Lillooet to Vernon

Sunday morning in Lillooet...we had a leisurely breakfast in our hotel room. Early in the trip, we bought a knock-down cooler for milk and juice, and we brought our picnic bag with us (hey, we're always prepared to eat!). That picnic bag packed flat, too, which means we always have some ziplock bags, chopsticks, a couple of plates and a sharp knife. Most hotels, at least the ones we seem to find, all have small refrigerators in them, and the hotels that are frequented by construction workers often have a small stove, too. Of course, the hostels all have kitchens. So, after breakfast, we loaded up, made one stop to check out the sculpture on the edge of town - we still don't know what the silver thing is, but assume it had something to do with the gold rush - and hit the road for another sunny day's drive. We're driving a Nissan Versa, gets pretty good mileage. 32 mpg. It's a little under-powered, and this model doesn't have cruise control, but it has plenty of room for our packs.

There was a wild-fire in the mountains around Lillooet in the recent past, there are still big 'Thank you Firemen' signs around town, beside the 'found in the disaster' and 'lost in the disaster' posters. The few trees are black, and the dessert is even more barren looking. Our biggest decision now is which route to take to the Okanagan Valley. There are a couple of different routes, but Stuart wants to go through Kamloops, because he likes the way that word sounds. So, we take the northern router, the one with the little dots to signify Scenic. We pass many little parks, and small cattle ranches. There are signs occasionally warning of cattle crossing the rode, but all the cows are serenely chewing behind rail fences. There is, of course, much irrigation for the necessary hay fields. Not many other signs of human activity. Many of the people living here are First Nations people, and the poverty is pretty evident. We pass lakes, of course, with water that is the color of jade.

We thought we'd spend the night in Kamloops, but true to predictions from other travelers, there isn't much soul to this town. It's big, but we have lunch in the park downtown, and decide to move on. The drive through Cowboy Country in the afternoon is easy, the road is beginng to flatten and straighten. We pass a few houses, with far more junked cars than people, houses and cows combined. What is the attraction of keeping old vehicles that don't run anymore? Some houses are graveyards of as many 15 junk cars!

Vernon seems to be our stopping point for the night. No hiking today, just driving, so we unload our stuff at the Polson Park motel, right on Highway 97, and head out for a walk. This small town is the home to a collection of more than 20 murals. It's not advertised well at all, but we find a map, and see that most of them are very close by. They are marvelous! Painted by Michelle Loughery, in 2000. We wonder at the tremendous work involved in doing so many in one year, and at the talent showing. Her faces are particularly good, and the stories are all apparently about the history of Vernon. The entire downtown is a gallery. She incorporated physical things, such as power lines, windows and doors into the paintings, making it all seem real. It's Sunday afternoon, nothing going on downtown since all the shops and restaurants are closed, and we have the streets to ourselves. Imagine our surprise to see Michelle and her husband in an alley by Veteran's Park, working on a mural! We had a long conversation with them, and she told me about the project.