Day 14 - July 23, 2010 11:59 PM

July 23, 2010
11:59 PM

Way laid by the highway.

"pass me my food" I said as I sat on the curb in front of the 50's style motel that had obviously been featured in many slasher films from the 80's. B ignored me as he laid on top of a vending machine counting the number of Hell's Angels motorcycles. J didn't hear me as he was too busy ranting into the video camera; something about dying before his time and needing to do laundry. D worried over P who was having major stomach pains and threatening to fertilize the grass beside the parking lot. S handed me my bag of McD's drive through (sadly, the second of the day) and asked if we could just please sleep in the van?

How did we get to this sorry state when the day began with such promise and potential? Read on fearless reader for a story that will both thrill and disgust you.

I sipped my diet coke and remembered how we left the hotel in Vancouver. We started toward Princeton to visit my Auntie D and uncle B. We headed out with B driving. We bmade good time and were about 30 KM past Hope. D noticed a sign saying check your fuel level. About 20 KM further we asked a construction crew where the next gas station was. 75 KM ahead on or 30 KM back. We decided that we needed to turn back.

Having filled up, with gas and grabbed McD's for the troops, we headed off to Princeton, again. We drove through some extremely nice country and arrived at Princeton about 2:30 PM.

We visited for an hour and a half with Auntie D and Uncle B. The filled us in on the history and layout of the Princeton area. Uncle B also gave us prairie folk some tips on how to drive more efficiently down the hills by shifting down instead of using the breaks. Who knew, us prairie folk never had to worry about that. Auntie D and Uncle B helped us map out our next leg to take in some orchards on our way to Kelowna.

We were back in the car at about 4:00 with D driving. We stopped for delicious apricots, peaches, cherries and blueberries. We hit Kelowna by about 6:30 PM stopped for ice-cream at the DQ and decided to drive on as we were all feeling fine.

We listened to a couple of my podcasts during the drive to Revelstoke and arrived about 9:30 PM. That's when things took a nasty turn.

We decided to find a room. Little did we know that there had been an accident to the east near Golden which had closed the highway. Therefore almost all the rooms in Revelstoke had been snapped up. We tried a few hotels. Finally the only hotel left with a room for us was Alpine Inn. The guy at the front desk agreed to rent us a room as long as we didn't use the kitchen. He opened the room. Although the cleanliness was questionable, D checked for bed bugs and pronounced it clear. Against a mixed judgment we decided to rent the room. Into the car to attempt to find supper.

Revelstoke at 10:30 PM does not offer many options. We stopped 1 guy who was carrying a pizza box to ask where pizza was available. He claimed his box contained "nachos" but we think we was delivering some of BC's finest natural plant life.

Finally the only choice was McD's but only the drive through. The person at the window was not used to large orders at that time of night. P, for some reason no longer wearing pants, used his charms and his employee card to get 50 percent off the order.
We returned to the hotel only to find that our key card would not work.

The "Ring for service" was apparently also not working. While we were deciding what to do we ate our supper in the parking lot. P had a disabling gut attack. Everyone was generally tired and miserable. A kind couple from another room let a couple of us use their bathroom while we plotted how we all were going to sleep in the van.

Finally at midnight the desk guy happened to show up and spent 10 to 15 minutes attempting to get into our room. He finally had to leave his card with us so we could use the room.

It was quite a scene to decide who had to use the beds. While there were no bed bugs, cleanliness of the room itself was an issue. The dead bugs in the bathroom and looking in the kitchen did not help either. We left our suitcases in the van to limit contamination. I finally told everyone to go to bed and went to sleep.

It was a peaceful night with the cigarette smoke drifting in from the parking lot and various people peaking in the windows as they passed. Very restful. Tomorrow it’s on to Banff.