Written July 23 just before my breakfast before I got on my way to Lillooet.

Leaving the Pemberton Valley

Leaving the Pemberton Valley

It is hard to believe the crisp cool of this morning after the stifling heat of yesterday. I am glad of the momentary respite because we are heading into another hotty. The news last night said the fire fighters of the area are on high alert and the risk of fire is extremely high. The parks of the Vancouver area have a smoking ban and provincial parks all have fire bans and are considering closing hiking trails. Wow. It is a high price paid for “nice” weather.

Today I am leaving Denize and her beautiful Pemberton Valley. On the way out I will stop at the library and post this email. I will also stop at a service station and have them have a look at Vincent’s left eye. Yesterday on the way back to the farm I noticed that he was not able to wink with it. I don’t like not having a left turn signal especially on busy roads…so I put a cooling compress on it for the night but if that doesn’t work, he may need some doctoring. I am hoping that it is burnt out fuse or maybe a bulb, something cheap to fix and not very time consuming.

I am told that although today’s route is about 120k that it will take me 4 hours and that there is a very steep climb and then a similar drop on the other side into Lillooet. Hard work for the big V. I try not to use my brakes at all on those hills but gear down. Still, on the nasty curves sometimes even in the lowest gear, we get going pretty fast. The scenery will be spectacular and I can almost be sure that the will be no way to pull off and photograph it so you will just have to believe me when I say how great it was.

People have been emailing me and asking how I am. “How are you REALLY?” they ask. “Are you lonesome?” Here are my thoughts on that as of this morning. I suppose they could change by tomorrow.

I am doing and seeing things that I have only dreamed of. Every day is a new adventure. I can hardly believe that things are going so well. Even my wildest imaginings couldn’t have predicted how good this trip would be. So, really, I am doing great. However, I have not changed. I am still me and so I am very shy and meeting new people is hard, scary in fact so some days I am stressed. As me, I also like to be in control of every situation. That has been hard to do and so often I am scared. Scared that my rapidly declining bank balance won’t get me there, that I won’t get a place to stay and a million other little things. Being scared isn’t a bad thing though and so I am living through it. I can hardly be lonesome with the people I am meeting but, yes, I am missing my family and friends in a big way. I have been glad that I have been able to be in touch by email and my phone package is giving me enough “friends” that I am in touch with almost everyone at least once a week. It is still hard, and the longer I am away, the harder it gets. I have been surprised by how little time I have to write, sketch, carve or even just sit and read or process each day and sometimes I crave that.

As I go I am realizing that the trip is not about the sights, the museums or the local attractions. It is about the people I am meeting and the community I am building. I am not able to connect to the actual towns in the way that I had hoped when I was in the planning stages but it doesn’t seem to matter. Often the people I meet are a reflection of “me” in ways that I am surprised at. In conversations and activities I keep being brought back to myself, who I am, who I have been and who I will be. (IT’s ALL ABOUT ME isn’t it) I have to be careful to let those people be themselves at the same time. I know…weird. You can see why I need some processing time. 🙂

I have great days, good days and days that I wish I could just pull the covers back up and stay in bed. When I pull out the map though, it never fails to inspire me onward. I am enjoying myself, learning more than I could have imagined and it is possible that when it happens, my own bed will feel mighty fine.

So, the short answer is, I am doing fine.

Please keep posting comments on the blog (which means you actually have to go to the website www.questacrosscanada.com) and sending me emails directly which you can do by just hitting reply when you get a blog posting from me. I find it great company when I can get to a computer that actually has internet.

Take care and keep cool. Vicki