We had several long climbs during the day that caught us by surprise. We though we were done climbing since we had just passed Summit Lake. However, as it turned out, the worst part was the descent.
We near the top of a mountain and it was cold, rainy, and windy. We had a headwind as we went downhill. The hill was 18 km long, wet, and winding. I was going 55 km per hour (30 mph) and rain drops were hitting my eyeballs. With that much weight and the triler in tow, braking can be tricky. Plus on a long hill like that too much braking can burn up your break pads. Cars passing me going downhill made for intense moments. The worst part was the coldness. I wasn’t wearing my helmet; I was wearing my hat because I was cold. My hands were so cold I had no dexterity. Finally I reached the bottom and wrung the water out of my socks. My shoes were waterlogged and my feet went numb.
We came down out of the Rockies and into farmland. As I was riding I saw a bunch of small birds sitting in the right lane of the road. I was riding on the right shoulder. A semi truck came from the opposite direction and I watched all the birds start to fly away but they changed direction and flew right across the path of the truck. One bird was too slow and he got hit by the front of the truck. Its body then hurled back and was hit by one set of the truck’s tires. Then it was thrown into the tires on the trailer. The body of the bird skidded 60 ft on the road and came to a stop. It all happened right in front of me. It was sad to watch.
I saw another black bear and I took some pictures. I rode with Kosuke through some farm country until we finally reached Fort Nelson.
We stopped at the visitors center in Fort Nelson and had free coffee while we used the internet. I contacted Russ, a CouchSurfing host in Fort Saint John who agreed to host Frantz, Kosuke, Paul and myself.
I treated myself to chocolate milk and I ate at a local pizza shop. Frantz and Kosuke reserved a hotel room, so they let me take a shower in their room. Then I searched around town for a small amount of laundry detergent. I bought a 15 pack of Keystone Light beer for $25.
We watched TV, did laundry, and drank beer in the hotel room. We all enjoyed watching the TV show Man vs Food (where the host tries to eat large quantities of food) because we were all hungry so often.
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| A black bear. |
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| Pizza at Fort Nelson. |
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| The hotel room. |
