Alaska Revisited

Today was our first cool and overcast morning. We went in search of a service station where we can fill the motorhome with diesel and propane tomorrow morning. We found the Farmer’s Market that only had 5 vendors at it. Crafts, baking and one market garden. We were looking for sweet corn and only found some at No Frills that been imported from a distance. Certainly not the quality of Grahams or McCullys.  We thought we would enjoy the Historical Walking Tour of Downtown. It turned out to be viewing plaques on buildings that have replaced the historical ones.   We stopped in at the Visitor Centre again to find out about the Alaska Highway House where there is information on the building of the Alaska Highway. Turns out that all the information from the original Alaska Highway Hoyse is at Walter Wright Pioneer Village in the only building we didn’t enter yesterday. We headed back to the Village and spent a fascinating hour learning about the highway that was built in response to...

Our sleep wasn’t all that restful. There was a lot of traffic, mostly heavy trucks, so it was noisy. But we were thankful to be out of Prince George.  We were on the road before 7 and were rewarded shortly after with a sighting of 2 moose a little ways off the road. Quite an easy drive today along winding roads following the Crooked, Mischinka and Pine Rivers. There was a lot of haze in the air which we determined was smoke but the BC website was not showing any fires in the area.  We stopped in Chetwynd to look at the chainsaw sculptures from this year’s competition. Besides those 12, there are over 150 sculptures around the town. The detail in them is amazing and if they are carved during the weekend competition, truly impressive. As we journeyed on to Dawson Creek, there were field upon field of large round bales of hay as well as large numbers of horses and cattle.  Our campground is outside of Dawson Creek by about 11/2 km and sits on a hill overlooking the community...

Today was tedious. We were waiting for word that the motorhome was ready to go. We have been idle since late last Wednesday and not what we are used to. We have tried to make the best of the time we had in Prince George and area. But today was tedious. Will we or won’t we be on the road again? We spent several hours in the tranquility and beauty of Connaught Hill. We did laundry. We went for ice cream. We walked.  Finally at 4:30 we got the call that we were good to go. We hitched up the Jeep and were on the way around 5:30. We had decided we would just travel a short distance north of Prince George and find a turnout to stay for the night. Mission accomplished. Onwards to Dawson Creek and Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway tomorrow. 

We were at the shop by 7:30 to pick up the motorhome. We loaded our clothes, food and other items we had with us for the last few days. We took the motorhome for a spin and all appeared in working order. We spoke with Allan, the service manager, paid our bill, hooked up the Jeep, did our pre trip checks and we were on our way.  The motorhome performed beautifully for an hour and then we came upon some construction. We had to stop for about 15 minutes to wait for the pilot car to lead us through. Just as we started to follow, the check engine light came on and we lost power again. We pulled into the construction lane and there we sat. Lawrie checked to ensure that the repair that had been done the day before was still intact and checked as many items as he could think of.  After 45 minutes, we decided it was time to call road side assistance again. This turned into a 2 hour long futile effort. They couldn’t find anyone to come for us and said we should make our own arrangements...

We moved from the cabin at Stone Creek on Sunday morning. We were grateful to have a place to lay our heads when all the hotels, motels and Airbnbs were full due to the BC Summer Games but the lack of a washroom was difficult for our aging bladders. The Econoldge has the best prices in Prince George although the neighbourhood is sketchy. The Coast Hotel and the Courtyard Marriott are within steps but there is a large homeless group who wander the streets who appear under the influence. It is sad to see people sitting for hours in one spot with nowhere to go or with nothing to do.  Prince George is very quiet on Sunday. The Visitor Welcome Centre isn’t even open. We first went to Cottonwood Island Park to walk the trails. The park is closed due to flooding. We walked a trail for a bit but when we saw evidence of bears being in the area, I got nervous and we retraced our footsteps.  After lunch at the White Spot, we found Connaught Hill Park. It is located at the top of a hill w...

We continue to make lemonade from the lemon of our motorhome issue. Today we backtracked 75 km to Quesnel and then east 86 km to Barkerville.  Barkerville is an historic town that was at the centre of the Gold Rush in the 1860’s. Billy Barker travelled to BC after being unsuccessful in making a fortune in California. He struck it rich when he pulled 8 pounds of gold out in 10 hours. The village has been restored and recreated to resemble the village of the early1870’s.  We stopped in Quesnel to pick up a few groceries. I could not resist going to see the world’s largest gold pan, measuring 18 feet in diameter. When our boys were 13 and 11 we had rented a motorhome to travel out west. We were limited to just 3 weeks and we’re going all the way to Victoria so we were driving long days. We arrived in Wawa at midnight and woke the boys up to see the Big Goose. They were underwhelmed by it and wondered why they had been awakened and couldn’t I have just taken a picture. So whenever...

Happy Birthday to Scott!  We spent most of the day waiting for the wrecker to arrive. It finally came around 3:30.  Rick was getting a little anxious as he had campers coming into the spots we were blocking around dinner time. What arrived was a highway tractor pulling a 40’ tilt and load trailer. We had to start the motorhome to get it lined up with the trailer. Lawrie steered the motorhome up the ramp, the driver worked the winch and Rick guided Lawrie to keep him in a straight line. There was about 2” clearance on each side of the motorhome. Slowly but surely it went up and they got it secured. Then the driver needed to call in for an over height permit. We were over by 2 feet. When we arrived at Freightliner we found that we had missed our time slot so we will have to wait at least until tomorrow to get a diagnosis. The BC Summer Games are taking place in Prince George this weekend and there is not a hotel room or B&B available. Rick and June have a cabin at the campgr...

When Lawrie got up from his nap yesterday, he asked if I had started with on my blog. My response was that there was not anything exciting to write about, just driving from Clinton to Prince George. How wrong could I be? We waited on the side of the road for almost 4 hours. In that time, only one couple from Colorado stopped to see if we were ok. When the tow truck arrived, we had doubts that he would be able to take us. He soon agreed as there is nowhere underneath to support the dolly. He did however think he could tow us to a campground a little over a kilometre up the road using the hook Lawrie had installed on the motorhome. It was intended to be used to pull us out of a wet campsite if necessary. Those who know Lawrie well will understand that the hook was robust. He even got to use the part he made the morning we left.  Off we went. The tow truck pulling the motorhome while it was running but in neutral. Lawrie at the wheel steering and braking as we went downhill and trying...

When you get up in the morning, you never know what the day is going to hold. It was a beautiful morning, easy driving and we were able to fill up our liquid propane tank to keep the refrigerator happy. We stopped mid day and Lawrie had his usual beauty rest. We planned on getting to Prince George in time to visit the Railway and Forestry Museum. We drove an hour further and were about 30 km south of Prince George when we lost power and the motor home was spewing black smoke. All the gauges were normal and no flashing lights or alarms came on. We pulled over onto the shoulder but not completely off the highway as it was unsafe to move over more. Luckily we are on a stretch of 4 lane divided highway and there is room for vehicles to move over.  Flashers on and safety triangles out and here we sit (lawn chairs in the shade of the motorhome as the traffic zips by). We have Good Sam Roadside assistance but it took over an hour to arrange for a tow into Prince George. The Freightliner ...

 We left the park pretty much on schedule and were at the Departure Bay ferry terminal shortly after 7. We had not been able to reserve space on the 8:45 sailing but they had about 50% availability for over height and length vehicles. It is amazing to see how many vehicles they can fit onto the ferry and how quickly they can load and unload. Finding a service station with room to pull up to the pumps can be a challenge. There wasn’t anything in the Nanaimo area or on the Sea to Sky Highway so we had decided to take Hwy 1 instead. We knew we had lots of fuel to get to Hope where there is a Flying J with easy in and out access and diesel tanks dedicated to big rigs. What we couldn’t find was a spot to hook the Jeep back onto the motorhome. We took it off for the ferry for 2 reasons: it is cheaper to separate them and it would be very awkward getting on and off the ferry.  We drove over 60 km through Vancouver to outside Abbotsford before I spotted a roadside rest area. We pulled...

We had planned on going to Tofino on Sunday but it was raining steadily when we got up and it looked like the rain was going to last all day. So instead, Sunday was a domestic day. Laundry, clean the motorhome and motorhome maintenance. We got in a couple of walks including one up the hill behind the campground for a panoramic view across the ocean to the mainland.  Monday morning was cloudy and cool but we headed off to Tofino anyway. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive over the mountains. There were 3 large lakes, Sproat, Cameron and Kennedy that we drove by. Not far from Hwy 19, we drove through Cathedral Grove in MacMillan Provincial Park. It is famous for its 157 hectare stand of old growth Douglas Fir. We didn’t walk the trail as we knew we had a long day ahead of us at Tofino.  We stopped to get information at the visitor centre and were directed towards Ucluelet. On our way to the Wild Pacific trail, a black bear came lumbering out of the bush and crossed the road in front of us...

I was going to say we got up bright and early today, but bright it wasn’t. We drove to Qualicum Beach to visit the Farmers Market. It is open every Saturday year round. It runs for a block along Veterans Way. All vendors are under white canopies so it has a very organized, professional look to it. There were at least 40 vendors ranging from produce, meat and bakeries to arts and crafts. It was obvious who the popular vendors were as there were long lineups in front of them.  It started to drizzle as we left the market to wander the town. We stopped at the grocery store, hardware store and drug store. Lawrie is battling a cold so we got a rapid test kit to confirm it was just a cold.  After lunch and a long nap, we followed the Oceanside Route up to Campbell River. We went through several small communities as well as Courtney and Comox. We stopped to observe a juvenile bald eagle along the shore. The clouds were hanging low on the island and mainland but still very beautiful sc...

 We are still trying to get to the root of our issue with the inverter charger. We spoke with both an electrical technician at Tiffin and a rep from the inverter manufacturer this morning. They gave us a couple of other things to try so we were off to Canadian Tire to buy some tools for the job. No luck with the suggestions, so it looks like a new inverter will be required. However, getting one is the tricky part. The tech from Tiffin gave us a work around so when we are settled into Qualicum Bay for a few days we will get the necessary electrical parts and get things going again. In the afternoon we meet with our granddaughter Kirsten who has been living on the West Coast for a year and currently in Victoria. Lawrie and I visited Victoria when the boys were little so were not interested in doing the usual tourist things. Instead we took Kirsten and her partner Toby on a drive up the Malahut on their suggestion. We stopped at Goldstream Provincial Park and walked one of the many tr...

Heading west from Creston, we had to cross five mountain passes ranging in elevation from 1236 metres to 1774 metres. The highest was also the first that we had to cross. The long steep ascent soon had an alarm going off -high engine temperature, not a good thing. Of course there was nowhere to pull off so we had no choice but to continue to the top and thankfully the alarm stopped. The fact that the outside temperature was 34 plus did not help the situation either.  It was a quick learning curve for Lawrie to figure out how to keep the engine from overheating. Increasing revs, choosing a lower gear and reducing speed kept the temperature down.  Lawrie had built a frame and screen that he attached to the rad intake vents to keep debris off the rad. The screen had come partially off so we stopped and removed it altogether to increase the air flow.  The highway descending into Osooyos was a series of steep switchbacks that were a little unnerving to me but the scenery was a...

 The motorhome gremlins struck again. We were all set to leave the campground and were doing our last minute pre-travel checks. We found that we had no signals. The hazards worked and the brake lights worked, but no signal lights. The panel on the dash did not light with the signals either. Out came the manuals to figure out where the fuse might be. We located the fuse panel and there was no problem with the fuse. After an hour of trying a number of different solutions, we decided that we would proceed with the trip and drive cautiously and use the hazard lights when necessary. We were out in the middle of nowhere with no RV technicians around. We headed out of the park and at the road Lawrie out of habit tuned on the signal and it worked! We have no idea what happened or why they started working again, but were thankful they did. Our journey was a short one, less than 4 hours. We crossed the border at Rykerts. The CBSA agent was most concerned about what we had purchased in the St...

 Our farmer friends will likely be familiar with Welker Farms, one of many You Tube agricultural channels. Their farms are just outside of Shelby where we stayed for the night so we headed there first thing in the morning to get a first hand look. We had watched a couple of their videos the night before where they were commenting on the drought conditions that they are under for the second year in a row. We didn't see what we would consider a decent crop on any of the fields around their buildings. Some were ok, others thin and others looked like they had been left unplanted except for tiny patches here and there. At some point they had decided just to stop planting as the ground was too dry. We noticed a lot of chemfallow fields (fields that had been sprayed to kill any vegetation and left unplanted). We estimated that heading west out of Shelby, about 1/4 of the fields were in this condition.  As we were driving around Shelby looking for a car wash, we came across a Veterans...

We decided to slow the pace down a bit today and deal with some items that needed attention in the motorhome. The appliances and receptacles that run off the inverter quit working the other day when we turned on the generator. As long as we have shore power there are no worries as the fridge works. We want to boondock a lot so we have to get the inverter issue sorted. We are closer but haven’t quite figured out the problem.  Thanks to the torrential driving rain yesterday, we found that some windows have leaks. A bit of caulking should solve that problem.  We were on our way by 1, headed to Shelby Montana. The single lane highway was challenging in spots. We would drive for 20 miles on a flat smooth road with wide shoulders, then would have a stretch of rough, grooved road with narrow shoulders with a sharp drop off.  Luckily the traffic was light again and we were able to enjoy the scenery. The land is quite barren and we would drive along on flat stretches for miles and...

 Yes that is me. Today I drove the motorhome for the first time on our trip. It is much longer than the bus we did our DZ training on. Once you get driving it really is no different. We were in the prairies of Montana so the roads were gently rolling. There was little traffic and I put 230 km on the motorhome. I might looked terrified in the photo but I really felt very comfortable.  In the early afternoon we began to see dark clouds to the northwest. We pulled into a campground outside of Wolf Point Montana. We unhooked the Jeep and went into town. Lawrie went into a Napa store to get a couple of things and I waited in the Jeep. The wind started to pick up and a couple of employees came out of the store to look at the sky. Their comments of “I can see the eye” and “yup, it’s starting to swirl” made me concerned. Lawrie arrived just in time and we headed for the campground. By now the wind had really picked up and it was starting to hail. We had about a mile to go and the wind...

 We were awake shortly after 5 due to the time change and the fact we were parked under a light and it was bright in the motorhome. We got up and showered and headed into Cloquet to the Family Tradition Restaurant where Lawrie would often have breakfast when working at Sappi. I finally got to see the plant he has been going to for 18 years.  We then headed north to Duluth. The downtown has several beautiful old buildings. The historic Central High School dates to 1892 and has a 210 foot clock tower. An impressive multilevel fountain and gardens leads up to the St Louis County Court House which is flanked by the City Hall and the Federal Court and Customs building. The dock area on the shore of Lake Superior has been turned into upscale shops and restaurants. We crossed a lift bridge that obligingly lifted right after we crossed it so we stopped and to see how the mechanisms work. It only lifts as far as required for the vessel sailing through.  We checked google maps and ...

 We woke up to rain this morning, not overly hard most of the time. Lawrie turned on the generator so that he could make coffee but the outlets did not power up. He had to go outside, partially undo the bra protecting the front of the bus from chips and reset the breaker. Of course, what he needed to access was right under the downspout for the rain gutter so he got pretty wet.  By the time we set out at 9 am, the rain had pretty much stopped. We followed M-28 through the Upper Peninsula. For over 2 hours we drove through the Hiawatha State Forest. From Munising to Marquette we followed along Lake Superior. Being so overcast, it was a cold and raw looking view. The highway was a pleasure to drive with very little traffic. Lawrie is settling in to a 5 mph below speed limit travel. The bus handles beautifully between 60 and 65 mph.  E stopped early afternoon in Ashland for fuel and the found a spot to park along Chequamegon Bay. A much needed nap after our late night left u...

We didn’t get as early a start as we had hoped. Lawrie realized in the middle of the night that he had not made the last critical part of the tow hitch on the front of the motorhome. Then it took us a bit of time to figure out the tow connection to the Jeep. It had only been on the back of the motorhome once when we got the system installed. When we started to drive away it was like pulling a rock. We got the Jeep properly into neutral transmission and all was good. We were on the road by 9:15. It was interesting looking at crops in Ontario as we headed to Sarnia. There are a lot of poor looking bean fields around. We stopped at Duty Free for a bathroom break as we will try to conserve our water and holding tanks as we will be boondocking for several nights. Also bought a couple of bottles of Baileys.  It was easy going through US Customs as we knew in advance what we could and could not bring into the US. We were however randomly selected for an agricultural inspection. We were as...