Mount Curry to Merrit: umbrellas and leg warmers

It was a slow start, NK was a bit hungover, the sky was grey, and I was feeling a little groggy from the night before. So we had a slow leisurely breakfast, T made me a giant cup of coffee that took me an hour to finish. Once I hit the bottom of the mug it was time to go. By now raining pretty heavy. NK dropped me at the turn off for Lilloette. Before we left she said I could keep the legwarmers she's made and lent me the night before!

Now picture this. I made a pile out of my luggage and used my rain poncho as a tarp to cover it all. I had written Kamloops, my first goal, on a piece of cardboard in handwriting a 3 year old could have improved on. I sat on top of my pile with a red w/ black poka-dot umbrella and waited for a ride. It took about a 1/2 hour to get picked up by a Whistler local, DW, who could take me as far as Merrit. He was a great guy, been in Whis since '93 met and married his wife there, from Kenora where I'll be working later this summer, and had done his masters in Lund, in actually the same program as a friend of mine who I had visited there. So we had lots of interesting things to talk about. Unfortunately for him the Duffy made me carsick and we had to pull over twice so I could loose that awesome breakfast NK had made for me. Ulch!

When we arrived in Merrit my first ride and I stopped in at the cutest little coffee shop to grab a drink and a bite before parting ways. I was still feeling sick from the Duffy so I went and puked one last time in the toilets there, quickly brushed my teeth, then came out and ordered a tea and a cookie. A lovely girl, J, was working that day, when she saw the leggies that NK gave me she ran into the back and came out with a knit tea cup cozy in a matching blue and served my mint tea in it. I added some honey and all of a sudden felt a million times better! It was such a good feeling after hurling my guts out in the bathroom! Anyways, she loved the legwarmers, and wanted a pair for herself, so I got her contact info to give to NK. What I liked about the whole thing was this lovely set of exchanges and how something as small as a tea cup cozy and a pair of leggies can make you feel so warm and fuzzy inside. My first ride, DW, and I parted company. He dropped me on the off ramp towards Kamloops and continued on his way.