International Hosers, Eh?

One week ago, we entered into Canada at the Osoyoos, British Columbia border crossing. Just North of Oroville, Washington, the crossing was easy, to the peasy degree. Including waiting for two cars in front of us, we were through in just under five minutes. The agent simply asked where we were heading (Alaska), how long we’d be in Canada (four weeks), if we had a pet and if they were up to date on health checks (Yes), any weapons (No, thanks Chris and Monte), alcohol (15 beers, 1 bottle of wine and as I was getting to the leftover gin), the officer interrupted me and just said, “Personal consumption, right? (Yes). He asked if we had any commercial goods to be sold in Canada (No). “Have a great vacation and with a wave, we were in The Great White North.

With the American border in the rear view mirror, I immediately became a bit overwhelmed at the metric system and how it related to road signs. I figured out how to change miles per hour to kilometers per hour on the motorhome digital dash board. On a Post-It Note on the dashboard, I had metric conversions for our height, width and weight, but still I felt uneasy. While I am acutely aware that our height is 13.3 feet, committing to memory that this equates to 4.053 meters is not easy. 45,000 pounds is 20,411 kilograms…… 9 feet wide is 2.57 meters….Remembering this is one thing – Remembering this while driving a vehicle of this size is less so. Anyway, let’s just say that driving through downtown districts of small, unfamiliar Canadian towns for the first few days was high on the intentional scale.

We continued up Canadian Rt 97 for another two hours until we arrived at our first Provincial Park. Like a US state or county park, these Provincial Parks are generally basic camping at a basic price. Kekuli Bay Provincial Park offered dry camping (no water, electric or septic) for $27.90 a night and after backing Julie down a hill and then WAY UP into the site, we put down the jacks and out came the slides and we were set.

It wasn’t till the next day that we realized the amount of wildlife in the park. Dozens of quail waddled around the campground, almost refusing to get out of the way. What we thought were groundhogs turned out to be marmot. We easily saw more than twenty and we were not even looking. They were literally everywhere and Bella enjoyed watching them forage through the windshield. After a relaxing night, we decided to go out for breakfast, pick up some Canadian cash and maybe some Canadian 420. On the way out of the campground, Lynn spotted a half dozen mule deer. This park is situated on Kalamalka Lake, a glacial lake eight miles long by one mile wide, and features a converted rail line made into a bike trail. Unfortunately the 2 days of rain and the fact that we didn’t bring our bikes means we didn’t really get to enjoy itl.

After leaving the park, we looked for a suitable restaurant. Lynn is a Breakfast Anytime Girl, while I prefer lunch, so we chose a small spot that focused on breakfast but also offered some sandwiches. I found Mug N Muffin on Yelp and what a wonderful time we had. As soon as I walked in, it brought back memories of being a little boy in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts out for breakfast with my great uncle Eddie. With perhaps 12 tables, this place is owned and operated by a couple in their 70’s. She cooks, he is the server and it was fabulous. Lynn chose a ham and cheese omelette and I went for a Western omelette. A few minutes later, I hear a clicking noise and recognized it to be the owner cutting up my onions and peppers. The coffee was as good as any Waffle House, the hash browns were excellent and the omelettes were just plain amazing. We chatted with this wonderful couple over breakfast and she confirmed, yes, that was her chopping. “The peppers get bitter when pre-processed. I make every omelette from scratch – every time.” I think the bill was $23.00 (CA) so, $16.88 (US) was the conversion. I handed her two twenty dollar bills and asked her to consider raising her prices. She kept playing and touching the bills saying that she prefers their texture to Canadian currency. Suspect that I won’t ever forget that breakfast.

Speaking of cash textures, we hit an ATM and pulled out $300 in assorted denominations. Call me sentimental, but US cash feels more substantive and textural than its Northern counterparts. It drizzled and rained for our two nights in this park and didn’t do much else to yap about.

We then drove to Kamloops for a pre-scheduled appointment at Cummins Western Canada. Cummins is the manufacturer of the engine in our motorhome. There was an ominous recall (safety bulletin they call it) on our motorhome relating to the high pressure fuel rail. In rare occasions, an improperly torqued part could allow the spray of high pressure fuel onto the engine (read BOOM). So, we needed to get that checked out. I also decided to pay for a 64 point chassis inspection before we set off into the Canadian wilderness and they were having a Spring Special for that. Finally, we decided to replace our chassis batteries after 4 years, just to be on the prudent side. We were told to be there at 10:00 AM and that we’d be done by 2:00PM. At 4:30, they backed the rig out of the garage and we spent the night in their parking lot listening to heavy equipment roll by on neighboring roads. Oh, and it was still raining. It turned out to be a shitty experience and feel that we were over charged. I’m debating that now with Cummins. And by debating I mean that I have written to them and they have not responded. Whie trying to entertain ourselves for 8 hours, we had overpriced burgers for lunch at a local spot and drove around their dingy / sketchy center of town. I didn’t sleep well, cause hey…I’m in a truck repair shop parking lot.

The next day we drove about three hours to our next spot in Williams Lake. Lynn found us a campground at the “Famous Local Stampede”. After four years of campgrounds, this one was clearly the champion in the category of horse-urine-in-the-air. At first, it was fun to see parade horses carrying flag-bearing riders out the windshield. But they didn’t mention the piercing stench of horse-urine-in-the-air on their website. And for one, Bella fucking hated the place. Her level of fucking hate of a place is best measured by her climbing under the brake pedals and up into the dashboard kind of hate. Williams Lake did have a really impressive Visitors Center which houses the British Columbia Cowboy Hall Of Fame. While I can not distinguish between a bridle, halter or martingale, the museum was worth well more than the free admission price!

Our last stop in this first week was in Prince George at Northern Experience RV Park. Cute little park right off of the highway with three generations of on-site owners. After about three days of driving in constant rain, the rig was covered in road grime. Knowing that the real wilderness is ahead, I was committed to finding a place to hand wash the motorhome and Jeep. As soon as we pulled into our site and after hooking up the water softener and electric, I started walking to the office. A gal in her twenties was gardening and introduced herself as one of the owners. After saying hi, I got to the point. “Please…Please can I do a quick wash on our motorhome?” I could tell that a No was a distinct likelihood so I interjected wit and charm and she explained their under capacity of their well and past problems with people washing on site. Anyway, we came to a Yes and the next morning, Lynn and I hand washed two 44 feet by 13 feet sides plus front and back caps. We did the whole job in just over two hours and damn…..she looks pretty!! (It’s supposed to rain intermittently over the next three days, but don’t tell Lynn). We did such exciting things as grocery store, Costco, and stores for perhaps another vice or two.

To round out the few days here, I agreed to go on a trip to “The Ancient Forest”, an hour away. Along the way we passed one moose and two black bears, just off the road. The Ancient Forest proclaims itself as the only inland rainforest in the world. Lynn described it as a boardwalk and thus did not think bear interactions would be a real possibility. Well, in terms of a true boardwalk (elevated with chest high walls) was just 500 yards long. Halfway out we went and then Lynn tells me to turn right off the board walk and off into the dense forest we trekked. Even though a woman and child walked ahead of us by 50 yards and positioned as bear food, a certain sign just before our turn off popped into my head.

I think the first sentence summed it up best. “Both black bears and grizzly bears can be found in the Ancient Forest Trail area.” This statement created the look on my face in the photo below.

We left the mother and daughter to fend for themselves and without bear spray (we left it in the rig) and swatting swarming mosquitos, back we trekked to a bear free zone.

Beautiful walk for armed individuals!

Tomorrow starts the iconic Cassiar Highway – stay tuned.

Lynn’s Two Cents – The drive so far has been beautiful. Winding roads past too many rivers and lakes to count. Lots of fields and farms. Our frig is stocked and our laundry is done. We are ready to embark on our first real wildness of the adventure. Glad we aren’t sleeping in a tent.