Mile 316: Interview with Kevin Pankewich

In the present time, I had fallen a bit behind where I wanted to be in my mileage goals for this fundraiser, so I managed to crank out 107 miles on Saturday the 8th of May, followed by other errands by bicycle. My current total is now at 344 miles as of the writing of this post.

At the same time unfortunately, Derek and I encountered problems as we dove into the interview vaults, and spent the week scrambling to get to the files we wanted. This is partially why it took so long to get this post out. Luckily, from here on out, we have lot of good voices to be heard from along the Trans Mountain pipeline.

This brings us to a particular voice from mile 316 in Clearwater, BC: Kevin Pankewich. The day before on 20 August, 2015, we had left Kamloops riding northbound after a day-long rest, and a friend we made in the city, Kevin, had elected to join us and spent the night with our group in Clearwater.

Kamloops is an example of how much is hidden by the border, being a town of nearly 100,000 that many Washingtonians have never heard of. This is akin to Vancouver, BC residents being unaware of Everett, WA.

While there, we were taken in by a young family who shared their garden with us and a place to camp, and other new friends such as Matt Greenwood (the local Green Party candidate) and Kevin who showed us around the town and introduced us to people. The time in Kamloops brought some logistical difficulties for our group, and we were grateful for the friendly companions.

The next day, we took off, stopping where Kevin lived to tour his permaculture garden, before heading due north into the Thompson River valley.

On the morning of this interview, we parted ways as he began the 60+ mile journey back south to his home.

Kevin is a sincere, thoughtful guy, and I hope you enjoy his interview.