Great day. Great drive. Lovely sunshine and blue sky. We stopped at Cabelas so I could pick up some rubber soled moccasins. After that we stopped at Macdonald’s for Gilbert’s angus paddy and quarter pounders with fries for Laura and I. I had my Thermos Thermos and filled up with double double coffee.
Back on the road, we only stopped again at Manning Resort to use the facilities and let Gilbert have a pee break. We’re talking about going snowshoeing there this winter. It’s been years since I stayed at the resort but remember the cross country skiing winter trip in the Vanagon fondly as an ‘adventure’. It takes adventure planning to get through the Canadian winter. Downhill skiing at Whistler really was a winter relief for decades but it just lacked appeal when there wasn’t any dope smoking. With Weed Wednesday coming up next week I expect more people will be up on the slopes this year enjoying the combination.
I’d booked Ponderosa Motel, sorry to hear the Korean fellow had gone into receivership under a cloud. I’d like him and his wife when we stayed but understand why townspeople wonder about his losing money on such a successful motel. What’s with motel’s these days? Greenwood Motel last week was such a nightmare from hell. Anyway, Princeton has always been a great place to stay and we’ve stayed in several of the motels over the years all of them being a great time. Which is why it was sad to hear Ponderosa was in receivership.
The good news though was Karen and Jim were temporarilyt manageing the place. We’d met Karen and Jim years back when Laura and I would ride the motorcycle up to Princeton and tent in the in town RV park. We loved our times there. Laura would lie in a chair reading or sun tanning while I was more often than not off exploring, spring or fall hunting or summer trout fishing. Karen says she’s older than she appears and both Laura and I were amazed at how well they were. Jim’s the epitome of a country gentleman, a bit Clint Eastwood cowboy with a touch of Carey Grant. A truly handsome couple who used to summer in Canada and winter in the south when they closed the RV park. Smart by Canadian standards.
Laura loved the motel. I walked over to the Mall Pizza and got the great the ultra meat and cheese sticks. The large was so big we could have fed a half dozen. Thankfully the room had a fridge and cold pizza became the next day’s lunch. Gilbert loves Princeton and seems to remember the lane way walk and the town park. Having hearing aids now I also was able to enjoy TV without offensive people banging on the walls. It’s amazing how that phenomena ended when I got the NexGen hearing aids. Go figure.
I really did get up at 6 and was on the road at 630 am. I picked up A&W egged and sausage and hash browns, filled my thermos and actually was at the front of the line of hunters going through the hills first thing in the morning. There must have been a half dozen or more campsites with tents or trailers and I slowly passed each seeing they were just getting on their quads as the sun was coming up. I think sun up was near 640 am. I didn’t see anything but it was great to be first on the trail.
I did have an obnoxious Jeep with hunters behind me who actually tried to pass me but I sped up annoyed that their following kept me going faster than I would choose. I assumed they had some place picked and wanted to get to it but the hunting etiquette is you don’t pass another hunter early morning since he’s there first. Mostly what we do is take a turn off and hunt some side road. At the first turn off I did just that losing the irritation that was affecting my prayer and concentration.
A grouse stood in the middle of the road. I shot it with #6 20 gauge , too far away. It’s feathers were ruffled but it flew straight and long. Of course my shot cleared all the bucks out after that. My old hunting buddy Bill Mewhort would curse me when I’d shoot grouse out hunting. “We’re hunting deer, Bill. Your shooting grouse is scaring all the game away.” But I’d tell him I was first and foremost a grouse hunter and had the greatest difficulty resisting shooting the tasty littler birds.
I did see three doe. Watching one through my telescope I hallucinated horns but then before firing checked with my binoculars and saw it was a doe. I’d want it to be a buck so bad. Probably a transgender deer but I let her go. None of the deer this time of year as ‘self identifying’ as male. Bucks are doing anything they can to conceal their horns. I left the truck on the mountainside and walked a trail a half mile or so before sitting in ambush. I saw 4 more doe climbing the hill but no bucks. It was chilly but the air is so fresh and the evergreen forest, blue sky, white clouds, mountains so beautiful it was a job to be out there. Shivering I finally slogged back to the truck.
I’d put all my gear in the laundry from last week, my long johns specifically. The Stan field greys weren’t missed but I have these Italian pair from the Bay that are just perfect. Without them I’d bought XL Women’s “leggings”. Leggings are women’s thin ‘long johns’ whereas ‘tights’ have the feet. They sell them in Fields in Princeton. Not as good as the Italian Long Johns but better than Stanfields which are warm but baggy. They’re meant for overalls not for stretchy jeans.
Around noon I got tired of driving about the backwoods and headed down to join Laura and Gilbert. The day had heated up with the sunshine so we were able to sit outside at Thomasina’s in town. Laura bought me Cafe Latte and Pastry. We love the uptown flavour of Thomasina. Laura said she heard the owner was running for mayor. He’s a great guy and has been running a fine business so I think the town would do well to have him at the helm. Laura is a source of all manner of gossip and the story is the big events are a community public swimming pool. Laura heard that the older people would be keen for this because all the doctors recommend aqua fit. Apparently there’s also going to be a pharamaceuticial enterprise which would provide jobs.
We love Princeton and always talk about how much we’d love to live there. I even bought a 649 ticket and gave it to Laura to manage. I lose them. She put it in the machine and it gave her another ticket. We love the Home Hardware because the staff all love dogs and Gilbert likes the staff who all welcome him.
I did the evening hunt seeing lots of little fast moving rabbits at dusk but all too fast for me. More deer too. The amazing thing was another moose came out on the road in front of me and ran down the logging road. I’d done this last weekend and here again I was trying to get the iPhone to believe I wasn’t driving while I was bouncing all over the road road trying to work the screen with one hand. When I finally got the picture it flashed with a perfect windshield shot and just the faint impression of the moose’s great antlers.
At night I walked over to Little Creek GRill for take out. It’s a wonderful restaurant with great atmosphere, service and food but we like to watch tv in he room with Gilbert. The lasagna was spectacular. Laura loved the casesar salad best and something about the garlic bread was just perfect. I don’t remember what we watched on tv. I fell asleep right after eating.
No plan to hunt in the morning I ‘slept in’ till 7 am. This is what working for 40 years steady after a decade of studies does to one. Gilbert woke us first at 5 am but then let us sleep in till 7 am.
It was only a little after 8 when we were packed up and headed back, stopping only at A&W for Eggers and hash browns and coffee. A lovely drive home. Back in Vancouver a little after noon. No game but a great weekend backwoods and enjoying Princeton.
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