June 22, 2015

What happened…

Andrew writes:Yesterday I spent the better part of the afternoon and evening at my mother-in-laws apartment surfing the internet while Amanda spent time with Mumsie.

It’s really remarkable to me how excited I feel riding my bike, back home in Canada. Everything seems easier; the winds more fair, the terrain more forgiving. There’s no rush. Maybe our 8 months of absorbing and practicing the Hispanic “tranquillo” culture has really rubbed off on us. I had such a huge grin on my face all day, even after some woman in a big SUV told me to ”Get off the ROAD!”

Another example, today what with packing up and saying farewell and everything, we didn’t leave until noon. There was no panic, despite having it in our heads that we wanted to ride the 90km or so to Hope. We waved good-bye, and rolled out of the drive-way and then took mostly farm roads through Abbotsford and Chilliwack. Finally, after Chilliwack, we got spat onto the highway for a short distance to Bridal Falls Recreation Area.

These falls are so pretty. We ate our lunch in the shade of some mossy, ferny cedars and then hiked up to check out the action. I’ve included a few pictures for you below.

Just after Bridal Falls is a weigh-scale for trucks. I was astonished to learn that I have 50kg in cargo, +20 for the bike + 70 for me. Amanda has 60kg cargo + 20 bike + 60 her. Yesterday we went food shopping in the morning, and somehow managed to add an additional 11kg in weight to our bikes as a result. In retrospect, it’s completely unnecessary! Sure, last year when we were up in the Arctic, and towns were few and far between we bought food whenever we could, but I think we’ll pass through a town at least every 2nd day. Hopefully, as we start crossing mountains, Amanda especially will be able to adjust to the weight.

It was all-highway riding to Hope now. We could have taken an alternate route on Highway 7…but didn’t. Traffic on Hwy#1 wasn’t too bad, and there is a good shoulder. We arrived in Hope at 4:30pm (record time!?!), and called up Carley our Couchsurfing hostess. She was busy with a few errands, so Amanda and I ended up sitting in the park, surreptitiously drinking beer out of our travel mugs like a couple of hobos….wait, we are hobos now aren’t we? Personally I think we looked a lot less hobo-ish than the guy a few benches over.

Carley met us at the park and invited us for an afternoon swim in the creek. The glacier-fed part of the creek I dipped my toes into sent shivers through every part of my body. I think my blood is still a little thin from 2 months in the Caribbean. Fortunately there was another small creek that emptied out into the larger one, and the water coming down from it was warm, so this made it much nicer to transition from a warm pool to the cold water.

After the creek, we somehow ended up hurrying home so that we could head down to the movie theatre. Tuesday night, everybody in Hope goes to watch whatever movie is playing that week. Tonight it was Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney. I really enjoyed the film, and it made me think, which is rare in movies these days. So, dear reader, what can we do to make the world a better place?

We cooked some food when we got back to Carley’s place and sat around chatting. Carley is a retired park ranger, now a substitute teacher, whose dream job would be to teach outdoor skills and science as part of the school curriculum. She also has her own Youtube channel where she posts really amazing videos to encourage adults (and kids) to get off the couch and out into the wilderness. I hope that Carley is able to realize her dreams. Lights out ended up being close to 11pm what with one thing or another.

Today’s Photographs

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