Day 32
   
   5/29/01
   Mile 3120
   Fort St. John, BC
   
   I awoke at 6am, looked out the window.  Still raining.  Went back to
   sleep.
   
   I tried again about 8am.  Still rain.  I went over to the lounge and
   looked at the weather channel.  The forecast: rain all day, 35kph west
   wind, -2C wind chill.
   
   I debated just calling it a rain day and trying again tomorrow, versus
   spending a miserable day trying to do a century ride in the slop.  In
   the end I decided to split the difference.  I'd jump to Fort St. John,
   the last town of any size for a long way, and get shelter for the
   night there to dry out again since tomorrow would be better. That way I
   could get in a half of a miserable day instead of a whole one.
   
   I hung out for a while, had a slow breakfast, then started packing up
   for a dreary ride.  I downlapped my clothing layers like the shingles
   on a roof, and went outside.  I hate rain, doubly so when mixed with
   bikes.  But when I first considered doing this trip, I knew days like
   this would come, and there would be nothing to do but deal with it.
   
   I exited into the rain.  I was at the famous "Mile 0" of the Alaskan
   Highway.  From here, the sign says 1536 miles to Fairbanks.
   
   The skies were uniformly gray, with no hint of clearing anywhere, nor
   any sense of where the sun might be hiding.
   
   It was as miserable as expected. I had to keep my head down to avoid
   the spray and bad vision that comes from water-covered goggles.  There
   was little to see anyway.  The effect was like going to a gym,
   dragging the stationary bike into the shower, and setting it on "hill".
   
   I crossed the the mighty Peace river, looking almost as wide as the
   Mississippi.  A motorcycle passed me on the bridge.  I wondered if his
   ride was worse than mine, with 60mph rain versus my 15.
   
   Missing have been the hordes of mosquitoes and RV's I'd been expecting.
   Did I just put the two in the same sentence?  Sorry, didn't mean to;
   it won't happen again.
   
   Anyway, the RV's and mosquitoes will probably be on the increase since
   there's plenty of stagnant water around here for them to breed.
   
   I finally arrived at Ft. St. John, plopped my wet butt into a seat at
   the Chinese buffet, then got a room and spread out everything to dry
   before I went to sleep.

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