In June 2004 I set off across Canada on my bicycle. Or at least I'd planned to cross Canada. It didn't work out, mostly because of the weather, but I did have a great ride.

These pages are an account of that trip, as told through travelogs I sent to friends. I hope you enjoy the ride!

    When I left you in Grand Forks, I was chasing a blonde. Well, she  turtled and I gave up. Seems the way these days. Meet someone you really have an interest in and they hide. Oh well, the way of the world!
    Woke up grumpy in Grand Forks, which gave me some fuel to burn. Rode up the bumpy trail, amid the bear poo, until I found a nice little lineman's shack, fully restored and turned into a bunkhouse, halfway to Eholt. Wanted to stay but decided to push on.
    Mistake! Whole trail from Eholt to Greenwood was crap, and I do mean crap. So  bad was it, I lost control of Blu and crashed into a pile of rocks. It was ugly but I'm an expert crasher, gate crasher, party crasher, crasher on your couch, and now bicycle crasher! It's a fine art, realizing you're going to crash and having the abiltity to slow down and turn it into more of a balance issue where you just fall over!
    Limped into Greenwood, had a disgusting burger at the bar, then rode out to Boundary Park, where I set up quickly and slept dry while the sky rained all night. I'm a regular rain man these days. Where I go the rain follows! Guess that's what I get for being the wind!
    Next day I rode an equally gruesome, rock infested, over grown, tree-blocked,  barb-wired, trail to Rock Creek. (Hey, if you're doing this trail, stay on the highway between Eholt and Rock Creek). It's all CRAP!
    Decided I needed a break, so I stopped at the Rock Creek Hotel and watched the World Cup of Hockey semi-final with a bunch of bikers, and middle-aged bartenders of the female variety. It was okay, but when the game went into overtime I ordered a burger, equally as disgusting as the one the night before.
    After the game, which Canada won, yahoo! I headed out to the Kettle River Provincial Park, where I hung out in the pines for two days, patched tire tubes, made big food and slept lots.
    Then, for reasons unbeknownst to me, anarchy took over my decision making progress. I woke up feeling full of porridge and coffee, and decided to kick some anarchist butt.
    There's one thing I don't like about anarchists. They assume everyone is capable of taking responsibility for themselves. This, quite simply, is not true. Not everyone can!
    They are also arrogant. I remember the one I used to stop from skate boarding through pedestrian traffic at the main bus stop in Nelson. He told me he could do anything he wanted. I asked him if I could too. He said, yeah! Then I said, well man, right now, I want to kick your butt. You okay with that?
    He wasn't! Anarchists are like that. Everyone can do what ever they want, until what they want infringes on them. Which is one thing I agree with them about.
    Anyway, in the end, anarchy doesn't work, and won't until all humans can mind themselves, which they never will do, so anarchy must be crushed, and that's my final word on that except. . . I'm talking about a hill, the Anarchist Summit.
    Repeated flat tires, wear and tear on Blu, and a myriad of other reasons, including bad weather, made me, on a moment's notice, decide to take on the Anarchist Summit. A ride I'd always wanted to do, but never had the guts to attempt before.
    Well folks, I took that sucker on, rode it up out of Rock Creek, crushing the gravel into stardust as I went. It took several hours but I did it and then, going down the other side, I smelled smoke. Stopping, I looked around. My rear rim was smoking! The downhill was so steep my squeezing the brakes had actually started a minor rubber fire on the back brake pad. You might say my wheels were on fire!
    About 5 pm yesterday I rode into the town of Osoyoss and was feeling so good about what I'd done, and so in love with myself for doing it, that I had to get a room! So I did. I motelled in Oliver last night while it rained and rained.
    Then, when the dawn came bright and sunny, I was suddenly in the Okanagan Valley, feeling good!