father daughter reunion in Nelson

location: Fernie Library
km cycled today: 94 (probably 30 more to go before dinner)
total km cycled: 1554 (yaaaa!)

phew, ok. Way too much awesomeness is happening for it to be documented in this place. I can hardly catch my breath at times, let alone find time to write down what is going on around me. I wake up each day with no idea of where I'll be sleeping that night, and tucking in to sleep at the end of every day thinking "wow, that was that best day ever!" and then each morning I wake up and do it all again. Remember those ads during the 2010 Olympics that said "We were made for this" ? That's how I feel about biking. I was made for this.

Ok, so a brief rundown of how things have been going: After getting my rim fixed, I decided to stay away from gravel paths and off road tracks of all sorts. I kicked it up the Bonanza Pass (1535m baby!) and into Castlegar with Erik, where we parted ways. I cycled on to Nelson where I was to meet up with ol' man Laur Hackinen (my dad) the next morning. He peaced out of work, boxed up his bike, and took the overnight greyhound up from Vancity to join me for an indefinite period of time, probably a couple of weeks. So this whole "Meaghan crosses the country on her own" isn't quite turning out as I planned, but I don't mind at all. My dad is full of worldly advice, like "if you drink another beer Meaghan, you'll probably regret it in the morning..." and "if you feed the dog at the table, he's not going to leave you alone!". He also dislikes paying for camping as much as I do (we camped next to a gravel quarry outside of Fort Steele last night, rising early to the sound of truck tires on loose rock) and appreciates the finer things in life, like mid-afternoon siestas and aged cheddar, so we make a pretty good team.

In Nelson we stayed with this totally rad couch surfing host named Jeff. He had long black hair in a pony tail and lived to snowboard, bike, and enjoy the sunshine. We talked of traveling, bikes, and instant noodles. It was a pretty good weekend spend roaming around town on our bikes, chilling on patios and deck, and kicking back on the shores of Kootenay Lake. I was pretty stoked to be back here, because I visited Nelson once before with grade 10 concert band and I have many fond memories of the road trip.

So since our reunion we've cycled to Creston, Cranbrook, and now we're in Fernie. Tomorrow we're heading through the Crowsnest Pass and into Alberta. The weather, which was soooooooooo incredible for a few days (I'm sporting pretty sweet tanlines from my cycle shorts) has turned kind of rotten again. But, to be cycling in the shadows of these beautiful snow covered giants with my dad is such a fabulous experience, I really can't complain too much. If I see I big horned sheep, it's going to make my day :)