Keith
Well anyone that has seen our blog knows that Toad Rock Motorcycle Campground is a happy place for Leah and me. We started the morning pretty late. We were walking by one of the camp kitchens and one of the guys that may have been up all night was cooking and invited us for breakfast. We declined today as the plan was to head into Nelson for a bite to eat and a swim.
As Leah’s bike was down, we loaded mine up for the day and headed into town for food, beer and a swim. We started off at the Main Street Diner where we both had fish halibut fish and chips with some of the best batter I’ve ever had. After eating we headed further up Main Street to Backroads brewing for a pint and to grab a few four packs for camp. We would have gone to Torchlight Brewing but we found out that they closed earlier in the year, sad as they had great food and fantastic beer.
Next we headed to the beach in Nelson. Our first attempt we ended up about 10 blocks away thinking that it was connected but they had a change room. Leah and I both changed and then figured we didn’t want to walk so I broke all my rules and rode back up and through Nelson in a bathing suit and sandals managing not to burn myself on my pipes. The beach was busy as it was quite hot so there was quite a bit of traffic, the nice thing about riding a motorcycle is you can find parking pretty much anywhere and I quick found a spot right at the beach entrance. Leah and I set out our towels and went for a great swim to cool off then laid on the beach and read our books for a few hours. Around 4:30 we decided to head back to Toad Rock but only after picking up some more beer and a bottle of whisky.
We got back to camp and immediately ventured over to the next camp where we more formally were introduced to the larger group. Cindy and Sheldon from Grande Prairie. Carmen, Jord, Chase, Tania, Shawn, Rebecca and Trent from Saskatchewan and Ella from close to home. I think I remember Carmen from a few years prior as he tows a home made trailer out that looks like a little travel trailer. Something I remember seeing years prior. What a great group of people, they totally invited us into the group and that night we shared stories and beer and whisky.
The next day we woke and found out that Carmen and Cindy love to cook and feed others. They had a huge breakfast planned and fed everyone. We were also surprised that the wildfire smoke had burned off and everyone wanted to go for a swim. Now previous years we were told there is a pretty private beach close to camp be we never ventured off to find it. Ella kinda indicated that it’s pretty sketchy to ride a bike down and some people like to park up top and walk down. We headed out and just down the road a few miles finding the turn. Sheldon and Cindy went first and I followed them down giving them plenty of space. The road down was gravel with a few switchbacks, I did not have too much issue with it as I’ve ridden downhill mountain bikes and the skills I learned on that transfer to the motorcycle. The only issue I had was at the bottom it was off camber and sloped to the water so I had to get some assistance parking. Soon everyone was at the beach and we bobbed around and may have had a few beers chilling in the water. After everyone had had enough we went to leave. Unfortunately Chase left his bike on while we were there meaning we had to bump start his before leaving and right after Sheldon dumped his on the off camber ground. I rode up the path and waited for the group for some time before the other riders made their way up. We then find out that Sheldons bike went into limp mode on one of the switchbacks causing him to dump the bike again with Cindy on the back. They both suffered some minor scrapes but were ok otherwise.
Back at camp we got into it, staying up into the wee hours of the morning with a ton of laughs even to the point I had to run off to the wash house as I was crying laughing. The day was just way too fun.
Keith and Leah's travel on 2 wheels 