Willams Lake & Barkerville 07

Finally back. So tired from all the ridings! Now that I'm home, all the memories seem so far away.

Day 1 (June 30 Saturday):
(Times are aprox only)
10:30 am: Journey started! Headed toward east on Hwy 1.
12:00 pm: Oyster burger at Hope.
1:00 pm: Continue on Hwy 1, toward north. Average 120 km/hr. Didn't want to go too fast because I'm afraid the luggage at the back will fly away. Stopped at towns every 2 hours or so, to fill up and take breaks. Turned to Hwy 97 north. Hwy 97 is so boring, just a long straight road! My shoulder and wrist started to hurt badly, 'cause I have to stay in the same position for a long time. I started to take more breaks
6:15 pm: Finally arrived at Williams Lake! Saw 3 cop cars on the whole way, no tickets, no drama :) Kevin and Mayne just started to get back from fishing. Arrived at Kevin's place, after a short wait, Kevin & Mayne arrived.
7:30 pm: Headed out to Oliver pub to get dinner. Decent Prime Ribs.
9:00 pm: Kevin drove us around to check out the town, and stalk at other people's home :p Some people actually put their names in front of their house.
10:00 pm: Headed back to Kevin's place, drank beer, watched TV, and played with Kevin's fake flies! Took me a while to convince myself they are insects. Obviously the fishes have no problems identifying them as food.
1:00 am time to get rest

Day 2 (July 1st Sunday Happy Birthday Canada)
10:00 am: Tried to go to Kevin's church at WL, but found out all churches are closed for the Stamped! Instead all churches gathered at a park to have a cowboy church. Small town :) About couple hundred people attended. The speaker is also a country gospel singer. The service lasted couple hours, and all the time he just played his guitar and sang, with karaoke music at the back, messages in between songs. A different experience I guess... If I have to give a theme to the service, I guess it would be Christians against the world. Kind of a negative tone, but I guess it's true.
12:00 pm: Service ended. Kevin seems to keep bumping into people, what a popular guy! But later he explained, WL is a small town, everybody basically know each other. If you're from out of town, an old timers could probably tell you're an outsider!
After the service, we walked over to the next booth, and had free Canada Birthday cake and ice cream, and National flag water tattoo. I can't believe it's still on me now after 3 days! I have to rub it off tonite otherwise people would think I don't take bath everyday!
1:00 pm: Headed to Boston pizza for lunch. Mayne's treat. Thanks :)
2:30 pm: Tried to go check out the Stamped, but can't find a parking spot, so went for a short hike at Scout Island.
3:30 pm: Went to Stamped, but didn't really go in, 'cause didn't want to pay. Saw some horses and cowboys doing preps at the back stage, and got my cowboy hat!
4:30 pm: Headed to Cook Lake at a very secret location. Saw so many cows on the way, and saw a running deer. Went on Kevin's inflatable boat and tried our luck on the fake insects. The lake was so quiet, all I could hear was the birds sound, and Kevin's paddling sound. As sun started to set, more and more fish jumped up to eat the insects, but not our fake insects :( Only Kevin got 1. Anyway, I'm sure me and Mayne tried our best already. I saw a wild moose for the first time at the lake. And a loon kept coming back.
10:00 pm: headed back to town, luckily the casino restaurant still open. Food not bad, had a pork cutlet. Kevin's treat. Thanks! :)

Day 3 (July 2 Monday)
6:00 am: Got up super early, packed up and headed toward Barkerville on my bike, before anyone waked up.
10:15 am: Arrived at Barkerville, took me 2:15 hours, saw 2 deers on Hwy 26. I'm now in central BC. Elevation 1265 meters. It's hard to imagine there were once 100,000 people living in this ghost town, with 50% Chinese. The historic park now basically has only little more than 50 tiny restored houses surrounded by trees, but where the trees are now, once were all houses. Looking at the historic pictures, there was actually a town that were all Chinese. You see in the picture a rural small town in the middle of the forest just like the ones in China, but actually it was in Canada. This town has now virtually disappeared and taken over by the forest. Luckily we can still take a glimpse of what life used to be at Barkerville. As the tour guide explained, because of the Chinese exclusion act, most Chinese men came here to try to make money but never been able to bring their wifes and children here, therefore they never had any posterities to tell us their stories in Canada. I guess one of the reasons we have children, is so that when we pass on, our stories and the wonderful things we've done in this world, can continue to be heard, and pass on to generations, so that someone would know we were once here.
At the town there are many actors walking on the street dressed in gold rush time fashion, which created an interesting feeling as if you've gone back in time. I've talked to a few of them, and they all talked to me in strange ways as if you were really in 1800's. One disappointment though, even though there were 50% Chinese in the population, all actors there are Caucasians. Even in the Chinese restaurant, all the servers are white, dressed in Chinese clothings, except for the boss, she was the only Chinese I saw on site. I found out later, she is also the fortune teller across the street in the afternoon! 1 person 2 rolls!
5:30 pm: Packed up, and started to head back to WL. Quarter of the way out, disaster strikes! All along my trip things have been pretty smooth, but just when I felt I've finished everything here and ready to head back home, crap happened! I had my back pack wrapped on the back seat. I never had any problem before, even on the very windy Hwy 1! But perhaps this time I got too carried away and went too fast, and went over a few hard bumps, my bag out lose and flew away! Big deal, just my back pack, but my glasses were in the beg. I had a 1-day contact on, and if I lose my glasses, I won't be able to go to work, and ordering a new one take days. So I turned around to tried to find my beg. I have only enough gas to head back to Wells (a town right outside Barkerville), and I knew there is 1 gas station there, I thought, I'll just go back once, to try my luck to try to find it. If I don't, I'll just fill up and then go back to WL. I found my net, but my beg was no where to be found. Oh well, I guess I'd just fill up and go back. I pull up to the gas station, unbelievably, they were out of gas! They are the only gas station there! I'm stuck! They said gas won't arrive until tomorrow morning. (I found out later it never did) I didn't know what to do! With no other choice, I parked my bike, and wandered around, try to think what I should do next. Then I got hungry, luckily there was 1 restaurant still open in the town, so I went in. The special of the day was pork cutlet. (Same thing I had the nite before) This time though, it was stiff, and the mash potato was dry like dessert soil! But still at least I didn't have to stay hungry all nite! Then I decided I should stay there for the night and try to find my beg again the next morning. Even though I had my 1-day contact, I could probably preserve it with distilled water and wear it the next day until I go back to WL where I still have another pair. I went in the motel, asked for a room, an old man came out, I told him about the gas station situation, he didn't say anything, just quietly gave me room 13. I almost laughed out! I got stuck in a tiny little town, with population probably no greater than 50, in the middle of no where, next to a ghost town, and an old man gave me room 13 in a tiny motel, just a perfect scenario for a western horror movie! I took a bath, prayed, then went to sleep. It was only 9pm. I tried not to think about anything, not what would happen tomorrow, not the 18 century grave yard I visited in Barkerville, not the dead people story I heard from the cemetery tour there.

Day 4 (July 3 Tuesday)
Next morning I woke up, time to wear my contacts, and go search for my beg again. When I opened the case, with total surprise, the contacts changed shape! It turned to an almost square like cone shape! I can't wear them anymore! I have lost my eye-sight! I am now completely stuck! How can I go find my beg, most of all, how can I get back!? With 1000 degree, I cannot see a thing without my glasses! I sat on my bed, completely lost! Didn't know what to do at all! Out of desperation, I walked out to the motel office, carefully step up to the office, a lady came out, I asked her if anyone has turned in a green back pack. I'm sure it sounded so awkward, but I just didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to call Kevin 'cause he had to work and he is 3 hrs drive away. The lady said there's a police station right across the street, when they open, i can go over and see if anyone has found my beg. A new hope! Maybe this is it! Maybe I can just get my beg and get my glasses in the beg and head back! The police station opened, I crossed the street carefully, Officer Trainor came out, i told him about my situation. Complete disappointment, no beg has been found! He wrote down my info and said he'll contact me if they do get it. With complete disappointment, I headed back to my motel. With no other options, I called Kevin, hoping he can get my last pair of contacts, so I can ride back out. He can't come until 8pm. Then I went to the motel office, and asked the lady if I can stay till 8pm? At first she refused because she said she had to clean the room. But afterward she changed her mind and let me stay till my help comes. Then Kevin called me, he said he can take a day off and get my contacts and gas for me so i can leave the town. Ah, now I can be at least sure i don't have to spend another night there, and get back to Vancouver in time to go to work. But still, without my glasses, I just can't go to work 'cause my contact lense makes me feel too uncomfortable to work in front of the monitor for more than a few hours. and with my thick glasses, it would take days to get a new pair! And worst, just before I left, I was in the middle of a very important project, I cannot afford to take any more days off! With all the worries, I stay in the room, waited anxiously for the phone to ring. At around 11am, officer Trainor knocked on my door, I didn't want to guess what he was gonna tell me, then he said, someone has found my beg! I was so thankful! My problem has finally been solved! ... But not quite yet, the person turned it in another police station, 100km from the town. So I called Kevin's cell, he has just headed out to get gas for me, so I asked him to pick up my beg from the other town... Still I worried, wondered if that is really my beg, 'cause I called the other police station, they said another person has called earlier that (s)he has also lost a back pack. At 1:30pm, Kevin arrived, my hero! There he held my back pack, and 2 tanks of gas! I'm finally saved! I feel so sorry he had to take a day off to drive to middle of nowhere, and then just drive back! But just so thankful he was there! Also, million thanks to whoever picked up my beg, that person probably had no idea how important the beg was to me!
5:00pm: Finally back to WL. Such a relief! I decided to stay at his place for one more nite, and then just enjoy my ride back home the next morning. Originally I planned to spend an extra day at home to rest.
6:00pm: By now Mayne has already left, so me and Kevin headed out for dinner. We had pasta, this time my treat, it has to be! Kevin met a few people again, even a native lady on the street knew him!

Day 5 (July 4 Wednesday - last day - really)
7:15 am: Finally, headed back home! This time I decided to take it easy, and stop wherever I see a nice view. I went south on Hwy 97. Went to Green Lake to take a break. Saw 2 deers on the way there. Seems like no one was at the lake. Nice and quiet, such a relaxing feeling. Then I took a detour to Hwy 99, and go back via Lillooet and Whistler. First half of Hwy 99 was excellent, new pavement, really smooth. Then the road turn to worst half way to Lillooet, super bumpy, pot holes everywhere, completely different from when I went through couple years ago. On the same road, I saw a black bear on the road, I stopped my bike, he looked at me for a few second, then went away calmly. Stopped at Lillooet for lunch at the restaurant me and my riding buddy used to go to when we did the loop together. After that, the road continued to be bumpy all the way to Pemberton. Almost got into trouble again when I went into a small pot hole in the middle of a turn! Front wheel skid a little bit, luckily got back friction right away! After Whistler, it was hwy constructions all the way! 50km zone! Just stupid to have the entire Hwy turned into 50Km! Some part I didn't even see people working! Anyway, finally got back home right before 5. Overall the return trip was much more enjoyable, 'cause of the scenery and spent more time enjoying the view.

So that's my journey. Sorry if you read through the whole thing and found it's too long and too much details to read. I just got back home and just want to write down everything before I start to forget, and I'm too tired tidy up things. Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading...

Pictures albumn