Daily Summary:
11:00 AM to 3:00 PM — Average Speed: 17.6 Robert’s Roost Resort to Hixon Kreekside Motel and Campground
Odometer: 2,641 – 2,688 miles
Climb: 3,056 ft. — Descend: 3,131 ft.
50-65° F : Mostly sunny. 5-15 mph variable winds.
Battery Performance:
Note: All charging and range data after the World Record Day will be published in Excel format at a later date.
— 50 —
Today was the First Day in my entire life that someone who was not mad at me told me in no uncertain terms to “Shut Up!”
It’s true!
I kid you not, and at first I was taken by surprise (and was almost offended) until I quickly visualized that scene in the movie, “The Princess Diaries,” where the queen, played by Julie Andrews, says something astonishing to the future queen, played by a young Anne Hathaway, and she responds to the amazing news by exclaiming, “Shut Up!” to the older woman. (Who, incidentally, is from a European country and she is not familiar with American slang.)
Anyway, I’m no king, and I am from the USA, but for a moment I, too, felt a bit uncertain about how I should take the… expression of amazement that was vocalized in my direction.
Here’s what happened.
About 30 miles into today’s ride I was feeling a bit stiff-legged since I hadn’t gotten off once since leaving the traffic lights of Quesnel, BC where my day had begun.
I decided to pull into a rest area and stretch a bit before finishing up at my intended destination 17 miles farther on.
As I turned into the rest stop a car was just pulling out and I saw the window go down and heard a voice but I couldn’t understand the whole message.
I wasn’t going very fast at the time, but still, it takes a few long seconds to bring my rolling 500 pounds of cargo to a halt.
Since I didn’t stop immediately, perhaps the driver thought I was rude (or deaf) and so the car began to pull out of the rest area as I finally came to a complete stop and dismounted.
I waved my arm frantically trying to signal the driver to turn around and come back, and finally she must have glanced in her rear-view mirror and noticed my spastic gestures.
She kindly turned her car around and pulled up beside me.
“Are you riding your scooter across Canada?” the driver asked.
“Well, actually,” I said, “I’m heading for Fairbanks. “
“Where’s that?” asked the passenger.
“Alaska,” I said.
And that’s when the young lady’s jaw dropped and she half-shouted, “Shut Up!”
In retrospect, I think it was not only funny but one of the great Firsts of my life because it was a brilliant reminder of how old I am and just how out-of-touch I am with most young people, especially since I’ve stopped teaching.
That said, I understood another young man perfectly a few days ago in Kamloops when he paused for a moment with the girl he was with and loudly shouted in my general direction, “That’s sick man!”
I wonder how he knew that I wasn’t feeling too well after drinking all of that coffee the morning after my sleepless night in the field next to the welding shop.
Makes one think, doesn’t it? …
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