Leg # 1

West Access Route:  Home to Dawson Creek, British Columbia

June 7th thru 14th

Day # Date Description Link
01 June 7th Home to Abbottsford, BC
02 June 8th Abbottsford to Hope, BC
03 June 9th Hope to Prince George, BC
04 June 10th Prince George to Chetwynd, BC
05 June 11th Chetwynd to Dawson Creek, BC
06 June 12th Dawson Creek, BC
07 June 13th Dawson Creek, BC


Day # 8 - Sunday, June 14th  Back to top of page

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.

Hail on Highway 35

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

 

Day # 5 - Thursday, June 11th     Back to top of page

  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     Back to top of page

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

 

Day # 3 - Tuesday, June 9th

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

Day # 2 - Monday, June 8th     Back to top of page

 

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

 

Day # 1: Sunday, June 7     Back to top of page

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