Well this is going to be a long post

(Keith) Due to the cord for charging our iPad to post not charging the device we will be posting one big long post separated by days.

Aug 8

We started off the morning in the campground making a quick cup of coffee and some oatmeal and said our goodbye’s to the German couple before we headed out.

We stuck it out on highway 7 to Hope then onto highway 3 and onto Princeton. We stopped at Hope slide as it was pretty cool at the start of the pass and I figured that Leah needed another layer so I relinquished the liner for may jacket.

This was the first real test for me pulling the trailer as the pass in Manning park has some great corners that can sneak up on you. As this is my first year pulling a trailer I took my time on every corner making sure I was not exceeding my skill set. This is hard for me sometimes as I really really like the corners in BC and tend to scrape the floorboards. We made good time and got into Princeton pretty quickly and stopped at the Brown Bridge pub for a bite to eat. I have to say the guy that served us had the biggest case of I don’t give a fuck ever.

We left the pub and continued on highway 3 making our way to our planned destination of Kettle creek campground outside of Rock Creek. On our way we happened to stumble onto a great Cidery right outside Cawston that used all estate grown apples. They had an amazing looking building.

After having a quick taster and picking up a bottle we headed into Osoyoos to fill up. Google told me there was a brewery in town so we then spent the next 1/2 hour looking for the bloody place only to discover that its a you-brew store.

I love the climb out of Osoyoos with the huge sweepers heading to the plateau. Of course we had to stop at the viewpoint to grab a few shots of the view from above.

We made quick time to the Kettle River campground to set up camp. I fondly remember this campground from my childhood as we frequented it a few times. When we arrived there was a site right at the start of the first come first served sites. Leah scouted ahead while I held back and be both figured the site would do even though it was right close to the bicycle pump track.

One of the main draws of this site is the Kettle river and the old Kettle valley rail bridge that you can jump off of. As I’m still nursing my back due to an injury in March, I decided to forgo jumping off a bridge and just sit in the river on a camp chair drinking beer.

For Supper we picked up some prawns and decided that a simple garlic butter prawn pasta would hit the spot for the evening. Leah always has good ideas when it comes to food.

As night fell in the campground the children came out to play, The boys you could tell had laser tag going and with the black background made it look like little green lights moving around in the distance. The girls on the other hand had glow sticks fashioned into bunny ears, glasses and all other forms that was equally cool to watch but after a while we decided to head to bed for a well deserved sleep.

Aug 9

The morning started with a couple of coffees and the last of the oatmeal. After feeling well caffeinated we packed up and headed down the road.

After about 10 km it began to spit, I figured that it would stop soon but it continued to come down harder and harder so I pulled into a parking lot and Leah and I put on our rain gear for the first time on the entire trip.

We rode through to Grand Forks and stopped off at a local coffee shop that reminded me of the ones that we would encounter in the USA, Jitters coffee served us a great latte and we were able to utilize the washroom next door at DQ.

Our next leg of the journey was one of my favourites with the Strawberry pass on the way to Rossland. It’s a wide picturesque road with lots of high speed sweepers climbing to around 1700m before heading into Rossland.

We Hit Rossland and immediately headed to the brewery for a well deserved pint. While Leah was looking up which beers she had not previously had the guy behind the bar enquired how she knew. We both use Untapped or as I call it Pokémon for adults You gotta drink them all. He made a snide remark that those in the industry don’t like apps like that and immediately established himself as a douchebag. We had our flights and decided that we would head to the Refinery Brewing Company in Trail just down the road.

Arriving in Trail and finding a parking space we discovered that the brewery was closed until later in the day so we decided to leave and head to Salmo. Unfortunately I’ve been blessed with my mothers bladder and was almost ready to piss myself. We headed over to a DQ to use their bathroom but it was only for paying customers so we each had a dipped cone so I didn’t have an accident.

The road to Salmo is a nice leisurely road with some mild sweepers and some wonderful aromas so it took us no time at all to make Erie Creek Brewing where we had another flight of beer and some wings to tide us over.

Our next stop was going to be in Nelson as we knew that this brewery served good food as well as beer. The road from Salmo to Nelson is again a favourite of mine with a tight narrow valley and again some fresh aromas. Stopping in at Torchlight Brewing I found the best parking spot as it began to rain even heavier than before. We sat outside under the awing out of the rain and enjoyed a rain sun mix.

The final leg of the journey to Toad Rock kinda sucked, it consisted of around 10 km of fresh asphalt then the remaining 20+ km of ripped up road that had some pretty deep puddles from the rain previously. We made it into Toad Rock and quickly erected our trailer and made our way to the pavilion to see if anyone we knew was there.

We had a great evening having a few beers at the pavilion but as we were both tired, headed to bed around 10:30-11:00. No sooner had we gotten to bed then the rain started again. At first it was a light trickle but soon turned into a heavy rain that was extremely soothing and put us to sleep. Having the trailer was reassuring in that rain as everything was either in bins or in the trailer off the ground so nothing got wet.

Aug 10

We woke up in the morning and decided to pack up prior to heading to the pavilion for a coffee. We said our goodbyes and left Toad Rock for 2023 not spending as much time there this year. We left around 10:20 hoping to make the 10:40 ferry across the lake but unfortunately did not make it. This gave us more time to have another coffee and a lemon danish from the Balfour bakery right beside the ferry terminal as the next ferry was not set to sail until 11:30. I also have to mention at this time that this was our 7th and final ferry of this journey which is a new record for us.

As I was the first one on at the front of the ferry I figured that I would be the first off and with me towing a trailer I let the other bikers behind us know that I would pull to the side and let all but the cages go by before we disembarked as to not spoil their fun. The highway between Kootenay bay and Creston is one of the best roads in BC if you like corners. If you’re a driver that can’t turn a steering wheel and like the flat and straight, stay the fuck off this road! I have to say I think I’ve got my mojo pulling a trailer as I had no issues and really began to enjoy the twisty roads.

We made it into Creston and found a gas station to fuel up. As we were fueling another rider that came from the east told us he hit some pretty good rain so we started to suit up when Leah noticed that right across the road was a beautiful thing, a new brewery. Not hesitating we zipped across the road and checked out Wild North Brewing and sat outside in a wonderful sunbeam.

After having our flight we headed down out with our next destination being the Hideout / Fisher Peak Brewing in Cranbrook. The drive had now become a little busier with more and more people on the road as we are now on a primary highway but we still made good time. A pint and snack later we proceeded on our last leg of the journey to Invermere.

As it was getting late Leah and I decide to eat first before heading to the campground that we were suggested to go to and anyone in Invermere that wants authentic Bavarian food knows to go to the Black Forest right on the highway. I was really happy when they were able to seat us immediately and we both ordered the special which included a wonderful salad, schnitzel with hunter sauce and a fresh baked brownie.

Our final destination for the day was a location that a couple suggested to us when we were at Toad Rock as it seemed to be another motorcycle campground the Horse Thief Hideout just outside of Invermere. We started our way our and quickly encountered gravel outside of Wilmer. As it was getting dark this made the gravel even more “fun”. We pulled into the campground and pulled into what looked like the front of the owners place and knocked on the door. No one answered so we decided as we were losing daylight to just set up camp in the field. This place was spooky as there were RVs set up but no one and I mean no one there at all. We quickly set up and as the bugs were out decided to chill in the trailer until we were ready for bed by having a beer and playing more golf.

Aug 11

We woke up and decided to pack down most of camp but have a coffee before heading into Invermere for breakfast. Once coffee was made we decided to tour the grounds as it was not something we wanted to do in the dark as I said earlier this place was kinda spooky to the point that Leah even had some weird dreams because of it.

After coffee we started to head out and met the owner and payed her for the night heading into Invermere for some breakfast. I was really surprised how hard it was to find a place that served breakfast and I was even more surprised how shitty the roads were in Invermere.

The next leg of the trip was going to be a high speed burn into Lake Louise and then up the ice fields highway to the David Thompson highway and Thompson Creek campground. I really enjoy the southern portion of highway 93 with its tight canyons and sweepers opening up into a breathtaking valley.

I thought that I would make this trip without shouty Keith coming out but as we pulled into Lake Louise a moronic tourist in a large RV decided that he didn’t want to turn into his lane but into my lane and me instead. After I parked at the gas pump I walked over with a very loud HEY! And proceeded to give the driver some advice, if you know what I mean.

Having all that we could handle of Lake Louise we hit the road eventually arriving at our final camping destination to await for the Kumar to arrive so we can form the Kumells. (Our family name when the Kumars and Powells are together) Amazingly enough we found the same campsite that we had camped at 2 years prior and decide to take it . One thing I was really excited about was because we were in Alberta again and there was low fire risk we were allowed to have a camp fire for the first time on our trip.

The Kumar’s arrived just after 8:00 and we proceeded to play a few card games, drink some beers, and talk about our adventures before heading to bed.

Aug 12

The day started out with Prash doing what he does best in a campground when you can have a fire. He cooked bacon and eggs over the open fire which was fantastic as I made toast (fried in butter). We figured that after breakfast we would head into Saskatchewan River crossing as we needed more cash for firewood and Ranak needed some ice cream. The store was an absolute zoo with tourists so we quickly picked up our cash and ice cream and headed back to camp.

Once back at camp we wanted to go for a brief hike, as I’m still nursing my injury we opted for one right at the campground. It was a pretty good climb and as Ranak was the only one with a backpack we had him mule some beer up for us. The kid even had a great idea for some pictures.

After getting back to camp we all decided to go to the creek to soak our feet and build rock cairn. We also got some great laughs as Remy decided to bury his face in the water at whatever we through in.

Aug 13

The final day of our trip. We started off the morning with Prash cooking more bacon on the fire as I did the most buttery egg in the toast ever. We were slow to pack up in the morning as everyone was not moving at optimal speed but it took us no time to pack once we started. Heading down high highway 11 we had to stop for a quick picture at Lake Abraham for a picture or two and fuel in Nordegg.

Our last few stops consisted of you guessed it breweries! First was Rival Trade just outside of Rocky Mountain House where we soaked in the sun. The final stop was in Village at the Lake outside of Pigeon Lake. It was interesting as we met the owner of Familia Brewing a few days prior on Salt Spring Island at the brewery and immediately recognized me. We made it home around 6:00 to some really needy kitties.