Day 18 - July 16 - 130 Miles by Brett

Today was a mosquito day. It rained all night, getting several of our sleeping bags and clothes wet. We had plenty of mosquitos to help us get on the road quickly. They were even worse than Grand Forks or Harlem. The only way there could’ve been more was if they had been smaller…and they were in all different sizes. Rita and Madison even found an albino mosquito in the van after everything was packed. We had just as many mosquitos in the van as outside when we started this morning. Once we were on the road, the cool morning air lifted our spirits and we quickly left the nasty bugs at the Liard River.
The road was wide, with good shoulders, but had enough roughness to make one appreciate the smooth paved roads around O’Fallon. Gage and Gavin rode 41 and 31 miles, respectively, with no problem. Race and Madison both did their 20 miles behind on the tandem. Rita got on and went 61 miles, leaving me with a solo ride the last 28 miles into Watson Lake. We’d often top a rise on the highway and see rugged peaks in the distance, drawing closer as we edged nearer to Watson Lake. We saw two buffalo and one fox with a kit (pup). We approached the buffalo with caution, as they were both right alongside the highway and we weren’t sure of their intentions.

We stopped at Contact Creek and got a soft ice cream, reminded me of Steve and Scott’s Saturday rides. Stayed at the Downtown RV Park, a gravel parking lot with power and water outlets, ran by a Scotsman named Archie. He pointed us to his establishment for food. It was burgers for a price, but very good. Afterwards, we went to the local grocery store, where we paid $8 for a gallon of milk and $3.89 for a small bag of ice (very pricey). We combined two days, so now we are a day ahead. We’ll continue north tomorrow after a well deserved shower and good night’s sleep