11th November 2013

Its been a while since my last post in Vancouver. Since then I've travelled across the wide open spaces of Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota and find myself in a co-operative home in Madison, Wisconsin. Before embarking on this epic voyage I stopped in Nelson, British Columbia. Its a kind of sleepy little ski town nestled in the Kootenay mountains with a west coast vibe thanks to the influx of Vietnam draft dodgers who arrived in the late 60 and early 70.


This stop was a little different to most of my chosen destinations as the draw lay not in the co-operatives, landscapes or culture but three dear friends from my hometown of Penicuik who've moved here with their families over the course of the last 10 years or so. The draw for each of them is Nelson's situation – an eight hour drive inland from Vancouver it enjoys some of the most prodigious snow falls of anywhere in the world, not only that its all powder. I'm no skier but from what I gather this is pretty much as good as it can get. Furthermore its low profile compared to better know ski-destinations means the locals are able to enjoy the abundant fresh powder without having to compete with tourists. Unlike my friends the thought of all this snow doesn't fill me with the same kind of excitement and its arrival could've been a serious obstacle to the rest of my trip – thankfully it held off until just after I left.


Paul, Neil and Dave (my hometown friends) have built wonderful lives for themselves and their families out here. And after almost 4 years without seeing Neil and only a couple of fleeting meetings with Dave and Paul over the same time period back in the UK it was truly wonderful to spend 10 blissful days hanging out with them all.


Nelson itself lies at the foot of a tree covered valley where deep green pines and golden larch cover the steep slopes and mark autumn's slow progress towards winter. Neil has found gainful employment working for a local festival called Shambala and most days I'd drive round to meet him for lunch, sampling a different eatery on nearly every occasion. Finding a different place to lunch over the course of 10 days might seem surprising if you consider that Nelson's population is less than 10,000. However, the draft dodgers brought their very own industry with them from California and that industry is pot growing. I suppose it lies beneath the surface to some extent but one of the consequences of its existence is the relatively high disposable income the locals enjoy. This is of course usually cash that is best spent in restaurants, bars or stores. They also brought some other economic institutions with them one of which is the Kootenay Co-op where I was able to hold a wonderful interview with its marketing manager, Jocelyn.


All three of my friends own big pick-up trucks and they were kind enough to let me use them whenever I needed. And even though I'm not sure I really needed to use them, nor if I actually approve of these vast gas guzzling machines I cannot deny that I loved cruising around town in a Dodge Ram with a 5.8 litre V8 hemi. I'm a little unshaved right now even by my poorly groomed standards and in possession of a baseball cap so I'm pretty sure to any passers by I looked just like the real deal. It was a trip.


Short of spending time with my friends, their partners and wonderful kids I was able to do a little exploring outside of town. A particular highlight was a trip we all made to an old growth forest of fir trees and pines where I was assured there would be at least some chance of an encounter with a grizzly bear. Sadly (or perhaps not) we didn't find any bears but the forest was magical and if I was a bear I'd be pretty damn pleased to call it home. Afterwards I headed to a hot springs with Dave and his clan. Never having been to a hot springs I didn't really know what to expect and even though it wasn't what I pictured the reality was every bit as good as I could have wished for. The springs themselves were located in caves you could swim into and lie floating in a dark warm corner with the waters gently soothing and relaxing every last muscle, joint and ligament in your body. The effects were so profound two hours passed as if it was the a blink of an eye.


Paul – a civil engineer lives a little further out of town in a home he and his family moved to around a year ago. When I say home I'm neglecting to mention the 16 acres of forested land it sits within. His wife Jana is making use of the space by indulging her passion for horses and much of their time of late has been spent making provision for their four legged friends. However, winter is approaching and time is therefore running out to finish the various projects they've got going on, chief among them a huge carport – more of a bard to my mind that will accommodate the horse trailer. I'm no builder and was happy to leave this more technical work to Dave and Paul who are eminently more qualified than I. That said I've always enjoyed a spot of straight forward manual labour and made myself as helpful as I could by filling in a trench that was dug out to accommodate a power supply for the new hot-tub. There's something very satisfying and relaxing about simple manual labour and by the end of the day my back may have smarted a little but the cable was buried and the trench filled. Sadly the hot-tub wasn't quite ready to go before I departed but its one more reason to come back in the future.



I was really sad to leave Nelson, I could've quite happily stayed in its warm embrace for a long, long time but the plan is the plan and I still hadn't made too much of a dent in my traverse to the east coast. Happily I didn't leave empty handed as Neil and his friend Joel decided they'd come with me for a road trip to Yellowstone park. So Friday night after Neil finished work we loaded his pick up and the three of us set off south and east looking for adventure and some of the wonder that part of the world has always tantalised me with...