RVing

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The Non-Repair of the Fresh Water Intake

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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.

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Lake McLeese to Just Shy of Prince George

Well, the one night at the Chasm wasn’t enough to catch up on so many weeks of poor sleep! I fell into bed at 9 last night and woke up at 8!!!

Checkout at McLeese Resort was a civilized noon, so I took my time. I dumped the tanks, topped up the fresh water, and actually spent a couple of hours reading before rolling out. With the way I felt yesterday afternoon, I had envisioned myself tearing out of there at first light, but it was almost 11 before I left.

This was one of those non-memorable days. I just drove about 150km with only three stops.

The first one was at the Walmart in Quesnel (Kweh-nell). This was my first time seeing a big box store since Chilliwack and it was like an oasis in the desert! I felt like a pioneer reaching an outpost with a fully stocked general store! I bought a new sewer hose and then moved two blocks down to a Canadian Tire, another welcome sight!, to get some clamps to effect the fresh water intake repair.

Getting out of Quesnel was very difficult as highway 97 was closed for some reason. I used a combination of Majel and following the crowds to get around the block.

Here is the view parked at the top of the big hill as you exit Quesnel:

view in Quesnel

view in Quesnel

Part of the route went over a narrow bridge where I scrapped one of Miranda’s side mirrors (it now has a nice yellow mark on it). If the adage of bad things happening in threes is true, I should be good until I get to the Yukon! 🙂

There is a string of RV parks on the south side of Prince George and I decided to try each one until I found internet compatible with my Mac. The first one worked out fine! I’m at the Bee Lazy RV Park (BEE because they do apiculture here). I had thought to stay a few days in the vicinity of Prince George, but this is one of the cheapest parks and it’s not cheap! Plus, you have to pay for internet! That said, the connection is so good (I can’t remember the last time I surfed so effortlessly) that I feel it’s worth it. I was just going to sail past Prince George and find lodging on the other side of town, but am glad I stopped before. A checking of my email revealed a tantalizing offer that could keep me here for a bit.  I will say no more on the subject at this time. 🙂

One of the reasons I was eager to stop this afternoon was that I could feel a storm rolling in. I had just enough time to get settled in here when the sky opened up. This was the sky just after arrival:

storm rolling in

storm rolling in