That night was a weird one because firstly I went to bed pissed off and uspet about what the people at the van park obviously thought of me but also because of the gazillion bugs that had made their way into my tent during my absence.The little buggers weren't all that agressive nor were trying to eat me alive but man were they annoying,crawling all over me they way they were.It seems that the mesh of my tent was just a little too widely spaced to keep the little critters out and they came and went as they pleased.To combat the situation all I could do was put on my tights,long sleeve top,balaclava and gloves which left nothing uncovered and the bugs no longer a worry.
The next morning I was all psyched to get going and at 6:30am I was in the restaurant having a coffee and studying the map of the route that would take me the 130 kilometers to Watson Lake by just after mid-day that day.I swallowed my coffee,said my goodbyes to the folks at the lodge and rolled out into the fog that was shrouding the mountains around me.Not to worry though as it wasn't that thick and it did show promise of breaking up in the not too distant future.
I quickly climbed the only hill I had to face that morning and began the long descent down the other side of the great divide.At this rate I would be in Watson Lake by lunch and my mood was brightening morre every minute.I sped through the first 18 kilometers like it was nothing and reached Racheria Lodge around 7:45 am but that was all for nothing as the familiar feeling under my saddle hit me again.The unmistakeable rumble of a tyre without any air.Damn!!I pulled over and slowy rode the short few hundred meters through past the campground entrance and on to the restaurant and stopped to survey the wheel.First though it was inside for a take out coffee to get me through the wheel fixing process.Can't keep a devout addict down!
I changed the tube and patched the old one but it became obvious that these tubes were all pretty much shot and any more punctures and it would be all over red rover until I bought some new ones and finally figured out what was wrong.It didn't take long to change the tyre and drink my coffee and I was soon off again riding along the gradual downhill that follows the Rancheria River towards Watson Lake.It was a great ride and the kilometers were ticking along nicely for the next two hours until the inevitable happened,yet another flat.That was it,I was done!There was no point going on like this and so I stuck the thumb out and started hitching.
I stood on the side of the highway for about ninety minutes before someone pulled over but the problem was he was going in the wrong direction.The good thing was that he was the roadworker that I had met a few days earlier when my trouble with my tyres had just begun.It had started to rain and although he wasn't going to Watson lake he would take me back to Rancheria Lodge where I would at least have shelter and a chance at a ride.I gave up and agreed and so by lunch I was back where I was around breakfast time.This time,there was no choice,I needed a ride.
I went into the lodge and ordered some lunch and then went about making enquiries about rides to Watson Lake.The general consesus was that I had little chance of hitching in this weather but I was determined and after lunch headed out onto the highway and tried my luck.After an hour or so I went back inside to get out of the rain and the lodge co-owner Linda asked me if I wanted a room for the night.After spending the last week camping in the rain I said yes and she gave me some keys and showed me to my room.I asked her what the rate was and she smiled and said we have special rates for some cyclists and told me to worry about that in the morning.The first thing I did was have a nice long,hot bath.It was bliss!!
After handwashing all my bike gear and hanging it up near the radiator I went over to the lounge and set up my laptop and got to work again on my blog ( this bloody thing takes work folks!!!!).I uploaded a bunch of photo's to Facebook and wrote some more of my blog before the guys from around the lodge stopped work for the day.They bought me a beer and we started chatting away about my trip and what it was like riding the ALCAN.Pretty soon we were joined by a trucker and two young backpackers who he had picked up at Laird Hot Springs erlier that day.Our little group grew and so did the laughter as we all solved the worlds problems one by one.The classic was when a girl from the National Census Dept came in and aske for Dennis the lodge owner and Lindas'husband,he pointed straight at me and said "that is Dennis".She laughed and said,"I know that isn't Dennis"and turned her attention back to him."If you know that he isn't Dennis" he barked " and you obviously know that I am then why don't you fill out the damn form yourself?" and then it went all to hell.The poor girl didn't know what hit her after he launched into a tirade about government watchdogs and big brother and all that,I thought it was pretty funny as some of the stuff he was coming out with was so backward that I figured he must play the banjo with his brothers by the river in his spare time.Holy cow he was a hillbilly but a damn funny one.
The census girl gave up and told him that it was compulsory for him to fill it in and that someone would be back again and again until he did and with that she left.He looked at me and asked if I thought he had been too harsh and I said "Mate, you could at least have given her a drink for her trouble"and he asked "why would I give her a drink?"to which I simply replied "because the beers would taste a damn sight better if we were drinking them with a cute chick like her around than having nothing but your ugly mugs to look at".The rest of the guys fell apart laughing and Dennis got me a beer from the fridge and handed it to me saying "man I gotta get me down to Australia!"It was a classic evening with some very funny,uncomplicated,hardworking people and I loved hanging out with them,even if it was only for a couple of hours.These days though, three or four beers is a big night so it was off to the room for me.A nice warm bed and twenty satellite movie channels were waiting.
The next morning it was off up the highway for a quick run and a reminder that my knee was still trashed before heading back for a hot bath followed by a coffee.Linda told me that I might as well catch the bus and I agreed.I did some calculations and with the help of Yahoo Maps decided that as time was running out and that I would catch the bus to Dawson Creek which would leave me only 780 kilometers to ride between the 19th and the 25th which would mean three full days off before being picked up by my crew in Lake Louise on the 28th and driven to Penticton.No worries,so I called Greyhound and confirmed that they would be stopping that afternoon around 5:55 and that they would have no problems with my bike.Excellent,so now it was back to my room to pack and sneak another movie in before checkout.
At around noon I emerged from my room and continued with some blogging and had some lunch afterwhich I wanted to settle my tab with Linda,Shhe charged me the full price for lunch but when I asked about the room she just wondered out loud to herself "Mmm,how much should we charge you? How about $20?".I was stunned!The rack rate for her rooms is $80 but she just told me not to worry and that it was her plaesure.Man what could I say but "thank you so much".Country kindness at it's very best!!
I went back into the lounge and within ten minutes who should I see walk throught the restaurant doors but old Jack himself looking just a little bit trimmer than I had seen him last,over 800 kilometers before.I got stariaght up and gave him a big hug and told him to join me in the lounge while I waited to hop the bus out of there.He did just that and we caught up on all the gossip of each others trips and just as we thought we couldn't talk about the road anymore two young German cyclists walked through the door to join us.This young couple knew Jack and had met some of the others down the road and surprisingly had heard aout me as well.We passed the next couple of hours chatting and drinking beer that Jack kindly bought and all the while I kept my eye on my watch.Linda had tld me that the bus would stop and that they drivers used this place as a smoke break stop but I was concerned after my last bus stranding incident and went outside to watch the highway for the approaching coach.I saw it alright,I saw it as it drove straight past the lodge,straight past me and straight down the highway towards Watson Lake.You have to be fucking kidding me,I was stuck again!!
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