Yesterday, was a sort of dull gray day around here with nothing really on the agenda. We decided to take the truck that has been sitting parked for the last few months, for a bit of a run having just had it serviced in preparation for the spring and RVing season (at least for us), arriving. Our intention was to drive over to Chilliwack, but as we were heading towards Agassiz and noticed a bit of blue sky in the east, Ernie said “We could drive that way and try and find the sun”…to which I responded “mmmm” He then said “We could drive to Merritt for lunch…” to which I said “that would give the truck a good long run….” and so it was decided.
Now these sort of D-R-I-V-E-S aren’t unusual for us in the winter, by this time in January our feet our getting itchy, but normally we make the decision before we get in the vehicle and start out. For example, I would have thrown our winter boots in the truck, and taken along some dog food – just in case – even thrown our emergency packs in, after all this is B.C. and is supposed to be winter! and I would have taken the GPS…not because we need it, our vehicles have driven to Merritt so often they could do it on their own, but when you have the toys you might as well play with them….we had none of these….I did have a camera because I never go anywhere without one, but that was about it….
First stop was this lovely new Tim Horton’s which has recently opened in Hope (we even have it programmed into the GPS that was sitting at home in the cupboard)…needing a coffee ‘for the road’ – Note the lack of snow…this will be a recurring theme – it is January 24th – it is supposed to be the middle of winter….
this is the snow shed hill on the Coquilla Highway. The Coquilla climbs constantly from Hope, the ‘snow shed’ is to stop snow from sliding down and covering the highway…no worries this year! and also starts the very steepest part of the ascent….when we had the Dodge 1500 and the trailer, this was the section I always held my breath as we were in ‘I think I can, I think I can,’ mode. We always made it but…
Here is the road as it looked yesterday.. we’re pulled off to the side…don’t want to give the wrong impression….the road is paved…this is just the shoulder.
and here we are, just past the summit….notice…no snow! Normally there would be snow banks higher than your vehicle along here…and there is that elusive blue sky off in the distance.
This is one of the parking lots at the Britton Creek Rest Area, the larger parking lot at the rear was so full of pickups with trailers and snowmobiles that there was no where to park! This has always been a spot where snowmobilers play in the winter, and I guess, the fact that there is so little snow this year had them all concentrated in the few areas where there is some. There were even a bunch of army cadets, or maybe army (who knows with all the Olympics security that is happening)…who ever they were, they were having lunch and the Gray Jays were helping them.
Since this is as far as I’ve managed to get on this today….I’ll post it and continue on tomorrow…
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