CHURN CREEK (aka OH, CATTLE RUN)
In honour of Queen Victoria's birthday, our annual excursion to Churn Creek happens this May 18 - 21.
Queen Victoria, also known by the nickname Drina, whose royal horse-drawn carriage, actually a Hungarian hunting phaeton, was not a 4x4 (this was the 1840's after all), although a photo of said buggy in restored condition was taken by British photographer Michael Merritt through whose lineage we can attribute some connection to our own town in Nicola Valley. In fact if you use the words "Drina" and "Churn" and create an anagram using the German language, which happens to be the language that the Queen only spoke until the age of 4, you get "ach Rind Run" which translates into English as "Oh, cattle run" which coincidentally happens to be next to Gang Ranch which is amazingly, full of cattle. One of her favourite drinks was Vin Mariani, created by a French chemist, which contained the ingredients Bordeaux wine and coca leaves. The ethanol in the wine acted as a solvent and extracted the cocaine from the coca leaves, altering the drink’s effect. Eventually, others changed and sold the drink which became Coca Cola, and in an amazing coincidence, has also been consumed on the trail in Churn Creek. Our capital, Victoria, is named after her, and is 571 kilometers from Churn Creek, and an interesting observation can be made regarding the number 571, which happens to be the US Federal Motor Vehicles Safety Standards for new vehicles, including rear visibility, of which the FJ Cruiser is known to have extremely limited rear visibility yet amazingly has traversed Churn Creek without any major incidents. In a final historical link, the Queen's breakfasts included butter, which was produced daily using a dog-operated butter churn:
More information on trip details to follow!
