Day 19 - June 20 Grande Cache, Alberta to Dawson Creek, British Columbia - 200 miles, 9.1 mpg

What a day!  Whew!  Light rain when we left Grande Cache, but that was okay.   Passed a very large coal mine and power plant, but couldn't take in the scenery due to the rain and road.

 A while later, it started snowing.  That was okay, there was no snow on the ground!   Oh, but wait.... As we continued, the snow was sticking to the trees, and before we knew it, a couple inches on the road.   I put the truck in four wheel drive, kept both hands on the wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock, and pressed on, albeit slowly, praying that it would not get worse, and that we would get through safely.   I definitely did not expect snow, was not prepared for snow (towing a 40'+ 5th wheel),  and certainly did not like driving in it with the trailer.  At home in a blizzard, without the trailer, is fine.  With the trailer, in unfamiliar territory, and on roads with no shoulders, made for quite an unnerving trip.

 Finally in Dawson Creek, we pulled into a truck wash before we got to the RV park, and I washed the truck and trailer.   They were very dirty from way back in Montana.  As we were going to be meeting the other travelers in our group at the RV park, I wanted to make a good first impression.  Can't have a dirty vehicle!

 On the way out of the truck wash was a very large mud puddle.   No way around it.   So much for a clean truck.   Had to take it to the car wash again the following day!

 We slowly started meeting the other travelers in our group, and once couple, Tom and Karen from Tennessee, have a daughter in Martinez who works with our niece, Jessica at Kaiser in Martinez.   Wow, what a small world!

 We next went out into town, obtained some supplies (ugh, from Walmart????), and scoped out the activities for the next few days.

 While I was talking to another traveler just outside our RV, the owners of the park drove up and asked for me.  I said, "Yes, I am Ed Craft."  He then handed me a small package, which had been mailed from Georgetown by my Aunt Roberta.  Yay!  My spare pair of prescription glasses arrived on the same day as us!  I can see again, comfortably!

 Shortly, we all went back to our RVs, as it was a very cold and windy evening.  Left an electric heater on all night.

Milepost 0, center of downtown Dawson Creek.  Couldn't get our picture in front of it, as it was in the middle of traffic, and getting someone to take our photo in this precarious location would have been challenging!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 53 - July 23 - Palmer to Valdez - 262 miles

Image
We followed the Matanuska River from Palmer, along Highway 1, past Moose Creek and Chickaloon, to the Matanuska Glacier.  Impressive sight, but no photos.  The air had quite a bit of smoke, so it was not too picturesque.  In Glenallen, we made a right turn onto Highway 4, heading south toward Valdez.  Shortly, we pulled into the visitor center for Wrangell-Elias National Park.   Wow, would have never known that this national park is the size of Switzerland, with more mountains.   Again, smoke obscured the sky, but we were able to see the outline of one of the volcanos.   Like Denali, most of this national park is wild, as there are only two unimproved roads entering the park (60 mile dirt road).  After the visitor center, Highway 4 headed south through the Copper Valley, heading up to Thompson Pass. It was a little drizzly going over the pass, which is only 2600 feet, but drops down to sea level in five miles.  Not like the Sierra Nevada, whe...
Read more

Day 67 - August 7 - Telkwa, BC to Prince George, BC -

Image
Another non-eventful day of driving, our last day with the Fantasy RV Tours caravan.  So sad that we will be saying goodbye to everyone tonight. I went for a short bicycle ride after we were set up, then we prepared for our farewell dinner.  It was a nice event, and every rig was awarded a certificate for something special (or not so special!)   Dianne and I were awarded a certificate for the most surprising entertainment, meaning the bagpipes, which came out for the first time way back in Fort Nelson, and were requested many times throughout the trip. We agreed with several fellow travelers that this was not "goodbye," but rather "see you on the road."  We fully intend to keep in touch with this group, and to stop in and say hello when we are in their area of the country. After the dinner, I played in the park, wearing my utility kilt.  Everyone appreciated it, including one of our travel mates who came out of his rig in his underwear to take photos....
Read more

Day 63 - August 3 - Nugget City, Yukon to Dease Lake, BC - 170 miles, 9.9 mpg

Exiting the RV Park, we were supposed to turn left after 1/2 mile.  Well, the navigator missed that part, and we wound up going almost all the way to Watson Lake, 13 miles later. We realized the mistake much earlier, but there was no place to turn around.  On a more positive note (well, not really, not wanting to capitalize on others' misfortune...), nine rigs missed the turn.  Some realized earlier than others, and were able to turn around earlier. On a more positive note, it was a beautiful drive through forested valleys and mountains.  We came across a momma bear and two cubs.  The cubs were wrestling in the middle of the road.  I stopped well away, but an oncoming car was not slowing down.  I stood out on my running board, and waved my arms, trying to flag him down, even though my flashers were on.  He finally stopped, and the passenger was taking photos of the momma bear to the right of their vehicle.  She did not like that they were s...
Read more