Day 47 – Tuesday July 4/17 (posted on Friday July 7)

How wonderful to have a day of being taken care of. That’s what today was like as we spent it with family. It began with showers in Kirk and Suzie’s home – lots of hot water in (2) spotless bathrooms, each with room to spare! What luxury. Then we were treated to a full breakfast skillfully prepared by Kirk – two eggs over easy, peameal bacon, hash brown potatoes, golden toast and fresh coffee. Is your mouth watering?

Then Suzie, our private guide to the 150 Mile House Area, came with us to direct our tour for the day.  She escorted us on a narrated drive through the outskirts of the city of Williams Lake, over the Fraser River and on to the Chilcotin River along Hwy 20. The further west we headed the drier and more desert-like the scenery became. Our guide had us stop at several locations to take in the vistas and walk through the terrain.(photos)

Our final destination was Farwell Canyon on the Chilcotin River 17 kilometres along a gravel logging road. There we saw the largest sand dune in BC. This imposing ridge dotted with sagebrush borders the river which flows past rocks and sandstone outcroppings to twist and turn its way through the canyon. 

The canyon is spanned by a single lane bridge which shakes as the logging trucks thunder over it. On the bridge we encountered an indigenous man carefully studying the fast flowing river below. He was looking for salmon that are just beginning to reach this point in their spawning run. He’d heard they were seen the day before but couldn’t spot any himself.(photos)

For lunch we drove over the bridge and down a dirt laneway that we’d never have known about without our local expert. We came to some abandoned buildings in the heart of the canyon which Suzie told us were the homestead of Gordon Farwell who came to the area around 1913 from England. He and his young family lived there for 6 years. How they survived that long in the desert-like setting is beyond us. But the scenery certainly is breathtaking if not inviting. We found a spot to sit on the riverbank and enjoyed our lunch of tuna wraps and grapes.

We retraced our route on the way home enjoying a completely different point of view over the same landscape. We were home by 2:30 after our 210 kilometer tour. 

Michael took the opportunity to repair the (supposed) malfunctioning waste tank valve. With Kirk’s help he installed the new part we had purchased in desperation in Kamloops on Sunday, only to find that there was nothing wrong with the old valve. (The trailer, and waste tank, must have simply been tilted away from the drain!!!) But now we are well supplied for a future occasion when that bit of equipment really does break. The two repairmen then installed another bit of broken paraphernalia on Rocinante II – the external cover for the stove vent. These two jobs took the balance of the afternoon. The guys then had to barbeque potatoes and steaks for our final meal together. And a delicious repast it was, finished off with Suzie’s home-canned peaches, some vanilla ice cream and butter tarts Nancy had managed to buy.

We said our good byes to John Ambrose as he is leaving very early in the morning to head home to Calgary. John is an expert woodworker and very kindly gave us a carved plaque of an eagle. It will be a wonderful reminder of this Ambrose family visit and connection. His autograph on the back makes it even more special.

We managed to post two blogs before retiring to bed to do some crossword puzzling.