CHRIS~N~CAROL

OK folks, a new phase is here. I (Chris) am learning to post to the blog. This segment covers our travel from Rosedale, BC to Smithers, BC. Most of the roads here follow railroads, which follow rivers because that was the only way to circumvent the mountians. While it is not the most direct route it certinaly is scenic. The train picture is the Canadian National Railroad along the Thomas River. There is another railline on the road side. Usually they are seperate but in places they share the roadbed because the is just barely room for the tracks do to the sheer cliffs.

The water picture is from our campsite on Kokanee Bay, BC. As you can see the weather has improved a little. It only rained a of and on that day. The saga of searching for WiFi continues because the aircard costs .69 per minute. We were able to capture a signal outside a restuarant in Lac La Heche and do our email and a little research. I took a bike ride and am discovering that the side roads usually only go to a specfic location and stop. That, and the fact that they often turn to gravel or dirt, makes loop riding difficult. Usually I just ride the road ahead on our route to see if there is anything interesting or to scout out fuel, food ect. Speaking of fuel, diesel here continues to climb. The last fill-up was $186.01 OUCH! Since our campsight was so beautiful we decided to have our 1st picnic with our travel partners Janet and Ron. We almost finished eating before it rained. Dessert was enjoyed indoors with a hot cup of coffee as it was only about 50 degrees.

The 3rd picture was taken from beside the camper in Glacier View RV Resort just west of Smithers. It's obvious where the name came from. This is Kathryn Glacier on Hudson Bay Mountian. The campground is at 3500' and the mountian top about 8600'. We were able to do some chores in Smithers. Oilchange, farmers market, groceries. laundry ect. We tried to ride the bikes to the twin falls below the glacier but again ran out of pavement. The gravel portion of the road was about a mile long and then it was a hike on foot from the end of the road. We decided we really didn't need another close-up. We went to a salmon hatchery instead where they were raising about 190,000 baby fish. It takes two years in the hatchery before they are tagged and released.

Later in the day the weather was getting pretty nice. Sunny and 60. Carol was working on a sunshade for the skylight in the bedroom so I decided to go for another solo ride. After runing out of pavement a half dozen times I decided to try a dirt road. (It looked like good dirt) I rode about 20 miles and saw some really pretty Alpine type farms. I had to stop once to let a young farmer herd his cows down the road from the milkshed to the pasture. It was getting late and I was getting worried because I had no idea where I would end up when I began to see mileage markers decending from 10-9-8 ect. I ended up in a little town only about 10 miles west of the campground on the main road. I returned around 7:30 PM in time for dinner and to join Carol as she talked to 2 guys setting up their tent in the campground. They are on enduro bikes, riding from Michigan to Alaska! She had finished her skylight cover along with a cardboard cover for the bedroom window. We needed these so we could have get a little more sleep. It is getting light here about 3:00 AM and not dark until 11:00 PM. This morning we were able to sleep until 8 for the 1st time in a couple of weeks!

We head for the Cassiar Highway Tuesday morning.

Hello Again!
Seattle was great as always, especially Pike Street Market (picture)
We had a wonderful long weekend at Friday Harbor, in the North Sound with friends Jerry and Cheryl. They built their houseboat (picture) in their back yard!! Luckily we had some of the best weather in months while out on the island. The ferry trips were fun and of course we saw more beautiful sights by motorcycle! (Gypsy went with us in her special carrier and enjoyed the whole thing.) (Picture of the 4 of us)
Back on the mainland, we picked up the camper, reloaded the bikes and headed for our last "lower 48 campground" where we met up with Janet and Ron (Picture of R&J in their back yard where we visited with them. Their son and family now live there, and they have a slab for the 5th wheel when they go to visit). Of course we needed to pick up a couple of items, before heading into Canada so one last trip to the grocery. We expect prices to be high in Canada.
Our trip across the border was unremarkable (ie. they didn't search either rig, and the dog's papers passed inspection!). Of course the weather reverted to our "usual" and we were all pretty well soaked by the time we got set up in our campground in Rosedale, BC. It was adjoined to Bridal Veil Falls Park, so Chris and I hiked about a 1/2 hour up to the base (picture) after things died down to a drizzle! The hot tub was very popular in spite of the weather, but the "heated pool" was BRRRR!
Prices in Canada are very high. Today we got the discount price on diesel by paying cash - it was $6.80/gallon!!! (We've been paying $7.25/gal!!) OUCH! The food prices are comparably high and the tax (on everything) is about 14%. Good thing we stocked up. (Are you all feeling better now?)
Today the weather gave us a break - warm and sunny, so we went for a great ride on one of the few roads. We're in Prince George, B.C., a town of about 10,000. When you leave the city, there's really nothing but beautiful mountains and trees with swift running rivers everywhere for a great distance. I feel like a pioneer! (well, except for the fact that KFC, McD's, etc. are everywhere in town. Tomorrow we head farther north! Internet access is intermittent, so we'll update when we can!

Hello All from Vancouver, Washington!

Since we last wrote, we've had lots of long rainy chilly days! Out here, they routinely talk about the possibility of "sun breaks" when giving weather predictions! (We think it's just to keep folks hopeful!).

We haven't let the weather stop us from seeing some amazing places, but the motorcycles are definitely sitting way more than we'd like! Recently we've seen the World Kite Museum, the biggest driftwood I've ever incountered, beautiful mountain waterfalls, as well as Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens (both of which were still heavily snowed in - parking lots not plowed, etc. as of yesterday!) We've visited longtime friends of mine here in Vancouver, and made some new ones. In fact, we met a couple who are now going with us to Alaska! Janet and Ron don't ride, but are lots of fun and I'm sure we'll enjoy having their company along the way. Janet shares Chris' birthday, and it's been VERY interesting to see how similar they are!

We're stocked up and heading to Seattle tomorrow. After spending a few days with some friends on their houseboat at Friday Harbor (near Victoria, CAN) next weekend, we'll do our final preparations, meet up with Janet and Ron, and cross into Canada on June 5. It will take us 3 weeks to make the long run to the Alaskan border, with many interesting stops along the way, AND the thrill of about 50 miles of gravel highway (construction) on route #37! We're expecting to be in Alaska 5 weeks before taking another 3 weeks to come diagonally across Canada and back into the US somewhere in Minnessota.

Yes, the price of diesel is ALARMING! We've started thinking of $4.39/gal as a bargain... UGH! We're both thinking we'll need to find some part time work this coming winter to refill the coffers :-).

Hope you all are enjoying a wonderful spring and looking forward to summer fun!

ChrisNCarol

Here we are in lush northern California! The trees are just as amazing as they say, and there's a herd of elk that roam the acres around us, sometimes crossing right behind the camper! They and the horses have an intersting relationship - almost like there's a demilitarized zone in the middle of the pasture. The elk of course have no regard for the fencing and I think the horses are jealous!
Unfortunately it's been cold and rainy for days, and yesterday when we drove up on the ridge behind us (about 1000 ft.) we ran into SNOW!!! Honest to goodness sticking on the trees and road SNOW! Needless to say the bikes haven't been out of the rig and according to weather predictions, probably won't be for a couple of weeks!
Our next stopping place has an indoor pool and hot tub! YEAH!!

What a great ride! About 160 miles round trip from our campground on the Russian River out to the coast and back. Beautiful twisty roads through the forest. Saw our first redwoods on this journey and the US mainland point closest to Hawaii! Great lunch at "Queenies" (in a remodeled Studebaker showroom) overlooking the Pacific at Elk, CA. It's impossible to describe the thousands of acres of vinyards on every slope and flat area, and the palatial homes that sit in their midst! Tomorrow morning we move on.
C&C