Monday 7/11/22
We made a run to Nanaimo to catch a ferry back to the BC mainland. It was a 221 miles stride without a stretching break. 221 miles is not a big deal in a car, but in BAT, the way he rocks and rolls, it’s pretty rough, and with his weight and full-figure, we can’t move very fast. We didn’t get on the ferry until 6:15 pm. Hopefully we’ll find a campsite as we land on Horseshoe Bay since the ferry takes about 1:40 hr to go across the island.
We found a campground on iOverlander with great reviews, the Porteau Cove Provincial Park. The road to this campsite was so picturesque with the sun setting on the water and greenery, we would have loved to stop and check out the view. However, it’s a divided highway, and we’re on the wrong side of the road. We got there as quickly as we could after getting off the ferry, unfortunately, it was full. It is a beautiful spot on the channel with campers enjoying their evening.
We were so disappointed, but what did we expect without reservations at the peak of summer?! One camper came out to talk to us as he admires BAT. He told us to go to the day use parking lot and sneak in a night. It’s been a long day on the road; we have no energy left to go look for another campsite, so we did park in the day use area. And he was right, there was no camp host coming around at night to kick us out, except….. close to midnight, a group of youngsters came to the parking lot, rev their engines, all lined up by BAT, left their headlights pointing at us, and came out to party, laughing, yelling really loud as if it’s the weekend at a college campus. There are other campers there too so we were not the only one. They kept going until almost 2 AM, it was really frustrating but what can we do?!!!
Tuesday 7/12/22
Heading to Whistler as recommended by AJ. It turns out Whistler was the Nordic venue of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It is now a ski resort, a major tourist attraction, offering all kind of activities for all ages.
We had lunch at the brewery in the village, strolled around the village and then caught the Peak-2-Peak gondola ride up the Whistler mountain’s peak, cross the terrain to the Blackcomb peak, and then rode down from there. This gondola holds the world record as the longest lift system on the globe, 8850 meter (29,064 feet or 5.5 miles) long!
Of course the peaks are still covered in snow but it was not cold in the sunshine. Some tourist even wore tank top, shorts, and sandals. And here I am, in winter hats and coats, but I didn’t look stupid just because they were “under dressed!” That was a nice day in this beautiful and upscale village, truly a gem to visit.
We left Whistler after 5pm , now looking for a campsite. We went to the Nairn Falls Provincial Campground but again, it’s fully booked. ARRGH! The nice camp host pointed us to the Owl Creek Recreation site about 14 miles north. It wasn’t an ideal camping spot, but it will do for one night. Life on the road can be challenging at times when you don’t plan ahead. Wandering the earth without a detail plan definitely has its pros and cons.
Wednesday 7/13/22
We traveled on hwy 99 today, a scenic route but the road is very windy with steep grade. At one point, Paul had to apply the brakes quite a bit so when we stopped for a quick bio break, we detected a burnt smell from the extremely hot brakes, with an accompanying clicking noise from the metal drums trying to cool down. From Owl Creek to Kamloops was only 161 miles but it took us about 5 hours to get through that stretch.
We stopped by Costco in Kamloops to restock. By the time we got to the checkout stand, I couldn’t find my Costco visa card, which I had put in my pants’ pocket after showing the card at the store entrance. I panicked and backtracked through the whole store to look for my credit card. No luck! I went to Members Services to see if anyone had turned it in. Still no luck. The supervisor took my name and phone number down and assure me if anyone turn it in they will contact me right away. I can’t believe my luck lately. My plan is to wait around until 8:30 pm when the store closes, if I don’t get a call from Costco, I will report the lost card to Citi; meanwhile, I’ll monitor the card activities on the Citi app. After we put away the food in BAT, I made another round in Costco going through the isles that we had shopped, hoping for a miracle, still nada! I got back to the truck at almost 8 pm, getting ready to call Citi, then the phone rang. Kelsey from Costco said : “a member just turned your card in, you can come in to pick it up.” I dashed out of BAT and ran inside to retrieve my card. I tried to tip Kelsey, but she refused, saying it’s part of their duties. She said: “I told you people would turn it in, we have good people here!” I wanted to give her a big hug but didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable, so I thanked her again and walked out with a huge relief. THANK YOU COSTCO! 🙏 I can feel all the tensions in my body slowly melting away as I sat down to enjoy some grapes and a glass of water.
Tonight we get to sleep in the Costco parking lot! Yes, the once “Hyatt Queen” is now sleeping in the parking lot. I bet none of my former colleagues would believe this story. They don’t even believe that I would go camping, much less overlanding.
We made a slight change in plan, a detour towards Banff, which is about 311 miles going eastward instead of northbound. Hopefully Banff is as breathtaking as people had described and as pictured. We’ll let you know once we get there.
Thursday 7/14/22
As we researched for campsite in Banff and the surrounding area, it was impossible to find a camp site as that region is very strict with overnight parking — campers have to be in established campsites. Without any reservation, these campsites are fully booked. Another hopeless situation. Our last minute change in direction did not pan out as we would have liked. So we decided to cut our losses and head back, moving northward towards Prince George, onward in the direction to Tuk.
We found a charming spot on iOverlander to camp for the night, the Cariboo 97 Farm near McLeese Lake. As we entered their property, the Camp Host, Malyna (Apple), was working on her farm, but when she saw us approached the lot, she came out to greet us and showed us a couple of options to park for the night. Malyna was very friendly and welcoming. Once we were situated, Malyna and Map, one of her helper, came out to chat with us. Ryan, her husband was working on the mud room for their yurt, finally came down to join us. We gave them a tour of BAT and then we all sat down for some wine and beer and chat about our various travel experiences.
Malyna and Ryan just started their orchard and mini farm last year so the trees are still small. They also have plans to develop their land into a camping spot for overlanders. Map gave me several pointers on where to camp near Banff if we can make it there (thanks Map). We wish Malyna and Ryan great success on their ventures, and THANK YOU for hosting us!
Friday 7/15/22
We bid farewell to our host, Malyna, this morning. Sweet Malyna loves company. We enjoyed our stay but wanted to make tracks towards our plan.
Not bad of a drive today. We arrived at Northern Experience RV in the afternoon, very nice and well maintained campground. The host, Kathy had a great sense of humor. When she saw me climbed out of BAT, she asked if I needed an elevator to get down? I replied: “an escalator will do! ” 😁
Today is just an R&R day. Not much to report except for the unexpected weather, full of sunshine when we arrived, then 3 hours later, thunderstorm and heavy rain! Looks like it’s gonna be a Netflix night.
Saturday 7/16/22
BAT Maintenance and laundry day. It’s nice to have a down day and a break from the road, even though it’s a chores day, house cleaning, laundry, etc. The camp host, Kathy just lost her husband this last December. Having a campground was his dream, so now Kathy is fulfilling his dream for him. His mother and brother, Jason help out with the maintenance activities throughout the camp. Jason helped Paul with the tools needed to repair the pneumatic control valve that affects the central tire inflation system (CTIS). BAT was losing about 16 – 18 psi every night. Can we say that BAT was gassy at night? 😁
Sunday 7/17/22
Paul checked the tires’ pressure in the morning and we’re good to go. The iOverlander app has been so helpful with finding campsites on the go since we don’t plan ahead except for the general direction towards Tuk. We landed at the Heart Lake campground (free), it is a beautiful lakeside campground. Lately, I get road exhaustion every time we arrived at a campsite. I’m quite sure it’s from dehydration since I have not been drinking enough water while on the road so I don’t have to take too many bio breaks — thank goodness we’re self contained in BAT. We haven’t been too active lately since we left the Vancouver Island. It’s been driving, camping, and start the next day over again.
Endless Trail Expeditions 