May 5 2006 The day has arrived.
Bill and Virginia’s Most Excellent Adventure begins. The movers arrived at 8:30 and finished at about 11.00. Officially we have no home! The last 2 years have been very stressful for the two of us. Virginia had worked seven days a week 12 hours a day caring for her elderly father. Peter passed away in January after six months of rapidly declining health. He passed from this world with Virginia holding his hand. His shallow breathing becoming softer and slower until it gently stopped. She had kept her promise to him that he wouldn’t die in a nursing home. Now you would think that in spite of the sadness we felt we would feel less stress, instead we felt more. Virginia and I continued to awake in the night at every noise. I always felt that financial security would make me happy, I was wrong. We needed to get out of that house and make a move, have an adventure and live something besides the 9 to 5.
I quit my job. We sold most of our stuff and we are hitting the road! We have one rule on this trip which is that we have no rules. We have no have-to do’s. That afternoon we arrived at Haynes Point Provincial Park in Osoyoos that afternoon, set up camp and tried to digest what we are embarking on. The campsite is about 15’ from the lake which is like a mirror. Saturday May 6 2006 6:00 AM-. I carry my surf ski down to the water and slide into the seat. No sounds except the odd fish jumping and the sound of my paddle dipping into the lake.
I follow the east shore of the lake south well into the USA. After an hour I turned the boat west to the other side of the lake then back north to the Canadian side of the medicine line and our campsite. Virginia is cooking up some pancakes as I stow the boat and gear. What a breakfast! Sitting in the early morning sun. California quail and mallards running through the camp.
11:00 AM- Jump on my road bike and head through town to climb Anarchist Mountain on the east side of the valley. This is very similar to climbing Cypress….maybe a little longer. The view is spectacular. At the top I continue on for another ½ hour. Turning back after 2 hours. The wind has really picked up and I find it’s hard to stay on the shoulder of the highway. On one particularly sharp switchback I came very close to riding into a concrete barrier after the wind blew me completely across the road. This is a very good ride and I give it 5 out of 5 for difficulty and road condition.
Sunday May 7 2006
9:00 AM- Still in bed
10:00 AM- Still in bed.
1:00 PM Run north along the highway and try and find a trail. I end up near the High school and take the irrigation canal trail. This is a community project that goes about 3 km’s on gravel road base. Through orchards and endangered antelope sage. I forgot that all vegetation in the desert has thorns. When you ride up to Richter Pass you can see this area on the valley bottom on your right. He trail ends in the middle of nowhere so I turned around and ran back.
Rating 2.5 out of 5. Watch out for rattle snakes.
Monday May 8 2006
6:00 AM Paddle north to the end of the lake. Very calm on the way out. Lot’s of fish jumping. I don’t see anyone else on the lake. At the mouth of the river that empties into the lake I spied what I thought were swans but were Pelicans. Very cool. I had no idea they traveled so far north. I tried to paddle upstream for a while but the river had many shallow sandbars and I had to keep getting out of the boat to cross them. On my way back the wind sprang up from the south and made the return trip a little longer than planned. My ski is considered very stable but it was still a chore to stay sunny side up!
1:00 PM A short run before some serious hammock time. I have never had a hammock before and had no idea how comfortable they were. Hammock time turned into nap time which turned into snack time in the hammock then back into nap time. Virginia got pretty disgusted with me. I think the other campers in the park thought it was neat that a quadriplegic actually got himself into the hammock. I needed a catheter however as the need to pee roused me from my inertia, or maybe it was dinner.
Tuesday May 9 2006
10:00 AM Jump onto my mountain bike. I rode past the High School and to a subdivision above the golf course. I met up with a couple from Invermere who are coffee roasters for Kicking Horse Coffee (Tom and Sue) and Tom’s brother from Victoria who was a brew master (Paul). We rode up a 4 by 4 track for about 2 hours and climbed about 800 meters. The track came very close to the border. It was very steep in sections and occasionally I was forced to push my bike. Tom rode most of it. At the top we faced west to a staggering view of the Cascades (I think) and Cathedral Provincial Park. brown eyed susan’s, cotton woods and ponderosa pines with the ever present antelope sage. Lots of cows, some advice, don’t ride between Mooma and calf unless you have a Tom Boonen kind of sprint. I promise I will never do that again. Lots of long tailed magpies and California quail. I saw deer tracks. This is open country so the views are spectacular! I don’t think it’s possible to get lost. The descent was a bit of a let down as the singletrack was steep but easy. The only obstacle was some deep sandy sections. Note: The top can be reached by 4 by 4. This is a super cardio workout
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (actually a 5 out of 5 for the climb, the reduction on the singletrack)
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Bill and Virginia’s Most Excellent Adventure begins. The movers arrived at 8:30 and finished at about 11.00. Officially we have no home! The last 2 years have been very stressful for the two of us. Virginia had worked seven days a week 12 hours a day caring for her elderly father. Peter passed away in January after six months of rapidly declining health. He passed from this world with Virginia holding his hand. His shallow breathing becoming softer and slower until it gently stopped. She had kept her promise to him that he wouldn’t die in a nursing home. Now you would think that in spite of the sadness we felt we would feel less stress, instead we felt more. Virginia and I continued to awake in the night at every noise. I always felt that financial security would make me happy, I was wrong. We needed to get out of that house and make a move, have an adventure and live something besides the 9 to 5.
I quit my job. We sold most of our stuff and we are hitting the road! We have one rule on this trip which is that we have no rules. We have no have-to do’s. That afternoon we arrived at Haynes Point Provincial Park in Osoyoos that afternoon, set up camp and tried to digest what we are embarking on. The campsite is about 15’ from the lake which is like a mirror. Saturday May 6 2006 6:00 AM-. I carry my surf ski down to the water and slide into the seat. No sounds except the odd fish jumping and the sound of my paddle dipping into the lake.
I follow the east shore of the lake south well into the USA. After an hour I turned the boat west to the other side of the lake then back north to the Canadian side of the medicine line and our campsite. Virginia is cooking up some pancakes as I stow the boat and gear. What a breakfast! Sitting in the early morning sun. California quail and mallards running through the camp. 11:00 AM- Jump on my road bike and head through town to climb Anarchist Mountain on the east side of the valley. This is very similar to climbing Cypress….maybe a little longer. The view is spectacular. At the top I continue on for another ½ hour. Turning back after 2 hours. The wind has really picked up and I find it’s hard to stay on the shoulder of the highway. On one particularly sharp switchback I came very close to riding into a concrete barrier after the wind blew me completely across the road. This is a very good ride and I give it 5 out of 5 for difficulty and road condition.
Sunday May 7 2006
9:00 AM- Still in bed
10:00 AM- Still in bed.
1:00 PM Run north along the highway and try and find a trail. I end up near the High school and take the irrigation canal trail. This is a community project that goes about 3 km’s on gravel road base. Through orchards and endangered antelope sage. I forgot that all vegetation in the desert has thorns. When you ride up to Richter Pass you can see this area on the valley bottom on your right. He trail ends in the middle of nowhere so I turned around and ran back.
Rating 2.5 out of 5. Watch out for rattle snakes.
Monday May 8 2006
6:00 AM Paddle north to the end of the lake. Very calm on the way out. Lot’s of fish jumping. I don’t see anyone else on the lake. At the mouth of the river that empties into the lake I spied what I thought were swans but were Pelicans. Very cool. I had no idea they traveled so far north. I tried to paddle upstream for a while but the river had many shallow sandbars and I had to keep getting out of the boat to cross them. On my way back the wind sprang up from the south and made the return trip a little longer than planned. My ski is considered very stable but it was still a chore to stay sunny side up!
1:00 PM A short run before some serious hammock time. I have never had a hammock before and had no idea how comfortable they were. Hammock time turned into nap time which turned into snack time in the hammock then back into nap time. Virginia got pretty disgusted with me. I think the other campers in the park thought it was neat that a quadriplegic actually got himself into the hammock. I needed a catheter however as the need to pee roused me from my inertia, or maybe it was dinner.
Tuesday May 9 2006
10:00 AM Jump onto my mountain bike. I rode past the High School and to a subdivision above the golf course. I met up with a couple from Invermere who are coffee roasters for Kicking Horse Coffee (Tom and Sue) and Tom’s brother from Victoria who was a brew master (Paul). We rode up a 4 by 4 track for about 2 hours and climbed about 800 meters. The track came very close to the border. It was very steep in sections and occasionally I was forced to push my bike. Tom rode most of it. At the top we faced west to a staggering view of the Cascades (I think) and Cathedral Provincial Park. brown eyed susan’s, cotton woods and ponderosa pines with the ever present antelope sage. Lots of cows, some advice, don’t ride between Mooma and calf unless you have a Tom Boonen kind of sprint. I promise I will never do that again. Lots of long tailed magpies and California quail. I saw deer tracks. This is open country so the views are spectacular! I don’t think it’s possible to get lost. The descent was a bit of a let down as the singletrack was steep but easy. The only obstacle was some deep sandy sections. Note: The top can be reached by 4 by 4. This is a super cardio workout
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (actually a 5 out of 5 for the climb, the reduction on the singletrack)
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
posted by Bill at 4:40 PM
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