Sometimes rest days are restful, but sometimes they are just a frantic scramble to finish chores on an ever-growing list. Nelson was a cute little city, but we only had one day to resupply AND try and enjoy city life. Luckily we managed pretty well, and found more fuel, groceries, a wall plug, a new book AND drank coffee, skyped, and brunched. In Canada they call Bloody Marys "Caesars", and replace the V8 with Clamato. WOW! Clamato is my new jam. Tomato and clam juice, who knew? Thanks, Canada. We continued our tour tradition and saw Inside Out in the theatre, and I only really cried once. I was teary-eyed through the whole thing though, and I could probably cry right now just thinking about it. You should probably see it.
Maybe one of the best things about rest days is walking around civilization with Travis and the outfits he's managed to cobble together. For some reason he decided to only bring a collared shirt, jeans and a bathing suit, which make appearances together with his white crocs.
We had arrived in Nelson on a Saturday night, and the only spot left in the campground was in overflow, which meant we spent the night on a 45 degree slope (note: when sleeping on slopes, put your head toward the top). So for our second night in Nelson, we decided to give Katie a call. We met Katie with Roger on the rail trail into town. I was about to remove my clothes to go swimming in the river when we heard, "Hey, Florida people!" It was the guy we had met at the dock a few towns back who gave us advice on where to camp!! Small world. Within minutes of meeting us, Roger's friend Katie invited us to stay with her in Nelson, and to look her up in the phone book when we got there. That was a great decision. Not only did we get to sleep in a real bed, but we got to hang out with Katie and Roger all night talking bikes, history, the environment, and travel.
The next day I caught up on some blogs, which takes FOREVER, by the way. Like hours. By the time I was done, it had started to rain, and Katie had put on the kettle and her apron and made tea and baked cookies. What treatment!
Travis' weather optimism was obviously on turbo mode, and he assured me that the rain had definitely cleared up for the day, so we thanked Katie for her generous hospitality, invited her to Florida, and started on the wet ride to Salmo, a mere 20 something miles away.