The Urban Hikers

19 June 2010
Saturday

Today we hung out in Fort St. John, BC. The green rocket [the van] needs to have its oil changed and its tires rotated. Unfortunately we couldn't find just one place to do both but in the end, the job got done. Canadian Tire was one of the locations and we noticed that there were a couple of WinCraft racing clocks on the walls in the establishment. [Dave, you can tell Clint that they were mostly Jeff Gordon clocks.] Funny how home is always with you.

While we waited we hiked to a nearby restaurant for breakfast, then to buy some cherries in the parking lot [lunch], then spent a bit of time hanging out on the Internet to get some chores done, followed by a long walk around the area for our daily hike.

By 2 PM we were on the Alaska Highway and heading north to Fort Nelson, about a 300 mile foray through oil fields, amazing forests, river valleys. The road was mostly quite good; even the bad spots were good. We are wondering how Canada constructs their roads to last through their nasty winters. Again some super nice people all along the route. Close to 6 PM we arrived in Fort Nelson: gas is higher here--$4.71 per gallon. With their pricing per liter, it makes the gas look cheap until it takes forever to fill up.

Animal count for the day:
3 dogs running on the road
a smattering of ravens
1 gigantic bull moose--rather dead in the ditch

We are lodged in the Triple "G" Hideaway: definitely not Duncan Hines approved. Sign on the front of the office: "No trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again." You have to pay extra for your showers: one loony [a $1.00 Canadian coin] will get you 5 minutes of out-of-control water.

The climate according to the Visitors Guide: Winters are cold with short days. Summers are hot and the days are long. In mid-June [Summer solstice] twilight continues throughout the night. As Madeline would say, "Oh my goodness!"

That's all, folks.