To get here, we were advised to take the Cocahalla highway, and then down South on the 97 from Merritt. This indirect route promised to add an hour to our driving time, but avoid a route with loads of switchbacks and turns which would be less safe for newbies. Safety First!!
This next part of the story might as well be filed under, "Life Experience".
As we drove North past Hope, the sun climbed ever higher into the sky, heating everything to blistering. We turned on the AC, and with the wind at our backs, kept up the push up steep grade after long, winding grade. We were exhilarated! Here we were, living the dream! We were off and away, and we managed a reservation in over-booked Osoyoos! I was confident at the wheel!
Then the mechanized beeping started, startling me from my self-congratulatory musings, and looking down, I saw a red flashing "CHECK GAUGES" light. The truck had slowed measurably, and we were losing power. The temperature gauge needle was buried in the red zone, past 110 degrees! I knew the engine would cut out soon to protect itself, but we were on a crazy steep portion of the 4 lane highway, with the guard-rail only a foot to the right. We looked forward a couple hundred feet to the end of the guardrail, and a shoulder we could safely pull over onto.
The truck was crawling, and the shoulder seemed to inch toward us. The beeping sounds harried us long moments forward, and I kept waiting for the engine to quit, leaving us stranded around a corner, in the midst of fast streaming semi-trucks.
We just squeaked past the guardrail and pulled over, falling-down-grateful that we made it. I turned off the engine, and helplessly watched billows of steam cascade from the hood. Imagine the frustration, having bought this truck recently from the dealer, assured of its road-worthiness! That was our new home, on the side of the highway!!
The list of mistakes we made follows:
1. we drove the Cocahalla at noon,
2. we drove the Cocahalla at noon with the AC turned on,
3. we didn't watch the gauges until it was too late,
4. we shut off the truck, instead of allowing its cooling systems to bring the temperature down
5. despite being advised to, we didn't upgrade our BCAA coverage to include RV-towing before departing.
Less than 5 minutes after throwing chocks behind the wheels, and searching for cell-phone coverage, we heard a huge BANG, and watched another pick-up truck hauling another trailer pull off the road behind us. Apparently, this is an infamous (and profitable) stretch of highway. We had company as we waited for the tow-trucks to come...
Fortunately for us, we didn't need to be towed- the BCAA guys explained that we'd just overheated, and after replacing the coolant that had erupted all over the engine when I shut if off, told us we were good to go. Unfortunately, the other truck had radiator damage, and he needed a most expensive tow- probably $600 for truck and trailer combined. But at least we were all safe. Instead of the AC on, we now drove with the heater cranked up, helping to cool off the engine. Very pleasant for the remaining 9 hours of driving...
We continued on, keeping a careful watch on those gauges. We needed to stop another 4 or 5 times, as each long incline had us close to overheating, and eventually we pulled off onto a side road and napped for an hour, waiting for the day's heat to dissapate, and soldiered on. This was frustrating, to say the least. The hour grew ever later, we had to stop for construction (which was ok, because we could smell the brakes by Peachland, and they needed to cool down anyway), and we finally backed into our new spot, in the dark, at about 10:30pm!!
We were assured this 3/4 tonne diesel truck would do the job handily, and that, "you wouldn't even notice the trailer going up those hills." Well! The mechanic here in town has other news for us. Apparently, this truck shows signs of previous work on the cooling systems. Thankfully, we bought an after-market warranty for the truck, since there is rad-work to be done and a thermometer to replace. This is for starters... then we have to test the solution on more perilous mountain-roads to see if there are bigger problems. Send us good thoughts!!
In the mean-time, we are visiting the Desert Centre, the lakes, the parks, the wineries, and today we're going for a morning cycle. Later we'll spend the day at Okanagan Falls, where Dallas types are allowed to frolic among the humans.
As testament to Kate's good luck charm status, we visited Haynes Provincial Park yesterday, asking if there were any sites free. "Oh yeah!" says the host, "we have these two sites, and this site...". Apparently, lots of people cancel, and sites free up. We're here with this truck-thing until at least Tuesday morning, but we might just extend our stay here another day or two if we can schwangle a spot there on Tuesday. And then we'll be heading into another long weekend with zero reservations... : )
I have a pic of the whole rig, on the side of the mountain, but Kate and Dallas are impatient to be swimming, so it will have to wait until later.
