Sounds great. I suspect the 3rd or 10th would work better for us, because our days are shorter. See you soon.

Yes, we live 30 km outside of Nelson near the Kootenay Lake ferry. Al and I would enjoy meeting you in Nelson for dinner one of those evenings. We'll keep in touch.

I enjoy your stories as well. I admire your gift; how you can take a simple subject and write an engaging story. Your ability to laugh at yourself is also to be admired. Should we all be as humble.

Took you long enough. The suspense has been terrible.

So you live in Nelson? Will you be in town when we come through? We’ll be there on three nights - July 31st and August 3rd and 10th. We’re booked at an airbnb, but we might get together for a meal or drink.

Cotinus coggygria, aka Smoke Bush.

Thanks for following along, Eva!

Rachael will look into this and get back to you, but they’re quite robust. Safe from nearly everything but us. They do darken well. I think she started with a stock pair of sunglasses and had prescription lenses added, but she’ll check and let you know.

Cheers,
Scott

Hi Scott and Rachael,

I really enjoy reading your journals and am intrigued by the photo of Rachael's prescription cycling glasses. I don't wear my glasses while cycling as I'm worried about breakage. Yours look unbreakable. Are they plexiglass? Do you wear sunglasses over them or do they darken in the sunshine? I'd be interested to know where you order them from. Thanks for the information, and best wishes for your Canadian tour.

Eva

Nice work with the new camera! Looks like we can look forward to some more stunning scenes from your next ride.

Looks like the camera is a winner!!

Thanks for checking in Robert, and thanks for the lead. I’d never heard of the Burgess Shale before, and it makes interesting background for our trip. Unfortunately, My knees are several years past being able to do a hike like any of the three available. I might make it up, but they’d be bringing me down on a stretcher.

On the other hand, if we make it up to Fields (a candidate for one of our day rides), I feel confident that I can figure out what to do with a Shale Ale.

Will you be in Portland later this summer? We’ll be in town for a couple of weeks after returning from Canada before heading back to Europe, so maybe we could share a beverage somewhere and contemplate the wrath of Pele. Can you believe the timing on our tour last January?

Cheers,
Scott

Scott, how are you doing? Banff and Yoho national parks were the start of my second tour of the modern age (post modern?). MJ drove us there and we took day rides and hikes before I set off solo on my bike starting at Lake Columbia and rode the entire length of the Columbia River to the Pacific. I didn't ride the Ice Field Parkway, which has been on my list of must rides for many years but somehow keeps getting put it off for other two wheel adventures.

The high point of the prologue was hiking to the Burgess Shale. When I say high point I of course mean physical altitude but even more so intellectual and spiritual high point. This was in 2009 exactly 100 years since its discovery by Charles Walcott. The Burgess Shale is only accessible by guided tour that is arranged in the town of Field, which has lodging and some very good beer. Try a pint of the Shale Ale.

The tour is not cheap and the dates are limited. I remember it being $125 per person but your guide is not some freshman college student out for summer. Our guide Paul had a PhD in paleontology. We were the only folks from the US. Our group included Canadians, Europeans, Australians, South Americans and Asians, with a number of them sporting advance scientific degrees.

In summary this hike is a game changer. To hold the most important fossils ever found in your hands at the site of discovery was more than worth the price of admission and the huffing and puffing up the mountain side. If you can work it into your itinerary I think you will be well rewarded.

Have a great trip and be kind to the Jetta.

Robert

I remember you saying that you’d spent time up there. Didn’t you live for awhile or vacation in Nakusp?

I’m definitely no purist; and I’ve got a surprisingly stubborn lazy streak too. I’ve got some misgivings about getting rid of the car actually, but it’s probably for the best. I’m really easily seduced into using it when I could just as easily hop on the bike. It turns out my grandmother was right - she always said I was lazy.

Looks like the next adventure is coming up soon!
Glad you're not a purist and are willing to use a car if necessary to make the logistics work. I, too, would prefer to do without but sometimes it seems the only sensible solution. We are considering loops from different points in Alsace in August.