The day had finally arrived.
Ever since purchasing our home in Panama in January, these past months have been all about getting through the steps that would allow us to get to our “Next Chapter”, starting a Panama life in Our Panama home. We worked through months of finishing the work on our Penticton home, selling the home and moving out. In our case this meant selling all of our furniture / tools / bikes / cars etc., and boiling our life down into a few suitcases, we had to get it down to only that which would fit into our car with lots of room left for our dog Jebo (pronounced “Hey-Bo”).
But here we are; we finally arrived at this, our final week in Penticton. We have a few days to get ready for the road trip across Canada with our dog Jebo (pronounced “Hey-Bo”); we wanted to make our last trip across Canada an epic adventure. We are planning to head north through the Yukon and Alaska before turning east across the prairies to our end destination, Toronto. We wanted to spend time with family and friends in Canada’s biggest city before catching a direct flight to Panama with our dog in the fall.
We were fortunate to be able to stay these last few days with our good friends Craig and Audrey in Naramata, BC. They are great people (and true animal lovers) who have done so much to allow us to start this journey; they have given our big white furball Jebo a second home on our many trips to Panama this year.
So in the days leading up to our departure we were essentially visitors in this area we have called “Home” for over 8 years. Slowly the reality began to set in that these would be our last few days here; it would be the last time we would run on the KVR while looking over the beauty of Lake Okanagan, it would be one of the last times we would walk along the lakeshore in Penticton, it might be the last time we would walk along the Main street of our sleepy little downtown and visit the worlds best used bookstore, the last time we would get an ice cream at Ogo’s. An unexpected sadness began to set in.
However, today we awoke to cooler temperatures and got out with Jebo for one last trail run in the 3 Blind Mice. We ran on the “Chipmunk” trail, the first trail we had ever been on here years ago. There is a beautiful rocky section your must cross over at one point which provides a great vista of the lake, we crossed this twice today and said our goodbyes to the area.
After a wonderful last breakfast with our friends we finished packing the car, there had to be a comfy spot for Jebo on this long journey ahead;
We had a slightly teary goodbye with our friends before re-setting the trip computer in the BMW and set off; so long Naramata!
It was necessary to stop at Munson Mountain, the home of the “PENTICTON” Letter sign that looks over our town; we had to get one last look at our town, and the beauty of the two lakes that create its northern and southern borders.
After a few appointments in town that took longer than anticipated (or were we just dragging our feet) we finally got our car on Highway 97 headed north along the western edge of Lake O.
Our journey today took us up 97 to the “Okanagan Connector” highway which runs between Merritt and Peachland. Just a little over 200 km long it crosses the Thompson mountain range and there is a elevation change of 4,500 ft as you cross the range and on this day, like many other clear days the views from the Pennask summit (5,670 ft) were amazing, it feels like you are on top of the world looking down.
As we crossed over the summit and headed down to Merritt the skies changed as they often do and we drove from Merritt to Kamloops through some pretty heavy rain. Given the conditions and the fact that we really weren’t in a hurry to get to Williams Lake, we decided to take the “slow route” avoiding the Trans Canada we took Highway 5 north through Barriere, across 24 to 100 Mile House, up 97 through Lac La Hache and finally arrived at Williams Lake just before 7:00.
We took Jebo for a good walk out by the rodeo grounds and then settled in for an early night, tomorrows day will be much longer in the car and we wanted to get rested.
Day one was done, we are officially out of Penticton / the Okanagan and our journey has begun. It was a little harder leaving than anticipated, but we are eager now to really begin the journey and see a bit of Alaska and many parts of Canada that we have never experienced.
Day 1 – 553 km completed
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