serendipity

Woke up to sunshine bliss and I had my coffee ready and waiting for me downstairs, so needless to say I was a happy girl.

We rolled out of Lillooet at 10am, taking part of the Yellowhead route and then cutting down onto the Icefields Highway through Jasper National Park. We passed some some amazing mountains, beautiful lakes, rivers, waterfalls... again, all gorgeous.

Gloves were still a bit wet from yesterday, so I was on the look out for any automatic hand-dryer in any public washroom along the way.

All in all, it was a long riding day. It was pretty chilly with spots of intense heat and only a few minutes of rain now and again.

613km later, we rolled into Jasper past 10:30pm (local time, we crossed a time zone!)

It was too late and too cold (1C degrees!) to camp.. well that's the excuse we gave ourselves. So we rode around for a few minutes and found one of the few B&B's that still had vacancy.. apparently they are cheaper than hotels and inns here.

Jasper definitely has that ski resort town feel with lots of young people and families on holiday. One of the major hazards were the tourists all looking up at the mountains or pointing at something in the shop, when really they should be looking at the road crossings and noticing the motorbike that is cautiously approaching them, not wanting to sideswipe them!

We had dinner at the Dead Dog Pub & Restaurant, one of the few places that was still serving food. And just as my mind and body were getting accustomed to the loud rock music and blaring TV, a huge contrast to my quiet day of riding for hours absorbed in my own peaceful thoughts, I wasn't quite prepared when I literally bumped into one of my old Katimavik participants, Dan Orchard!

Originally from Barrie, Ontario, he has been out here for a couple of years now tree planting and currently between contracts. How random!! I haven't seen him since the day his group left Rockland. I loved seeing how happy and grown up he was, what a treat. And really, what are the chances of us meeting after so many years in a downtown Jasper bar on the same night!?