We’re leaving, but which way to go? Down through the Okanagan Valley? On the faster Route 5? Or backtrack to the Trans Canada? We were told the Trans Canada was actually the more scenic route, and since our trip is along the Trans Canada, we decided to retrace our route back up the 97 to #1, which annoyed ‘Matilda’ no end, but she finally realized we wouldn’t change our minds and gave up trying to get us to make U-turns in the middle of the Trans Canada.
More scenic? More scenic than what? We followed the Thompson River, through the ‘suede hills’, well named because they aren’t green at all, but mostly brown dirt. Houses are built right underneath - from the highway it looks like they could be at risk of landslide. The ground is fertile enough, but only if it gets water, and obviously not enough comes from rain because anywhere there is green there is irrigation, even the hayfields and pastures! It is not agricultural like the valley area, and doesn’t seem as prosperous.
I was looking forward to seeing Kamloops, but was very disappointed - it is not pretty at all, or at least not today.
The railway is well used all along, in fact in all of the west there are huge trains moving stuff, but here we’re really glad things are shipped by train and not by truck - imagine all those big trucks on this mostly 2 lane highway!
Where the Thompson River meets the Fraser, it is very turbulent, and water rafting signs are evident. We only saw 2 rafts in the water though, for the whole trip.
Just after the point where the rivers meet, the spare tire on the trailer decided it had travelled far enough and fell off! Of course we had no idea, but a following truck passed us and gestured - what? We didn’t know what he was trying to tell us, but there was a pullout nearby so we stopped, and another car came up behind us and told us how our tire had come off the trailer, rolled nicely down the side of the road and into a parking area. He offered to take Mike back to pick it up, and so his wife Sylvia and I had a nice visit sitting on the side of the road.
It was good that Mike had someone to show him exactly where the tire went, or he would have been searching forever. Really forever, because it was obvious that the tire wanted to try out the river rapids - the parking lot was right by the river with nothing to stop a speeding tire. On inspection, we found the weld was faulty - one of the things we probably should have checked. Well, maybe it will be found somewhere by someone who can use it!
Anyway, Sylvia and her husband (never found out his name) joined us for a picnic lunch just a few miles down the road, and then they went off to Vancouver to catch the ferry for Nanaimo where they live and we carried on our way.
We had been travelling in mountains all day, and the suede hills (actually really mountains too) seemed like foothills, so we thought we were through the ranges, but then higher, sharper and snow-covered mountains appeared. Awesome!
We decided to stop in Hope - a small town completely surrounded by snow topped mountains. We unhitched the trailer and drove into town to check it out - a wide main street, lined with shops. Not the tourist kind either, but ‘real’ shops (pharmacy, movie theatre, deli, grocery, etc.) and a lovely park right there for people to enjoy. Hope is known for its chainsaw sculptures, and there are several downtown.
Back at the campground we found we had excellent WiFi, so I settled down to update the blog before something happened to it. Yesterday’s park had WiFi, but really slow and then none, so maybe I can post pictures today!
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