May 23, 2007. Distance: 108. Odometer: 593

Outside Princton, BC - Outside Olalla, BC

Stopped in Princton today for supplies. First civilization I've seen in a few days and I'm excitingly sporting my new haircut. I meet with a cycle shop store owner who consoles me saying that the highway I took was ambitious and that I won't encounter anything that difficult again for a long time. That made me really happy. Like I graduated from bicycle touring school. He gave me the impression that I was hearty for making it out of there alive. It's good knowing that the difficulties that I encountered were acknowledged by someone else, justifying my thought that I wasn't a weakling, it was the damned route! I read in a touring book that when searching for a place to stay, asking a store owner about nearby campgrounds could trigger the idea of camping out in their front lawns, so I tried it tonight. It was a valiant effort, but Olalla is little more than a trailor park and the people I asked not only didn't know of any campsites but didn't have any lawn to lend, although they seemed genuinely disappointed at their inability to help out. No matter, I made my way down a few more kilometers and stealth camped again on the side of a hill. The view is beautiful, over looking a range of hills and watching the sun set on them and the town down below. Amazingly I have cell phone reception and call friends and family to end the evening underneath a sky full of stars brighter than I've ever thought possible.

May 22, 2007. Distance 65 km. Odometer: 484

Manning Provincial Park - Outside Princeton

Stopped riding today out of pure exhaustion. I climbed two harassing summits today - Allison's Pass (1300m elevation) and Sunday Pass (1250m elevation) for a grand total 2600m of climbing. I remember as a kid, riding a few kilometers on my bike was an accomplishment to brag to friends about. I never thought I'd do the same, but straight up with a bicycle that weighs similarly to a motorcycle with pedals. My exhaustion and complete isolation numbed that part of my brain that fires when I have a bad idea - you know, to stop me from carrying out the idea. Well, I decided on a whim that I should cut my hair off. But all I had was a small mirror and my camping knife. But that didn't stop me. So not only do I feel crazy, but now I look crazy too. It doesn't help that I'm so sore that when I roll over at night I wake myself up.

May 21st, 2007. Distance 72 km, Odometer: 419
Outside Hope - Manning Provincial Park

Basically completely uphill today. I was told that this highway (hwy 3) from Hope to Princeton would be 'scenic' and 'beautiful' which I now know are code words when applied to highways for 'treacherous' and 'idiotic to attempt on bicycle, loaded or not'. Looks like this highway is an old logging road used mainly by truckers. I haven't seen a gas station or town or person since I got on here. Just mountains and steep uphills. I think the road engineers decided while designing this road that they'd challenge themselves by tackling the highest mountains in the areas... you know, to tell their buddies about. Little did they know that a hundred years later, I'd be attempting it on bicycle, cursing their names if I knew them, but cursing their existence regardless. Tonight I'm stealth camping again. I found a bank by a huge river underneath a bridge to set up camp. The river was too cold to bathe in since it was fed from the melting of the iced-capped mountains. I dipped my foot in and it's never been the same since. So to clean up, I warmed up some water with my camping stove. It's awesome being by this river. I can't hear anything but it's rapids, not even the highway only 50 meters away. The only problem is that rivers are the favourite feeding spots of animals so hopefully they won't think of me as dessert.

May 20th, 2007. Distance: 114 km, Odometer: 348

Burnaby, BC - Outside Hope, BC

Couldn't find a campsite tonight, so I biked as far as my little stick-legs could pedal me, and then I found a nice, plot of non-private land (or, at least I thought it was non-private land) to settle on for the evening. It was nice. Well, it was by the railroad tracks which provided a wonderful soundtrack for the evening. At one point during the night, I mistook the rumblings and thunderous roars of a passing train for a pack of ravenous grizzlies that had surrounded my tent. I'm lucky that my brain corrected the mistake before I scared myself into a sleepless night. This form of camping, stealth camping (named so because you're not supposed to leave a trace when you depart) had me feeling good about myself - something about being able to avoid paying the relatively steep price of $20-$25 for a plot of dirt at a campsite without much of an inconvenience - something about complete freedom. It rained all day today and it was fine. I like knowing that my rain gear held up and only a few things on my cycle dampened. Note to future tourists: panniers need to be lined by plastic bags on the inside AS WELL AS pannier covers. If they aren't waterproof the covers will still let in a minute amount of water.

May 19th, 2007.

More touristing in Vancouver, including sampling Dim Sum with Peggy's family, checking out China town and North Vancouver by ferry and Peggy's favourite sushi place for supper. Good food and company. Not too much to complain about, fir shure.

May 18th, 2007. Distance 39.4 km, Odometer 233.6

White Rock - Burnaby, BC

Riding in the city is stressful for me. I mean, normally, it's no big deal because I know and follow traffic rules and I'm used to it. When I'm fully-loaded and there are cars zooming by, I feel like the slightest misjudgement of a driver can send me hurtling. Bridges are the worst. In Vancouver, there are a few of them, and of course the people who live there know which ones are cycle-friendly. This vital information wasn't on my map and, as luck has it, I chose the least accomodating route. The bridge was quite long and highway-like, without even an inch of shoulder. I wasn't surprised that I had a few honks and disgruntled looks from drivers, but, hey, what could I do? Burnaby is the home to my good friend Peggy, who I met on exchange to Costa Rica. She was an EXCELLENT host and guide, showing me the hot spots in Vancouver. We went out with another friend from the exchange, Bess, to a Tapas bar where we watched flamenco dancing while sipping on local microbrew. Great times. These are the sort of friends that, even though we haven't seen each other for 7 years, after a few moments, it's like we never left each other to live separate lives. Meeting up with these girls, I realised that great friends are definitively like that: time independent. We hung out just like we did years ago, without skipping a beat. And it was wonderful.