Author: Rae

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Prince George to the Other Side of the Pine Pass

I left my friends’ place late Saturday morning:

the best non-advertised campground near Prince George :)

the best non-advertised campground near Prince George 🙂

Getting out Prince George was harrowing. Instead of using my common sense that told me that highways 16 and 97 north would intersect with signage at some point, I used Majel. She led me down a road with a bridge with a 2m clearance. Miranda needs just over 3m. Thankfully, there was a crescent road right before the bridge, so I was able to turn around effortlessly, get back to the 16, and ignore my GPS all the way to the 97 north. 🙂

I stopped for gas at a Mohawk station that sanidumps.com claimed had a dump station, but it was closed. 🙁

My next big stop would be Dawson Creek, about 400km north. I decided to go halfway to arrive in Dawson Creek mid-day Sunday and stay through to Tuesday morning.

The drive was lovely and fairly easy. Lunch was had at a rest stop on the Crooked River:

Crooked River from rest stop

Crooked River from rest stop

There was a couple in a large class A parked here with me. They pulled out before me, but our destinies would be matched for a time…

During the lunch stop, I decided to get over the Pine Pass and then stop for the night at the first suitable rest area.

Pine Pass is the lowest and most northerly highway crossing over the Rockies. Everyone I spoke to in the past few days told me to beware this crossing, that the climate would change quickly and that the going would be treacherous. I’m getting tired of people working me up like that because the Pine Pass was easy peasy to cross!

There was a beautiful rest area just after the summit:

Azouetta Lake, just past the Pine Pass summit

Azouetta Lake, just past the Pine Pass summit

The couple from Crooked River were there and I was asked where I planned on spending the night. We had both had the idea to stay right there as the views were spectacular, but the high winds coming over the pass worried us. We therefore decided to rendez-vous at the next rest area, about 40mi (75ishkm) north.

So, that’s where I spent Saturday night, at the West Pine Rest Area:

West Pine rest area

West Pine rest area

It was just going on four when I pulled in, so I went for a quick walk to stretch my legs, gabbed with the couple for a bit, then just crashed with a cold beer. What a tough life I lead. 🙂

The evening was pleasant, if a tad noisy, and I slept way too well, awaking this morning at 8!!! The couple was long gone and I was equally eager to be on my way. Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway was just 200 km away.

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The Non-Repair of the Fresh Water Intake

ooooops

ooooops

Obvious solution: remove all hose and run new, which involves removing panels and manoeuvering in very tight quarters.

Repair difficulty level: medium

Effort level: extreme

Cost: $$ to $$$

Not so obvious solution:

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Repair difficulty level: easy

Effort level: minimal

Cost: 2$, including tax, at Canadian Tire (provided someone leaves you a perfectly good piece of otherwise useless potable hose)

How does one fill the tank?

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Just screw a potable water hose hooked up to a potable water supply to this new fresh water intake.

When not in use, place a baggie over the new intake and secure with a rubber band.

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Out and About In and Near Prince George

Prince George, located at the confluence of the Fraser and Nechako rivers, is called BC’s Northern Capital. It is a beacon of civilization in a vast and empty land of black spruce and open blue sky set against snow-capped mountains. Prince George’s primary industry is lumber, followed closely by tourism.

Yesterday had me move from the Bee Lazy Park to my friend’s place of work (10km north of the RV park) where I parked Miranda for the day while I went exploring for a few hours.

There wasn’t much ‘touristy’ stuff that interested me. The town is renown for its railroad museum, but I was feeling very ‘meh’ about that, so the only museum I did yesterday was The Exploration Place. This small museum is a hodgepodge of mostly hands on exhibits. It didn’t take long to tour, but is still worth a visit. I paid for the ‘deluxe’ entrance that included a simulator ride. Having ridden one in Las Vegas that had me racing down the Strip in an Enterprise shuttle with Klingons firing full phasers at us and another that had me assimilated by the Borg (I’m Geek!Girl and proud of it! 😀 ), I didn’t have very high expectations for a small town, small museum sim ride, so I was very pleasantly surprised by the fun, ten minute ‘under water’ ride.

stained glass windows at The Exploration Place

stained glass windows at The Exploration Place (blurry because of no flash)

I turned from the stained glass to find these guys! Yes, I jumped!

I turned from the stained glass to find these guys! Yes, I jumped!

I then stopped to watch a movie that was straight out of my childhood. I’m fairly confident that it was my first viewing of it that gave me the bug for the north:

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Nechako River

Nechako River

I spent most of the afternoon at home (in a parking lot; love this life!) watching a movie before following him out to his spread, about 25km from town. It was a rather dizzying drive here (so much so that I asked for help back to civilization this morning!), but it was so worth it! I was especially grateful for the offer of cold beer once I was squared away. 🙂

Today, I decided that some hiking was in order, so I set off along the desolate Yellowhead highway, heading east back towards Edmonton, to visit the only inland rainforest in the world.

The views were, well:

Yellowhead Highway heading east towards McBride

Yellowhead Highway heading east towards McBride

Unfortunately, the trip was for naught; I should have brought my snowshoes!

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The trip wasn’t a waste, though. The drive really gave me a taste of what I’m going to encounter soon enough; endless stretches of monotonous solitude broken by fantastic scenery.

One final thing to say: it’s only May and I’m only in Prince George, so I know that I need to make some serious window covering preparations for the 21 hours of daylight that the Yukon gets in June. It felt like high noon at 6PM tonight and things are only going to get worse! Or better, I suppose, if you can sleep when it’s bright daylight out… 🙂

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Perfect Timing

One of the first emails in my inbox on Tuesday evening was from a couple of readers who have a spread just east of Prince George. The email was an invitation to stay as long as I want on their property, with a 15A connection and internet!

So, that’s where I am today and for at least the next three days. I am so grateful for this respite!

Their place is on a dead end road and surrounded by trees; it is a lovely spot. The sunset last night was spectacular. I cannot believe how lucky I am to be here!

So, I’ll be in Prince George for a bit and doing more sightseeing than I had planned on. I thought to look for a couple of days of work, but am not sure the results would be worth the effort, so I think I’m just going to chill out and enjoy this wonderful gift!

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Being Back on the Road

The Bad:

Being on the road this time around is different than it was in the early days of September 2008. I’m enjoying it a lot less this time, finding driving the rig to be exhausting. Oh, I still adore the portable lifestyle, as my friend Donna calls it, but I’m not so loving being 50′ long. While a lot of RVers regret buying too small, I am beginning to regret buying too big.

I’m caught in a sort of conundrum: my rig is perfect for me in terms of living space. The 31′ feet rear bedroom + dressing room layout is the difference between having an RV and having a home. But for driving, it is a pain, especially when I am towing. I grow weary of missing potentially interesting turnouts because it’s not clear if I’ll be able to pull out. I know from last September that hooking and unhooking several times in a day is unacceptable and that there is also the matter of getting caught in a place where you can’t unhook. I’m starting to dream of having a 24″ rig that wouldn’t require me to have a toad and, yet, I can’t imagine living comfortably in something that small. Perhaps the solution would be to ensure that I never go to a cold climate so that a small scooter would be a good toad for me.

Another thing that I am weary of is being The One Responsible. Even if someone cuts me off or otherwise does something that could cause me to cause an accident, I’m at fault because I choose to drive a huge vehicle. It doesn’t matter that the car drivers are not letting me get into the proper lane, forgetting that I need a large breaking distance, and ignoring my wide turning radius. I just don’t find this fair. Yes, I choose to drive a big vehicle, but they choose to be idiots!

The Good:

I’m on the Gold Rush Trail heading to the Yukon. In terms of milestones, I’m a third of the way there. My next big milestone will be Dawson Creek, mile 0 of the Alaska highway. I cannot even express the mess of emotion that I’m feeling right now, how I tear up every single time I realise just where I am and where I’m going. I was convinced that the North was lost to me, after dreaming of it for so long. I just couldn’t see myself making it there, not with the way my old life was going. I think I know why I can’t imagine the future beyond September: the Yukon was the last dream of my old life and when that dream died, no dreams replaced it. Oh, there are things I want to see and do, of course, but there was nothing that could replace the North. It was like with Scotland, had to go there to be free of it.

So far, this trip is exactly what I dreamt it would be–desolate, mountainous, isolated, and breathtakingly beautiful. If I am happy so far, in still relatively non-remote British Columbia, imagine how I will feel once I pass Dawson Creek!

It is good to be back to a schedule-free life, to not know where I will stop each night, to fill my days with wondrous sights, and to sleep in my own bed everywhere from a Walmart to the rim of a gorgeous chasm. Much as I might complain about some of the hassles of RVing, this is where truly belong, on the road, heading towards a dream.