September 23, 2023 Day 9 Princeton BC to Creston BC 288 miles
This morning is very cloudy but not raining yet. The room doesn’t have a microwave so there is no way to make tea. With the water quality alert not so sure we want to use this water to drink without a hard boil. Undoubtedly somewhere in town has coffee for sale. We headed out looking for the grocery store. We saw two deer in town before coming to a gas station. We filled with gas and got a coffee and hot water to go. Gas stations are few and far between.
We followed along what I think is the Kettle River. RV parks and camp grounds are fairly frequent. Lots of them are beside the river in the trees. Most have vacant spots so we are obviously past the busy time of year. Most are smaller trailers. No big motor homes nor fifth wheel trailers.
The vegetation is primarily evergreen with a few deciduous trees scattered between. Some of them have turned bright yellow. A few are deep red. We are surrounded by tall mountains. We went over six mountain passes so going was slow.
We saw two more deer and six turkeys. Frequent signs implied there were deer, elk, moose, big horn sheep and bears.
We came into one town with numerous farm stores. Apples, pumpkins and squash were in all of them. Some of the apple orchards were training the branches to grow similar to grape vines. Bet those apples are easier to pick. Vineyards are also common.
Somewhere along the way we saw Big Foot. He was a bit stiff and very dark in color. We also saw a bunch of fence made from old tires stacked like bricks. These Canadians are very clever.
Near Kootenay Pass a few raindrops fell. Not enough to turn on the windshield wiper. The sky looked very threatening however. Lots of chain up spots all along the route. Also signs saying all cars and trucks are required to have winter tires on and carry chains from October 1 to April 30.
We drove all the way without stopping for lunch. I guess the audio book was too good. Going up to Kootenay Pass was a long uphill climb. We rarely got out of second gear. Luckily there is a passing lane most of the time so we aren’t slowing down traffic.
We checked into the motel and then went to Tim’s Fish and Chips. A one piece meal comes with two pieces of fish. Busy little place and tasty food. Back at the motel Rob put a new fuse in the inverter. Looks like we will go through Idaho to get home and bag Glacier this time.
Spoffords Travel 