Since we had already scoped out the area of British Columbia just across the border we knew what to expect. We were also following our good friends Jenny and Dan's recommendation of the Aldergrove border crossing. The border crossing was quite fast, just a couple questions and we were in British Columbia. Since that went fast we went all the way to Hope and checked into a campground after 120 miles. Here is our campsite and a view of the mountains to the south, blocking the satellite dish:
We drove into town to use an ATM to get Canadian cash and didn't see any interesting places to eat, so we ate in. The campground had free Wi-Fi, so we used it for email though it was obviously overloaded.
The next day we took the non-toll road, Trans-Canada 1 to Kamloops, which follows the Frazier and Thompson Rivers. We got to our campground after 187 miles. They took two small spots and had us turn it into one long campsite:
That hill was too close for the satellite dish to work. If we were staying more than one night we could have moved to a campsite where the satellite dish would have worked. We drove into Kamloops and had dinner at Milestones, a BC chain that used to have a restaurant in Kirkland, WA. It was more expensive than we remembered, but decent. Kamloops is within a long day trip from Seattle, we have known people who have driven here, stayed a few hours to handle what they came for, and drove back to the Seattle area the same day.
On the 17th we drove past Revelstoke about 25 kilometers and camped at Canyon Hot Springs Resort. Turns out the resort did not pass its water safety test, so we didn't hook up the water. Also turns out there is no discount for the hot springs for guests, so we didn't try the hot springs. It was raining off and on. But we had a clear view to the south and got our satellite dish working. The setting was also nice, though the train went right by and it was noisy:
We were ready to head into Alberta the next day and camp at Lake Louise. Turns out Trans-Canada 1 followed the railroad, so we had trains to listen to in most campsites across Canada.
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