Kootnay Smoke, CDA, Strange and Wonderful Creatures!

The ferry ride back from the island was extremely uneventful.  Boarded on time, weather fair. Exited without fanfare.   

Rather than immediately crossing over into the States,  we had about 10 days before we needed to be in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho,  and we decided to spend it visiting some of the parks and places on the Canadian side of the border.  Our first destination was Manning Provincial Park,  but along the way we managed a fortuitous intersection with friends Paul and Georgina.  They were coming back to Vancouver from a short trip in a Rental RV along the exact same route as we were departing Vancouver and the Ferry.   We’ve learned not to EVER ignore such planetary alignments,  so we picked an RV park beside the highway and had a BBQ and more than a bit of conversation, with maybe a little Scotch!

Our plan, upon leaving the company of Georgina and Paul was to proceed an hour or so down the road to the park campground.  We awoke to DENSE SMOKE from a nearby fire…a fire that was burning IN THE PARK where we were headed.  When I say “Dense,” I mean visibility of about 100 yards!!!   We were worried at a minimum that the air was too unhealthy for hiking, which is what we intended for our few days in the park. It seemed likely, in fact,  that the park would be closed or evacuated.  So we called, thinking we were going to cancel. 

The ranger said it was severe clear…no smoke at all!!!  When we arrived at the park,  we could see the fire, and the helicopters dropping water were replenishing in the lake less than a mile from our campsite, but the prevailing winds were taking all the smoke and danger away from the campground. 

So, We did manage a couple of days of very nice hikes in the Park.

Leaving Manning PP, we headed to the resort town of Osooyas.   This town features a very large lake, which is reputed to have the warmest water in Canada by virtue of being quite shallow and in a region that is technically the northern-most extreme of the Sonoran Desert!!   Yep!  The Desert one finds in Arizona!!!!  The Osooyas area is hot in the summer,  and quite dry.  The local economy relies on the lake and its associated tourism,  the season for which was over when we were there. All the docks had been rolled up,  the lakeside bars and restaurants mostly closed.  

The area also has a gr8 climate for both fruit and wine.  We sampled some of the latter – several tasting rooms within easy bike range of our campground.   One of the vineyards was owned by the local First Nation tribe…somewhat of a pioneering effort,  and seemingly doing quite well.  We also bought a LOT of fruit in Keremos,  a town along the road just before Osooyas…the Apples were just in  season, and absolutely DELICIOUS!!!

Each night in Osooyas,  the local population of semi-wild horses roam through the campground.  We never actually SAW the hoses; only clear evidence that they were there! 

After Osooyas,  we visited the town of Nelson.  This town is on the shores of an arm off of Kootenay Lake…sort of an Alpine Lake (actually a combination of a natural lake and reservoir on the Kootenay River behind a BC HYDRO Dam), and has the steep Kootenay mountains all around.  It was very beautiful,  and had some excellent bars and restaurants for our gustatory pleasure.

After Nelson,  it was time to leave Canada for our appointment with destiny (and the Florers and Purcells, road friends met along the way and repeatedly endured ever since!) in Coeur D’ Alene.  We crossed the border just south of Creston, BC…not a major crossing, so not a lot of traffic or delay.  The crossing was uneventful, except I forgot to dispose of a couple lemons left over from Keremos.  These were confiscated by the CBP AG Specialist,  who no doubt enjoyed them in his Ice Tea or Hefeweizen later in  that very day!!!

Coeur d’Alene was an interesting stop.  It’s a pretty affluent town on the shores of a pretty large lake.  There are some very substantial estates with boathouses and opulence in the extreme.  It was a bit after the season,  so not really crowded.  We did manage a dinner cruise on the lake, but unfortunately, being later in the year, sunset was early and so we could not really gawk at the excess around the lake as we dined.  

We also managed a couple of communal meals with the Florers and Purcells.  One evening I made Smoked Ribs on our new grill, and also Salmon burgers which we had acquired on Vancouver Island.  Still learning how the grill cooks,  but the results were not at all unacceptable.

After our time in CDA,  we needed to start towards Chicago,  but we had time so we decided to dive a little southward into Utah, where a relative has a Llama Ranch!  We had met Katy and Jerry a few times in the past several years…unfortunately at funerals and memorial services, mostly.   Our last encounter was at my Dad’s memorial in July, where Katy again extended an invitation.  I have a reputation to uphold, after all.  The reputation is that, if an offer is extended for parking the bus,  we WILL BE THERE.  Liz always warns people not to make the offer… DON”T DO IT, she sez!!” 

Because I just assume that all such offers are sincere, and it would be RUDE to refuse!!!  

Anyway,  we called Katy,  and the offer was confirmed,  so we headed towards Midway, Utah.  There, we enjoyed extreme hospitality, including making the acquaintance of several Llama and two, most exuberant Old English Sheep Dogs. 

Once those two realized that the residents of Good Trouble  were potential belly-rubbers,  they spent a lot of time near the door, begging for entrance,  which they achieved more than once, to Liz’s chagrin! 

We were also parked by the gate of a pasture that Katy and Jerry rent to a local dairy farmer.  So the dogs apparently are required by their genetics, several times a day to chase all the cattle into a corner of the pasture.   This both before and after said Belly Rub.   Fun to watch!!! 

As for the Llamas, Katy described them as, at once, super intelligent, very curious and scared of EVERYTHING.  So, in terms of interaction,  you can see that they know the bus (and its occupants) are new and very interesting, but also a little scary!  So, Llamas see us just like most people do!!!  We did eventually achieve “petting” status for at least a couple of them,  and While on the ranch,  Katy offered Liz a skein of yarn from one of them. Llama yarn is not known by a color (black, brown, grey), but by the donor’s name. So Liz’s Skein was, “Señor Quri.”  Liz promptly turned that into a comfy, warm hat for a friend, who is undergoing chemo.

While we were in Midway,  we decided to make a couple of driving trips…one to the recently late Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort,  and the other to Park City….both within 1/2 hour.  The former was a frantic construction site as there were substantial works that needed to be complete before the start of the winter Skiing season.  Parking was difficult,  and even walking around endured multiple detours.    Park City, on the other hand,  was way less frantic.  We had a wander, a couple meals, a beer, some ice cream.  Quite nice,  but we could see how the town would be SPECTACULAR during the winter,  if one skied!  The entire town is ski-able.  You come down one of many slopes right onto main street and into a bar or restaurant,  have a beer, get right back on the lift for another run.  Must be an absolute winter wonderland around Xmas.    Especially for the more “affluent” (i.e. non-trailer-trash) skier/visitors! 

Also while in Midway,  we did some biking,  and we experienced an event which undoubtedly provided amusement (if not bemusement) for the locals.  Stopping at a light, on a fairly uneven sidewalk,  Liz misjudged the terrain and started to topple over.  It was like slow motion…down she went.  And, of course,  I had to turn around to see what all the commotion was. At which point I, too, started the slow-motion topple.  Eventually,  we were both horizontal, with parts of our bikes on top of us.   Looking around sheepishly, we assured a couple of the snickering locals that we were fine (other than our extreme embarrassment at toppling even BEFORE cocktail hour)  and we sheepishly (llama-ishly?) continued on our way!

Although Katy and Jerry hoped and assured us we could stay longer, we do believe and generally follow one rule,  attributed to Ben Franklin:  “Guests and Fish Smell after 3 Days!”  Besides,  we could now see SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN,  so we knew we needed to be GONE!!!!  We decided to move onwards and eastward, as we eventually needed to make it to Chicago for a Doc Appt.  We had time,  so we decided to make several stops.  

The first was in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.  LHS, as you can imagine, features a really nice public-access Hot spring.  This consisted of 4 pools, with the hot mineral water flowing thru from one to the next and eventually into the river.  The first pool was the hottest…about 112⁰F… and the final was about 100⁰F.

And there was a pretty nice RV spot within an easy walk from the Hot Spring. 

We were there for 2 full days,.  One was a Sunday…NOT a good day to visit a public hot springs.  The last (coolest) pool was FULL of families, many with kids in “Swim Diapers.”  I cannot imagine the engineering that could produce such a thing that actually worked for the intended purpose,  so we decided to stay in one of the upstream pools on that day.  The next day (Monday) we had any/all of the pools to ourselves,  the only other bathers being more or less our age and never-the-less, NOT in diapers.  

And then,  just like that,  it was time to leave…headed to Chicago, with time on our side,  a few stops along the way (continued next post)