Day 4: From Canyon Alpine to Spences Bridge

Day 4: From Canyon Alpine to Spences Bridge, July 9, 2015   Since I couldn't get any milk I decided to have breakfast in the adjacent motel which opens at 5:30. I got into a conversation with a young man in a firefighter's outfit and he told me that he was about to be picked up for "work". They were driving down the highway and then would fly up to the mountains to fight the fires. He explained to me what a "backfire" is: A fire working itself round a mountain and threatening to hit houses can only be stopped by taking away its fuel. So a group of firefighters  takes down trees in the line of the fire's progress, then takes out as many shrubs as possible and then a helicopter pours combustible along that line which is then lit. This season the fires have burned down several houses in the Vancouver Island and Saskatchuan areas .... Apart from obviously being a very sensible albeit adventurous man, Brendan seems very sure that the "jade helm 15" conspiracy is going to hit the world in a couple of years. When he asked a group of military why they were building a bridge in the middle of nowhere and they answered "just for practice", Brendan didn't seem to believe them since he fears that in a couple of years' time, when the governments' debt reaches 16 trillion dollars, our society will collapse. ....  I wish him all the best! My route now takes me up, up, up, and I know there much more "up" to come. The heat is really getting to me. At 7:30 it is 27 already, by noon it reaches 37. I reach the small town of Lytton after about 45 km. All towns along the Fraser River and then later on the Thompson are situated basically at a distance a steam locomotive could run until it had to be refuelled. After a very long and steep ride up several hills with over 600 m of cumulative altitude (over 1200 at the end of the day) I reached Lytton which seemed like heaven. A long steep ride down to the little town on the river had me feering that I would have to ride it up again later but luckily there was an easier access at the other end of town, further north. Here once more I met such nice people. At the library I got free wifi and got into contact with Omar in DC to ask him for his postal office so I could send off some excess weight. You DO NOT want to carry anything up those mountains that is not absolutely necessary. I got together almost 3 kgs of stuff I sent off at the post office. I addressed a nice looking lady I had seen at the library before and asked if she knew a place I where could sort out my stuff rather than in the street and wow! she invited me to do so at her house, where I was welcomed by her husband Alan who had sailed with  British merchant ships for some years, and by their dog. After sorting out my stuff under very rigid inspection by Shirley we had tea before I set off again - now that it had cooled off to only 32 degrees. Shirley and Alan indicated to me campsite just after Spences Bridge,which would be rather wild and simple but free. So I stopped along the road to get provisions and met this  guy who asked me if a had a gold pan with me, he cold lend me one, if I liked because on that spot at the Thompson you were sure to find gold in ever pan. I asked him why he was working in his business and he said that if he went into gold panning full time he would earn about 3 $ an hour .... So here I was all hot and tired but with enough food and water to last me for the night and if necessary, the next day.