Prince George to Dawson Creek--June 19

I always get up before Bob so I began my day at about 5:15 and he about 15 min. later. We were all ready to move out by 6:00am because we had not put out the sides or unhooked the cars so off we went to Denny's for breakfast. After a very substantial breakfast we were ready to go.

We always reset our trip odometer to zero each morning as we leave because our trip log tells us where some important things are and where to turn, but then we also have the Milepost thick book which goes into even more detail. I keep track of both these while Dee keeps track of the log and a regular map. Marvin usually leads and she is a good navigator. We keep in touch with each other using walkie talkies and then we use the CB for communicating with other caravaners if we are close enough. We stopped after about 75 miles at a large rest area for a quick (15 min) refresher snooze.

Just shortly after Dee spotted her first moose--we saw its tail end go into the woods--but they saw it all. We have been straining our eyes trying to see the elusive creature. They are usually out late in the evening and then rest during the day so their schedule is opposite of ours. We were both stuck behind a slow toy hauler and couldn't pass or we might have seen more of the moose. We do not drive fast but he was going really slow for us. We finally got around him. Then shortly after than she spotted an eagle flying near McLeod Lake and I saw another large bird in a distant tree which could have been another, but you don't get enough time to look thru binoculars.

We read about these falls and they were right near the road so we stopped and we are glad we did. They were in the Bijoux Provincial Park and they were beautiful. We kid each other by saying "what's another falls--if you've seen one you've seen them all) of course we are only kidding because each one has it's own personality.

We went up a steep grade for 3.5 miles to Pine Pass at an elevation of 3,032' which is the highest point on the John Hart-Peace River Hwy and the lowest pass breaching the Rocky Mts. in Canada. After that we hit a long construction area where they are building additional lanes, but at least it was Saturday and they were not working. It was dusty.

Our big stop of the day was at a small town of a little over 3,000 named Chetwynd. Nice town. It's claim to fame is that it is the"Chainsaw Sculpture Capital of the World". They started this just a few years ago, but they bring in very large logs of red cedar and personally invite under a dozen very well known and accomplished artists to come there and compete. The city pays for their transportation, food and lodging while they are there and then all the large pieces are left in the city and are placed around town. They are absolutely phenomenal. A young woman at the visitor's center took us to see this year's pieces and tell us all about them and then we walked up town to see more and find a place for lunch. Afterwards of course the boys had to take a nap and then onward we go. We didn't see this but interesting note: This town lies at the nortern end of the North East Coal resource, one of the largest know coal deposits on earth. The Quinette Mine near here was the world's largest computerized open pit coal mine until it shut down in 2000.

We arrived at our campground just outside Dawson Creek and after quickly setting up a lady from the Chamber here gave us a briefing and slide show about the area. Very informative, interesting and she was entertaining, but I was so tired that by the time the briefing for our next days' trip was over at about 6pm I just wanted to go to bed. I straightened up the coach while Bob cleaned the windshield( we hit every bug in B.C. yesterday) and ate supper and then I was awake. He visited with neighbors while I just hunkered down inside.