Day Four

Summit Lake, BC to Grand Cache, Alberta
May 29th, 2009

High Point of the Day....
Low Point of the Day......
Summit Lake. Come on, you can't really let that one go...
Driving through Canada's "Gas Patch"
Miles Traveled Today
Total Miles Traveled
The Bus Playlist
Weather
570
1744
John Prine, Joss Stone, Wille Nelson, B.B. King & Eric Clapton
Cloudy and grey, sun in the evening
Price of Gas 
(average per gallon)
Wildlife
Night's Lodging
Where this Page was Uploaded
3.82
Bear, Deer, Cows, Horses
Grand Cache Municipal Campground
Missoula KOA, Missoula MT

Daily Didactic
We woke alone in the icy and snowy Summit Lake Provincial Campground. It is a pretty spectacular location, but a little chilly and without the accommodations that make modern travelers happy (hookups, free wireless, arcades). We like it though, and the temperature got us on the road at an uncustomary 8:30.

We hit the NAPA in Fort Nelson for a replacement chunk of gas line for what will become the cheapest repair the bus has ever needed on the road at 3.59 cents. The drive from Fort Nelson to Fort St. John is not only long and lacking in scenery, it is occasionally really smelly. The Canadians call this part of British Columbia the "gas patch", with a lot of of it being refined and smelling up things. We don't care for it, but it leads to Dawson Creek which is "Mile 0" of the Alaskan Highway. While still a thousand miles or so from the states, Dawson Creek feels like you've accomplished something. We slowed down long enough to find a suitable extension cord (for powering the bus at campgrounds with electrical hookups) and get a push start from a lovely couple, the first one we've needed in a few days. This is a little odd, while the starter has had issues in the past they have never gotten better and worse.

We moved on into Alberta and through Hythe and Beaverlodge (where there is an awesomely large fiberglass beaver), and eventually settled on the Grand Cache Municipal Campground for the evening. Initially skeptical as we rolled in past trailer courts and large ominous burning piles of something, we found a very cute little campground with free showers, electrical hookups and internet in the air. Brian spent the rest of the evening getting the road trip website in order and Theresa hit the hay.


Daily Pictures (Slide Show)

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A chilly morning at Summit Lake Ice on the pussy willows
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We tried, not open It looks like it's been a while
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These are clearly Caribou It would be embarrassing if we called them deer
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The high road down to Fort Nelson The cheapest repair in Brian's relationship with the bus
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But not off the porch Murky was cheaper, but clear is probably worth the money
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Somewhere between Fort Nelson and Fort St. John And all of a sudden... farm country!
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Dawson Creek, making Mile 0 feel like a milestone It's a pretty modest province
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Barns Grain elevators
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Brightly colored train cars Neat local murals
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Wait what is this? Noooo!!!!


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