Wonderland

The Arid Interior is definitely behind me now. Lush grass and forests replace it. Gardens are just getting started in this northland where the last frost comes late. Corn plants are just emerging, each with two tentative leaves. And hopeful tomato plants are just being moved to gardens from inside where they grew as much a foot tall.

I rode a wide shoulder on a road with less traffic, on gentle grades with little wind, along the North Thompson River. Often, I would top a rise or round a turn, and scenery would magically appear, flung out before me like an open fan.

I stopped for breakfast at a café about four km north of Little Fort, or 29 km south of Clearwater, (in case tiny Little Fort is not on your map) The breakfast was good and the motel stuck me as world class, a perfect place to spend a few easy days and just watch the North Thompson River go by. Rooms cost sixty Canadian dollars and have wireless internet. I would choose Room 6 because it is on the second floor at the end of the building, having the best view of the river. And here is your easy booking information: Rivermount Motel, Campground and Café, phone 250 677 4477 or 866 816 7912, email hummingbirds@mercuryspeed.com

I rode on through this wonderland, reaching Clearwater around noon. I like to begin riding early and end early for several reasons. This afternoon it got very hot, and it was good to be finished. Clearwater is a hard town to find your way around in because the Google map of it is far from accurate. Nothing of the town is visible from the highway, and the several parts of it are off on different roads. Still, its Dutch Lake is astoundingly lovely under the snowy peaks, and I am happily settled in a tiny cabin.