The North Okanagan leg of our 2013 Sweat the Debt Tour wasn’t quite as hot as the day before, but still hit 31 degrees in Vernon.

We started in Salmon Arm where an Alberta tourist came by and lamented the fact his once-debt-free province was slipping back into the red. “We just didn’t learn our lesson,” he said. “Old Ralph [Klein] knew how to say no, but that went out of style a long time ago.”

In Sicamous, I met two long-time supporters of the CTF who regaled me with stories of the area’s development over the past five decades. Great stuff, fun stories.

In Vernon, I met up with Fred Nault, one of our local CTF agents, as we showed off the clock. At one point, a well-muscled, heavily-tattooed, head-shaved man ran across the parking lot toward us. “I just wanted to shake your hand and thank you for trying to keep our $#&#*^@ politicians in line! They need it!”

Finally, we stopped in Oyama at Gatzke’s Farm Market. Bitter disappointment ensued when we discovered the café was already closed, which meant no pie. Boo! So we settled for some fresh Okanagan cherries instead.

Kelowna tomorrow to wrap the Okanagan portion of our tour.