On the Shuswap in Sorrento

As I've said, we've been keeping a pretty torrid pace to date, considering we're inexperienced cyclists on our first touring trip. Our ride today was expected to be one of our easiest, a relatively flat road out of Kamloops past Chase and into Sorrento.

We spent a great night at Daryl and Anne Schimpf's place. They have been moving their children in and out of their home, and were gracious enough to clear out their living room so we could sleep there. After a good night's rest (for me anyways...apparently I sounded like a truck downshifting on the highway), we were woken to breakfast and coffee. They had some of the best cinnamon buns I have had in a long time.

Once we were ready to go, Daryl got out his motorcycle and drove out of town with us, following for about 40km. It was fun having him as an escort, and he got us away from the dangerous section of the Transcanada through town, further away from the city. Thanks Daryl!

We got to Chase after 60km of riding and stopped for lunch. There was a big hill out, and Jon became the proud owner of the trip's first broken spoke. Thankfully we have all the repair we need to fix just about anything, but unfortunately the spokes we were sold were just slightly too short to replace the broken one. We had no choice but to do without, and adjusted some of the other spokes to settle the resulting wobbly wheel. We switched Jon's trailer to another bike, and kept on going.

Unfortunately it started to rain as we progressed to Sorrento. Worse was the lack of campgrounds for us once we got there. We passed one closeby on our way there, but backtracking is a waste. The other ones in the right direction wouldn't take tenters, and we didn't want to press on. What to do?

Make your own campsite is what you do.

Brian and Jon found a great location for us along Blind Bay Road. It had shelter, it was dry, had lots of seating, room for our bikes and gear, and space for cooking our food and drying our clothes. Lots of greenspace, not out of the way at all, and with a great view of Shuswap Lake. Best of all, it was the right price! What was this location, you ask?

The Blind Bay Community Hall.

It was our best option, so we started setting up. As a courtesy, we made a call to their number and left a message letting them know what we were doing. Right now we're eating delicious hamburgers as we cook on one of the ramps around the back, and plan to sleep on one of the porches. It might get a bit cold, but we'll dress for it and we have fantastic sleeping bags, so it shouldn't be a problem.

As long as this dog that keeps hanging around goes away and doesn't blow our cover, we'll sleep here before making our way on a short ride to Sicamous for a night in a house-boat! Should be more comfortable than tonight's lodgings.
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