Start Location: Valemount, BC
Ending Location: Hope, BC
Miles Today: 325
Trip Miles: 2010
States Visited: 2
Provinces Visited: 1
Low Temp: 50.2° F
High Temp: 97.1° F
Min Elevation: 153'
Max Elevation: 4750'
Route Map:
Alaska - Day08
As planned we got an early start this morning. Although it was around
50 degrees when we left at 8:00, it proved to be a good plan although
it hit 97 degrees before we reached Hope at around 2:30. Besides
that we couldn't wait to get out of that room.
We
were on Highway 5 all day and although the first 50 miles went well,
the next 150 until we reached Kamloops were a challenge. The highway
was very busy probably due to the fact that Highway 97 was still
closed. There were few passing lanes and the traffic was steady enough
that passing was a challenge.
By the time we reached
Kamloops the smoke was very thick and the smell was quite strong. We
needed gas in Kamloops and, since there were many gas stations leading
into Kamloops, we decided to get gas on the way out. I should have
known better - I made this mistake before. Suddenly Highway 5 turned
into a high speed freeway and we were out of civilization. I assumed we
would be able to get gas along the way but that was also a mistake. We
exited at one point that had a sign for gas only to find that the gas
was 22 km down a side road.
We ended up at Merrit where we
put about 5.7 gallons in our 6.2 gallon tank. I would have been more
nervous if I didn't have an extra gallon in the trunk for emergency use.
We had smoke pretty much all the way to Hope where we stayed at a really nice hotel and had a great dinner.
