Heading out
October 14, 2019. Canadian Thanksgiving. Day one. We had hoped that by this point, we would have everything in our travel trailer organized and could just chill with family for the morning. Nope. We ran around like chickens for a solid 3 hours to get the final stuff packed up. Then it was time to say goodbye to our Alberta family and friends for the next 6 months. This was hard, but we knew they would be there in April when we returned.
Despite the weather not cooperating the past two weeks, (two giant dumps of snow already) it had cleared up enough for the beginning of our trip. It was chilly but clear and mostly good roads. The drive west through Banff National Park is always stunning no matter what time of year. We wanted to get to our first campsite before dark, so our only stop was to briefly let everyone stretch their legs at a rest area close to Park Bridge near Golden, BC.
First campsite
Pulling up to Waitabit Creek Recreation Area, we were really hoping to fit into a site for the night so we didn’t need to continue up the road. We parked at the top of the road and took a walk down to check it out, knowing from a previous trip the sites were kinda small. Luckily there wasn’t really anyone else around, likely on account of the dropping temperatures. No unhitching to do, as this was just a stopover for the night and the campsite was nicely level.
Battery troubles
Day two didn’t start off great. It was cold outside, and unfortunately also in the trailer. Somehow we had already killed our 300 amp hours of lithium battery. The cold made us cranky and the battery issues made us a bit concerned. We waited to kick on the generator until after the construction machinery up the hill had fired up their engines at about 7:15 am, and had probably awoken everyone around anyways. (Later we would figure out that in our running around like chickens, we forgot to check our batteries, and left without them being fully charged). Heading out, we had to drop the truck into 4X4 to avoid getting stuck in the construction mud pit and also had to pull some maneuvers to avoid hitting the flatbed trailer hanging out at the top of the campsite road.
Family, fun, and laundry
Our next destination was just outside Salmon Arm, BC at a piece of property that family was letting us stay at for a couple of nights. Upon arriving, we unhitched, relaxed, and hung out with family.
The following day we took a trip into the city of Vernon, about half an hour from where we were staying. It was a blast to hang out at the Vernon Recreation Center and have some floating about and hot tub time. Also a great opportunity to grab a hot shower. Laundry was in order and with us, so we located Aloha Laundry and Cafe. It was great to have free WiFi and delicious organic drip coffee while we waited. We spent the afternoon and evening chatting and laughing with family and getting ready for another leg of the journey.