Livin' the Sunbird Life: July 15-27: Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada

July 27, 2012

Kamloops RV Park, Campbell Creek/Kamloops, BC

We bid Vancouver farewell and made the trek to “the interior” of British Columbia as planned on the 15th. We really enjoyed our stay in Vancouver and will definitely visit the area again.

We hit the road just before our “normal time” of 10:00 AM and were soon back on the TC-1 (Trans-Canada Highway), this time heading east. Shortly after we passed our border crossing point near Abbotsford, the highway turns to the north and east. We followed the TC-1 to the town of Hope, recognizing several landmarks and a rest stop along the way; this portion of the route was on our return from Alaska in 2009. After a short segment on the Crowsnest Highway (PH-3), we turned north on the Coquihalla Highway (PH-5) toward Kamloops. This was a great route with excellent roads for the most part. The Coquihalla was apparently the only toll road in BC up until 2008, when the tolls were abolished. Good thing, I say.

Once in Kamloops, we re-connected with TC-1, and said “goodbye” to PH-5 turns into the Yellowhead Highway at that point and continues north to connect with TC-16. Not on our route this time.

I will say this about the road builders here: they love their grades. In the US, we have a lot of steep grades, but they’re often broken up into segments or have switchbacks. On PH-5, we climbed and descended several 6-8% grades that just went on and on, probably for 10-15 km in some cases. We had one grade that brought us down to about 30 MPH because we got stuck behind a truck for a bit and couldn’t regain momentum. Fortunately, the coach did just fine going up and, using the Jake Brake exclusively, going back down. And, since we’re retracing our route on the return, we’ll get to do it all over when we leave here.

We’re staying here for almost two weeks, which may be the longest stop on this year’s route. I’d planned to stay a week and then meander down the Okanagan Valley (wine country, you know) through Kelowna and Osoyoos before crossing back to Washington. Then we (I?) decided to have two major coach upgrades (desk and refrigerator) done starting July 30th back in Oregon. Well, that’ll change the timing. So, we decided to stay put a few extra days and then return to Oregon by essentially the same route (back to the border, over to I-5, then south).

This is another older park that’s had a series of upgrades to bring it into, or at least close to, current standards. The sites are pretty narrow and gravelly, but the 50 Amp power is strong, the water pressure is good, all the sites are “full service” (electricity, water, sewer), and - fantastic - the Wi-Fi is pretty stable and reasonably quick. After last week’s struggle with a Wi-Fi system that was constantly crashing, this is a very welcome change!

We didn’t have a lot of things planned this year that required us to be in a certain place at a specific time. This stop, I’d arranged our timing to be here when our good friend, Dave, arrived to start one of his long-distance bicycle rides. This one, the Rocky Mountain 1200 (http://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/rockymountain1200/), is particularly tough. Of course, Dave’s in great shape...

Anyway, after some email coordination, I made arrangements to pick him up at the Kamloops airport on Thursday, and we got him to his lodging at the Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops sits at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers). We had some time, we we drove back to the coach, where Merlin remembered Dave well and was quite attentive. From there, we headed out to a quick dinner at a local restaurant and brewpub, the Noble Pig. After sandwiches and a brew, we were all ready to call it a night, so we dropped Dave off and headed home. The RV Park is about 15 miles east of Kamloops proper, so it wasn’t a bad drive.

Friday, Dave got his bicycle reassembled and did some exploring on his own, and we made arrangements to host dinner at the coach. The Rack of Lamb was excellent, if I do say so myself. Saturday night, Dave and I went to a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place for dinner, and he was ready for the ride activities starting on Sunday. The weather’s turned a bit mixed, with cooler temperatures and periodic showers, some heavy. The bike ride started at 10:00 PM on Sunday night; here’s hoping for a safe trip for everyone!

During the following few days, we had some mixed weather. We’d planned a day trip south to Kelowna and the Okanagan Wine Country, but ended up deferring that as each day had forecast, and actual, thunderstorms. We did manage to visit some of the local dog-friendly parks, giving the pups a chance to experience some new places, too.

On Friday, we finally trusted the weather enough to do our wine trip. It was a longer drive than I anticipated, but we had a nice day nonetheless. We visited two wineries, Cedar Creek and Gray Monk and made the obligatory purchases.