Thursday, September 4, 2014 (Travel to Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley, BC)

Well, after having the truck batteries charging all day yesterday, the truck fired up this morning...whew! Steve actually had to start it a little earlier than planned because our back-up...a jump from our neighbour, Ken, was going into to town. All is okay, Ken...we don't need your help after all. Thanks for the offer!

Steve here: Patrick the campground operator stopped to say goodbye while making his rounds. Hunting season was now open and he said there had already been a 3 point and a 4 point deer taken this morning from some of the hunters in the campground. In the USA these are considered 6 and 8 point bucks. Hey Rob and Jim...maybe we should consider a deer hunt and fishing trip here someday. :-)

We were a little later getting on the road this morning because we still had the boat to load. But all went smoothly and we pulled out of our site just before 10:30 and started the 7 1/2 km drive down the hill to hwy 5A.

It was an absolutely beautiful day so I just had to take lots of pictures!

I just love the countryside in this area!

We're just approaching Nicola Lake...

We passed ZZ Top (LOL) fishing along the edge of the lake...

We stopped at the sani-dump at the Canadian Tire in Merritt...but didn't turn off the truck :-) Soon we were headed south on the Coquihalla (hwy 5)...bye Merritt!

The Coquihalla Hwy continues in the distance. The countryside has changed...gone are the rolling grassy hills. We're into steeper heavily forested mountains now...

Dry Gulch...(yes, I know it's a dry gulch...the sign said it's called "Dry Gulch" LOL)...

 Coquihalla Summit 1244 Metres/4081 Feet...

Down, down, down we go...this stretch was 8% grade for 3 kms...

 Runaway Lane on the right...

 Avalanche Cannon Platform on the left...

 Avalanche Snow Shed Tunnel...

 Fraser River west of Hope...

A parachutist...

We pulled into Fort Camping at Brae Island Regional Park at 2:15 and our favourite site (C01)...yay! We got leveled off and unhitched...and finally turned the truck off! We made it!

I had just finished vacuuming and was about to start unpacking the inside when I heard Steve talking to our neighbours next door. I looked out the window and there was Millie! I hadn't seen Millie since she retired from BC Assessment eleven years ago! She was "one of the girls from work" that attended our wedding 32 years ago!

She introduced us to her husband Grant and we had a quick chat before they headed off for dinner with family. What a small world...amazing that they would be parked in the site right beside us! They are just staying one night on their way up to Penticton to a jazz fest.

After getting all set up (Steve outside and me inside), it was after 4:30 and time to relax with a cocktail...ahhh...it's good to be back! We really enjoyed our 3 months exploring some remote spots in beautiful BC...but it's nice to be back to the luxuries of full hookups!