August 12 – 20 Oy Vey!!

August 12 – 20 Oy Vey!!

We wait until 1030 Monday morning to go to the mechanic, allowing him his morning coffee and other habits.  No one is in the shop but it looks like people are at the house so we knock on the door, no answer.  Call on the phone, they hang up after 3 rings, we leave a message and leave.  We chat with the friendly, helpful RV park man Archie.  He has no suggestions but our mention of bringing the RCMPs into the picture garners a nod, our last resort.  Not wanting to go that route we wait another hour and use Carl’s phone, an unknown number to the mechanic, and sure enough, they pick up on the first ring. 

Having established that he will be at the shop and that we can stop by, we do.  There are no other mechanics.  We later learn that they all quit.  We asked, could you bring one back to finish our rig?  “Ah, no,” the “mechanic” says.  He is actually the business owner but what we quickly learn is he is really not a mechanic. 

We ask about the parts and he goes to a hoist and starts lowering the car that is on it.  Not sure what to expect, we just stand there.  When the car is down, he opens the hatch and behold, a large, unopened, box from the transmission company, our additional parts.  He opens the box, discards the packing and stares at the shiny new valve cover and solenoids.  Stares at it and mutters he does not know what to do with it but maybe he could drop our truck onto the other hoist and have it done in 4 hours.  “Will you,” Pam asks.  He shakes his head as he continues to mumble that he never got to know much about transmissions. 

At this point we say, “hey, we have ordered a freight transport with PNW, of our pickup and given that you cannot and have not, completed the warranty work and original repair we just need to get the pickup out of your shop and down the road.”  At least with this knowledge he finally had a helpful suggestion.  “Most likely your PNW shipment will take the pickup to Edmonton and then send it south with some other shipper.  The transmission shop is in Edmonton and could probably get your pickup fixed and back to the shipper.”

We ask him to please make a phone call to confirm that.  He does and we get the transmission shop contact information and leave.  PNW cannot get the pickup until Thursday, 3 days hence, so we settle in for a couple of days of down time, staying in close contact with the shipper and the transmission shop in Edmonton. 

Thursday arrives and we transfer all of our personal items including the 2 kayaks from our F150 into the rental F350.  The PNW truck arrives on schedule from Whitehorse and we watch as he skillfully loads the pickup.  He is a tad scatterbrained when it comes to the keys and his glasses so we clutch both as he finishes up.  He is a colorful fellow language wise and regales us with stories about highway patrol, inspections and other sundry topics.  Then abruptly, “story time is over, need to hit the road,” he quips, and he does.

 

We too hit the road around 5:00, itching to at least put Watson Lake a couple hours in our rearview mirror.  We thank Archie profusely as he has been a great host.  By this time, he is a little more forthcoming on the situation with that particular mechanic and has a few suggestions for us as we depart.  Pam says, “don’t take this personally but we hope to not see you for quite some time!”

We spend a quiet evening in the overflow parking lot of Liard Hot Springs.  Our neighbor indicates to us that he enjoyed watching and listening to us as Pam guided Carl into the parking spot.  “You work well together.” “46 plus years of practice.”  We then find out he is a man married for 51 years who is on his way to get his bride in Whitehorse for some camping.  They have enjoyed decades of camping and canoeing in these parts.

 

A lovely soak in the hot springs the next morning and we are channeling Willy as we are “on the road again.”  We see bison again as they forage along the highway.  

We travel longer days than our normal rhythm.  Friday’s highlights are a large band of Stone sheep and 2 young caribou.  In Tetsa we find those great cinnamon buns and specialty salami sticks that we enjoyed with granddaughter Sam on the way up.  We maneuver into space 12 at the Buckinghorse campground where we had our lunch stop, also on the way up.  We almost feel like we are on vacation again!  

We go through Hudson’s Hope instead of back through Dawson Creek.  The road is scenic country sides but has two steep, 10% grades!  We are in dam country, the Peace Canyon, Site C and WAC Bennett dams.  We stopped at the new, Site C dam overlook with Sam and had to chase deer out of the fence enclosure.  The  has started to fill and much of what we travel through today will be under water next time we are here.

 

Saturday evening, we stay in Tudyah Lake Provencial campground south of Chetwyn.  These spaces are gigantic and quiet.  Sunday finds us at Lac la Hatche Provencial Park, the “lake of the hatchet.”  This is a more typical park and thus a tad more difficult for us to find a suitable site.  We back into site #6 during a short squall.  Once set up we enjoy a much longer, thunder lightening and downpour storm.  After the storm clouds clear we hike down through the highway underpass and walk along the long, beautiful Lac la Hache lake.  

 

We filled out a review card at Tudyah Lake, indicating that we have been very impressed with the Provencial Park campgrounds, clean, well maintained, easy self-registration and affordable!  In many cases we pay $15 to $20/night.

 

The pull of home is strong at this point and the thought of Seattle traffic daunting.  We opt for something Pam hopes to never repeat, a 12 hour day to get us across the border and south of Seattle.  We eat fruit all day long and reluctantly leave a whole pint of blueberries where hopefully someone who needs them can find them.  We had not anticipated crossing the border so soon!  The border agent does not even ask about fruit as he is more concerned and confused as to why we would be in a rental pickup headed south towing a trailer.  Once we mention our pickup broke down in Canada he is a little more understanding.

We fill with diesel in Lynden, Washington ($2/gallon cheaper than BC) and continue our forced march south.  Just south of Olympia is a gem of a campground, American Heritage.  She waits up for us and gives us a nice easy to back into spot and we are set up right at dark.

By 1130 on Tuesday we are home and taking care of chores on the trailer in preparation of closing it up for the fall.  We catch up with a number of friends as they wander.  We chat with Shane at the transmission company and he indicates that our F150 will hopefully be on his Wednesday schedule.  We hope so as well.  That tells us that we might as well return the F350 rental to Vancouver, BC tomorrow.  We take nice showers in our own bathroom and set about doing other chores until our evening Taco Tuesday date with Dennis and Coral.  It is good to be home!  

August 7 – 11 Carl will want a new truck I am sure!

 

August 7 – 11 Carl will want a new truck I am sure!

 

We pick up the rental pickup at Barnaby, BC, just east of Vancouver.  We opted for a ¾ ton, thinking Ford F250.  They present us with a Ford F350, with all the bells and whistles.  We need a hitch adapter so we take off to Canada Tire to purchase that only to be called and asked to return since the rig they gave us is due for maintenance in 1000 km.  We set out again headed for the Cassiar route via Hope rather than the curvy, steeper Whistler route.  Hope is a pretty little town and we are able to snag an inexpensive Styrofoam cooler, some ice and some groceries to round out our “car camp.”  374 kilometers after picking up our rental pickup we are ready for our fist night of car camping.  

We head into the Gold Country RV in Clinton BC.  We have been seeing signs about their $14.95 sites and $9.99 nightly BBQ buffet.  Sounds good to us.  In the office she says, “OK, a site for the night is $26.00.”  “Not $14.99?”  “Oh, you don’t need any hookups,” as she is staring at our naked pickup, no RV attached.  “Nope, just a tent site.”  “Oh, OK, $14.99,” and she proudly hands us a US penny.  Canada no longer has pennies.  After enjoying our nightly bourbon for Carl and glass of red wine for me, we come back later for the buffet to find out that it is now $12.99 if you do not want any meat.  Well……it’s kind of not BBQ if there is no meat so Carl adds ribs and I add Filipino chicken, both delicious.

 

After 46 plus years, it has finally happened, Carl and I are sleeping in separate beds, he is on the back bench seat of the Ford F350, and I am on the front bench seat.  Thankfully we are not very tall!  We sleep “OK” in our cocoons and polar fleece blankets.  The cocoons are extremely light weight, thin yet warm sleep sacks.  We enjoy our car camp breakfast of granola, BC blueberries, and milk.  Our GSI nesting camp kit from Jacob’s company, provides us any necessary serving dishes.  Coffee is obtained at the local gas station mini-mart and we hit the road. 

We fill the diesel tank at the Prince George Costco, $1.79 litre (roughly $6.70/gallon US).  That is the cheapest we will find it for quite some time.  Wanting to make some time while we are not towing our trailer, we motor north another 355 miles to a delightful, free municipal campground at Fraser Lake, the White Swan Municipal Park.  We set up in the back row since we can easily back in, leaving the drive through spots for those towing trailers.  Dinner is leftover BBQ and green salad.  We walk the shore, watch a helicopter in the distance, and read books.  We see a biking couple come in and they set up their tent camp beside us.

She, Lisa, comes over and asks us if we want any oatmeal as the bag they had to buy is way too large for them.  We pass, letting her know we have no way to cook it given our current car camping setup.  He, Eric, takes it down to the birthday party group and he is able to offload it there.  They had been asked to join the BD party earlier and had enjoyed lots of food, so he returned the favor.

 

The next morning Pam arises (from her bench seat) early to sit up and read.  Eric comes close by her window and asks “would you like a cup of tea?”  “Tea would be great,” Pam says.  Shortly thereafter Eric returns with a large cup that Pam pours into our 2 GSI cups.  Nice, neighborly gesture, since he knew we had no way to cook.

Remember a day or so ago I mentioned that the First Nations weaver indicated our trip has gone this way for a reason.  The reason now becomes apparent.  Pam returns from the local facilities and is greeted by Eric, “you don’t know it yet, but we will be joining you two.”  “That would be great,” Pam says.  Apparently Lisa had talked with Carl, eyeing our empty pickup bed and super cab.  “We just realized that that an infection that Eric had a while back has apparently returned.  We need antibiotics and can we get a ride with you to Smithers?”  “Of course,” Carl says.  Eric is frantically picking up their camp and I tell him there is no rush.  We are only up this early because the sleeping arrangements are not ideal.

 With their bikes and camp fully loaded into the pickup bed, all of our gear stowed under seats, and Eric and Lisa in the back bench, we head for Smithers, 134 miles up the road.

 

Eric assures us he did not offer us a cup of tea as a prelude to Lisa asking us for a ride.  He is curious as to why we don’t have a cooking option in our car camp and we explain the unknown of whether or not we could bring fuel onboard the train and cross into Canada with it.  In hindsight we could have purchased a 110 hot plate and just plugged it into the 110 outlet (one of the bells and whistles) on the F350! 

 

The time passes quickly as the 4 of us have lots of things to share with each other.  They are more recently retired than us and have been on a long, back roads bike trip from Moscow Idaho.  We are long retired and making the most of a long, convoluted trip to Alaska with our pickup and travel trailer.  They enjoy being aunt and uncle to a brood of nieces and nephews, we definitely enjoy being Nana and Papa to our 4 grandkids and more recently, Viv’s grandkids (getting to know them slowly).  We all enjoy a variety of travel opportunities.  We drop them in Smithers and hopefully they are able to obtain the antibiotics so they can continue to Prince Rupert and the ferry to begin their return home.  They thank us profusely for saving them 3 solid days of biking while Eric was fighting an infection.  They offer and we refuse, payment for diesel and suggest that they just pay it forward when the opportunity arises.

 We continue north to snag our travel trailer and hopefully a pickup that is well enough to drive home.  A very interesting stop for us was Witson, or the Widzin Kwah (formerly Moricetown) canyon.  In this small, powerful canyon we watch active, successful salmon netting by the Wet suwet en First Nations which is a real treat. 

Given our early start we decide to push on and we make the turn north at the junction of the Yellowhead Highway #16 and the Cassiar Highway 37.  We are glad to be off of this section of Highway 16, the “Highway of Tears,” a whole different, disturbing piece of ongoing history you might want to read up on.

Just past the 16/37 junction is the First Nation’s community of Gitanyow Historic Village with the largest collection of standing totem poles in NW British Columbia.  The rest of the day is easy driving on a very scenic country highway.  We turn west at the 37/37A junction and head for Stewart BC, along the Alaska border.  We opt for a hotel to catch up on sleep and a shower, having seen numerous, large billboards advertising the King Edward Hotel, $79.

 

Arriving at the hotel we ask for a room.  “We have rooms across the street in the motel for $149.00.”  “How about the $79/night rooms?”  “Oh, those are a promotional rate.”  Pam’s blank stare and request for one of those nets us a $79/night room, almost.  “That is for one person and there are twin beds only.”  Another blank stare.  “We will take one of those.”  “That will be $10 extra for the second person.”  “That is fine!”  We finally have a room for the night.  What the heck, we have been sleeping in separate beds for a few nights anyway!  I wonder what they are promoting if they don’t even offer the rooms to customers!

 

One of the reasons we took this side trip, well, two, we are not towing a trailer and there is a bear “feeding” boardwalk just across the line in Hyder Alaska.  We will make it to Alaska again!  After about an hour futzing with the required Recreacion.gov website to get the pass for the day, Pam gives in and has son Jacob order the pass on his home computer.  Recreation.gov is required for so many great federal recreation opportunities that are located in places that have little to no cell coverage.  This is very short sighted of the government and there has already been one lawsuit about the exorbitant fees the vendor charges.  Maybe a short note to the Oregon Congressional delegation is in order.  

Bright and early the next morning we dine in the room on our road trip breakfast and head out for the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation area in Hyder, Alaska.  It is a couple miles to the US – Canada border and about 5 miles past there.  Oddly, there is not a US Customs post as you enter Hyder.  The boardwalk along Fish Creek and Marx Creek is very sturdy and enclosed on both sides and every entrance, to hopefully keep any bears away from all the curious humans.  

The creeks are overflowing with Chum Salmon, returning to spawn.  The photos do not do justice to the number of salmon and the active splashing that is ongoing.  Sadly, no bears came to feed while we were there but we do see two delightful, curious cubs on our short drive back. 

 

We make it through the Canada Customs just fine, although he asked more questions than we have been asked in a long time.  Where is home?  Portland Oregon.  Where have you been?  King Edward Hotel.  How long will you be here? A couple more weeks.  Do you own this vehicle (giving the rig a good look and with a definite set of his jaw)?  No, we rented it.  Where did you rent it?  Burnaby, BC.  Why did you rent it? To retrieve our travel trailer in Watson Lake, Yukon.  Any cannabis?  No.  Any alcohol? Yes. Any firearms?  No, and we are on our way.

 

Today is a slow mosey up the very pretty, country type two lane highway.  There are no passing lanes but lots of turn outs and not that much traffic.  The mountains are large, the country big and the vistas amazing.  There is a bit of cloud cover so we cannot see the tops of some but the drive is quite enjoyable.  We stop at one spot with a spectacular, rocky, monstrous mountain and Carl sets up the spotting scope we borrowed from son Zach.  He has spotted a mountain goat.  Pam can finally pick it out after much coaxing…..Viv will understand this…..Carl – “see those trees along that ridge that goes over to that opening,” or something along those lines.  There are many of all of those things on this mountain.  Pam – “OK, from this telephone pole straight up, which direction is he?  Oh, way far off.  OK, from that pole instead, up the ridge.  There he is!”  And off we go.

 

We have a tentative evening stop in mind but find another, very nice alternative, the Morchuen Lake Recreation Site.  This is another free site, 8 camp spots, a pit toilet, and self-maintenance, meaning, bring your own toilet paper and pack out your garbage.  Our large spot has a lake view, picnic table, fire pit, and is very quiet.  Too bad we don’t have hot dogs!

 

Sunday we motor on up the Cassiar enjoying the scenery and the gentle winding roads.  There are some 8% grades but not very long ones.  The foliage is nearly in its fall colors, which seems quite early.  We stop numerous times to look for bighorn but do not find any.  The wildlife observations for the day include a quick darting fox and a pine marten.  We stop at one lodge, hoping to get a coke.  It is eerie, not a soul in the entire building, tables set, lights on, but nobody home.  We wander among the wildlife mounts thinking surely someone will come.  Another customer comes through the door hoping for a cheeseburger.  The three of us eventually leave. 

 

As we leave the Cassiar mountains we enter the Yukon plateau and are back in the low growing, boreal forest and flatlands.  This area has burned numerous times according to the woman who owns and runs Carol’s Cookshack at the junction of the Cassiar (#37) and Alaska (#97) highways.  A nice sausage dog (she is out of the pork tenderloin) and we are on our way. 

 

By 5:30 we are back at TerraVia, our travel trailer and settle in with hope that tomorrow brings us a functioning pickup.

 

 

Dinner!

Curiosity!

August 2nd – 6th Planes, trains and automobiles

 

August 2^nd – 6^th Planes, trains and automobiles, Uber, Lyft, Shuttles, and public transport! 

After returning from our ferry trip to Juneau we are able to snag a rental car at Whitehorse finally.  We travel back to Watson Lake stopping in Teslin along the way.  Another nicely done museum, the George Johnston Museum tells the tale of the local “Tlingit elder, trapper, fur trader, entrepreneur and photographer.”  A self-taught photographer, he chronicled the life of his people through black and white photographs, during the first half of the 20^th century and the coming of the Alaska Highway construction.

 

Also at Teslin is a small wildlife gallery with species information and full-sized mounts, on most of the local wildlife.  Both stops were worthwhile.

 

Tonight, we sleep once again in our parked trailer, TerraVia.  We set the alarm for 2:15 hoping to catch the northern lights.  The cloud cover, however, blocks any that we might have seen.  We continue to talk with locals and Facebook RV travelers about alternatives to get our pickup back to the states.

 

Returning to Teslin we spend one night and also take in the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre.  We see a beaver and 4 moose that day, a cow and 2 calves crossing the highway, and one being harvested by local Tlingit at the Heritage Centre, the meat later to be distributed to elders and the families of the 4 who harvested the moose.  No photos, but we enjoyed their Centre and talking with them as they worked on the moose.  We also talked with a man who was weaving small items using stripped cedar bark.  We shared a bit of our story with him and he said, "you know, you will find out this was meant to be for a reason."  We did find that out a few days later and I will write about that in a few days.

We stop for the short boardwalk out to the pretty Rancheria Falls, a nice stretch of the legs.  Yes, there really is a falls behind us in the selfie, that is not all my white hair!

Hmmmmm dark beer, do you sense a theme?

We turn in the rental car at Whitehorse airport and hop on a West Jet for Calgary then the flight back to PDX, our home airport.  Hopping into another rental car, we sleep in our own bed and take off again the next morning after picking up some “car camping” gear and some extra prescription medicines.  We come in under the stealth of the night and depart early the next morning, alerting the neighbors, the Samuels, so they would not be alarmed if they saw activity at the house and garage area.  

 Not where we thought we would find ouselves on our "road trip."

We turn in this rental car at the Bellingham airport and have just enough time for a dark beer at the Paws for a Beer right next to the train station in Bellingham.  The dogs all love us as we bring our chicken dinner in to enjoy with our beer.  

We then hop the Amtrak Cascades train to cross the border into Vancouver.  We love train travel and this evening we are treated to a wonderful sunset along the water.  A delightful night at the YWCA hotel in Vancouver BC leaves us refreshed and ready for the next part of this odd (need to add by now, frustrating) adventure.  We pick up a rental pickup this morning for the drive back up to Watson Lake.  We will follow the Cassiar route and car camp along the way.