Driving, Driving, and More Driving Through Canada

JR kicking my butt in Longview

The contest in Longview, WA was quite wonderful. It was my first experience at a “You are ONLY a log roller? You don’t chop ANYTHING?” type of contest. I held my own against many of the guys (this was a coed contest) and placed highest out of the ladies. Of course JR and Brian once again had the pleasure of knocking me on my ass. Thanks boys. The highlight of the day was seeing my dear friend Kristy again. Poor thing is marrying a lumberjack, Wade Stewart, in just a few weeks. Good thing Wade is cute. :)
With my girl Kristy in Longview

After competition (not even a shower!) we hopped in the car for our 12 hour drive to Slocan, British Columbia. I was crammed in the back seat along side everybody’s crap. Thank god JR and Darren are fun; although there were many times I was ready to wring JR’s neck. The boys only let me drive for about two hours… apparently I am a bit scary to ride with in the mountains. :)
In the middle of the night we finally found a small Wild West town (no joke, it was a themed town) with some motels. No Vacancy. Awesome. We pulled into a parking lot and tried to sleep in the car. After getting “comfortable” the town police officer found us and asked if we heard any gun shots. Apparently one of the local crazies was shooting right in the area we were sleeping. That made our evening just that much more restful.

The next morning we awoke bright and early to drive to the boarder, only to be told the boarder didn’t open until 8am. Damn Canadians. Thus we arrived in Slocan an hour late. We put our stinky selves in the glacial ice water pond and caused quite the scene.

Bathing Travelers

After the 15 hours in the car, they drew brackets and I was seated to roll JR right away. I wasn’t too worried because usually brackets are double elimination. Not in Canada. Damn Canadians. This was yet another “you seriously ONLY log roll??!!” contest, so when I asked to have double elimination brackets because I was only doing one event, I was simply told, “You should learn to chop.” Keep in mind this came only a few weeks after a well known chopper (who will remain nameless) told me, “Women shouldn’t chop.” Make up your minds you fools!!! Due to our short time on the log at this contest, Maggie and I entered the choker race. I might be fast, but when it comes to figuring out the damn choker (which really shouldn’t be that complicated) I suck. I achieved my first (and hopefully only) last place finish of the summer. Best part of Slocan? The amazing lake. There was a real log jam and boom by the mill… I felt like a true lumberjack! Nobody there could believe we actually have kids in swimsuits log rolling at local YMCAs. These folks just cut our logs off the mountain the day before!

Maggie and I making fools of ourselves in the choker race

JR and I had a long drive down to Spokane that evening and I put up the money for a nice hotel due to the fact that I was tired, sore, smelly, and crabby. A nice flight home the next day and back to reality.

I now have two days to get ready for the Women’s Tri Fitness competition in Las Vegas this weekend. Whew… it never ends!

To see all of the pictures from the Canada adventure click here.