Guardian Angels
Bill and I have four guardian angels. These angels materialized during our bike trip between Burton and Lumby.
We made it to Burton on Thursday night, hungry and cold. It was a long day. We found one campsite in Burton; it was virtually deserted. However, there was one other couple in a neighbouring camping spot. Now, Bill and I in our wisdom and laziness, don't carry cooking equipment, preferring instead to eat in restaurants. We do however, carry nuts and cheese and granola bars, in the event that we cannot find a restaurant.
I asked the lone woman in the campground where we could get supper. She informed me that Burton has one restaurant and it was closed for the season. So, we resigned ourselves to nuts and seeds for our evening meal and pitched our tent prior to consuming our miserable, paltry meal. Guardian Angel #1 to the rescue. Gordon, owner of the truck and camper, retired Revenue Canada investigator from Victoria mosied over and invited us to eat with him and his wife, Pat. "We have a huge pot of spaghetti and fresh bread." Well, if that didn't sound good to Bill. For bread, he will pretty much do anything. My gluten allergy didn't allow me to eat, but the company and the nice hot campfire they shared with us was most welcome.
So off we ride in the morning planning to make the Summit of the Monashee Mountain between Fauquier and Lumby. We climbed for hours and hours and didn't arrive until nightfall to a lonely forestry campsite in the middle of nowhere. Again, one small travel trailer also occupied the campsite. Bill is still sketched out by the Johnson/Bentley murders so, he was happy to have some company in this remote area. We pitched our tent and ate our miserable meal of nuts and seeds and I ate some of the smoked bison meat that Guardian Angel #1 had given us. (Bill didn't taste any, as he was convinced it was going to give me worms).
The evening turned quite cold. We had a cold campfire hearth and no campstools. So, I went over to the travel trailer and asked if they could spare some matches. Guardian Angel #2 gave us a book of matches and after gathering some wood, we stood around the fire toasting first our fronts and then our backs to keep warm. We had to stand as there was nothing to sit on. We hit the sack early, tossed on our thin insulates and some time during the night, donned more clothing. In the morning, we flew down the Monashee Mountains for 20 kms with a wind chill factor of 40 below. Arriving at the Gold Panner restaurant in Cherryville, we shocked the waitress and likely broke the restaurant's inventory of coffee by consuming about 5 cups of coffee a peice. We then set off to Lumby. As we had made good time, we decided to stop at a golf course restaurant that advertised free internet and borscht. We had really just eaten in Cherryville, but access to the internet was for once, more inviting than food. We commiserated with the waitress, Barbara, connnected our computer, used the facilities and left for Lumby.
Enroute to Lumby, a cyclist named John, from Edgewood, caught up to us and visited with us along the way for about 10kms and then, like a shot, John rode on into Lumby for a coffee. He was on his way to Vernon. A kilometer outside of Lumby, Bill blew his back tire; it sounded like rifleshot. His less than 2 month old, hardly used Schwalbe slick not only blew a tube, but the tire was shredded in a spot as well. So, there Bill sat at the side of the road. I stayed with Bill to change the tire. Only, the extra tube we had didn't fit the stem of his tire, only mine. So, I rode the one kilometer into Lumby. I asked a pedestrian for a bike shop. He directed me to Ok Tire. They didn't do bikes. They directed me to Razor Edge. It was a motorcycle shop. They directed me to the tiny department store. It didn't carry bike supplies.
Then, along came Guardian Angel #3. It was John from Edgewood. He had stopped in Lumby for a coffee and he had seen me cycle by and wondered if we needed help. I nodded emphatically, yes. He then offered to take the tire measurements, cycle into Vernon, purchase the needed tire parts and meet us back at the Blue Ox Pub in Lumby about 8 pm. He refused my offers to write the measurements down. He had them in his head.
In the meantime, Bill was stranded 1 km outside of Lumby. I cycled back with the news that John was helping us out. I decided to shuttle all the belongings back to our hotel and Bill was to flag down a truck to shuttle his bike frame the 1 km to the hotel. Well, if Guardian Angel #4 doesn't arrive. She pulled over to the side where Bill had his bike upside down in the ditch. It was our waitress, Barbara, from the Golf Course in Cherryville who admired our cycling efforts. She offered to help. She loaded up the disabled bike into her vehicle and drove Bill and his bike the kilometer down the road to our hotel.
Guardian Angel #3 arrived as planned, only he had brought along the wrong tube (the stem was too large for the rim hole. So, my good husband, non-mechanical as he is, transformed himself into McGiver and Leathermanned the tire to fit the tube. He bore out the rim of the tire to fit the tube stem, thereby, jimmy rigging the tire to get us home. What a day.
September 12, 2010
McGiver did it. We cycled without an issue to Falkland tonight. If you can call cycling all day in the pouring rain and arriving in Falkland muddy, tired and cold, without an issue. By the way, Falkland Pub has great food.
zzzzzzz
We made it to Burton on Thursday night, hungry and cold. It was a long day. We found one campsite in Burton; it was virtually deserted. However, there was one other couple in a neighbouring camping spot. Now, Bill and I in our wisdom and laziness, don't carry cooking equipment, preferring instead to eat in restaurants. We do however, carry nuts and cheese and granola bars, in the event that we cannot find a restaurant.
I asked the lone woman in the campground where we could get supper. She informed me that Burton has one restaurant and it was closed for the season. So, we resigned ourselves to nuts and seeds for our evening meal and pitched our tent prior to consuming our miserable, paltry meal. Guardian Angel #1 to the rescue. Gordon, owner of the truck and camper, retired Revenue Canada investigator from Victoria mosied over and invited us to eat with him and his wife, Pat. "We have a huge pot of spaghetti and fresh bread." Well, if that didn't sound good to Bill. For bread, he will pretty much do anything. My gluten allergy didn't allow me to eat, but the company and the nice hot campfire they shared with us was most welcome.
So off we ride in the morning planning to make the Summit of the Monashee Mountain between Fauquier and Lumby. We climbed for hours and hours and didn't arrive until nightfall to a lonely forestry campsite in the middle of nowhere. Again, one small travel trailer also occupied the campsite. Bill is still sketched out by the Johnson/Bentley murders so, he was happy to have some company in this remote area. We pitched our tent and ate our miserable meal of nuts and seeds and I ate some of the smoked bison meat that Guardian Angel #1 had given us. (Bill didn't taste any, as he was convinced it was going to give me worms).
The evening turned quite cold. We had a cold campfire hearth and no campstools. So, I went over to the travel trailer and asked if they could spare some matches. Guardian Angel #2 gave us a book of matches and after gathering some wood, we stood around the fire toasting first our fronts and then our backs to keep warm. We had to stand as there was nothing to sit on. We hit the sack early, tossed on our thin insulates and some time during the night, donned more clothing. In the morning, we flew down the Monashee Mountains for 20 kms with a wind chill factor of 40 below. Arriving at the Gold Panner restaurant in Cherryville, we shocked the waitress and likely broke the restaurant's inventory of coffee by consuming about 5 cups of coffee a peice. We then set off to Lumby. As we had made good time, we decided to stop at a golf course restaurant that advertised free internet and borscht. We had really just eaten in Cherryville, but access to the internet was for once, more inviting than food. We commiserated with the waitress, Barbara, connnected our computer, used the facilities and left for Lumby.
Enroute to Lumby, a cyclist named John, from Edgewood, caught up to us and visited with us along the way for about 10kms and then, like a shot, John rode on into Lumby for a coffee. He was on his way to Vernon. A kilometer outside of Lumby, Bill blew his back tire; it sounded like rifleshot. His less than 2 month old, hardly used Schwalbe slick not only blew a tube, but the tire was shredded in a spot as well. So, there Bill sat at the side of the road. I stayed with Bill to change the tire. Only, the extra tube we had didn't fit the stem of his tire, only mine. So, I rode the one kilometer into Lumby. I asked a pedestrian for a bike shop. He directed me to Ok Tire. They didn't do bikes. They directed me to Razor Edge. It was a motorcycle shop. They directed me to the tiny department store. It didn't carry bike supplies.
Then, along came Guardian Angel #3. It was John from Edgewood. He had stopped in Lumby for a coffee and he had seen me cycle by and wondered if we needed help. I nodded emphatically, yes. He then offered to take the tire measurements, cycle into Vernon, purchase the needed tire parts and meet us back at the Blue Ox Pub in Lumby about 8 pm. He refused my offers to write the measurements down. He had them in his head.
In the meantime, Bill was stranded 1 km outside of Lumby. I cycled back with the news that John was helping us out. I decided to shuttle all the belongings back to our hotel and Bill was to flag down a truck to shuttle his bike frame the 1 km to the hotel. Well, if Guardian Angel #4 doesn't arrive. She pulled over to the side where Bill had his bike upside down in the ditch. It was our waitress, Barbara, from the Golf Course in Cherryville who admired our cycling efforts. She offered to help. She loaded up the disabled bike into her vehicle and drove Bill and his bike the kilometer down the road to our hotel.
Guardian Angel #3 arrived as planned, only he had brought along the wrong tube (the stem was too large for the rim hole. So, my good husband, non-mechanical as he is, transformed himself into McGiver and Leathermanned the tire to fit the tube. He bore out the rim of the tire to fit the tube stem, thereby, jimmy rigging the tire to get us home. What a day.
September 12, 2010
McGiver did it. We cycled without an issue to Falkland tonight. If you can call cycling all day in the pouring rain and arriving in Falkland muddy, tired and cold, without an issue. By the way, Falkland Pub has great food.
zzzzzzz
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