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Distance: 108 km
Riding Time: 5:12 hours
Average Speed: 20.7 kph
Top Speed: 60.8 kph
Location: Tukwala Campground, Faukier

Sorry for the delay, I’ve been in Kamloops for work with no internet access.



Today, I had a good day. I’m entirely on my own again, and as much as I enjoyed having company, this feels more right.


The night before we had made plans for go to the local golf course for breakfast; Dave Wills and Isy saying that they were usually up by 7 or 8 o’clock. Well, when morning came, Dave Williams and I waited for a while, then left a note saying that we were heading out and would touch base afterward. There was quite a bit of rain during breakfast, and I was anticipating a fairly dreary day, but it wasn’t too cold so my spirits stayed high. When we got back to the house, we learned that there was perhaps a bit too much wine consumed the previous night, and while our hosts were feeling fine, it just took a bit more time to get moving than usual. We said our farewells and went our separate way. Lo and behold, once I got on the bike, the rain quit and pretty much stayed away for the rest of the day, though it was overcast and occasionally showery.

Leaving Slocan lake. Cool patterns on the surface

I had a fairly uphill ride to Summit Lake, about halfway to Nakusp, but it was a gradual hill and I wasn’t working too hard. I stopped in Nakusp to collect enough groceries to get me to Lumby, and had a chat with a fellow who had recently ridden from Vancouver to San Francisco. We tourers are all over, sneaking around and looking like real people. You’d never know the kind of freak you might be talking to unless you mentioned cycling in the conversation.

This was interesting

More than any previous day it seemed like I was getting more and more into the Lumby climate. They types of trees I saw, the hills, even the smell in the air was all familiar, despite riding for half the day along Lower Arrow lake (Lumby isn’t on the water). It was a nice, homey feeling, which helped give me a boost throughout the day. Later in the day I saw a fawn that was only about a foot tall. The deer in the Slocan area are considerably smaller than any I’ve seen elsewhere, and that carries through to the little ones. I didn’t even know they were ever that small. In general, today was a fairly uneventful day, which was nice.

I had a bit of a race to catch the Ferry at Faukier (foe-kee-yer), rather than wait for another half hour for it to come back again. I wasn’t in any real hurry, but was fairly keen to get off the bike – my nethers were awfully tender later in the day. When I got to the other side, I had a super steep climb for a couple minutes to get to the turnoff to Plum Hollow Campground, only to find from the sign that the site was still closed. Somewhat disheartened, mostly because I’d have to do that climb again in the morning, I coasted back down to the ferry and caught it just before leaving. Only had to ride about 2k back along the road to reach the Tukwala campground, where the kind lady only charged me $10 for the night.

View from the ferry

Before dinner I tried, once again, to use the satellite phone, with no luck whatsoever. This was the third try, since I’d also tried three nights earlier in Grey Creek. I know the damn thing works, since I turned it on when in Creston and it picked up a signal just fine. But when I need it, nothing.

I ate the other of my initial 2 dried and bagged dinners and found it to be satisfactory. It had been a bit of a chilly day, so it was a nice and warm meal and truly hit the spot. The evening rain held off until I was ready for bed, which is always considerate of Mother Nature. An excellent day, overall, and the longest I’ve had since day 3. I feel pretty strong, and am confident that I’ll be able to handle the Monashee pass tomorrow on my way into Lumby.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/08/21/trevor-linden.html

Following Lonnie‘s recent fascination with wine posts, I figure I might share a thought about the bottle I opened last night.

A spaghetti red budget wine ($10) – Funky Llama Shiraz 2005.  Its a bit weak — other reviewers have called it “fruit forward” but I really had a hard time distinguishing any fruit (maybe a result of the very strongly flavored spaghetti sauce).  Slightly bitter finish.

You can do better.  You can do worse.  I got two bottles (and I didn’t finish last nights either), so we’ll give it another chance yet.

Another review.

Just in case you didn’t know, little Taylen was born last Thursday, August 9th.  He likes Autobots and has followed in dads footsteps (has a boob fetish already).

I made part of the last sentence up, but most of its true. 

Seen in the Georgia Straight