Prince George and home to Terrace😊

We started out from Prince George yesterday morning at 7:15 am with 360 miles to go.  

Sunny and 10C.

Hmmm....a little stormy up ahead.

Bid logs on this truck.  A little farther on he stopped to unload.

Vanderhoof.

The Co Gen plant that burns waste from the mill next to it and produces power.

Teeny, tiny wood.

Just a little lake by the road.

There's the rain!

Burns Lake.

Now we're in Houston.

The giant fishing rod.

Coming down Hungry Hill before Smithers.

Beautiful and green before Telkwa.

Telkwa.

The Bulkley River.

Smithers is farming country.

Coming into Smithers you cross the Bulkley...muddy in spring.

Hazelton visitors center where you can stop to visit K'Saan.

It's getting greener and only 80 miles to go!

Electric Avenue😁

In some areas spring hadn't arrived at all.

Down below the mighty Skeena River.

 

The huge coastal mountains.

It's blurry but this is the cutoff to the Alaska Hwy at Kitwanga.

The Skeena River is muddy but not very high. The snowpack is low this year which is not a good thing.

The rain returned to welcome us home.

Coming off Highway 16 onto Gold Creek Road.

The road along the bottom of our property.

Up above out buildings an an old barn.  You can see our 5th wheel stored under cover.

It's been a really early spring and my shrub border is mostly leaked out and...the laws need mowing!!

Our little house.  We're on 40 acres bounded on three sides by provincial park and we've lived here for 47 years.  Everything here was built by Eric so our ties are very strong❤️

My garden shed and a couple of garden beds.

It was a beautiful evening and the rain stopped.

The view from our sun room window.

When we got home Eric turned the power on, the fridge was started, I built a fire in the wood stove and turned on the heaters. I had bought enough food in Kelowna for dinner and today's breakfast and lunch.  We had 5 gallons of water to use until Eric restarted our water system.  I unpacked the truck while Eric got the Jeep operational which was a bit of a hoop de do for him.  Every time he reconnected the battery the security system reacted by honking the horn.  We finally got it stopped.  So, beer, dinner and bed.

Today I shopped for groceries to restock the house while Eric unpacked the back of the truck and worked on the water system.  A brisk 24 hours with lots more to do but...we're happy to be home!

Kelowna to Prince George..a hard days drive.

We arrived in Kelowna on Wednesday afternoon and for the past few days we've been chilling.  Shopping, visiting family and resting for the final two days drive. I had a nice visit with my sister Anne and we got to catch up. It was beautiful in Kelowna on Thursday and Friday but stand Sunday were cool and showery.

Today was lovely for our 400 plus mile day. As we head north there aren't many areas where it's straight and flat.  Lots of changing terrain so it's tiring to drive but Eric is always up to the challenge 😊

Up at 6am and on the road at 7am.  Here we're heading out of Kelowna.

As we head out we go through Orchards, farms and lake country.  The Okanagan is beautiful but it gets busier and busier every year.

First up Kalamalka Lake.

Coming into the old town of Vernon.

We take a cut off to Kamloops through the Falkland Valley.  Here you see espaliere trees.

Lovely small farms through this valley but they've really been hit with forest fires in the last few years so there are lots of bare hillsides with dead trees.

The town of Falkland.

Out of the valley and down towards Kamloops and the countryside is much more arid.

We roll along the South Thompson River towards Kamloops.

Down below Kamloops as we head up the hill.  Our granddaughter Abby lives and works here.

Turn off to Cache Creek and north.

It's really dry out this way unless you've got water. All along the banks of the Thompson River there are herds of cattle and fields of hay. There's very little rain here so they can grow crop after crop of irrigated hay if...they have water!

Up high we stop overlooking Kamloops Lake when we stop for a pee break.

Onward.

Look at this pace with it's beautiful treed driveway.

Coming down towards Cache Creek where we turn right onto 97 north.

Up towards Clinton and we pass a truck loaded with small pine logs.  

Begbie summit.

Spring hasn't arrived here and it's not a pretty area.

Down into 100 mile house.

Up and heading north.

Now it starts to change a bit and get greener with more open ranch land.  This is the Cariboo!

Up ahead Williams Lake and we could see a plume of smoke.  We'd just passed a good sized accident so...what now?

There is a large log house building yard by the highway coming into Williams Lake and there was a fire.

Two large piles of decked cedar logs were burning and they had blocked the lane closest to that side.

That would be a costly fire.

We stopped for fuel and then lunch in the Williams Lake visitors center parking lot.

The building was likely built be the log builders with the fire in their log yard.

Turn right and head north.

Open ranch land.

Down below the mighty Frase River and it's muddy!

Beautiful hay crops.

That's my driver😊

There's our route for the day.

Ranches everywhere here.

Kersley volunteer fire department.  Yesterday there was a huge accident that closed the highway just north of Williams Lake but we saw no sign of it.

Next up Quesnel which is a pulp mill town.  It's very green and pretty.

Over the Quesnel River.

Right through the middle of town...they could use a bypass!

Turn right to head north!

North and this is a pellet mill.  Used for burning in pellet stoves😁

Now to the Prince George area where it's scrubby and the trees are small.

Wide open highway north.

Over the Fraser River again and into Prince George and the Carmel Inn for the night.

Tucked in.  Beer, a shower, dinner and bed.  Tomorrow another 360 miles and home😊

I hope you enjoyed our days travel through beautiful British Columbia 😊❤️