Calgary-Vancouver Riding with My 12-Year Old Son

My son in action in Kitsilano Beach, Vancouver.

I rode my BMW F700GS with my 12-year old son from Calgary to Vancouver on June 24. I took a two-days off from campus to clear my head. (It happens quite often when I miss my riding days.) I had promised my son that we would ride together to Vancouver about a month before. So we did.

Our first day ended in Kamloops RV Park in Kamloops, BC. It was a 600-km ride from Calgary. Other than rain between Roger's Pass and Revelstoke, the ride was great. The RV Park has about 10 tent sites and the camping rate is $26 per night including tax. The shower room and washroom are clean. There is no time-limit for shower, and it doesn't cost coins. My son and I enjoyed our stay, with the exception of loud traffic and train noises from Highway 1 and nearby rail tracks. We would recommend Kamloops RV Park despite the noise since Kamloops doesn't have many nearby campgrounds. Kamloops RV Park's location is extremely convenient. You simply take the Lafarge Road off-ramp when heading west on Highway 1, before you arrive in Kamloops.

On the next day we hit Highway 5 (Coquihalla Highway) to reach Vancouver from Kamloops. This highway is fast as most cars go at least 120 km/hour. I maintained my speed at 120 km/h and sometime had to increase it to 140 km/h when overtaking trailer trucks and cars. 

To stay affordably in Vancouver, we rested in Surrey, which is about 15 km east of Vancouver. It's only 30-minute ride from Surrey to get to Vancouver downtown. We stayed in Canadian Inn, Surrey. I highly recommend this hotel. It charges a motel rate for a single queen bed ($80 before tax) but our room feels like a hotel. Our room was clean and very comfortable. We stayed in this hotel for 2 nights.

Ramen! Banzai!

We rode around Vancouver beaches and visited Marutama Ramen for its exquisite chicken broth. It is just off Robson St. and is about 1km from Stanley Park, where my son took a morning nap before having lunch at Marutama Ramen. You can say we rode 1000 km from Calgary just to have a great ramen!

Before entering Creston.

Our ride back to Calgary from Surrey was scorching hot due to heat wave from Pacific Ocean. This time we took Highway 3. It's longer (1300 km compared to 1000 km on Highway 1) to reach Calgary, but it was a lot of fun. There are twisty sections - and switchbacks too - between EC Manning Provincial Park and Princeton, and also around Osoyoos. It was 35 C when we arrived in Hope, but the temperature went up to 41 C around Osoyoos and Christina Lake. We covered 740 km in 12 hours – including many drink breaks every hour to avoid dehydration – from Surrey to Creston. We stayed in City Centre Motel in Creston. I highly recommend this motel when you are staying in Creston: simple, clean, and quiet for $77 a night including tax.

We reached Calgary at 4:30 pm on Sunday after about 500 km ride from Creston. As usual, Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail) was windy and to compensate for the crosswind I had to go at around 120-130 km/h along the highway. It was one helluva trip that involved one flat tire near Christina Lake; one scorching heat riding day; an RCMP car with a blaring siren wanting to catch me crossing solid yellow lines before I even crossed them yet in Princeton; a near-miss of hitting a deer crossing Highway 3 before Cranbrook; and a fast riding day on Coquihalla Highway.

Port Mann Bridge, Surrey-Burnaby border.