This morning we departed the remote wilderness campground at Pyper Lake, drove back to Chilcotin Hwy. 20 and resumed heading east towards Williams Lake. We stopped at the Visitor Information Centre in Alexis Creek to use their sani-dump station to dump our waste holding tanks and refill our freshwater tank. We stopped to have lunch at a roadside rest area. Just before Riske Creek we turned south on Farwell Canyon Road and drove 24 km. to the bridge over the Chilcotin River in Farwell Canyon to watch the Natives dip netting for Sockeye Salmon in the roaring rapids. We had done this before, about four years ago, on our previous trip to Bella Coola. Today the Natives were unsuccessful at catching any Sockeye Salmon. Apparently the Sockeye Salmon run on the Chilcotin River has just ended.
We returned to Chilcotin Hwy. 20 and continued eastward towards Williams Lake. Less than an hour from Williams Lake I decided, on impulse, to go and see the BC Forest Service Recreation Site remote wilderness campground at Till Lake. It was about
16 km. / 10 km. of gravel road off the highway. When we got here, we liked it and decided to stay.
We selected a site and I spent what little was left of the afternoon fishing. Didn't catch anything. Lost lots of fishing tackle ! Good thing I'm planning a trip to Surplus Herby's in Williams Lake tomorrow. HA HA HA !
Monday ; Till Lake BCFCRS to Williams Lake
Cloudy and mild.
I was very sick overnight, with cramps and overwhelming nausea from 3 AM until 7:30 AM. Not colitis, more likely food poisoning. I remained ill all day long, but not as severe as during the night.
This morning we left the Till Lake remote wilderness campground, drove about
16 km. / 10 miles back to Chilcotin Hwy. 20, then east to Williams Lake. We spent the day running errands in Williams Lake. First stop was the Fairgrounds where we dumped our waste holing tanks and refilled our freshwater tank at the sani-dump station. Then to Wal-Mart for shopping. When the shopping was finished we had lunch in the camper. I was feeling quite ill, and very tired, so I took a long nap after lunch.
Next stop was Real Canadian Wholesale Club where I refilled Lanoire with diesel at their fuel bar, then we did more grocery shopping. We went to Surplus Herby's where
I bought quite a bit of fishing tackle and a pair of chest waders, sort of an early birthday present to myself. I enjoy shopping at Surplus Herby's, it's a great sporting goods store. Last shopping stop was Safeway's for even more grocery shopping. We returned to Wal-Mart where I parked close enough to the store to enable their free Wi-Fi signal to reach us, and I did a couple of hours of online "catch-up" work, including posting my weekly journal to my blog, always a time consuming task when we're travelling, because I usually have many photos to upload. When I was finished using the Wi-Fi I moved the truck and camper to the far end of the Wal-Mart parking lot, where RV's are expected to park if boondocking overnight.
While Joanne was inside Wal-Mart doing the shopping this morning, I retrieved phone messages and returned phone calls. We have not had cell phone service since last Thursday morning. I prepared a trailer towing quote for an RV dealer that is a repeat customer. The sales rep declined my quote because a competitor had quoted about 15% less than me for the job. I agonized for the rest of day, second guessing myself, wondering if I should price match to keep myself "desirable" to the dealership. I'm still uncertain, but likely will not price match. I don't want to get into "bidding wars", and
I don't really want to get business by being the cheapest trailer towing service provider.
My prices are fair and reasonable. Most importantly ... I'm exceptionally good at what
I do. Take it or leave it ! There we go ... I've made my decision.
Tuesday ; Williams Lake to Kamloops
Mostly cloudy, mild, intermittent light rain as we drove in the afternoon.
We took care of some errands in Williams Lake this morning before departing. First stop after leaving the Wal-Mart parking lot was the Fairgrounds where we once again dumped our waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater at the Fairground's
sani-dump station. Then we refilled an empty propane tank at Best Buy Propane. Last stop in Williams Lake was to wash the truck and camper at Speedy Petey's. Travelling to BCFSRS remote wilderness campgrounds, always down muddy roads, left a lot of sticky mud glued all over and under the truck and camper.
South on Cariboo Hwy. 97 to 100 Mile House where we stopped for Joanne to buy some needed items at Dollar Tree ... ( J ; "hell of a lot better than Dollarama in Williams Lake" ) ... and we had lunch in the camper. Still needing to recuperate a bit from yesterday's bout of food poisoning, I napped after lunch even though we still had a lot of driving to do. After I napped with Ozzie for an hour we continued south out of 100 Mile House a short distance on Hwy. 97, then turned east on Hwy. 24, heading to Little Fort, where we turned south again on Hwy. 5 heading to Kamloops. We arrived in Kamloops about 5:30 PM.
We went shopping for some advertised items at Princess Auto, and then Liquidation Supercentre. After shopping we found our way to the Kamloops Visitor Information Centre to boondock overnight, arriving there at 8 PM, just as it got dark.
Wednesday ; Kamloops to home
Overcast, cool, intermittent light rain.
We left the parking lot of the Kamloops Visitor Information Centre this morning and drove west on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 a short distance out of the city, then turned south on Coquihalla Hwy. 5 to Merritt. At Merritt I refilled the truck with diesel at Extra Foods Fuel Bar while Joanne went into the store to buy a jug of milk. From Merritt we headed east on the Coquihalla Okanagan Connector to Hwy. 5A where we turned south towards Princeton. At Princeton we turned east on Hwy. 3 for the final leg to home. We arrived home at 4:30 PM.
The house next door ... Ozzie's old home ... has been removed. We thought Ozzie might be concerned about the absence of his old home, but ... he either doesn't notice or doesn't care.
Emma is very happy to be home !
Thursday ; Cloudy and cool, a bit of rain in the afternoon.
Today was mostly a day of "return home" chores. Joanne did a lot of laundry. We unloaded stuff from the camper and put it away. I made some phone calls. I put away all the stuff we had purchased over the last couple of weeks while we travelled. I got caught up on Internet work.
Friday ; Mostly cloudy, cool.
Joanne went to Penticton by herself this morning for a day of running errands, including her first meeting with my new, now our new, family doctor. I remained home, continuing with "return home from vacation" chores. I continued to unload stuff from the camper and put it away, including all my fishing tackle, both fly fishing and traditional fishing gear. I spent quite awhile online, registering and updating our recently purchased GPS unit.
Saturday ; Overcast and cool.
This morning I sold our minivan's snow tires. Very embarrassing ! As the buyer was looking at them, she discovered a screw embedded in one of the tires, puncturing right through it. Nevertheless ... she bought the tires.
Early in the afternoon I worked on camper replenishment, cleaning, and maintenance. Late in the afternoon I went fishing, using my recently purchased chest waders for the first time. Fished for an hour and three quarters, caught three Rainbow Trout, kept two of them.
In the evening we watched a repeat broadcast of the Amazing Race Canada finale which we missed last Tuesday. We watched the show while eating our supper of barbecued Coho Salmon, which I caught in the Atnarko River. Oh, my goodness, that's good fish ! Emma loooooves it ! HA HA HA !
DSK
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