This morning started for me around 3:00 AM!! That’s when the domestic violence started in the hallway outside our door. Lovers quarrel would probably be more accurate but they were loud. We had seen these kids (two guys and two girls) around the hotel earlier in the day and they seemed happy enough just smoking cigarettes on the outside stairway and laughing. I believe however, that the application of copious amounts of alcohol changed things for the worse. She was not happy about several things and he wasn’t happy about having to listen to her. I thought it would stop any minute and I would be able to go back to sleep but it never did. The cops came and hauled the girl away but at that point the damage was done, I was up for the day. I went into the lobby and surfed around on the Internet & caught up with my Journal. Breakfast was served (cereal and muffins, you know the “free” kind) at 0630 and I was back in the room getting ready by 0700. Rich and John were already up & they went to breakfast while I started packing my “stuff”. Speaking of which – I think I have twice as much “stuff” as those two put together. Of course they don’t have cameras and computers and all the necessary support items those gadgets require. Okay, I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining – it’s just a hassle getting it off and back onto the bike and I’m sure by the end of this ride I won’t be quite as anxious to take so much “stuff” along.
On the road around 0830 with a short day planned – Prince George is about 425 miles from Abbotsford and it will be nice to get on the bikes and be off in just a few hours. Overcast and cool but not enough to put on any of the electric clothing and road conditions were quite good. At around 1245 we stopped at 100 Mile (yes that’s the name of the town – many of the towns on that stretch of road are named for the milepost) for lunch at the A&W. It was certainly good enough for the likes of us – hungry and wanting something other than cold cereal. From there it was only going to be three or four hours to Prince George our bellies were full & we were in good spirits, happy to be back on the road.
It started getting warmer and we pulled over to shed everything but the cotton clothes, really beautiful country – I should be taking more pictures. When we got to Prince George I expected to find hotels all over the place. I had some time this morning to check it out and Google Maps said there were LOTS of them. I should have picked one and put the address in my GPS. I just figured that with so many there would be an obvious main street and that would be where hotel row was – uh, not so much. We were all looking and didn’t see anything – pulled over to discuss it and opted for the next town. Bear Lake did have a hotel but it was a small one and full up. By now we need something that is going to be a sure bet because we aren’t interested (at least I’m not) in playing the hop scotch here and there looking for a town with a hotel room. We were told that Chetwynd would certainly have rooms available. Bear Lake was just a gas station on the side of the road, Chetwynd must be a real town.
The sun is going down – time to get out the electric clothes. Bear Lake to Chetwynd is going to be about 140 miles I’m going about 70 mph in the 100 km speed zones so I think maybe two hours and change with slowing for towns etc along the way. Now if you go to www.bcroads.com or something like that you’ll see that we were heading into some pretty serious road construction. By the time we got there though, all the workers were done so other than having to slow down for the condition of the road we sailed right through. If you can call white knuckling it over loose rocks so deep that makes it feel like you’re riding your dirt bike through the river bed, “sailing right through it”. I was sure one of us was going to drop our bike – but we managed to keep them upright. We were fortunate though because after talking to other people about the construction along that road, many have had two hour delays or longer. Only 20 miles to go, whew – What!! more construction. This time we need a follow me truck to lead us. I don’t know how long the line of cars had been waiting but it was fairly long. When we pulled up, it started moving – it was like they were waiting for us or something – what luck. I think we followed that truck for 5 or 6 miles through places where the river had washed out the road; one lane wooden bridges that were creaking and groaning, etc. It would have been a great time to have the video camera running.
We pulled into Chetwynd and I was not optimistic. The hotel parking lots appeared to have at least as many vehicles as they had rooms. I was looking for Vacancy or NO Vacancy signs but I guess they don’t believe in them up here. As we rode through town on our reconnaissance run I spotted a couple hotels that had a parking space or two available. We flipped a U and the first place we stopped was perfect, another lucky thing because it is starting to rain. Nice large room, with two beds and a cot, free wi-fi in the rooms, and it looks like a nice enough place that we won’t be dealing with the civil unrest we had to endure the night before.
Oh yea, I forgot to mention – somewhere along the way a stinging bug of some kind got over my windshield and lodged itself between my helmet strap and my head. His last effort in life hit home and I was yanking off my helmet at 70 mph. Never did see what it was but it was gone which is all that really mattered at that point. I must not be allergic to whatever it was but my head is a little bumped out on that side. Glad it doesn’t hurt or itch.