Friday September 18th
Fort Nelson to Fort St. John: 403.8 km
Cumulative distance: 4513 km
Maximum speed: 114 km/h
Moving average: 78 km/h
Editor's note: today's blog entry has been contributed by the Lovely Nono Nanette. Thanks, Sweetie!
Well , we made it to Fort Nelson last night. Finally. In the dark. Tired. Then we had beer and the world was good again!
We woke up at the crack of dawn, 7:00 a.m., gassed up and headed to A &W for a "healthy breakfast"and hit the road at approximately 8:38 am. At
10:30ish it was time to feed our bodies again as the motorcycle riding
burns a phenomenal amount of calories and we need to keep up with those
demands!!! We stop at some roadside diner in the minute community of
"Entrance ". The diner has a for sale sign and a weakly lit "open"
sign. It's title is confusing as the sign said "Restaurant Entrance" not
"Entrance Restaurant" This should be interesting.....
It was
more then interesting- It was awesome!! Fresh baked buns still
warm, homemade clam chowder, and homemade pie. The guys devoured their
meals as I looked on. I'm on a diet of restraint ( I'm saving myself
for the remains of my cinnamon bun from the afternoon before). Howi was
so impressed with his lunch he went to the kitchen and thanked the
cooks and the ladies were thrilled.
There
was a fellow travelling on a Ducati motorcycle at the cafe but he was
wearing Harley Davidson clothing. This dichotomy had our guys very
confused and they had to actually go see the bike to make sure there was
no mistake. Imagine...someone wearing Harley duds but not riding a
Harley. It's very hard to comprehend, apparently. This guys story is
that he was travelling from Anchorage and heading to Naples, Florida. On
the Ducati. Wearing Harley Davidson.Hmmmm.
The
forecast today was for wind. Holy crap!!!!! They lied. It was gale
force cross winds!!!!! WE ARE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE! "They" had
predicted up to 60km winds but it felt stronger. Not fun for the guys!!
It's very hard to keep the bikes balanced and it's very taxing on the
body keeping the bikes upright as there's a pretty small amount of
rubber on the road holding you up! We stopped often to rest and let the
guys loosen the death grip from their hands and wrists. You can see the
impact of the wind on this trash receptacle. It was upright before the
winds came.
In
addition to the wind there are tons of semi trucks travelling this
route. From logging trucks to oil and gas vehicles, the trucks hauling
these products are many and there's lots of air turbulence from these
vehicles as well. Well done Howi, Stan, Niels and John for staying
upright in those winds and after the beers later!!!
The beers
were consumed at the Original Joes restaurant in honor of the hard ride
today. But before we got to our table Howi was thrown back into his
restaurant days and took it upon himself to play hostess at the front of
the establishment. The place was very busy and short staffed.
The hostess couldn't keep up so Howi started seating people and putting
peoples names on the waiting list. It was hilarious! People were
tentative at first when he approached them but really, all they cared
about was getting a seat. It's been about 25 years since I've seen him
doing his restaurant thing!! Fond memories!
The
scenery on this leg of the trip has taken on a different look now.
It's not as spectacular as before and looking more like where we
live but the colors are still amazing as they change for fall. We are on
the home stretch!
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1 comment:
Ducasti have been called the thinking man's Harley.
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