Kelowna

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Location, Location, Location

Wanting to have as little manoeuvring to do as possible tomorrow morning, I Googled directions to the repair place so I could go check it out and figure out ahead of time the best place to unhook the car.

The address of the repair place, Elite Auto, is 2655 Enterprise. I stepped out of the rig, looked at the nearest street sign, did a double take, and then looked at the address of the nearest building. 2958 Enterprise. I’m literally two blocks away and one street light away! Enterprise seems to be a busy road and rather narrow, so I’m glad I scoped out the place since I now know I’ll need to use the entrance to the business next to the repair place so as to best position myself to unhook the car. So long as there aren’t any cars around me tomorrow, getting out of Walmart should be easy.

One odd thing that came out of yesterday is that it was my second best gas mileage day to date (with the best being on the drive between Brandon and Regina; ie. flat prairie with the wind at my back where I hit 12MPG). I did nearly 750 kilometres on the tank yesterday and I’m still not in the red, but the gas gauge is right next to it. That tells me I have about 40 litres of fuel in the tank, putting my MPG at a 11, which I think is probably amazing for a huge vehicle towing through mountains.

I don’t want to go into the repair shop being so low on fuel, but neither do I want to go fuel up; the fewer times I need to stop, the better. So, I bought a 20L jerry can and will fill up Miranda manually. One can should bring her up to about a quarter full (60L on board total, out of a total 200L), which is a respectable amount, and more than enough to get me to Osoyoos. I haven’t decided yet where my 20L tank is going to live. I have a 5L one mounted to the motorhome ladder, but the 20L tank isn’t going to fit. I think it’ll end up in the kayak!

Today, I’m just chilling out a home and getting some work done. I got quite a bit of interior damage yesterday from all the bumps and sudden stalls, so I need to prioritize what I should work on first. For example, the retaining rods in my bookcase ripped right out, so they need to be glued back into place and putty applied to the tears to make them less apparent. I also lost my shower door; the top pin jumped out of the hole and then the door bounced off the bottom pin! The door has quite a dent near the top, but otherwise seems okay, and I need to find a way to secure that top pin! Besides that, I had a lot of things fall out of cabinets and make messes, so I need to clean up. Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be anything major I need to deal with.

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At Walmart’s Mercy

People shop early in Kelowna! By the time I got up at 8, manoeuvring out of the parking lot would have been a real challenge. I popped the hood and saw nothing amiss, then started Miranda. She purred and idled beautifully, but I didn’t try to put her in D and move out of the spot.

First order of business was to see how Walmart would feel about my staying a day and second night here if I had to, and then to find some help. No sense wasting time here if they were going to make me move on.

Walmart required some groveling, writing a letter to management, leaving a note on my dash, and promising to spend oodles of money here. I wish I could have actually spoken to management and laid out my case: why make me move to an RV park when the garage I found is literally only a couple of blocks away?

The first place I called this morning was the Ford dealership. They couldn’t accommodate a 31′ motorhome. I’m learning to not take no for an answer and pushed the lady to refer me to someone else, which she did.

I called these other folks and gave only the bare bones story to secure an appointment. They can see me at 8AM tomorrow, which is perfect since it’ll enable me to manoeuvre out of the Walmart parking lot before it’s choked with cars.

The man I spoke to asked for a bit more of the story and told me I surely have one of three problems, all of which are at the top of my list, too: leaky or loose hose, clogged fuel intake, clogged air filter. If it’s a best case scenario, which is that there is no actual problem except a sensor that needs to be reset, I’m looking at $73 bucks with tax. Otherwise, I’m probably looking at a $122 job with tax. Worst case scenarios aren’t even worth considering at this point.

He told me “There’s no reason to panic, this is likely something minor!” and I had to smile since I haven’t been panicking. I know enough about the causes for a check engine light to not be worried about a super costly repair. I’m just still pissed off that this had to happen in the middle of nowhere in some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen!!!

Once I have had Miranda looked at and know that I can hit the road, I will decide if I’m moving to the RV park early or not, provided they can accommodate me.

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Bitter Disappointment

The first part of today was wonderful and merits a gushing post of its own, so that will follow. But it was such a tiny part of this much too long day that I can’t even start with that.

Today was a case of déjà vu. Remember the first time I crossed the Rockies? The day started off great then went to pots around Revelstoke when I discovered I’d lost my 12V power. Followed a mad dash to the Okanagan. Well, that was today. Except the troubles started after the Columbia Ice Fields. And they were engine related.

I was coming down a very, very long 8% grade in low gear when my check engine light came on. It bugged me, but I know that a non-flashing check engine sign signifies a minor problem. Miranda was running great and not making any odd noises. I continued on and stopped a good while later after a stretch of flat so that I could sort of coast into the rest spot instead of having to jam the brakes to make it. My brakes weren’t mushy or showing any signs of problems, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

Soon as Miranda was stopped, she stalled. I took a deep breath, had a bathroom and snack break, then tried to start her. She’d start, then stall. I waited until the coast was clear behind me, started her, shifted into drive, and hit the gas. It took two tries, but she got going. Once she was moving, all was well and she performed well without a hint of trouble. Engine heat and RPMs were normal, there were no odd noises or smells.

I was out in the middle of nowhere and figured that if she was moving okay, I’d better keep going. I had about a hundred kilometres to the junction to the Transcanada highway in which to figure out my next move.

My options were:

1) Go east to Banff. But what then? I’d be a hundred kilometres out of my way in $50-night-for-boondocking territory.

2) Go south to Cranbrook via Kootenay park, as planned. I didn’t want to see the Kootenays that way and I had no idea what sort of conditions I would be heading into.

3) Go west via the Transcanada highway to 97A and the Okanagan, like I did back in ’08. This would get me out of the federal parks and into civilization along a well traveled road. I knew that Kelowna was a long, but doable, distance away, that I could get there with the gas I had on board, and that there I would be well situated to get help or even a tow to Osoyoos if needed.

I picked option 3, of course, and made yet another dash through Yoho, Glacier, and Revelstoke national parks. *sighs* I worked my ass off all summer to make this fall trip especially memorable and instead I’m living a nightmare all over again. Every time I had to stop for construction or a red light took ten years off my life. Some times she’d start up in one try, sometimes it took several. Once, in Vernon, she didn’t even conk out. Crossing that town almost made me regret not picking the Walmart there, but there are a ton of turns and stops and red lights to get into that store while the one in Kelowna is right off the highway.

The mechanical issue is surely minor. I probably have a clog in my fuel intake line or the air filter. It might even be something I’ll recognize the minute I pop the hood tomorrow morning. But put yourself in my shoes: you’re five hundred kilometres from civilization and your stalling vehicle runs normally when you get it going. Would you stop to try to solve the problem right there or make a run for it?

So, I’m now a couple of hours away from Osoyoos and my fun is thoroughly spoiled. Even if I get the problem solved first thing in the morning I’m too close to my destination for it to make sense running around for another week. I think I’ll just call the RV park and see if they can take me in early, then get a head start on the contract/job hunt.

I’m too tired and angry right now to make any sort of wild affirmations about what I may choose to do or not do the next time I take Miranda on the road, but I’m pretty sure this is going to be the last time I take her on a scenic detour.

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Highway 33

I’ve been out of ‘tourist mode’ since settling for the winter since I haven’t had any money come in. So, I decided that today being the gorgeous day that it was, I would take a mini-road trip to Kelowna and turn it into an adventure by taking highway 33 back, effectively doing a full circle. It would be quite the detour, but a chance to see more of the splendid Okanagan Valley.

First stop in Kelowna was an oil change, then I was off to the Okanagan Heritage Museum. I’m glad that admission was by donation because I was quite disappointed. The museum is tiny! I started by taking a tour of a temporary exhibit about the KGH: Kelowna General Hospital. Then it took about five minutes to go through the rest of the museum. It was an interesting hodgepodge of artifacts from around the world, most of it not immediately relevant to Kelowna. Worth stopping in if you’re in Kelowna, but definitely not worth a detour. I walked around the Marina a bit, had lunch, went to Value Village, and then headed home.

Highway 33 wound up being positively breath taking, a world of valleys and peaks unto itself. The most memorable part of the drive was the section of switchbacks that led me down into Osoyoos.

Pictures.

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The Best Laid Plans…

Wow. I sure didn’t expect to be here today, here as in the Okanagan Valley, here as in the capital of wine country, here as in the end of the road for the next month.

Yesterday didn’t quite go as planned. By the time I stopped for the night, I was sure that I couldn’t possibly ever again have a worst day. By the morning, though, I was grinning and realising that nothing, absolutely nothing, will ever be as bad as that crunching day between Thunder Bay and Selkirk.

But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

Here’s Miranda at the Spring Hill RV Park 9km north of Cochrane, Alberta:

Cochrane is quite possibility the most beautiful full service town I have ever visited, even more beautiful than Banff. I could have easily stayed a few months there.

I left the park almost two hours earlier than I had planned. I’m grateful that they had propane and gas fill up stations, so I was able to do everything there before pushing off. All of that, plus the one hour time shift and the week’s rest I just had meant that I was ready to drive if conditions warranted it. Tourism time had ended and it was time for me to get to work. I’d have plenty of time to come back into the mountains to explore in later months.

So, I made it to past Revelstoke yesterday, about 480km, but it wasn’t a drudging sort of drive because I did make the time for two touristy stops, one of which was an hour and a half long.

This stop was, of course, at Lake Louise.

As I expected, Lake Louise is 100% a tourist trap. Oh, the lake is definitely worth the long climb up a narrow winding road, but I can’t believe that people are saps enough to pay 55$ for a one hour canoe trip on the lake. Just call me the cynic. Or maybe I’m just frugal. 🙂 Having had lunch in the rig and craving dessert, I went into the Chateau

to look for ridiculously overpriced ice cream to munch on while I walked partway around the lake and was delighted to find merely overpriced ice cream.

My next stop was at the Spiral Tunnels. I waited almost a half hour there hoping to see a train go through them, but I finally had to press on. The pictures I took here don’t really show anything, so I won’t post them. Very briefly, the Spiral Tunnels were an answer to the Big Hill, a really steep bit of Transcanada rail line between Field, BC, and Kicking Horse Pass. This hill cost a fortune to run and was the scene of many accidents. The spiral tunnels cut into the mountain reduced the grade by 50%. I really can’t do the story justice, so you’ll just need to go read the Wiki article. 🙂

Then, I drove.

My first possibility for an overnight stop was the Kicking Horse rest area, just west of Yoho National Park. Unfortunately, it was only 3PM local time when I arrived there and there was blasting and other construction going on. So, I pressed on, surprised to find myself already going through Glacier and Revelstoke Parks.

Just west of Revelstoke, I found what seemed like an informal truck stop, but it looked very busy and noisy, so I pressed on.

Then, I found what seemed like the perfect stop to stop for the night. There was a rest area with a road leading down to a utility shed, with a large open area. It seemed private and quiet, so I decided to make that my stop for the night.

Which is when I discovered that I had absolutely no power. Now, my batteries were fully charged, but no power was getting through to my 12V system. I check the terminals and my fuse box, trying to figure out what had happened in 5.5 hours to break my electrical system! It was about to get dark and I decided to drive 10km. If I didn’t find an RV park within that time, I would come back to this spot and tough out the night without power.

As I drove, I suddenly remembered Croft’s suggestion that I try to start the generator with the truck engine running. So, having passed two closed RV parks and being ready to turn around, I pulled into a rest area and tested his trick. It worked! I had power! Noisy power, but at least my fridge was running again. I decided to go back to my previously selected spot when I realised that I didn’t need to. This rest area was built a bit like a tea cup. I was parked in the bowl. To the right of me was a thicket of trees and there was a narrow path going around this thicket, like a handle. I pulled into it and to my delight found myself tucked away out of sight of the road. It wasn’t as quiet as the other spot would have been, but at least I didn’t have to double back. It was fully dark now and pouring rain, so I was very, very grateful that my day of driving was done.

I set to work making dinner, then I read for a couple of hours. I went to bed ridiculously early, about 8:30 local time, but it was 9:30 my time and I was beat!

For a first time pulling off the road and sleeping in the middle of nowhere, I slept pretty well. I woke up around 1, then slept soundly again until 5. I ran the generator again for a couple of hours as I puttered around, waiting for it to be light enough out for me to set off. This kept most of the contents of the freezer frozen solid, thankfully, and used up only a negligible amount of gas. I can almost get used to the noise inside, but would hate to run the generator when there are people around!

So, my first day in BC dawned like my first day in Manitoba, very rainy and foggy. I decided to drive until such time as the weather cleared up and run the generator again for about an hour for the fridge’s benefit, then I would make a straight run for Oliver where hookups would give me time to figure out what was going on with my electrical system.

I was in a really good mood this morning. I’d slept well, had an indecently yummy cup of coffee while watching the sun rise at the rest stop, and realised that the part of my journey I had feared the most was over: I was clear across the mountains! Sure, part of the day before had sucked (driving in the dark in rain with no power and chicken about to thaw in the freezer), but, sum told, it had actually been quite a good day. I was especially proud of myself for being able to recognize a good place to stop and, most importantly, for not pushing myself any further than I absolutely needed to.

So, I set off in pea soup fog and made a quick stop at the site of a major event in Canadian history:

And that was it for tourism. I drove quickly through Vernon and Kelowna, glad when I saw them that I wasn’t stopping there for my week of reconnaissance, and then I pulled over at a rest stop outside of Penticton for lunch (thawed out pizza that I hadn’t been able to stuff into the colder part of the freezer with all the other stuff that was still, thankfully, frozen solid).

The Okanagan area looks quite like I expected it to, except for the hills which remind me of the Sierra Nevadas!

Okanagan Valley

Sierra Nevadas

I’m now settled for a week just outside of Oliver, which is the wine capital of Canada. I passed too many wineries to count on the drive down here, so I think I’ll just start at the closest one to here and work my way south to Osoyoos, and then north again, asking at each one if they’re hiring pickers yet. Tomorrow, though, I just might take the morning for a wee bit of sightseeing as I am very eager to see Canada’s only (non-Arctic) desert. But, after that, it’s time to look for work!

So, the first stage of my great big adventure has ended. I have successfully traveled the roughly 5,000km (not counting mileage done with the toad) that separated me from my old life in Gatineau to the new one awaiting me in the Okanagan Valley. I arrived here a lot less naive and cocky, but in excellent spirits and with a month’s worth of memories that make up for a lifetime of disillusionment.

Now that my rig is well broken in and I am more knowledgeable, it’s time to think about finding work, a place to spend the winter, and a way to make Miranda comfortable during that season.

In a way, I feel that my journey is still just beginning. Today is not an ending, just a really, really, really major milestone.