Imechapishwa: 17.07.2022
The night is over, Schahaatz got up again at the time of night sleep to take pictures of the sunrise in the mountains, and I just kept sleeping. Today we had
Today we are going the short distance to Revelstoke. We have planned 4 stops with short walks. First stop: Rockgarden.
A bunch of randomly stacked rocks with lovingly arranged smaller stones in between to walk around in the rock garden. The little path was actually supposed to continue, but 3 tree trunks lying on top of each other block the way. 😭
Stops 2 (Giants Cedar Trail) and 3 (Skunk Cabbage Boardwalk Trail) are unfortunately closed, trees have destroyed the access paths (bridges).
So off to Revelstoke. Suddenly, while driving on the highway at 100 km/h, a seal from the camper body on the driver's side came loose and dangled around.
A truck is tailgating us from behind and there is no parking bay in sight. We briefly stop on the side of the road, but it's not safe to get out here. So Schahaatz wedges the seal in the driver's window. It's only 12 km to Revelstoke.
Following the motto - Bastl with Wastl, we squeeze the seal back into place. The seal on the passenger side was fixed with two screws, but not on the driver's side. We seem to have a lemon car. We fix everything with expensive Gorilla Tape adhesive tape. We are both professionals, it has to pay off eventually.
Revelstoke, a small town that reminds a bit of the Wild West with its houses.
When entering Revelstoke, we saw that there is a market today. A good opportunity to look for souvenirs. Due to the tinkering with Wastl, the time had progressed to the point where people were already packing up. No souvenirs, but a cool Ginger Wazz instead. Ginger-lemon-apple lemonade, very tasty and spicy.
We are of course also facing the camping problem today, so we wanted to be smarter and went to the tourist information. However, the information system still needs improvement. The nice lady showed us some places on the map, but couldn't say if there was availability or didn't even bother to call and find out.
When asked if the parking lot at the Revelstoke Viewpoint (our 4th stop) is full and if we can drive the camper up there, she only said what we didn't want to hear. Our house is too long for the serpentine roads. Alternative program - look for a gas station.
And the problem with the overnight stay is still not solved.
We had already checked all the campsites suggested to us on the internet in advance, but there was nothing available. So we drive on and just ask.
At the first one, we could have parked in the registration parking lot with electricity, at the second one we were too fast and missed the exit. The third one seemed too suspicious to us (it was called Noah's arc and had a giant boat - the Ark - as registration). The advantage - if Canada had been flooded, we could have checked in as an example: cool German middle-aged people in their mid-fifties, still capable of reproduction, but good at improvising and showing off knowledge. The New World definitely needs such specimens.
So on to the 4th attempt and a perfect landing. There is still a spot between the highway and the railway track. The nice thing is that the trains announce themselves with 4 long signals from the loudspeaker (translated signal horn, for those of you who don't know), following the motto: Mother/Father/Diverse (because of equal rights), get the kids off the tracks, we're almost there. Good thing we have earplugs.
For the first time on this vacation, we have some contact with our camping neighbors, Liz and Doug with their dog Luna, and thanks to our mosquito coils, also with Matthias, a German-Canadian who emigrated to Canada with his parents in 2009. After a delicious barbecue meal, we are now sitting by the campfire at an outside temperature of 28 degrees.
and being annoyed by mosquitoes.