With the wind comes winter

For almost a week now the wind has been ripping across the plains and buffetting this little town. We have been cleaning out the shop, so have not been on the road in all that time. Everyday the wind seems a little colder, as if it is continually drawing air from futher north.

Finally, today, the wind lay down and the rain came in. And I got to go out. I needed to do a pick-up in Tumbler Ridge, 200km away in BC. There is a long way there and a short way. The long way is tarmac all the way, while the shorter route heads through forest on dirt road. Needless to say I opted for the short way. However, with the rain the road had taken a beating since I last travelled it, and at times 40km/h was too bone jarring to sustain. So I took it slow and gentle. Gone are the days when I used to ride on Company vehicles. I know nuture them and treat them like my own.

The short cut involves driving a radio controlled road. This bizarre sounding name is a sensible system they have here for narrower dirt roads. Although by most dirt road standards, the roads here are massive, it can still be a little trying to squeeze past a logging truck at 80km/h.
So to stop the surprise of rounding a corner to see a MAC truck bearing down on you, everyone tunes into the same frequency and calls out their mileage.
So, for example, while i was driving along, I would see say the 16km sign, and radio in "West bound 16 on the "Hiding"" (Hiding creek been the name of the road) Hence when someone is getting close in the other direction, you know and slow down.

After that little road adventure I joined the main "heritage highway" which is certainly not much of a heritage to anyone and even less of a highway. It was even more rutted and puddled than before, and to add to the fun, the rain slowly turned to snow. On the higher points the ground was almost blanketed already, yet the tempature was a mild 3 degrees.

Further on it got a little colder and I saw a pick-up and a truck both wrecked on the side of the road on a hairpin bend. There was no sign of a collision, so i suspect that a little ice on the road might have been in play.

I safely made it to Tumbler Ridge, a quaint little holiday mountainfoothill town, where I got to dismantle a dish and pack up the truck to return. Before I did, the boys in Calgary gave me another call and sent me on a little side trip to collect a second installtion on the way home. This involved a bit more driving, but i kept safely to the paved road this time and had a dinner on the way, getting there on time at 7pm and finally rolling in home at around 9pm.

The wind that has been ripping in, might not have brought actual winter, but is has stripped most trees of their leaves, making for a very wintery feel to the drive. Add the odd flake to that and it looked far colder than it felt.

On the way home, an hour out, Wen-shu gave me a call. What a pleasure to sit in my warm truck, soaking up the mileage on crusie control, while chatting to my wife half a world away. She is in Taiwan, where I will be soon for a week. I remeber the days when calling international cost half the planet and involved delays, crappy lines and endless frustration. We have come far when you can pick up a phone and call anyone, almost anywhere, anytime.