Phil and Matt arrive in Seattle within an hour of each other, and leave for Phil's house in his truck. In preparation for the hundreds of miles that are to be driven with 4 people in his truck, Phil has purchased many bungee cords, and two large plastic containers (Big Bertha and Baby Bertha). Mike has also stolen several plastic airline bags. At Phil's place, a few more hours are spent packing, the two depart for Vancouver where they shall meet up with Mike and Tammie.
At the Vancouver airport.
Mike's flight is late, but so are Matt and Phil, and everything works out perfectly. Then they get the great idea to wait for Tammie, who is also flying in this evening, but who doesn't know Mike Phil and Matt are waiting for her. A "Tammie Sibbald" sign is made, and the wait in front of the baggage carousel begins. Little do they know Tammie only had carry-on.
Later that night, as the final packing goes on in Tammie's small apartment, Phil has trouble finding his avalanche beacon. He looks in his truck. No beacon. In Big Bertha. No beacon. In Baby Bertha. No beacon. A frantic call is placed to the home base of the Calgary contingent... Amos' house. Phil asks Amos to rent him a beacon when he goes to rent the trip gear the next day, since he can not find his own. The first words from Amos' mouth are: "Ha ha! Phil screwed up!!".
Looking for Tammie at the Vancouver airport.
The next morning, the truck is packed with four people and gear (an activity that will be practised many times and perfected over the next two weeks). Outside Vancouver, we rise above the inversion fog and the skies clear. The first stop is Chilliwack, for a big breakfast. Some time into our meal, the waitress comes by and asks "blllpt? blblblbeep?". Mike answers "No thanks." Phil and the others are confused. What the hell did she say? Is this a Chilliwack accent? Several more times she comes by our table and says things like "Blblbpptte." or "lbllbbbppeeT?". We find it difficult not to break out laughing every time she comes by. She thinks we are weird.
We headed up the Coquihalla highway, and down into Kamloops, heading back into dark cloud cover. A stop is made at the Salmon Arm liquor store. The cloud cover remains until shortly before Roger's Pass, where we are treated to stunning mountain vistas in the late afternoon light. On one mountain, every single west-facing ridge has large fracture lines on it.
Cozy ride in the truck.
We pull into the Best Western parking lot and go inside to checkin. We are the first ones here from our y2k group. Tom made the reservations, and when the checkin-lady pulls them up, she asks "How did you get this price?". We say we don't know. "It should be much more than this!". She finally asks us "Did you reserve through Best Western?" We each look at each other. Our unstated return glance says "uh, isn't this a Best Western?". After some mild persistence, we get the price on the reservation. This is only the beginning of a very negative atmosphere around this place.
We see the "no skis inside" sign, and secure special locks for the ski racks. Hmm, probably 90% of their clientel this time of year are skiers. Could they not make a concession? Negative Atmosphere Thing #2.
Near dinner time we meet some old friends in the dining room. We go in to talk to them. Though the hotel restaurant is absolutely empty except for them and us, the servers ask us to either leave, or sit down and order something. Negative Atmosphere Thing #3.
We sit down and order expensive small portions of things.
By this time, the rest of the group has arrived, except for Lukas and Amos. No one has seen them since Calgary, and someone says they thought the Best Western was in Revelstoke, not Roger's Pass. As we are eating though, Amos' Subaru pulls into the parking lot in front of the restaurant window.
A slide show takes place in Mike/Matt/Phil/Tammie's room. Tammie manages to sleep though it somehow. She is sick and need her sleep. During the next several days, she will emerge as the trip's "pusher". Anytime anyone mentions anything about being sick, she will say "I have something for that", and magically produce an assortment of pills. The next day...