Beautiful Days and More Friendly Generous People

After taking way more time than anticipated to get to Prince George, we didn’t have time to take a rest day and explore the town.  So after a quick breakfast, I headed out on the bike and Azure headed into town to get dog food and groceries.  There was a good amount of construction heading out of town, which made for a pretty sketchy climb out of the valley.  It also caused us a bit of a problem as far as my water stops were concerned.  It was a very hot day and we had figured that I had enough water on me to last about an hour and a half.  Usually more than enough time for Azure to run any and all of her errands and still catch me before I need to refill.  However, on this day neither of us knew about the construction on the other end of town.  Once she had finished shopping, she headed out of town only to get stuck by the construction.  Long story short it was almost three hours before she caught up to me, by which time I had stopped sweating (big time red flag), so I took a break and got in the van to re-hydrate. 

I continued on my way and rode into Quesnel, a really cool town along the Fraser River.  On our drive up I had remarked that I wanted to take a rest day here, but after the debacle in pine pass we didn’t have the time.

Tired and weary we pulled into a campsite later than usual.  As I was headed to the shower the family across from our site invited us over for dinner.  Craig and Darlene welcomed us with open arms and a feast the likes of which we have not seen since well before we departed Virginia.  Fresh salmon, burgers, potatoes, salad and then some, they had an already packed house full of family and friends, yet they welcomed us in as if we were expected.  The food was excellent and the people and conversation didn’t disappoint either.  After dinner Azure and I were talking, we have been in Canada for a long time and I think we are both going to be sad to leave.  It will be nice to be back in the States, but at the same time I will truly miss the people.  I don’t really know how to accurately describe the people we have met along the way.  Genuine is the word that comes to mind, and that’s not something that can be said for a lot of the people in the States.  So to Craig and family, as well as all of the other people we have met along the way, Thank You.  From the bottom of our hearts you have added memories to our trip that will stick with us for a lifetime.

 

(as we left in the morning Craig and family were preparing for a 75th surprise birthday party for Darlene's mother)

8-10

85.33 miles

14.3 mph average

36.2 mph max

6:04:40 ride time