Gotta get to Canada Before …
er, before … well, I don’t know. Maybe I need a taco before they run out.
Now, I know it doesn’t sound like much of a run – two weeks for about 830 miles, but it’s RV time. You might make the drive in a day or two by car. In the RV time slows down and the journey is the thing. This one was fast, definitely a run.
I left Reno on May 29th and went to Susanville, California on the recommendation of my good friend Ray. This place had plenty of small town charm. My neighbor had a BMW RL1200 and knew the area really well which led to some great rides through the mountains.
Ray said the drive north out of Susanville was really something – it did not disappoint. I really need a dash cam. As you’re winding through the tall pines, every once in a while you come to a a little gap and all of the sudden there’s
I spent a few days in Mount Shasta City at the foot of the dominating peak. All the locals know it’s an active volcano. They all know the geologists say it will likely erupt again (in the next 200 years). And they know the lahar and pyroclastic flow could relegate Mount St. Helens’ eruption to footnote status. Still, there they are, in the foothills, captivated by the majestic peak.
Roadside Oregon
A short mountain ride from Gold Hill, Oregon is the Oregon Vortex roadside attraction where people and things appear to get taller or shorter depending on where they are standing. Now the science guy in me wanted to chuckle, but I’ve got to admit the outdoor demonstrations were pretty impressive. I’d also note that my phone’s GPS could not get a fix within 2 miles of this spot (queue Twilight Zone music).
Speaking of Twilight Zone
Two days later, with a stop to see one of my favorite authors, Neil Stephenson, speak, I was at the border – Port Angeles, Washington.
Port Angeles is a small city (pop. ~19,000) across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria, British Columbia. It does have quite a bit of charm.
Victoria
6/16 – Victoria, BC. You get to Victoria by ferry – it’s on Vancouver Island and there are no bridges. Taking the RV across was prohibitively expensive. I also decided not to take the motorcycle across since I still don’t have a reliable GPS I can use offline. So, I boarded Keira for a few days and took the ferry to Canada.
Victoria is a maze of twisty little two lane streets, very densely populated, vibrant and cosmopolitan like New York, but it’s uber clean and the people are way nicer. It is the capital of the province and a hot spot for tech and design professionals.
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And Now …
It’s back to the desert.