theDIBB - We're going on a Bear Hunt, RV trip -Vancouver to Rockies

Today was one of the LONG drive days that were inevitable but I wasn't looking forward to it, google maps has drive time of 6 1/2 hours.

The kids actually did really well. I had downloaded Harry Potter books onto Audible and these really did pass the time well.

Despite planning a later start I woke early and we hit the road by 8am, in hindsight this was a good idea as this was another challenging driving day, the roads between Whistler and Lillooet, where we had a breakfast stop, being particularly winding and precipitous.

On a positive though I did spot a bear on the road, the kids missed it! :confused2

The further into British Columbia we drove the more noticeable the smoke became and by the time we reached Lillooet it was positively eerie!

Lillooet is a lumber town just over 2 hours from Whistler so our plan was to stop for breakfast. We fuelled up going into town and was asked the best place for breakfast and were told to head for the Reynolds Hotel, so we did!

This place had a real wild west feel about it and we were surprised at how popular it was with the locals.

It was a great choice, we had a lovely waitress who was saying the smoke was particularly bad at the moment and that she felt like she was living in the set of a horror movie! - we could see her point!

Here is a picture of the ample breakfast.

After breakfast we had a short stroll around town to stretch our legs before getting back on the road again!

Shortly after Lillooet to my utter astonishment the road (highway 99) ceased to exist, it was still there but literally a gravel track with road works with a sheer drop to our left :confused2. I got Simon to take this picture out of the window of the RV , it was like this for a number of kilometers!

And to think before I booked the trip I'd been told the roads in Canada are a piece of cake!

We were now driving in prairie country mile after mile of smoky but flatter landscape. We only had one stop because toilet was necessary about an hour before Clearwater.

We found this cute trading post and went and bought some sweets and used the facilities.

Another day another picture of Phoebe with a bear! :tongue:

It was quite apt really that this bear is collecting for forest fires. The lady in the shop was lovely, she said that the fires had been terrible and she was worried about letting her 6 year old daughter out to play :cry:

She told us we had around an hour of drive time left but that there were road works ahead. We eventually arrived at the campsite in Clearwater around 4.30pm.

We had decided that facilities were the key to this stop over so we booked a KOA (campsites of America) site for this stop with a launderette, a pool, a games room, an onsite restaurant and shop. This turned out to be a good idea because by the time we arrived it was smokey (so bad we could taste it :erm:) and had started to rain. The rain turned out to be a blessing for the rest of the trip with regards to the smoke/ fire situation.

I was pleased to have completed the 8 (and some) hour drive (yes I did all the driving!) and Simon put a beer in my hand and told me to chill out while he took the kids for a swim and did some washing!

two crazy kids modelling their new goggles!

We went to the campsite restaurant which served perfectly passable burgers and the kids played in the games room!

After dinner the rain had really started to come but Joe and I decided to stretch our legs. We'd noticed a petrol station with a shop a few minutes away and walked there to buy some breakfast supplies for the morning and we bought some hotchocolates for the kids.

We then walked back to the RV to play monopoly (which we had brought over from home) before hitting the sack!