Heading East.

May 15, 2019

Sun shining through the tall pines woke us up. Chipmunks scurrying around the trailer watched me as I started breakfast on the picnic table.  It would be a great day to travel.  We took a short hike along the shoreline of Chilliwack Lake and enjoyed looking at the beauty of the area.  

On our way to Chilliwack city from the Chilliwack Provincial Park we stopped at the Tamihi Rapids. This area is a recreational site developed for white water kayaking. The gates and the competition apparatus for moving the gates are strung across the river.

We were exploring this area when much to our surprise a Whitewater Rafting group came careening down the river! We encouraged and applauded them as they roared past us.

Debbie, of course, needed to visit Chilliwack and drop into the Hamel Quilt shop.  We had agreed that we would make those visits in order to calm the quilt beast in her!  Unbelievably, it was a short visit!  We then topped up the propane and fueled the truck, and headed for EC Manning Park, our next planned stop. We have always enjoyed EC Manning Park and on our previous visit we paid 5 dollars at the Manning Park Resort and enjoyed the showers, pool, and hot tub.  We are looking forward to doing that again.  Our trailer is equipped with an outdoor shower, but it is still a little chilly to be standing outside under a shower at this time.

We secured a beautiful campsite at the Mule Deer Crossing Campground.  The campsite backed right onto the banks of the river and the rapids.  We enjoyed a quiet time around a campfire after a great chicken dinner that Debbie had crafted in the trailer!  

As we were lounging by the fire we watched a black pickup and large trailer drive by our campsite and I noted that the trailer had a familiar RV Sales outlet decal from Nanaimo.  They secured a campsite nearby and as Debbie and I walked by we noted that the truck had a license plate holder from a dealership from Nanaimo and the couple were enjoying the evening by the fire.  Debbie, of course, engaged them in conversation and we met Susan and Ross from Nanaimo!  Susan was an air force child, as was Debbie, so they compared their lives and the many various places they lived in Europe.  They also knew my former mentor of the 70’s, Dale!  Ross and Susan are on their way to an archery tournament in Grand Forks.  We enjoyed our conversation with them and wished them well on their travels. They said they will follow this blog.  We went to bed relaxed and fell asleep to the sound of the river rushing by.  Life is good. 

May 16, 2019

Awoke to a drizzle falling on the trailer.  After a breakfast we broke camp and headed to the Manning Park Resort, looking forward to a shower and swim.  We paid our 5 dollars, and turned on the showers, they were not working.  I went out to the pool and found Debbie standing waist deep, with a frown on her face.  Not what we expected!  A maintenance man walked by and apologized that the pool was cool because he had just topped up the pool, and that the showers were shut off as they were replacing a valve!! -but- he said-  “the hot tub is working”.  You don’t have to tell me twice and I hopped in immediately.  I guess the moons are still not quite aligned.

After Debbie washing her hair in the sink and claiming that she smelled of chlorine.  I simply acknowledged (sheepishly) that she smelled better and ended that conversation!

Off we went easterly toward Princeton.  A dear friend Pat lives in Princeton.  Our relationship goes back to the 80’s when we all lived in Fruitvale, B.C.   We knocked on her door in the early afternoon and she welcomed us with open arms. We had forewarned her that we would be visiting her and she, of course, had a great lunch waiting for us.

The evening went by so quickly as we talked about old times, past acquaintances – alive and dead – and catching up with each other’s lives. 

Our bed in the trailer is quite comfortable and cozy, however, Pat convinced us to sleep in her house this evening and we enjoyed the comfort of a queen size bed.  

May 17, 2019

Still raining, but it is welcome, as British Columbia has already experienced three forest fires this year.  The spring has been quite warm and the forests are dry.  We need the rain. We enjoyed another shower this morning and we were in great spirits as we had breakfast with Pat and continued on regaling each other with stories.  It was as if we continued where we had left off.  Pat then drove us around Princeton, as Debbie and I had never got to see the town before.  Princeton is experiencing a uptick in its economy with three major industries thriving.  By 2:00pm., it was time to push east so we said our farewell to Pat and started down highway 3 towards Keremos and Cawston, to drop in on old friends, the Makepeace’s.

We have known them since the 70’s and I have worked with both of them over the years at various locations in British Columbia.  They have both retired now and they and their children own a winery in the Similkemeen valley called the Hugging Tree Winery. We stopped in at the winery and spoke to Mel, the “adopted” daughter.  Mel informed us that Walt and Cristine were both out of town on a pre -planned errand.  She texted them and told them we would perhaps look them up on our return trip. (We will call ahead next time) Debbie bought some wine and five liters of organic Makepeace Apple juice.  The wine is for Debbie….. . 

Due to the up coming long weekend, the first real camping outing for families, we were unable to reserve a provincial park campsite. All the Provincial Park campgrounds in the Okanogan have been reserved since early this year.  We opted for booking a commercial campground near Vernon. 

We had planned to take alternate routes to some of our destinations as we had travelled most of the main highways of British Columbia over the years.  Navigator Debbie was studying the map and mentioned that there is an alternate road to Vernon from Penticton past Naramata.  It would take us off the busy highway and into new territory.  Hmmmm. 

After we passed through Penticton, we climbed the secondary road to the Naramata bench.  Our onboard GPS kept repeating “Follow the route”, Follow the route”. We commented to our American voice in the dashboard, “We are, We are!” We passed wineries and orchards into Naramata and suddenly realized we had come to the end of this secondary road.  We stopped in at the Naramata Pub and a local chap told us that the road to Chute Lake and beyond would not be advisable with our rig and that it was quite rough and rocky. Our dashboard friend was obviously trying to tell us to turn around!! Sometimes being a stubborn Dutchman causes me to get into this kind of predicament. We turned around and retraced our steps for an hour and a half…. .On the positive side, Naramata looks like a beautiful community. Nice pub! 

We continued onto to Vernon.  Judging from the RVs and trailers on the highway, it was obvious that people were on the move to try and enjoy this long weekend.  We arrived at the Cedar Falls Campground at 7:30pm, tired and hungry.  We had both agreed that we would not travel on this trip feeling tired and hungry so we had learned a valuable lesson. 

Cedar Falls Campground is a pleasant family oriented camping ground. The owners Dwayne and Brenda, with the help of Gail and Peter, are engaging and welcoming. They take pride in giving continued service to the campers making sure that we are enjoying ourselves. The sites are well maintained, the bathrooms, showers and laundry facilities are exceptionally clean. It is a treat to be able to go for a shower that is consistently the same temperature. We would certainly recommend this place to others travelling through Vernon.   

Our purpose for coming to Vernon was to be in short driving distance to Enderby.  We had made arrangements to bring in the Armadillo to have a second propane tank installed and to pick up a cutting board.  This was to be done after the long weekend.

May 18, 2019

Still raining, but feeling refreshed after both having a great sleep.  Today was to be spent relaxing, doing the laundry that had accumulated and catching up on the blog.  Debbie had bought premixed flour containing baking powder and salt.  It was my turn to make breakfast and try my hand at making pancakes with the new mix.  The pancakes turned out perfect!  As I’m typing this blog, Debbie, is doing the laundry, reading and relaxing.