Thursday June 12, 2014 Radium Valley, British Columbia, Canada

We got up early for us.  Brad, the Tailgunner, was thumping tires starting at 7am.  I heard engines and talking outside before we were thumped.  Thumping is checking to make sure all the tires have air.

We didn't hurry to get on the road.  We had our coffee.  Gerri got the inside ready to roll while I finished up outside.  We were on the road at about 9 AM.  Our trip log has a detailed description of the route.  The Grimlin (Garmin) in the coach mapped out the same route.  We bought fuel in Sagle, ID. There was a lesson learned, it was 20 cents more than in Coeur d'Alene.  But I guess that will balance out we as we will have to buy less fuel at our first stop in Canada.

Our route was north on US-95 to the Canadian border.  The speed limit was 65 mph.  With the ups and downs, curves and some wind my speed was usually 55 or under.  I didn't worry too much about it because we only had 250 miles to travel.

Last stop in Idaho

There was a lot of great scenery along the way, lakes and mountains. Of course the view was often blocked by trees.  We don't have that problem in Nevada.  I did get a good photo at a view point in Idaho.
There was a cache there but I could only get within 90 feet and it was too steep and rocky to continue. We had a lunch of tuna sandwiches and ate an apple each before heading on to Canada.

At the border crossing into Canada there was about a 30 minute delay.  It actually went smoothly, we weren't ask many of the questions we had anticipated.  After the border crossing we continued on Canada route 95.  The highway number remaining the same eased any confusion. Of course that confusion came back with distances and speed limit signs in kilometers per mile and kilometers.  Our speedometer has an inner circle with kmph but it is harder to read than the mph.

Goodbye USA

We stopped at a Walmart in Cranbrook and picked up some items we hadn't bought in the states, so we bought a few fresh veggies and fruits.

Once in the town of Radium Springs but before the RV park we were instructed to pull off at a wide spot and unhook the Jeep before entering the park.  I believe we were the last to arrive. Our assigned spot was a back in and Ben, the Wagon-master, was there to direct me.  I told him I would rather that Gerri give me directions.  I wasn't doing very well and another member of the caravan came over and started giving me direction.  I told him I would only follow directions from my wife.  He was hard to convince to stop giving me directions while I was trying to concentrate on the directions from Gerri.  Gerri finally got me straightened out and situated properly in the site.

Pedestrians in Radium Springs

This is a very nice park with shelters, picnic tables and propane grills at each site.  They have boardwalks along side of the parking spots in case of mud.  WiFi is good most of the time.  The weather forecast was for 80% chance for rain.

A close up of the pedestrians

Dinner was Pot Luck at 6 PM.  Without speed and a time change we weren't set up until 5:40 and Gerri didn't have time to finish the enchiladas.  She quickly prepared cottage cheese, with pears and peaches on the side for a salad.

After dinner it was still light so I tried to find some geocaches.  The GPS in the Jeep wasn't working properly so I had a difficult time getting to the caches by street directions.  I did use my handheld and got to a trailhead that was the beginning of the walk to a cache.  The path was very nice, gravel along side a rushing stream.  I didn't find the cache.  It was in thick woods off the trail and the light was failing me fast.

Breakfast and briefing was scheduled for 9 AM so we went to bed fairly early because of the time change and set an alarm to give us plenty of time to get to breakfast.