First, There Was the Desert

Now, you KNOW you're harbingers of bad weather when the rain clouds you've got tethered to your bike seat follow you into the DESERT. Such was the case when we started the descent into Osoyoos.

But in the morning, a great golden orb appeared in the sky. When we emerged from our tent, wary and frightened by the surreal bright light that had surrounded us, we noticed that the orb's penetrating rays warmed our skin and that, once one was accustomed to the strange stillness that came with not shivering, it was more pleasant than frightening. We looked at each other in wonder. Perhaps this was the Sun Star our elders had told us about? We had heard great legends about how, before the Rain Times had descended on Earth, the Sun Star had bathed the Earth in its golden light, coaxing food from the lands and our peoples from their homes. Once, our people would travel the world in order to prostrate their bodies in the warm ultraviolet rays of the Sun Star. Now, only a dwindling population of elders can remember the days of basking on beaches or laying beside small pools of water designed to cool your body after the rays of the Sun Star became too strong and your body became uncomfortably warm (can you imagine?!?).

We did not know how brief the appearance of the Sun Star would be and felt it would be a disgrace to our ancestors if we did not pay our respects to the great star our people had once worshiped. We decided to prolong our stay in the desert by a day so that we could lay our bodies before the Sun Star and, knowingly risking cell mutation*, watch in fascination as our skin first warmed, then browned, then cooked, just as our ancestors' once did.

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*Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, YEAH. We're wearing sunscreen.

Stats: Princeton to Keremeos: 72 km; Keremeos to Osoyoos: 68 km (140 km total); Terrible climbs: 0; Almost terrible climbs: Several between Keremeos and Osoyoos; Bags of fresh picked cherries consumed: 1; Bunches of fresh picked asparagus consumed: 1; Number of roadside produce stands selling fresh picked cherries and asparagus: Approx. 92, 000.