Valemount, B.C. to Prince George, B.C.

A good night and now off to Prince George and the Bon Voyage Motel/RV hook up.  We weren’t up early this morning because…we didn’t have far to go.  Yesterday was the long day.

Today 186 miles.

So…out of the park and on the road.  Sun and cloud and about 9C with a bit of wind.

Hmm….that’s a long lonesome looking highway.

We’ll head for Prince George.  Tete Jaune or Yellowhead was named after a fur trader and explorer named Peter Bostonais.  He had yellow streaks in his hair, and was nicknamed “ Tete Jaune” or (Yellowhead.) 

We need to head for 16 West and Prince George.

It’s a tight exit over the Fraser River.

No…we don’t want to go to Alberta.

Heading northwest on highway 16 to Prince George and then home.

First stop McBride where we’ll get fuel.  There is no more fuel until Prince George after McBride so you have to pay attention.

It is not spring here.  We saw Horsey Creek and then we saw….lots of horseys!

An old boarded up homestead.  What history and memories would be stored in these old buildings. 

This is part of a very long split rail fence.   A huge amount of work went into building this. 

Coming into McBride which is a village in the Robson valley.  Founded in 1913 as Mile 90 of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.  It received it’s name after the serving premier, Sir Richard McBride.  There are about 600 people living here.  It is an area with rich farmland in the valley bottom. 

Onward after we fuel up.  Pretty quiet living here and a long way to go for major supplies. 

Northwest of McBride travelling along highway 16 or the Yellowhead Highway.  Still lots of snow at the edge of the road. 

Over the Fraser River and if you look it’s a long way down.

From McBride north we are climbing and then descending

Coming into Prince George.

First we cross the Fraser River and then it’s a convoluted route to continue on Hwy 16 west.  You do have to wind your way through the center of town but since it’s Sunday….all is quiet.

 

So here we are parked in the lot of the Bon Voyage.  Over the years the price to park here has gone up and up.  When we started I think it was about $16 for power and water.  Now it’s $26 and the water isn’t even on yet.  They now throw in a continental breakfast but that’s probably because RVers were coming in for it anyhow!  In the end it’s an easy stop and there is a restaurant within walking distance.  Happy hour beer and then off to the restaurant for seniors fish and chips.  Soup or salad, chips with two pieces of fish and a tiny dessert for $13.50.  Plenty enough though Eric was looking suspiciously at the amount of food to start! 

Tomorrow off to Terrace and home.  Our daughter Erika said that her husband Wade had plowed the snow in our driveway but we think we’ll just go to their house for a couple of nights so we can get a shower and I can do laundry before heading home.  Our water isn’t turned on so it’s a bit of a deal to get it going and check for leaks.  Erika and husband Wade have a big 30 acre property so there is lots of room for us. 

 

 

Off to Cache Creek or so we thought!

 

158 miles from Ian and Linda’s to the Brookside Campground in Cache Creek. 

We decided at the last minute to continue on into Clinton and the Goldrush RV park which is only another 35 miles.  The weather has been warm over the last few days and we were worried that Brookside might flood.  The creek is between the RV sites and the highway and if it floods you can’t get out.  Better safe than sorry. 

We were packed up and on the road by about 8:45am as we didn’t have too far to go. 

Heading out of Ian and Linda’s and there aren’t many leaves on these trees.  Spring is really late.

As we travelled along through Lake Country some areas were already showing signs of flooding.

A nice day.  Not too hot, not too cold and a this point ….no wind.

Here we are heading along highway 97 towards Falkland.  That’s the Okeefe Ranch by the church. 

Lots of snow on the mountains here.  The snow is usually gone here by the time we come through in late April. 

Past Falkland and the fields are already flooded here.  It looks like a giant lake.

Pretty little communitys like Falkland and Monte Creek.  No leaves on the trees here either. 

52 km to Kamloops. 

Monte Lake.  There were guys all bundled up out fishing.  Too cold for me!

Coming down the big hill on the east end of Kamloops. 

As we travelled I gave the Goldrush park a call to make sure they were open and had hot showers.  When I called I had to leave a message but I did get a call back.  No problem he said that they were open but then he asked where we were coming from and I said Kelowna.  He informed me that highway 97N was closed at Cache Creek due to flooding but it should be open by noon.  The Bonaparte river had flooded the highway and it was closed.  When I got off the phone I pulled up drive BC and sure enough Cache Creek had a red icon on it saying 97N was closed and the next update was at 10am.   What to do, what to do.  Chance it being open or head up highway 5 through Valemount and McBride to Prince George.  We pulled over in Kamloops at travel fuel stop and had another look at Drive B.C. and the red icon was gone at Cache Creek which meant the highway was open but…for how long.  Long story short….onwards north on highway 5 ….better safe than sorry.  I found an RV park in Valemount called  “iRVins”  and gave them a call.  They were open and the water was on and said come on in so that’s where we headed.  We would have been dead in the water without the phone.  Our stress level has dropped by half since our daughter Krista and son in law Jeff upgraded their AT&T plan to unlimited data.  We have a phone on their plan that we can use in Canada, the USA and Mexico…how great is that! 

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New route and now a lot longer to go.  306 miles and we got a late start.  We had lunch at the travel stop and hit the road. 

Heading north on highway 5 out of Kamloops.

Just past Barriere there was construction.  They are repaving and delays which we didn’t need today.

The grass is just starting and the cattle are still being fed.  Lots of tiny calves. 

Just north of Barriere  our side has been scarified and it is really rough.  A giant rumble. 

Then about a half hour wait.

Cattle here are out on grass.

Heading north with the Rockies in the distance.  We have a bit of a tail wind so we are sailing along now.

We came south this way back in September to avoid the fires and smoke and stayed at Dutch Lake in Clearwater.  When I checked it out this morning they wanted $42 a night off season.  Ridiculous!

At the edge of the road was some guys old Ford truck collection.  They were roughly the same vintage. 

Rail road bridge over the North Thompson.

Snow is starting to melt here too. 

Up ahead Blue River.

Lots of snow on the mountains. 

It’s about 4:30 pm and only 27km to go.  It’s sunny and a warm 22C so it’s going to be a nice evening.

Coming into Valemount.  The RV park is at the north end on Loseth road. 

I wonder if there is anyone named Irvin or if it’s just a play on words!

We were in and easily parked as the sites are large pull thrus with lots of room.  $36 including Wifi and hot showers so we are set.  What a view!

It’s a beautiful, warm sunny evening and we have the door open. 

This is a super easy stop going north or south but I bet you’d need reservations in the summer months. 

All in all a good day that started out in a bit of a muddle.  We had a good days travel and are parked and having happy hour.  A shower, huevos rancheros for dinner and bed.  Tomorrow we are off to Prince George.