Day 3 on the road in Canada...

Day 3- On the Road in Canada

Today started out early, I woke up around 4:30 am and did not really get back to sleep- finally I got up around 6:00 and took the long hike to the campground showers for a good cleanup. My campsite was almost at the top of a hill so I followed a winding “Shower Trail” down past other tiers of campsites with a variety of tent campers, fifth wheels, and trailers with everyone else mostly asleep. The showers were basic,  there were three of them each a 4’X 8’ square brick enclosure about 7 feet tall with a door and a small bench and then a curtain to keep water from the shower from coming into the bench area where you can change and keep your clothes dry.

I leaned in to test the shower and very cold water came spraying out into my bench area soaking the floor and my flip flops! I turned it off and then pulled the curtain standing outside it to run the water and see if it got hot- eventually it did. It was nice to take a hot shower even though it shut off every 3 minutes or so to conserve water . After the shower I dressed in clean clothes and walked back up the trail this time to get back to the Van. Good morning exercise. At the van I made coffee and had a half a bagel with peanut butter on it and a small milk I’d purchased yesterday when I changed money at a supermarket.  Cleaned up the dishes and swept the van and packed up to get on the road early.

The smoke is still very thick here. From my campsite I should have a beautiful view of a large lake and hills covered with pine trees, but I can only see about a ½ mile still so no view. The van and the solar panel are filthy with soot and dirt- needs to get a bath in the next couple of days. One funny thing that happened today was that I saw my twin! I was in a left lane and ahead of me and to my right was a Van so much like mine I did a double take. It was the same age and style with a white bubble top like mine only it had a flatter more brown colored paint job, but it still had the gold stripes like mine! The driver was a guy in his 40’s or so with a bushy beard- I don’t know if he saw me and I was very tempted to try and pull in where he was headed to compare vehicles, but it would have been a tricky lane change across two  busy lanes so I passed on it.

Driving is pretty easy- windy roads like around Sun Valley and the area has more high meadows and lakes along the trip. I stopped at an A&W to have lunch and use the WiFi to post yesterday’s blog.  There I found out that Verizon would not let me make WiFi calls unless I paid them $5 a day for Canadian Service. No way Jose. I got some texts and emails though and answered and sent some more and then back in the van to what I thought would be my destination- Williams Lake.

At Williams Lake I stopped at the Visitor Center and a very nice lady showed me where potential camping spots were. In town there was an area called The Stampede which I think was their Fairgrounds. She said they charged 15 dollars and had showers and WiFi. She also said they were crowded because of refugees from the fires. I asked her if there were any National Forest free campgrounds and she pointed out two along my route out of town- one of them, Blue Lake seemed close to the main highway so I took a map she offered and left to check out the Stampede.

The Stampede was nothing but a flat, dirty fairgrounds area with trailers and campers on top of each other so crowded it was horrible. I just drove through one lane of it and headed out down the road.

Most of the time the speed  limit outside of towns is 100 kilometers an hours – 60 mph-  and when you hit a town it drops to 70 and then 50 through the main part of town. There were some large areas of road construction today and the speed there was always 50.  The drivers here speed like crazy! Everyone tries to go 60 in the 50 zones and 80 in the 70’s and well over 100 on the highway. I am always checking my mirror to see who is racing to pass me when we hit a passing zone or who is right on my tail waiting impatiently to pass. Yuck.

I was traveling more slowly than the limit because I did not know how well Blue Lake would be marked and did not want to miss it. Sure enough I saw a landmark for it and there was the sign and turn quickly approaching on the right. I zipped over and braked hard to make the corner and came to a gravel road with no direction markers and began winding my way up a steep climb. The van was a little hot so I put her in first gear and she cooled down smartly. About 2 K in I saw a sign for Blue Lake Resort spots $25 dollars a night and figured that was not the way since it was supposed to be free. I continued on the road and about 3 K in I crossed an area with a big powerline and an access road heading at right angles to me. I decided to keep going the way I was and after another K I came to a turnaround that had been used as a campsite. What the heck, I had a nice view of a meadow and it was isolated so I decided to put in there for the night.

I was done for the day early which left time for projects. The water pump for the sink had failed to come on last night so I took this opportunity to tear the bead apart and check it. Wiggling the wires got it working- if it breaks again I will rewire it, but for now all is good. I turned on the sink to test it, but no water came out even though it was running! I jumped out and looked under the and found that my pipe had been rubbing on the driveshaft which wore a hole in it. Sad day. I got out tools and spare pipe and hose clamps I’d brought  in case I had a problem and found that I could not get all the way under the van because it was loaded. I could just reach the area I need to work on by stretching and I managed to cut out the bad section and squeeze the replacement pipe over the cut ends and secured it with hose clamps. I also got some picture hanging wire I had and wrapped it around the pipe and a hook under the van to keep it from getting to the driveshaft again. Back in the van. Tested it. It worked!

Another annoyance when driving was a rattling, ringing noise coming from the back of the van. What I found was that my fuse box cover in the cabinet was not attached at the bottom and was swing like a bell and chiming. I looked in my trusty container of loose screws (no jokes here please) and found one that secured it perfectly. That solves two noises in one day counting the buzz saw noise the driveshaft had been making as it wore the pipe down. Very productive!

I filled a large water bottle from the sink for morning coffee and breakfast and settled in for crackers and peanut butter and an Asian noodle soup for dinner. The food was great. I relaxed and listened to an audio book- ‘Ready Player One’ and sipped a cold diet coke.

Suddenly my water pump started running! I’d forgotten to switch it off and the pressure in it (45 lbs) had busted my McGyvere’d together set up under the van. Water was gushing again. Ahhhh!

After swearing and kicking the dirt I gave in and decided to go to an RV repair place and have pro’s fix it for once and good. The rest of the night was watching the sunset, moving stuff around ( this is a constant process in the little space) and trying not to knock stuff over.  I watched a comedy on the computer then went to sleep.

A pretty good day all in all.