Running a few days behind. This is being written on October 1 from lovely Comox, Vancouver Island. Too much to do, too little time.
The neighbors next door partied and cackled loudly till 11 last night. Fortunately, i did not have to play my bugle sounds on my iPad, blew the whistle or other extreme measures to get them to obey the quiet hours, which start at 11. Why people like that come to parks, i do not know.
Erde had an acid reflux problem that was remedied by some ant-acid pills brought along for that purpose.
The birds joined us for breakfast and took advantage of one of Erde's walnut-sized treats, carrying it off for storsge and returning immediately. I gave in, knowing it is wrong, but my situational ethics kicked in.
On the road at 9:30. En route to target for the night, Juniper Beach Provincial Park, 23 km from Cache Creek, the red Check Engine light came on. I'll ignore it this time, unlike in 2000, when i thought it was a problem and stopped at the Land Rover place in Winnipeg to fix it, since it only means time for an emmission checkup. That can wait.
Drive out of Lake Louise through all the national parks was nothing short of extraordinary. Mountains, lakes, rivers, etc., you get the picture. My words or pictures cannot do justice to the scenes. I just decided to sit back, relax and let nature do its thing to my mind. On the way, I came across a few strange looking structures that i swear i have seen before in either my dreams or horror movies, e,g,, enchanted forest replica, railroad museum, etc.
Took a break along the way at 2:30 at a secluded setting by a lake and met a guy named Kurt who, less than a minute after meeting him, was kind enough to offer me a joint. I declined his kind offer and moved on after an we exchanged a few pleasantries about nature, fishing and serving time for smoking joints whike driving.
The drive from Kamloops along route 1 was superb. (How many words are there to describe these scenes.). This whole scene turned into a desert setting, the farthest north such setting in North America. Spectacular. At one rest stop overlooking Kaloma Lake, rattlesnake warnings were posted. We did not stat very long.
Came across my first MacDonalds in Canada and broke my boycott of them by getting Erde two hamburgers to see if that would entice her to eat her food later. (It did. Anything for a change entices here. I hope to pick up a couple of more hamburgers tomorrow.)
Because of prolonged breaks for Erde's sake, i started running behind schedule but got an hour back when we crossed a time zone change. How little things like that can make my day, except when i am heading east.
At 5:45 i was getting disappointed when i still had 23km to get to Cache Creek and then 23km to Juniper Beach. I would not make my desired 5-6 arrival time. But then, much to my surprise, i discovered that Juniper Beach camp was 23km THIS side of Cache Creek when the sign announcing it suddeky appeared. My day was made again, saved by a time zone change and my failure to read the directions closely.
And what a camp Juniper Beach is...desert setting, single-train tracks on both sides of the camp, a river running by the edge of the camp with the largest sockeye salmon run in progress at the time. Erde had a huge lawn to run on right by and under our tent, where, once again, we were the only tenters. The sound of the frequent trains all through the night was music to my ears. The sound of trains, single-train tracks running off into the horizon, and the smell of the morning dew on the grass were three of the five earliest things i recall, at age three, and when i experience them, as i did here, my mind goes back decades.
Took a peak outside the tent at 9pm and was almost blinded by the millions and millions of stars out, something unknown in my home in DC. How mind expanding that is. If anything puts the trivial things of our lives in perspective, that sight does.
Tomorrow we head for a Provincial Park in Pemberton, halfway to Vancouver Island. At Cache Creek, i turn onto route 99, which Brian at Lake Louise suggested. We'll see if his ocular tastes match mine. I'm counting on you, Brian.
Photos include...
A scene at the Lake Kaloma (?)rest stop north of Kamloops heading toward Juniper Beach. There were signs posted with rattlesnake warnings so we did not stay long..
Ed and Erde, On The Road
Our camp at Juniper Beach in a desert, cacti, sagebrush, tarantulas, and rattlesnakes, plus a huge sockeye nearby salmon run in progress as we camped. Erde loved the grass carpet we camped on. Truth is, I did too.
The nearby train track and a tourist passenger train. Some of the passengers pointed and waved at us (probably Erde and the Defender) as the train chugged by. There were two separate single-track train tracks, one in front of us (shown) and another to the rear, set up on a ridge on the mountain. Trains at night are music to my ears..
P.S. Sorry for any errors in this message or posting. The iPad spellcheck is not known for its attention to detail.
No comments:
Post a Comment