Sunday, July 18, 2010

Lots of people would be heading out today but we were staying until Monday to avoid the weekend rush. It was our usual slow start to the day...I was up well before Steve enjoying my morning coffee and updating our journal. I wanted to do an internet search of Kelowna area RV parks to see if I could find us a spot for Monday to Thursday. I figured it might be difficult during high season so we might end up in the Walmart parking lot. One place I called was Quail’s Gate Farm—it seems a lot of orchards and farms are putting RV lots in on their property—it was $55/night but they did have room so I (rather hastily) booked it but after getting the reservation confirmation, I cancelled it because they did not have showers (and we still had to get ours fixed in the trailer) and apparently this was their inaugural year and the pictures looked rather barren. I will try more searches later to see what I can find but right now we were going to go for another ride.

We left at about 11am heading the other direction on the KVR towards Coalmont and Turlameen. Gary and his son, Brian joined us. Larry and Judy had gone that way and said what an awesome ride it was with fabulous views along the river. They were right, it was a gorgeous ride. The only part that was difficult (and illegal) was that you had to ride on the outskirts of town and over the main highway bridge to get over the river. As I had mentioned earlier, it is part of the Trans Canada Trail and there are signs saying no ATV’s allowed which is unfortunate because snowmobiles are allowed in the winter...that hardly seems fair. Having said that, there were many ATV’s using the trail...apparently we were not the only ones ignoring the signs.

We had a slow leisurely ride, stopping often to take pictures. We ventured off the trail into Coalmont, parked our ATV’s and went into the Coalmont Saloon for a beer—that was very cool!

I have learned to ensure I take money with me on these rides! It was quite hilarious because just as we got parked, a RCMP truck drove right past us...he obviously wasn’t concerned that we had driven into town. After our beer and chips, we carried onto Turlameen and Otter Lake. Apparently it is a popular vacation spot for lower mainland people—there are lots of cabins on the lake. Gary was telling us that property is expensive because of its proximity being an easy drive to a vacation spot...he was even saying that there are some “mansion type” log cabins with helipads...some people have too much money! There is also a provincial park/campground on the lake. It looked like a beautiful spot.

That was our turn-around point, so after stopping in Turlameen for ice cream (apparently you can’t go to Turlameen without stopping for ice cream) we headed back, arriving just before 4pm. We were hot, dirty and dusty! After a cold beer, Steve loaded the quads into the truck while I continued my internet search for our next camping spot. I gave up and decided to go for a shower...I had hot water this time, yay!

By this time it was after 8pm so Steve just did up some hot dogs on the BBQ and they we joined the other next door for a drink before heading to bed. Hmmmm....hot dogs, chips, beer....what happened to our healthy eating and exercise schedule we had for the first couple of weeks??? Oh well....we’ll get back on track later....