The morning routine was setting in, but it won’t stay for long. We are about three days from being on trail and that comes with a whole new routine.

We chose to head out early in case the situation with the fire in Castlegar changes. We would be on the road in the cooler morning temperatures in case there is traffic due to the fire and road closures. We would also arrive in Castlegar with enough time to decide to drive through to Cranbrook if needed.

We left at about 8:45am and Toothless fell asleep almost instantly.

The drive to Castlegar was quick and uneventful.

We killed time and bought some last minute supplies while we waited to check into the hotel as early as they would let us.

We had pho for dinner and Toothless had pot stickers. Then picked up ice cream on our way back to the hotel for dessert. I couldn’t have imagined a better dinner. Toothless devoured the pot stickers and the pho settled my stomach (which was on the fritz from a previous meal).

After putting Toothless to bed I did a final repair on my pack that we couldn’t finish before we left. I also sewed our GDT patch on our baby carrier.

Sleep was easy and quick, despite the AC in the room struggling to keep us cool.