Prince George to Cache Creek

We had an interesting evening on Wednesday.  We had trotted over to the Bon Voyage restaurant for dinner which is just a stone’s throw from the motel and RV area where we were parked.  We were aware that it was in the process of changing hands when we passed through last spring and the lady on the front desk said it had only been reopened for the last month and that the menu had changed. 

It was freaking freezing as we walked over to eat….- 4 and darn cold.  When we walked in the door of the restaurant we saw someone we knew from Terrace.  We said hello to Bill Boutillier whom we’ve know since the 1970’s.  To say he was surprised to see us was an understatement.  Turns out he and his wife Bev were on a road trip with Bev’s cousin who was born in Surrey. The cousin had come out from Australia where he’s lived for the last 50 years to reconnect with family in Canada.  He started his journey by coming to Terrace to see Bev and Bill and his Uncle Harold (Bev’s father who is 94.) Now the three of them were on their way south to meet up with and visit with other family.  We all ate dinner together and had a great time chatting.  We all chose the buffet dinner for $19.95 (seniors price) and it was extensive and very good.  No pictures as I didn’t have either my camera or my cell phone with me.  They were all staying in a motel room at the Bon Voyage even though they had their small RV with them.  Bev and Bill were not aware that you could plug in and hook up your RV to water and electric for $28 and then have a free continental breakfast for the RV charge.  That’s a deal.  

It’s Thursday morning and we are ready to head out….-7C and sunny.

On the road and heading south.

It’s warmed up a bit and now it’s only –2C.

Sunny and beautiful and you can see the fields are still green with lots of hay still waiting to be picked up and stored.  Lots of second cut alfalfa here and there waiting to be taken off.

Between Prince George and Hixon and there is huge amount of construction being finished up.  We’ve not been through here since the spring of 2017 so lots has been happening. 

Highway 97 heading north is up above and the southern route that we are travelling is down below along the river.   Eric wondered if the river could still take out the highway in a good sized flood.

That’s some artsy concrete wall.

 

Coming through Quesnel.

South of Quesnel and they have harvested the grain and the straw has been wind rowed and then baled.

Heading towards Williams Lake and that’s the Fraser River up ahead.  We wondered how much evidence we’d see of the huge fires that burned all over the province this summer. 

All the way from Prince George the highway has been heavily rutted.  This is all relatively new pavement but it is really showing heavy wear that we didn’t notice the last time we travelled south.  The passing lane is okay but the truck lane is just beat.

The north end of Williams Lake and huge construction coming down the hill into town. 

Looks lovely, clear and pristine right now but during the summer Williams Lake was under evacuation notice during the fires. 

Now we’re on the south end of town and…more contruction.

It’s hard to see but the hillside has all been burned and it’s really close to town.  It must have been terrifying for the local people.

Not far out of town and the hillsides are all burned off. 

Really close to the power lines.

It’s getting more and more cloudy and we knew that there could be snow up ahead from the Arctic system that was passing through.

Hmmm…..snow on the hills.  It’s about 4C and we are getting closer to 100 mile house.  We are travelling at about 3100 feet so we are up quite high.

Snow on the trees here too.

Coming down into 100 mile where we drop down to about 3000 feet.

We’ve travelled up the long, long hill up out of 100 mile to Begbie Summit which is about 3900 feet and…

now there is really snow on the trees.  Luckily it is above freezing and there is no snow on the highway.

It’s getting to look a lot like Christmas every where we go!

Lots of snow here just north of Clinton.

Now we are coming into Clinton and the snow is just above the burned forest.   Just crazy!

Coming through Clinton.

We’re heading for Cache Creek and as we head down from Clinton we can see the burned forest on the hills.  There has also been a huge amount of flooding and the flashing road sign said… don’t stop on the highway if it’s raining which we thought was strange.  Turns out there were mud slides along the road that they were cleaning up.  Wild weather!

We are parked in the Brookside Campside just out of Cache Creek and it has changed a lot since we were last here in the spring of 2017.  At that time we left because we were concerned that the creek would overflow it’s banks and we would be trapped in the park.  Since then they have had a huge amount of flooding and the park looks a bit ragged.  There is a huge new bridge over the creek and it must have cost a bundle.  As the evening has progressed the park is almost full which is odd for this time of the year.  Maybe the very cold weather has had people on the move.  The young women on the desk remarked that August has been chilly in Cache Creek which is also unusual for this time of year. 

Strange days indeed!

Tomorrow on to Kelowna.