13th
July 2016
A cruise down the
scenic Okanagan Valley, and my last border crossing !
I was up at dawn
as I usually seem to be recently, although I had slept the whole way through –
I was exhausted after all the walking yesterday at the waterfalls in Wells Gray
Provincial Park – Not so much the distance as the steep down hill and uphill scrambles
which seem to be getting harder and harder for me as days pass ! But I wasn’t too stiff this morning, and
headed out down the road on the closing section of my 2 1/4 year adventure.
It was a kind of
hazy morning, although I think my camera got itself onto an especially “hazy”
setting for a while, as I dropped down off the 5000 feet mountains where I
had been last night, towards
Merritt. At Merritt I turned eastwards
to Kelowna, for two reasons. 1) I knew
the Okanagan Valley is just gorgeous – I have driven it before. And 2) I didn’t want to go through the busy
Vancouver border crossing back to the USA, and the only other one was the
little Osoyoos crossing, conveniently located at the bottom of the Okanagan
Valley (which again I passed through in 2012 in the Lotus). And an additional
reason to go this way was that once across the border I could then cut
westwards through the North Cascades National Park which I had also driven
before at the end of my previous trip, but in the rain, and I wanted to see it
in sunshine.
Not a lot to see
as I stayed on freeway almost the whole way to Kelowna, although I did have to
climb back up over 5000 feet again after Merritt, which had poor old Troopie
gasping a bit, and suffering the indignity of being overtaken by trucks and
everyone else as she struggled up the steeper sections at 60 kmh in 3rd. I could accelerate in 3rd, but
then she couldn’t pull in 4th, so I just held her at 3000 rpm in 3rd
and put up with the ignominy.
As I dropped down
out of the hills just south of Kelowna, the spectacular Okanagan Lake came into
view, and we then turned south along the westerly shore of the lake all the way
down to Penticton. It really is a
beautiful drive, although at this time of year it is all pretty busy, and the
campsites along the edge of the lake all looked pretty well choc-a-block with
enormous motor homes and 5th wheelers. But then they have the lake to play in,
which is just beautiful – Reminded me a bit of the Italian Lakes.
At the bottom end
of the lake I was driving along beside a river – presumably the Okanagan river
– and it was PACKED with people in tubes and on blow up rafts just floating
down the river on a hot summer afternoon – It was about 31 deg C. This must be what they do round here on a hot
day, because there were hundreds of them, all just lying back in the sunshine
and soaking up the sunshine as they drifted down the river, and they stretched
for probably 5 kms as I drove down beside them. Whenever I tooted, they all
waved back, so they were obviously all having a good time !
At the very
southern end of the lake near Penticton I saw a sign to Okanagan Falls, and
assuming they would be good ones, I went off up a little B road to have a
look. I passed a couple of weirs, but saw nothing I could call a “fall”, but
continued along this little country road just in case they were further down
the road. In the end, I never found the Okanagan Falls, but the little country
road was delightful, with views back up the Okanagan Valley, little lakes out
in the woods, and lots of farms and horses in the fields. As I got back closer to the main road, I was
back amongst the never ending vineyards and fruit orchards that dominate
everything around here. There are fruit
stalls and vineyards with tasting and tours everywhere, and a lot of them were
quite busy at this time of year.
I stopped to make
a quick sandwich before reaching the US border at Osoyoos (in case they wanted
to take my tomatoes off me), and when I got to the border there was only one
other car there – And since there were two lanes, I went straight in to the
booth. The normal questions about my
number plate because it doesn’t conform to the norm (it’s a personalized
Queensland number plate with a palm tree on it !), and a couple of questions
about my trip, and I was off. None of the usual questions about firearms or
alcohol, no question about fruit (or tomatoes !) – Just “Have a nice day sir”,
and I was off. Too easy. I do need to get a few extra days stamped in
my passport though because when I entered through New York from Iceland they
only stamped it for 3 months, which expires on the 29th July. I do not have a US visa because I really
entered in Canada – I only passed through New York in Transit on the way to
Halifax to pick up the car. The guy at
immigration today said it wasn’t a problem but since it is still over 2 weeks
away, he can’t extend it there – I just need to go into the US Immigration
Department in Seattle or wherever a bit closer to the 29th.
It looks like
Troopie will depart on a ship from Seattle on the 7th August,
arriving Brisbane on the 17th September. It’s a long journey home,
but I am sure she will enjoy the rest for a few weeks !
Once through the
US border at Osoyoos, I continued south to Omak, and then turned west on Hwy 20
which takes me through the Cascades National Park, and then almost straight
into Anacortes, my destination tomorrow.
Once again it was a steep climb up the hills to about 4000 feet, and
once again it was a long grind at 60 kmh in 3rd. Once near the top I saw a little National
forest campsite just off the road, and since the temperatures had now dropped
to a pleasant 24 deg C (from the 31 deg C down in the valley), I decided that
would do, and pulled in. It is only
about a 6 slot camp site, but since there was no one else there, space wasn’t
an issue ! And it will then give me an
easy run of about 3 hours into Anacortes tomorrow morning.
Last night on the
road – I readily admit that I find it quite difficult at the end of a trip like
this. This has been my life, virtually
every day, for over two years, and I admit to have mixed feelings about it
ending, together with some apprehension of how I will cope in the days and
weeks ahead. But, having said that, I
know there will always be lots more black wine gum days in the future, so for a
few days I will just have to suck on some orange and green ones and put up with
it. Hey ho.
No comments:
Post a Comment