SATURDAY, JULY 26

SATURDAY, JULY 26: 

     Took our time getting ready to leave, as we figured we had plenty of time.   A gorgeous drive (about 5 hours) from Kamloops down to the Fraser Valley area (Vancouver & environs).   Went through a couple of big mountain passes, and also lots and lots of small valleys, canyons, etc., all of which made for nearly constant up-hill or down-hill grades, several of which were long 9%.grades.   It made for wondrous scenery for the passenger, but not-so-much for the driver, who was pretty stressed.  His comment:  “No, I couldn’t appreciate the scenery at all.  I was focused on constantly looking at 7 different gauges . . . the engine temp, the water gauge, the brake warning light, the RPM’s, oil pressure . . .  not to mention steering the thing!”  Fortunately, at the Kamloops campground, he’d visited with a couple of OTR drivers/pipeline workers who gave him a lot of advice on how to navigate those types of hills . . .  recommended downshifting a lot, said that it wouldn’t affect a truck’s transmission, as Bill had previously feared.  Too bad we hadn’t received this advice earlier . . . would have saved a lot of use of the brakes.  Might have even saved us that brake job last fall in Banff.  Oh well, now we know . . . and there’s plenty of mountain driving ahead of us! 

     Easy going once we reached Fraser Valley.  Had our first glimpse of Vancouver, as we drove over 2 bridges.  Beautiful, as everyone says. 

     Then turned north on Hwy 99 heading towards Squamish.  They call this is “Sea to Sky” Highway, and is another stunning drive.  Skirts the Howe Sound on the west and rugged rock faces on the east.  However, was a miniature version of the earlier road, with the addition of lots of curves.  So not so much fun for Bill.  He’ll be very glad to be able to drive this without our 8-ton trailer! 

    We kept our eyes open for campgrounds on the way up, but didn’t see any til we got very close to Squamish.  And that looked very cramped, from what we could see from the road. So continued driving up to our reserved place (Eagle Vista), and plaintively asked if they’d had any cancellations  (it was now around 5 or 6:00).  Nope.  And she said that since there was some kind of Ironman event taking place in the area, she doubted if there would be anything open tonight.  We asked if there were a WalMart in town where we could spend the night.  She was very helpful, and told us exactly where it was.  So this was our 2^nd time in our travels that we’ve needed to utilize the RV- friendly policy and premises of a local WalMart.  Even if my stock in them doesn’t soar, I’ll still support them!   And you could certainly do worse for backdrop scenery!

                                          

 

We weren’t the only ones here!   

 

Somehow, though, we still felt half-way like freeloaders.  Bill opened just 2 slides – enough to get into the bathroom and into bed, and have a comfortable place to read before bedtime, saying that “if we don’t look too comfortable, they won’t think we’re squatting here.”

 

 

     Walked a bit down the road to a Wendy’s and satisfied our hunger.  Then back, read, and relaxed.  Needless to say, Bill dropped into bed pretty early.  

      The gal at Eagle Vista said that checkout time was 11:00, so if we came over around 1:00, they should have something ready for us (official check-in time isn’t til 2:00).