We are home!

Prince George to Terrace, B.C.

Tuesday May 3, 2011

We left Prince George at about 7:15 am yesterday morning in the rain and fog (4C)  which makes for nasty driving conditions.  By the time we hit Fraser Lake and stopped for breakfast and fuel it had eased off a bit and it was lightening up.  Better.  As we drove it was amazing how cold and late the spring is.  Snow everywhere, no leaves and all the lakes are still frozen and here it is the 2nd of May.  We have never seen it this late. 

We couldn’t get into the pumps to get fuel in Fraser Lake because you know…..someone was parked in the way inside getting….pop? chips? cigarettes?   So breakfast and fuel down the road.  The breakfast was an expensive special with rubbery pancakes which was less than mediocre and I am really tired of eating out.  It has worked well for us stopping for a later breakfast and then no lunch but hard to find good food so I’m glad that’s over with.  The fuel stop at the native Esso Station (Stelat’En) was a good one.  They are cheap and really friendly and nice so they are where we will stop from now on.  As we passed through the Burns Lake area still no leaves and even the big lake was still frozen.  Crazy. 

By the time we hit Topley we were getting dry spots and it was a bit warmer 6C and the next stop was Houston to dump the p….p!  We rolled in and stopped and the dump had no water and said “Closed for Winter”  Hey, it’s May you know.  We decided to dump without using water but that went bad.  We started but the drain must have been frozen and we had a back up.  Yikes, stinky stuff that.  We packed up and decided to dump at home in Eric’s new dump tank. 

It was a bit greener and warmer in Smithers and up to a balmy 10C. 

As we got closer to home about 5km south of Princess Lake we had the scariest and potentially most dangerous incident of the whole trip and it was all due to human stupidity.  We were coming down a hill with the river and an abutment on the right and a double no passing line and a rock face on the left and as we came around a corner there were two bicyclists riding two abreast in our lane.  Eric was already geared down and hit the brakes and the horn at the same time as we rolled up behind them.  They were chatting and “DID NOT MOVE OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD” Eric kept on the horn and they finally moved when he was almost touching one of them.  A young woman with a helmet and a young guy with no helmet.  There was plenty of paved shoulder for them and when we slowed down and opened the window to yell at them the girl gave us the finger.  Eric yelled” Do you want to die!!!! Are you trying to get yourself killed!!!! and then we moved on.  We absolutely could not believe that it even happened.  We could not have gone around them into the other lane and made it back if someone was coming the other way.  Absolutely and completely nuts!!! If they don’t get killed they certainly will get someone else killed.  As we drove on there were many semis coming south and also a fully loaded B train behind us so we knew what could happen.  If my cell phone had worked out there I would have phoned the police.

So, in the end we made it home and Eric walked up the hill to check the driveway for snow.  No snow!  In we came but there was a tree across the road so he had to get the chain saw and cut our way in.  Everything at the house looked pristine and just the way we left it six months ago so that is a huge relief.  You just never know.  We pulled into Eric’s new building to park under cover and went up to the house to turn on the power.  One huge pile of bear shit at the edge of the driveway and we could see the culprit out in the field grazing.  Good, stay out there!  The house looked good and so did the garden except for one small tree that had most of it’s branches broken off from the snow.  Oh well, it’s not dead. 

We switched on the power, set up, turned on the heaters and had happy hour.  Journey done.

Today we will have to run our gravity water system to clear the mud out of the lines and then turn on the water in the house.  We drain all the lines before we leave in case the power goes out while we are away so it is a one day job to start everything up again.  There is always that potential for leaks when washers have been dry for six months. 

It is nice to seen green trees and the mountains of home.  Eric is already overwhelmed with the immensity of the projects that await him.  We had a huge wind storm about three weeks before we left last fall and the aftermath of that is everywhere.  Everything in good time!!!