Day 25: Keremeos, BC -> Osoyoos, BC

Date: Friday, June 9, 2023
Start: Keremeos, BC (Eagle RV Park and Campground)
End: Osoyoos, BC (Boundary Motel)
Distance: 50km

I'd slept soundly through the windstorm and heat, and only light rains had managed to fall during the night (most of which had already evaporated).  I packed up quickly and weighed my options for the day.  The original plan had been to bike to Osoyoos and continue on to at least Johnstone Creek Provincial Park (about 90km total) which would also mean climbing Anarchist Mountain out of Osoyoos.  This would be a tough day.  My legs were feeling tired from the previous two days of climbing, and so I did some research for a plan B: staying in Osoyoos for the night (50km total).

I chose to put the decision off for now.  I could bike to Osoyoos and decide from there.  So I packed up and headed into Keremeos for breakfast.

I passed fields of workers who were already out tended to fruit trees and vegetable fields.  I waved as I biked by and they waved and said hello.  The street is lined with large fruit stands, and I was tempted to stop but didn't think a pound of cherries would help get me to where I needed to go.  A cherry orchard sat along side the road and I stopped and admired the fruit.  Then plucked a single cherry off the tree and ate it!  I felt like I could trust that this one was a genuine product of BC.

In town I found that the diner I'd hoped to visit would not open till 11am.  I found another neighbourhood institution and ordered the 1-2-3: one pancake, two eggs, three sausage.  I listened to locals talk about wildfires and their past careers in mining.  A light rain fell outside.  I went to the cash to pay and the waitress told me about how her daughter was trying to set her up on a blind date.  Her husband had died 2 years previously, but she didn't feel ready to start dating again.  We laughed that if she wouldn't jump in, her daughter was going to push her.  I'll never know if she decided to go on the date...

I jumped back on the bike and started out of town, snapping a few shots of Keremeos.  Princeton had been more grasslands, whereas Keremeos is in a valley full of fruit and vegetable fields and surrounded by rough looking mountains.  It was still beautiful.

I had expected the road to Osoyoos to all be downhill...but it was not!  The road left the river valley and instead went up and down over hills on the edge of the valley.  I went up and down for hours!  I'd left Keremeos at about 9:45am and the 50km should have taken about 3 hours, but instead it took almost 4.  My old friend "headwinds" had returned, and every time I went downhill I had to pay for it with a punishing uphill of about 1km.  This happened over and over and over.

At some point I reached some construction where the road was being paved.  They were letting traffic through on the one open lane one side at a time.  I chatted with the flagger - Rhona - controlling traffic and she told me three other cross-country cyclists had been through in the previous day.  Potential friends ahead of me!  It took the vehicles almost 15 minutes to get through from the other side before we were let through.  I Tesla with California plates stopped - blocking about 50 vehicles behind him - to tell Rhona that she needs to put out signs saying there is a significant delay.  She was patient and wished him a happy day.  I laughed at him and couldn't believe the mental gymnastics it must have taken to believe that Rhona was the person to talk to!

I went through after all the cars had left.  It was nice to be on fresh pavement.

However, after the fresh pavement was the remaining pavement whose surface had been ground off.  It was like biking over a cheese grater.  The surface was just bumpy and I had to slow down to make sure I didn't rattle apart.  It was also about a 4km climb.  The sweat came off of me in spurts.  It was refusing to rain, which translated into a warm day with WILD humidity.  The sweat wasn't evaporating and I was just uncomfortably warm and wet.

I reached another stop in the road for construction.  This time it was where they were grinding the top layer off the road.  It was now downhill, but I was told the road was very rough with patches of dirt.  They offered me a ride in a pickup, and I took it.  Going at speed on this surface would have been jarring!  I chatted with Christina as she drove me.  She moved out here from Saskatchewan two years ago and loves it!

We unloaded and I was immediately treated to a a downhill that - I suspected - would take me all the way into Osoyoos.  I finally dropped down into Osoyoos after hours of up and down!

I stopped to take a picture at a sign for the town and continued into the downtown.  There I stopped at another sign for Osoyoos and it was finally decision time: push on or stay the night.  I checked the price of options in Osoyoos and there was one dirt cheap motel with good reviews.  I looked around and decided that rain didn't seem to be a problem for the time being, and so decided to keep going.

I stood up and grabbed my bike.

But something was wrong.  It didn't move like it should.

I looked down and saw the rear tire was flat.

If I ever needed a sign, this was it!  I pumped the tire back up and saw that pressure was dropping very slowly.  There was a slow leak, and it would take some time to either replace the tube or patch it.  That did it!  I was staying in Osoyoos!

I walked down the street to the Boundary Motel and got a room.  I immediately showered, ate, and started pounding out blog posts!  At about 3pm I decided to take a look at the tire.  I took the tire off the bike, made sure it was deflated, and then spent almost an hour trying to unseat the tire from the rim.  If you've ever tried this you'll know how difficult it is.  I wrecked my thumbs and still couldn't get it.  At 4pm I decided I was spinning my wheels and looked up local bike shops.  There was one two doors down.  I grabbed the tire, my tools, my spare tube and went down the street.

They unseated the tire in about 5 seconds.  A BIG thanks to Anthony at Session Sports Outdoors for helping me to get it fixed.  I bought another tube because I wanted to make sure I was prepared.

The culprit of the flat?  Let me introduce you to Puncture Vine!  A member of the "caltrop" family of plants.  Which means it's built to puncture tires (and get a ride).  We found the spikes of two of these things in my tire.  Turns out it grows easily in the desert climate of Osoyoos, but not further out.  I'm hoping I can make it out of town without running over any more of it.

I went back to my room, put my bike back together, and wrote more blog posts.  At some point I headed out for some food!

The main street of Osoyoos seemed sleepy.  I'd expected a busier place based on it's reputation for wine and good weather.  The clouds and rain threatening today might have calmed things down.  I found a restaurant with excellent reviews called La Marqueza Mexican Tacos & Market.  It was a genuine Mexican restaurant and the food was great!  I opted for the beef tongue burrito with a beer.  I think the fruit/vegetable economy here might bring a lot of migrant labour from Mexico and Central America.  I'd noticed a taco shop in almost every town since Manning Park.  The influence seems pretty strong, and today I was the beneficiary with an excellent meal!

There was a nearby Boston Pizza that seemed to be bumpin' and in a very large and new building.  I felt bad for them, knowing they were eating mediocre food when such incredible Mexican fare was just across the street!

I found a scoop of ice cream to top it all off.  I ate it under the awnings of the business of main street as the rain finally came down.  In buckets.  It poured and everything was finally and definitely drenched.  Finally!

I walked home in the rain.  It seems like the country is on fire, and I've seen more than enough dry and dusty country to know how little moisture there is out there.  I was happy to be soaked though.  I'm parched too.

I went back to the motel, wrote more blog posts, and turned in for the night.