Pierre's Point RV and Campground, Salmon Arm

We loved our stay at Pierre's Point.  The native folk from the local band run it. Administration is excellent.  All the arrangements went well and daily we watched their folk going about cleaning up and keeping an eye on things. Swimming was fantastic. I just wished we had our boat with us and almost rented a canoe.  I liked the little store but didn't have a chance to enjoy the grill open in the afternoons.  The train went by fairly regularly but after the first passage I found I didn't really notice it except as more 'outdoor music'.  The mosquitoes were bad but that's true all across the north and west this year according to the newst. A really wet spring with all the flooding.  Deep woods off  was sufficient.  In the sunny afternoon they weren't a problem. The birds, as always,  were a treat.  Gilbert loved the dog walk on the beach. Leaving was sad after only 5 days.  The Sturges North Motorcycle Rally and Music Festival had been a blast.  I'd really enjoyed the Veterans run with a hundred or so motorcycle riding shy of a couple of hundred miles in a circle that ended in the biker street festival at Siccamous.  Laura stowed the gear inside the Rockwood Mini Lite trailer  while I got everything ready outside.  Then it was the backing up and hooking up which we're getting a whole lot better at.  Out on the highway we headed towards Kamloops.

Sturges North 2011 & John Kay and Steppenwolf

The rain was something fierce with thunderstorms and lightening just before the John Kay and Steppenwolf concert.  More of a weir wolf night than a steppenwolf night.  Laura and I rode the motorcycle to the music grounds to find them packed despite the inclement weather.  The sky cleared to reveal a full moon.  John Kay and Steppenwolf came on stage and the crowd howled.  Laura swooned. "He's better looking now than when he was young. I had a crush on him back them, " she said in a throaty voice between numbers.  Some fat women were drunkenly dancing poorly in front of me. They were looking at each other taking pictures of themselves and intermittently blocking the view for all of us behind them.  The news said alot of outlaw biker gangs were in town.  They were obviously on good behaviour.  No one shot these silly fat girls and one skinny bitch.  The fact is the Sturges North biker crowds were alot more tolerant and behaved a whole lot better than Vancouver hockey crowds.
When John Kay belted out Magic Carpet Ride we all were on our feet.  The whole audience went wild when the band went from that right into "Born to be Wild'.  This was the song made famous by Easy Rider and still is the song that epitomizes the open highway motorcycle ride.  When they left the stage the crowd just kept on hollering and cheering. "Encore, encore!"  John Kay and Steppenwolf came back on.  They ended with another song of an era, "Goddam the Pusherman!" Laura and I rode back to Pierre's Point Campground under a full moon, wind in our face, "Born to be Wild" (at our age!) 

Pierre's Point Campground and RV, Salmon Arm, BC

This is a lovely campground and RV park. it's run by the local First Nations Band, situated on their land.  Approximately $40 a night with all the facilities, sewage, electricity and water. There are a lot of more basic sites. Further there are sites where people are obviously staying the season or year round.  It's right on the lake with the beach just the next lane over from us. We can hear the water lapping .  Dogs aren't allowed on the beach but there's a dog beach further down.  There's also a concession with hotdogs, pies and such plus a store.  The downside is the train tracks are next to the campgrounds.  We're 8 km from Salmon Arms with celluar and wifi coverage.  We're here for the Sturgis North Motorcycle and Rock Concert.  It starts tomorrow.  Eric Burden and the Animals, Steppenwolf, Doctor Hook. A young pretty girl talked to Laura and I when we were walking Gilbert around the park. She said she was really looking forward to hearing Nazareth.  I'm here for Eric Burden and just don't know whether to torch my 'Depends' or just wave them.  I don't think the Nazareth crowd would applaud if one of the performers smashed a walker on stage. 

Sturges North

http://www.sturgesnorth.com 
When I joined the West Coast Biker Church, I was early asked by one of the members if I had a "clean record".  I asked 'why" and the fellow said that they wanted to liason with some of the other gospel biker groups south of the border.  The trouble was, 'some of us had troubles with the law before we found Jesus."
Now this was a born again Christian biker talking. So obviously the American border could be a detriment to many motorcyclists travelling to the great annual American Black Hills motorcycle rally, Sturges.  This is where the Harley Davidson crowd meets and the Boss sang a year or two ago.
Given the increasing paranoia of Homeland Security and the profiling of bikers, all bikers are drug addicts or terrorists, it's not surprising that someone figured there was a need for a major West Coast Motorcycle Rally north of the border. I hear increasingly from elderly Christians that they don't want to cross the American border because the radiation from their cancer treatments gets them strip searched and anal probed.  I imagine a lot of bikers especially those with iron butt awards would want to avoid this.
Further, Sturges North  welcomes 'all makes of bikes' , not just American made.  I ride a Harley and am thankful that I do as one fellow Harley rider of dubious background told me, "My friends and I think it's okay to hurt anyone not riding American made."  I think he was joking. It was a backhand compliment to me when I attended a sober round up in the northern backwoods, riding in on my Buell.  Even though I think this big guy on his high bar chopper was joking, I was glad at the time that Buell was American made.  Since then I ride  a Honda enduro as well as my Harley.
Canada is a nation that embraces pluralism.  The Triumphs have been with us since they served the WWII vets that fought with England for that great motorcycle making nation.  BMW's are a favourite here thanks to their success in the off road categories and popularity with the 'The Wrong Way Round' sorts.  Being  part of the Pacific Rim we've also had the best of  Honda,Yamaha, and Kawizaki.  Naturally the Italians who brought us the finest foods and taught the locals how to grow grapes like their Dukatis and  Moto Guzzis.
So Sturges North is an "inclusive" gathering. All bikes are welcome. The Salmon Arm area has long been on part of the most popular motorcycle ride advertised the world over for it's scenic beauty and winding roads.  It's a great location for lakes, rivers, camping, rv's, back woods trails and wilderness, as well as fine dining and fine accomodation tourist towns with even nearby Halcyon and Nakusp hotspring resorts.
In addition to the Motorcycle Rally, the Music Festival is really shaping up with a truly Woodstock flavour. I'd personally like to hear Third Day, Creed, and I Need to Breathe Christian band but Doug and the Slugs even though Doug is dead isn't anything to sneeze at .  Powder Blues is unstoppable.  Streetheart, Nazareth and Harlequin should be appreciated for the older Woodstock crowds who will be able to take off their hearing aids for a change.  Helix, Prism.  Steppenwolf and Eric Burden and the Animals will be amazing.
Some of the older bikers will have given up riding two wheelers because of virtigo. Fortunately ,there will be enough young people of the cafe racer set there who will be able to help them out of their walkers and onto their trikes.
I feel for the emergency doctors in town who will likely get experience with wild mushroom intoxication in old farts on high cholesterol, hypertensive medication,  heart medications, chronic obstructive lug disease puffers,mixing their Jim Bean with viagra.  UBC should volunteer a research team for on site medical emergencies.
The organizers are great in that they're giving cut rates to the Military Vets.  I love the biker organizations in general for their appreciation of our troops.  The RCMP will likely be paid to be there. As a biker organization they've shown themselves over the years to be understanding and appreciative of other mounted folk.
The only downside is that they don't allow dogs.  I can understand that pitbulls and bull mastiffs, popular with some bikers, should be outlawed  but  dogs, like my cockapoo, who rides on my bike shouldn't be discriminated against.  There really should be a separate category for biker 'purse' dogs.   That said there are pet friendly RV and tent campgrounds, cabins and motels in the Salmon Arm area.
I don't know if my Harley Electraglide will make it but it sure looks like a place to take my Ford F350 SuperDuty Harley Davidson Edition truck,  Rockwood Minilite RV, the Honda 230 and Honda Big Ruckus,  canoe and fly rod.  I've always been proud to say I was at the first Strawberry Mountain Peace and Love Festival. I had long hair and my face was painted with stars or some such shit.  I don't remember most of the festival.
Now I'd like to be able to regale the folk around the nursing home some day with my being at the first Surges North Motorcycle Rally and Music Festival.  I figure that most of us will have learned by now how to have a great time in the wilderness without the need of drugs and booze. We still love motorcycles and rock and roll.  I just hope the good bands play early because I fall asleep before midnight.  The best trout are up at dawn.

http://www.sturgisnorth.com