Canadian Rockies (6/8/23 Thu)

One week into my rollabout through Canada. I awoke to that amazing mountain view, lakes and talking with some wonderful people. Then with coffee made I took pictures around the campground. All of my sleeping gear and tent seemed damp, so I spred them out on my picnic table to dry.

It seemed like the morning went on forever and started way before I got out of the tent. This light all the time is really disorienting. Coupled with the time zone changes it's far too easy to just press on and just keep going further. It would be fairly easy for me to ride all the way to Dawson City tomorrow. Arriving on day 9 of what I thought would be a two week trip.

I've kept my watch and bike clocks on NH time. While my gps and phone automatically change as I cross timezones. At the end of today they are now 3 hours apart, so I crossed another timezone today. What that means is that when I arrived at my campsite just after 2000 ( 8pm for those of you hating 24h military time), it was already 2300 (11pm for Anne). By the time I setup a tent, payed the $15 fee and got a wifi password it was nearly midnight at home. As I sit in my tent (to escape the bugs) and type this, it's 0130 at home but 2230 in my timezone. But it will be light for awhile yet. It seems dusk like at the moment because there are some clouds threatening to sprinkle rain.

Going to bed when light outside isn't easy, even when you're tired. Others in the campsites are also rolling in late and sorting things out noisily. Once asleep and you wake up to change sleeping positions it's dificult to determine how long you've slept, because it could start getting light again. Honestly I don't know when dawn occurs (just like the old days). For many days I've been trying to stop early enough in the day someplace that I could do laundry. But I keep locating places without facilities but so cheap I can't pass them up.

So far camping costs have averaged less than $25/night. Food hasn't been high either, because I generally eat two smallish meals and have gone to grocery stores and eaten beef jerky and items from my food stash on occasion. My only real expenses have been fuel,. Normaly 2.5 $20 fillups a day. I am also on my 3rd bottle of octane boost, which indicates 6 times I was unable to get premium unleaded and added 1/3 of a bottle of boost to my tank. Fuel prices have even lowered as I've gone North.

The event I had been expecting actually occured today. After my fuel stop the gps recalculated my next gas stop and found it was beyond my bikes range. After yesterday I'm sensative to that. My plan was always to buy a gas can at the station where this occured. This was a bad plan for this specific has stop. The station I was at was on a reservation and called a public card lock. So it was an unmanned pair of gas pumps that setup on a grate over a full puddle of water.

I mention the grate under the pumps not because it was relavent, but because it was odd. Imagine the entire area you park on was a bridge grate with 2in by 3in holes and full of water 3 inches below the grate. Your first thought is "do NOT drop anything". My previous gas stop was a wonderous little one man operation. It was a campground, hotel, gas station, store, cafe, and rest stop. I used more than half the services and found that one guy who doesn't have a favorite on his own menu. That would have been a great place to buy a gas can.

So while I ponder my predicament another customer arrives. It was two girls in a very nicely outfitted Jeep. I remembered them from my last gas stop, arriving while I suited up to leave. Sure I remembered them mostly becuse they were cute, but also because of the nice jeep. First I suggested they be very careful to not to drop anything while on this grate over troubled waters. Because the water really was nasty under the grate. Then I asked if they drive this route often (yah it sounds like a line now that I type it), but what I really wanted to know it if this next gas span was as long as my gps said. They said it is a long span, which is why they stop often for gas and carry an extra can. Which I could now see on their hitch shelf. So that just meant I had a solo problem and wouldn't have cute company much more likely to stop traffic that I.

Further down the road I found 3 more gas stations. None had gas cans. At each gas station the young girl clerks suggested I try the next station. Eventually one older woman really told me where to go, in the nicest way possible. So I ended up at a parts store where the highschool girl climbed up to pull one down from the top shelf. I had just finished my octane boost bottle to boost the regular unleaded served on grates. So I bought another while here. Then off to the only gas station in town I hadn't been yet to fill it. There was an amaing chinese food smell at the gas pump, and I asked where it came from. A few buildings down was the Golden Nugget. So I went there next only to find it closed. How on earth did it smell good when closed? Another woman at the gas pumps had recommended the chinese and another place for hamburgers. So off I went for burgers.

I'm the Canadian Rockies and the mountains are stunning. I rode many hours stitching the British Columbia and Yukon boarders together. I saw bison, mountain goats and other less exotics. Only one more bear all day. Rivers of that caribean blue color, and snow capped mountains of every shape. It was amazing, but I can't show you all of that. Eventually I'll get someplace wher I can upload some of the photos I did take with my phone. The cheap camera has over 700 photos now, and I have no idea how good any of them will be, but there is no way I can process them until I get back home. Hopefully I will curate some onto the website photos section, but I'll need to geolacate them all first. So all you really get is my word that the area near Toad River, BC is spactacularly beatiful.