On the Road Again 2015 #19

I was not at that windy corner of highways 97 and 99 long before an older pickup truck with two people in the front seat stopped just ahead of me. I think I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times a truck with two in the front seat has stopped for me. As a matter of fact I can only remember it happening once or twice. I threw my pack in the back, the passenger scooted over and I got in. They were only going to Cache Creek but at least they would get me on the right highway going north to Kamloops.  It was a very short ride but I did get a chance to talk to them about construction in the area (they were doing some building renovations in the area). The older man told me that they had looked at some buildings in which the 10x10 wooden sills had been placed in the ground in the mid 1800s. In spite of the fact that they were resting on the ground, the land was so dry that there was virtually no rot in the wood. On the West Coast, such wood would not last ten years before it started to rot.

As I was getting out in Cache Creek, my driver asked me if I knew where I was, and how to get to Kamloops. I assured him that I did. As I started to walk, it became apparent that I didn't. I had been here before, but it had been years ago and I had come in from a different direction going towards the coast. However I figured it out with a minimal of back tracking. I could not help but notice that there were a number of older motels - a couple looked just a little bit run down and/or seedy. They looked like my kind of place. While Cache Creek was not my intended goal for the night, it was 6:30-7:00, it was cloudy and therefore looking dark and I was tired. I needed to get my stuff unpacked, dry whatever had gotten wet and make myself looked presentable. I suspected that by this time I looked like kind of some wild man. The wind was strong enough that my beard was flying in two different directions - not the look I was going for.

I decided I would walk to the outskirts of town and stick out my thumb for an hour. If there were no rides by 7:30 or so - I would call it a night. There were relatively few cars going by and I suspected that most of them were local traffic. At my agreed upon time, with some pleasure, I hoisted the pack on my back and made ready to walk back to the nearest motel. I was looking forward to a hot shower, a bit to eat and then a nice long sleep. It had been a long day.

And then a SUV coming from the north, did a u-turn in front of me , stopped and waved me over. I don't want to sound ungrateful - but I was looking forward to my quiet evening. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get into a car - perhaps for only a short ride that would take me away from my dreams of a motel bed. But get in I did.