Swiss Hospitality

It was raining when we finished our tour of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam this afternoon, so we sat in some dinosaur footprint fossils under an awning to wait for the rain to stop before riding back into town.  I returned the nod of a passenger of a minivan that arrived as we waited; nothing unusual, must be just another rider who happens to not be on their bike at the moment.  I noticed he took an extra long look at our bikes, then back at us before heading into the visitor's centre with his family.

The rain wasn't letting up, so we decided to head to the visitor's centre's cafe to see if they had internet access.  As we started to sit down at a picnic table outside, the guy I'd exchanged nods with earlier came outside and asked if we'd care to come inside and enjoy some BC hospitality.  I didn't catch his meaning at first, and his slight accent threw me because "Thick Canadian" is the only accent I've heard around here, but he explained he'd like to buy us lunch.  We declined lunch, but allowed him to get us something to drink as we sat and chatted with he, his wife, and their daughter and son.

They'd recently moved to Hudson's Hope when he started a job as a mechanic at the W.A.C Bennett Dam.  He works in the same garage my Dad used to work on our old Volvo in the middle of the cold BC winters.  (I remember being in that garage as a kid, probably 5 or 6 years old, seeing a truck tire being taken off a rim.)  He and his wife are originally from Switzerland, and have been in Canada for almost 20 years.  He'd always been interested in Canada, and his obsession was cemented when he visited in the early 80's, and returned to buy a motorcycle in Montreal and ride it to BC and spend several months there.  He met his wife back in Switzerland, but made it clear from the start he'd one day move to Canada.

We soon asked about the sling he had his arm in, having also noted how he was obviously in a bit of pain.  It turns out he hit a deer while riding his motorcycle not two weeks ago - his first accident in about 30 years of riding.  He was coming home and had only 1km left when there was suddenly a deer out in front of him.  He said he remembers thinking "oh, this is going to be close", then waking up in the hospital several hours later.  He was wearing a full faced Shoei helmet, a proper jacket, heavy-duty double layered Carhart pants, and tall leather boots.  He hit his head hard enough to crack the helmet near the temple, but it did it's job and his head is fine.  He suffered 2 broken ribs, a cracked shoulder blade, and two breaks on one collar bone, but his jacket and pants saved him from being torn up.  His boots took a beating, but saved one foot which was drug under his bike.

As scary as that story was, we really enjoyed talking with he and his wife about riding, living in Hudson's Hope, moving far from family, and lots of things in between.  Much to our surprise, they welcomed us to stay for the night in a cabin they have next to their house a little ways outside of town.  (It was actually about as close as any house gets to the campground we'd stayed at the night before.)  His wife greeted us as we rode in, and made us feel very welcomed.  We'd arrived later than we wanted, and the kids had already gone to bed.  Their oldest, the daughter, had really wanted to be awake when we arrived, so her Mom woke her up so we could talk a bit.  I'm guessing she's about 6 years old (I'm horrible at that game though), with long blond hair she tucks behind her ears, and a huge smile.  Really sweet.  Their son was younger, and a bit more shy.  Hopefully we'll see him before we leave in the morning, although we hope to get going pretty early.

I'm typing this from inside their cabin right now, and this is easily the coolest accommodations we've had so far.  Like their stunning home, the cabin is completely log construction with a red metal roof.  It's got two small beds, a wood stove, a skylight, some tables, and chairs for the kids.  Their property backs onto the Peace River, and is just a few hundred metres down from the Peace Bridge and Peace Dam.  What a house, what a view, and what hospitality!

So, we've showered, I washed some socks in their sink (they offered to let us do laundry, and to transfer to the dryer for us if we wanted to get to sleep!), and we're now both in bed.  I think Dad's asleep already, as I'll be in just a few minutes.