DAY 31 OF THE AROUND-THE-BLOCK MC TRIP - JULY 31,2008

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July 31, 2008 - Thursday - Day 31
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
  -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 251   - Total Miles - 6906
Hope,BC,Canada - to  Salmon Arm,BC,Canada
(-staying at  Traveler's Rest Motel-)
(BC)
- RIDING HIGHS, RIDING LOWS -

  It was enjoyable morning run. Out here pretty much in the middle of no where  I wound with the walkway around the slight curve of the mountain and the ridge. I ran to the bridge that straddled the Fraser River. Coming back I could see part of the little town of Hope nestled under the shadow of the mountains. A man and woman with three dogs were out early walking. I shouted over to them as I passed, "It looks like a parade!"
  I certainly had hoped to get an earlier start. Was finally out the door by 9:30am, but then had to stop for breakfast about ten miles down the road. They had just run out of oatmeal, so I had a veggie burger, and it was the best one of the trip!
  From that point on the day was split into two parts. The first part, north from Hope to Cache Creek was all trees and mountains and a very occasional store as I threaded my way over this part of the Rockies. A river flowed like a wet ribbon far down below for much of the way.  It was Grand Canyon-ish in scale. The views were amazing, but I couldn't enjoy them much because I was watching the road so carefully. There were a lot of  "Watch For Fallen Rock" signs, and "Avalanche Area" markers that caused concern. And what with all the high altitude turns, and that not being my favorite kind of riding anyway, it was slow going. And that slow going went on for about 80 miles!  Still, the freshness of the air was glorious, and I stopped once or twice for pictures. I just couldn't take but a few while riding during that portion of the ride. 
  There were also a number of tunnels to go through this morning. The most dangerous part of tunnels is that one can't generally see if there is debris on the roadway.
  From the high road I was riding, one viewed green valleys in size beyond imagining. Hay bales littered those green valley floors as if thrown down at random.  There were also great swaths of  rock canyons gouged out of the earth as far as one could see.
  The highest peak of all was on top of Jackass Mountain. (Really!  That was its name. Not kidding!)  I stopped and took photos of the river below which looked like a little line. The railroad tracks beside the river were barely visible. And house-sized boulders looked like puny playthings.
  Imagine a canyon and then imagine along the canyon there are sliced out ridges along the walls. That's where the cars moved along, sometimes the roads had shoulders and barriers, and sometimes there were none.  I took a good image showing a road along the rock face.
  Cars would often line up behind me because I was moving so slowly - partly because of caution, partly to get a better look around.  Whenever I could, I would move over to a rest area so they could get by my slowpoking.
The second part of the day was mostly flat, but with similarly fabulous views of valleys and mountains.  However, I couldn't enjoy the afternoon that much because I got so tired. Started to (you'll pardon the expression) crash around 3am. I'm not sure if it was the morning exertion or needing more sleep, or what.  But I kept getting more tired and more tired. And with this being some kind of holiday weekend here in Canada, and the motels filling faster, I knew that I should begin looking early for a reasonable place to stay.  (Many of the chain motels are over $135 with tax. But the smaller places are generally $50 to $70 less than that!  The exchange rate with Canadian money is about even at this time.
   So I bagged it at only about 5pm and with only 251 miles under my belt.  This was about 150 miles short of my goal.  I was sorry about that, but knew it was the right thing to do.   It also set me up better for the next two days with regard to distances between stopping for the day. The towns are much further apart now, and that has to be taken into consideration. 
   One thing that perked me up is when, east of Kamloops, I was running side-by-side with a long freight train.   I was smiling to beat the band.  Then, as I so often did when bicycling in a similar situation, I put my hand up in the air and pulled it down imitating the engineer yanking on the train whistle.  Most engineers understand, and when this guy saw me he tooted that whistle for all it was worth.  And that blast of energy - and the traveling camaraderie -  carried me for at least five miles.
  (Back on my cross-country bicycle trip as I was going into Santa Barbara the sun was going down.  I rode neck and neck with a train then, too. But that was after a grueling full day of biking. I had probably ridden 75 miles or more on that hot day. That engineer's train whistle still echoes through me every time I hear one - and that day it energized me up through the ever darkening California hills with an energetic spirit and joy that I've rarely felt since.)
  I had a delicious A&W root beer during the day. There are a lot of A&W restaurants here.  One patron there was wearing a "Roadkill Café" shirt. He let me take a picture of it.  I said to him, "You ever been there?" And he replied that he had been to one in Louisiana. I said, "Yeah, I think I passed by that one on one of my trips. But I have mixed feelings about it…. I'm a vegetarian!"  He laughed and laughed at that one!
  After checking out several motels, I settled into a mom and pop one just east of Salmon Arm.
  I was able to park the bike right outside the door. There was a little internet connection problem, that was soon solved.  Had a close call with one of my contact lenses. As I was cleaning it (stopper firmly in the sink) it plinked off my fingers onto the floor.  Not much problem there, but it landed within inches of the open heating grate - now THAT would have been a problem! (I do have an extra set with me, however.)
  I began working on fixing the pictures section on-line, and was up just a little later than I wanted to be.

Note 1:  I just don't know how dependable email contact will be now that I'm in Canada. So if you don't get a journal note edition for a day or so, don't worry.

Note 2: To view the many photos from today and the whole trip, you can visit
http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=45&user_id=42473&event=196141
    Some folks have reported trouble with this link, but most find that it works. Sometimes it takes two tries… Also, you can check out the past day journal entries by going to joelperlish.com, and clicking on the appropriate trip down at the bottom on the left hand corner or just going to http://www.joelperlish.com/blog/blog.html)


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