Michelle is on my mind. She’s the Australian girl (22) that I thought I’d get along best with. And while Keith and I have been getting along quite well, I think that my exuberance directed towards work clashes a bit with his desire not to work too hard. I’m always keen for new projects, he’s [...]

A day off, a day to myself, a day of mountain climbing and reading, meeting someone new and a bit too much sun.

So tired! A good day today – down into Kaslo to work on reclaiming some land that the people here own. I got dropped off at 1 PM with a few power tools and instructions. A good number of hours (7:30 PM) and a few ad-hoc repairs (scrounging parts from another mower that I discovered [...]

“I don’t like to feel like I’m being exploited” Keith says as others head down to help unload a moving van. He’s 5 years my senior, rather quiet. His opinion rattles around my skull for a couple of minutes.

In the afternoon yesterday all but Richard (who runs the place), Diana (who has been here for a week or so and works in the kitchen) and I left, but that was only 2, and one on the 2nd. This afternoon, however, 4 people arrived – Cecile (the chef from France) and three new WWOOFers.

Today I was finishing up seconds of dinner alone on the deck in front of the lodge. I slowly became aware of a deer, maybe 15′ away, eating the grass. We looked at each other, both chewing, then both went back for another bite.

My ride did show. It was some time after 7 PM. I was a couple KM into what would have been a 15 KM hike. The Retreat Centre was not just around the corner – it was a whole lot further around the corner.

Another hour, another car going to wrong way. another pair of hard advances. One lesson I should learn is that, when hitch-hiking, one should hitch much more than one should hike. Even for what could be a very short distance, ’cause you never know. Actually, you only don’t know when you’re in a new area.

I’m sitting on the side of the road, a dirt road, somewhere between Argenta and Johnson’s Landing, around the north-east shore of Lake Kooteney. I’ve seen two cars in the last hour, and they were both going the other way. I’ll probably shoulder my pack soon and continue towards my destination, which should be just [...]