I wake up as the sun rises over the crest of the hill behind Meghan and Gary's house. As usual Meagan is already up and has begun packing. Before we leave, there are few additional adjustments that Neil wants to make to our bikes, so he goes to work, which leaves Meagan and I to munch on a bit of breakfast care of our hosts. The kids are now up and about, and pass hither and yawn about the kitchen, yard and house, however their mom gets them packed, zips them to school and makes it back in only a few minutes. She is very capable with her children.
Now packed, fed and tuned up we say farewell, and hit the road. Meagan wants to leave a bit ahead of me just so she doesn't get left in the dust. I have been consistently quite a bit faster than her, and I guess she is tired of coming in later. Fine with me.
So I wander back to Chum's Restaurant and as I am jumping off the bike, I notice a small peculiar piece of plastic on the ground. As I bend to examine it, I think, hmm, I think this would fit on my MP3 player charger. Opening my saddlebag, sure enough the plastic fitting is missing from mine; I guess it fell off the day before I and I hadn't noticed it. Weird coincidence.
Water bottles filled I finally leave the town of Cache Creek heading east along the TransCanada Highway. The gradual hill out of town is a piece of cake, as is the series of rolling hills along the road. Behind me is a gentle tailwind as I pass lushly irrigated farmland surrounded by the rugged desert of the countryside. Sure enough though, it soon becomes apparent that the landscape is transitioning from arid and to something quite a bit more foliated.
The day off yesterday has refreshed my body and legs greatly and I power over the countryside, quickly overtaking Meagan, and finally surging up a hill in terrain which can only be described as desert. As oasis style gas station is just off the road and I think, hmmm, lunchtime.
Sometime passes, and Meagan eventually passes the station without stopping in. I wave her on, finish up and get back on the bike. Now I am directly under the noon sun, and even my freshly refilled water bottles are empty after only a few more minutes of climbing and riding. Below a shady tree I see Meagan, chat with her a while then continue under the yellow suns glare. Well, I am thirsty before long.
In this state I pass the town of Savona (not stopping of course) and begin a climb which I call the Savona Hill since I don't know its real name if it has one. The heat, incline and traffic make this distinctly challenging and before long my water is totally gone. Fortunately I encounter Cal Setter coming round a sharp turn on the road. He has his power tools on the back of his truck, and is remounting the small shrine he started years ago to mark the place his daughter was killed.
We talk and share our experiences for most of an hour, and he offers me some very appreciated water which are accepted graciously. Meagan passes me after some time, and doesn't stop. Before leaving, he hands me his card and asks for a post card from the end of my journey. Sure thing.
Continuing along I see Meagan pushing her bike up the steep climb. I make up some of the distance before she summits the hill and is gone. Summiting some 5 minutes later she is nowhere in sight, however there is a fantastic lookout point and a picnic table where I sit, eat and take a small nap.
Upon waking I see in the distance a grass fire burning the side of the valley some way ahead of me. After some photos of the event I jump on the bike and cruise down the far side of the Savona Hill. There is a long valley between me and the next climb which I fully expect to bring me into Kamloops. The valley itself is lined by farmland, and even as I descend the hill I see the firemen working to douse the upcoming blaze. By the time I pass them the fire is well and truly out.
It's about this time I get a call from Meagan saying that she is almost dead from weariness some way ahead of me. I tell her to take it easy and I will try and catch up to her. For myself, I am still quite drained from my own climb and the crossing of the valley so I can quite relate to what is going on with her.
Now the trees off the road are entirely dense and impenetrable with foliage, and I can see the clouds cruising in with an ominous dark tint. The rain starts as I come across a gas station where I hide under an awning, drink some chocolate milk and call my parents, friends and Meagan (who has turned her phone off). The owners of the station let me know that Meagan had passed by about 30 minutes earlier.
Moments before I go to leave, Gary (my host from last night) strolls in the gas station. He lets me know that he has spoken with Meagan, and that I am some 5 kilometers behind her. Wishing me luck, I leave and take on the final climb before entering the town of Kamloops. My legs are extremely tired and I break every couple hundred feet. On one of these breaks my friend Sandy calls me to return my call from a few minutes earlier which she had missed. We chat for a few minutes, she wishes me love and good luck and I grind my way to the summit.
Around one final bend is Kamloops, and a few quick calls to Meagan gets me to the Petro Canada diner after a short but pleasant ride into town. Meagan is sitting with three other women (apparently friends, and friends of friends) who have arrived from Merritt. Gloria is Meagan's oldest and best friends, and with her she has brought Holly and Shareen. We gab about the trip for a few minutes, then the conversation drifts off to the Landmark Forum, which Shareen is interested in taking.
Dinner wraps up a short while later, and Gloria and friends invite Meagan and I to a drum circle. Cool, I think and volunteer the two of us as compatriots for the evening. Before we head down to the event, Meagan and I scoot over the nearest hotel and unpack our things. Jumping in Shareen's car we zip downtown Kamloops only to discover that the smoke is pouring out of the drivers side front wheel well. Apparently the break has seized. We get out of the car, and Shareen goes off to park the vehicle.
It's at this point that Meagan expresses her displeasure with having to come by stomping around and huffing and puffing (no kidding, she actually was stomping and huffing and puffing!). We briefly talk, and she tells me that she really didn't want to come, but felt all sorts of pressure from me as well as Gloria.
In the few minutes I take to go find where Shareen has parked, Meagan jumps into a cab and disappears to places unknown. I find Shareen, however now everyone else has disappeared. Sometime passes while Shareen and I sit by her car, hoping for people to show up. Gloria shows up and says she is pissed off Meagan left after she had driven up from Merritt just to see her. Not only that, Holly has totally disappeared.
We agree to meet Gloria when she finds Holly at the drum circle, and Shareen and I wander off in that direction. At this point I should mention that I am really not concerned with Meagan leaving. I understand she is tired and didn't want to come in the first place, so I expect that since she is a big girl she has taken care of herself and left when I wasn't around so that she wouldn't feel pressured to stay. So Shareen and I arrive at the drum circle, and I am sorely disappointed. It turns out that there are two people with drums and about two dozen kids doings some variety of drugs, drinking and smoking. What's more, the drummers only play for a few minutes before being distracted into chatting with the comers and goers.
Gloria arrives some minutes later, and after a brief conversation is over her upset regarding how the evening is going. Holly is apparently uninterested in the drum circle thing entirely and is more concerned with getting home safely given that her ride is now unusable as reliable transportation. She has called her father and is waiting for him to come up from Merritt.
Gloria also introduces two people who are now with her, her uncle and aunt. Between the four of us, we conclude that we aren't terribly interested in hanging around. Shareen says she wants to stay so we say farewell, and head back to the aunt and uncles car. They agree to take me back to the hotel, and as we leave we see Holly, also leaving with her dad (I presume). Gloria says she is going to go with her instead and leaves me alone with the aunt and uncle.
We chat on the short ride back to the hotel, where I thank them for the ride, and head to my room. Meagan is fast asleep already and after a few minutes on my laptop I am done for the evening.
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