Cumulative distance: 1725 km
Maximum speed: 124 kph
Moving average: 74 kph
Overall average: 62 kph
Moving time: 4:35 (does not include ferry crossing from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo)
Total time: 5:31 (ditto)
Temperature range19.6-32.0-14.6 C
Ok, first of all, Environment Canada is redeemed. We looked at the Tofino Environment Canada webpage last night and we are thinking :"16 degrees? this must be wrong".
We are on the road by 7:35 am on the way to Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. It's cloudy and it's the first time we have seen clouds basically since Thursday night on our way to Jasper. Nonetheless, it is still a pleasant temperature because it is around 20, give or take some fractions of a degree. The road is not busy so we make good time and though it is not reputed to be a good motorcycle road, we are having fun.
We negoitate the weird access to the ferry terminal, weird only for people trying to access the terminal from the north since bascially, you have to go past the terminal entrance and loop around and come back to find the entrance. It's whack.
But now we are getting into one of the things I like best about motorcycle touring: there are a huge number of cars and trucks in line to get on to the ferry but we are whisked through line one to move to the front with the other motorcycles. It doesn't matter how busy the ferry ride, it seems that motorcycles ALWAYS go to the front of the line and get this: WITH OTHER MOTORCYCLE!
We meet people from Denmark, San Diedgo, Port Hardy, Grand Prairie and we see two couples from Quebec. Riding Harleys. We spend a fair amount of time visiting with the people from San Diego and Denmark. As I am walking down the line of bikes, I contemplate welcoming our Quebecois brethren to the western part of their country and I notice the jackets they are wearing. With "Rock Machine" embroidered on the backs. I figure they don't need me to "welcome" them because there are probably not here on "holidays" but exlporing "new territory". Probably better that I keep my yap shut.
The ferry ride is nice because we sit outside on the deck soaking in the sun. But this is after we have eaten the trough breakfast provided by BC Ferries. Now, it may sound like I am on the verge of making a disparaging remark about BC Ferries food. But let's face it: they are trying to serve a large amount of people in a short amount of time so the reality is that you would expect it to be pretty poor. Like food at Rexall Place during hockey game. Personally, I think the food is pretty good for what could only be described as "institutional quality". The scrambled eggs are poured from a carton - o.k., they are trying to serve 1,000 people who rush the cafeteria in the space of 30 minutes - but the salsa is house made - and it's good. The toast is decent, whole grain bread and the lattes are made with milk, not plastic cream. I have had worse. Much worse.
The ride from the Nanaimo terminal up to Tofino is what we expected for Lillooet to Pemberton: busy, congested and lots of traffic. The ST has a hard time stretching her legs but at least the weather is not hot like yesterday. It's just "insane hot", not "stupid hot", so the one time we are sitting on the highway waiting for construction traffic, it is only 32 degrees. We are both off the bike waiting in the shade. For twenty minutes.
Amazingly, we are only about a half hour from the intersection where we choose Ucluelet or Tofino and as we approach it, we note the temperature is slipping. In fact, plummeting. Minutes ago, it is 32. Now, it is foggy and the temperature probes the mid-teens, finally bottoming at 14.6 C. Wow, what a difference from Pemberton; 25 degrees colder.
We arrive at Nan's sister's place. It is a house filled with her two sons, their spouses and friends, so it is a house filled with laughter and frivolity.
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| Kennedy Lake. |
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| Fog on Chesterman Beach, Tofino. |
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