Leaving
From the incredibly hot
Along this route I met up with five other bikers – we chatted for a bit and found ourselves riding together for a while, then grabbing dinner together. While at dinner, the sky clouded over, then thundered, then dropped rain. One of the people – Dean – mentioned that the rivers along roads we had just ridden may rise as a result of snow runoff from the recently-warm weather, soon to be compounded by predictably significant rainfall. Since I was headed in the opposite direction, such concerns were certainly not mine. Or so I thought.
The following day moose and I rode the BC ferry to
I followed John, Judy and their son LJ from the ferry terminal for about twenty minutes to a shoreline area where they parked their car and launched a small motorboat. The four of us piled in and headed three miles to the very small island where they live. I would most definitely be lying if I were to say that I wasn’t slightly uncomfortable leaving my bike behind and boarding such a small boat headed for the unknown. At the same time, my gut was very comfortable with these three people. And I typically follow my gut (convenient, since it sticks out in front of me).
I absolutely loved the visit with John, Judy and LJ. Their home so far from the mainstream is admirable and inspiring. I’m not sure how I failed to get a photo of these new friends, but I’ll let a couple other shots do the talking.
In the morning, John took me back to
As one of his several security-related work programs, Lee is authorized to work on ATM machines. At one point during our ride, he received a call that an ATM on the lower level of a nightclub needed work and so we visited the club. Since the lower level was not open during the day, Lee asked to speak with the manager – she reacted with great skepticism when she saw two bikers arrive to fix her cash machine. While a completely unique experience, fixing an ATM in the dark basement of a Canadian nightclub fits quite neatly into a long list of things that I’d never have predicted I might have done recently.
Incidentally, Lee did point out that quite a bit of
I headed north a couple hours to find a hotel a little closer to where I’d need to catch the ferry two mornings later. The ferry ride would begin at
At breakfast the following morning I spoke with a couple park rangers who stayed at the same hotel. I had overheard them speak about flooding to the north and mudslide that closed route 16, right near Terrace. I am REALLY glad I spoke with these rangers. If not, I may well have taken the ferry (15 hours, $350) to a town from which there would be no practical way to leave.
I left
It seems that heavy snows last winter, combined with a hot spell last weekend (my warm run in
So how will I head north? Tough to say at this point, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be interesting!
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