I write from the top bunk of Dora on our first night of sleeping in her, Shona and Eir sleep soundly below while Freja lies next to me, comatose after a long day. It's 1:30 in the morning and I awoke after about four hours of sleep, and was unable to coax myself back into my dreams so I picked up the computer only to find that this little R.V. park in Merritt, B.C. actually has wireless so I thought I'd write some. I can't wait until my sleeping pattern get used to actually going to bed at reasonable hours and I can sleep through the night.

We left Revelstoke with no problems, packed up the van, had some bagels and Roastery coffee, double checked our little cabin and set off to get some gas ($1.359!!!) and head west. There is a law in B.C. now that requires you to pre-pay for all the gas you purchase, so after some bumbling at the pump and mixed hand signals from the woman inside, I finally managed to figure it out and went inside to leave some collateral as I wanted to fill the tank. Ay first I thought she was kidding about the law, but the next gas station was much of the same. Anyways, we filled up and headed towards Kamloops. The driving was great, Dora seemed to be happy to be back on the road and was purring nicely through the gentle slopes of the mountain roads. We changed our mind on route and decided to go through Kelowna instead which was a blessing and a curse all in one. We needed to get to a Canadian Tire for some supplies we realized we had forgptten or just not brought. I was also desperate to find out what was wrong with our solar panel set-up. We have a solar panel (graciously donated by Paul Bradley) mounted to the roof of the van, but for some reason the battery wasn't accepting the charge. I was quite proud of my handy work that went into mounting it and wiring it up, so I was anxious to get it running properly. This way we could have the slow cooker making us a nice stew while we drive down the sunny highway or even the bread maker baking us up a fresh batch.

I brought the battery with me into Canadian Tire and had one of the Auto Parts employee's check it out. Shona and the girls were off looking for a few things, one being the heater below me that makes the mountains a little more bearable at night. After a few minutes of diagnostics it did turn out that in fact the battery was toast and that's why our Solar System wasn't working. Luckily it was still under a warranty and we only had to pay half price for a new one. We got the heater, other bits and bobs and set off in search of a coffee shop in Kelowna. After some confusion (GPS and construction) we found a Second Cup and went inside for some coffee and muffins and to plan our next stop. It turned out the internet was $6 an hour!! I couldn't believe it, highway robbery if you ask me. We caught a few snags as we were trying to find a cheap campground to stay at near Kelowna but after a few phonecalls we realized we were looking at pretty much $40/night at all of them. This also came as a shock, considering you could get a motel for not much more. Completely unsatisfied and wishing we were in warmer and cheaper climates we decided to get in the van and just drive, opening ourselves up to the possibilities. It was about 6pm when we got on the road.

Now I don't know how many of you have driven the 97 from Kelowna to Merrit before, but I would highly recommend doing it in the daytime. After what seemed to be at least a 20km steep climb into the mountains -which a VW bus can mostly only do in 2nd gear- we were enveloped in thick, dense fog. It was actually clouds that were so dense you could barely see in front of you. Couple that with only being able to go barely 50km and you have one white knucked Matty Powell with his 4 way flashers on praying that the semi's flying past him can see poor little put-put Dora, doing her best to climb the hill. Which she did an amazing job of in the end. Shona was sitting next to me holding her breath as all we could imagine was how high we were when you'd get a tiny glimpse over the railings into the blackness. After about a half hours worth of that, we finally were able to see the signs we passed and decided to find a campground near Merritt (30kms away).

We still weren't done with the hills though and I could tell that Dora was getting tired. We coerced her with promise of a nice neutral, downhill coast into the town of Merritt and she seemed to soldier on. We pulled around a corner and were inundated with the lights of this little town, Shona had likened it to the relief of coming into land on an aircraft. After a little bit of searching, we found the R.V. park that we're in now. It wasn't as dear as Kelowna, at only $27/night and that includes a 2 for 1 breakfast at the local hotel, which we passed on our way here. It looks like something straight out of an old western, I'll take some pictures. We parked for the night and had our first attempt at sleeping in the van. This is always a bit difficult at first until you work out a solid system of rearranging your stuff. You see the back of the van which is filled with stuff is also one of the beds that need folded down. Throw some car seats back there and you have yourself some creative re-packing. After about the 3rd or 4th time you usually have it cased so I'm not too worried. Anyways, I guess I'm going to try and get back to sleep. We'll be driving to Vancouver tomorrow, and hopefully doing a couple days of work, to make up for the little bit of luxury in Banff. Until next time...