Senior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: ..., New Mexico
Trailer: 2013 Esc19/'14 Silvrado
Posts: 4,193
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Osoyoos trip highlights
North past Salt Lake City I opted for a side trip west, toward Promontory, Utah and the Gold Spike National Monument. Those two shiny bright, enameled 1860’s iron horses facing each other, puffing light smoke, are truly an outstanding sight, nothing short of magnificent.
Finding a Costco whenever I needed to gas up along the way - a welcome decrease in the price of gasoline per gallon. (Orem, UT, Twin Falls, ID, Boise, ID, Kennewick, WA, Spokane, WA.)
A couple miles past the border crossing, south of Salmo, Kootenay region, I saw my first bear. Was at 8 PM, a magnificent specimen all husky and shiny, out from the forest, grazing on a grassy hillside right beside the Nelson Nelway Highway. No shoulder, couldn’t stop for a picture, but that, I thought, was a sign there would be plenty of great wildlife picture opportunities ahead.
The Osoyoos Valley contains miles and miles of vineyards and fruit orchard farmland. Didn’t know that is a major industry there. I drove up route 97 and found a nice bottle of port ($30CAD) at Maverick Vineyard wine shop. Later on, at the club house rally Happy Hour, I’m telling my port story to this amiable fellow from—Vancouver way, I think. So he schools me on the wonders of Canadian Ice Wine. Didn’t get his name. Ice wine? His advice was go buy some and try it out, since if I like dessert wines it is a unique specialty and only a mere $70CAD for a small bottle. Yeah, I caught that twinkle in his eye.
Abundant free food, door prizes, gifts, many happy faces, helpful hands, and people I’d never met but who enjoyed reading my forum posts, smiled with me. I even got my tongue weighed! (600 pounds).
On the trip back home detoured to Glacier National Park. Two nights at Apgar, $10/night with Senior Pass. Going to the Sun Road still closed for the winter so drove up Camas Road and north to Polebridge, searching for wildlife. No joy but it became an interesting ride. Then south to Yellowstone National Park, west entrance. Madison Campground was booked full (what’s new?) My back up plan was to go back to West Yellowstone and drive north 4 miles 0n 191 to Bakers Hole. But, this time I decided to wait in line 23+ minutes and speak to the old guy at the window. Madison don’t take walk-ins, but I was playing a hunch. Maximum personality and a folksy Pennsylvania twang got laid onto Gus (not his name). He found a cancellation!
After an evening, and a morning in search of wildlife and etcetera, was gone to the Tetons, and down to Jackson Hole, then south on route 89. That is one truly magnificent driving road. Just before Etna, WY the tow got stopped by about a hundred black angus being herded on 89 back to the barn and all around us. This was as close as I had come to any “wildlife.”
4,371 total trip miles, 3,860 towing miles, total gas about $760.00.
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Myron
"A billion here, a billion there...add it all up and before you know it you're talking real money." Everett Dirkson
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