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Published: August 28th 2009
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Today's weather summary: 43 degrees and sunny this morning; stayed sunny all day and rose to 90 degrees in the afternoon; probably the warmest day I'll see until next summer.
Even though it was VERY chilly this morning, I put the top down on the Miata, bundled up and hit the road. First stop was for breakfast at the Sun Mountain Lodge resort near Winthrop. As you can see from the photo, this place is up in the hills and has great views. It was recommended by my friend, Paul Martin, who was the next stop on my day's journey.
Paul and his wife Patty own 40 acres in north central Washington, not far from the Canadian border. Paul and I used to work together at Bonneville Power and Patty is retired from Veteran's Affairs (V.A.). They live in Vancouver, WA but have plans to build their permanent retirement home on their 40 acres. I stopped to visit them (see photo) where they're currently living out of their motor-home and building a yurt for future quarters when they visit the property and later when they're building the home. I had a good time visiting with them and a few
of their many cats and dogs.
Headed north and crossed the border into Canada (about 30 minutes waiting in line). With my new "Enhanced Driver License" (similar to a passport), it only took about a minute of questioning and they sent me on my way (no inspection of the vehicle or luggage). They asked me four questions: (1) where are you from, (2) where are you going, (3) what is your profession (why do they ask that?) and (4) do you have any firearms or tobacco. That was it.
Spent most of the afternoon driving up the Okanagan valley. It's lined with beautiful lakes and fertile farmland used primarily for fruit. I've never seen so many fruit stands and wineries in one day (I'm sure that I saw at least 100 of each). The area is very warm and dry and attracts tons of tourists to the lakes and beaches.
I stopped at a rest area along Okanagan Lake and there was a guy parked near me with a beautiful Mercedes SL500 with the hood and trunk open. He came over and asked if I had any jumper cables. I told him I did but that I
wasn't comfortable with using my Miata (tiny battery) to jump start his Mercedes. He said he didn't need to do that because his car has two batteries; one for the engine and a second battery in the trunk that is used to power all of the accessories in the car. His engine battery was dead, so what he wanted to do was to jump start the engine with cables from the rear battery to the front battery. To my amazement, my cables were long enough to reach from the trunk to the engine and he successfully got his $90,000 car running again (or whatever they cost these days). Great fun!
I saw some geese in Canada today, so they must be Canada geese, right?
Reached Vernon, BC where I'm staying at the first of many Bed and Breakfasts that I'll be using during the trip. In the photos below, you'll see the view from the B&B, including a view of a large forest fire near Kamloops, BC, an area where I'll be driving tomorrow. Reports are that it's not impacting highways yet.
Another fine day!
Jack
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Ruth Kelly
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Enjoying your trip!
Jack -- I'm thoroughly enjoying your travel blog and those fantastic photos! Wow! Breathtaking views! And I'll bet you're appreciating traveling ALONE - no conversation (except for "talking" on your blog) -- and drinking in those beautiful views. Keep 'em coming! Loving you, Mom