We woke up this morning a bit startled that we had slept as long as we did! 8:42am and I was still in bed!
When I finally did get up I was surprised that it was as late as it was! Today was our big driving day. We had to drive from Fort Steele, B.C. (Near Cranbrook) to Lake Country, B.C., a drive of 551 km! After hooking up Jerry to Newman and getting ready to leave, we finally got on the road at 9:56am.
We started off in wet conditions, with rain falling lightly as we were leaving Fort Steele. As we continued driving north, the fog started rolling in on our way to Golden B.C., where we would then start going West, instead of North. Richard kept telling me that in Radium, B.C. there were long horn sheep and I should have my camera ready to capture the sheep when I saw them. Richard yelled out “there they are” and I quickly snapped a photo through my side window of the long horn sheep on the hillside.
Richard said that normally the sheep are right on the side of the road and they are easier to see, but of course not today!
Downtown Radium. They have the long horned sheep tusks on display at the traffic round about in downtown Radium.
We quickly stopped for a bite to eat on a side road in Golden. We knew we had a long day ahead of us, so we wanted to keep making time by driving.
We saw quite a bit of fog in the mountains today on our drive.
We had to drive through the Roger’s Pass, through the Selkirk Mountains, in Glacier National Park, which has an elevation of 1,330 metres (or 4,364 feet). The roads were dry and the temperature was +3C at the summit We were very happy we were doing this drive in October when there was no snow in the forecast!
We passed through 5 of these snow sheds on our way through the Roger’s pass in Glacier National Park. The snow sheds were built between the 1960‘s to 1970’s. At their most basic, snowsheds are aboveground tunnels with a pitched roof built over the road. If the avalanche-prone slopes above them slide, the mass of snow travels over the shed and into the river. In the winter, roughly 3,000 cars and 24 to 32 trains travel the pass each day, with an estimated $65 million in goods transported between Alberta and British Columbia daily. These snow sheds are very important to make sure traffic can get through!
All of a sudden in the middle of nowhere we saw this red roofed resort in Three Valley called ’Three Valley Lake Chateau and Ghost Town’. Of course the resort was closed for the season, but it still looks like a very cool spot.
Three Valley Gap, Lake Chateau and Ghost Town.
Accommodations at Three Valley Gap Lake Chateau! This looks pretty neat!
The Three Valley Lake was very beautiful.
Coming into Three Valley Lake, 19 km west of Revelstoke, B.C.
While Richard was driving, I was surfing for wineries in Lake Country and the north part of the Okanagan that we had not visited last year when we were here. I found a neat spot called “50th Parallel Estate Winery” that also had a Sunday brunch on their website and because the menu looked so good, I booked us for a 12:30pm Sunday brunch tomorrow for something fun to do while we are visiting Lake Country. http://50thparallel.com
When we finally reached Salmon Arm, B.C. and started heading south into the Okanagan Valley, we were very happy that we didn’t have much more driving to do for the day. Driving in the mountains, through the mountain passes and up and down the various elevations requires a lot of concentration on Richard’s part. While the weather was good today, it still takes a toll on us being very focused on the roads with other trucks and cars on the road who want to pass us, when we are holding up a posse behind us.
South of Vernon, B.C. Heading towards Lake Country, B.C.
Beautiful Lake Country, Kalamalka Lake.
This is the view from our RV site at The Orchard RV Resort near Wood Lake, Lake Country, B.C. We stayed in the same RV site last year for 3 nights, so we are very familiar with the spot. We arrived around 4:20pm and were getting all set up for our 3 night stay here when Richard told me we have a problem.
Richard tried to start Jerry after we arrived at The Orchard, and the car wouldn’t start. Instead he saw a puff of smoke come out from under the hood and he smelled something electrical. He tried to boost the battery, but that didn’t work. The owners at this RV resort are very nice people and Richard went to check with them, if there was someone local they knew who could come and look at Jerry to see what is wrong with him. Richard also called Canadian Tire, which was just closing for the day and they advised him that the closest Canadian Tire was in Kelowna. Luckily we also are gold members with CAA, so Richard called and booked a tow for Jerry into Kelowna at 8am tomorrow morning. At 8am tomorrow morning Richard will call the Canadian Tire in Kelowna and let them know Jerry is on the way, for them to hopefully service tomorrow. Yeesh, when it rains…it pours!
So far let’s see what’s gone wrong…the solenoid was corroded in Newman, which caused us to leave Fort Erie 2 days late. We made up the time by driving like mad through Ontario, and cutting short our stay in Cranbrook, by a night, so we are back on our original schedule. Then of course the Splendide washer/dryer belt fell off in Newman and we were able to get that fixed yesterday with the help of Bill the appliance guy and Richard’s son Jonathan. And now we have a problem with Jerry! I guess they say things come in threes so this is the third thing to go wrong. Hopefully that is it!
All day we had our hearts set on having Greek food tonight from this little Greek restaurant we drI’ve by in Lake Country which is about 3km from our RV park. We called the restaurant to see if they would deliver and they said they don’t deliver, but there is a local delivery service that they use called ‘Delivery4U’. We called ’Delivery4U’ and they said they would pick up and deliver for $10. We called the restaurant back, ordered our dinner and within 25 minutes our food had arrived. Who knew that Lake Country was as advanced as downtown Toronto or Vancouver with ‘Uber Eats’ or ‘Skip the Dishes’!!!!
The chicken souvlaki dinner was delicious! Just what we were looking for after a long day of driving!
We have pre-booked a cab to take us to the 50th Parallel for our brunch tomorrow at 12:30pm. We know that after brunch we can always take Newman down to Kelowna, to the Canadian Tire and pick up Jerry, as long as he is fixed. Hopefully this is a one day job, and won’t have us stranded at the RV park without a car for days on end! Oh the joys of RV life! What we’ve learned is to be flexible and roll with the punches! There is no point in worrying about things we cannot control. Or as my old boss Ron Porter used to say “Shit happens, suffering is optional!
Comments