July 8 -  we got up early today. i had a 630am conference call.  we were ready to leave by 7:45.  bikes loaded. rain gear on.  lightly raining.  on the road headed north.  at 7:46 tony pulled to the side of the raod. engine light was on.  since we had just passed the harley dealer which was next to the motel, we turned around and headed straight there.  

our hotel in smithers.  price was right

they checked the bike out, and about 2 hours later determined that the water pump failed and needed to be replaced. only problem is they didnt have one in stock.  they said they could have one shipped in and be ready some time tomorrow.   after a little discussion they determined they had a brand new road glide ultra on the showroom floor. so they agreed to take the water pump off that one and install it on ATony's bike.  then when the new one arrives tomorrow they will install that one on the bike they removed it from.

harley dealer

anyway that took another 2 hours. and all work was covered by the warranty.  we were finally back on the road at 130pm.  by now it was bright and sunny out, so no rain gear.

headed toward Dease lake

on the way to Dease Lake we encountered tremendous mountain views, treacherous roads with loose gravel, mud, sharp turns,  we stopped once seeing rain ahead, and put the rain gear on.  we encountered many periods of rain on the remainder of the trip.

ninaska lake

at one point we observed a dark object ahead on the side of the road. as we approached we saw it was a  black bear. we slowed down but as tony passed the bear it quickly turned and ran from the side of the road into some bushes.

we made it to the motel at about 8pm, covering nearly 400 miles this afternoon after a much delayed start.   the only place to get food in this town is the gas station food store.  take out sandwiches and soda.   back to the room to eat 'dinner.'  sunset tonight  here in British Columbia is 10:45pm.


ps     thanks to matt and the boys at smithers harley. yes it put a crimp in the day, and i never had a bike with a water pump, so i am not impressed with water cooled heads if all they do is give you more parts to break. but the guys at smithers did the best they could considering these are new gadgets and they had to improvise to get us back on the road. they did great. on the bear sighting, i saw the bear and slowed down until you know who came in way too hot and almost put an end to our trip. i think the bear was more shook up than me as he bolted into the next county. bye bye bear...