7-18-08

Worst night of sleep…of my life. Campground situated next to Bosnian Train Station with rocket fire and rebel attacks. Huge diesel train engines revving up all through the night. I heard the strangest sound and in a half sleeping daze my mind was working out possible sources. It really did sound like a machine that was creating lightning and firing massive bolts at the train engines…

Stopped to pick up our first can of bear spray…the gentleman behind the counter suggested we just yodel instead…nice…so if we get between the bear and her cubs we’ll just start singing…yeah that won’t seem threatening…another suggested a bell on the handle bars…hey we’re not delivering the Sunday Times here…we understand the bells when you’re hiking and going slow but likely not going to help when you’re flying down the hill…I didn’t want to get into the whole Doppler effect…

During purchase Chad stopped in to view the sunglasses selection. Chad has inspected every pair of sunglasses for sale in every visitor center, hardware store, hotel, gas station, grocery store, bike shop, gift shop, t-shirt joint, outhouse, hen house, lighthouse and stable…still no purchase.

The plan is to do two rides today. The first at Moonraker Mountain and the second at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort where they have a gondola to take us and our bikes to the top.

Moonraker was decent. Stumbled upon a massive canyon and a lonely mountain goat. The lower portion we heard some animal moving in the distant but couldn’t see. We suspected a moose, but I unholstered the 9mm bear spray and started to conjure up my inner Clint Eastwood. Nothing in site, both at ease now we rolled out to the parking lot.

Kicking Horse was a nice looking resort area. Bad weather rolling in…had to skip the ride. Back on the road to get some traveling in during the bad weather. Drove southwest from Golden to Revelstoke and stopped in to get some groceries and stop at a visitor center. We pushed on south to Vernon and got some dinner where Kokanee lagers were absorbed in bulk. Hotel time, too late for camping crap. Inquired at a local haunt. The lady working the desk wouldn’t let us leave after Chad asked how much it was. We got in a bitter bidding war. We laughed it off and ended up leaving. We kept going and eventual get to Kelowna around 11:30pm. Grab a cheap hotel, shower up and sleep.