Roswell to Boise and British Columbia

3924 miles

July 21-28, 2006

Highlights: Pend Orielle River, Kootenai Lake , Nelson, BC.

We'd been talking about this ride ever since my best old friend Rusty got a motorcycle last summer. It was ride we'd wanted to make for 25 years. Route and destination were unimportant. Two old friends together on an epic ride was the goal.

Back in the early spring the second week of July seemed as good as any. Meredith's wedding and reception would be over, back-to-college and the late summer rush at work were weeks off. Perfect timing. Except for the weather. The entire west was mired in a record-setting heat wave and the ride will go down in history as the hottest long trip I've ever made. My new Gold Wing displayed ambient temperature in inch-tall numbers: Green River , Utah , 103. Boise , Idaho , 105. The mountain resort town of Coeur d Alene was a cool 101. Canada offered the only respite. By luck rather than latitude our two days in British Columbia saw highs only in the mid-eighties.

Heading north out of Coeur d Alene the ‘Wing's GPS took us off the main route, through a saw mill and over a wide river called the Pend Orielle. (I debated a half dozen pronunciations before a waitress told us the way to say it was Pond Oray .) A narrow, shaded road snaked along the east bank of the river, winding through the Pend Orielle Indian Reservation. No traffic, incredible views of the lake until we crossed back to the west side at the tiny town of Sandpoint , where we had breakfast and a lesson in local pronunciation.

My expired passport proved enough to get me into Canada just south of Nelson, British Columbia . An old hippie couple from Florida on a Gold Wing towing an enormous trailer suggested the best ride would east to Creston and north along Kootenai Lake . The mountain pass they described was tame by Colorado standards but still enjoyable. The lake was something much more. Over 100 miles long, this enormous natural lake filled a valley between two mountain ranges. The road was endless sweepers and sweeping vistas of the lake, though the traffic kept our speed down.

Much too wide for a bridge, crossing the lake meant a 45-minute ferry ride. However, there were many vehicles in front of us and we had to wait an hour and a half for the second boat. A small café was doing a booming business with the captive clientele, and we could watch the boat approach as I finished my bratwurst. It was a very large, hundred-car ferry called Osprey. Deckhands directed our motorcycles over to the side and out of the sun, and once underway a nice breeze cooled things down considerably.

Once on the other side of the lake it was a short ride to the town of Nelson , located on an arm of the lake. Without chain motels, or almost any motels at all, we found the Prestige Inn overlooking the lake but full, except for an executive suite for $179. Now the last time I was in Canada the Canadian dollar was worth about two-thirds of a greenback. A quick calculation revealed that this was a bargain indeed, especially with a balcony and 60-inch TV. Only when I later examined my credit card statement did I discover that the U.S. dollar has lost much of its strength and Canadian dollars were worth virtually the same.

Overweight and with a bad knee, Rusty couldn't walk far so a taxi took us to dinner and back. The next morning we ate the continental breakfast at the Prestige's sister hotel, gassed up and headed toward Castlegar, reentered the U.S.A. and followed the Columbia River through northeastern Washington . Once we left the river the land got very remote; a narrow ribbon of asphalt meandering through dry rolling hills dotted with small farming towns like Davenport , Sprague, and Pullman . It was through here that the heat and fatigue took their toll on Rusty. We were stopping at each one of these little towns and even highway overpasses to drink water and cool down; sometimes making no more than ten miles between stops. Lewiston , our destination for the day, was as hot as it was our first time through, about 105.

We got an early start the next day trying to put as many miles behind us as possible before it got really hot. I headed back the way I came and spent the night in Moab , Utah . Looking for cooler weather and better scenery I took the mountain route through LaSal, Paradox, Ouray and Silverton. Clouds and scattered rain made it the coolest day of the entire ride.