Overland Adventure Excursions

We decided we wanted to see some of the big city life of Vancouver. So we walked over to the local drugstore to buy a bus pass for the day and proceeded to take the bus to a place that was recommended called Granville Island. The island apparently used to be a sandbar and has been developed into a nice area in the middle of the city with some quirky shops, great restaurants, and a really beautiful market. We walked around for a while and browsed the shops and drooled at the desserts and fruit tarts at some of the market stands. Yum

We got hungry and decided to sit down at a nice restaurant and have some seafood. We chose a seafood bisque, bread and a huge juicy lobster. The grin on Kathy’s face was priceless.

We browse around a bit more, watched a local juggler perform his show, and then headed back to the bus so we could let the puppies out of there, campground hotel. It’s always interesting walking in riding around in a big city. There is so much to see, and so much to question.

We had planned to go back into town for the evening, but after the excursion for the day, we just decided to hang out at the campground and enjoy the evening. The next morning we packed up, did some laundry, filled all the reservoirs, emptied all the reservoirs, and then took Howie downtown so we could see the gastown area. The driving in the city wasn’t too bad, but it took us a bit to find parking. And what a colorful area it was where we found to park.

Kathy walk around Gastown to see the famous steam clock. Which it turns out wasn’t working, and as we were taking pictures, a crew came up and placed temporary signs on it and started tearing it apart. We found a nice little bar had a couple of drinks and watch the wildlife. Cities are definitely an interesting collection of people, activities, and deprivations. We made it back to the camper to let the dogs out. Zuzu had to go, but Maggie said, not here, no way! We headed out of town.

I was planning on finding a place to camp for one last night in Canada before crossing the border, but the border lines were actually a five minute wait, so we just headed straight for the border. We had had a really good breakfast where I cooked the sausage, mushrooms, bacon, potatoes, and peppers and made a frittata. We knew that we couldn’t bring eggs, some dairy, and some veggies across the border so I figured if I cooked them, we could eat the leftovers for the next couple days.

The border was a simple thing, and we were honest, and said that we had tomatoes, potatoes, some peppers, some corn, etc. Well that got flagged and we had to go visit the border and customs enforcement. There were a bunch of ICE folks running around as well handling the immigration and we waited. The agent searched the truck, and then I had to move the dogs into the cab, so they could search the camper. They found our avocados, tomatoes, and potatoes and confiscated those. Apparently of the dairy and creamer was not an issue. It cost us about an hour getting through the border, but now we’re back in the USA.

This is a pretty developed area, so we found a casino that charged $20 for their RV lot. We of course donated to the casino a bit, and had a OK dinner at the burger joint there. But now we’re back in the USA, and heading out to the islands in the Puget sound.

Here are some additional photos from the past few days.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250902-04-vancouver-and-vicinity

We had a leisurely morning and made it into Vancouver around 2 PM. Along the highway there are tons of commercial blueberry fields. The roads are lined with black raspberries and the corn is probably 8 feet high. This is definitely an agricultural area.

The campground is very well placed, and packed in like sardines. We have a nice spot in the corner next to the dog park. It’s funny cause they advertised the campground next to the creek, which it is, behind a fence covered in Ivy with a freeway next to it that drowns out the sound. City life.

The campground is actually very well placed in the city, and gives us a great place to actually explore. The campground has a pool, a hot tub, clean bathrooms, and showers so there are some good/great things about it.

The pups and I walked a little over 2 miles last night along the ocean, and saw some beautiful scenes at sunset. Here are some nice pictures.

Tomorrow we will be off to explore the big city.

We plotted another 300 mile day, and the end of that was Hope British Columbia. The drive into that area was very tedious because traffic was heavy, fast, curvy, and filled with forest fire smoke. I imagine the views would be fantastic without the smoke. When we got to Hope that evening, I was looking for a free campsite, or at least a provincial park, but there’s not a lot of off road type of areas in a canyon with 2000 foot high mountains around it. The closest one we could find was a 40 minute drive 20 miles up the road. So we decide to pay for a site along the river. It turned out to be a pretty nice site, and the town was absolutely cute.

For those of you don’t know, and we certainly didn’t, this is where they filmed Rambow. We were browsing the downtown area and they were Rambo pictures, postcards, signs, statues, and Kathy asked what’s with all the Rambo stuff. The people are incredibly friendly there and we’re quick to give us the history of the movie, the local legend, and other need things about the town. We bought some stickers, some fudge, some postcards, and actually drove scenic places around the town where the movie was filmed.

We also learned that the local area is filled with wood carvings, including a legendary police dog that was killed in a line of duty. The humongous cedars, pines, and other trees in this town are absolutely beautiful.

We were able to get some laundry done in the morning, took some nice, hot showers, and completed the waste dump. It’s always nice to have those things taken care of.

this is the famous tree in the Chase scene in the Rambo movie.

interesting pine tree and cone.

We got up early today to get on the road. The distance between Grand Prairie and Vancouver is about 750 miles. After talking to Rick and Sandy, we got online and reserved a spot at the campground in Vancouver for September 2. We figured if we did two 300 mile days, then we can get to Vancouver early in the day on the second and have a chance to look around. I have been using OnX Maps to plan the route as well as the track where we were going, so I’m able to pick an area along the route near the 300 mile mark.

I was originally planning to route back up the Cariboo Highway, and continue down the Cassier Highway, but after driving that portion, it looked like heading back through Jasper National Park was a better route for seeing wildlife. And that did not disappoint.

Toward the end of the day we were approaching the Canoe River Campground at 300 miles

on the OnX maps, but once we arrive there, it was actually a pay campground for $45 CAD and the area did not look very interesting. This map tool is not so great at finding campsites, so I opened up iOverlander and found a spot about 6 km up the road at Upper Canoe River Rec site. There were some warnings that there was only one to two spots, and the site might be occupied. But it turned out to be one of the best camping spots. No one was there, there was a firing, two picnic tables, tons of firewood, and a drop toilet. And they were blueberries everywhere.

I trekked off into the woods to collect firewood while Kathy grabbed a container and started picking blueberries. They were tons of other berries in the area and she found a great app where you can take a picture and identify the plants, berries, etc. I think she found huckleberries, red huckleberries, more raspberries, and some poisonous ones. The application also identified mushrooms with huge warnings, don’t eat them.

We had a great evening and listened to the roaring river behind us and the crackling of the fire.

We got off to an early start. We were headed to Grand Prairie again to pick up our pups ashes. It took us several hours to get up there, and we pulled in around 2 pm to the Railtown Vet Office. They had him ready for us and we took a few moments to read the card that was inside the box. Oscar is in a cute little urn and he’s back up riding in our dash.

Since we were in a big town we have to stock up on a few things. Costco for fuel and DEF and a few other items; Sean got a haircut after three months; and Kathy found a great basket for the truck so we can contain items that have found their way to the center console. Cities are expensive.

A campground was suggested to us by the hair stylist, but it was $45 CAD at the KOA, so I got to searching the map and found an old oil drill pad that worked. Those things make noises, and are a bit creepy in the middle of the night. But it was free and stashed away from the noisy road for. Good nights sleep. We hoped to see the aurora at night but it was not active, which kind of sucked since we were pretty far north again. Oh well.

The route today was pretty uneventful. We got a late start after hanging with Rick and Sandi again this morning. We tried to get the truck washed in Burns Lake but the line at the car wash was too long so we continued down the road. We eventually stopped outside of Prince George and got lunch and gas and found a car wash to clean the road grime from Howie.

I have to add in here that the gas station-convenience store-Quiznos sandwich shop- car wash was an interesting place when it comes to convenience. Not only could you get lunch, liquor, gas, and a wash, but it was a full service gun, ammo, and knife shop as well. That’s a first for me in Canada.

Well we targeted a place called Heart Lake Provincial Park for camping but by the time we got there on a Friday night, there weren’t any spots left. So we searched a couple other places before we finally settled on a side road traversing an underground gas line. Unfortunately some of the trees along the road to the campsite were asettled on a side road traversing an underground gas line. Unfortunately, some of the trees along the road to the campsite were a bit low, and I knocked our starling off the roof. I was able to go back and find it, but it’s pretty cracked up. It still seems to work, but I’m gonna have to get it replaced because it definitely won’t keep out the moisture.

the night was quiet and uneventful. It was fun watching the dogs run around in the waist high grass. Poor Maggie, she can’t see anyway, but she still worked her way through it. We did find a bunch of ripe raspberries along the road, and spent about 30 minutes picking them before we left.

We are heading back northeast to pick up Oscar’s ashes in Grande Prairie. It’s about 750 miles from Stewart and with the roads at 90-100km/hr it makes for a long drive. We planned to split it up into two 300 mile days and one 150 mike day, so when we hit 250 we start looking for a place to stay. We found that in Burns Lake, BC. Burns Lake is a little gem in that the community campground is sponsored by the Rotary and the sites are free. They are dry sites next to a lake, but also just a block from a dump and water station. Kudos to the Rotary club.

We were met at the site by an older couple from outside of Edmonton, Alberta. They have traveled all over the USA and Canada and have seen all states except Delaware and Connecticut and all of the Canadian provinces. Two years ago they sold their 5th wheel and started to use their Lance 855S exclusively. He also has a Ram 3500. We talked with them for a couple hours before bed and then again for a violent if hours the next morning. They were a great addition to Burns lake. Rick was a truck driver until two years ago when he retired. He’s now 78. She was a teacher. He restored old trucks (the semi types) and tractors. They had just sold their home and acreage and were building a final home.

Rick and Sandra had one precious story about their grand kids. There was a 7000kg rock on his farm that had a bore home in it. He’d stuff $5 bills in it before the grand children arrived and they would always search the rock for money. He said he taught them to drive the tractors and the grandson would stop the tractor to check the rock, just in case. Well when he sold their property, he had the rock moved to his son’s house so the kids would still have the rock. And he put $20s in there and challenged his don to keep up the tradition. Great old couple.