West Coast Wedding Whirlwind: Found breakfast

Day 13
Prince George to Pocahontas, Jasper National Park 426.1 km
Accumulated mileage: 4189 km
Maximum speed: 140 kph
Moving average: 95 kph
Overall average: 66 kph
Moving time: 4:28
Total time: 6:27

Civic art in Prince George

Scenery improved out of Prince George over what it was between Smithers and PG. The terraine got a lot wilder with little in the way of habitization.

We decided to ride a little before having some breakfast in order to break up the day a little. We are dragging our sorry posteriors from blowing off the steam last night, so we are not moving too fast. When we exit Prince George, the distance signs indicate the next gas and town is McBride, 202 km down the road and over half way to Jasper. After about a half hour, we have resigned ourselves to having made a tactical error this day and we will have to wait till McBride to get breakfast. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! No sooner do we draw this conclusion, Nan spots a small sign on the roadside, hidden off in the trees, "home baking". My gawd, there is hope.

Allstate motorcycle on display at breakfast

It's a big, beautiful log cabin and indeed, they serve lattes. We are out in the middle of nowhere (again) and just as we abandoned all hope, a place to eat is presented to us on a silver platter. Everything is home made and they have loves of fresh baked bread just out of the oven sitting on the counter. There literally was not another place to eat as far as McBride and we likely would have perished, by the side of the road, to be covered by snow, abandoned. You would have just that there was another gap in the blog and eventually, it would be long gone from your minds. But alas, we are saved by the lattes.

Once on the road again, we have yet another close encounter with the long arm of the law. We are chugging along at about the speed limit, sometimes more, sometimes less, but there are two vehicles in front of us and they can't seem to make up their minds about how fast they want to go. The ST has lots of get-up-and-go and even fully loaded with two people, it is a small matter to just open up the throttle and get past the two vehicles ahead of us. The coast is clear, there is a long straight away ahead of us and no traffic is coming our direction: it is safe to pass. I open up the throttle, pull out and ahead and OOPS, the next vehicle is RCMP! But I am committed; I can't fall back but there is just enough room for me to squeeze between the two vehicles safely. Now I am really stuck. So far, I have only gone marginally more than the speed limit so not really guilty of an infraction but I am caught between the police car and the vehicle behind, who I am sure by now is thinking I am a goof.

So we cruise along at about 101 kph for five minuts or so and up ahead is a passing lane. Nan asks me if I am going to pass. I figure I am safe to about 110 so at the passing lane, the police car politely moves over to the right hand lane and I stay in the passing lane. It is a long hill and the police vehicle is actually a big sport ute or something so while I am sure it has loads of power in reserve, it is sluggish and drops below 100. I pass, slowly, doing about 105 and while this is better than it was before, it means I have the bullets following me with the red dot squarely on our backs. I am now fixated on our speed, trying hard to keep the bike doing what it likes best, to go faster, and not dropping down too much. I am trying every trick and can think of to keep the speed steady at about 106 or 107. This goes on for a long time. At spome point I am thinking I am more of a danger focusing on my speed so much rather than just speeding.

After what seems like an eternity, cars start passing me and I realize that the cop has left the pursuit, once again, looking for bigger fish to fry. I go 108.

We cruise through Jasper and it is smokin' busy with tourists walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather. Because it is our last night of the trip, we stop and pick up a bottle of pink Champagne and gas up for the final leg tomorrow.

We get to Pocahontas Cabins, about 30 minutes east of Jasper and 30 minutes closer to home. The cabins are sweet; log cabins with two rooms, a king bed, a fridge and stove and, probably not by design, what seems like more mosquitoes inside than out. And they are relentless, even after spraying ourselves with Agent Orange.

The safe from the mining operation, as it

After dinner, which is still relatively early for us, we go for a walk across the street to the Pocahontas mine site. It is incredulous to us that with the amount of time we have spent in Jasper National Park, we have never visited this place. It is an old mine site that existed from the early 1900s and at one time, boasted a population of 250 (the National Parks website says 2000). There are a number of artifacts including the mine company's safe, the mine entrance, the foundation for the old fort (there was even an old spring bed in there) and mining equipment. It is also the easiest hike you will find in the national parks: it's paved.

Pictures tomorrow, when I get internet access.