Road Trip – End of Day 1

All photos taken on September 18, 2021 in Kamloops, B.C.

This was to be our third stay in Kamloops in the last 2 months. Now, it is not that we see Kamloops as a desired destination, as much as it was about as far as we could comfortably drive in one day.

As we dropped down the West side of the mountains into the foothills, we could see the North Thompson River running alongside the road and realized we were finally getting close to Kamloops. It was only 3:48 and although we seemed to have made great time, we had actually been aided by the time zone change. It was in fact 4:48 in Alberta and we felt each one of our 9 hours on the road.

North Thompson River, East of kamloops

We had a plan for safe supper dining when we got to Kamloops. We were not yet ready for “in restaurant” dining, so phoned ahead to Pizza Now and ordered a large pizza for supper and two smaller pizzas for lunch on board the ferry the next day. Arriving at Pizza Now, we waited a few minutes for the order to be ready and promptly demolished the large pizza in the car in front of the place. The two small pizzas were safely stowed in our cooler and we set off to find our hotel.

So, here we were again, In Kamloops, in a hotel. Both hotels from our July trip being busts, we opted to stay in the Wingate for our 4 one night trip break stays on this road trip. The initial reason was because it was a pet friendly hotel and we were planning to bring Benji the Wonder Dog with us on our return trip to Jasper. However, the writer screwed this up, because, not having a pet in his family, he failed to understand that when a place is pet friendly, it does not mean all rooms allow pets. Sorry B & K…..and Benji. This was my bad.

We donned our masks and checked into the hotel, which seemed quiet for a Saturday. The place had underground parking, which was a nice touch and would leave our car and contents better protected.

The first order of business after check in and parking was to go up to the room and sanitize all “touch” surfaces, before moving our luggage in. My Patty, being trained in infection control, led the charge and kept me on the right path. One would think hotel rooms are always well cleaned, until one wipes them down with Lysol wipes and sees how much dust and dirt get removed in the process.

At last, we were satisfied that risk of infection was averted and we settled in with our luggage. Taking stock of our location, we marvelled at the views of the valley to the East and hoped we would be that lucky on our next 3 stays. Psssst, we were not.

Out the hotel; window, the North Thompson valley and Kamlopps spread out before us.

The night view

Off to bed early, as we would need to hit the road at first light to manage a 10:30 pickup of son B and then catch the 12:00 Noon ferry to the island…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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