Day 9: Vernon to Yard Creek Provincial Park, 94.76km

Before our ride north out of Vernon we were fortunate to visit
with an advanced cardiac rehabilitation program. We had a great time
chatting with the vibrant participants and their well wishes
helped encourage us for the ride ahead. Thanks to program
leader Kerry and the entire group for inviting us in, we loved meeting
all of you!

We had a very satisfying ride today.  The route Peter designed
for us was perfect and kept us off the highway for a good 50+km
stretch --Thanks Peter!  Instead of four lanes of heavy traffic and
broken shoulders we were able to enjoy riding past farm land and
forests on calm country roads.  It was again scorching hot in the
Okanagan and we had a headwind so we were extra appreciative of the
tree cover the backroads offered.  It was a beautiful day.

When we rejoined the highway it took us around Mara lake and up to
Sicamous where we grabbed some groceries and connected with highway
one.  Highway one will now become our unofficial home for the next two
months.  It's strange to think we'll be spending more time on a
highway than anywhere else.  Life has changed a lot in the last nine
days! For instance, we now have no qualms about eating food that has
fallen on the ground. We no longer converse while we're eating, since
dining has regressed to a frenzied shoveling of food into our mouths.
Also, domestic comforts, like pillows and indoor plumbing are a really
big deal (those were two other highlights of our Vernon stay).

Now we're sitting in the Yard Creek Provincial Park and hoping to make
it an early night.  We're out of reception range again, so you'll see
this during our tomorrow when we get into Revelstoke.