Kamloops

Tonight I am in Kamloops. I've been getting some interesting drives lately, including this one.

I will pick people up tomorrow morning @ Sun Peaks, a mountain about an hour away from here. The people expect to be picked up at 9am, so I will leave here in plenty of time.

To get to Kamloops from Whistler, you must drive north towards Pemberton, then take the Duffy Lake Road to a small town called Lillooet. From there, it's on to Cache Creek, then Kamloops. The whole trip took me about five hours today.

The Duffy Lake Road is (in)famous for it's altitude and challenging driving conditions. It's very high up, so it gets a lot of snow. Along the road, there are signs that say "Avalanche Area: No Stopping".

When I got close to one of the salt sheds, I encountered this roadblock.



There were signs that said "Avalanche Control: Prepare to Stop." I did end up stopping, for about ten minutes. There was a helicopter dropping avalanche bombs onto the mountain, and the trucks were there to make sure nobody entered the danger zone and got covered in snow.

I heard the bombs, but nothing significant was moved, so the trucks let me through.

The Duffy is a very beautiful drive. There are beautiful mountains, lakes, and alpine rivers. It's a very natural road, with many drops, dips, and sharp corners. There are some old one-way wooden bridges as well, and those spice up the drive.





I'm happy with this drive because like the Seattle one, it mixes things up and allows me to visit places that I wouldn't otherwise see.

I have figured out how to use my Blackberry to play music and CBC radio programs I've downloaded, and I bought a cable to hook my device into the truck's stereo. I spent the whole trip listening to CBC Podcasts, including Definitely Not The Opera, Ideas, Q, and The Sunday Edition. There wasn't a new Vinyl Cafe to download, so I didn't spend any time with Stuart.

It was excellent programming, and I'm really happy to have my own computer and a device that allows me to play them in the car. I think that the Christmas season is over, I'll have more one-way trips that require me to go down to Vancouver or back up with no customers. This is called "Dead Heading", and I think I'll be doing a lot of it. My Blackberry and podcasts will make the drive a lot more interesting.

So, yea for Kamloops, Blackberries, podcasts, and audio cables to make them all work together.