June 28, 2015

What happened…

Andrew writes:Perhaps it was sleeping without the tent-fly that made me feel insecure somehow, as though my privacy were being invaded, or maybe that it was the rays of golden sun shining in my eyes so early in the morning, but as it happens, I was awake and preparing breakfast at 0700hrs this morning. Something had been watching me, about 100m from the tent a family of deer sat doing deer-things, watching me sleep. Creepy.

We broke camp and started riding along the Kettle Valley Railway again right away. Everything was hunky-dory as we rode along, climbing slowly, about 2% up and out of Princeton. The fields all around us were a beautiful golden colour, and the climb was so steady and gentle that it hardly felt like anything. What did feel like something was all of the bumping and jarring, and struggling to keep the bicycle upright. My butt was hurting before 1000hrs today, and it didn’t stop until sundown!

I tried to mentally prepare myself for the rigours of today by reading a bunch of other cycling blogs about the KVR, and they all talk about how much pushing and walking of the bike you end up doing, or about how thoroughly unenjoyable the KVR is. Well, I guess that setting low expectations can be a key to success, because while I felt that I didn’t walk very much, or have to push my bike except in one or two places, it did feel like..like…that the trail just isn’t meant for bicycles. Mountain bikes, maybe.

We stopped for an early lunch at the old Jura Station, and then ran out of water just past the Eris Tunnel. Fortunately, we found a creek and managed to fill up with water (8 litres worth) and rest a bit in the shade. Waiting the 30 minutes for our water treatment was agony though. I spent the time riding ahead, while Amanda struggled with the sand, gravel, and washboard surface. Every 100m or so, our bikes would fish-tail wildly and it took all of our strength to remain upright. Finally we reached a Trestle where I drank half of my water, and rested again.

When we came across the Princeton-Summerland Road, just before Jellicoe, it went without saying that we were done with the KVR for the day, and we opted to take the road; it was like heaven. Storm clouds loomed overhead menacingly, so we decided to stop at the Chain Lakes Rec site and put up our tent right beside the waters edge. It turns out that the general store here in the area, didn’t open up this year, but some campers who were leaving gave Amanda and I some refreshments.

I ended up spending quite some time talking with our neighbour, Glen, a retiree from Penticton. He and his dog had been up here all weekend, watching the bald eagles fish, and Mother Nature do her thing. He asked me what I want out of life, to which I replied, without hesitation, ”Happiness”. Then after talking a bit more, he called me a hippie. He didn’t mean it in the patchouli-smelling, pot-smoking, long-haired, hippie-dippie sense, but rather just that he got the sense from me that I like to do things in my own special way.

I find myself agreeing with Glen. I have sensed a shift in myself somewhat along these lines. Perhaps it’s culture-shock from spending time in Mexico and Cuba..perhaps it’s not having been in the “rat-race” for the last year, but I just find things different, and confusing. Peace and love man, that’s what this world needs more of…and bicycle lanes.

Amanda writes:I have to admit I’m sitting here laughing because I just read Andrew’s words. He didn’t really say what him and Glen talked about last night, just man stuff. Are we hippies? Andrew’s got the scraggly blonde locks I guess right now.

Yesterday’s ride was challenging but as Andrew said we knew it would be. At one point earlier in the day as the trail crossed the road he wanted to take it. I encouraged him to stick with the trail; we could do this! Little did I know it would take us 4 hours to travel just over 30 kilometres. In any event it was nicer than the big highways.

It also gave us a lot of time for reflection and soul searching. I was really left questioning our resolve to adventure. While on the Coquihalla we had an opportunity to take the trail for a 22 kilometre stretch that was no where near the highway. We weren’t really sure what elevation it reached, what the trail conditions were in or when it reconnected with the highway; we just knew it said 22 kilometres of exclusive trail. We talked about it and worst case scenario let’s say we can only do 5 kilometres per day we did have 4 days of food. We also have our satellite device for emergencies and we’re fit. And yet in the end we decided to stick to the highway. Are we really ready to travel the world and take the road less travelled if we can’t even take the plunge in our own country?

This conversation ended up going even deeper as both talked. The last 11 months haven’t been anything like I had envisioned. They’ve been amazing and I’ve never doubted I should be doing anything but this but I do worry about Andrew. We talked about it some and while I’m sure we’ll figure it out; it may need some adjusting. Andrew gets bored pretty easy and riding bicycles all the time may not be enough for him. I’m still a firm believer that this is what we’re meant to do and I just need to help Andrew figure out how to manage that active mind of his. Any ideas readers?

Today’s Photographs

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