Day 4 - On the "Road" to Nelson

05/02/2018

Today is a driving day. But we are not skiing, we are driving a car. The trip starts in Fernie at about -5° Celsius and snow-covered roads. Gradually, we are heading to lower and warmer places and the snow is decreasing - first on the road, then also in the surroundings. Along the way, we see freight trains again and they are long, very long. We measure a length of about 1.5 km with up to five locomotives, this is just one train of course.

Following a tip from our AirBnB host Amy (psst, don't tell anyone that we stayed in an AirBnB, as it's illegal in Fernie since this year), we drive along Kootenay Lake to cross the lake by ferry. For this option, we definitely decided during lunch in Creston, as it would be more exciting than the normal road. In Creston, we also refueled for the first time and cleaned the windows really well again. While doing so, we noticed that there are some really bad cracks and dents in the windshield (thanks to the passing monster trucks). But we hope for the best from our insurance, so it won't cost us anything.

Back on the road, the scenery along the lake has changed a lot. In the meantime, we felt more like on an autumn trip through the Canadian forests than on a winter round trip. In order to catch the ferry on time, we suddenly have to hurry and push the gas pedal. 5 minutes before the ferry's departure, we arrive in Kootenay Bay, but there is no sign of a ferry anywhere. On the timetable we read the sentence "All Times are Pacific Times" and the lake is the border of two time zones, so we are one hour early. Apparently, we overlooked this when scouting on the internet. So we pass the waiting time at the "beach".

The crossing to Balfour takes about 40 minutes. On the way, it's lightly raining and we arrive in Nelson at 5:00 pm and check in at the Dancing Bear. We are still looking for a grocery store to buy our dinner, which we will cook in the communal kitchen. Before going to bed, we have some entertaining conversations with other guests from all over the world.