Day 6 July 7, 2024 Bellingham Washington to 100 Mile House British Columbia 278 miles
David got us delicious scones for breakfast. He gets them at the Farmer’s Market in Bellingham. They were flavorful and soft. The best kind. A doe and one fawn were on the front lawn this morning. David said there are two fawns so the other one must have been hiding. We left soon after breakfast.
We decided to fill the car at Costco. For some reason the route this morning seemed much longer. We twisted and turned all through town. We did finally get there. Then off to the back roads again.
More beautiful farms and mountains. They have a somewhat Scandinavian look. Numerous big dairies again. Looks like the cows never get out of the sheds. Hay and corn are the main crops. The bales are a mixture of medium round ones and the older style rectangular ones.
We were thinking we should be about to the border when suddenly there it was right in front of us. There were two short lines so the crossing didn’t take long at all. Not many questions either. Before long we began the day’s journey through the mountains. We went through seven tunnels, followed several different rivers, and wound up and down the mountains. The road has lots of passing lanes and pull outs which is great since we are slower. At first we are in evergreen forest but then it turns to dry sagebrush covered mountains. The temperature is getting much warmer. Some of the electronic road signs warn of excessive heat. Then at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere we saw two electric car charging stations. We never saw any others the remainder of the day.
Near the convenience store where we fueled was a mountain with a large question mark in the landscape. Not sure what caused that. A couple of long freight trains were across the river from us. We rarely got down to river level. Eventually we stopped at one of the rest stops that actually had shade and ate lunch. The shade definitely felt better than the sun.
The temperature was getting so hot and the hills were so steep that the car started over heating. We stopped five times all together to let it cool down. It was 103 F at one of the stops. Rob opened the hood and occasionally a hot breeze would blow through. On the fifth stop he added more water to the radiator. That combined with somewhat cooler temperatures we were able to make it to the hotel in 100 Mile House by 8:00 pm. People checked on us at three of the stops. We were offered a camping site as well.
That is when a couple on a bike from Wisconsin saw the car. They could not believe we were going to drive that to Deadhorse. They did give us some good information about the trip. They have gone there before. He gave so much information and so quickly we may not remember it. What was the name of that dead horse?
Spoffords Travel 