Freedom Route 4 Day 1
After a group Breakfast of Pancakes, eggs and Sausage we packed up and formed up on Dieppe drive and headed out to our fuel stop at the truck stop in Chilliwack. At 33 feet above sea level this was now all uphill from here.
We set out on Highway 1 (the Trans-Canada Highway) at a reasonable convoy speed of about 40 to 45 mph towards Hope (Elev. 135 feet) taking Highway 3 the Crowsnest Highway we headed up the sunshine valley and our first steep climb over the site of the Hope Slide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Slide
Speed for most was reduced to 2nd gear crawls at about 15mph till we crested the hill but that was only a respite as we got into the winding steep climb up into Manning Park via the Allison Pass At 4400 feet this was the first real test of the ability of some of these nearly 70 year old trucks to make it.
We all did and stayed in a reasonable convoy and descended down into Manning park Lodge area for a pit stop. (Elev. 3700feet) after a quick stop it was back up Sunday Summit (Elevation 4213 feet) and down alongside the Similkameen River. On the way up the C15A developed a gas blockage in first one tank and then both, causing several stops on the uphill side but managed to crest the pass. All the trucks were caught up in Princeton (elev. 2300 feet) and everybody got a taste of long steep downhill travels on transmissions and Brakes. Gassing up in Penticton we repaired one flat tire on the Dodge Ambulance and cleared one fuel line with compressed air on the CMP to get it back on the road. Nice of Dave Goods M35 to have an air hose! We then continued along Highway 3 to Keromeos (elev. 1198 feet) were we met at the Legion. About 5 minute after a complete stop the C15A’ front right tire went down in a hurry with a ruptured inner tube. So the driver pulled the wheel off and replaced the tube with a spare but unfortunately after all that it leaked too! On with the spare and into the legion, Pizza, Cold Beer and Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final!
Bill McLean from Cherryville joined us with his Jeep and Daryl “Doc” Rose came along with his German Motorcycle with side car.
Content in a Vancouver Canucks Victory we slept on the Parade ground across from the legion.
Day one Chilliwack to Keromeos 250 Kms