Day 41 – Prince George, BC to Whistler, BC

Day 41 – Prince George, BC to Whistler, BC     09/30/10     Mileage: 387  

Cold. Wet. Yep, that was my morning. Fortunately the place I camped came with a hot shower…which I used to chase off the morning chill! After packing up the soaking wet tent (from heavy dew and fog), I hit the road. The first hundred miles were cold and miserable, but then the sun came out and all was right with the world. That is until the truck I was following locked up its breaks and started swerving wildly! What he was trying to avoid was the large male elk that was on other side of the road….but spooked as we approached. First he swerved to the right…then back to the left which caused the trailer to fish-tail…all while smoke was pouring from the wheels from the locked up brakes. I was hard on the brakes as well trying to scrub some speed. The elk, which ran from left to right across the road didn’t fare so well, as the truck got a good piece of it apparently. The last thing I saw was the elk spinning in mid-air 10 feet of the ground and landed in a ditch at the side of the road as I went by. Mack truck – 1, elk – 0. I also met another biker from Germany who is also planning on riding all the way to Argentina! His name is Edmond and he flew his bike in to Vancouver from Germany…went up to Alaska…and is now heading south same as me.  

 

We exchanged emails and will try and catch up somewhere along the road. The riding so far was good, but average.  

 

That is until I turned off of Canada road 97 onto road 99…which is 120 miles of motorcycle awesomeness! It connects road 97 and Whistler…and it was not only scenic, but chock full of ups, downs, twists and turns…motorcycle nirvana!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after all that good road, the cherry on top was pulling into Whistler, BC! I immediately liked the vibe of this place, and I had it in my mind that I was going to ignore the budget and splurge a little on a nice room and some good food. As for the former, I found a room at the Whistler Inn and Suites right in the heart of the Whistler village. To satisfy the latter, I walked the village from end to end looking at the menus…and settled on a place called 21 Steps which had a great tapas menu. The clincher was a deal they had to choose any 3 tapas dishes for $25. Sold. After ordering a nice Bavarian beer, I weighed my tapas options and settled on these three dishes:  

– Smoked sockeye salmon with grilled red onions and toasted baguette.
– Grilled lamb sausage with roasted peppers and onions
– Goat cheese with caramelized white onions and ginger reduction.  

That beats a tunafish sandwich any day! After that I made the rounds and sampled the beer at some of the local pubs in the village, then called it a night. Of course…there was the small matter of a black bear blocking the entrance to my hotel! As I slowly backed away fumbling around for my camera….a local gal walked up and ever the chivalrous gent that I am, I warned her of the bear. Well, she turned out to be a local and was no stranger to nightly bear encounters in town! Apparently a few bears have their nightly route around town looking for food, and are quite accustomed to humans and not very dangerous. I guess that would explain the live bear trap immediately behind my first floor hotel room balcony!