Into the Rain

Today we traversed the final range of mountains to finally arrive on the Pacific coast. We climbed out of Osoyoos and followed the river through the Okanagan Valley. This is the heart of fruit growing country with apple, pear and cherry orchards adorning the hillsides and valleys. Vineyards are abundant and signs enticing tourists to sample the local wines are everywhere. The mountainsides here in the rain shadow are brown with a sparser selection of trees.

We stopped in Keremeos, the fruit stand capitol of British Columbia. We shopped a colorful vendor we liked the look of along the roadside. We filled a bag with fresh local apples and pears. They had local honey from Summerland and some sponge toffee that we couldn’t resist. Then I spotted the selection of fruit syrups and bought a small bottle of cherry syrup to top off the blueberry pie we picked up Creston.

More climbing and descending, with grades of 9% not uncommon. As we dropped down the western slope into Langley, the rain began to pour. This set of mountains separates the desert of Okanagan from the rain forest climate of the western shore. The mountainsides were lush and green with moss among the thick undergrowth. The traffic also grew thick the closer we got to Vancouver. We pulled into our drenched RV park in Surrey in the late afternoon. They gave us a real crap-o spot so we returned to the office and after some back and forth we were moved over to a marginally better site. Not many options in the urban areas. The thing that cheesed me off the most was that I had made the reservation almost a month ago and asked for a prime spot. At the time, they wouldn’t commit to a particular space and now claim everything is full. There are nicer spots for people passing through but we are wedged between a couple of full time residents on a small gravel square. We got soaked connecting things up but were soon warm inside with 64 cable tv channels, a rarity for us. We watched the local news and a little Live P.D. but honestly, even with 64 selections there was not much we wanted to see.