On to Vancouver

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After being very well treated at the Moon Shadows Campground in Merritt, I headed got up and began the last leg to Vancouver. I intended to get back on the Coquihalla highway. The Coquihalla is a highway that was built to make a faster and more direct route from Kamloops down to Vancouver. The Trans-Canada Highway threaded a route down the Fraser River, but it was winding and somewhat dangerous and not very direct. The Coquihalla was supposed to alleviate that. When it first opened, it was a toll highway. And all the truckers hated it. “It's to steep,” they complained. It was going to be very hard on their rigs. They still used it though. It just shaved too much off the travel distance and time taken.







The toll booths have been taken down now, and the ruckus over how steep and hard on vehicles has long since faded. But it's still just a direct route that really isn't all that interesting (although at the bottom it does go through some amazing canyons). Nevertheless, I was still going to follow it straight down to Hope and on to Vancouver. But...







Somehow, I misremembered the directions into the campground. That was a bit odd as I had followed the signs into the place. And yet, I zigged when I should have zagged and ended up on a smaller highway that was quite a ways below the Coquihalla. And it was much prettier and a much nicer drive, too. Instead of turning around when I realized that I was on the wrong road, I continued to follow this secondary highway along the midline of the valley/canyon. I think I ended up having a much better time. And I began to remember the fact that, as it's my trip, I'm beholden to nobody. I have a fairly open schedule, with noplace in particular to be at any particular time. I can go down these little garden paths at will and it won't matter too much. And since the road was going in the direction I was wanting to go, there was no real problem.







I did pass one access point to the Coquihalla and thought maybe I should get on the main highway, but I thought I would just go for a bit longer. That turned out to be wrong. Shortly thereafter, the secondary highway headed off towards the east and another valley. I followed it to a little town called Brookmere and turned back to the Coquihalla, but not before seeing this really interesting building in town. I think I'm going to have do more of this little town thing while I travel. On the other hand, as I am going to be spending a lot of time in the northern reaches of the country, I expect that will just be part of the territory. But little towns have interesting things.







Then it was down the rest of the way to Vancouver. Part of the reason for beginning my trip through Vancouver rather than heading straightaway up to the Yukon was to be able to see my grandmother. She hasn't been doing too well lately, and is now in a hospice facility. Hang in there, Grandma! I'm not ready to let you go just yet.







I arrived in Vancouver and realized that I didn't have any idea where she was being cared for. Well, I had some idea, but I wanted to confirm it, so I asked for some help. After I found out, I headed for the hospice, but she was asleep and there was nobody else of my family around. So I headed to a campground and got settled. That was a bit of an annoying experience. They required a lot of information for registration, including a credit card, my driver's licence, information about my car and other stuff as well. They took my credit card and driver's licence and noted down the information out of my sight. With all the press about identity theft and unsolicited offers from companies, I was a bit apprehensive about that. Coupled with having recently read something by a police officer (or perhaps quoting a police officer) that basically said that if a company requires some kind of copy of the information on your driver's licence, one should be concerned, I was on edge. And I started asking questions. Now in no way do I think that the lady at the desk was doing anything strange with my information. But I still asked why they needed my credit card if they weren't charging the night on it. I was told that I couldn't stay there without one. Now, I can be blunt, and in my blunt way I said that that was discrimination since there are people who don't have credit cards or can't have them. The owner or manager was standing nearby took a bit of offense at that and got his back up. We ended up arguing about the matter, with him suggesting that there would be no hotel anywhere where I could get a room without a credit card. Of course, I have done it, so I didn't believe him. He asked me at one point if I had had a long, difficult day driving, as though that were the reason. I said no and asked him if he had had a long day at the campground. He didn't get that. When I asked what would happen if someone didn't have a credit card, he responded that with people who didn't have bad attitudes things could be worked out. I DID get that. If I hadn't thought it would take an hour or more to locate another campground (it was in the Greater Vancouver area; there aren't that many), I would have taken my stuff back, made damn sure they destroyed the information they had just taken down, and left. As it was I was not interested in searching out a campground that understands that it's not a good form of customer service to tell customers they have bad attitudes. In any case, I don't have much good to say about the Dogwood Campground and RV Park. I went to my camping spot, took some photos of it, just in case he's the vindictive type, set up and spent a reasonable night. I was still fuming about the encounter though.

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Photos

Below the Coqhihalla
The winding roade in the canyon below the Coquihalla Highway was a far more interesting drive than the Coquihalla itself, which is mostly just a way to get from point A to B.

Brookmere lookout?
In the hamlet of Brookmere, I saw this interesting little building right in the middle of town.

My Tentsite in Vancouver
I like the little thing, and I took this in case the campground manager decided to be difficult.