Day 7: Mara, BC -> Kelowna, BC

Stats:
Start: Mara, BC (Mara Cottage Campground)
End: West Kelowna (WarmShowers host)
Distance: ~118km

Sleep had come early and I hadn't stirred once during the night.  So I eventually opened my eyes, I found that I had slept through some heavy rains.  My tent had stood the test however, and I remained dry!  But I knew that any movement out of the safety of my shelter would mean instant wet.  I took a moment to gather my resolve, and unzipped my sleeping bag.

I packed quickly, trying to keep everything dry as a gentle rain fell.  The effort paid off, except the tent was a like a wet pile of plastic bags.  Tossing it on the bike, I went for breakfast.

The Mara Cottage Campground is a small piece of privately owned land with about 8 tenting/RV sites.  The owner - Jennifer - stopped in the day before and said hi to me  (Hi Jennifer!)  She'd mentioned the local store/gas station next to the campground sold pastries and so I chose that breakfast.  As I sat on the small covered porch of the store in an adirondack chair I ate Muffins, turnovers, and drank coffee.  I watched the mist roll over the hills and listened to Early Morning Rain by Gordon Lightfoot.  It was another one of those perfect moments.

At 8:30 it was time to hit the road and get wet!  Lake Mara immediately gave way to valley farm land.  I passed continued down the highway through Grindrod, and continued down Highway 97A.  A few sights from the ride:

Eventually I reached the town of Enderby.  As a student of Canadian history - with a focus on political and military history - I'm always fascinated to see how small towns like Enderby memorialize those who served in wars and conflicts.  Enderby stands out to me as their memorial park showed obvious consideration in design and maintenance.  There were maybe ~40 names from WWI and WWII combined on the monument, but considering the size of the town today that would have been a large percentage of the young male population in those days.  The park was solemn and respectful and reminded me of the memorials I'd seen to the Canadians in small towns in Europe.  The legion hall sat across the street.  I took a quiet moment to pause and reflect on the sacrifice of those few from this place, and Enderby earned my respect for continuing to honour its fallen.

From Enderby I headed South to Vernon for a meet up with a relative I'd heard a lot about, but never had the chance to meet.  My great uncle Sam Keats (my grandmother's brother on my mother's side).  My mother had reached out to him and passed along his number the day before.  I'd managed to connect for lunch and we got the chance to sit down for a few hours trading stories of our lives.  I asked about his upbringing, family, and what had led him from a remote fishing village in Quebec to the BC interior.  He asked about my life, family, and how hard I had to fall and hit my head to want to bike across Canada.  But seriously, we had a lot of great laughs over lunch I enjoyed getting to know more members of such a great family.  Thank you for lunch Sam!  You'll hear from me again soon!

At this point it was time to leave Vernon and head to Kelowna.  The best path was the Okanogan Rail Trail which follows the lakes South into Kelowna, but which started with a steep climb out of Vernon.  Driving down one of the epitomes of a Stroad I've ever been on - but with painted bike lanes! - I made it out of Vernon and to the rail trail.  The weather immediately worsened, and VERY strong heads winds felt like they were pulling me backwards.  There were whitecaps on the lake.  The trail was gritty and the rain came down in sheets.  About three rainstorms passed this way, and the trail eventually turned into an unmaintained rail bed.  Here's a picture of a flag blowing the exact opposite way that I'm going:

I put my head down, bit my lip, and ground it out imaging how sweet a cup of Early Grey was going to taste after all this!  There are no pictures for this whole stretch because my phone was at risk of flood if I'd removed it from under my rain jacket.  After about 50kms I reached Kelowna.

As if on cue, the weather switched from "old-fashioned gully wash" to "comedic contrasting sunshine and rainbows".  As I looked back at Kelowna from the hill of West Kelowna I laughed, because you can't write this stuff:

Google Maps finally got me.  I checked the route to my host's house, and Google recommended a path that looked suspicious.  But low on energy and willpower, I shrugged and took it.  It was a mistake.  I spent the next 40 minutes in mud pushing my bike up cliff paths.  Here's a taste of a flat section, I still have the climb the slope to the right:

At one point I passed three deer grazing on the slope.  They didn't flinch upon seeing me, but seemed to gawk at what an idiot I had to be to push my bike up this slope.  They had me pegged from the moment they saw me.

I finally reached my destination: a wonderful couple who agreed to host me for the night.  They had dinner waiting and knew what a trek it must have been through the wind, rain...and up the black diamond rated pathway on the cliff.  They served me BBQ chicken and vegetables, one of my favourite meals.  More about them later...

I fell asleep having survived my first real day or rain.  And heavy rains.  And the hardest winds yet.  Maybe the worst day for cycling so far, but if this is as bad as it gets I can't wait for what's ahead!