Bittersweet Infamy - #132 - Operation: Save Linda's Sweater

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

Big Skookum B.C. Road Trip! Josie, Taylor, and special guests Lucia Misch and Ruy Gonzalez travel around Canada's beautiful westernmost province, British Columbia, with stops including the legendary Shambhala Music Festival in Salmo, a gusty ferry ride across Upper Arrow Lake, and a dip in the river-fed Lussier Hot Springs! Plus: Taylor loses a family heirloom, Josie gets some good news from home, Lucia spearheads a heroic rescue effort, and Ruy drinks too much prune juice.

Taylor here. Thanks for your patience as we've rolled out the episodes of the Big Skookum BC Road Trip. We originally intended to release these weekly in August, but real life very much got in the way. These handcrafted road trip episodes take time and we didn't want to rush them out. This trip was too special to us, and so are you. The road trip episodes will extend into September, and then we'll be back on our usual schedule for trick-or-treat infamy in October. Thanks and see you on the road. Everyone ready?

Ready. Ready. Let's get Skookum. Buckle up for the bittersweet infamy, big skookum, BC road trip. I'm Josie Mitchell. I'm Taylor Basso. We'll be joined by our friends Lucia Mish and Rui Gonzalez as we explore Canada's beautiful westernmost province, from mountains to valleys, glaciers to hot springs, rainforests to deserts.

Along the way, we'll tell you some of British Columbia's most infamous stories. The truth may be bitter. But the stories are always Skookum. Welcome back to the big Skookum, BC road trip. We're coming to you from the 604 studios on East Cordova Street, but our hearts, our minds are on the road. On the road, baby. We're out there in B.C.

Picking up miles, kilometers even. And kilometers. We're doing both. More kilometers and miles. Let's put those in order because we are here in beautiful. British Columbia, Canada's western most province, doing a little bit of road trip arroonies. But this big, beautiful province of yours, what has been your most memorable trip through BC or to some destination within BC?

Gosh, it's a tough one, but a fair one. Thank you. Yeah, you're a good interviewer. This is why they have you do like the presidential debates. You're like, Gwen Eiffel. One really memorable BC trip that I want to highlight in complete honesty, is the time about two years ago that you and I traveled out into the wilds of Jordan River on the western side of Vancouver Island. And we taped a couple of infamous stories there,

one outside amongst the swaying trees that provided this really beautiful ambient backdrop for us. So dry. So dry. Ready to go up in a fucking ball of fire, but didn't. And then we also did a story inside a 1960 vintage restored VW bus that we had like Airbnb that we were were sleeping in, which was a lot of fun. That's episode number 78, I believe. Brother 12 of the Great White Lodge. Yes. One of my favorite episodes and one that I was cramming the whole, I was sitting there

at our fucking little campsite in Jordan River, just reading. Waring the rainbow squid hat. Yeah. And just reading. Suck it up. Sucking up that information. Absolutely. Yeah.

But like a great time and a whole lot of fun. Do you have any memories that you want to share about that? I just, I remember the hike that we took down to. to get to, and I forget the name of the beach. Mystic Beach. It was Mystic Beach. It was slightly treacherous and again, very dry, dry wood. Yeah, everything you walked, you could hear snap crackle pop.

Yeah, the air. The air was so sparky. But then we got finally down to the beach and it was just gorgeous cold, cold waves. Waterfalls pouring on to the beach. So lovely. It was really nice. A gorgeous natural environment, British Columbia, one that I'm really looking forward to celebrating on this trip that I should say our accommodations are provincial

and national parks which I'm really excited about they're cheap they're easy to book and I have a lot of gratitude that we have such a well-funded park system Josie I'm sorry

it's not your fault and I'm really really excited especially in the wake of all like the Canada versus US stuff that has cropped up during season five there's been a lot of initiatives within Canada to be like Canada strong come stay in our parks for like discounted rates and stuff like that.

Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, in the competition, and I don't think I'll be spoiling it for anybody. Canada wins. Hey. Done. Hey. Done. Just like the War 1812.

Mm-hmm. That's the other big one. And then. Let the record show. Let's look at the stats. Kids, look at the stats. And then another one that I really remember is I remember a family trip that we did up to Squamish. And I mainly remember it because I was really, really sick.

but I still made myself come like I was in no good shape to come Don't do the look at the camera Don't ignore her Don't don't you guys can stay on Ignore her I was super sick and also it was a time in my life Where I was doing 100 pushups every day

So not only was I sick But I was doing 100 pushups a day You were sick and you were sick Yeah you got it you got it Beautiful time right next to her river Squamish is a great little spot Kind of nearish Vancouver If you want to do a drive

but not too big a drive, but damn was I sick and damn was I doing too many push-ups. How about you, Josephine? Memorable travels within the province. Well, definitely our Jordan River trip was up there just because it really did put me in the mindset of like, oh yeah, BC, thinking about the province, thinking about the stories here.

We treat our tourist ambassadors duty seriously here, or I do anyway. Yeah, I guess you live here, so you're more... Well, no, but even like when I went to Quirnavaca, I was like, oh, I'm coming back And I'm giving like Kornavaka the Bittersweet Infamy treatment, right? Come to Kornavaka. I had a really good time on that, on that trip.

And I think previous to that, there's a few little excursions. I think one of the most memorable was I did a hike. Black Tusk. Wow. Your ambassador duties are shiny, sparkly. As a matter of fact, it's because I had this same conversation with Rui when we went up to Pemberton camping recently about black, black diamond. No, that's geez. You know, that whole convo.

It was black tusks. It was black tusk. Yeah, yeah. So I did a trip, a hiking trip, a black tusk, and it was an overnight hike. And I went with three of my good friends, and we just had a very goofy wild time. And it was slightly unplanned or just enough unplanned to, you know, on the way back, it was getting nightfall. And it was like, oh, shit, we should like have a bear bell, but we don't. So let's just sing really loud.

Must watch out for bears. Legitimately. this is a real concern. BC Bears. And it was just a really... Not to be mistaken for the Vancouver Grizzlies who were sold to Memphis. Yeah.

I don't even have Grizzlies in Memphis, I don't think, but whatever. The hike itself was really fun and being with those friends. And I'm going to see those friends actually tomorrow too, so that's exciting. Get a little friend tour.

Yeah, you're here to go to a wedding too, so that would be great. Actually, it's not a wedding. I don't know how you got that in your head. There's no wedding. It's a birthday. Why would you... What the fuck?

I just kind of let it roll because, I don't know. You said it multiple times. What the fuck? And you just didn't tell me like a psycho? It's Gooch's birthday. Happy birthday, Gooch. When are you getting married? She got married.

I was here for her wedding. Okay, so I don't see where I was just saying. No, no, no. Maybe that's why I didn't really correct you because it's like birthday wedding. What's the matter? No, it's basically irrelevant except for like maybe that you would have to like pack a dress to a wedding. That's true. Yeah.

I don't think not really that kind of way. I don't think anyone would get mad at you for not showing up in an evening gown, you know? Yeah, yeah. One thing that I do remember from that hike is where we spent the night, it was like a third of the way up, the mountain, and the sky was so clear. And we were next to a lake, and the lake was so still that you could see the entire Milky Way reflected. That's the dream, huh? And we had like a nice little.

joint and it was just like now that's the dream it was just the most like a transcendent little like huge cosmos tiny world reflect it was really nice beautiful this reminds me though lukechner talking about this and hopefully the phosphorescence are popping on the sunshine coast we hope so so the sunshine coast is a beautiful little stretch of peninsula kind of that's accessible via ferry and great spot to if you're if you're getting a little bit little Airbnb somewhere or like a stay in a little hotel, motel, support and local in BC, you could do so much worse than the Sunshine Coast, which is a beautiful spot. Yeah.

Lots of little cute general stores and such. And phosphorescence, which Josie and I have experienced out there together. It's like magic. It's so insane. It's like starlight flying out of your fingertips when you swim in the dark. It's like, what is it, an algae? It's like a certain temperature of the water or even like temperature way off the coast kind of produces this algae that rolls through.

And I've seen it in California. I've seen in San Diego, too. But I think the stuff I've seen on the Sunshine Coast is like the sparkliest. Yeah, little blue dots that, oh, it's so, and you can stay out there forever. And then it's like two in the morning and you're, you come in and you're cold and pruny. But it was worth it. Damn it, it was worth it. Totally worth it.

Yeah. One of the many kind of natural wonders of this part of the world. Yeah. So excited to experience more of them with you. Oh, ditto. Previously on the big Skookum-BC road trip, Taylor and I, along with our friends Lucia Mish, I'm going to get sued by Alicia Keys also. And Ruy Gonzalez.

This will lend in Bylan. Set off on a road trip across British Columbia. We've been to all kinds of stunning places, including beautiful Shishwap Lake, gorgeous Glacier National Park, and even a particularly affectioning Ramada Inn in Camel. Last episode, Taylor surprised me with an ambush game show about BC, which I didn't hate it. I just hated the thought of it, but actually doing it was pretty fun. I wonder what else will be fun on the big Skookum BC road trip. The morning after the ambush before, we awakened from our second sleep at the Arthur O' Wheeler

Hutt and Glacier National Park in the Kootenee Rockies. Waking up in our last morning at the Ilusailwit Hutt. We don't have any coffee except for decaf, because the instant coffee that I grabbed was decaf. So it's good. Yeah, I was an idiot. it's going to be a challenging morning. How are you doing, Rui? This is great. I'm clean like a whistle.

I had a liter and a half of prune juice, so you all can assume what has happened. Why did you have a liter and a half of prune juicer? Because I thought it would be immune to it, because I... The recording cuts off there because my phone battery died. Charge your electronics before you get to the Wheeler Hut. If you thought you'd been spared that poor taste discussion of Rui's encounter with the purple pulverizer,

I've got terrible news. We came back around to the subject as we got ready to depart the hut. So where did the cream juice come from? I thought, it was not the store, the groomer story yesterday. Can you just thought it looked good? No, I was like, it can be that bad. It's famously laxatidivital.

That's the whole thing. But I thought it was like, a fiber thing, and I do eat like a shirot with the fiber, but I'm like, oh, this won't affect me. I did. Fiber hubris. It's been stinct, um, it's been stints. Wow.

Really snow. Yeah, since we go back from the hike. Geez. Oh, my God. Every 30 minutes. Oh, yeah. I'm like, how long I'm going to sleep? You're going to find a way.

You're going to feel so, like, light. I already do. I already do. You never want your subplot of the road trip to be that you can't stop shitting. Tough break, Rui. Speaking of logs, the last thing I did at the A.O. Wheeler Hut was signed the Wheeler Hut was signed the logbook, where guests can leave notes about their stays for posterity. The current logs go back to the COVID era and offer a unique glimpse into life

in the cabin and the memories that were made at the park. October 15th through the 18th, 2021. Road closures, COVID restrictions, and unpredictable weather caused our family group of 12 to be reduced to only two. Lots of unforeseen circumstances. disappeared in the three months since we made the booking. So here we are, the brave grandparents, venturing to the hut on our own, only to discover the campground gate is closed. After several trips on the 1885 Trail, we were finally settled in, and what a perfectly wonderful time we have had, a cozy hut,

great trails to explore, and amazing views. We will be back, hopefully with the whole family next time. Mid- Corona, or hopefully nearing the end maybe, we get a call from the RCMP. Hey, so we've heard that there are 15 people. There's this thing called Corona. What you're doing is very illegal. You will, it's not really a good time to chat. Let me call you back in a couple hours.

James Motherfucker calls us to let us know that what we're doing is illegal. We really didn't know this, but I guess we never took the second to question it. Happy International Women's Day, a group of 17 Spunky Women from Canmore and Bamble. area had a wicked three days in this lovely hut. Exo! La Bamba Babes! Hey guys, Sam here. Everything's gone wrong.

Owens truck locked with almost everything I had inside. Can't find you guys or get a hold of anyone, so I called a roadside assistance company. See you soon. Hopefully, just my luck. I'm 10 years old. This is my second time at the Wheeler Hut. I've also been to the cane hut. We also had a snow cone shop and I went touring for the first time.

I'm so happy I got the opportunity to experience all the things the Alpine has to offer. P.S. Snow plus condensed milk equals best ice cream ever! I took a poo in the morning. Forgot me toilet paper. I had I back to the car. Pooy bum. For a bit of G. January 5th, 2025. Wheeler Hut shenanigans. Binion Wants' epic adventure. Abbott's slide paths tend to draw a bit of a unique crowd.

Some say of the otherworldly kind. As we're ripping down the As Sulcan Valley Highway, a kind stranger stops to chat for a moment. As we shed some layers, a mysterious bag of space goodies falls from his shiny Cortex jacket. For the sake of not littering, we split seven grams of nature's finest gift. I turned

back around, and Benny, he's beginning to panic, saying that his skis are melting below his feet, as he began to push forward things suddenly. He wakes up puking uncontrollably. It was all carbon

monoxide-induced fever dream. Carbon monoxide poisoning is common in these cabins stay safe july 23rd 2025 stayed here two nights as part of the big skukum bcassie road trip we hiked great glacier trail so beautiful great view we recorded an episode of our podcast here next to the crackling fireplace check out bittersweet infamy episode 131 the big scookum bittersweet ambush enjoy a fun quiz show about bccee ruy drank too much broom juice frown love taylor Josie, Lucia, and Rui.

As we said goodbye to the hut and pulled out of the parking lot to head toward our next major stop, Lucia Hot Springs and White Swan Lake Provincial Park, amused aloud that I couldn't wait to come back to Glacier National Park someday. And as luck and our pattern of leaving behind important items would have it, we would be back at the Arthur Wheeler Hut, a lot sooner than any of us had thought. Leaving Glacier, we craned our necks taking in the dramatic mountain views from the car windows. It was gorgeous.

But we were supremely eager for coffee, not decaf, which is not real coffee. We needed coffee, coffee. We're also pretty hungry. So we stopped in on a great-looking spot. So here we are at Legends Grill in beautiful Golden BC. We just left the... Legend's diner, baby. Legends diner, yeah, proper diner, bright pink walls, pictures of Elvis.

Lots of pictures of Elvis. That whole wall is Elvis. Spaghetti Tuesdays? Yeah, all you can eat spaghetti Tuesdays. Sadly, we're... Sadly, yeah, please don't come here before five with your spaghetti bib, and we'll turn you away. Sadly, it's Wednesday, so we are not going to get our Spaghetti. Does everyone know what they're getting for Becky's?

I think so. Okay, I want to know. Well, I already ate a banana this morning. Josie loves her bananas. That's her bananas. I'm having a light breakfast. I'm going to have lunch. This special sounded pretty good.

Split pea soup, grilled ham cheese, fries. Yeah, there you go. Amen. There you go. I'm getting just some hash browns and toast and some scrambled eggs, I think. I'm doing the brecky sandwich. Nice. What do we do so?

I'm doing the legendary breakfast. Nice. Okay, so everyone's eaten. Yeah. Okay. Good on us. Lucia bought us some scratch-and-win tickets back in Canoe and now's the time to see whether we're winners or you know the opposite most improved players yeah or future winners are we winners or are we future winners

how's your oh you're not started I have I do it I just do it off you know you do like you get the I mean you like honestly you don't even need to scratch them you can just go and scan them at the store if you want to participate in the sketch it's like extremely sad to not letters and then you scratch them off individually yeah like I think it's extremely oh I got I got a word nice how much do you get you have to get three words yeah this is a very actually when I look at these words I'm like we got Kassel's guy we got cleanse yeah that we just had one of those I got salami y'all ate that there's weed there's yeah we have door we've had some doors so far Valley is on here entered at least one door

jeans agency like personal agency to wear jeans yeah whatever you want sneak which we did saw which we haven't done yet but we're going to we're on our way to the hot springs legend cardinal novel you guys are writers do yeah dune i just reread dune you did i just saw worm yeah oh i got one word i got onyx nice yeah yeah these are crossword scratchers we should See? I liked when they used to do the clue ones that was like a clue board. I always got this. My grandma would get them for me.

My grandma was big into Scratch and Wins. Things to do with them all, you know? Yeah. I don't think I'm gonna win the Scratch and Win, guys. Me either. I did not. Sorry, missing letters. I don't know.

Yeah, I'm not, I don't think I, like, I think I, like, I think the math works against me. These have, these have a low, low rate rate. No. Because they're a to me. Yeah, that's bastards. I can't even get a candy bar for a two needs. Nope.

Nah. I mean, I'm not mad about it. Yeah, it's more than two dollars worth. And I'm more than two hours worth of a hyper-focus. Anybody want to buy another split pee? All yours, princess? I didn't. I have the legend day coming.

Oh, that's all of the milk. Thank you. Yes, please. Yes, please. Thanks. Maybe we should have said, just need the pot. That's probably the pot. They have two.

The other one is de-calfo. Oh, food. Thank you very much. Thank you. With our bellies full of food and our veins pumping with caffeine, and our clothes covered in the silver square. covered in the silver scraps of the scratcher cards, we hit the road, skirting along the Alberta border and taking in the sights. Holy shit, look at this lake.

He's not expecting this? No. Oh, like you're out of nowhere. Damn. Just jumped right in front of the car. BC, turning up, showing out. And we just drove past a really cool geologic rock formation that kind of was like a big mesa or something that sprung out of nowhere. Josie, you've been doing your research. What do you got? reading from Wikipedia over here. That's the light of any podcast's crown. It's a hoodoo formation. Okay. It's called the Dutch Creek Hoodoo. It's formed by over time as the ground shifts and moves cracks form that cause pockets to form. And then when rain begins to fall, it's easily caught the cracks that can often settle within those pockets. As temperatures drop, the water freezes

and expands the pockets causing large portions of rock to break off it's uh the process is referred to as ice wedging yeah i know ice wedging i remember a science okay so that big like series of like kind of rock stacks was a hoodoo yeah cool and it looks you're right they do form a lot in the southwest yeah it looked it didn't look like what i'm used to seeing in bc as far as like the mountain landscape yeah and there was sort of one of them and there haven't been any before since yeah yeah it's just a little pocket of hoodoo just a little how'd you do

yeah who do you think you are you know yeah it's really it's cool it looks like in the American Southwest they're caused due to

different types of erosion but up here it's that specific ice ice wedging baby ice wedging let's wedge some ice later also sounds like yeah or like something that you do

to pass the winter further up north yeah fair enough wedge some ice or hoodoo or hoodoo yeah you could do some hoodoo By now, the Wi-Fi and cell service were patchy and the musical options degraded along with them.

At first, we were spoiled by the curated playlist Mitchell prepared for us. Then we moved on to Lucia's playlist of songs with the word what in the title, personal favorite, What Does the Fox Say? Then we had to settle for the only music saved to my phone. My breakup slash gym playlist from 2019. We stopped at the Canadian tire and Invermere to get a replacement air mattress for Rui. Not the last Canadian tire stop or mattress replacement in the near future. Stay tuned.

And then we headed toward our next destination. Lucier Hot Springs. The hot springs are these beautiful pools right next to a raging river. They're technically part of White Swan Lake Provincial Park, which is down a big fuck-you gravel logging road. You'll want your best driver on the White Swan job. We had Lucia, as the road is skinny and winding and on the side of a cliff. These unpaved logging roads, gravel-spewing avalanche-prone pains in the ass though they may be,

are a quintessential part of the BC road trip experience. In fact, the last time I was on a similar logging road, Rui and I were in Pemberton trying to get to a different hot spring. The gate to the hot springs access road, to our dismay, was padlocked shut, and we've been trying to remedy those hot spring blue balls ever since. well we made it to the luciet hot springs it's luciish it's luciish it's lucii how do you feel about the lucet hot springs fine good i'm glad they named them after me finally yeah it's a petition several petitions

took a lot of work but you know what everything should be named up for me so we're on our way kids we're on our way keep finding a good fight thank you for your votes etc we're getting there we're getting there um before we came ruy and i watched a movie at the Rio called Hot Spring Shark Attack and it's it's a Japanese kind of like I don't know like a horror like a horror comedy yeah yeah like very game showy like campy yeah the concept is like they're all like in Japan you know how onsen's hot springs are so popular it's basically like if you imagine like a shark that can like compress itself and travel up the hot water pipes and attack people in the hot springs it's very funny

The shark can also electrocute and releases methane. Yeah, it can explode. And in the end, they need to, like, go into it. Like, the scientist, the mayor of the hot spring town, and this buff shirtless guy, all need to get into a submarine together and kill the king shark. It was pretty good. It was honestly pretty good.

It was like out there with Shark Nato. Yeah. I love Chargato. She's so beautiful. Well, no, it was real. Oh, it was real. It was a documentary. Yeah, yeah.

Both. Both. Both. Yeah. you've got a gunk on your gunky gunky mitchell over here oh that explains where the gungk oh you're doing a little spa day well mutant what's it called no that's like a healthy mud that's got minerals and gigajoules yeah gigajoules yeah and we're right down by the river and there's three pools hot medium and you guessed it cold the cold's pretty good cold is pretty good

Josie had a good time in the cold. I like the colds. I like, okay. I disagree. I mean, there's a gentleman out there who's been just like... Chilling. Chilling in the whole, cold river. Is he still there?

No, he's still there. He's still there. Is he ahead of it? Yeah, he's a big smile. Yeah, that's like... They must be like from a Norwegian, like Norway or something. They must be in a very cold place. Deep in the blood.

Yeah. Yeah. The hot springs were filled with people enjoying the three ponds of hot spring waters. We all scrambled over boulders, getting to the water temperature of our choice, and we met our campground neighbors who were a big group traveling from Manitoba. You may have heard them actually in the background at Lucia Hot Springs speaking an old version of German called Low German. We talked to them briefly, learning that they were from a Mennonite community, and they were traveling

by RV out to British Columbia, enjoying the same beautiful scenery that we were. Though one young girl from their group, she admitted she missed the sunrises from home. BC's mountains prevented her from seeing the sunrise in its full color show like she could see in the flat, flat prairie lands of Manitoba. The gentleman who had set up camp in the cold river, he was a chaperone in their group, and he explained to us that it was so flat where they lived, you could walk your dog run away for days. Lucia asked them about the snake pits of Manitoba and how much do they all love the Jets. Twilight fell between the mountain peaks and under the cover of night, the river kept rushing and the hot springs kept babbling about their warm waters.

The crowd there only thinned a little as more and more people came to enjoy the steaming waters. Eventually, we made our way back up to the car where we had found somebody had left a beautiful little bouquet of wildflowers on our window shield. We very promptly found the tiny Canadian tire bucket, which we had purchased from that day's Canadian tire visit, and plunked the flowers in the bucket and on our dashboard. Back at the campground and warm from the waters, we slept soundly under blankets of stars. We woke up the next day and hit the shaky logging road again. We stopped briefly in Cranbrook for our second Canadian tire foray, that someone could get something that they left. I don't, we left so many things.

I can't remember what we got in this particular Canadian tire trip. In fact, I think we went to this Canadian tire twice. Like we all went in, came back out, and then went back in. So, I don't know, sponsor us Canadian tire. I can explain the Canadian Tire situation because I was directly affected. You see, while we were setting up camp at White Swan Lake, it became clear that I had left my own inflatable mattress sitting on the wood chest at the Wheeler Hut, all the way back in Glacier National Park.

Even worse, I'd also left behind an alpaca sweater that had previously belonged to my late grandmother, Linda Basso, last heard on Bitter Sweet Infamy episode 33 telling a childhood story of being attacked by the crampus in old country. And he would swing that chain underneath. the bed, make sure, and he hit us, and it hurt. You can buy a new air mattress at Canadian Tire, and God knows I did, but you can't get a new sweater from your dead grandma. I cried about it a little in the hot springs. The steam covered my manly tears. But with the lows of the road trip also come the highs, and one notable high came while we were on our way to the small town of Salmo.

While driving through BC's easternmost parts, winding through summer crops and in between small towns. I got a call with a Houston area code. Lucky I saw it because I never answered my phone. And it was a local Houston Community College calling to tell me that I was offered the teaching job that I had applied for. Worried that the international call might drop along these twisting roads. I didn't let the HR representative even finish. I said, I'll take the job. I'll take the job. It was excellent news to hear when you're already having so much fun. But we were about to lose one of the gang. Rui was headed to Shambola.

Here we are at the Dragonfly Cafe in Salmo B.C., you know, small town. And where are we, the Okanagan or Kootenis? Coutney's, silly thing. West Kootenie? Nice. Just a small town, Cootney, town. Yep, and, you know, a lot, a lot has changed. A lot has changed in the past little stretcher road.

number one, Hulk Hogan, dead. Number two, Chuck Mangione, also dead. Number three, Josie, new job. Congratulations. That should probably have been number one, but Hulk Hogan and Chuck Mangioni are dead, folks. What did you say about that, Josie? RIP. R-I-P. Er-N-R-N-R. That was how Josie reacted to the Hulk Hogan news.

With an exaggerated Australian, Ar-N-R. And much razzing was had by me. Not for Chuck. Not for Chuck's a... Yeah, Chuck's a shame. We love Chuck. We don't wish death on anyone. No, no, but if it comes to...

Sometimes we celebrate. No, we don't. We don't at all. We don't do that. That's not our style. No, no. It's a categorically negative, sad response. Here you go.

Floats to the top of this tyrical bit. It feels disingenuous. You know? And we're here in Selmo, because we're... Rui is going to Shambola. Tell us about Shambola, Rui. I've never been. I want to go. Yeah, but what is it?

It's a music festival. That is like five days long. It's no ins and out. It should be fun. EDM? Yeah, EDM, just like yoga music, you know. Yoga music. Lulu Lemon music.

Yeah, like elevator music. Yeah, all the greats. And we're enjoying just the small town ambiance before we head out the the Salmo library was doing a little book sale Josie got a book I got a book oh what what book did you get I got um the outer harbor stories by Wade Compton okay he's a Vancouver right yeah from Vancouver you know mm-hmm though the book is from the Salamo Public Library oh okay books from Salamo you know yeah um from Manitoba now nope just

from here oh shoot I studied with this guy who blurbed him Mac Johnson there you go so now so comes recommended. Another blurb, Eden Robinson. There you go! You may recognize from the Big Scookum-Bee Ambush, yeah. Bitter'sute Ambush, yeah. Yeah. Well, I hope you enjoy. Yeah. Well, we'll miss you when you go, Rui. I'm sure. I'll miss you all when I regain consciousness. There you go. Shambola is an electronic music festival that's held on a 500-acre family farm. When the festival is underway, the population of Salmos swell from a thousand citizens to 20,000 festival devotees, eager to wish you a happy sham.

As you wind down the dirt road that separates the farm from the main highway, you're greeted with a series of hand-painted signs, welcoming you to a forested other world. Eventually, the dirt road gives way to an endless sea of outbound tents and sunburnt revelers. We unpacked our car to get Rui's stuff, and then we set our bittersweet farewells. Do you need any sort of silly hat? No. Dragon unicorn thing that you have? No, that's cool.

Yeah, it is quite warm. You don't want your half-tete? No. Okay, please. Your te? I actually go with that... Last call on corn. Yeah, are you sure you don't want more corn, bro?

Yeah, I know, but I'm a good thing. Lots of inflatables around. I see an alien, a big cock that Lucia pointed out, as in like a dong, a wiener, a penis, not a chicken. Holy cow, it is a fucking scorcher out What's the forecast supposed to be like tomorrow? 29 That's not so bad

That's not so bad That I can squeeze this in right there No, I can't What am I going to do without you? I know, I don't even know if you were going to make it home No, probably not Okay, will you close it one last time? Yeah, do the honors

Do you have every, are you 100% sure that you have everything that you need. One last time we all make the... Okay, shib-ishimi, yeah. Okay. Okay, I should do the job. Hey! We did it, everyone.

Rui, thank you so much for coming on the trip with us and for all the driving and for everything you did. Thanks for the fucking car. Yeah, mainly. I love you. What's so much fun. You too. And be safe, okay? Yeah, yeah. I'll try.

Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Not here? Yeah, exactly. You should leave Shambola. I love you. Come back and say hi. How nice, too.

Having safely delivered our precious cargo to Shambola, we proceeded to our next stop, Beaver Creek Provincial Park. Beaver Creek is the John Smith of Canadian place names, extremely common, so let me be a bit more specific. This Beaver Creek is a great little campground just outside Trail, BC, with clean toilets, free showers, and plentiful fishing in the imposing Columbia River, which snuggles up against the campsite. Either of you ever go fishing? I went once with my uncle Dave and my brother in Minnesota. I hated it so much. Boring? We're so boring.

I just like, I was not the age to be in a boat with my uncle and my brother and nothing else. else but fish. Yeah. How about you, Taylor? Not really. Rui goes crabbing. Rui goes crabbing, although not fishing, I don't think. Okay.

But I'm, I don't know. I feel bad for the fish. Even if you throw them back, you're kind of... I wouldn't like to be disturbed like that, you know? Yeah. Hook in the mouth. Yeah, hook in the old mouth. No fun, no fun.

And, like, the con of it all, you know? I thought you were a fun meal, but no. It's one of those things like, hunting where like I'm not interested in it as like a leisure activity but I'm interested in knowing how to do it to acquire soon sure I think that that's a good thing to know yeah I don't love torturing animals to come no I say I will say that this trip has made me regret not living somewhere where I can hear water noises. They're nice.

Can you get a fountain? I could get a fountain. Or a fish tank. Or a fish tank. I thought about that. My ideal would be to build a little creek through my life. Ooh, yeah. I could also hear all the raccoons come and party

in my own. Yeah. But like, whatever. Shit in your creek. Yeah. Shit's Creek. Exactly. That's okay. Back at the campsite, we cooked up some dinner, and Taylor and Lucia very kindly helped me

cheers to my new job with a bottle of Prosecco, bravely purchased at what Lucia referred to as the meanest cold beer and wine in BC. No, but then you can just do the, um, twist up a napkin and put it in for the cork. No, I just don't want to leave the cork in the woods. Oh, that's fair enough. Yeah. A squirrel mate choke. Yeah.

No, that makes perfect sense. It's true. I don't want to choke a squirrel. What I do want to do is propose a toast. Sure. By all means. We have three little Dixie cups here and a bottle of Prosecco that I feel like is really grateful to us for liberating it from perhaps the least welcoming bar in BC. Do you want to name names? No, I don't. I don't. I can't remember the name, please.

Let's just say if you're in Fruitvale... Don't name towns. If you're ever in a town that rhymes with the brute, pale, griddish blolumbia. Be careful where you buy your Prosecco. Words to live by. Yeah, truly, truly. What, that old chest?

But, yeah, I think this bottle of Prosecco had been in that cooler for... It was definitely the only one, and I think it had been there for a minute. So we've... Did you have to, like, blow off a fine layer of dust on it? A little bit, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was like in the parent trap, the remake in the 90s, where he, like, blows off the dust from the wine. He's like, this is the wine your mother and I drank on our wedding night.

Oh, my gosh. Except it was like a little scarier. Yeah. Yeah, so we're going to propose a toast to Josie's new chapter. Woooo! Yeah, we can toast to that. We can toast to a very successful. first chapter of the big

Skook and Beepsy Road Trip in which there were four horsemen of the apocalypse there were only three... Oh yeah, by the way, we decided while you were on the phone that you're war. Your war, yeah. Because I shot called shotgun on death and we wanted to be

famine. Yeah, and I think I just took plague because there was two left and I'm not I'm a lover, not a fighter. Yeah, war is a lot to handle, but I'll take it on. Yeah. War is hell. War is hell, as they say. Oh, oh, crisp. Fresh. Yeah, serve Josie first.

Aw, this is so nice with my hot dogs. It's cold and everything. Yeah. The way to live. That fridge was uninviting and many a way. One of the nice ways was that it was very cold. Oh, was it? Yeah, it was chilly in there.

We don't want you to stay long. Right. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. And thank you, Lucia, for building the fire. And thank you, Josie, for cooking such a lovely meal. Maybe it was the Prosecco, but when I woke up on the morning of road trip day

5 at Beaver Creek Provincial Park, I was about ready to call it quits. The tent was hot, my energy was low. I've realized that for me, it's time for a trip to end when I can't find any of my individual things, and by this point I had well and truly lost my shit. But walls are meant to be broken through, and as Josie suggested, caffeine often helps. So we regrouped at a nearby eatery where, at Lucia's suggestion, we extended the big skukum-BC road trip to go back and recover some important casualties. So I'm so sorry.

I lied. I'd lie more in Canada, to be polite. That's the Canadian way. Are we recording? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shosie just got an Americana. She didn't order. It's a Canadian. A Canadian. Sorry, sorry, I forgot about the tariffs on the Americanos. We are currently in Winlau.

Yep. And we're at the Sleep is for Sissy's Eatery. having some nice local... Coffees. Yeah, appropriate. Fuck is... Fuck sleep. That's why they give you

the Americano Canadian or whether you order it or not. Yeah. No, right now we're currently on Operation Save Linda's sweater. Yes. The big Skookum-Bee road trip has gotten bigger skukum and more...

Sentimental, I don't know. Yeah. You know, I haven't told you this. I think I may have left my grandmother's handkerchief at the hut. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. I haven't done.

seen it in a while. Yeah. Just went missing in the car somewhere. And last time I saw it, the hut. So we're going back to the hut to, we left some things from our grannies behind at the AEO Wheeler Hut. So we're doubling back to Glacier, like the dummies we are,

but we get to take a ferry and see some new sites and go to the sleep as for Sissy's eatery, so it's all good. I think it's really an excuse to kind of take another route. Yeah, we were going to kind of have to dilly and dally pretty hard between trail and Vancouver Which we're quite good at It's true

We could have did it We're great at doing things at 6 p.m. We're going to Billy and Dally on this route too I think That's fine, fuck it Yeah, we're doing in three days What a hardcore road tripper would do in one Yeah, but this isn't a hardcore

It was specifically scheduled not to be a hard-clog trip We're specifically a softcore road trip Yeah, just nip Just nip in some light bush Exactly Softcore road nip Yeah We left our sweet lunch spot and we hit the road headed further north.

With the revised it was going to be a longer driving day, so we had to make some good time. Though before too long, we pulled over. I mean, you can't just drive your way through the entire trip. That's not what it's about. And besides, the view of Slocan Lake was well worth the quick stop. Long blue lake with mountains and glaciers running the full length of the view, highly recommend. We headed even further north now and we got ourselves to the free barge ferry that goes across Upper Arrow Lake and leads eventually to Revelstoke. And while we waited for

the ferry, we kept clear of the trailhead that had a handmade sign reading, Keep Out, Mama Grizzly with three cubs. Okay, duly noted. So instead, Lucia scampered down to the windy lake side to build rock cairns and walked a bird and prey hound for fish. Taylor and I stayed out of the wind in the car do you get seasick typically if i'm in like the fresh air and i can kind of like see a stable point yeah like horizon or something horizon yeah then um but i'm okay then i can kind of like get myself but i'll feel a bit nauseous yeah well we're gonna not we're gonna do our best not to puke but no promises you know we'll try to aim it over the side we'll try fuck

It's true, yeah. You lose nothing by trying. During the brief ferry trip, we were greeted by beautiful views, stiff winds, and the eccentricities of our fellow passengers. You know, it's not mine to record, but here on this ferry, there are about three people doing yoga, and I don't know if you can hear that wind, but it's not yoga man weather. God bless, finish Columbia. Now that we were in extra innings of the road trip, we didn't have campsite reservations, and when the first two campsites we tried were full,

we were starting to get discouraged. Thankfully, a helpful park employee pointed us to a gem of a campsite, weighty recreation site just outside Revelstoke. Lucia made the heroic drive back to Glacier to recover the goods, while Josie and I were left to set up camp, take in the natural beauty of our latest temporary home, and reflect on the many mistakes made along the way. Not my problem.

A mistake, you only make one. You know what? What is the teaching, you know? Yeah. And we've learned something from this experience. Yeah. No, I seriously, I saw that big bottle of prune juice, and I saw Rui neck in it. And I had a thought of, like, Rui's a farmer.

Rui knows fruit. Yeah. Ruey knows prune better than I know. Yeah, and I'm like, I should drink more prune juice. What am I doing over here? Yeah, cut me in on that. No. Never.

No. Uh-uh. what is it called prungeuse and vodka i think it's called a pile driver because it gives you fucking piles but like oj and vodka is a screwdriver screwdriver oh that's funny yeah that's very very funny i'm really into the color of this lake right now yeah we're sort of looking at this like really beautiful gray sky sort of this like muted green uh mountain with just little smoky clouds crawling around it at like low levels and then we've got like all of it kind of reflected off the surface of this beautiful clear i don't know is this an inlet lake it's damned oh there's that damn loon again

there's that damn loon driving me loony so i'll say a lake but it's like this deep turquoise color that's really remarkable it's really pretty i'm surprised it wasn't more full than it was although it filled up shortly after we arrived, which makes sense. Yeah, camp attendant said we got the last spot, which I'm not quite sure. She may have just come to us last. She came to us last. We got like the third to last spot. Yeah.

It's a pretty fly. Pretty fly. And we did a really good job while Luchia is off on sweater retrieval duty. We've done a pretty good job, I think, setting up the camp, setting up the canopy, setting up the tents. Yeah. Just you and me. We're down to finally, too, we're shailing participants at an alarming rate, even if only temporarily. Yeah.

Look at these little birds over here. Which ones? You see them under the tree over there? Oh yeah, they're playing. Duck aroundies, little ducklings. Yeah, very cute. Ducerone. Lots of very sweet.

Oh, look at that rock. Like I just skipped a killer rock. That skipped like 20. Watch, watch, watch. He's showing his son how to do it, I think. Watch. Show off. That one was less impressive.

That was like five, though. Now watch this little kid's gonna fuck it up. Oh, I should keep it down. I can, if he can hear me, I can. Yeah, the lake is quiet. Voices carry. Don't need to heckle a child while he skips his stone.

You're just going to eat the rock. That's not to run. Go for it. You ready? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we're both equally bad at skipping stones. I have a drink in my pocket. So do I.

Take out your drink. Okay, I'll try one, I'll try one. Okay. First one to get it to skip once. Right now we're at zero. We're tied to zero. I can only give away so many French boyfriend hats on one trip, you know? Are we going to get some wind up on this?

That was two. But if I get two, then Melvin Boyd. Oh, that was nice, though. That had like an arc to it. Okay, well now I need to beat that. This is like horse now. Uh-oh. Horse the basketball game, not horse the creature.

The basketball game is named after the creature. Creatures need it after the basketball game, actually. Oh. A little bit back, yeah. Oh, that is. Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow, you're good. You're good.

No, they look good when you do it. Even if they don't go far, they look good. They've got style. Yeah, style points for sure. No, I'm going too hard. I'm throwing too hard. Honestly, this one's big, but I'm gonna try it. Do it, do it. Yeah, this one, mine's too. Oh, whoa. Whoa. It did a little flippity-due, yeah. Okay, honestly, all of these years, my whole problem has just been that I'm throwing it too hard. Can we head back and get dinner started for Looch? Sure, sounds good.

Hot dags and corn? Yeah. Another cylindrical delights. Yeah. Let's go. So our little stay here in Wadey marks a first for Josie and I in our friendship first campfire we've built together. Yeah, they shouldn't. They should have kicked us out.

They should have kicked us out. They should have shown us the door. But no doors. It's all outside. That's the beauty of it. And it also brings into relief the importance of kindness and the barter system in this environment because I needed to fill my mattress. Gentleman next door, Toby, needed some firewood, gave him some firewood, let me fill my mattress.

And then later on, he and his daughter, Yara. came over and gave us some, you know, a little kindling to help our fire achieve its best self. So it's nice to be nice, I think, is the lesson. And also, like, make sure you bring your own generator for your mattress pump, too. But this isn't even the first mattress. This isn't even, there were two mattresses got left behind at various points in this. trip there. It's been a mess. Two mattresses. My grandma's thing. We left their meds behind. We left their pillow behind. Did Lucille leave anything behind?

I don't think Josie. I don't think you have either. Oh, your grandma's handkerchief thing. Well, fuck. But we've got kindling and that's the important part. This is the fire is looking pretty good. Another thing that I don't know if we've actually mentioned yet is that like, I don't know, just in general, I've been so impressed by the quality of, there we go. Doesn't that fire go? Oh, wow. Josie, you are glowing bright red. As are you, my dude. Wow. I might have, uh, I might have overdone it on the fire.

Dang. Okay, there we, it's chilling out a bit. Um, I've been really impressed by the quality of people that we met on this trip. Um, everyone's been quite nice. The quality of people? The quality of people. That sounds like a eugenicist. It may be in your fucked up head. I'm saying that we met nice people on the trip. We met nice people. They were all very, um, their skulls were good shapes. fingers were of an appropriate length. Good people to carry on the species, apparently. I mainly just meant nice people, but Josie's got her take on it too. Well, I mean, I agree. Thank you. If I'd had my wits about me, I'd have hit record when Lucia pulled back up to our campsite.

I think some part of me was worried that the news would be bad and the sweater would be gone. I needn't have worried. The ACC folks are honest and Lucia is a pro. Safely recovered? my air mattress, and more critically, Linda's sweater. I was delighted. And it turns out my grandmother's handkerchief was in the pocket of my shorts the whole time. I just didn't think to look there. Oops. You should always document a successful rescue mission, so on their way out of the cabin, Lucia left one last entry in the Wheeler Hut logbook. July 25th, 2025.

Lucia here. We got a day's drive south only to realize we left an item of great sentimental value plus an air mattress, oops, in the hut. We had to carry on to Selma to drop Rui off at Chambola. But since we're grown-ups with a car, an appetite for adventure, and more free will than we know what to do with, we decided to mount a rescue mission to the forgotten items, and so we came back. The drive up from trail through the Slokane Valley, the ferry across Shelter Bay, and the second time coming in from Revelstoke to the hut was gorgeous, one of the most scenic stretches of the trip so far. Long story short, the Big Scucombe, B.C. Road trip has only gotten bigger and spooky since our last entry, and we couldn't be happier about it. Love to you all, and we hope you feel as enamored with and moved by this incredible, singular part of the world as we do.

love, Buchia, Josie, Taylor, and Burroughan Spirit. P.S. Don't forget, you're always allowed to double back if that's what you need to do. Thanks for listening. If you want more infamy, we've got plenty more episodes at bittersweetinfamy.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you want to support the podcast, shoot us a few bucks via our coffee account. At K-O-5Fi.com forward slash bittersweet infamy. But no pressure.

Bittersweet infamy is free, baby. You can always support us by liking, rating, subscribing. leaving a review, following us on Instagram at Bitter Sweet Infamy, or just pass the podcast along to a friend who you think would dig it. Stay sweet. Thank you very much for tuning into this episode of the big sweet, bitter sweet road trip. It's such a sweet road trip. British Columbia exists on the unseated land of 2003 First Nations.

This episode featured stops on the unseated territory of the Dunaka, Swepham, Sainikest, and Seilch Okanagan. Huge thanks to the Alpine Club of Canada, who were very responsive via email and very willing to get that sweater back to me if we hadn't beat them to it. You guys were killer. You should check out the A.O. Wheeler Hut

if you're interested in booking at Alpine Club of Canada. Dot C.A. We are so incredibly grateful to our monthly coffee subscribers. Terry, Jonathan, Lizzie D., Erica, Joe, Sof, Dylan, and Satchel. Become a member of the Bittersweet Film Club by subscribing over K.O.5F.com

slash Bittersweet Infamy, just like all the names I read above. We're about to watch Water. world. You're really going to, we already watched it and we had some strong, passionate opinions on the subject. You're going to want to hear them. Bitter sweet infamy is a proud member of the 604 podcast network. Road trip footage in this episode was edited by me and Josie. The studio footage was edited by Alex McCarthy. Cover image by me and Lucia Mish. Music included, Morning Mood by Edward Greig, Aaron G string by Johann Sebastian Bach and there's been a murder by Mitchell Collins.

The song you are currently listening to is T Street by Brian Steele. Naur-N-R-N-R-N-R-Kogan's dead No, Holt Harkin, Harkin, Harkin, Harkin, is Died or N-R-N-R-K-Holk. It might be the joy, but it might not.