Both of us had a hard time getting a good nights sleep because the rest area was right next to train tracks. A few trains went by in the middle of the night, and since we were so close we could feel the ground vibrate and it sounded as if the train was going to run right through our tent. Morning came all too soon again. Joe woke up at 5 and had thought it was more like 7:30 because of how bright it was. He went back to sleep for a while, but woke up a few hours later with a bad head ache, probably from a combination of the light and the trains all night. Luckily, I felt fine and was only sleepy. So, since Joey didn't feel good, I put the tent away and made our breakfast while he rested on the picnic table. Even though he had a head ache, he said he was feeling a little nauseous too and had a hard time finishing his oatmeal. He took a couple aspirin which seemed to help once they kicked in a little while later. I'm glad he started feeling better because I was really worried that he was getting sick which would have been horrible. It was still cold and cloudy when we woke up and there was a light rain for a good portion of the time we were getting ready to ride. To our surprise, it was only about 9 miles to Burns Lake from the rest area we had camped at. After riding on some rolling hills into town, our first objection was to find the bike shop. When we got there, we found out they are only open 2 and 1/2 hours a day, days a week (and they didn't open until 3:30!). Since it didn't make sense to wait around all day for them to open when we didn't even know if they would have what we were looking for, we decided to just find a grocery store and get some cereal and milk for a second breakfast/ lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the prices in the grocery store were reasonable in comparison to a lot of the other grocery stores we had seen in BC. Being that the prices were good, I got some more cookies and some bananas along with our cereal and milk. Our next mission was to find a picnic table. There was a wonderful visitor center in town that had a nice table outside along with free wi-fi. I will be honest, I didn't expect to find wi-fi until we made it to Smithers. Again, between the two of us, we polished off a while box of cereal and a 2L carton of milk. That is one of our favorite meals simply because we always get filled up and don't have to worry about being hungry for quite a while. The next 30 miles were very hilly and I was already pretty tired from not sleeping well, so they were pretty tough and slow going. We made it to the 2nd rest area outside of Burns Lake and I was ready to be done for the day even though it was only 4pm. I felt very sluggish and my whole body just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. The thought of riding another 20 miles to the next town was not pleasant and seemed like a really long ways. After taking a little rest and having a banana and some cookies for a snack, we ended up getting back on the bikes and riding again. Joe really wanted to have a nice light day tomorrow so he was pushing to get to the next town. The thought of a light day is always wonderful, so reluctantly I agreed and we were off. Luckily for me, the remainder of the ride to the next town was almost totally flat, with the exception of one hill right before town. I couldn't believe it! Having a nice flat ride gave me a second wind and the next 18 miles didn't seem like it was that far anymore. The wind had died down a bit so we were moving along pretty good. I even resorted to practicing my whistling because the riding was easier and I wasn't out of breath from climbing any hills. It was very enjoyable. When we made it to Houston, we stopped at Subway to re-fill on water. Again we thought about getting subs, but it just wasn't worth it for how much it was. We started riding around a bit to look for churches that might work for setting our tent up at. There was a museum in town that had an old church and one room school house that we stopped to take a look at. While there, we met a nice couple and their children who were out on a walk. They gave us some pointers on where to find churches in town along with a little peace of mind because they said it was a pretty laid back town so we shouldn't have any problems with putting our tent up anywhere. We stopped at the grocery store across the street and picked up some cheddar sausage to go with our mac and cheese and then headed to the picnic tables in the park next to the visitor center. There was a nice pavilion, which was great because there was again a nice light rain, and even a place to charge our phones while we ate. After we got our dishes done, we rode over to where the churches were, and there were about 4 within the same block. The Catholic church had a wonderful overhang by their front door that we decided to set up under in case it started to rain harder. Another day where the bugs weren't too bad because it was cold. Tomorrow should be a nice light day since we have a place to stay through Warm Shower's tomorrow. Our mileage totaled 60.36 today.
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