Day 15: Vanderhoof to Prince George

Fundraising Tour 2022 2 Minutes

Distance: 101 km

Elevation: 700 m

Date: August 16, 2022

Around 7 am John had made coffee. He showed me pictures of some of the houses he had built. All of them completely made of timber. He had an eye for how to integrate curved and twisted branches into the constructions.

John and me … looking small for a change 🙂

Later John made pancakes for us with maple sirup, marmalade, and yoghurt. Delicious.

John was very active in supporting others and Jolinka was, too. Although he was “technically retired” he was looking after some elder men and had organized a “men shed” where older guys could get together and have a good time. He was also in the board of quite a few social and political organizations it seemed.

Around 9:15 am, when I was leaving, a guy from the village came by who wanted some advice from John. It looks like he was well sought-after.

The road today was pretty comparable to yesterday just without the rain. In the beginning I was following the Nechako-River, my third river on this tour.

A group of four speeding logging truck drivers almost ran me over. I spent quite some time swearing and indulging myself in fantasies of violence while pedaling in soft gravel today.

My target for the day was reaching Prince George, the so-called “capital of the north”. This would the last chance to get bike parts before the actual Rockies. However, everything is working so far.

Today I have reached the halftime of this trip in terms of cycling days. However, I am way behind schedule. I will have to see if and how I will be able to catch up.

I found a camp spot just outside the town which was quite nice. It wasn’t free but it had nice showers and slow Wi-Fi. One gets very humble when traveling like this.

I was really tired so I made myself dinner, stashed away my food in the mens room like usual, and went to bed early.

When I had just fallen asleep, the hosts of the campsite woke me up again and asked if that red thing was my bag. Somebody had alerted them of a package in the mens room. Did they think it was a bomb? Oh boy!

I reassured them it was mine and they took it into their office. Let’s see when I will get my coffee and coffee maker back in the morning. This will be important.

Published by Karsten Drath

About 30 years ago, two zis scholarships helped me to broaden my horizon, expand my understanding of what is possible, and develop more self-confidence. zis is a non-profit organization that has been awarding scholarships for study trips to young people between the ages of 16 and 20 for more than 60 years. Today, the word we use for tenacity and grit is resilience - and I've made it my profession, to help managers around the world to develop more of this inner power. In retrospect, the experiences I've had on these trips to Scotland and Iceland have been priceless for my development. After having had a childhood with some challenges, I learned that I could cycle 1,700km on my own and get wet every day without despairing. I have learned that I was able to get along with only 300 € for 4 weeks and still had a good time. I have learned what it's like to be threatened with deportation and how to get an interview with the President from such a crisis. I have understood that limitations are primarily constructs in our heads, and I want to make these insights available to as many adolescents as possible.

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One thought on “Day 15: Vanderhoof to Prince George”

  1. Thanks for this inspiring blog! I hope you will get your coffee maker back and a good coffee for the continuation of your great trip!

    Reply

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