New Things

I’ve seen a couple of new things over the summer and fall.  One thing is ‘variable speed’ corridors on the some highways in British Columbia.  There are no permanent speed limit signs on these sections of highway.  Instead there are overhead, digital signs every few miles that indicate the speed.

 

I suspect that when road conditions and visibility is very poor, they reduce the allowable speed accordingly.  I can imagine some innovative wording on any speeding tickets that are written there?

Another new (to me) thing this year that I first saw in the most unlikely of places was in a McDonalds in Rocky Mountain House, Ab.  That was where I saw the first electronic touch screen ordering system where you get to punch in your own order, and pay for it without ever talking to a person.  Personally, I don’t like them and find the person behind the counter is much faster than me hunting and guessing and choosing.  It will be interesting to see if the same tech has arrived in the US restaurants this winter?

While on the topic – many grocery stores now have the self check-out option.  It’s a great idea, but rarely works for me.  It usually does not understand when I do not want to use their bag, or if I want to question a price.  And if you try to buy beer with one in the US, it grinds to a halt until a real person comes over to verify your ID.  Of course I’ve had a similar problem when the ‘under-21’ clerk had to wait till someone else came to OK a liquor purchase!  I usually end up just walking away from one of those self checkout machines, leaving it muttering away to itself while I haul my stuff to the next available cashier!

Now where were we?  Oh right, after camping and kayaking at some great lakes in central BC, we stopped in to visit friends on beautiful Bridge Lake, and admired the wonderful views and incredible job of renovating that they have been doing for the last few years.  Of course this has prevented them from coming south in the winter – but not this year.  They will be loading their camper and heading south at the end of the year!

We were in 100 Mile House, BC, and looking for a route to Whistler and Squamish on the coast.  One of the roads has been closed for a while due to a massive landslide that totally removed a large section of the road, but I heard that it had recently been partially re-built. I saw on the map that there was a short-cut from Clinton, past a provincial park, and coming out on Highway 99.  It looked good – on the map!  The first few miles was paved, just to lure you in.  Then it turned into a rough gravel road, with it’s own warnings of debris flows, etc.

 

I stopped and talked to a muddy logging truck (that should have been a hint) at the start of this section, and he gave me some good advice on where NOT to go; and that the next truck coming would be in an hour.  So we headed on up this ‘road’ that soon turned into a narrow, muddy, one-lane logging road winding up 1500’ of this cliff at a 14% grade with few to nil pull-outs.  (No photos of the scarier parts!)The mud was luckily fairly gritty, but it was soon plastered all up the sides of the rig, and even onto the windshield somehow.  Luckily, we met no one, and once on top, the logging traffic was diverted and the rest of the route was simply a muddy road populated by cows not inclined to give the right of way.

Getting back on the pavement at the other end was a relief, and the coming rains did a good job of washing some of the larger chunks of mud off the sides.

Onwards towards Lillooet was where the road had collapsed a few weeks prior.  I think it had only reopened to one lane traffic for a day or two by the time I got there.

It was a bit chilly out, so the flaggers each had a small bonfire burning to try and stay warm.

Whistler was totally socked in and raining when I got there (so no pics).  Got to have a coffee with cousins who were visiting the area as well, then hung out with the high speed internet in the library – at least until the weather improved a bit.  From there it was a cruise down into Squamish, and the Sea to Sky highway leading towards Vancouver.  Original ‘plans’ had included possibly some time on Vancouver Island, but some time constraints in getting back home, and scary stories about days-long delays getting on a ferry convinced me to stay on the mainland.

And not wanting to go through metro Vancouver traffic and being stuck mostly on the Trans Canada highway on the way home, it was an easy decision to backtrack through Pemberton and Lillooet where my route could be a bit more varied.

Of course, one has to stop on occasion for a coffee or a burger, but I found rather tight parking options both at Tim’s and under the arches.

Squamish

Sunset back near home …

Well, it looks like the pre-roadtrip roadtrips have taken place, the leaves have all fallen, the grass has quit growing (finally), and a bit of snow has started to fall.  The Bayfield Bunch are heading south, and I imagine Wandering Willy and Jean & Skip will also be heading out any day. Which leaves nothing else to do except to switch campers, load up and head for the warm south country!  We may have to wait for a warm day or two to melt the snow off the slides on the 5th wheel, and to get our ducks in a row, our needed shots at the vet(!), but the next post may well find us on the road south!

West Country–Lakes, cabins, kayaking!

After a week at home working on a few things, visiting the neighbours, and trying to remove the skunk from under the front deck, it was time to move on again and get in another adventure before heading south for the winter.

A big, noisy thunderstorm came through in the evening, and covered the ground with hail, but the morning dawned clear and bright.  That was all the incentive I needed to load up the camper again, and start making tracks.

Hailey reluctantly agreed to leave her perch in front of the window and come along as well. We headed west towards the mountains …

Banff National Park – East Gate

We headed west on the Trans-Canada #1 through Lake Louise, and on into British Columbia.  We knew we were there when this truck with a BIG log was spotted on the highway.

A few days later the sight of a moose in the back of a truck at a Tim’s was another confirmation of where we were.

After a night in Revelstoke spent catching up with friends, we were westbound again, through numerous construction zones.  After a fill and a bite in Kamloops we decided to head north and check out some of the numerous lakes and remote forestry campsites.

I could never go on these roads pulling the big fifth wheel, but with just the truck camper on, we can go almost anywhere!

Beautiful fall colours were on display, and the weather was nice.

West of Barriere we headed up in to the high country, and found an abundance of free forestry camp sites – all on the lakeshores, just waiting for us to camp.  At over 4000’ elevation though, it was bound to get a bit chilly at night. 

Amazon had sent me a nice, small, light (and cheap!) inflatable kayak and I was dying to test it out.  I had inflated it at home on the living room floor, and found that the quality of materials and workmanship was above what I had been expecting for the price.  But until I tried it out in the water, I would not know if it would really be a bargain.  Well, these little lakes provided the perfect opportunity.

I found it to be very stable, very easy to paddle, and it was more like ‘wearing’ the craft than sitting in it.  Once in, it was warm, dry and comfortable, with great back support – something clearly absent in my whitewater kayak.

It is small enough that I don’t necessarily have to deflate it each time, as I can simply throw it inside the camper while driving to the next lake.  It sat outside for the night on a picnic table though and had a nice coating of frost on it in the morning.

I started to scrape off some of the frost, but then decided it would be easier to melt it off by paddling for a while.  It was a perfectly calm morning, and as the fog burned off, it became a very warm and comfortable paddle.

I discovered several cabins at some of these lakes.  Some were unlocked, and this one had this sign outside. (Details removed to protect the owners!)

Now that’s what I call North-western hospitality!

Next – heading for the coast!