Where There’s Smoke . . . .

On Sunday we left Squamish and drove to Cloverdale to have brunch with Carter (Randy’s younger son) before continuing on the Hope-Princeton Highway to the Okanagan, where we visited with Randy’s older son, Tyler. We ended up spending the night there, just plugged in and parked behind his house. Beautiful mountain as a backdrop!

I’ve been reflecting  on how it feels to just drive your home from place to place, changing plans as you go, choosing destinations often on the basis of just trying something new. I’m kind of liking it more and more! We chose our route today largely on that basis. Let’s take highway 8 through the Nicola Valley, we said. It will be beautiful and new. So after an indulgent tasting at Rustic Roots and breakfast at the B&B where Tyler works, we set off.

We drove down the highway, marvelling at the landscapes, talking about how we live in one of the most beautiful places on earth and how amazing it is to get to make this journey. Somewhere in all that, we became aware that the traffic coming towards us was really heavy – but we were all alone on our side. Then Randy made a joke: what are they all running from and what are we driving into! And even as he said it, I saw a plume of smoke in the distance and we knew, though we tried to stay in denial for some time. The road was closed at Spence’s Bridge, and we had just pushed SweetEsther along for the past 65km of hills and curves, only to have to turn around and go all the way back to Merritt! For all practical purposes, we’d spent this whole day going no where!

What I haven’t told you is that SweetEsther has not been feeling so geat for the past couple days. Yesterday she starting backfiring a bit, then she developed a ‘miss’, and today a few more troubling sounds began to happen. So we found a campground in Merritt and tomorrow we will see a mechanic and hopefully be back on the road quickly. It’s crucial because we have to be in Vanderhoof on the 25^th! Will we make it? I don’t know.

In spite of all that, we agreed that we did not regret making the trip to Keremeos to see Tyler. We had a lovely time driving through the Nicola Valley (seriously beautiful and we got to do it both ways!) We found another really nice campground (Claybanks RV Park in Merritt, BC). And quite frankly, it just is what it is! I’m feeling pretty zen about it right now, we’ll see what I feel tomorrow after talking to the mechanic. We’re learning here!

#SweetEsther  #SweetEstherChronicles