I want everyone to please read this post….please if you only read one post make it this one. I purposely waited to post this until we were home safe because we didn’t want to worry anyone while we were on the road. It was a pretty stark reminder that life is fragile and we can so easily take the most amazing things for granted…….slow down and see the sights….take the time to meet people……say hi to a stranger in a resturaunt. And most importantly make it home safe.
Well I’m going to start this one off with a disclaimer…….WE ARE OK!!!!! But it was still not a good day.
We started our day out in New Hazelton. It looked like rain at first but after a few miles we came out from under the clouds and it was sunny for the rest of the day. We made it to Kitwanga about 9:00 and fueled up. Kitwanga is the south end of the Cassiar Highway and marks the beginning of the longest stretch between fuel stops on the whole trip. So we made dang sure our tanks were tippy top topped off and made our way to Bell 2…..160 miles. That doesn’t sound like much but keep in mind our tanks only hold 4-5 gallons.
The ride to Bell 2 was gorgeous and filled with all kinds of wild life. We saw a few bears and a moose and even a rabbit. We also decided that British Columbia is the dandelion capital of the world. They are EVERYWHERE! Lots of pictures from the bike…didn’t really stop to smell the roses….dandelions sorry.
The Cassiar highway also has a lot of bridges and they are all either wood or metal surface. The wood ones are not too bad but the metal ones are scary cause you can see through them down to the water.
We made it to Bell 2 around lunch time and decided to stay for little while. I’m glad we did. We sat down in the resturaunt next to two older guys and ordered our food. While we waited we got talking to the guys next to us. They were from Tennessee and were out here fishing and doing regular old guy stuff….driving slow….talking about stories from the past. They were some cool dudes. We talked for a few more minutes and then a fellow motorcycler came in and sat next to us. Hes from Michigan and is out here doing the same route as us to meet some friends in anchorage and then travel up to the article circle. He was riding a big BMW adventure bike with all the shiny bits attached to it. We asked where he was headed for the night and he said Whitehorse……woah dude! That’s where we are going to be in 2 days! But he insisted that he does that kind of mileage all the time. After that the whole group of us were talking about the tail of the dragon which is a very popular road for motorcycles and is in Tennessee. The old guys and the BMW rider exchanged stories while me and Enrique listened. It turns out the BMW guy goes there every year and does tons and tons of miles a year on his multiple motorcycles…..sounded like the bachelor life to me……4 BMW bikes and many trips a year on each one.
After we all finished eating we said bye and parted ways. The BMW rider took a picture of us right before hoping on his bike and heading off the same direction we were headed. We got fuel and headed out. The rest of the day was pretty much the same as before….really pretty and really sunny. We stopped for fuel and rested a few times and tried to eat up the 460 something miles.
Also….lots of bugs along the Cassiar highway. Took this picture at the end of the day.
We were both getting antsy and decided to stop at Boya lake and stand up and shake out for a few minutes. As we are standing there we hear a helicopter coming. It comes out from over a hill and goes right over head….that was weird. Then a minute later a police car goes by lights blazing and doing atleast 100 million kph……hmmmm….I wonder what’s up. We got back on the bikes and made it about 10 miles and saw a helicopter landed in the road and a fire truck, ambulance, and two cop cars……oh no. I’m really concerned at this point. I was in front and as I slowly came up to the scene I spotted the one thing no motorcycler ever wants to see….a fellow riders ride in a mangled heap off the side of the road. His panniers were about 100 feet away from his bike and the bike was almost unrecognizable. I asked Enrique over the intercom if that was the bike we saw at lunch…our BMW rider friend.
It was. I will never forget this moment for my entire life. As I sat there on my bike an officer came up to me and asked me if we were traveling with anyone else. I said no but I think we met that guy at lunch. “Is he doing ok?”………”no it’s been a fatality….”…..oh no. The officer told me that they believe he was speeding and lost control. There were reports from other drivers that he was passing people and driving too fast.
He asked us if we knew any personal information or anything about him. We said no and proceeded through the scene slowly and carefully. As we passed his bike I got a good look and it was definitely his…..then a few feet away was a lone blanket on the dirt….I’m assuming it was covering his body. I’ve never seen such a collection of sad shocked faces…..every officer and paramedic that watched us ride by had this look of helplessness. And every set of eyes that made contact with mine seemed to speak the same thing…….please be careful.
I’ve never seen anything like that in my life…..we just had lunch with that guy. There’s a pretty good chance that we were the last ones to have a conversation with him. And we may well be the last picture on his camera. The hardest part for me is that I don’t even know his name.
Please guys…..be careful! There is no way to protect yourself from everything but there are speed limits for a reason and that reason isn’t to make your trip take longer. If you find that you have to speed to make it to your destination on time then you have planned your trip incorrectly. Motorcycles are dangerous……please just be careful.
As you can imagine this really changed the mood for the last 100 miles of our day…..lots of intercom silence and a pretty somber mood. We made it to watson lake and had to back track a bit to find a camp site. Got set up, had dinner, and slept.