My First Motorcycle Trip to British Columbia (Day 3)

After a nice morning in Nakusp we packed up and started our trip to Kamloops, my husband Dave wanted to meet up with his buddy Calvin and his wife Rhonda. Calvin was in Kamloops for a family wedding and wanted us to join them on their return trip back to Alberta.

We headed out on Hwy 6 to the tiny lakefront village of Fauquier, it is on the eastern shores of Lower Arrow Lake. When we arrived it was quiet and the road turns into the Needles Ferry Terminal. This is a small cable ferry but could easily accommodate the tourists and locals needing to cross. It doesn't take too much time to cross over to Needles, and I enjoyed going on another ferry ride that was free!

Waiting for the Needles Ferry at Fauquier

The riding in this rural area was a lot of fun. The twisty road was great and the traffic was really light, I didn't see too many other vehicles. We arrived in Cherryville and it was a really warm day, with the area having a cozy feel to it. It is in the foothills of the Monashee Mountains and I enjoyed the great views.

On our way to Lumby we had to stop for an accident, a truck and camper had tried to sneak under a power pole that had leaned over the road, well he didn't make it, the power line got caught up in his camper and both directions of lanes on Hwy 6 had to be temporarily closed (the driver stayed in the vehicle and called emergency services). We chatted with the locals and I received many complements on my Scorpion jacket I had bought for the trip, my husband kept teasing that I bought my TMAX to match my jacket, everyone laughed and thought I was a pretty lucky lady to have it all. I actually had a man take pictures of my jacket to show his wife who was considering getting a new tattoo and he loved the design, it was funny as I thought he was kidding, but he was serious. The fire department and power company helped free the camper and everyone was on their way. 

Waiting for the accident to be cleared, no one was hurt but the drivers ego was most likely bruised 

We stopped for a bite to eat at Alice's Restaurant in Lumby. We enjoyed the homemade lunch and chatted with the owner, she was very nice and I thought about how everyone we had met so far at the Hotels and Restaurants were fabulous and helpful.

We made our way through Vernon and travelled on Hwy 97, at Falkland we made a fuel stop. I was driving behind my husband as we pulled up to the pumps and noticed there was a white streak going up the middle of his back tire on his Concours. When we both checked it out we could tell the tire was now showing threads and was in pretty bad condition, he needed a new tire as soon as possible. We knew Kamloops would have a power sports dealer but today was Saturday and it was already close to 4:00 pm, now we were running the risk of them being closed before we could get there, and also the sick feeling of knowing they would be closed on Sunday as well. After a quick couple calls we located a Honda dealer that had a tire. We drove slowly and hoped it would hold together, poor hubby's Connie was most likely confused as she's not used to driving under the speed limit! ha-ha

Threads on a tire is not what you want to see on a bike trip

We arrived in Kamloops and quickly found the Honda dealership before they closed, but we received the bad news that there was no technicians there at the time that could put it on. I felt ill when he told us this but he quickly called the Kawasaki dealer to ask them if they could help us, the answer was no, they also had no way of doing it that late in the day. My husband just said "Ok, I guess I'm changing a tire", then I felt even more ill, was it possible he could do it without being in a garage full of tools? Well he bought the tire, also purchased a couple pry bars and then we went to Princess Auto for more tools, a hammer, wrench, and hacksaw.


Connie gets a new tire strapped on, and off we go to the local Princess Auto

We found the closest Hotel to stay at and asked permission to make a small part of their parking lot into an outdoor work area, they said no problem and the owners even found us an old piece of plywood for Dave to use. After 45 minutes and a couple slices of pizza,  Dave had the tire off and the new one on. I called a taxi to take Dave to a gas station so he could fill the new tire up with air. It was amusing to watch the taxi guy figure out where he wanted the tire to go in his small car, even more amusing was my 6' 4" husband finding a spot where he wanted to go. Oh this trip was turning into a comedy real fast.

This 2008 Kawasaki Concours seems to be missing something?? 

 Dave returned and everything worked out to my amazement, but I have to tell you I was glad it wasn't my bike, I still had a perfectly fine tire on mine, and that made me pretty happy! Well day 3 had turned into an adventure but not the type I was expecting, but still it was pretty cool that my husband can change a tire on his own ( I helped out as tool runner and taking his donations for the swear jar, tee-he). It isn't an easy job by any means but it can be done.