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Well now, we got up last Saturday morning and it wasn’t raining. The weather forecast even said it wouldn’t rain on Sunday either, so 'The Wife' and I climbed aboard the Harley and took off. We didn’t have a destination or really any plans at all. We just wanted to do some riding. We did bring sweaters and our warm touring jackets and our toothbrushes. We scooted down the highway to Horseshoe Bay where we figured we would take whichever ferry was leaving next. The ferry for Langdale and Gibson’s had just pulled out so the next one would be heading for Nanaimo and Vancouver Island. The Island is one of my favorite places. While mountainous, it is very different from mainland coastal BC. Parts of the Island were formed somewhere in the south Pacific millions of years ago and migrated northeast until they crashed into the continent. While here on the mainland the predominant rock is granite and lava, much of the Island is limestone and sedimentary type rock. The ‘flavor’ is different; the ‘feel’ is different.

Now, if we were traveling in a car we would have had to wait for the next sailing as this one was full even before the ship got there. However, they don’t make bikes wait. They wave you right to the front of the line. Because they can fit a dozen or more bikes into the nose, they always have room for them. And, they charge just half of what they charge for a car.

We hadn’t been in any particular hurry to get away from Squamish so it was the 12:55 sailing we were on. That put us into Departure Bay at 2:30. There were some dark looking clouds to the south, so we decided to head north, up-island. At highway 4 we turned west. By the time we reached Cathedral Grove it had become a bit chilly so we pulled into the tourist parking area so we could put on our riding chaps. As we were doing that, someone called out my name. I looked up and there was Heather, Nova Scotia Sus’s long lost niece, the woman we met last summer down east. Fancy that, small world. They then took off in their direction, we took off in ours. We continued heading west, climbing over the Alberni pass. It got quite chilly as we went, then warmed as we dropped down the other side. Neat thing, at every river and stream we crossed we could smell the spawning salmon. We didn’t even have to see the stream to know it was there.

In Port Alberni we found a place to stop for dinner, right down on the waterfront. After eating we needed to decide whether to continue on west, out to the west side of the Island, or find somewhere there to spend the night, or ride back over to the east side. It was only 6 PM and there was some heave clouds off to the west, so we did the easy hour ride back over the pass to the east side. We pulled into Qualicum Beach where we found a nice motel on the waterfront with balconies overlooking the Straight of Georgia. The owner of the motel let us tuck the bike in beside her T-bird under cover and out of sight.

When we got up on Sunday morning, it was bright and sunny, but only 6 degrees. We bundled up and headed on up-island. We stayed on the old Island Highway, 19a as it follows the coast and passes through the small towns and villages. It is slower riding, which is nice when it’s a bit cold out. At Courtenay we stopped for some breakfast. Then we continued north, up to Campbell River. After poking around there for a little while, we jumped onto the new, inland Island Highway and cruised back down to Nanaimo in time for the 2:55 sailing. Again, they were staging cars out onto the roadway where they would have to wait for the next sailing. Again, being on a bike we were waved right to the front of the line. There were already 3 bikes waiting, by the time we were loading there was a dozen bikes. It was like a big biker party, really cool. All the bikes roared onto the ferry together, right to the front. At Horseshoe Bay we all roared off together, right at the front.

An hour later we were home. I just wish we could have kept going. It was really great time and I didn’t want it to end. Oh well, next time we might just keep on going.

I mentioned smelling the salmon. That kind of points out the difference between traveling by bike compared to car. In a car you are enclosed in a metal cocoon, insulated from the surroundings. The scenery goes by outside the windows, you don’t feel or smell the air. The destination tends to be the most important part of the trip. On the other hand, on a bike you are part of the world you are riding through. You feel and smell the air, you are surrounded by the scenery and feel connected to it. On a bike you don’t care about the destination, it just isn’t important. It is the journey that matters. It’s a state of mind, whether you are touring around on a big cruiser, or exploring some backcountry trail on a dirt bike.

The ferry crossing was spectacular.

There were about 14 bikes tucked into the nose of the ferry on the return run.