Day 2 - Num-Ti-Jar Lodge to Bonners Ferry ID

Well dinner at the Lodge was good, washed down with a very palatable bottle of wine.  It was good, but not quite as good as we had hoped it would be and the service was a little ‘quirky’.  The young guy who served us from time to time, was knowledgeable and friendly, easily engaging us in conversation.  The girl, was like a tornado on legs!  You felt that she had to get out certain phrased between courses, that’s what she had been taught.  I didn’t think she was going to do well, when she launched our dinner plates at the table.  They landed with a resounding thud and she was gone.  On one of her ‘sorties’ by our table, she managed a ‘how is the steak’?  Our answer was lost as he disappeared in a cloud of dust toward the kitchen.  We had decided that after our dinner we would sit and relax with a Cognac, well that was the plan.  After a frantic search of the liqueur shelf, our serving girl emerged triumphant with the sole bottle of cognac.  “Here it is”, she announced triumphantly with an attempted pronunciation of Courvoisier.  “Would you like that in a snifter”, she asked us?  We said yes please……..  After several minutes searching our girl returned to advise us that only one ‘snifter’ could be found!  Would I like my cognac in a tumbler???  You would have been proud of me fan, I was so so restrained.  Suffice to say Wendy had Cognac from a Port glass, I elected for a single malt which our girl was about to pour over ice……!  Ahh well, it gave us a giggle or two.

The Lodge is one of these quirky establishments that survive because they are different and because of location.  As I said last night, the location was stunning and for the views alone, was worth every cent.  I’m glad I committed those words to print before getting to bed!  I swear someone hid the bed and left us with a king sized ironing board!  I tossed and turned so many times during the night trying to get comfortable, I swear I have yet to see a chicken on a spit roast manage as many rotations as I achieved.  As I suffer from sleep apnea, I need a CPAP machine to provide positive air pressure while I sleep.  The electrical outlet by the bed was so loose that the electrical cord to the CPAP kept falling out during the night.  So now I was rotating like a chicken on a spit and every now and then woke gasping for air as the machine had stopped working!  It was almost blessed relief when it was time to get up and get going again. 

We had decided to pass on breakfast at the lodge as we were still full from dinner the night before and their price was a little steep for continental breakfast.  Lake Louise was only 30 km down the road and we both needed gas, so decided to get fuel and food at the same stop.  We were down at the bikes before 9am and set about loading bags back onto the bikes.  The previous evening we had elected to stow our jackets into the panniers on the bikes.  This saved us having to carry even more gear up 3 flights of rickety stairs.  When we got the jackets out, we almost fell about laughing!  Both of our riding suits are made by BMW and contain several pieces of memory foam armour – a large back piece elbows and shoulders. 

The pieces are quite rigid, but once a little heat is applied, they mould to the body.  When we took the jackets off, the armour was quite supple allowing us to fold the jackets with ease and stow then in the panniers.  However, as night time temperatures were quite cool, the armour had ‘solidified’ in the form in which it has been left.  In my case, the armour had been folded in half!  I forced it open like a giant clam, but as soon as I released it, it closed up again!  Shoulder and elbow pieces were also clam like making it almost impossible to don the jackets.  In the end we  forced the armour apart over a large rock, much like panel beating, then quickly put the jackets on before they could curl up again.  The result was two bikers looking every bit like Quasimodo!  Fortunately by the time we reached Lake Louise, we had generated sufficient body heat for the armour to relax into it’s proper shape.  Needless to say we won’t do that again!!

Well, how do you follow that much fun?  The ride down the valley to Lake Louise didn’t take long and the cool morning air helped wake us up.  The trip computer on the ‘Beemer’ read 9.5’C and I had no reason to disbelieve it!  First stop was gas, then into a grill for some breakfast.  A good meal would see us through until dinner in the evening with stops only for more gas for ‘Sydders’, water and bathrooms.  After breakfast, we headed back out onto highway 1, the Trans Canada Highway.  Everything we had ridden so far, we had covered several times in the past, so although the scenery was stunning, the riding was routine.  A few miles down the road, we left Highway 1 and turned south onto Highway 93 and what a great road that proved to be.  Right from the start there were big generous biker friendly bends sweeping down the valley, this was more like it.  The speed limit is 90kph/56mph, but I was soon edging that up a bit at a time as we curved in and out of the beautiful bends.  The scenery was breathtaking but somehow it seems that when we cross into British Columbia, it is that much more staggering.  Perhaps it is because we don’t see the scenery as often as we do in Alberta, but my word, it is breathtaking.  The mountains see craggier, seem to reach higher into the sky, stretching out for the clouds.  Round every bend there was another view more jaw dropping than the last. 

Then a river appeared on our right, following the road.  It was one of those wide, quite shallow boulder strewn mountain rivers that crash downhill.  The water was a wonderful ice blue with white ‘horses’ where ever it rushed over hidden boulders.  It could be quite mesmerising watching this raw beauty and I had to shake myself a few times and remind myself, I too was rushing downhill round twists and turns, so I best concentrate!  I also had to remember that I had a riding partner and not to get too distracted with my own fun.  I need not have worried!  I glanced into my mirrors during one ‘spirited’ section of corners and there was Wendy and ‘Sydders’ flying through the corners on a similar line to me.  Not once did I feel the need to ‘back off’ to allow her to catch up, she was doing just fine.  Better than fine actually, she was riding very well indeed.  At one stage as we joined the twisty 93, we were joined by another bike.  He sat behind Wendy at a reasonable distance, but obviously sticking with us.  Once we got into the ‘interesting stuff’, we left him way behind us – I think it was a Harley……………!!

The real twisty stuff slowly gave way to more gentle bends and we were over the mountain.  We still had a long way to go in the mountain valleys, but the exciting stuff was behind us  - for now!  The sheer valley sides opened up a little now and the riding became more relaxed.  As we approached Radium and the famous hot springs, the valley nipped in again and at the hot springs we rode between very narrow valley walls, reducing the road to two narrow lanes.  We rode on through Radium and on to a short road side stop just outside Invermere.  Here the road clung to the left side of a very wide valley and the view point we stopped at gave us a great view into and over the wide fertile valley floor.

We had started the day at a cool 9.5’C and I had watched the temperature rise as the day wore on.  Not that I needed a temperature gauge to tell me I was baking in my bike suit.  Fortunately there are several zipped vents in our suits and at a gas stop in Cranbrook, every one  of the vents was opened trying to get some air flow going.  By the time we reached the US border crossing at Kingsgate, it was a stifling 35.5”C!  As it was we both had to go into the US customs office to complete visa waver forms.  It was blessed relief to get out of the heat and into an air-conditioned office.  We weren’t detained too long and were soon on our way.  By now the heat was getting to Wendy and she was looking very hot and bothered.  Fortunately we were on the last leg of the days riding and about 26 miles to Bonners Ferry for our night stop.

As we rode over the Kootenai River and into Bonners Ferry, Wendy called out over the radio telling me where the hotel was.  She had seen the Best Western sign as we came over the bridge.  I hadn’t seen it, so I told her to come past and take the lead.  As she did so, I too saw the hotel and fell in behind Wendy to ride into the hotel car park.  Over the years we had discovered that most hotels are quite happy for bikes to leave their machines sitting under the portico outside the main entrance.  This is really reassuring as this area always has security cameras watching and a front desk manned 24/7.  When we pulled up under the portico, there ahead of us was another red Spyder.  It was as if Wendy had found another family member…….  The other Spyder also managed to feature on some photo’s we took at the end of the day and in one specifically for the two Spyders, leaving poor ‘Gertie’ out completely!

And so day 2 on the road was coming to a close.  We hijacked a baggage trolley from the entrance and unloaded the bikes – this included our jackets!  Checked in, we were soon in our room with a lovely view out over the river.  After dinner, I fell into the routine of downloading the days photo’s and getting today’s offering written and yesterdays Blog posted.  Now if you forgive me fan, I’m off to bed.  I hope you have enjoyed the trip so far, please tune in again to follow our antics over the next few days.  Nite nite then and for all our fellow bikes, ride safe and keep the black stuff down.