The caravan buttoned up in the morning and many left in the early dawn.  We walked around the campground and bade our farewell to the new friends we met…promising to stay in touch and let them know when we pass by.  Its nice know we now have friends in Montreal, Florida, Texas, Georgia, San Diego, Oregon and many other parts of the US.  This is definitely the undocumented benefit of these club caravans and rallies.

The evening prior, we held a 5:00 happy/planning hour with our traveling friends, who will make the trek west to the Okanagan Wine Country with us.  I like discussing our next trip segment, going over the route, the distance, time for leaving, and any other stops we want to make.  We didn’t feel the need to travel as a train, each of setting out when ready but meeting up at the destination or planned stop.  

Golden Municipal Campground

The Infant Columbia

The route traverses the same area we just traveled, Banff, Lake Louise and over the Kicking Horse Pass and follows highway 1.  It’s a beautiful drive but we are anxious to see grape vines and Lake Okanagan.  Our first stop though, was Golden BC on the west side of the Rockies, a 183 mile drive. Golden is a cute little town surrounded by six of Canada’s national parks: Yoho, Glacier, Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Mount Revelstoke.  We stayed at a great campground, Golden Municipal Campground right on the Columbia River (yes that reiver the flows south through Washington State and separates Washington and Oregon as it proceeds to the Pacific Ocean). The campground was well treed and separated from the river by a tall dike and bike/walking path.  The train tracks sat across the river and provided ample opportunity to watch long freight trains and the Canadian Rail passenger trains.  We had a very restful night.

Roger’s Pass

The next day we headed west through Canada’s Glacier National Park and over Roger’s Pass.  There is a very good interpretive center at Roger’s pass with ample parking.  We were very surprised at how magnificent the Glacier National Park is.  Towering peaks seem to drop straight down to the highway. I would have liked to spend more time here.

Our next stop was the Lamplighter Campground in Revelstoke.  It was a nice, small campground across the river from the town.  Open, grassy spaces and tall trees made this campground very nice albeit small. Our site backed into another and there was only about 6 feet between the backs of our trailers.  But it was a short drive back into town to fuel up and visit a train museum with terrific classic passenger cars, locomotives, and snow removal engines.  The town has quite a few dining options, but we preferred to potluck with our friends. 

Farming Karma RV

We moved on the next morning to head toward Kelowna BC and stay at one of the hard-to-get-into campgrounds in the area.  They really need more campgrounds.  We stayed, at what I thought would be a great experience, the Farming Karma RV.  You got to agree this sounded ….well…interesting.  It was in Kelowna but up in amongst apple and cherry orchards.  They are in the business of making sparkling fruit drinks (and some mixed with the good stuff).  The campground, however, was a large gravel parking area, divided by slatted fences, with full hookups.  There was a expansive view out across the valley to the lake and beyond.  They have only 9 sites total. I am not sure I would stay here again as it was far from anything we wanted to see.  

Kettle Valley Steam Railway

Kelowna is a large city with plenty of amenities, good dining, a lake front district of shops and restaurants and large Saturday market.  We sampled some of the brews at a local pub.  Our friends had brought their bikes to enjoy the famous Kettle Valley Trail, a 12 mile scenic rail trail that crosses 18 trestles.  They had a great time.  We headed across the lake and south to Summerland and the Kettle Valley Steam Railway.  This is a 10 mile ride on a reconditioned steam train, through the vineyards and towns to trestle bridge and return.  During the ride we spotted a unique sign for the Dirty Laundry Vineyard. Well, we just got to go and see this.  They had a patio restaurant overlooking the lake and vines and a great stop for lunch.  It was terrific!

Dirty Laundry Vineyards

Dirty Laundry Restaurant

View from the restaurant

We took a drive into West Kelowna and to a wine shop to learn about the various wines and varieties in the area. We quickly learned which top shelf wines were popular and which drinkable yet affordable wines were best. We loaded up with a few bottles to drink and bring home to share. There is so much to explore in the area.

NK’MIP Campground

We spent 3 nights in Kelowna…maybe one day too many as we were tiring and ready to head further south to Osoyoos BC.  Our stay was at the NK’MIP Campground, an indigenous people’s park.  I was excited to see this place, at the south end of Osoyoos Lake.  We had planned to stay here in 2020 before our caravan was cancelled.  It just read like a quiet serene spot on the lake.  Far from it.  There are 2 main areas in the park, lake front and not.  We were in the high and dry not part.  But I am glad we didn’t get by the lake as this was a total Hooverville with people camping right on top of each other separated by hanging tarps.  Cars and truck were everywhere.  To get a spot at the lake meant you had to reserve a year ahead and preference was given to those who book year after year. For our site, we arrived at 12:00 and checkout is 11:00. Our site was occupied. The people were in the process of moving out but they still had a huge load of kids toys, bikes, a boat and other camping gear to move. 45 minutes later, with us just waiting on the road, they moved out. No apologies no communication no nothing. I just thought, well they are not Airstreamers!

Our saving grace to the camping experience there, was the fantastic restaurant and winery on site, up on the hill above.  With stellar views of lake and hills, this made for a memorable meal.  We planned this to be our parting of the ways dinner as we planned to head on home and our friends from Oregon, the same.  Our friends from Georgia were planning to head to Spokane for some air conditioning repairs before joining another caravan in New Mexico for the fall.  We had terrific appetizers, fresh fish, and regional meats.  Good wine and a memorable last meal with these terrific people.  

Travel Safe Everyone!

Farewell Dinner