The ride from the bottom of the Cassiar to Prince George has taken us through many small towns, increasing levels of agriculture, and a gradual transition from mountain scenery to plains. We have taken some very easy days, as few as 40 miles one day, and also one long long day of 84 miles! The road has gotten increasingly busy, and the shoulder has varied from excellent to non-existent. Our little bicycle mirrors, attached to our helmets, have been invaluable to us. We always know what is approaching from both behind and ahead, and we always are ready to “bail” if needed. We did so no less than four times today, as large cars came from both ahead and behind with no room for us. Don’t worry, readers, the roads will be better for us as we head south from here, at least for a while.

Since in our last post I forgot to include a shot of the rainbow at the end of the Cassiar, I include it now:

In general, our days have been pleasant; the rain and headwinds now seem to be a distant memory. At first there were some decent hills, even with summit signs! Our favorite was called `Hungry Hill’, and it came with a neat story on local history. In summary, there was a giant grizzly bear in the area in the late 1990s that was feasting on cows. It evaded capture for four years, and when it was finally caught it broke the trap and was shot by panicked deputies. It weighed over 1000 pounds! A few years later in 2004, a relative of this ‘phantom bear’ again began to eat cows. This one was captured more quickly, and also weighed around 1000 pounds. That is a HUGE bear, and it is more than a little terrifying to think of bears that size prowling about!

 

We have seen some fun sights along this road, from huge fields of flowers, to a traffic back-up involving three touring cyclists, a tractor, and passing cars.

 

We have spent nights in a long string of funny RV parks, and one free municipal park in a small town. My parents continue to feed us mountains of vegetables and fresh food every night. One night we stayed at a golf course, and found great amusement watching golfers go by. One group was particularly hilarious, because they were five ‘bros’ in baggy pants and ball caps. Playing golf!

 

 

I have been finishing a long series of books, so it’s been difficult to focus on much in the evenings besides my Kindle. Don’t worry, statisticians out there, my dissertation is still coming along, just… more slowly until I finish this novel. Oh! We also saw the tourist attraction of the world’s largest fly rod. How silly – it is 6 times larger than a normal fishing pole, and of course completely useless. We took the obligatory photos of course.

 

It is interesting to ride into a biggish city – Prince George has about 80,000 inhabitants, so the highways are busy busy, and also the only way in or out of this town. We hadn’t planned on arriving today, but a tailwind and the reduced Sunday traffic convinced us to ride later and arrive a day earlier than planned.  We made it despite the first flat tire of the trip.  Jason got a staple stuck in his tire.  A staple! It was easily fixed.

Originally, we were going to take a rest day here and then head leisurely south and to the coast to catch a ferry to Vancouver Island on the July 11^th. We checked the ferry schedule though, and the service has been reduced greatly. Now our options are July 6 or July 12, and we’ve decided to press on to get ahead of schedule. Inland British Columbia has been a wonderful experience, but we are ready for a new adventure on Vancouver Island. Hopefully conditions are good, and we are able to make it in time to catch the ferry!