to Bella Coola, we would need to swim. Tough with a motorcycle. However if we could arrive at Port Hardy a day earlier, we could catch the ferry to Bella Bella then change to a different ferry to Bella Coola. Of course, it is not as simple as "just arriving a day early", as we had several reservations prior to arriving at Port Hardy and on a motorcycle, combining two travel days into one is akin to posterior suicide, except for my cuzzin Iron Butt Bruce. Who thinks nothing of riding a thousand miles in a day. To their credit, BC Ferries offered to reimburse us any losses that occurred because of the cancellation. In fact, they were falling all over themselves with apologies and worked extremely hard to find a suitable solution for us. The last trip I had booked through them, the aforementioned trip to Prince Rupert, they had been very accommodating and this time they outdid themselves. They are even picking up the extra night we have to stay in Port Hardy and didn't charge the extra for the trip to Prince Rupert. I trust them implicitly. I just need to figure out a way to involve them in planning the Continental Divide trip for next year, despite the fact that there are no ferry crossings.

What we ended up deciding to do that would fit within our babysitter's availability was reprising our trip to Prince Rupert. Even though we would be repeating the journey, we did not see it as a real hardship and maybe next year we can squeeze in a quick trip to the coast to make the Bella Coola crossing. Now, take a good look at the anticipated route map above and today's BC Wildfire map below.

If you put your nose directly on the computer screen on the word "miles" above and turn your head 90 degrees you will see that our anticipated route has considerable overlap with several of the major fires currently engulfing British Columbia. (I read a tweet today where President Trump blamed BC for Global Warming and another that said Stormy Daniels got her name from Canadian fire storms.)

Then last night, our planned excursion to Friday Harbour in the San Juan Islands was thwarted by the Washington State Ferry Service who have cancelled "international" sailings from August 23rd to August 29th due to one of their ferries needing a tune up. The 29th was our date to travel from Friday Harbour to Sidney, BC. Let me tell you that Washington State Ferries could learn a lesson from BC Ferries about customer service. BC Ferries: "We love you!" Washington State Ferries: "Don't bug us, CANADIAN! You're a risk to our national security!" Sadly, this stop has been on our radar for four years, ever since we took the ferry from Sidney to Anacortes in Washington and had a momentary pit stop at Friday Harbour. It looked like a quaint, English fishing village and ever since, we were determined to get back there for a stay.  Unless the Washington State Ferries mechanic pulls off a miracle, we wont see it this year.

Today (Thursday) I spent several hours trying to talk Washington State Ferries into putting a vessel on the Friday Harbour to Sidney run, calling campground operators along Highway 16 between Terrace and Prince George making sure their campgrounds were open and not over run with fire fighters (as some are), checking webcams to see the conditions of the highway and air quality and talking to BC Ferries about what our options would be should things turn decidedly worse with the wildfires. Our departure is Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. The bike is serviced and ready to go with new tires and new oil. Nan was packed a month ago and I'll get it done tomorrow night. Hopefully.


Some business: in past years several people have threatened to punch my lights out if I didn't figure out how to enable comment posts. In my defense, every year when I set up my blog, Google has changed it in some fashion. Many things carry over but many things are new and I am sure it is because they are trying to dream up ways to force users to use more Google products in the process. IT'S A TRAP! This year, I think I have enabled the blog to allow ANYONE to post a comment however ALL will be subject to moderation. So no hate mail please.

Also, there is a link at the top of the page that will allow you to see where we are real time. Clicking on any of the points will show information about what was going on at that moment. At the top of the tracking page, click "BC Buddies Tour", then "Adjustments" to set the number of pings shown from our travels. If you are too lazy to scroll to the top, it will always be here: https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1ac5d5b7cdf219c372&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes