August 16, 2014
It was another sunny and “hot” day
in Canada today. It was 64 when we got up, but because we didn't
have connectivity and we were traveling (so didn't have thermometer
outside) we didn't know what the high was today. It felt hot and we
kept the air conditioner on in Fred all day. The first time since we
left the lower 48 that we had to do that.
The fire situation has improved and we
understand they are making progress in containment. The Yellowhead
highway was reopened this morning. YEA! It was definitely worth
staying in Smithers last night to avoid the 150km detour. Canadian
Tire in Smithers has propane, service, dump, potable water and large
RV parking spaces. There is a good deal of road noise, but we slept
well any way. There were 3 other RVs there last night.
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| Smoke at the base of China Nose |
Before leaving Smithers this morning we
went to the Saturday Farmers Market. There were fresh local veggies,
home baked items, jellies/jams, meats, as well as some craft type
items. There was a good assortment of locally grown/made items and
lots of people were there shopping. We made several purchases
ourselves.
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| Garlic cheese bread, sweet roll, new potatoes, sugar snap peas, chocolate whoopie pie, huckleberry jam, and grilled pork skewers |
Since the highway was open we headed on
east across BC with a planned destination for tonight of Prince
George, BC. Less than an hour from Smithers is the small town of
Houston, BC. Population 3,163. At their visitors center there is
the worlds largest fly fishing rod on display. It is a 60 foot long
anodized aluminum fly rod designed by a local fisherman and built by
local volunteers. We just had to stop and get a picture for our
fishing friends. Then there was a park next door that was just so
pretty. Beautiful flowers and a fountain. They was also having
their fall fair in Houston today.
We also stopped in Burns Lake. The
visitors center in Burns Lake has RV's park across the street at the
college, so this is where we stopped. We had cooked the new
potatoes from the market before we left Smithers so we had a
wonderful meal of potatoes, grilled pork (also from the farmers
market), sugar snap peas (market), fresh tomatoes and home made bread
(yep, market) for our BIG meal of the day. Nope – not having
supper tonight. Interestingly, while out walking Scout we saw a sign
indicating this was also the Emergency Reception Center (ERC) for the
fire evacuees.
We decided to go in and see what they were doing. We
met the director of the local BC district equivalent to EMA. She was
a very nice lady who shared what has been going on in their center
since last Wednesday. We found their center operated and looked much
the same as the ones in Alabama. Things were much slower today since
most of the evacuees were allowed to return home today. We learned
that their primary disasters are major fires. Of course they also
have winter storms to contend with at times. However – they have
to be really big storms to cause a problem here. We learned that
they usually have snow on the ground 8 months of the year. No wonder
they like summer so much. Nope – we are not moving to BC. So
after a nice visit at the ERC we headed on down the road.
After Burns Lake we drove through
Vanderhoof, another interesting looking little town. We didn't stop
there because we had already stopped so many times. However, they
too were having their fall fair this weekend. We have noticed that
in this area there are large patches of trees that have turned
completely yellow and have started to drop their leaves. We had been
told that fall lasts about 4 weeks, from mid August to mid September.
Anytime after mid September they expect their first snow.
In between the small towns we visited
today we saw large areas of forests. Timber is huge business here. Saw
mills with acres and acres of timbers they are making into various
types of lumber. Land that is not growing trees seems to be farm
land with huge hay fields. Guess they feed lots of hay with all the
snow they have.
Tonight was are at the Walmart in
Prince George. There is a Tim Horton's within walking distance so we
will go there to post. Hopefully, we will have a quiet night. We
may watch another movie and have some popcorn for supper. Tomorrow
we plan to be in the Canadian Rockies – probably Jasper, Alberta.
Thanks for the prayers. Hopefully, rocky mountain pictures tomorrow.
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