Out of Ft. St. John, the road is great for quite awhile, but then the shoulders narrow and much later the surface changed for about 30 miles to chip seal. Chip seal and patches and rough road. That just vibrates the snot right out your eye sockets. And slowed me down. But I saw another black bear in addition to the two I saw yesterday. That was nice.
A word about wildlife. I've seen quite a bit, including 2 whitetail deer walking down the main street of Winlock, Washington, mule deer in Oregon, and Mt. Goats of a brownish color (could have been mud, it was raining and snowing at the time) in Idaho. Or maybe it was Montana because their borders are very close as you know. And of course herds of deer and antelope But the bears were particularly striking. Very healthy looking. Winter must have been mild, or maybe tourist season started early.
As I rode along, I could see dark clouds forming off to the northwest. Why, northwest was my general direction. Did I mention it was black all the way to the ground? My experience-based training in meteorological matters instructed that black to the ground was weather to avoid. Off to my right front were clouds with rain drift, and sure enough, the road drifted more to the north and north east, and pretty soon I was riding through light showers and places where it had recently rained. The air was fresh and scented, sometimes of the woods, but often a floral scent the origin of which I could not identify.
And then came the lightening. The black clouds were rent with lightening strikes. I couldn't tell how near or far because the helmet and road noise blocked the sound of thunder, but I could tell from the rain drift it was headed my way. And then it rained. As my hunting partner Dick would say, "Holy buckets!". The water came down, hit the ground and danced so high I was reminded of Mr. Bojangles. It was like riding on top of a sprinkler. So this slowed me down some more, and I was looking at the lightening and thinking I should maybe develop an alternative plan because the current plan just wasn't working well, when the road ran me right out from under the rain, and put the dark sky and lightening off my left shoulder for the last 50 miles into Ft. Nelson.
Speaking of dark skies, dark as the wing of a raven, I want to revisit my comments likening the raven to lawyers. On further reflection, I think the owl, the osprey, the eagle, all of which are scavengers or predators, are more like the lawyers, and the ravens, wearing their black cloaks, are more like judges, who take great pleasure in bedeviling the lawyers. I can say this because it is highly doubtful that any judicial officer us following this blog (unless Joe mentioned it to The Eye).
So I made it into Ft. Nelson. I didn't like the look of that black sky, off to the west now, the direction I had to go. I had put in 350 miles or so, so I decided to get a room. I pulled into the Lakeside Inn and asked for a room with wifi. No rooms with wifi. Only the lobby has wifi. And no other hotel in town had wifi, offered the young man at the desk (I doubt he could have flung that spider as far as I had done). But did they have a nonsmoking room? First yes, then, unfortunately no. But the Super 8 next door was called, and they had a nonsmoking room with, Alors!, wifi! Arrangements were made.
I went outside to ride next door, and the black cloud's grey brother had descended on Ft. Nelson. I mean high winds, heavy rain, blowing dust. I could barely stand, much less ride. Just then a Lakeside Inn van pulled in and the driver yelled to pull the bike under the portico (he may have said "portcullis" but I didn't see one) so it wouldn't fall over. So I did.
I went back in and the driver, a very nice man, had Hazel the Clerk put me in a suite (nonsmoking) for the price of a regular room, which, with all taxes included, cost as much as a good dinner for two in Anchorage.
So here I am in the suite. I had Mountain House spaghetti (with meatballs mind you) for dinner. It is still raining like Mr. Bojangles outside. I am attaching some pictures of the rain which don't do it justice, and one of the highway because it is spectacular.
Mostly I am happy and thankful to be dry and away from lightening. I don't like lightening. I like electricity to be in the walls where it belongs, and stays there until you put a plug in the wall. Much more civilized.
Oh, the suite? Standard room with a faux fireplace and a jacuzzi in the corner. Who puts a jacuzzi next to their bed? Crazy stuff, just crazy.
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