Calvin's Weblog

1,111 Kilometers later

This long weekend we took off on a nice, long roadtrip to the interior. First stop, the parents place on Shuswap lake. the 2nd, to see some friends at Green Lake (Near 70 Mile House) a mere 3.5 hours from our first destination.
Round trip was exctly 1,111 KM - how crazy is that? Well, not as crazy of the accident we missed by a mere two kilimeters... Check this out...
We had just left my parents place, and were literally only on the road about 8 minutes when we come across a DEAD stop of traffic - our lane was at a standstill as far as the eye could see, and coming the other way was NOTHING.
I turned on my cell and called my dad - it was so cool, it was like being on 'who wants to be a millionaire' and phoning a friend... I said "I think there has been an accident about a dozen km before Chase - it must've just happened, can you ask my brother to turn on his police scanner? If he hears anything, call me back!" Two minutes later, my dad calls back - "yes, there has just been a major accindet - ambulances are on the way. The police are about to issue an alert to all radio stations that they are going to completely close the highway. Here's what you want to do... I slipped a couple of Forrest Service maps into your map pocket - pull out the Kamloops district map. Got it? Good - go back 3 kn to the Squilax bridge - you following me? Great, you're going to go back to that bridge - but before crossing, you'll see a Turtle Valley Road turnoff - it's gravel, but it's graded all year, so youre beamer will be fine - go through Turtle Valley, keep right through all turns, and in about 20 minutes, you'll come out about 2km west of Chase - this'll save you about 5 hours - the police are turning everyone back to the Vernon route."
So, I turn around, take the logging road, and BAM - I'm on the other side of the accident twenty minutes later - just in time to see the Ambulances racing back to Kamloops. I felt SO elite... there must've been 300 cars in that line up in front of me, and in the 10 minutes I sat waiting and talking to y dad, probably another 200 lined up behind me. Imagine how long that lineup would be after a 7 hour closure? I lost a total of 20 minutes... all those other people lost 4 to 5 hours... well, except for the two that lost their lives, and the one that's going to lose his license (and freedom?)
And most of all, I'm so lucky that I didn't leave 3 minutes earlier...

So other than that, we had a great trip - it got cold at Green Lake at night (3 degrees) but on the way back, it was 26 degrees out from Ashcroft straight to Coquitlam. And today, well, today it's raining.