July 31

I woke up this morning in the Burns Lake Campground and RV park. I ducked in here last night exhausted and late after driving back roads for quite a time looking for a Forestry Campsite. The largly unadvertised and unmarked sites are usually free or very inexpensive and this one was supposed to be (is) on the shores of beautiful Francois Lake. I couldn’t find it and Vincents beautiful clean and shine from yesterday was destroyed by a section of road that had something put on it to minimize dust. Gooey.. I hated to pay the premium price for this place especially since I was arriving so late but the tenting sites are beautiful, treed and set on a hill above the RV section. The RV’s were all parked together in a big dusty field but this morning I heard them streaming out like motorized wagon train. They all get early starts and are back in a park early in the afternoon with stories of the days adventures.

The long road

I have found myself traveling with an old friend. When I got on highway 16 at Prince George, I was back on the Trans Canada highway. It is nice to see the signs. I didn’t realize it came up here and it give new meaning to the words trans Canada. A road that runs from Pacific to Atlantic (or the other way around) hugging the southern edge of the country can hardly be called a Canadian highway, although, on it’s behalf, it does transverse country.

I am also seeing Moose crossing signs on the road side. I have left the Cariboo signs behind as the woods on the roadsides gets thicker. In some areas I see a Caribou sign but come to think of it, I haven’t seen one of those in ages. The roads are longer here. I am spending much more time driving and seeing fewer towns. I am starting to fill up my tank at every gas station I see never being quite sure when the next one will come

I have had a change in plans. Right now I am heading for the Queen Charlotte Islands. The ferry is expensive so I have decided to leave Vincent behind and walk on, carrying what I need for a few days. I have a place to stay there and I have been corresponding with the couch surfing host so I have a good idea what I will need. I am just too close to miss it. Then I am heading for Whitehorse to say good by too Erik who is soon leaving Canada for a few years. After that I had hoped to head for Inuvik and Tuktayuktuk (spelled wrong I am sure) but, the writing on the wall, and in my bank account says it is time to close down this leg of the journey and head for home. I will be sad to do that, but my mantra has been to follow the wind and it seems to be blowing that way. I have put out a call to my Yukon friends to help me find 2 weeks of employment when I am there. If that pans out…I may get further into the Yukon. I won’t dwell on the future right now. The breeze is blowing me toward Haida Gwaii and I am following my nose to the sea.

I will be in Smithers this evening, Terrace tomorrow and Prince Rupert the day after (at least that is the plan unless it changes) Then a 12 hour ferry sailing. Maybe I will see some whales.

Talk soon.

PS notice that Vanderhoof calls itself the “geographic centre of BC.” Now get an atlas and check out its latitude. Then check out the places that we call the far north in Ontario. I was noticing….actually someone pointed out to me, that the Ontario North is not very far north at all in the grand scheme of things. Almost any northern community in all of the other provinces is further north. Maybe it is the vast empty or the absolutely nasty winters. Or maybe it is just because, those places are the furthest north you can really go in Ontario. I am sure there is a reason for that. Oh yeah, the Hudson’s Bay, tundra and Arctic Ocean get in the way.