2012 Rolling Over the 100K - Part 4 of 10

2012 Rolling Over the 100K

Part 4 of 10

The Gravel Patch

A Multitude of Matchsticks

Still in BC?

The Gravel Patch

I continued along the Crowsnest highway through the charming towns of Castlegar, Salmo, Creston, Cranbruck and Fernie until I came within a stones throw of the village of Sparwood. I had foregone more than half-a-dozen opportunities to cross into the United States. My original plan was to head straight towards Lethbridge, Alberta, and then turn due south into Montana. I wanted to stick with it. It had been a terrific day and I was tired and thirsty. As I was trying to decide where I was going to stay for the night I passed the Mountain Shadows Campground on my right and a rather large beer store on my left. It had a red flashing neon sign that said “OPEN”. It was winking at me. How Perfect! Only one small camping spot was still available and it was situated right next to the highway. It was mostly gravel – not grass – and barely large enough to fit my pup-tent and my Harley. I decided to take it anyway because I was quite tired and very thirsty. I parked my Harley and I set-up my tent on the small uneven surface of the gravel patch and I walked across the highway and bought two tall boys of ice-cold Coors light beer. I felt like someone was cutting my throat with a sharp knife as I took my first gulp. Boy were they GOOD! The next morning I knew that something was wrong the moment I opened my eyes. My whole body hurt and I spent the first few minutes trying to decided which part of my body would hurt the least when I tried moved it. I was moving very slowly that morning. My head was clear but everything below my neck would not move without a great deal of effort and pain. The first thing I did when I reached Sparwood was drink several hot coffees and eat a nice breakfast since I'd skipped supper the night before. I was ready to ride a again.

A Multitude of Matchsticks

Continuing East from Sparwood I noticed a substantial increase in commercial truck traffic, especially the huge logging trucks carrying tons and tons of lumber. Never in the world have I seen trucks so huge and carrying such massive loads. Sometimes, I saw them travelling in convoys. They were good drivers. They kept to the speed limit; they were courteous to other vehicles including me and they always left ample space between trucks to allow you to get past safely. I let my imagination run rampant as I tried to count the uses of that lumber. Of course, the vast majority of it would be used in the construction industry, I presumed. After a while, I began to remember when I used to smoke cigarettes and I couldn't help but think of the multitude of wooden matchsticks I went through over the years. Then, as a real mind-bender, I tried to calculate how many matchsticks could be made out of the load on the truck in front of me. Surely several billions. I never did, however, come up with an actual figure but I had no doubt it would have been a huge multitude of matchsticks.

Still in BC?

Its not hard to lose track of the days when you're on the road with a bike and a tent and you're having a real good time. That's how I felt today. I wanted to stay in south-eastern BC because it was so beautiful and the towns and villages were so very quaint and interesting but I figured it was about time I left BC. I began to count. OK, I left Vancouver last Tuesday morning and camped overnight at the Christina Lake Campground. That was Day one. The next day was following the Crowsnest highway all the way to Sparwood where I camped overnight. That was Day two. Hey! .....I'm already in Day three and where's Alberta? It takes four days to get out of Ontario from Ottawa but it normally takes only two days to get out of BC travelling east. I pulled-over to take a look at my road map. It had seen better days. It was torn and tattered and I don't remember ever seeing it completely dry. Good value for $3.95 though. Oh! I saw two major factors which explained why I was still in BC. Firstly, Southern BC pushes the Alberta border considerably further east than does the northern part of the Province. Secondly, the highways in Southern BC were not built as east-west direct routes. Hwy 3, for example, loops up and down like an angry serpent taking a hissy-fit. Consequently, you eat-up hundreds of kilometres travelling north and south as opposed to going west in a straight line. That explained things. Ah Well! Alberta here I come! Its not my most favourite Province.