Biking to Barkerville

It’s Saturday, June 3rd: the first of one-hundred days of Barkerville this season. I’m cycling the 7.9km from my house to the site. The sun is shining, the willows, poplars, spruce, and cottonwoods lining the highway are a vibrant collection of verdancy in a palette of Scheele, Avonlea, and a truly-authentic Forest green. The ditch is still running with a consistent stream, and the sky is blue and lightly brushed with clouds. The view of Two Sisters across the meadows is majestic and welcoming as always. Large Sandcranes patrol the shallow waters; the whooping call of their wings in the spring evenings is a familiar and sweet sound of home. Bear sign, moose sign, and deer sign is present along the ditch bank and road side, but no surprises are to be had. There is a little bit of a wind this morning (some days a headwind can make you feel stuck in situ while working harder than ever), but the ride is light and invigorating. I pass the five flags at Barkerville’s entrance and see the Dakelh and Secwépemc nations flying valiantly alongside the Union Jack and Provincial and National flags. This time last year, they hadn’t yet been erected. I am grateful to see them there, and the wind has supported all of five of them perfectly in unison. In fact, they appear to be frozen perpendicular against their supporting poles in ninety-degree angles. They are pointing me onward, around the last corner of highway, and toward Canada’s National Gem. Of course, by the time I’ve stopped, reached into my pocket and retrieved my camera to document the moment, the gust is already beginning to fade in strength. After parking my bike, making my way discreetly up the back street, entering my dressing room, stretching while uttering a series of strange noises that many untrained in the theatrical arts would recognize not as the critically important vocal warm-ups that they are, but rather as impersonations of a wide variety of natural life, I then disrobe from the 21st century, don the identity of James Anderson, historic