My daily commute to work is a wild one some days. It sometimes makes me think of the song "Over the river and through the woods" but it's more like "Over the mountain and around the lake, did I really see that, or was it a mistake?" There is never a dull moment on this commute, and I have seen some things that I never imagined I would see on a drive to work.
The ride is a 45 minute drive on the Trans Canada (Hwy 1) from my little town to the sprawling metropolis of Kamloops. It starts off with right-hand turn onto a dead straight stretch which is great for acceleration but quickly turns into the windy Deadman Creek area, or "Deadman's" as the locals say. This is the first of four "sketchy" areas of the drive. We have seen many vehicle incidents in this area, most notably a transport truck with a massive industrial unit, who clearly misjudged the turn and ended up on the opposite side of the road, tipped over onto its side. It took a couple of massive cranes and a couple of days of work to get it out of there. That was surely a million dollar oops.
After getting down "Deadmans" the road straightens and has an immediate passing lane, which is long enough to blow past the slow semi's who are gradually regaining speed after creeping down the hill. This route often has semi's along the way, but in the Winter months, you are bound to see a tenfold increase. See this route is the alternate route to the Coquihalla Highway, or as some of you may know it, the "Highway thought Hell" as it is aptly named from the show bearing the same name. The "Coq" is closed it seems more often than it is open in the winter. When it is closed, my daily commute has all of the "Coq" traffic.
The drive quickly goes through the town of Savona, a beautiful little town along Kamloops Lake. The rest of the drive winds around the lake, which provides daily spectacular sunrises and sunsets.
After Savona is the worst part of the ride, heading up "Size Mile Hill" which is I am assuming 6 miles long. This "hill" is what I consider "the mountain" as I am sure it qualifies as a mountain pass. It is extremely windy, very tight in some areas, has passing lanes in some areas, and still makes me squeamish some days. This part of the drive requires laser focus. One moment of distraction could see you down an embankment or in a head-on collision. We have seen quite a few bad accidents in this area over the last couple of years. I still drive well under the speed limit during the winter months on this stretch because I'd rather be alive on the other side of the mountain.
One of the funniest things I have seen on my commute was on "the mountain." One day I was driving along, almost to the mountaintop, and I see what looks like a weird looking flat, round rock on the opposite side of the road. As I come up closer, it looked like it had moved closer to the yellow line. Dumbfounded, I tried to look a bit closer as I drove past as I knew I wouldn't be able to turn around and go back. All I could think was "Is that a turtle? We're like 800 ft up from the lake, and this is the desert...why on God's dusty dry earth is there a turtle in the middle of the desert?" All the way to work I was doubting myself. There couldn't have been a turtle crossing the highway in the desert. I was telling one of the new co-workers about the incident. She lived in the Kamloops area for years and confirmed that there are actually turtles in the wild. I sure didn't think I would ever witness that on my commute to work.
The top of "Six Mile" is a beautiful rest stop that is a great place to stop and snap a picture of beautiful sunsets and sunrises. It's also an area you need to watch out for Rattle Snakes. Yes, you head that right, Rattle Snakes. This area is pretty rocky and hot, which these snakes love. There are signs there warning that there have been Rattlers spotted in this area, so heed the warning.
The downward slope of "the mountain" has spectacular views of Kamloops Lake, and is home to Tobiano, which is a luxury golf course/housing community. It is supposedly one of the best golf courses in BC. It also has a marina, which is popular with boaters in the area.
You then come into the Cherry Creek area, which is a similar type community to mine, an acreage/hobby farm community. This stretch of road is known for deer getting hit on the road. I have had to call in more than my fair share of calls to the cops to assist animals on the road that were hit but still alive. There is a couple of times a year, which the morning commute happens at the same time as the "deer witching hour" as I like to call it. It's when the drive starts in the dark at my house and is just getting bright by the time you are coasting down "the mountain." It only lasts about a week, but it's not uncommon to see 4 or 5 deer being hit on the highway. I have the local RCMP number in my phone so I can make a quick hands free call if needed.
The drive through Cherry Creek is actually a good 1/4 of the drive. There is a beautiful horse boarding facility, and we often admire the horses and their shenanigans. One morning I was driving through, as I was coming into Cherry Creek I sadly saw an adult and baby raccoon who had been hit on the road, which actually got to me and made me sad. A few minutes later I was driving past the horse facility and one of the horses was standing next to the fence, resting his head on one of the fence posts. This immediately made me bust out laughing and think of this meme.
One morning, just a little further down from the horse facility, there was a tour bus that had crashed overnight. Turns out it was Jason Aldene's tour bus, which had an accident after their concert in Kamloops. Luckily noone was hurt in this accident.
One day in the spring of 2017, I was driving through Cherry Creek and was shock at what I saw. The day before we had noticed some flooding in some of the farmers fields in the area. We hadn't thought much about it. This one day, as I was driving towards one of the local roads in the area, I noticed that the water from the creek was overflowing its banks. Turned out to be one of the worst flooding situations in a nightmarish spring. Roads washed out, bridges washed out, and it was a true disaster for the people in this area. Cache Creek, the town to the west of our house, also had massive flooding and sadly lost their beloved Fire Cheif in rushing flood waters. Mother nature sure was not happy in 2017.
Just a bit further down the road, one morning I came upon a broken down donut truck who looked like he was on his way to a carnival or food festival. I pondered whether the driver could whip me up a batch of donuts in exchange for a ride to town. Although I love Donuts, I have also been schooled in "stranger danger" and decided not to stop, he looked like he was on the phone calling for assistance. Now I want Donuts.
After winding through the last curvy area in Cherry Creek, it is smooth sailing into Kamloops. As much as the commute along Highway 1 sounds terrifying, the sketchiest part of the ride in the winter is usually in Kamloops. Once you make the turn onto Highway 5, which is actually the end of the 120km/hr Coqihalla, it's a bit of a "dodge the slowing down trucks" game. Luckily the merge onto the highway is it's own lane, so most days the trucks are just blowing by you on the one side and not coming up behind you in the same lane.
For a city that is in the middle of many mountainous areas, and has been getting "good old Canadian Winters" I am sure since before snow clearing equipment has been around, Kamloops has some seriously awful winter driving conditions. Everyone always asks about my commute during winter conditions. Most of the time the highway is relatively clear, but once I get into Kamloops, it's like "ice road truckers" on actual roads. The roads are so slippery. I almost slid through a turning lane right into a car at the top of the lane one morning. I could see the ice from about 150 feet away, but there was no avoiding it. You could see about 10 other vehicles tracks who weren't so lucky and had to steer their cars into the side of the road into the snow banks.
One of the biggest complaints I have about the commute is that BC seems to put gravel mixed with sand on the roads for traction, well not quite as big as regular gravel, but damn those rocks can cause some damage to windshields. Thank goodness most insurance policies here cover windshields. I have to replace mine probably twice a year. With a 60km each way ride to work and back home, I get hit by a flying piece of gravel probably once a week. My windshield has more cracks than a plumber convention (sorry if that offended any plumbers).
I am sure the next many many years of making this commute will have many more interesting things to see. Truth be told, the commute does get easier as time goes by. It is a good wind down after a hard day at work because you have to shut your brain off and concentrate on the road. Thinking about work on the road will get you into a situation that you may not want.
I hope you enjoyed these stories. Thanks for reading.
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