Sunday, July 31st, 2022
Not a bad view to wake up to, eh?
At 8am it's already pushing 70 degrees and I know it's going to be another hot day in British Columbia. Pilot and I take care of business. I make coffee and watch a deer flit and twirl about the highway nervously and dash into the brush last minute to avoid being struck by a sprinter van. I think about the casualties of travel. The pointless deaths of so many animals. I myself partake in such mass murders when I hit the road. So many flies, butter, dragon, gone in an instant as I whiz down the highway in an attempt to better myself by fulfilling my dreams. I think, too, about how roadkill feeds scavengers and predators. Feeds ravens, crows, foxes, bears, vultures. Later in the day when I stop at a rest area I will also see that the dead insect bodies smeared across my sideview mirror provide nourishment for a hornet. It doesn't make me feel any better about humankind's impact on nature, but it does provide some reassurance that everything does get recycled one way or another. Earth takes care of shit, she does.
A lot of driving today. I forget how long six hours on the road really is. We make lots of stops to see and pee, but don't get any good hikes in.
This looks like a @daveks picture⬆️.
We take a little break at this dam park to cool down in the shade and stretch our legs. A pretty little place called Seton Lake Reservoir. You can rent a canoe and row out as far as the buoys, but beyond that the current is too strong and will suck you away to your death over the edge of the dam.
We don't go canoeing. We just walk around and look at stuff.
We leave Highway 99 behind and connect with the Yellowhead Highway 97 and drive and drive and drive. It's pretty boring, unless you like shit like beautiful fucking vistas and sexy curves on roads for miles and miles (or in this case kilometers and kilometers, since we're in Canada).
I'm probably drinking my weight in flavored soda water so I'm constantly stopping to drain the tank and grab more bubly and la croix out of the cooler so I can fill it back up again. At one of the rest areas I meet a raven.
He's hot.
I'm hot, too, and I really want to set up camp and cook dinner on my badass camp stove that has simmer settings, but there's all these gorgeous picturesque pastoral pretty plush hay fields with their cute little rolled up bales and I have to make a detour so I can stop and take at least a few pictures for the log.
These ones are super cozy.
My plan is to camp at Frazier Lake Campground but I circle around the little town a few times and don't find the road that takes me there. There's a free site some miles ahead but I'm not sure how much drive I have left in me, so I drive to the next rest area and bust out my cooking gear.
The rest area is called "Savory Rest Area" and it doesn't take me long to figure out why. Five minutes into the cooking the mosquitos discover me. Just a few, though. No big deal. I'm wearing repellent and I can swat them away.
My cooking setup is partially in my car for rest stop meals, so I have all the windows open for ventilation, and the hatch open so I can go back and forth to the cooler. Pilot hops into the bed in the back so he can stretch out and fantasize about dinner.
I'm having a great time. Food sizzling in the pan, I'm feeling accomplished and looking forward to enjoying a car-cooked meal.
Then the real mosquitos show up.
The swarm.
They surround me. They fill the car, following the irresistible and intoxicating scent of the carbon dioxide I've been exhaling into it the cabin all day. There are so many, but I can't do anything about it. I can't stop cooking. Even if I did, it wouldn't make a difference because there have to be at least fifty mosquitos inside the car at this point.
Pilot jumps out and looks at me like "WTF you think this is fun?!"
As soon as the food is done I scrape it into the bowl and shove it up onto the console of the car. I give my stove and pan about two minutes to cool the fuck down before I shove them into the car, shove the dog into the car, strap him in, and drive like a maniac down the highway with all the windows open and the air blasting.
This is why people stay in motels, I tell myself.
The technique doesn't get all the blood-sucking jerks out of the car, but it helps a little, and also wakes me up enough to make it all the way to Co-op lake, where the camping is free and there are actually spots available. I swerve to avoid frogs hopping along the dark road and pull into a site. I don't get out, I just spend the next five minutes scaring the shit out of my little dog by slapping and smashing the remaining mosquitos that have been trapped inside the car. I'm probably the only non-serial killer who has blood smeared on the ceiling of her subaru.
I eat my dinner, which, surprisingly, is still warm.
I don't get out of the car for the rest of the night.
Read Day 3.
Read Day 1.
I currently have long stretches without internet. I'll get back to comments and post more when I can. Follow me along my journey!
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What a stunning view you bestowed upon us. It is still Saturday here sadly..I enjoyed every bit of my reading and love this part
The pointless deaths of so many animals. I myself partake in such mass murders when I hit the road. So many flies, butter, dragon, gone in an instant as I whiz down the highway in an attempt to better myself by fulfilling my dreams. I think, too, about how roadkill feeds scavengers and predators. Feeds ravens, crows, foxes, bears, vultures. Later in the day when I stop at a rest area I will also see that the dead insect bodies smeared across my sideview mirror provide nourishment for a hornet. It doesn't make me feel any better about humankind's impact on nature, but it does provide some reassurance that everything does get recycled one way or another. Earth takes care of shit, she does.
We all partake in such a mess but still, nature has to take place. Good luck to you and have a beautiful day.
Thanks for reading, @balikis95! Yeah, a lot of contemplation of life comes up on the road.
Yeah it does...
A little late now, but I just got one of these a couple weeks ago because I got tired of the deer flies, mosquitos, and no-see-ums swarming my head when walking the
Betty dog. Those damn tiny gnats always seem to target right into an eyeball or ear. Worth it's weight in gold! Of course I doubt Amazon will deliver to you en-route. Maybe some of the local stores have them up there.
Pic by Flammi on Amazon listing
I do have one, actually! But the mosquitos up here don't go for my face much. They don't even bite if I have bug spray, but they will find all the spots that don't, like finger creases and palms... bastards... The face net I will definitely wear though next time I go hiking in Utah in the spring. Damn those midges! I know what you mean about ears and eyes. I'm soooooo grateful Portland is midgeless. And only the occasional no-see-um up here so far.
Wow I don't know what to say about the beauty of that area. Yes, it would be a paradise to wake up to. There's nothing better than driving on those roads. Thank you so much for leading me there.
Thank you so much for coming along!
Beautiful photos!!!
Thank you!
What a views @corvidae 😊😎 just stunning… I love drives like this, what you see on the road every curve. Yep… all fine by me.
You did drive a long distance. Wow… well done.
So sorry to hear your adventure with those f… blood suckers. That must have been an ordeal to get them all out. But I soooo could see the driving with all windows open happen.
Ah motels are overrated hehehe 🤭 sleeping in the car or campground… much more adventure.
Enjoy your next part of the journey 👋🏻😎
Thanks @littlebee4!
You are welcome 😊👋🏻
Happy Monday!
Are the roads quite quiet there? I hate driving generally because the roads a nightmare and it ends up being something like MAd Max here.
I have found a new anti mosquito product called smidge which has saved me entirely from getting bitten. Its blummin awesome but Idont know if yo can get it easily outwith here
I will absolutely look into smidge! The buggers up here seem to listen to bug spray, but the ones in the woods in Oregon don't give any shits unless its pure deet.
The roads get pretty quiet once you get a few hundred km north of Vancouver BC. And in Northern BC and Yukon, you can go for stretches without seeing a single car. We'll see how crazy quiet things are once I reach the Dempster Highway.
It has been a godsend for me as I am one of those folk who just get eaten alive by horse flies, mosquitos, midges, sand flies and anything that bites.
I have genuinely been untroubled by a single bite since I started using it and I was using all the max formula ones before
And I bet you don't have to use much, either. Just a ... smidge.
Hahaha!! Boom boom!