Not a good night. Our Caranex tent is very definitely a fair weather tent. Last night was extremely windy. I don’t remember ever having a very windy night on the first part of our journey. Last night the tent flapped, creaked and rattled all night keeping me awake most of it. (Although I have to say it held up very well). The good thing was the rain stopped. This meant, though, we did not get the opportunity to test the extra sealing along the tent seams. There will be another time for that I am sure. The best thing was the wind and the cooler temperature kept away the wretched “mozzies”.
While lying in our warm cocoon I was thinking how little you really need in life. I have often thought this when we have been cycling and everything one needs can be carried in 4 panniers. Perhaps you need to be “old” to think this way. When you are younger you struggle to keep up with your work colleagues and your children’s friends parents etc. Everyone has to have the nicest house, the best car, the right label clothing. All unnecessarily excessive. You just need shelter, warmth, food and water and in this day and age, a mobile phone/lap top for communication. Oh, and an iPod to provide entertainment when we can’t get any internet!
Dennis has a huge selection on his iPod and over porridge this morning the random selection picked out Blue Canadian Rockies sung by Jim Reeves (lovely voice). Very appropriate, I thought.
We soon joined Highway 37, the Stewart Cassiar Highway again. The weather quickly turned inclement and rained hard throughout the morning and most of the afternoon. I was singing away to myself, the Blue Canadian Rockies song we had been listening to over breakfast. Sadly the Rockies were virtually invisible due to the murky low clouds and pouring rain. All very grey.
Early in the day, before the rain was too heavy, we came across a roadside bear engrossed in feeding off some vegetation he found tasty. We pulled over and Dennis managed to film him. He was perfectly happy with us being there until a huge RV the size of a small apartment block whizzed past and scared him.
We have spent all day on the road as there is little to see, other than scenery, and the weather was too miserable to stop. We started just before Meziadin Junction and are now camped between Dease Lake and Cassiar, having covered 274 miles.
At about 4pm the rain did stop and the sun came out, just after we had passed Dease Lake. A pity as this was the most scenic part of the day. Stopping at the settlement of Dease Lake, we pulled into a garage to refuel. Here we chatted to a motorcyclist we have frequently seen and waved to on the road. We learn his name is Rodger and he is from St Louis, Missouri. He advises us he is making a side trip to Telegraph Creek to camp for the night. It is a gravel road and supposed to be spectacular and worth the 75km each way detour. We have decided to head straight on and camp at Boya Lake. Boya Lake was recommended by Tony and Gill, the couple we met a few days ago.
We did not, however, get that far. We found a quiet spot off the road and pulled in. Having set up camp and made a fire from wood we collected nearby, it has now started to rain again grrrr!
Dennis has been instructing me in the art of good photography! Or trying to. It is not my forte. I either aim at something and miss it entirely, or have too much zoom, so from the moving vehicle everything is blurred. Today there was little opportunity for taking any shots, though. The weather was too horrible.
Wildlife sightings today: Black bears 8, Moose 0, Elk 0, Caribou 0, Grizzlies 0. We don’t seem to be doing very well, apart from black bears. Not sure if it is the bad weather, if the Landy is too noisy or we are just unlucky.
Visits: 55
Jim Reeves – wonder where you got that from, DB…
🙂
Hey Ferris, think we have your parents to thank for that…:)