August 15th, 2014
Today’s Highlights
Andrew writes:One of the employees at the Eagle Plains Hotel who really went out of her way to help us out with locating some food for the next several days was Kate. Even though it was her day off, she took the time to search the hotel for various foodstuffs so that we could keep going.
Today’s Lowlights
Andrew writes: Fighting with Amanda isn’t how I like to start my days, and the two hours of riding afterwards are generally less than stellar.
What happened…
Andrew writes: We spent the night at the Eagle Plains Hotel thanks to Aunty Jan’s generosity, and one of the things I really abused was the internet. Sure, I was able to finally publish some blog posts, and that felt nice. I was also able to chat with and e-mail friends. I really feel a strong need to stay connected with people right now for some reason. So we eat breakfast, and then Amanda goes off to pack or something, and she comes back an hour later, absolutely fuming mad that I’m not helping. Things got ugly. There were some tears. And ultimately, it delayed our departure until 1130am. It’s an old vice of mine, this internet, and maybe being on the road will be good for me. I’m telling you though, maybe it was a bit like heroin too – finally being able to get my fix. And just like drugs, abusing the internet can be harmful to relationships. I know this, and I’ll keep working at it.
So there we are, right around noon, riding off from the hotel, and we were expecting rain. We had heard about a particularly nasty section of highway, from kilometre 292 to 272 (the hotel is at km 369). We knew that the next 100km was going to be a tough ride, with no fresh water access, and that if it rained, it would become virtually impassable on bicycle. So we rode. And we rode. Up and down a dozen foothills, maybe more. I lost track. The clouds always loomed dark for most of the day, and it was an eerie light. I think we were trying to conserve water, and also save time by not stopping to eat, although we did eventually.
When we finally hit km 292, the sun had come out and it was pretty warm. The weather up here can be really tricky, with gusting arctic winds blasting one moment, rain the next, and hot sun around the corner. Anyhow, we start riding along this section of road that I’m sure has been reserved for cyclists that go to hell. It was muddy, potholed, and slippery; and this was only because it had been drying out for 2 days. We could tell that if it rained, we would be stuck. Although the rain did hold out for us, a cloud bank or fog patch rolled in at some point and we lost track of where we were. Eventually, after pushing bikes for awhile, and around 1030pm, we called it quits and setup camp. It seemed like the road underneath us had gone from the greasy mud to fresh gravel, and we assumed that we were high and dry. We setup camp, cooked some dinner and crawled into the tent at 1130pm, just as the clouds opened.