A Bee in my Bonnet

Day 7 Friday August 12, 2022 – Leah

Neither Keith nor I slept really well last night, so we were up fairly early and started packing our bikes to leave Toad Rock. We had coffee & said our goodbyes to the folks around the campground.

Keith found a book on his bike that was left from the group from Chilliwack, they had all signed the cover with what they would bring camping (from the game we played the night before). The book was a Christian book that had been handed out at the Boogie Bash the group was at the previous weekend, so they “paid it forward” to us. Keith didn’t open the cover, so he thought that it was actually someone trying to push religious beliefs on him… not exactly the thing you’d expect to encounter at a motorcycle campground. We had a great laugh after discovering that it was a joke & reading what everyone had written.

We made the Bluebelle Bistro in Kaslo our breakfast stop again. Such great food there! I filled up a to go mug with coffee which came in handy when we were waiting for the ferry later in the day. From Kaslo we went to New Denver, John told us that he counted 209 corners in this 48 km stretch of road the day before. Needless to say, it was very twisty and had some beautiful scenery.

The one stop that we typically do is at a site where they have built a road crossing for toads that are migrating. There were piles of baby toads and little tadpoles along the edge of the lake.

After that we went towards Nakusp where we refuelled and then made our way straight towards the ferry in Fauquier. One thing about being on a motorcycle is that you have a pile of time alone with your thoughts, I found all sorts of interesting ways to say the name of the town and use it in fun sentences. Like: I will see you in Fauquier f*cker! Or what Fauquier are you going to?

On our way into Fauquier the clouds started to move in and I begain to wonder if wearing only a vest yet again was a good idea or not. We did experience a few drops of rain but nothing too serious. While waiting for the ferry I put on my jacket thinking that it might change our luck so that it would not rain. My optimistic theory did not work, but the rain that we hit on the other side of the ferry crossing was only for a short duration and Keith was fine staying in just his vest. There was a passing lane a few kilometres down the road where we were able to pass some of the lineup of traffic, during this pass I had the vent open on my helmet and somehow a bug was able to squeeze in through the vents, hit my face and then landed right along the edge of my visor. I could only see it out of the corner of my vision but I did notice that it was yellow and black, I wasn’t sure if it was a wasp or a bee, I also wasn’t sure if it was alive or not. The road changed to sharp twists and turns right away so I focussed on the road for the next few kilometres and the bug stayed nestled on the side of the visor but it was definitely inside my helmet. When the main corners of the road straightened out a bit, the speed increased, with the increase of speed there was more air flow inside my helmet and the dazed critter started to move around. By this point in our journey Keith had removed the communicator from his helmet because every time we attempted to use it the voice controls do not work for me. I tried to catch up to Keith and get beside him, I beeped my horn & I waved my hand at him a few times but I never got his attention, so instead I just pulled over to the side of the road during a relatively straight stretch where to see what it was crawling around in my helmet. Oh I lifted up my visor and found a fuzzy bumblebee! It looked pretty dazed so I left it there (far from its home) and met up with Keith and a couple other bikers that had pulled over when they saw me stop. I let them know in a few words what had happened, and we continue down the road. This was my first road trip since buying a full face helmet, bugs and bees and wasps inside the helmet were definitely a consideration to not buy one previously. I will have to say after this experience particularly because it worked out in my favor, I am still very happy with this helmet rather than the open face. My eyeballs got very dry with the open face helmet and glasses I was wearing before even more so after having Lasik surgery a couple years ago, with the full face helmet my eyes do not have the extreme dryness and discomfort. Plus when it rained, I was still able to see!

We stopped for lunch in Cherryville at a The Roadhouse golf course & restaurant (two things that I like, only one thing that Keith likes). By the time we stopped for lunch the rain had been on and off but the sun was now coming out and I found that I was way too hot wearing my jacket. Keith said he was fine being in the rain wearing only a vest as the air temperature was still very warm. We had a quick lunch, and then decided our next stop would be a brewery in Vernon.

We stopped at Marten Brewing, it was a very impressive large space & has a full restaurant as well. The clouds that we had been racing all day were closing in again, so we made it a very quick stop and zoomed down the road to Armstrong. When we arrived at my aunt and uncle’s house the first thing that my Auntie Triss did was show us to our room and then offer us a cold beer, she’s obviously been following our blog and knew that we enjoy beer. When I shared the story about the bee in my helmet I got absolutely no sympathy from my Uncle Mark, only dry humour and some sarcasm about how I had a bee in my bonnet! We all had a good laugh over it.
We had steak for dinner and ate outside, it turned out to be a beautiful evening. We had a very good visit and enjoyed the huge backyard where they have a very impressive garden.