fog in the cariboo

I drove east on an almost deserted highway to the town of Horsefly. Pickup trucks with bumber stikers that said "Piss off a Liberal - Buy a Gun" were parked beside neo-hippies from Spirit Dance. It was the first annual Arts, Music and Dance festival.

I was disappointed with rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." But the local duet did a better job of Sarah McLaughlin. When I took shelter from the rain I met a family from Mexico that traveled to the Yukon every summer until they stopped in William's Lake.

The last set was played by a blues band but no one danced the last song except for a young single mother and her daughter.

They burnt TVs in a large bonfire. The fog rolled in from the mountains and mixed with the aroma of beer and pot. There seemed to be clarity around the bonfire or perhaps just echoes of Cohen's song.

But in the bright sunshine of the morning the clarity of the fog was replaced with confusion. When I asked for the best way home, Jeff said "You can't get there from here."