Recent Events, part 3

The flight from Chicago to Seattle was tolerable. The attractive woman to my left watched movies on a mini DVD player and the woman to my right looked out the window and kept looking over at me as if she wanted to say something. I tried to ignore her for the most part by spacing out, trying to nap, or reading Less Than Zero. When the plane finally landed it was already around 6pm, I darted off the plane, through the airport to the baggage claim. I found the car rental booths and ended up getting a car at the first booth I tried, even though I was going to shop around for prices. The reduced price for AAA members drew me, but in the end I payed a shit-ton for insurance, GPS, and taxes such that it really didn't matter. Then the baggage carousel started up so I get my bag and hopped on the courtesy van to the rental place, which was far enough from the airport that I was starting to regret going with some no-name rental agency. The car turned out to be a fairly new Hyundai Sonata, and soon enough I was on my way home to pick up my birth certificate, bike rack, and CDs.

At home, I looked for my birth certificate but quickly grew very frantic trying to find it. It wasn't in the box I thought it was, and I emptied it and threw things around in a frenzy trying to look for it. At one point I even put a hole in my table after hitting it with frustration. I finally found the damn thing in the other box, and naturally felt like such an idiot for making such a fuss. Just then Sean got home while I was trying to tidy up my room somewhat. We chatted briefly about some potential roommate and about my plans to drive to Canada to pick Heather up. I finally get on the road and by about 7:30 pm on Thursday, August 12, I'm on I-90 going East, and my room is still a mess.

Alberta, Canada - August 12 - 13
The route I had laid out the night before, with the help of Mike. He had a lot of experience driving to Calgary so I trusted his guidance. The route would take me east just past Spokane, then north along some highways up into Alberta. The drive started good. I had a lot of energy, a brand new car, a nice twilight and scenery, and WireTap (sort of a This American Life clone) on the radio. I even tried starting some video journal thing with my camera. Over the course of a few hours I'd record a few comments or thoughts I had at the time but honestly I felt stupid talking to the camera and have yet to watch any of those videos. Soon enough, NPR began losing reception. I spent the next hours simply driving and flipping through the radio stations. A few hours later I was getting noticeably tired, so I put in a mix CD so the familiar songs would keep me awake. Eventually I noticed the radio had XM on it, so I started listening to that. I alternate between XM and a song or two from the mix.

I was getting pretty hungry, but I kept putting off stopping to keep myself going. Anticipation is the best motivator. I finally hit Spokane and for some reason had it in mind that I wanted to eat Taco Bell. None of the exits had a Taco Bell sign so I ventured onto a road parallel to the interstate, something I wouldn't ordinarily do without GPS, in search of Taco Bell and a gas station. I finally found one, ordered some nacho cheese chalupas and a 7-layer burrito. I inhaled the chalupas quickly at a gas station while the tank filled. I jumped back on the interstate and entered Idaho. Shortly afterwards, I exit from I-90 onto highway 95, heading north. The road reminded me of 441 in Florida: at some points a highway in the country, but at other points a city street with stop lights. It eventually became a single lane road, and it was dark and desolate and pretty lonely out there. Occasionally I would pass through a small town, but there wasn't much out there, which was all the more motivation to keep going.

Fast forward to a few hours and many dark and winding miles later, and I was finally approaching the Canadian border. I was pretty exhausted by this point, and was seriously considering stopping to nap if there had been actual places to stop. Thus, I pushed forward, constantly anticipating the next town on the map as a possible point for me to rest. I finally got to the border. I had no idea what to expect since I've never been through this area before. It was like a little outpost in the middle of nowhere. I pull up to the window and some woman starts asking me about my trip. I was exhausted and stupid and of course start trying to explain teh whole story about friends on a bike trip and one died and now I'm going to this lodge to pick up the other friend and what not. She started asking more questions such as why my friend I was going to pick up didn't just come back by herself. Anyway, she finally let me through and told me it was about another hour to the next town, where I was determined to rest. The roads in Canada seemed even darker, more twisting, and more lonely. But also a bit thrilling.

When I got into Cranbrook, I was a little worried there would be no place to stop, being as how I really had to piss. I finally found an open 7-11 and stopped, pissed, and decided to try my luck with a little bottle of some 5-hour energy substance. I also put a little gas in the tank, but apparently $8 in Canada just gets you a few drops. The 5-hour energy stuff tasted pretty vile, sort of like a poor citrus imitation like those Emergen-C packets. I continued driving, shortly thereafter realizing that I could already notice a bit of light in the sky in the north, and silhouettes of mountains. The increasing light, coupled with the 5-hour energy thingy, made the next few hours pretty easy-going. I was alert again and surprised at just how alert, and thought I might not have to stop after all. A few hours later I reached Radium Hot Springs and entered some national park. The drive became insanely more scenic, with winding roads and mountains and nature all around. I was getting pretty tired but the thought of being so close kept me going. I didn't realize that it would still be another two hours before I was at my destination, but it was still very motivating and pretty exciting to think at what I had accomplished. At one point Heather called me and helped finalize some directions for me. As I was approaching the lodge I kept half-expecting Matt to come tumbling out of the woods and I could take him to Heather.

I approached the Num Ti Jah lodge and was immediately struck by the beauty of the place. Surrounded by snow-covered mountains, Bow Lake was impossibly blue. I could see instantly why they'd wanted to stay here. I parked, wandered into the lodge, asked for Heather and took a massive piss. When I was coming out of the bathroom Heather greeted me. She fed me and we chatted. She showed me the lodge they were staying at, introduced me to some of the co-workers. We contemplated if we should sleep, but by then I was again pretty wired and excited about being there, and still in a little disbelief.

Heather showed me around a bit more, then we gathered rocks for souvenirs she was making for Matt's friends and family. She had a few calls to make so I gave Nubis a little walk by the lake. Then we began packing her things and her friend David suggested we go for a hike. Heather stayed to pack but I went with him and Melissa on a hike to a waterfall that fed into the lake. The hike went along the edge of the lake for a bit. I was taking photos through much of this, and foolishly looking closely at the water or shoreline for any sign of Matt. Then the path went through some flat areas covered in rocks, up a little cliff that overlooks the stream, and back down to another gradually sloping plane of rocks up to the waterfall. It was deceptively far. And at point point after slipping a few times in gravel, I was pretty sure I was going to plummet off the cliff into the rapids below. And after the brush with death, I was surprised to see kids and people who weren't necessarily well-prepared to make that hike. We sat and ate snacks as the shadow of the cliff crept over us, then headed back.

The trek back to the lodge was a bit quicker. When we arrived, Heather had made dinner for us. We ate in the lodge by the pool table. Then we packed the car with Heather and Matt's belongings. It was very strange to put his bike on the bike rack without his permission. I joked at one point that he will be mad when he comes back to find his bike is gone. It was starting to get dark, and it might have been around this point I took a few more pictures. I ran into Heather again and her and David were skipping stones by a little creek. Then we went on a quest to take showers. I lucked out and got the shower with the high-pressure head. After the shower I wandered around a bit more. I stood at the beach of the lake. Peering out over the smooth surface of the lake. Half-looking for looking for some sign of Matt. I even wept a little. And I felt a bit silly because I doubt he would have wept for me. But that's probably just because I'm not worth shedding a tear over and he definitely is. I watched the moon rise over the glacier on one of the mountains and continued to peer over the lake a bit more. Still in disbelief about Matt and my trip and being there and pretty much everything.

By now it was dark and cold and I met up with Heather again. She wanted to share the last bit of Matt's whiskey with me, David, and another friend at the lodge. At the same time there was some big bonfire. It was a bit odd with people having all sorts of conflicting plans, but eventually we four were alone in a cabin, sipping the whiskey and trading stories. This included the story of the search for Matt and finding his kayak. A few others joined us and it was good times and I realized Heather and Matt had met some really special people out there. It also seemed that there is probably loads of drama between the boys and girls who work at the lodge, possibly rather fun. Around midnight we decided to call it a night. We were planning on waking up around 4am for the drive to Portland the next day. I was very exhausted, having been up by now about 36 hours, I was buzzed from the whiskey, and my chapped lips were pleasantly burning from the alcohol. I made my way into Heather's bed with Nubis while she was out talking with David, and it felt really nice to finally rest, only slightly regretting that I was missing the meteor shower that was without a doubt fantastic to see from there.