Friday July 29

Riverbend RV Park 

Twisp, WA

9AM

Laundry morning...

For lunch we head to Winthrop. Turns out to be a tourist town made up to look like a old western town. 3 Fingered Jack's is our choice. Very slow service and lots of kids.

It seems Jack was a chef at the restaurant and manager to cut two of his fingers off. I guess the word got around and he became an attraction. 

There were a number of carvred figures around town.

After lunch we wandered around town briefly before heading into the mountains: Ordell Creek National Forest on the recommendation of the campground owner interesting afternoon but few rocks. There had been a wild fire in the area a few years back.

Had dinner at Tappi in Twisp. Sat at the bar and watched John (owner) cook in a fruitwood fired brick oven. Excellent pizza.

Thursday July 28

Kamloops Municipal RV Park 

Kamloops,BC

8:30AM. 78°F.  Clear

We start the day stopping on a heavily travelled road at Monte Lake, BC to search a roadside ledge for agates. Found a number of good samples before heading further south.

 We have lunch at McDonald's in Vernon, BC before making the push to the border crossing.  The traffic is verrrrrrry slow.

Crossed the US border at about 3 PM in Oroville, Washington. Almost immediately we got cell service back; found a campground about an hour away. Called and made a reservation  at Riverbend RV campground in Twisp, WA. What the phone didn't say was there is a mountain range between us and Twisp. The Okanogan Pass rises 1500ft in about 10 miles. The trip up is slow but the trip back down is a thrill. Another no guard rail road along valley drop offs. We pull into Riverbend RV at about 6 PM. 

When we drove thru Twisp we saw them rolling in the sidewalks a we quickly unhitch and head into town to fund a place to eat: La Fonda Yucatan.

Back at the Park we meet another Airstreamer who had never seen an Airstream with a slide-out. ( they were only made between 2001-2005 ).

We end the evening by heading to the river to checkout the rocks. Turns out to be yet another mosquitoe feeding area. We don't last long..

Wednesday July 27

BEE LAZEE RV

Prince George, BC

9AM. 71°F  clear

Heading south on Rt 16 to Kamloops, BC.

The further south we go the hotter it's getting and the signs are getting confusing 😕. "Two Mile Lake, two kilometer" seems wrong. The other thing is the town names:

70 Mile House

100 Mile House

150

 Mile House

Actually these were stops along the Gold Waggon Road in 1860s Gold Rush. 

Lunch at Subway. Interesting carved wood sign of a hamburger. No burger joint just a Subway. Another historic site 🤣.

Green field have turned to burnt grasses by the time we get to Cache Creek, BC.

We stop at Kamloops Municipal RV Park and head out to explore the area.

As we've found out collecting rocks isn't so easy when you get close to people.There is a lot of barbed wire and No Trespassing signs but we have fun getting lost. 

The temp at 6 PM is 106°F 😩. Sure glad we fixed the A/C. It so hot even the Mt Goats are looking to run under the sprinklers.

Tuesday July 26

Kitwanga River RV Park 

Kitwanga, BC

8:30AM  63°F  Sunny 

Not a good start we're out of coffee 😩!

At the junction of Rts 16 & 37 we top off the gas, debug the windshield and have breakfast at the gas station Cafe.

The Seven Sister peaks are spectacular but there's  no pull off to take photos. The Coastal mountains are in the rear view mirror ; back in farming country.

The trash receptacles have been spruced up along this highway!

Groceries at Burns Lake. Heading towards Prince George and Rt 97. We pass through  Vanderhoof the geographical center of British Columbia (trip high light 🤣).

Stopped for the night at Bee Lazee RV Park in Prince George.  No bathrooms, no showers, no laundry 😩. Owner said she can't find help to clean and "I'm to old to bother"... Should be de.listed from Good Sam's...

Burgers on the grill for dinner.

Monday July 25

Dease Lake Lions Tarzilla RV Park

8AM. 54°F  partly cloudy 

We continue down the Cassier HW...stopped at a rest area to cook breakfast... and conti used our drive between the Coastal Mountain Range and the Skeena Mountains.

We stop in Kitwanga, BC for the night at the Kitwanga River RV Park.  We get an overflow site near the barn so we could plag-in to electric. We borrowed a step ladder to access the air conditioner unit on top of the trailer. A bolt securing the fan had been jarred loose by the rough gravel roads. Bob was able to fix it just as the temp went from the 50's to the 100's.🤪😁The Cassier Hw is much better than the Alaskan HW only a few unannounced holes and bumps.

Sunday July 24

Six Mile River Lodge

Tagish, YT

8AM. 50°F. Raining

9819 miles travelled 

Today we start our trip back south. Watson Lake, YT then down Cassier Hw ({Rt37).

Breakfast at a gas station Cafe Johnson's Crossing, Teslin River, Teslin Yukon Territory. This morning will be our last time in the Yukon. To our south is a wild fire area that is mostly out but still smoldering. We're leaving the Alaska Highway and taking the Cassier Hw which will eventually bring us into Washington state east of Seattle.

Smoke is increasing, no sign of flames but given the amount of smoke it's not far off.

Our next stop is Jade City. Not actually a city but a jade mining store. If you've seen their TV series, this is the place. None of the owners are around today. We spend about an hour drooling over the jade.

There's a young lady sitting at a table working on a laptop.  I assume she's working for the place and start talking to her. Turns out Lissa (Melissa) is a research scientist with the US Forest Service who is stranded at Jade City. The gravel road claimed the oil pan on her car. I think said she had been there 6 days waiting for a new oil pan. ( to be delivered tomorrow and the Jade City people will help her install it...). Lissa is on her way from Alaska to California to a new supervisor job. Her research is tree hydrology; loves working in the canopy of large tree species.

we continue on. BTW: We did buy some rough jade.

Shortly after leaving Jade City we're reminded that we're still in the wilderness of norther British Columbia. 

We just make it Dease Lake before running out of gas. There's gas but no restaurants open so we buy hot dogs and rolls at the gas station store. We stay at the Dease Lakes Lions International RV Park and have hot dogs 😁.

Saturday July 23

Garden City RV Park 

Skagway, AK 

8:30?AM.  56°F  Raining 

Leaving Skagway  and heading to Six Mile River Lodge in Tagish, BC for fishing and a one night stay.

We again stop at the BC bordered and the same ranger that told us that there was nothing in Altin was on duty. He of course remembered us. We told him he was right. He just laughed.

We arrive at the Lodge at noon and get the trailer parked and dig out the fishing equipment.im unsure if the gear we have is strong enough to handle the lake trout  27+ inches but we're here. Turns out Six Mile River is not wade-able so we have to fish from the bridge. The process of fishing here is interesting.  If you hook a fish you walk a couple hundred feet off the bridge and land the fish from a boat ramp.

As I feared our equipment isn't heavy enough. The water is moving and our hooks are just skipping on the surface. Even with added waits the same.

The old guy is fishing with a boat rod and lands a 27" Lake trout and heads home. We continue for awhile but finally give up and head back to the trailer...😩

The view from the bridge. Oh I forgot to mention that once we left Skagway the skies cleared.

After dinner sat out side the Lodgr to access wifi to try catching up on the blog. Neither the wifi nor I lasted very long. Saw a sitting area overlooking the river and headed there to feed the mosquitoes for awhile. When I got there a couple was already there. They had just returned from  a 14 day kayak trip in Atlin. They were from Bern, Switzerland.