Based on the price of soft-sided panniers, this writer set a challenge for himself.

The long Canadian winter is a very favourable time to go over piles of bike magazines, read travel stories, and browse brochures, catalogues and maps, all in preparation for the next riding season. And then, of course, there are the seasonal motorcycle shows, which I never miss. And that’s how, while strolling the show floor, I stopped short in front of a booth and a great set of kaki soft-sided panniers. I thought they could be the perfect set on my next bike for a long trip. But at $2,000 for the set, that’s a budget in itself, and I’d need a bike to set it in motion. 

I promptly came up with this crazy idea: what could be done with a $2,000 budget? Would it be possible to go on a long trip across the country — coast to coast — with a bike that’s worth the price of a set of panniers? The best way to find out is to take the plunge.

I didn’t have a type of bike in mind, just a budget of a couple grand and nothing smaller than 650 cc. As soon as I started the hunt, it quickly became apparent that the widest choice in this budget was a cruiser, so, a cruiser it would be. And that would be my first time owning such a bike. After a couple of weeks going through ads, I found my dream bike: a 1997 Honda VT 1100 Shadow with “only” 75,000 km on the clock. A good service, a couple of new electrical components, a set of long-range tires, and some decent shake-down rides around Vancouver during the spring to validate the reliability of the bike later, on the first days of June, I was on my way from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

FROM MOUNTAINS TO THE FOOTHILLS

The journey began along the meandering Fraser River by Highway 7, and then on to Hwy 3 (the Crowsnest Hwy) and its curvy pavement by the Similkameen River. Those first few hundred kilometres brought me to Osoyoos, the warmest city in Canada, which was already very hot at the beginning of June. I made a quick stop to refill, refresh and get some supplies and headed off to Jewel Lake Provincial Park, a lovely park nestled by the water for what would be the long-awaited first bivouac of the season. A cool breeze and a cold drink on a quiet sandy beach marked the day.The journey continued on the wonderful curvy sections of Hwy 3; this highway is a true delight for motorcyclists. I crossed into Alberta at Island Lake and stopped for the night at its waterfront campground. Slowly, the landscape changed; I left behind the mountain ranges…