Glorious roads, vast mountain views, winery lunches…day two was planned as careful as possible. Whelp, not this year! Okay, okay, the roads were awesome. But on the sections that straightened out and left our small British car friends wanting, there was supposed to be epic views of the Rocky Mountains. Instead, we spent the day enveloped in smoke from the west coast forest fires. The winery lunch suggestion, that I told everyone about at the driver’s meeting? That was replaced by cafe’s and restaurants in town…but possibly worked out even better. I found a new favourite cafe in Castlegar, and received contact details for a restaurant that would be incredible for a future event.

My grande finale finish for the day, parking at our Mountain resort, with Fernie Ski Resort in the background, isn’t going to have the same photographic “pop” as I planned. You could see about three trees passed our accommodation, before the smoke hid everything.

Did it matter? Not one bit. I arrived to the hotel to discover a wide circle of camping chairs, masks, and lively conversation. So what if they couldn’t see the view I had planned for them, the entrants were simply enjoying a chance to spend time with each other and share the tales of the day.

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan…but isn’t that part of the adventure?

A sample of Day 2, with incredible photography by Andrew Holliday, can be seen in the gallery below.