August 13th, 2014
Andrew writes: We woke up in the camp shelter, and the stove still had a few coals in it, so we were able to quickly start a fire. Ike and Bethany came in and we all ate breakfast and chatted, and then they left around 11am. Amanda reorganized her panniers, boiled drinking water, and baked some bannock. I worked on the bikes, including replacing the rear disc brake pads on each bike which had completely worn out on the ride down Wright’s Pass yesterday. I also removed the fenders in case we end up getting caught riding in the rain again. They just fill up with mud too quickly.
Later in the day two couples from Alaska rolled into the camp, including Jim Hannah and his wife (Shirley, Shelly or Sheila – sorry!) We spent some time chatting with them about this and that before crawling into bed early, around 9pm so that we could get an early start on riding tomorrow.
A day like today is much needed. It allowed us to recharge our batteries, centre ourselves, and enjoy life on the road. We are always reminding ourselves that we don’t need to hurry, and a day like today hopefully will set an example for future days going forward, where we can just park the bikes and enjoy it. Enjoy each other. Enjoy time with ourselves. Just taking time to relax.