There must be some kind of way out of here (II):...Lytton to 100 Mile House

5:00

What a difference to yesterday when I have my first cigarette outside.....

...the storm is here..... the wind drives intermittent rain across the courtyard.

10:30
I'm packed and almost ready to go....

11:00
A rest stop just before Goldpan...

it must be a pain to keep that railway line free of debris ....

and afterwards: another of many stops...

...
and another one, a few km before Cache Creek

I remember all these spots form years ago.... but back then I never took the time to stop.... I was too intent to complete the 1200 km to the farm within 24 hours!

13:30
NOW, I HATE car driving SO MUCH..... all my senses are numb when I step out of the car...... 100 Mile House hasn't changed much, LOL

The place looks similar to Dawson Creek all those years ago.... people bear themselves differently...and they are dressed differently....

Sushi & Noodle.... NO white wine available (but they have Asahi ;-) and probably the most watery Miso Soup I ever had...

The food is OK though, even if a bit bland, and not cheap.... but I shouldn't complain .... I need to remember WHERE I am !

14:10.....I check into the hotel

And then it's time to do a little bit more driving..... to get to the target location of this long journey:

There is a hardware store there.... I pull into the parking lot.... I enter and look around.... someone is taking care of a customer and I recognize her, LOL.

I try to take another less shaky picture but by then Z has noticed and recognized me....  we agree to meet at my hotel later.

16:00
I'm back from the Liquor Store (with the HOTTEST Asian working there ;-) with 3 bottles of wine.... It's probably not worth stocking up too much ..... this is the Caribooze Country, so resupply can be found everywhere!

17:25
I'm napped & showered, I am ready for Zu's arrival.... might as well drink some wine while I wait, LOL.

18:00
Dinner at the Firehouse Diner.... and Zu has a sip of wine in my hotel room....

We also NEED to take some selfies for a common friend... Hans-Werner on Norderney ;-)

If the pictures don't spell it out clearly enough:   We get along SO WELL.... I am rat vui that I came up to 100 Mile House ;-)

22:00

There must be some kind of way out of here (I):.... Vancouver to Lytton

5:30
EVERYTHING seems to hurt today.... WTF?

7:45
I have started packing..... and I need to pick up the car soon.... or should I ride the bike to Grandma first ?

8:20
I have the car.... just WHY did Joana give me the extra insurance or bigger car?.... gotta talk to her about that!.....now I just have to get the bicycle to Grandma and take a taxi back.... and I don't want to get stuck in the morning rush hour in a taxi ! So I better wait a little to cycle off.... but then rain clouds are looming over the mountains.... can't win!

I think I even feel the first individual drops.... but maybe that's psychosomatic again ;-)

9:15
The taxi delivered me to my hotel again...... I've thrown all the luggage in the car.....

10:30
on y va!

What can I say..... I am SHELL-Shocked when I finally sit down in Pho Xuan restaurant in Chilliwack..... stop-and-go traffic from Langley to Abbotsford....

...an absolute NIGHTMARE ! And trying to detour THROUGH Abbotsford to avoid the highway traffic was even worse !

The owner brings me my food and exclaims "Did you MOVE here?"  I don't recognize the man !?!  How embarrassing.....He used to be a waiter at my North Vancouver Viet restaurant.  And he obviously remembers me CLEARLY because the next thing he says "No alcohol here!"

12:45
Time to hit the bloody road again ...

WHY can't I see those mountains clearly?   FUCKING CAR EXHAUST !
And I am part of the problem today ;-(

Yale.... gone to the dogs in the last 5 years

Just before Lytton:  Signs of forest fires of the past:

Wow, I'll be staying in a town with 345 inhabitants?

Lytton:   The Totem Motel:
The Asian owner didn't get the Booking.com info right, he wants to put me into a tiny bedroom.... 
But I get what I want..... the first thing I do is rip open the windows and the door open.... because it's FREEZING in that room even though the a/c is NOT on..... 

There is an e-mail from Lisa ...

OMG, I so MISS these people !

The house is making progress......

....and it's GORGEOUS ;-)

But back to my present reality: A quick check of the view from the 'Garden'...

The "mighty Fraser"....

.... and then I'm walking to the Agency General Store...

... and the cashier is Asian too, with a wonderful and cheery demeanour.....  no wonder they have a Chinese Museum in this town, LOL

16:15
I can't just sit in my room and eat and drink, or I'll look like the average Canadian soon ....

NOPE, I'm going for a short walk.....

....because there is somewhere I want to go....

There is a bridge here in Lytton.....

... and it passes over the Thompson River, which here in Lytton flows into the Fraser River...

OK, so I obviously have had a few ;-)

The pictures from the bridge don't turn out... but the bridge is visible in the picture below....

17:00
I check out hotel prices in Vancouver over the weekend..... the Gay Pride Parade is on Sunday.... and the already insane prices have increased from $200 to $250 for that day..... 

17:10
The Motel WiFi becomes unusable....

17:15
A woman starts playing trumpet (REALLY BADLY) right in front of my window...

17:30
I check with the receptionist whether his WiFi router is acting up... Nope, that's just NORMAL..... FUCKING THIRD WORLD LIVING!

20:30

Bicycle Mania (XIII):....Gulag-bound..... Nanaimo to North Vancouver

5:30

Yes, that is light outside..... even the pulp mill is already awake..

..I am hesitant to go for a cigarette outside because I'm willing to bet that the elevator is still out.

OMG, the elevator IS working again...


17 more sleeps until I'm back HOME... the numbers are tumbling and the length of time is getting more bearable!

8:00
I'm semi-drunk, am smoking illegally on the balcony, and am confident that I have LICKED this culture....

9:00


I clarify the check-out time with the new receptionist..... but when I ask "do I get a free bag of cookies for yesterday's broken elevator" I embarrass him.  He's not allowed!..... I like the Russian woman walking up and saying "Och, dochn't be a cheachp boych!"   At least someone still has a sense of humour !


I check the BC Ferries conditions....

....there ALREADY is a 2 ferry sailing wait (i.e. you won't get on this ferry and you will NOT get on the next one) !  They even tell pedestrians to be wary of a sailing waits.... Yeah, punishing car-driving climate-killers with sailing waits is perfectly acceptable.... but how DARE YOU making pedestrians & cyclists wait!

Fuck Third World Living!

11:20 check out

11:45
In the ferry terminal: Beautiful First Nations motives mugs .... Made in China.... the Departure Bay foot passenger lounge is just like YVR... everything is FAKE!

There are lots of food outlets here too.... I end up eating the healthiest food available.... a HOT DOG.... 

... FUCKING FAT Philistines !  No wonder almost everyone on this ferry sports a huge beer gut.

12:05
I've parked my laptop in the workstation area of the ferry..... the earlier we leave, the earlier I can get off this NO-SMOKING, NO-BOOZE commercial wonderland..... 



13:30
I am SO BORED..... the ferry is packed and the fat people stand in line for a whole hour to get more fattening BC Ferries Cafeteria food....

.....  Meanwhile, I am NOT allowed to smoke, I am NOT allowed to drink, the WiFi cuts out every 2 minutes and is almost impossible to re-engage,  what else...?  I'm sure there are more things I'm not allowed to do right now ....

I fall asleep for a moment.... but then my phone rings.... Granny's caretaker has called in sick..... WHAT possible good would do me this information if I was in Vietnam?

It's too bloody cold on the passenger deck of the ferry (they should turn down the a/c a bit!), so I hang out on the top deck for a bit.... but the view is too depressing (I realize that most tourists would LOVE this view ;-) .... I'm heading back to Vancouver....

Yes, that haze is man-made ....

Horseshoe Bay

the noise... the stench .... same old, same old.....

I have a tail-wind when riding back to North Vancouver.....

15:00
I'm in my hotel room.... and I can hear the people next door through the door between the possibly connecting rooms ;-(

 I'm back here (NOT a good thing) ...... but I rode a distance of 564 km by bicycle (YEAH!) ..... and I'm GLAD that I did ;-)

16:00
Time to buy more booze and to reserve a car for the next rainy day.....

They've finally completely razed my old hotel to the ground...

LOL, at my local car rental place, Joana's husband (why do I still not know his name after all this time?) mentions that I should have a blog...... I guess I will give him the URL when I pick up the car and HOPE that I've never written anything bad about them, LOL.

17:00
As for the cleanliness of this place:

Yes that is $2 'dirt' in the corner of the room .... 'nough said

18:00
I've picked up laundry powder at the gas station (much cheaper than buying it in the hotel) and laundry at this hotel is comparatively cheap at $2 per washer and $2 per dryer load..... and some of my clothes REALLY need a PROPER wash after 2 weeks of sink laundry ;-)

19:00
Time to get some food and speak tieng Viet..... it's the cute young guy at Pho Japolo, and I say "toi xin loi, toi se co gang noi tieng viet" ... and he actually understands me !... he even says "that's very good!".

Unfortunately they're out of chicken curry (for ever?) so I have to order the alternative ....


20:30

Tipsy & Tired.....