Vancouver, BC in a few short days
but, who had I been kidding?
July of 2017 was on record for Brit-
ish Columbia having the worst forest
fire seasons of all time. All the roads
I’d planned to ride were closed due
to fires, and the few others that were
open, had warnings from the govern-
ment advising motorist to wear respi-
rators.
I’d thought of these advisements
and wondered if a person in a car
really needed a respirator? What
would a motorcyclist need? An oxy-
gen-tank? I continued riding east.
One of the biggest differences I
find while travelling on a motorcycle
is you inspire people to engage with
you. Before I started riding I was
never stopped by people when filling
my car to ask where I was headed or
where I had been, but on a bike, I get
approached constantly. For a solo
traveler, I relish those moments. It’s
the best way for me to learn about the
areas and the people. I’ve been told
about some of the prettiest places
and attractions that I would’ve ridden
past if not for the conversations.
As I’d pulled into a petrol station in
Burns Lake, BC to fill my tank, I’d be-
come engaged in conversations with
four other Duel-sport riders. After
exchanging the normal biker talk of
where one’s headed and from where
one started, I learned they were a
mixed group of riders from all over
America and they’d all joined togeth-
er at different locations, on the road,
while riding south from Alaska. They
invited me to join the riding party
and discussed continuing east until
TRAVERSE 95
we found a road that was open. Of
course I’d been thrilled and accepted
the offer.
We spent the next few days riding
further east until we arrived in Alber-
ta. I was now completely off track
from my original plan of being in
Vancouver and had instead crossed
into my third Canadian providence,
adding an extra 2000 miles, (3218km)
to my trip but what a time and miles
they were.
We decided to finally turn south
on the Icefield Parkway through Jas-
per and Banff national parks, hop-
ing some high-altitude mountain air
would be smoke free.
We did escape the smoke, but only
to get caught up in a massive backlog
of traffic. That evening a vehicle ac-
cident along the road had closed the