Seattle to Vanderhoof, BC

April 17 – 18, 2011 – Seattle, WA to Vanderhoof, BC
Our first day in Canada was railroads and tunnels as we moved along the Fraser River up highway 1. We made it to Cache Creek, BC and camped alone in a RV park that really wasn’t quite ready. Les and I had a cozy time in our camper watching Jesse’s video, “Right Brain/Left Brain.” The water froze during the night. We climbed a high bank and were walking on the high desert. They call this part of British Columbia the “Arizona of the North.” Every campground promises shade in their advertisements, but we want sun! In the morning we scraped the frost off the seat and I rode the electric bike around the trails on the desert.
Highway 97 follows the 19th century Cariboo Waggon Road (not misspelled). There was a badger crossing sign, so I looked for that animal I’ve never met, but no luck. We did see a couple of pairs of swans.
We love this road. The towns are called “70 Mile House,” and “83 Mile House,” and “100 Mile House.” We wondered about the word miles when everything is measured in kilometers. Then Les remembered that when BC was New Caldonia, they used the English measurements, so the old Cariboo Waggon Road was measured in miles. This road was the path to the gold mining areas.
It is fun driving at 100. Hmmm. Tim Horton is getting to be a friend of ours here in BC – his coffee is pretty good! We like the other town names, though they are not as exotic as Washington state names. How about towns called Horsefly and Likely? We’re learning to count out the money, loonies and toonies (spelling?).
Williams Lake had a great visitor center made by two log craftsmen. Les is standing by a modern totem pole in there. The tree in the middle of the building is a cedar that was 700 years old.
We passed the “Devil’s Palisades,” a bank of basalt columns. I wonder why the devil is associated with those? In California they are called “Devil’s Post Pile.”
The town of Quesnel (pronounced kwa-NEL) had fire hydrants painted to portray historic characters. This one was beside the newspaper office. We saw miles and miles of piled logs and many pulp mills and wood manufacturing plants for particleboard and OSB board.
Now here we are in Vanderhoof. There’s one other camper here, and the boys were out riding their bikes with their dad through the snow patches. We rode out on the road for a while rather that popping snow wheelies.
A last note: I forgot to mention Jesse and Christina’s neighbor Steve. He comes around when folks are gardening and gets as close as a foot away! He’s black and shiny and definitely a trickster!