Made it to Vanderhoof BC, with signs claiming it to be the geographical center of British Columbia. Sure feels that way! I pretty much spent all day on 97 getting up north, it feels like it's the main road for all things north, plenty of semis and traffic. Kinda like I-5, but fewer lanes and more scenery. It really is beautiful, but with the speeds everyone is travelling there aren't many places to pull out for a picture safely.
I woke up at 6 hearing water pounding on the patio outside my room and figured I was gonna get wet. When I checked though, it was just the watering system overfilling the hanging pots. Fancy. I tried to sleep in a bit, but that wasn't happening so I took a quick walk to see if the coffee shop was open, it was not, but Clinton was nice to see in the morning light.
I dawdled a bit but finally geared up and was on the road around 9:30. I pretty much stuck to the speed limits and just took in the sights. Beautiful countryside with a mixture of farming and forest. Plenty of sights to keep my occupied on an otherwise relatively straight shot of a road.
Water is everywhere, and I did find a spot to stop to take this shot just past a store called sugarland that was selling pure maple syrup. I should probably grab a bottle on the way down.
I'd just gassed up in 100 mile house (I think, lots of houses around these parts) and I wasn't planning a stop, but I saw this cool park by a lake and pulled off for a shot, then realized there was a coffee shop, and I sure do like coffee.
108 Heritage site
I ordered coffee and a breakfast wrap figuring that'd be it for food until dinner. A guy in line behind me asked about my GoPro and we got to talking, he lives on the lake and uses them to capture birds and the scenery. His son likes drones. He was on his way to get a load of gravel for their landscaping project.
I went to the back patio and another guy asked me about my ride, we got to talking as well, he also lives on the lake and told me about winters there and whatnot. Nice folks all around. He left to take his wife to town and I finished my coffee and enjoyed the view.
I got a quick shot of this fun art piece before I left.
At this point I still had about 4 hours to go, so it was time to go. But I did pull over for this old school house at 150 mile house.
Onward I went, hitting some construction traffic around Williams Lake, not a long wait, just enough time to give my poor backside a rest.
I didn't stop again until Quesnel. I was just gonna get gas and take break but this part caught my eye, pretty cool. They had the engine from an old guld rush steamer. a replica of a water pump used to blast out more gold ore once the easy money was gone and the whole park overlooked the original bridge that crossed the Frasier River. All circa the late 1800s.
I needed to pee so I headed back for gas. As I was rehydrating afterwards, and older gentleman walked up from across the parking lot and asked about my bike. He then regaled me about a friend of his who used to ride a similar bike (red and sporty I presume) who'd though he avoided the cops only to find his speeding ticket placed in his mailbox. It doesn't pay to be noticeable I guess. He said he'd always wanted to go to Alaska but despite having lived in BC his whole life (validated buy his accent) he never had. He told me to be safe and have a good ride, which I thanked him for.
I took my next break in Prince George and had myself a impulse snack. Not bad.
I felt a few drops and the weather had been cloudy all day so I didn't think much of it. I only had an hour left anyway. With about 40 minutes left in my ride I realized my blue sky luck had run out.
Foolishly I stopped to take the photo, but no don rain gear. I proceeded to get very wet in a very short few miles. The rain cleared up after about 15 minutes, but I was soaked and a little chilly. I also had to stop as the cheapo phone I used for navigation started flickering, so I guess it's not water proof. Somehow I didn't get mowed down on the shoulder and didn't hydro plane through the Pooled water in the semi tracks. I was mostly dry by the time I made it to Vanderhoof, but a little chilled.
I showered, changed and walked the 12 minutes down the hill to a pub for some beer and food and now I'm back posting this update. I've got a cigar to smoke, and beer to finish and then I need to make sure my InReach is ready for the next few cell phone free days along the Cassiar highway. Luckily it's not looking like ALL rain.
Randy
on a side note, I keep forgetting things are in CAD not USD and being surprised at how expensive stuff is until I do the math.
