On the road.

 

Today we were on the road at 8am to do the first 580kms of the 5100kms to Mazatlan.  It'll be a little longer as we're making a side trip to Coos Bay Oregon to visit our friends Connie, Manny and dog Mitzi. Tomorrow on to Kelowna where we'll stay with Ian and Linda for a few days.  Erics brother Ian and wife Linda will stay in Mazatlan for Jan Feb and March.  I'll visit my sister Anne and niece Adrian in Kelowna as well.  Today's drive was easy except for being exhausted from getting ready to go.

We had a lovely hot dry summer with no rain and we started to worry about our creek drying up.  Not to worry in the third week of September it started to rain and monsoon and rain some more.  So much so that it was hard to clean up outside.  It finally stopped on Sunday and we managed to pack up. Today it was cloudy and from 2 to 7c so a good day.

Two nights ago and it was a beautiful evening.

A bit of rain as we left home.  It has been a spectacular fall for leaf color.

Coming into Hazelton.

Prince George 435kms.  We usually keep going and stay in Quesnel but..the whole town was booked.  I called the Tourist bureau to see what was going on and she said it was,the annual pulp mill shut down and the town was full of workers...who knew!

Coming into Smithers and there's snow on the mountains.  Eric's grandparents came to Smithers in the early 1900's from Sweden.  His dad was born there and so was Eric.  His mother came from Scotland as a war bride. Lots of history?

Off to the right is the Story family's old hay barn.  It used to be full of hay but now it stands empty with many stories to tell.

Main Street Smithers.

The museum.

302kms to go.

We stopped for lunch at a rest stop just before Burns Lake.

Getting close to Vanderhoof and the wide open hay fields appear.  It was so dry this year that crops were, light.

Vander hoof is a mill town but like many towns in the north they're falling on hard times.  Not necessarily from a lack of wood but big companies who have no loyalty to to the area where they conduct business move on to more profitable areas and ventures.  The USA just raised soft wood tariffs by 6% so that affects the market too. Hard for the local search if you're a one industry town.

Old heritage buildings.

Downtown Vanderhoof. 

From here we went on to Prince George where we're tucked into the Carmee Inn for the night. Shower, beer, dinner and bed and tomorrow Kelowna.