Baby, It's Cold Outside

"I really can't stay, (Baby, it's cold outside)

I've got to go away, (Baby it's cold outside)"

I've had a great rest day in Prince George at David and Megumi's home. I got to use their spacious basement suite where I set up my mobile office to do some work. I went up for breakfast this morning to find Megumi sad after hearing the news that Corey Montieth had died. She's a big fan of Glee and had wanted to meet the actor who played "Finn". Later, as she was puttering about, she started humming "Baby, It's Cold Outside".  When I questioned her why she had a winter song in her head, she said, "Well, it is cold outside." Yup, it is for a summer day, it's barely creeping up to 16˚C.

My generous hosts

My PG office

After finishing up and emailing away a job, I took a hot shower to perk myself for the cool ride ahead. It was definitely nice to put on freshly laundered jacket and pants. I pushed off toward the wilderness after saying goodbye to David, who puts me to shame in the music department — I just find fallen fruit on YouTube while he makes and plays his own when he tours with his guitar and/or fiddle.

George is a chain smoker

The Fraser River in PG

Actually I didn't have far to go today. There is a 200+ kilometre distance between Prince George and McBride and the only thing in between is a campground 60 kilometres away at Purden Lake. There's a bit of a climb out of PG as the road goes over a plateau, around which the Fraser river makes a big bend and virtually turns 180˚ as it descends from the Rockies toward Vancouver. The Yellowhead highway becomes much quieter here as most of the logging trucks are gone; the road ahead leads towards Jasper and some of Canada's highest concentration of parks which straddle the Rockies.

I could get work out here....

Are there such things as low moose anyway?

Sexy name for a creek

I got to Purden Lake in good time and secured a campsite at the rustic resort ("It's the only building between here and McBride," said the woman at the Prince George tourist information office). It's a beautiful relaxing place, except camped next to me is a group of 30 or so road cyclists on an organized tour accompanied by two vans and a humungous equipment trailer, and they are making quite a racket. Plus they used up all the hot water in the showers. Grrrr.

It's supposed to dip down to 5 or 6 degrees tonight, the thermal underwear I brought along is going to come in handy. Brrr.