Tour Diary – Abbotsford, BC – June 19, 2012

Back in civilization…kind of…..These days Abbotsford is a bedroom community of Vancouver. It’s all shiny and new and full of way too many strip malls, which is the downside of growing way too fast. But to counter that, one can hop in a car and in 30 minutes be at the side of a lake stocked with Rainbow trout, with no cell service, and no people in sight and only the sound of water spilling down the mountain-side , and bird calls and wind whispering through the pines and mountains peeking in and out of low lying clouds. So I rented a car and I did just that. I was hoping that there would be a place to rent canoes when I got there, but there was absolutely no-one, which is almost as good. No boat, so I circumnavigated the lake and had to bushwhack my way to the shore line every so often. The ground and the forest were soggy and cold, and it felt great. By evening the Rainbows were jumping, but they had no interest in what I was offering. The only thing that made me feel a little bit better was that at one point an osprey that had been gyring above me all afternoon finally committed to its plunge, smacking the water with incredible force, and, it too, came up empty handed. If I had another day I’d know what to come back with (some kind of floating-larva, a local would tell me) and where to start my day (preferably in a boat). But I don’t have the extra day so I’ll be equally content with an amazing few hours spent on the banks of a mountain lake. This is a tough job…but somebody needs to do it.

Another hockey arena tonight….home to the Abbotsford Heat, the Calgary Flames farm team. We had an ok gig tonight. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great…and you might as well strive for “great” whenever you hit the stage. Yesterday, after my fishing expedition Pete, Leo, Jared and I went to see Prometheus. We are already looking forward to parts 2 and 3. Al bought a very awesome mountain bike off of Craig’s List which we all had fun riding around the parking lot and riding over curbs and down stairs. I didn’t see any of the Mellencamp show tonight; another night ahead of mountain driving (our last of the tour) and then another day off and then two shows in Calgary.