We looked out the window and was a little discouraged due to the large, black clouds rolling in. Thunder could be heard in the distant hills. We took off and hoped the road might turn and we might miss the storms. No such luck!
The heavens opened up, on with the Won-Z's, and we rode through the Lillooet gorges. This is probably the wildest country we've ever ridden through, especially seeing it under storm conditions. In fact, I had flashbacks to when I rode through the conjoin of the Indus & Zanskar Rivers system in the India Himalaya.
Once through the major part of the mountain pass the rain eased and we rode on to Whistler. The traffic was heavy and we thought there's no way we'll find a park. But just then we came across a sign saying "Free Motorcycle Parking". Good on ya Whistler. We were dry under our rainsuits but feeling quite cold. We wanted something warm for lunch and so wandered up through the main street (no vehicles allowed). It is quite a pretty place but not our cup-of-tea (so to speak). We ate and drank, saw the Olympic sculpture (from 2010) and then scampered.
We only traveled 35 miles to Squamish and pulled in due to an unsettling noise in the rear end. Paul disassembled the rear drive and discovered the pinion gear had lost it's hard-facing and destroyed itself. A fellow stopped by and drove Paul toWalmart to get break-cleaner and fresh oil. Paul then cleaned the rear-drive out and reassembled with fresh oil. Luckily for us we'd pulled in to a service station where the repairs took place. We had access to food, drink, rags and $16 worth of paper towel near the fuel pumps! I didn't tell the station owners that though...!!!
At the reassembly stage a fellow called Geoff stopped by and insisted on helping get Ellie back together. He had a complete socket set so there were no arguments from Paul re him helping out. Geoff was a diesel fitter by trade and really enjoyed the whole process. He was a very, very nice fella. Geoff's daughters boyfriend (Kurtis) got out of the car to chat with us as well.
It was 8.00pm when we got on our way. We had our fingers and toes crossed that we could make the 50 miles to Vancouver. Paul took it easy but the magnificent scenery on Highway 1 to Vancouver acted as a distraction and was stunning. For a moment-or-three we forgot about Ellie's problems as we rode alongside the coast and mountains.
We arrived at our friends place 9.00pm. We'd been in touch with Chris and she was as relieved to see us as we were relieved to have arrived.
We haven't seen Chris for a few years so it was an exciting reunion. Once we settled in the top came off a bottle of wine and for the moment, we forgot all about Ellie's problems.
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