Driving The Roads of Southern BC

I would like to know who is resposible for designating the placement of highway signs. Specifically who made the decision to place a "Check your fuel. Next service 68 km" on Hwy 3 east of Castlegar, after all options for leaving the highway are behind you? There was nowhere for me to turn around or even pull off the highway. I had no option at all except to continue and to hope that a quarter of a tank of gas would take me 68 km. It didn't take long for me to realize that the first 30 plus km were all uphillfollowed by another and another. 

The GPS was set to show all gas stations but we had to turn it off because there was no option to "turn this rig around" and I don't even need forty acres to do it. The uphills were steep and I avoided overdrive; the downhills were always followed by another up; and the other traffic just kept passing me.

The yellow fuel light on my truck came on with about ten km to go. When I was within one km I began to relax and I pulled into the gas station with a few fumes to spare. It took 65.33 litres to fill the tank and I didn't care what the price had been. I was in no position to be choosy. Imagine my delight when we travelled a few more km down the road to the next gas station and the price was higher!

Continuing on Hwy 3 we went through Grand Forks and commented on how nice the town looked. I spent about a week there when I was working for Interior Health and it was nice to see the town again as it was apparent that the residents have taken the time and effort to make it look good.

The totally unexpected surprise was Greenwood. The main street looks great and the older buildings have been painted and other improvements made and it had a very welcoming feel about it. We went into the Bakery and Coffee Shop and had a great talk with the mother and daughter owners. When asked how the improvements had come about the daughter said, "Because we got together as a community the way it should be!" If you are ever travelling on Hwy 3 please take a break and check out Greenwood. It is well worth a stop. 

  

                                       

Highway 33 continues towards the south end of the Okanagan Valley offering another big up and a long and steep down into Osoyoos. The views were incredible and the fact that there was somewhere to pull off the road to take the picture was fortuitous to say the least.

                                 

The destination for tonight was Princeton which has a serviced municipal campsite. It also has trees and after yesterday's lesson in Castlegar I was actually able to back in between several of them, with Ruth's help. We were also pleased  to discover the view out of the dining room window.

                              

The river behind the trailer is running quite quickly and I watched as the mother duck swam up the edge with her ducklings then took them towards the center. Then they stared floating to the right with the current and ducking under the waterfor seemingly long stretches. Eventually they all swam towards the bank futher downstream on our side of the river.

The campsite is quiet but there is this almost constant sound of traffic crossing a bridge except that it is too consistent for traffic. Perhaps we can identify the sound tomorrow. Good nite for now, tomorrow nite we are back at the campsite in Fort Langley which was the first stop on this road trip.