No regrets

Had a good day on the road again today. Started off great with a leisurely breakfast with Karen and the girls. Then it was down the I5 to Oregon. There was some really slow traffic just south of Seattle, but after that it was a good drive.

Have you ever been close to a major attraction, but not taken the time to go and visit it

and then regretted it later? That happened to me several times while working in different parts of the world, including missing out on Machu Pichu and Everest base camp. Finally I resolved to take the extra time. To visit attractions if I was close enough. So, today we headed south to Eugene, Oregon. This was slightly further south than we had planned, but there was something I had been wanting to see for quite a while - Hayward Field. This is the historic running track

where Steve Prefontein set many of the American records in the early seventies while being coached by Bill Bowerman. It has been extensively renovated since then and has a new surface to the track and new buildings, but it is still impressive. The front gates were locked, but I managed to find a way in at the back, kicked off my sandals, took off my shirt and ran a mile on the track barefoot. That was cool.

The drive east of Eugene was really picturesque, with spruce-lined route 126 running alongside the Mackenzie river. Eventually we headed into the Cascade mountains, but the route we wanted to take was closed, probably because of snow. We finally made it through the mountains and stopped for dinner in Bend before searching for a campsite, although there were plenty of campsites in the mountains and along the river, there were none east of Bend. We kept driving until we reached Burns, without any sign of a campsite. BY this time it was almost 11pm, so we decided to check into the Knotty Pine Motel. So here we are, somewhere in Eastern Oregon in a motel in Burns!

Hopefully we will do a little better tomorrow, when we will be continuing east, hopefully reaching Jackson Hole in Wyoming, and finding a campsite before nightfall.

I learned today just how many bad George Michael songs there are (and I'm only half way through them!), and decided they are a waste of space on my ipod, even where space is not at a premium.

Trip Facts:
Driven Today: 925 km

Driven in total: 7451 km

Run Today: 1 Mile
Run in Total: 118.6 km
Number of TH Stops: 16
Number of Speeding tickets: 1
Ipod progress: 519 Songs Last: George Michael "A moment with you"
Song of the Day: "Hard Sun" Eddie Vedder

Day 13 finally turning East

Well, we did make it through the border in about 50 minutes, while we listened to a Vinyl Cafe CD. The interrogation was short and, dare I say it, friendly! Then we were through and into the US of A. Still heading south though, should eventually turn east today.

Had a great time visiting Karen, Rachel and Nathalie in Snohomish, a community just north of Seattle. Rachel and Nathalie were kind enough to take Graham to see Bruno, much to his delight. Karen and I just caught up over some red wine and managed to keep talking until they arrived back from the movie. We did miss Paul, who is unfortunately stuck in Dubai for another month! Just about to head out on the next leg here goes Day 13!

Trip Facts:
Driven in total: 6526 km
Run in Total: 117 km
Number of TH Stops: 16
Number of Speeding tickets: 1
Ipod progress: 437 Songs: Last Echo and the Bunnymen "In the Margins"
Song of the Day: "LA Woman" The Doors

On the road again...........but not moving at all

Yes, you got it, stuck at the Peace Arch border crossing - what fun. Apparently the wait is only 50 minutes, but since we haven't moved in about 25 minutes, we have some catching up to do. Fortunately we made what may be our last Tim Horton's stop earlier so we have coffee and, of course we have Stuart McLein to make the time pass easier. Moving now, on to interrogation.

On the road again

Well, It's time to hit the road again for the return journey after an enjoyable break here in Vancouver. Graham had a great time with his online friend Clark. They had been playing games together online for almost two years before meeting a couple of days ago. They were both so excited about it, they were texting one another back and forth right up until we drove in the driveway of their house. In between ferrying Graham out to see Clark I managed to get in a few good runs to bump the mileage up to more respectable levels. Had a great run this morning along False Creek, over the Burrard Bridge and around Stanley Park. Weather is cool and overcast - perfect for running :) We also had dinner with Helen, Siobhan and Dave on Wednesday night, before Siobhan and Dave took off back to Montreal.

I have also finally manged to upload a bunch of photos of the trip so far, so those of you who were looking for more photos can find them at: http://picasaweb.google.ca/rogmoss/GrahamAndMe#

Roller coaster drive

Well, we made it to Vancouver late last night and are resting up for a few days visiting sisters-in-law (or is that sister-in laws?)/aunts Claire and Helen. Also a good time to catch up on other essentials - like laundry! Two guys in a car for nine days means ... well, you can imagine what it means. It could possibly give Sandra Shamus enough material for a new show.

Yesterday was a good day on the road, sunny and warm (starting off around 20 degrees C). We started a little later than planned from Nelson (mainly because I got out late for my run) and headed north along Kootenay lake to Kaslo, where Graham's grandfather lived as a young boy. The drive was along a highway that hugged a cliff to the west of Kootenay Lake and afforded some spectacular views of the lake. Kootenay Lake is the first of those three north-south elongated lakes that you see when flying into Vancouver over the Rockies from the east. Kaslo is a picturesque town with some interesting old buildings as well as a paddle steamer museum. Apparently it was a jumping off point for miners looking for silver in the surrounding hills. Graham and I stopped for a late breakfast at a little cafe before strolling around and checking out the town. We stocked up with provisions (Graham: Croissant, fruit roll ups, green tea; me: Muffin, granola bars, diet coke) at the grocery store and headed out back on the road. We stopped briefly at Mirror Lake and then it was back to Nelson and on to Vancouver.

I had been practising my zen driving, so the few roadworks we encountered didn't bother me, nor did the slower drivers along the way (at least not too much). It was an interesting drive, essentially cutting across the grain of the continent. Since the mountain ranges in the Rockies run approximately north-south, driving west means a lot of ups and downs. For someone from Ontario, whose idea of ups and downs are indicated by the direction of a line on a stock market graph, the drive is a challenge, especially on the long winding descents. Fortunately we managed to get through it without burning the break linings, but it was a relief to get onto the flatter sections closer to Vancouver.

We did stop at a fruit stall in the southern Okanagan. The stalls are located all along the highway in this area and offer fresh picked fruit from the local orchards. We would have visited a vineyard or two, but we were already running late and it was incredibly hot. The car thermometer indicated 40 degrees C as we made our way through the Okanagan. I was thankful for that one hot day before we left that made me realize the AC wasn't working, without it we would have baked. With a supply of peaches and cherries (that taste wonderful) we journeyed on. When I told Graham we still had 3 hours to go, he sighed and said "let's listen to Stuart McLean." Ginny had thoughtfully bought Graham a CD collection of Vinyl Cafe stories for just such an eventuality, so we spent the next hour enjoying stories of Dave toilet training the family cat and Sam taking piano lessons - it was great! We eventually arrived in Vancouver around 9:15pm and after a further half an hour or so managed to find Clair's place.

Trip Facts:

Driven yesterday: 885 km
Driven in total: 5997 km
Run yesterday: 9 km
Run Total: 69.5 km
Number of TH Stops: 14
Number of speeding tickets: 1
Ipod progress: 328 songs Last: Daniel Lanois "Rocky World"
Song of the Day: "Boys don't cry" The Cure

It's the journey stupid

Well, we rolled into Nelson at around 8 o'clock after a long day on the road. It started off nicely enough, stopping to see some of the sights along the Icefields Parkway south as far as Lake Louise. Most of these involved lakes of varying colours, the best being Peyto Lake that was an intense green colour, apparently from all the dissolved glacial till (silty debris) dissolved in it. It was a steep hike up to the viewing platform though, and Graham was really not sure it was worth the effort! We also saw a few deer and a lonely big horned sheep on the side of the road. After a brief stop in Lake Louise, we headed out on Highway 1 - the trans-Canada in these parts - big mistake. It was only about 10km west of Lake Louise that we hit the roadworks that delayed us so much. The only bright side was that we got to see O'Hara Lake in Yoho National Park, before we hit traffic.

It appeared that roadworks on the trans-Canada were not going to end at Golden, so in order to have any chance of making it to Nelson by nightfall, we went to plan B and headed South (way south) to Cranbrook. I mentioned previously how much I liked the highways of Saskatchewan and Alberta, but I can't say the same for BC. While the speed limit on some highways is a decent 100 km/h, there aren't enough passing lanes to be able to consistently travel at that speed. Especially after being in a very long line of traffic due to roadworks. Where passing lanes do exist, many of them are incredibly short - like 500m. If you are wondering, that's about enough to pass a car, if you are sitting on their tail and floor the gas as soon as you hit the lane. It seems like a strange system to have in a region with lots of hills and bends in the road. Perhaps it is due to British Columbian's laid back attitude, something to do with the journey being more fulfilling than the destination, so let's spend more time getting there!

Nelson is quite a bit bigger than I imagined, it even has city status. The little we saw of it tonight was very pleasant, and we will be sure to explore it more tomorrow.

Quote of the Day: "........and then he goes and wrecks a classic" Graham on Cake's version of Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive"

Trip Facts:

Driven today: 822 km
Driven in total: 5112 km
Run today: 0 km
Run Total: 60.5 km
Number of TH Stops: 13 (starting to get withdrawal)
Number of speeding tickets: 1
Ipod progress: 231 songs Last: The Ceasars "Jerk it out."
Song of the Day: "For what it's worth" Buffalo Springfield

Road trip nightmare

Just arrived in Golden B.C. After taking about two hours to drive the last 100Km. Roadworks!! Might have to revise our stay in Nelson tonight. More later if there's coverage.