Day 20: Kamloops to Salmon Arm – 113KM
Rob joined Timo and Gabe this morning after two days off to allow his ankle time to heal. The first stretch of the ride was relatively flat, the temperature was cooler than yesterday and the guys had a gentle tail wind. They made excellent time to the first break. By the time Mike and Lyndon cleaned up breakfast, picked up supplies, got gas and drove out to meet them they had reached the 52 km mark. Our normal pattern is some kind of break about every 35-40 km where the cyclist and support vehicle connect.
What would a day be without some road construction? These stretches of road take a lot of concentration because of the changing road surfaces and many times the absence of marked lanes.
The smoke created a morning fog effect. The only difference, a fog generally lifts with the heat of the day. This smoke will need more than that to be cleared. The local people we talked to express how tried they are of the smoke and the stress of needing to be ready to leave if evacuated. Here’s a shot from DriveBC that someone sent us. It shows the smoke. Rob, Timo and Gabe said the smoke was not as bad as they thought it would be when cycling.
After a quick pit stop at our hosts in Salmon Arm, we headed to Vernon. An old friend of Mike’s made dinner for the whole team, his adult kids and some friends. A meal of Lasagna, salads, garlic break and peach pie!! Thank you Tim!
It was an “eat and run meal” because we had continued on to West Kelowna for an evening presentation at Lakeview Heights Baptist Church, Lyndon’s home church. It was the largest group we have had so far. Exciting news… Someone gave us a check for $8,500, to cover the cost of a whole well! This brings our total to 35 wells covered or pledged.
This was a long day! We arrived back in Salmon Arm just before 11 pm. Good thing tomorrow is a day off.