Day 95. Champoeg SP, OR

The name Champoeg isn’t French after all. It is said to be a corruption of a Kalapuya Indian word meaning ‘place where carrot-like roots are found’. Kalapuya is now a dead language; prior to this bit of research I’d never even heard of them, must have been a small group. They are now included in the Grande Ronde nation, as are several other small area tribes. It so happens that my niece Carina is the housing director for the Grande Ronde group.
.
This park was the site of The Champoeg Meetings of 1841-43. The Meetings were held to organize a much-needed provisional government and to vote on which country the citizens wanted to be a part of, the US or Great Britain. It was a near thing, with the US winning by only 2 votes. The Brits had more of a presence in the Portland area at that time, had a large Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading post in Vancouver, WA that was established in 1824.
.
In the mid 1800s, there used to be good sized town here called Butteville. It was wiped out when the Willamette River flooded and was never rebuilt. One old store survived and is still in operation.
.
Trish and daughter Laura are doing the factory outlet stores today (eeeeeeeeeeuuuuu!) while I research movie streaming. Can I stream movies to my laptop via the droid when the two are USB tethered? Also have to check on the replacement EDGE radio at Camping World. It was supposed to arrive last Thursday and they were supposed to call me when it arrived. From my rants in prior posts you know how much confidence I have in CW, gotta keep bugging them until they’re so sick of you that they actually do something to get you off their back.

Day 94. Scappoose, OR

What the hell is that?

.
We’ve seen some odd looking rigs in our travels but none odder than this one. We returned from running errands yesterday to find it parked beside us. Last night we were sitting around the campfire having drinks and snacks with Jim and Paulette, and the owner of the rig joined us briefly. He provided us with the history.
.

This guy owns a trucking company in eastern Oregon. He had this 30-year old motorhome with a dead engine, and decided to marry it up with a newer Kenworth semi tractor with a sleeper cabin. He chopped off the tractor sleeper cabin and the entire front end of motorhome and proceeded to put them together, said it only took 3 weeks. Obviously, he knows his way around the automotive shop and sheet metal work. Three weeks? Would have taken me 3 years. And the end product would be hands-down winner of the RV Pig Party prize.

.
When he was all done, his son gave it a paint job, and from 30 feet away it looks pretty darn good. Weird but good. Up close, you see a lot of dents in the motorhome body, and also the old painted-over graphics. He says it has a lot more power than a traditional, comparably-sized motorhome, and it also gets better gas mileage. ‘Better’ is a relative term, wouldn’t take much to beat the fuel efficiency of those humongous class-A rigs.

.
Night before last, we had dinner at the Dockside in St Helens with friends, Don and Jan, who live near St Helens. Don was one of the regulars at my poker table for several years; Jan is an accomplished artist who works in clay.

.
We’ll be hitting the road again today, headed to Champoeg SP several miles south of Portland for a few nights. Funny name, Champoeg, pronounced shampoo-ee. Looks like it should be cham-pig, don’t you think? It must be French: everyone knows that any similarity between the spelling and pronunciation of French words is purely coincidental.

Day 91. Scappoose, OR

The boys next door.

.
One’s from Nebraska, one from Portland, brothers, in their mid/late 60s. They go salmon fishing on the Columbia every day, all day, for 8 days straight now. Until yesterday, they never got a bite. Night before last, I took mercy on them and gave a blessing to older bro. You know, like the pope does from the Vatican gallery. Sure enough, older bro caught a 26 pounder yesterday.

.
Sheer coincidence? Most likely. Can’t help but wonder though. Should I bestow blessings on other hapless fishermen, frustrated job seekers, and the like? Should I put on my sandals and try walking across the Columbia? The brothers apparently haven’t become true believers, didn’t rush over to thank me or ask for another blessing. We’ll see how they do today.
.

These guys are serious about fish. They have a collapsible fish cleaning table, a food saver type shrink wrap device, and a small portable freezer that sits outside their camper. Younger bro filets the fish, older bro does the shrink wrap, stuffs it in the freezer.

.

In other ho-hum news, Trish and I spent yesterday weeding and pruning at the CC house. You know what? I don’t miss that activity a darn bit. There’s no lawn at my AZ house, just pavers and gravel. Attractive gravel, mind you. Plants are limited to low maintenance cacti, fan palms and a mandarin orange I planted last spring. There are still a few weeds to spray or pull every couple weeks but that’s the extent of it.
.

We’re heading into Portland today, stopping at REI to return the unused mosquito netting headgear. We survived without using them although Trish is running about a quart low. Thing is, you’re quite restricted when wearing the net-hats. Drinking is cumbersome and messy. Food is a challenge, too, limited to items like strained carrots and pabulum – and even then you have to really force it through the fine mesh. A rolling pin might work.

Day 87. Scappoose, OR

Pix are of precautionary steps taken to protect the EDGE (see text) and our Scappoose campsite.

.

We checked out my house (vacant/for sale) on Monday, did minor interior cleanup and fixup, will go back later this week and do yardwork. A yard maintenance outfit does the mowing, etc but doesn't maintain the property like an owner would. Well......some owners anyway.

.

Tonight we're dining with Columbia City neighbors/friends Jim and Paulette; they live a few doors down from my house. Great folks, always enjoy their company. They visited us in LHC last season. Our friends John and Mollie will be joining us also.

.

Trish is off to visit one of her daughters in Portland today, while I finish removing 12000 miles worth of tar, grime and bugs from the front of the EDGE. Or maybe not, supposed to hit low 90s today and I can't do crud removal until the work area is out of direct sun, mid afternoon.

.

Got a couple new chips in the front EDGE fiberglas but nothing drastic. When we drove from OR to AZ late last October, an early snowstorm hit east of the Cascades and the roads were graveled for hundreds of miles. The lower front of the EDGE was beat all to hell, dozens of chips. To cover the chips and avoid recurring damage, we applied a heavy coating of brush-on pickup bed liner material to the damaged areas. I also installed mud flap extensions to the stock mud flaps on the pickup, adding 5" of depth and 3" of width. These 2 precautions greatly decreased the damage and tar buildup on the EDGE front and were well worth the effort.

.

Our park is a county facility bordering Scappoose International Airport. Yeah, right, 'International' - who am I kidding? There are only 6 rv hookup spaces here and only 3 have usable sewer connections. The dufus that laid out the utilities obviously never spent any time in an rv; if he had he would have known that rv sewer hoses aren't 35' long. We may have to pull out and dump mid-stay - not a big deal but still a pain in the butt.

.

Back to the smartphone, it's a Motorola Droid that uses Google Android software. I'm debating what to name it. I kinda like Floyd. Trish suggested Ann, and commented that when I say I'm going outside to play with Floyd, it sounds like I'm maybe light in the loafers. Huh! She's getting pretty sassy (again), gonna have to increase the frequency of spankings (again).

.

Do any of you readers want to weigh in on this? No, not the frequency of spankings - the best Droid name. Input is welcome - as are additional name suggestions.

Day 85. Shelton, WA

LLCCILDT (Lost Lake Country Club Invitational Lawn Dart Tournament). The rest of the story.

John and Tom have been close friends since they were youngsters and classmates in Aberdeen/Hoquiam, WA. Their long term mates, Mollie and Elsie, grew up there also. I met these guys when we all worked at Allstate Ins in Seattle in the early 70s, our first job after leaving the military. John and Mollie now live in Beaverton, OR; Tom lives on Lost Lake near Shelton, WA.

Twenty plus years ago J & T scrounged up a few sets of lawn darts (outlawed long since) and invited several of their classmates to Tom's place on the lake for a tournament and pot luck. Yesterday was the 19th such event and about 50 people attended, most of whom participated in the lawn dart competition. Prior to the start of play, someone sings The Star Spangled Banner, the scoring rules are read, and a blessing (irreverent, funny) is given by a 'man of the cloth'. Teams are then determined and announced, and the tournament is started; play starts about 1 pm and it takes about 5 hours to get through the double elimination format.

Winners' names go on a trophy (a 4"x4"x8" block of wood, painted gold), losers' names go on the booby prize, and a there's a special Helen Keller award for the most erratic thrower - usually the person who manages to toss a dart into the lake, 20' off course. This year, one person threw 2 in the lake, meriting 2 white canes instead of one.

It's alway great fun and this year was no exception. Our friends from Spokane, Dave and Verna, participated for the first time. John and his partner won, the 4th or 5th win for him; Tom has never won so everyone cheers him on; Mollie's been in the winners' circle 2-3 times. I've won 3 times but was really lousy this year, darn near got the booby prize; Trish won her first year but didn't get to the finals this time around.

We're off to OR this morning, heading for a campground near Scappoose for next few days. I like that name, Scappoose, much more character than Columbia City - where I lived for several years - in a house that's still unsold, been on the market for a year plus.

Day 82. Potlatch State Park, WA

We were hoping to stay at Potlatch another 2 nights but we have to boogie cuz there's no room at the inn. Trish and I will be competing in the annual LLCCILDT (Lost Lake Country Club Invitational Lawn Dart Tournament) near Shelton, WA tomorrow so we need to find a nearby place to park for a couple nights. There's a casino that allows RVs to park in their huge lot so we'll probably try that. More later on this over-the-top, world class event.

Grilled live oysters over the fire our first night here, said bounty provided by Dave and Verna - and they also bought some fresh Dungeness crab for the second night. We'll have to make it a point of joining up with them more often! Trish marinated and grilled peaches and apples for the desserts. Yummy stuff.


Hood Canal and southwest WA coast is prime shellfish and crustacean territory. Dungeness is my favorite crab; Alaska king crab comes off a very poor second, okay for crab cakes but otherwise you can keep it.


En route we stopped at Camping World in Tacoma to have them 'diagnose' a radio problem in our RV: the station scan feature doesn't work, never did. Ever had CW perform any service work on your RV? Don't! They totally suck. Shitty service, bogus charges, Rip Offs Are Us. They won't fix anything or even order any parts until they've done a 'diagnostic' (not covered by the warranty of course) and charged you $70 for it.

Yeah, dumbass, it doesn't work does it? And you don't have a radio in stock to replace it do you? No, gotta order the damn thing through another CW service center somewhere down the road, then schedule the installation after the part arrives - and pray that it arrives in a timely fashion so you're still near the city when it arrives. Then, you pray some more, hoping they have a service time available to do the installation before you die of old age.

And get this, they have the audacity to charge an extra $6 for 'shop towels'! I was tempted to ask the service manager, "If the technician takes a restroom break while working on my rig, will I get charged for toilet paper? Do you count the number of TP squares actually used or do you use a running (no pun intended) average? How about soap and paper towels?" Nary a shop towel was used anyway; I was standing beside the rig the entire time and would have noticed. Bunch of nickel-diming bloodsuckers.

So, I contacted the CW national consumer complaint dept and bitched. End result: no charge for the freakin shop towels or anything else.

Day 81. Carnation, WA

“On the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again.” Tomorrow we’re off to Potlatch State Park. It is on the Olympic Peninsula, bordering Hood Canal. The campground is in the forest but a large portion of the park is across the highway right on the Canal, has lots of grass and picnic tables and a great view. We’re meeting up with Dave and Verna again, last seen in the SD Badlands about 10000 miles back. They have a LazyDaze class c motorhome, which is best of breed according to many avid owners.
.
“On the road again” reminds me of poor old Willie, who should get off the road instead of on - looks like 20 miles of bad road himself. Maybe 30. Saw him on TV awhile back and it was kinda sad. The backup group did most of the singing, Willie made sporadic attempts, mouthed a few lines, seemed hardly able to stand up on his own. Don’t get me wrong, I like Willie and I’m an old fart myself; just saying I think Willie should hang it up rather than give pathetic performances. Hell, for all I know he was into the sauce that night and is still capable of putting on a hell of a show.
.
We’re doing a marinated flank steak over a wood fire tonight. I’ve done many a flank steak on the grill but this is first on a real fire. Jill, one of the blog followers and an old bud of Trish’s is joining us for dinner. She’s quite the fun character, takes a special interest in those blogs that mention automotive maintenance (not!) so I’m preparing a lengthy dissertation on tire rotation and lube jobs.
.
Played golf today at a nearby course and played well – unlike the prior abortive attempt. Don’t know why I run so hot and cold, but I guess everybody does to some degree.

Day 80 . Carnation, WA

These pix are of the park where we're camped, Snoqualmie River and suspension bridge built in 1976 by boy scouts and a company of national guard engineers.

Day 78. Carnation, WA

I know, I know: you're asking where the pictures went. Tomorrow.

Tolt-McDonald county park is our new digs. It borders the Snoqualmie River, has a unique campsite layout. There's a large (3 acres?) open grassy area in the middle and the campsites are all pull-throughs, located on the outside of a circular perimeter road. It's surrounded by woods and a 1/4 mile from the river. It's a warm (94) Sunday afternoon and there's a steady parade of day trippers to and from the river, toting chairs, coolers, floating devices.

Yesterday.
That smartphone's doing its best to bring me into the 21st century and notable progress is being made. Today's adventure was downloading several freebie apps (programs) and trying them out. With GPS, the thing always knows your location, allows you to check location-specific weather, travel maps, movie schedules, gas stations, yadda, yadda, yadda. Gotta admit, it's an amazing little widget.

It's 5:15 PM on a warm sunny day at the park. It may be too warm and sunny for the locals, though; 20 minutes ago I heard a loud bang and thought it sounded like a transformer blowout. A few minutes later I went into the EDGE and heard the fridge beeping, meaning it was set on shore power but wasn't getting any. I suspect there was an electrical overload caused by too many folks using A/C. No problem for the EDGE however, just switched the fridge to propane.

And now........extended drum roll, full orchestral crescendo...........the answer to our trivia quiz is. Russia! And the winner is.........nobody! Either the question was just too tough or my faithful readers were too busy enjoying this fine summer weekend to ponder the challenging question at length. That means the prize will be carried over and added to the long list of fabulous prizes already set aside for the next trivia contest, as yet unscheduled.

Day 76. Wenberg State Park, WA

We're in a holding pattern for a couple nights, hovering within easy striking distance of Seattle/Bellvue where Trish will visit friends on Sun-Tues. We hope to stay at a campground in Carnation, WA for those nights. The Seattle area is sadly lacking in campgrounds - not untypical of large cities - very few, very crowded, very expensive.

Les Schwab in Anacortes was a scheduled stop on the way here, had to get the EDGE wheel bearings repacked with grease, something you do every 12000 miles. Les Schwab is an auto tire sales/service chain in the northwest that has a well earned reputation for quality, quick service and good corporate citizenship. I've given them a fair amount of business over the years.

I misquoted Mr Churchill in my last post. Here's the real thing: "A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." And now, the questions is: to what was he referring? Go ahead and guess, no fair cheating and doing your own browser search, answer will be in the next post. The first correct response gets a 7-day all expenses paid trip for 2 to the fabulous and exclusive.....wait for it........ Redneck Trailer Trash Doublewide Delight in beautiful East Overshoe, Arkansas!!!

Yes! Faithful readers, one and all, you and only you are elegible for this fantastic prize! Your loyalty is being rewarded in a manner that few if any could possibly have imagined.

A word of caution, though. Don't be thinking that the 'trailer trash' term is a putdown or a derogatory term. I'm living in a trailer myself and it's a darn sight smaller and shorter than your average doublewide.

Y'all have a good day now, ya hear?

Day 74. Whidbey.

One of the challenges of RV travel is finding campgrounds where and when you want them. The challenge is greater in the summer, of course, especially on weekends – also near large metro areas and big-draw areas like the OR coast. Many popular public parks that take reservations are fully booked many weeks ahead.
.
On our first leg, AZ to MN, we reserved nearly all campsites in advance. From MN to AK, we winged it all the way and found only one campground fully booked. We winged it again on the AK/WA drive, leg 3, with no problem. Now, on leg 4 (WA/AZ), we’re having some difficulty finding available sites.
.
We spent 2 hours in the library yesterday, researching and booking sites in WA/OR for the next few weeks – mostly successful, still have a few dates to fill. We are now both confident that we didn’t miss our calling to become travel agents.
.
It’s been chilly here at night, 52 at 5:30 AM today. It seldom gets real warm in Pacific NW coastal areas, stays maybe 15 degrees cooler than inland areas, and thus a popular escape from inland hot spells. Our blood is still AZ thin, so it feels chillier to us.
Today’s agenda is drop Ranger at groomer, play a round of par-3 golf, and tour the southern part of the island. Trish lived on Whidbey for awhile and knows the area well; I’ve only been here a time or two, about 100 years ago.
.
The smart phone hasn’t made me any smarter after all. In fact I feel downright stupid. I’ve gotta spend a block of time online researching how to do various functions. Yeah, I can make and receive calls and email but the rest of it is a puzzle inside a conumdrum wrapped in an enigma - or whatever my good bud Winston said.

Day 72. South Whidbey Island State Park, WA

We pulled out of Anacortes at 8:45 AM yesterday for a 9:30 appointment in Burlington to have a supply line toilet leak fixed under the EDGE warranty, which expires this week. Then we went to Costco for cheap gas and to look at smart phones, then back to the Anacortes PO to pick up forwarded mail (no new edition of The Mail Seekers; it was there in 2 days), then an hour’s drive south to our campground.
.
What the hell’s a smart phone, you ask? It’s a cell phone that has online and GPS capabilities, allowing you to check/send email, check weather forecasts, do google searches – pretty much anything you do online with a computer. Will I be (even) smarter when I get the phone, you ask? Oh yeah! Albert Einstein is rolling over in his grave at the very thought of it.
.
Actually, the main reason I’m getting it is to enable me to connect to the internet while traveling when cell phone service is available but wifi is not. The phone serves as a wifi hotspot when connected to a computer. When I’m at home I spend about 2 hours a day on the computer: email, banking, investments, taxes, travel and campground research, and now the blog. With the phone, I can take care of business while Trish is driving, and we’re not forced to stay in crowded, overpriced private campgrounds just because they have wifi. Very few public campgrounds are wifi equipped.
.
The weather was cruddy, raining when we pulled into camp but it’s supposed to improve by Thursday. We’re here for 4 nights. Today, Trish will be visiting a friend who lives nearby while I take care of online business at the library. The next couple days we’ll hike, play golf, sit by the campfire and mellow out. Life’s a bitch.
.
This park is on the west side of the island, bordering Admiralty Inlet (Puget Sound). It has a few trails, lots of ferns and slugs, and is heavily wooded. Some of the trees, firs and cedars mostly, are huge; one of the big cedars is 500 years old.

Day 69. Anacortes, WA

We took the ferry back to Anacortes this morning, spending a couple days here visiting one of Trish's friends and getting some work done on the rigs.

.

Yesterday we hiked up Mt Young, one of the highest points on San Juan Island. The mountain is part of SJI National Historical Park - English Camp, and has great views of SJI and surrounding islands.

.

In the mid 1800s, SJI ownership was claimed by both the US and Great Britain, and both had military camps on the island. In 1859, a US farmer by the name of Cutlar shot a pig owned by Griffin, a Brit farmer. The pig had repeatedly raided Cutlar's potato patch, and Cutlar had warned Griffin about it. The event got both military camps riled up and became known as The Pig War, a long term conflict that lastest several years; the US President even got involved. Although there was much spear rattling, ultimately there was only one casualty: the pig.

.

The Brit camp outnumbered the Yank camp 5 to 1, plus the Brits had several warships in the area. No doubt, had it come to actual combat, the Yanks would have been toast.

.

Here's a link to the full story: http://www.outwestnewspaper.com/pigwars.html.
.
Had I been there, I would have suggested to Cutlar that he throw a barbecue with the pig as a main course, lots of potatoes on the side and a keg of beer, and that he invite Griffin and the staffs of both camps to attend. True, it could have turned into a brawl, but odds are, the party would have resulted in an amicable resolution of the conflict.

.

Last night, we had fresh Dungeness crab that Phil and a friend harvested the day prior. Excellent!

.
The pix were taken from the top of Mt Young; the smiling couple are Phil and Kirsten, our hosts.

Day 68. San Juan Island, WA

Last night we attended a potluck along with our hosts, Phil and Kirsten, at Lime Kiln Point State Park on the west side of San Juan Island. Limestone was mined and fired there for 60 years, starting in 1860.

.

The pictured kiln, one of several, was rebuilt to give visitors a better feel for the lime producing process. The whitened area of rock in one of the pix is immediately below another, unrestored, kiln and is the result of the waste being removed from the kiln after the firing was completed. Ships pulled right up to shore near the kilns and the barrels of lime were loaded aboard and transported to various locations for making cement.

.

The west side of the island is a good area for seeing killer whales. There were a few whale watch boats out and I caught a glimpse of whale surfacing as I drove along the coastline. Once at the park, I got out the binoculars but didn't spot any more whales.

Day 66. San Juan Island, WA

We took one of the huge WA State ferries from Anacortes, WA to Friday Harbor, WA yesterday to visit friends on San Juan Island. It's spendy, taking both pickup and trailer on the ferry but it was worth it. Otherwise we'd have to pay to park the trailer at a mainland park for 4 days, and we wouldn't have our own bed, food, etc. We're parked in our friends' yard so no campground fees.

.

Our hosts, Phil and Kirsten, fixed a fantastic meal of fresh razor clams last night. Phil's a retired commercial fisherman, did his thing in Cook Inlet and Bristol Bay in Alaska, still plays a mean game of tennis at 70. Kirsten owns/manages vacation rentals here on the island. They head south for several weeks each winter and visited us in LHC last season.

.

The San Juans are scenic and always a delight to visit, especially in summer. The ferry ride to San Juan Island takes an hour plus; along the way, you see many sailboats, yachts, freighters, you name it.

.

The top 2 pix are of a smaller ferry pulling into Lopez Island after we pulled out. The ferry we rode on, the Yakima, is the largest size in the system, I think. Middle pix are of, or from the Yakima; bottom pix is of the Anacortes ferry terminal.

Day 63. Trip miles: 10425. Lynden, WA

We’re baaaaack! It’s great to be in the Lower 48 again. Canada is fine and I don’t mind adding ‘eh’ to the end of every sentence, but the gas prices are terrible.


For the next 3 weeks we’ll be visiting friends in the San Juan Islands, Olympia, Shelton and Seattle. In late August we’ll head down to OR and visit friends and relatives there for another 3-4 weeks before heading back to AZ.


We’re at the KOA campground in Lynden and it’s a beautiful facility, family oriented, with lots of rug rats. Roughly 4/5 of the folks here are from BC. It’s a 3-day holiday for them (BC Day!).

Mostly, we avoid KOAs like the plague. They’re the antithesis of everything we enjoy about RVing which is lots of space, quiet, private, cheap, campfires allowed. Sometimes though, they’re the only game in town so here we are.


Yellowhead: the rest of the story. Pierre Bostonais was a blonde Frenchman who traded with the Iroquois and later helped survey the Yellowhead Highway route in the early 1800s.


Now tell me: where else would one get all these invaluable lessons in history – not to mention geography, biology, ornithology and grammar? Priceless!

Day 62. Evening. Wildwood, BC

We were sorely tempted to hang a left off highway 97, aka the Cariboo Collector, take the side road to Horsefly, BC, and visit the Horseflyers, but we resisted and ended up here, a few miles north of Williams Lake. Wouldn't it be great to live in a town called Horsefly?

Canadians like to name their roads: Stewart Cassiar, Yellowhead, Cariboo Collector; we drove on all 3 today. I kinda like the naming thing; they all have numbers also. Gotta look up Yellowhead, was told it refers to some famous Kanuck that had blonde hair.

In our first hour of driving today we saw a black bear, a moose and a WL. For those who just tuned in or have short memories, WL stands for World’s Largest, and we’ve seen many fine WLs along the way. Today’s WL was a fly rod located in the town of Houston, BC. It weighs 800 pounds so usage is limited to a small number of really buff fishermen.

Most of today’s drive was through smoke. There are 350 wildfires burning in BC Province, not sure how many or how large are the ones near us. One of the locals said we’ll continue driving in smoke tomorrow for another 150 miles beyond Williams Lake. The sun has an orange tint due to the smoke, looks weird.

The trip odometer went back to zero today, which means we’ve gone over 10000 miles. I’ll provide the official mile count when we arrive at our first stateside campground and the end of the 3rd leg of our odyssey. No doubt y’all are on the edge of your seats waiting for that bit of totally useless trivia.

They charge extra ($3 a day) for wifi here at the Wildwood RV Park. I’m a cheapskate so didn’t pony up, don’t like being nickel-dimed to death. This is the only campground we’ve stayed in that charged extra. So, this post won’t hit the streets until tomorrow.

Day 62. Morning. Smithers, BC

It wasn’t ugly after all, played well for a change and got several pars on the 18-hole par-3 course. The course and the campground are run by the same people; there’s also a restaurant and through July they offered free golf to anyone who ate there. We did eat there so our golf was free, a very good price.

There was a caravan of about 25 rigs due in here last night but they didn’t arrive. I suspect they were coming from the north and got stopped by the large fire that’s burning near the northern section of the Stewart Cassiar Highway. The SCH was closed for awhile and maybe still is. We drove through the area the same day the fire started, saw the smoke and a helicopter carrying water to the fire. We heard a rumor that the Alaska Highway was also closed. It was lucky timing for us to have missed all that.

In an earlier post, I mentioned being curious about the name Stewart. Here’s the poop. James Stewart (not the actor) worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the mid 1800’s. He and his boss, Robert Campbell, explored northern BC and Campbell was responsible for naming the Stewart River after Jimmy – and then the name spread to the town and the highway.

In another earlier post, I speculated that the loon may be Canada’s national bird. It is not. In fact, they have no national bird but seem to be in the process of selecting one. Citizens are currently offering suggestions on what the national bird should be, and the loon ranks number 3, behind the red tailed hawk and the Canada goose.

It’s 6:45 AM. We’ll be hitting the road in about an hour, destination Williams Lake.