Hope to Merritt / Happiness to Frustration

John and I camped out just outside of Hope last night. When we initially set up tent, it was really warm. As the night progressed, it became bone chillingly cold. As a result, I got maybe 3 hours of sleep and John got none. As you can probably predict, our day was exhausting.

The day started off with a glowing and inspiring sunrise that temporarily gave us bountiful energy. As we cycled the Coquihalla highway, came to an extremely steep hill that climbed one kilometer over six kilometers of cycling. It may not sound bad, but for a cyclist, the slope was huge! We were so high there was literally still snow on the ground. We assumed there couldn't be many more hills than the initial huge one, but were very wrong. Most of the day was a literal uphill battle. With such little sleep, it was really rough.

We saw a couple deer today which is cool I guess... I'd much rather have seen a bear or a dragon but I'm not sure bears are real. We also had a toast to Annie who helped support us by supplying us with protein bars. Thanks Annie, enjoy the pictures!

Now we're in Merritt and John and I both ate a large pizza each which didn't fill us. Fun fact: Merritt has dubbed itself the "County Capital of Canada". It's got many murals of famous musical artists including Uncle Sloth and the Machines and some guy I've never heard of. Country music is stupid, but I'm sure our coworker Eden would love this place! (Her opinions are clearly wrong.)

The quote of the day is, "you guys are crazy!" Which was hollered by a guy in a car as we climbed that steep hill. Maybe it's not the best quote but it really pumped us up and gave us an extra boost of energy. People are really awesome and supportive and we constantly hear friendly honks and see friendly waves as we cycle through. Let's see if this kindness holds up in other provinces...

I wasn't lying: there was snow...

A toast to Annie!

Go John Go!

John Goes Slow!

Pretty high up...