Oliver to Burnaby

Today we drive to Burnaby, the last day of mountain driving until we return. After much investigation and talking to people (folks next door are from Penticton and travel various ways to Vancouver), we've decided to continue on H3. So today's travel is Oliver - Osoyoos - Princeton - Hope - Burnaby. Three significant climbs include Richter Summit (outside Osoyoos) and Sunday Summit and Alison Pass Summit between Princeton and Hope.

Left around 8:30am in sunshine and warm temperatures. The Richter Summit climb was average and the drop down the other side was not too steep. Besides, the road is not overly busy. Then down the valley following the river for the most part to Princeton. Then a long climb to the top of Sunday Summit. Stopped here and checked brakes and rested for a few minutes (means took dogs for a pee). The drop from here is not too bad, a bit of 5-6% followed by a one kilometer section of 9%. Then basically some small up and downs for awhile and you find yourself at Alison Pass Summit. That's followed by a long and sometimes steep downhill towards Hope.

It began to rain as we neared Hope and we need gas in both vehicles. So we stopped in Hope and found (surprise) that gas is cheaper than in Calgary ($1.059/l). We bought lunch at Skinny's Grill, funny name but a restaurant with great burgers. Finally ran out of the rain around Chilliwack. The highway got busy around Langley and was kind of nuts by the time we got to Burnaby. We arrived at the Burnaby Caribou RV Park without incident. This is a nice park, but rather crowded. Took C&T for a long walk before supper.

We've been on the road for a week now and, although we only had one day without rain, it's been fun and we've learned something every day.

Thursday is a 'no plans' day, except to find a Walmart. First job today was to wash the car; it gets really dirty when you tow it through rain. They have a place where you can wash cars or motor homes here (good idea). Unfortunately the motor home will have to wait since we're off early tomorrow morning and we won't have time to wash it.

Next, a good breakfast since we're not driving today, and another walk down the riverside pathway. The pathway is amazing in that it's in the middle of the city, and actually passes under the Trans Canada Highway, but it seems secluded and forested. There's enough unfamiliarity that Tucker gets worried every few hundred feet. Not sure what he thinks is going to attack him. We haven't seen anything but other walkers and a few birds and butterflies.

We took the toad in search of a Walmart. Found it without too much difficulty, but this is a crazy city to drive in. There isn't a straight road in the place, and everything is so green and lush (or built up) so you can't SEE anything until you're almost on top of it. Picked up a few groceries and clothes in Walmart, and then decided to try out the route we'll have to take tomorrow morning with the motor home. Streets are narrow for awhile and it'll take almost an hour to get to the ferry terminal at Tsawwassen.

In the afternoon, we took another walk with the dogs and Elaine picked some wild raspberries on the way. And we discovered that there IS a train track close to the campground. We try to pick campgrounds that will be quiet and, more often than not, a train track in the vicinity spoils the serenity. The presence of trains here confirms that we're at a normal place.

It's another one of those non-rainy days today (that makes two for this trip). The clouds looked threatening around noon, but they cleared off and we got a warm afternoon.

Jun 13, 2007

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