Merritt – Day 3 – The Trip Home

I was feeling pretty smug this morning. Watched the morning news, Vancouver is under the rain clouds and soggier than a ducks bottom. Merritt is dry and the sun was peering through blue patches in the sky. Not bad. I’m not sure what people do here other than wait for the annual Mountain Music Festival…but at least they have nice weather. The drive to the hatchery was pleasant, broken cloud…looks promising, still thinking about taking the Canyon home instead of the Coquihalla. I prefer the Canyon because it’s at least scenic….of course it will probably be slower than the Coquihalla simply because it is the end of summer, and the road is narrower and the speed limit is lower. But it’s still a more interesting drive.

However….. the clouds are starting to thicken now (9am) and there are some dark ones slipping in from the West. Maybe this area is not going to be spared the rains….I hate driving in the rain on the highways, not much choice though….but which way to go. I wanted to take the Canyon for some photos….but I probably wouldn’t get out of the car if it’s pouring. I guess we’ll see what the afternoon brings.

Finished up at the hatchery at about 1pm. It was windy and cool and there were broken clouds, but nothing to suggest an imminent downpour…so the Canyon it is to be! I’ve never driven the highway between Merritt and Spence’s Bridge. Both places have always just been blips on a map, maybe a place to get gas or a donut or a coffee…but nothing more. So it will be nice to see a bit more of this Province I call home. The road was pretty much deserted and it was a neat piece of highway.

Abandoned buildings, ranch lands, sidehill gouger trails, dry sagebrush…I love how BC has such odd little pockets in places that are so close to the main roads…but normally people are fixed on a destination and don’t take the side roads which can be so much more interesting. I stopped and took a few photos amd then hit the main highway at Spence’s Bridge where things had to speed up simply because the volume of traffic increased. So did the number of road warriors.

Met a bit of rain before Boston Bar, and some between Yale and Hope. Otherwise, clear sailing. Except for traffic that is…i stupidly arrived in the Lower Mainland at rush hour, and it was a bad one! Oh well, home is home and here I am, so no complaints.