We're all keen as
custard today and are driving before 9am. We head east to Vantage and
then head north along a canyon called the lower Grand Coulee.
Millions of years
ago fingers of glacial ice extended all the way into present day USA.
Repeated flooding stripped the land of all soil and carved deep
canyons into the landscape. The region is known as the Channeled
Scablands. Today a chain of lakes of various sizes remain in the
ancient river bed. Soap Lake at the southern end of the Grand Coulee
is pretty unique in that it has two distinct layers that have not
mixed thousands of years!
We climb out of the
canyon along State Route 17 and cross the Columbia river again. Then
we join the US Route 97 where the Okanagan river (or Okanogan and the
Americans call it) empties into the Columbia river. We now follow the
Okanagan river all the way to Lake Okanagan and Kelowna.
We stop off in Omak
for some lunch and the very last supplies. The border crossing is
surprisingly easy. Now hazmat suits, just a friendly border patrol
agent welcoming us back to Canada.
The drive is very
scenic with beautiful lakes and lots of wineries. Then we finally get
our view over Lake Okanagan, it is absolutely huge.
We are all super
excited that we managed to make it to our apartment before dinner
time so we unpack and settle in.
Since we are in quarantine and not sure
how things will change over the next few weeks this will be the last
blog post for now. We will be working on adding the missing days from the beginning of our trip. If and when travel is back on the menu we will
continue with the blog again.
Thank you all for your interest in our
travels!
Be safe!
Today: 463km - 6h38m
Total: 29,766km - 574h33m
