Day 4 Gettin' in the Groove

Quite the colors when the camera is set incorrectly.

Today was 303.9 miles- Charlie Lake Provincial Park to Testa River RV Park where the “cinnamon bun center of the galactic cluster” is located (yes I’m violating my diet in the morning). Tetsa is located at Historical mile 375 and is run by the third generation of owners. It’s a funky place with haphazard spots in the trees and a shower, bathroom, and laundry room that appear to be in a converted freezer trailer. The rustic gift shop, bakery, and office are likely the original buildings. There are still vehicle remnants from the army engineers who camped here while building the highway. The RV park is a bit pricey but they have a giant generator that runs all night long to provide us all with electricity which likely cost a bunch. It's worth the cost. The ad in the Alaska Milepost said that wifi was available, no more. One has to remember that by the time the Milepost comes out it’s a year old and mine is 2015. Oh well, when on a long journey you learn to go with the flow. 

My Tetsa River RV Park spot.

The long white structure is the laundry, washroom, and shower facility. It had large freezer-like outside door handles. 

The office, bakery, and gift shop at Tetsa River Lodge.

This has been a long day yet a more relaxed one even with the small calamities- truck canopy latch not working (yay for duct tape), trailer screen door latch snap breaking (yay for small bungee cords and industrial Velcro), wheel bearing cap throwing grease (figured out in Fort nelson, found Dalex Auto, and they replaced the cap for $10CDN in about 15 minutes!), and now the trailer door has decided it doesn’t want to stay closed while driving (still trying to figure it out. I always travel with it held in place with a bungee cord). There was a lot of rattling road plus, I’m over 1,000 miles into the trip so it’s no surprise things are starting to be challenging. Although the wheel bearings were greased and new hubs put on not too long ago which means the cap they put back on was a piece of crap and it appears they over greased it. Thank you AGAIN Marysville Les Schwab for being incompetent.

The auto shop in Fort Nelson

The weather was lovely so the only challenges to driving were the typical 7-9% grades with plenty of curves. Soooo steep.

Another long straight stretch

British Columbia is a province of natural resource dependence. Up until Fort Nelson it’s ag land (hay and wheat were obvious), forestry everywhere (same destruction different country), and energy (oil and gas). It’s a bit disturbing to see large swaths of boreal forest cut for the giant powerline towers and maybe gas lines. You can’t look over the forest without seeing some sort of use. It finally dissipates north of Fort Nelson and you really feel like you’re in the wilderness. 

Gas station

First view of the Alaska pipeline

Wildlife sightings: black bear, 1 deer, red tail hawks, sharp-shinned hawk, kestrels, northern harrier, chickadees, and some small birds that love to hang out on the shoulders and in the road trying to be roadkill. I haven’t looked them up yet but they are extremely common. Butterflies included mourning cloak, painted lady, sulphur, and fritillary all mudding at a random litter bin pull out at Historic Milepost 234. Apparently the old highway came out here but they realigned it in 1992 and eliminated 132 curves. While there I took Templeton for a potty walk and attempted photos of the butterflies. At one point I turned around and saw a large black critter ambling down the old road right toward us so I tossed Templeton in the truck and grabbed my camera. Black bear! I watched it disappear and just as I was getting ready to leave it popped out in front of the truck in the bushes and wandered over to the roadside where it chowed down on greenery. The only time it darted away from the road was when a semi-truck roared past.

Now you see nothing on the old highway

Moments later

Roadkill was mostly butterflies today but then I had the sad sighting of a freshly killed black bear cub at Andy Bailey Provincial Park. That was a tough sight to see. Saw a roadkill raven later. I wonder about all of the widening of the highway going on sometimes right where a moose crossing sign has been placed and there is no accommodation for the critters. As most of you know safe passage for wildlife across roads is a passion of mine, bolstered by the number of roadkill I see around home. As these highways are widened and straightened here in B.C. more wildlife will eventually die.

live Mourning cloak

Lesson #4 It takes four days for the fears and mind-critics to start quieting down.