I initially planned to take a two, three day rest in Prince George after that big push south and make an informed decision on my further interinary through Canada. I have two options in mind:

1. Continue east towards Jasper [a place that I really would love to visit, but around this time a year brings more uncertainties about weather and add around 600km] or

2. Go directly south towards Vancouver.

Well, I already started with "I initially planned..." While writing these lines it's 8PM. I sit at a warming fire under a beautiful clear star sky with McKenzie Lake all to myself [50km south of Prince George]. Brain is heavily recharging with travel romance energy. But how did I get here?

It took me a whopping 1 day of "eat, sleep, repeat" on the campground in Prince George to realize it's not my body that needs a rest it's my mind that needs a proper rest from the highway madness and the daily kilometer counting that more or less took place since I left Valdez a month ago. I figured hanging around a city is not the best place for me to get this. I don't know anything better than riding my bike to get this type of rest.

I don't have influence on the weather and often also not much on the scenary that I get on a given day. But I do have influence on how and where I go. Very quickly I abandoned the idea of going to Jasper. If I wanted to make it there with a chance on good weather it would mean just pushing onwards on the highway.

I am looking forward to a long awaited visit of my girlfriend Ilma who will arrive to Vancouver in about two weeks. With the decision to skip Jasper, it gives me plenty of time to make it to Vancouver now. There is no established back country route from Prince George to Vancouver and so I downloaded a bunch of forest service and farming backroad maps. The plan is to basically head into the forest here and eventually pop out somewhere close to Vancouver. I have a few ideas what I want to see on the way and will stitch it together as I go using the backroads. [Oh, and at least for the next days don't think about milage. I even set my bike computer to a screen where I don't see any information on progress. I will cross highways every couple of days, so if I should run out of time I can always kick it into high gear again.]

I stocked up on some food [finally some fresh stuff] and left on the Blackwater Road towards Quesnel around noon today, where I might need to restock food for a longer period once again [funny that I voluntarily give away this long awaited convenience so quickly].

I only did 50km today but I already feel the change. I can appreciate the beautiful forest again, no traffic, silence, slow progress on the gravel road... It will be the first time that I have to spend more time on navigation but I am really excited not knowing where I will go the next days.