2B Overlanding

July 2025 Meanderings and Mishaps Pt 33 - Travel Day.
After a couple nights in Salmo, and a bit of exploring the area, we headed out mid-morning for our next camp spot. We saw some interesting sights along the way. (Though we didn't know it at the time, we would be back in this area the following summer...when wildfires were rampant across the southern half of BC, meaning we had to find an alternate route home, and fire smoke was everywhere!)

July 2025 Meanderings and Mishaps Pt 32 - Fruitvale, BC.
From our base camp in Salmo, Tom had called around to a few places and found a shop in Fruitvale that would be able to install the needed rear brake pads on the truck. We left Salmo just before 10 am, headed to Fruitvale, and dropped the truck off at Main Street Motors. As we knew it would be a couple hours at least, we went for a walk around town. And, lol, I found it ironic that in a town called Fruitvale, there was not a fruit stand in sight :)

July 2025 Meanderings and Mishaps Pt 31 - Base Camp in Salmo, BC.
Not many pictures but lots to say. Our stay at KP Park Campground (municipal camprground) in Salmo, BC was most enjoyable. It has 10 FCFS sites, no services (but good cell service), has potable water, sani-dump, garbage/recycle bins, washrooms and shower building and was $20/night (showers were coin-op at $1 per). We would suggest that you avoid this spot from mid to late July, depending on Shambhala music festival. Many Shambhala visitors frequent this campground due to its very close proximity to the festival entrance, and they are a noisy bunch, coming and going at all hours, most particularly in the middle of the night, just before the gates to Shambhala open...and LOL, even the on site camp host is not a fan of Shambhala guests. That aside, this was a very peaceful campground, and made a great base camp from which to explore nearby towns. And it was at this campground where another "mishap" occurred...I had gone into the trailer to ask Tom where the Ryobi batteries were so that I could charge my phone. Lol, not, he then told me that he forgot to bring them! First time ever that happened! We use the Ryobi batteries to charge our phones and, mostly, to power the impact that he uses to raise/lower the stabilizing supports for the trailer and a multitude of other things. Well...faaack! I was already worried about truck brakes, and then I had to add this to my worries?! In the end, we obviously survived and got home safely. On the note of Shambhala festival goers, some neighbor campers were there for the night just for that purpose. We went over to chat with them and, long story short, one of those young pups was the grandson of a woman who used to be my boss at a daycare I had worked at many moons previous!

July 2025 Meanderings and Mishaps Pt 30 - Heading Toward Salmo.
We packed up and left our basecamp at Horseshoe Lake Rec Site around 10:30 on a cloudy, drizzly day (and, lol, rural-raised me, was missing camping with the cows already!) We hadn't gone far on the secondary highway when we had a mishap. Tom had to brake hard and lay on the horn as a deer came bounding up from the ditch and nearly ran into the truck (no pics, because it all happened so fast!). Thankfully, the deer turned around and ran back down into the ditch. We made a brief stop in Cranbrook, BC, for coffee/fuel top up and some groceries before continuing our journey. And, LOL (not really), shortly after that, another mishap. A warning came on the truck's dashboard saying "check brake pad monitor." Knowing I am a world class worrier, Tom told me not to worry as there had still been 20 % left on brake pads when we left home (many days previous), and truck showed about 1800 km left on pads where we currently were. Well, at that point, straight shot home was nearly 1000 km, and towing the loaded trailer over several mountain passes. You can imagine how the resulting "conversation" went :)

July 2025 Meanderings and Mishaps Pt 29 - Sullivan Underground Mine Powerhouse.
The final stop on our train tour was at the mine's powerhouse. Christian, our young host there, began our tour by telling us he had come to Kimberley on a ski trip and never left because he liked the area so much...I can see why. The majority of the space in the massive building was taken up by the various compressors that supplied power to the mine and trains and I forget what else. Those compressors were huge, especially when I think of the small one we have at home that is used to fill our vehicle tires with air when needed.