West Access Route: Home to Dawson Creek, British Columbia
June 7th thru 14th
| Day # | Date | Description | Link |
| 01 | June 7th | Home to Abbottsford, BC |
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| 02 | June 8th | Abbottsford to Hope, BC |
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| 03 | June 9th | Hope to Prince George, BC |
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| 04 | June 10th | Prince George to Chetwynd, BC |
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| 05 | June 11th | Chetwynd to Dawson Creek, BC |
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| 06 | June 12th | Dawson Creek, BC |
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| 07 | June 13th | Dawson Creek, BC |
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Highway 49 in Alberta - straight as an arrow and green. Note the skinny shoulder. And steep too.
Mile Zero on the Mackenzie Highway in Grimshaw, Alberta doesn't get the same respect as Mile "0" on the Alaska Highway. We were the only ones there besides the young woman in the Visitor Center
Downtown Grimshaw across the road from the Mile Zero monument
The Peace River Bridge was getting a new deck & was restrict to one lane. Note the concrete barrier on our side of the middle--the lane was only 10' 3" wide leaving us less than a foot on each side of the coach for the length of the bridge. Needless to say, I didn't get a chance to look at the river while we crossed.
The Peace River
One of the many beaver lodges we saw today along the highway
I knew something was wrong with this view when I saw it, so I grabbed the camera and took this photo. It turned out to be a layer of fog about 2' thick from melting hail.
Two views of our campsite at Twin Lakes Recreation Area. We had the place to ourselves.
That white stuff on the ground is the remains of the golf ball hail 2 hours after the hail storm hit. Fortunately, we missed the carnage. We spoke with a woman that said several rigs in the campground were damaged, as was the hood of her mini van. I saw about 50 dents in her hood.
C. J. holds a few hail stones. Again, this photo was taken 1 hour 20 minutes after we arrived.
Twin Lakes
One of three beaver lodges on the far side of the lake
Couple fishing on Twin Lakes with their dog. Taken with my new 150-500 zoom @ 400mm handheld.
Twin Lakes at Dusk - 10 PM
Two Eagles with Salmon
Check out the size of the cinder blocks to get an idea of the size of this carving. I'd guess it's 15' tall & beautiful.
Moose carving - roughly full size or maybe more
Chetwynd International Chainsaw Carving Championship
Mom & dad stopped at the
Chetwynd International Chainsaw Carving Championship to watch the first day
of the championships. I fell in love with a gorgeous boy Rottie.
Gracie
Hiromu Kurita from Japan was the defending champion.
Tubby's RV Park. The RV park was 80% empty, so we got to pick our spot.
Dad did a good job of making a gravel pit look nice, eh?
Bo'sun
Would you believe that dad sat in the middle of
the street at 10 PM to take this photo? You would? I guess you know
him better than I thought!
Gracie
Day # 4 -
Wednesday, June 10th
Mom & dad stopped for lunch at the KacKenzie Demo Forest
Visitor Center. Lunch? Hey guys, I never get lunch! They
didn't even let me in this cool caboose. Mom got so much stuff to read
about the places we're going.
Bo'sun
Dad takes pictures & I check out the neighborhood. This
is what it looked like from where we camped tonight at West Pine Rest Area.
BC has such nice rest areas!
Gracie
Dad spotted his little snake on the trail to the Alexandra
Bridge and had me practically sit on it to show how small it was. Sheesh,
if I had sat on it, the little guy would have gotten lost in the fur on my butt!
Gracie
The old Alexandra Bridge over the Fraser River had this dumb
grate deck that I couldn't walk on, so Dad had me wait while he went out on it
and took these pix.
Gracie
Views from the bridge, above and below
This coyote crossed the road in front of us, but by the time
dad got stopped and got the camera out the coyote was too far off to get a good
pic with a normal lens. Now dad has his D90 with that big 150-500 lens
sitting on MY seat (he calls it the center console.
Bo'sun
Hush Lake Rest Area - lovely setting with picnic tables,
grass, etc. Dad & I went down to the lake. Cool.
Gracie
Most folks are happy not knowing what's going on under the
hood. Not dad. Sometimes I think the Chevy is just a low flying 747.
The last couple of days, he's been focused on the pyrometer showing the exhaust
gas temperature (EGT) of the engine. This image was taken after he eased
the throttle to reduce the EGT from 1300. You can see that it was still
1259 degree F even though we were only making 98.5 HP. I'll never
understand how they fit 100 horses under the hood of that truck, much less the
343 that it says are there sometimes. IMHO, the culprit is that the turbo
boost pressure should be more like 20 PSI when pulling grades, instead of 7-13.
At least it's better than the 2 PSI we were getting yesterday!
Gracie
Our campsite at the Treasure Cove Casino in Prince George, BC.
Prince George is the last real city till we get to
Fairbanks & Anchorage. Mom & dad left us in the rig while they explored
the casino. They weren't gone very long, so I guess we've still got some
money left!
Bo'sun
How to start out the second day of the trip - at the Chevrolet
dealer. How many times can you walk around a store before even I get
bored?
Gracie
A problem with the turbo vane control solenoid keeps the turbo from functioning properly resulting in a loss of power and very high exhaust gas temps.
The next stop today was BD Diesel to get the transmission valve body beefed up.
Almost done at BD Diesel - yeah! Bo'sun & I were stuck in the trailer with mom most of the day while she got a good nap.
Crist Church in Hope, BC. See the plaque below for the scoop on this old church.
Here I am inspecting how Dad parked the rig at the little
Alexandra Bridge Picnic Grounds park. We had the place to ourselves, so he
could park anywhere he wanted, but I had to make sure it looked good
anyway.
Gracie
The Port Townsend to Keystone ferry: It's hard to get a good shot of
the rig on a small ferry, but dad manages pretty good. Note how I keep an
eye on him.
Bo'sun
Aren't I just a handsome devil?
Bo'sun
Hey, I'm the pretty girl & don't you ever forget it!
Gracie
Dad always stops at the Nooksak roadside park just before getting to Sumas
and the border so we can stretch and whiz.
Bo'sun
The line to cross the border at Sumas. The customs agent asked us when
was the last time we were in Canada. Neither of us could remember it
right! We must have looked innocent anyway, because he let us through
without a hassle. I don't think Dad can count either. When the
Customs agent asked how many were in the truck, he only said 2.
Bo'sun
The parking lot at the Abbottsford Wal-Mart is nicer than many of the RV
parks we'll be at in Alaska. Dad cropped me out of the pic. :-(
Gracie