Wow. Almost 1 month to the day since I've been able to post a journal. That's no good now is it?

Well I write to you now from Prince George, British Columbia, way out in Western Canada. Since I last wrote I was in Denver, Colorado. A lot has gone on since that day back in June. The time has officially changed to Pacific Standard and I am 3 hours behind my friends and family back east in NY. The team has journeyed through the rest of Colorado, thru Wyoming and Yellowstone Nat'l Park, thru Montana and Glacier Nat'l Park, across the Canadian border to Alberta where we ventured into the wonderous land of Banff Nat'l Park and on thru to Jasper Nat'l Park in British Columbia. Lots of coverage. In that time I turned my bicycle's odometer to 2,800 miles and said goodbye to my Hutchinson bike tire in Alberta, Canada that lasted me nearly 2,200 miles. Where to start...Since I've forgotten details from past days I will write to you al about our most recent adevntures.

The past two days have been fairly easy cruising. We awoke in McBride for a 6:30am breakfast that we didn't get to until 7. The Beanery 2 is a small cafe style place located along a railway line. There we were fed many fantastic concoctions of eggs and cheese, with bacon, ham, fruit, yogurt and raisin toast to boot. Just as we were finishing our breakfast we were informed that there was a fairly serious forest fire along the road we were supposed to be taking. After much deliberation it was decided we would sag the first 60 miles to avoid smoke inhalation and potential danger from fire. We unloaded the trailer and took the seats out of the 15-passenger van and loaded up the 18 bikes. Menzies and Daniel drove ahead to drop off the bikes while the rest of us sat around the Beanery 2, using the computer, reading Trivial Pursuit questions and sleeping.

Hours went by. Sleeping. Internet. Trivial Pursuit. And so on. Finally the van came back, unloaded. We put the seats back in, loaded the trailer, thanked the Beanery 2 for the hospitality and headed out for our hour drive. We reached the bikes and Daniel who had been waiting in the sun for about 2 1/2 hours. We circled up for dedications and then proceeded with our 36 mile ride to Purden Lake, BC. The ride was hilly, proving to be a nice set of rolling hills. We sped into the first and only rest stop to good news. Ellen had gotten us a campsite, and two strangers offered to pay $40 of our $60 campsite fee! We ate giant cookies made for us by our hosts in McBride and drank Ginger Ale and juice boxes, then proceeded with the final 16 miles.

We arrived at the Purden Lake Resort Campground around 5:30pm. On my thru to our campsite I passed a couple sitting outside of their camper in lawn chairs. Rick and Micki Zirk were on a vacation, cruising around doing the camping and site seeing gig. I talked with them for awhile about the TX4K and what we were doing. They graciously gave me $20 to cover the other part of our camping fee for the nite. So thank you Rick and Micki! The team trickled in and we set up tents, then a few of us headed down to the lake to swim. It was the warmest water we've been in yet. We've been in glacier water for quite some time now, so the warm(er) lake was certainly welcome to our limbs. There was a floating dock with a slide on it that Eric, Allison, Michael, Alex Schliker, Katy and I hit up. Katy took the challenge and went down on her stomach. Once out of the water we had dinner and fought off mosquitos until it was time to rest.

This morning we woke to rain pelting the rainfly and the voices of the day's drivers telling us to wake up. The ride into Prince George was a short one, about 38 miles. Not a challenging day, as the rain subsided and the sun tried to poke its head out. We met with Dorrie, the legendary mohawk-er of BC, at the Summer Cycle Shop. Our hosts showed up shortly after us and we were divided up into groups of 2 and 3. Alex Menzies and I are being hosted by a family whose last name escapes me at the moment. Dave and Susan, along with their son Peter and his girlfriend Jesse welcomed us to their home around 1pm. We sat in the kitchen and conversed until about 5 when we headed to Dorrie's house for the potluck. There was a huge selection of food, including Moose Stew that was simply delicious. Around 8 or 9pm Dorrie started shaving mohawks. The Rockies '07 team set a new record : 13 mohawks in one sitting. Last years team had 12. All 12 guys on our team got hawks and Allison represented for the ladies and got hawked. Eric, Daniel and I got ours trimmed up, while Michael Choate and Alex Chang starred in "The Return of the Mohawk" getting their hawks back in true fashion. With much heckling and encouragement we got Usman, Collin and Menzies to hawk it up and join the party. So 13 of 18. Good luck next year Rockies '08.

Now it is far past my bedtime, but I wanted to get a journal up here so people know I'm still here. Check the pictures section for some new pics I posted. I miss everyone. I'll try an post again tomorrow nite before we bounce out of Prince George. Love you all.

shawn