nancy's blog

Stuart has been riding around the north west part of Canada and around Alaska for the last 3 months. He live is Wellington New Zealand and teaches economics when he is not bike touring.

Here is he is stop to enjoy the blackberries along the side of the highway. Life really provides everything we need.

This is the view from the ferry as we leave Victoria, BC heading to Port Angeles early Friday night. The harbor activities are everywhere. There are bagpipes playing off in the distance, art activites are happening in front of the palace, float planes are landing in the harbor, water taxis are scurrying back and forth to the houseboats, commercial fishing vessals are bringing in the days catch, cruise ships are docked nearby. I pause and breath in the moment as I reflect on this magical city by the sea.

Randy bought Nancy flowers at this wonderful honor system stand along the Lockside bike path on Victoria Island, BC. There are many of these stands along the bike path that request that you just put your money in the box and take what you paid for.

This First Nations man came from Vancouver to Alert bay to do his part in the preparing of the smoking of salmon. He is cutting up cedar sticks and placing sockeye fillets on the cedar sticks like a weaver.

He has been a fisherman and a logger for most of his live but now he build boats in Vancouver but alway returns home to help his family with the yearly catching of the salmon and the canning and smoking of this wonderful wild food. Sockeye salmon is the very best. We found the people wonderfully friendly and helpful. We hope go back some day and spend some time on this incredible island. Thanks everyone at Alert Bay.

This picture shows what freshly caught sockeye salmon looks like while being smoked on cedar sticks. A huge extended First Nations family came from all over Canada to catch the over 450 salmon and then all worked on preparing it for their food supply for the winter.

Ed Frank, a Tahltan member, is a carver of great skill which he shared his sketches and carving at his home on Tahltan band reservation near Telegraph Creek along the Stikine River. The people here are all so friendly and open to visitors.

View of Ketchikan, Alaska from the float plane which delivers the US mail to Hyder, Alaska. We took this plane from Hyder, Alaska to Ketchikan with our bikes and all our luggage. Amazingly it all fit.

[Note that NEW PHOTOS are posted on the Photos page...]

I can not even remember how long it was since we started our ride south on the Cassiar Highway, since the bugs ate me alive at the Junction of 37 and the Alaskan Highway.

Was it a week ago we started, or was it two or three ago. I can not even remember what day today is. It is not that I have a memory problem or any more then usual. It is just days and nights run into each other and all the markers that keep track of the day are left behind when we travel each day to a new place.

There is a common thread that keeps it all together. Bugs, bugs and more bugs. There is now reason for this many bugs. I am currently trying to recover from a bite that got me a week ago in the eyelid, swelled it up so bad I look like I just got out of the boxing ring. The rain was something that dampened out spirit and has been a thread of commonality. Currently we are in Ketchikan, Alaska hiding out at Alltec Computer store updating our website which is really avoidance from going out and getting wetter then wet. It seems we really are wimps but we are working on getting ready for the West Coast ride down the USA through Oregon. Also another common thread is the amazing wonderful people we meet that share so much with us. Wow! People are really wonderful. Thank you all for your gifts of generosity.

The Cassiar Highway was great in most parts and really bad in others. Most of it is a grade A bike touring road and about 15 percent is really bad. Read more · Lee más →: Cassiar Highway and Beyond, way beyond.