Three Valley Gap, B.C. CBX Rain Fest 2008 Report - Just In!

sixofsix · Post by **sixofsix** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 2:03 am

...from Tony MacNeill, B.C. Director ICOA member #0006...

The Rain Fest was held at Three Valley Gap Chateau and Ghost Town 12 miles west of Revelstoke, B.C. on the Trans Canada Highway in the heart of the Canadian Rockies.

This year's Rain Fest was awesome. We had the largest turn out in years. 10 CBX's were there, 25 bikes total and 30-35 attendees. It rained real good on Friday so as not to disappoint the "Rain Festers". If anyone complained, I just said, "Well, this IS a Rain Fest."

Friday night was nice and mellow with a meal over at the hotel, followed by hours of chin wagging in the "Gymnasium" and outside under the covered parking watching the rain pelt down. Beautiful. Rain Festivus for the rest of us. Glorious big thunderous low cloud stormy weather to greet the clan and heartily ring in Rain Fest 2008! And the Lord did grin...

Saturday morn we headed on out to a Vintage Bike Show and Vintage Dirt Flat Track Racing event at Sun Valley Speedway near Vernon. There was even a Henderson and a couple of Norton ES2's. I showed them all the twistiest roads there and back, with a nice riverside lunch in Grindrod. People arrived and left all day Saturday while we were tearing up the roads. Later, we had a special tour of the Ghost Town and Largest Roundhouse in North America with tours of trains and old business train cars. It was neat to stand on the turntable while it ever so slowly turned around the 42 train bays. A steak BBQ including gaseous baked beans and all the fixin's followed in the old log cook house. The main BS session was about to begin..

People lounged around out outside with the bikes, continued touring the grounds and hung out at the Gym room the hotel provided just for us, free of charge. This was our 15th year there and we were made to feel very welcome. Old Gordon Bell had passed away last November and we all missed his stories of building the Chateau and Ghost Town on 25 acres of swamp and 2500 truck loads of fill starting in 1960. All were in awe of what Gord and his crew had built over the years. They even have their own power dam along with 2 miles of underwater cables to the hotel. Shelby was our friendly guide and gave us a special back lot tour including the antique auto cars and mine buildings. Many pictures were taken to record our tour....

Saturday was nice and mostly sunny and so was Sunday. Sunday morn 18 of us headed into Revelstoke to have a big breaky at the Frontier Restaurant. Sunday was riding home day for all. CBX's and others headed back to Kamloops, Vancouver, Seattle Calgary and Saskatoon and beyond.

I rode with Rick of Nelson along with Phil and the Seattle crew down to Nakusp via the Galena Ferry. Later I rode the Monashee Pass back home to Lumby. Pure Heaven riding that road. I danced with a Dodge Stealth around some real tight curves and he did pretty good until I could smell the wacky tobacky and his tattooed hand and arm waved me on out the smoked windows. I guess it was hard to toke and yank the steering wheel around those snaky corners. That was fun..

It was so nice to see a lot of the old regulars and a bunch of new faces. We enjoyed the camaraderie and reminisced about past rallies when we had up to 26 CBX's. Yup, CBX Rallies are changing, but people will travel over great distances to hook up with good friends. Another Rain Fest down the drain, so to speak...

PS Those dang rental stunt mountain goats were kinda cute....from behind...

alimey4u2 · Post by **alimey4u2** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 3:38 am

Excellent reading....

Rick Pope · Post by **Rick Pope** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 7:23 am

Someday I'll make it out there. Thanks for the write-up Tony.

sixofsix · Post by **sixofsix** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:14 am

Rick:

Someday I'd also like to go to a CBX Rally out east.

By the way, I am on the committee to host the Norton National out here in 2010. Last time we had 345 participants on oh, 300 Nortons and other Brit Iron. We find out in two weeks. Fingers crossed.

Wouldn't it be cool to switch coasts for the CBX National? One year East, one year West. Screw all the politics.

hmmm...

#0006

cbxtacy · Post by **cbxtacy** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:19 am

but whom could they get to host the west rally?

Rick Pope · Post by **Rick Pope** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:02 am

Well, last year we had a rally in Colorado. It was worth the drive. And rumor has it that there may someday be a rally in the Black Hills area of South Dakota too.

EMS · Post by **EMS** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:32 am

Rick Pope wrote: And rumor has it that there may someday be a rally in the Black Hills area of South Dakota too.

This one I will make. Definitely. No matter what!

sixofsix · Post by **sixofsix** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:10 am

See, there we go.

We're already thinking of next year's rally schedule.

great!

cbx4evr · Post by **cbx4evr** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:03 am

Where's the pix??

Rick Pope · Post by **Rick Pope** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:36 am

Well Mike, don't I remember reading that you are familiar with the Sturgis area? Plan it and we will come.....

dan1995 · Post by **dan1995** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:16 am

I think there is a black hills rally ....been going on for some time now

EMS · Post by **EMS** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:20 pm

There are actually a couple of rallyes in the Black Hills area every year, the most popular being Sturgis Bike Week....

Rick Pope · Post by **Rick Pope** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:30 pm

Would a rally a week or two after the Sturgis event be a good time? I've visited the area and it is indeed beautiful, with lots og twisty roads.