August 28, 2007
To Prince George: Warmshowers host Richard Thompson, author of children's books
Todd is a mountain climber and last night put the bag with the salmon high up in the rafters of the shelter. This morning looking for our cornflakes, we discover the bag with our breakfast is what in the rafters.
Fortunately, we didn't get a bear visiting us with that salmon laying on the picnic table.
Today is not a long ride, a few hills and some busy traffic the last 15km into town. There is road construction, and the top layer of asphalt has been ground down, full of grooves that try to catch the tires. Rachel gets a flat rear tire; we discover the bead almost totally worn off so it's time to retire this one. Patrick puts on the spare from Whitehorse. Patrick called our warmshowers hosts, Richard and Maggee last night and they gave good directions to their house. We picked up a city map of Prince George in Vanderhoof which also made it easy navigation. We arrive at their nice grey two story house in an older area of town, halfway between the "old" city center and the new shopping areas.
Richard Thompson is a writer of children's books, his house interior is painted in bright colors, rooms filled with whimsical furniture, self made from wood or yard sale items, then covered in Papier-mâché and painted. On the walls are posters of his book covers. The house is filled with books, many of them children's books and literature. No TV and the family doesn't own a car either.
We eat lunch with Richard and Peter, the husband of their daughter who just moved back into the parent's home. It appears she has had chemo treatment not too long ago. We are given the parents' bedroom in the basement while Todd gets a bed in the yoga studio upstairs. Richard and Maggee will sleep in a neighbor's house where they are helping out a temporary disabled friend.
What nice hospitable people!
No effort is spared to make visiting cyclists feel at home and they get quite a few being on the crossroads of some major routes. We walk to a bike store; Patrick buys a new spare tire while Todd gets his rear wheel trued. He is having spoke problems, too weak a wheel for a touring bike. We get again with the family for dinner. The salmon is fixed in the oven and we have rice, carrots and salad. We have brought some wine and Todd got some beer to go with our meal.
In the evening we can catch up on our email and surfing the web on their computer.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 13,566 km (8,424 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |