Last Full Day in Canada

Day 67  Saturday August 20, 2016           Big Country RV Park & Campground, site 32

494 towing        10.6 mpg

We were all hooked up ready for a fast getaway to get an early start.  As soon as the coffee was done we left the Cassiar RV Park at 06:55.  We drove south on the Cassiar to Trans Canada-16 and turned east.  About 30 km on 16 we came to a town called Hazelton.  They had a sani-dump (Canadian for dump station) and we used it.  We didn’t like the one at the Cassiar RV Park because it was located in a spot where it would block traffic while you were using it.

We went through Prince George where we picked up BC-97 and took it south.  Followed it to just south of the town of Williams Lake.  Our original plan was to follow the same route to Lac La Hache Provincial Park.  But it was getting warmer as the day went on up to 93⁰.  We decided to go private so we could have electric for the AC.  Our Alaska RV guide was no longer relevant and we were on our own to find a place to stay.  Marsha has apps on her phone for this, but it does no good when Canada has crappy data coverage.  I used my GPS to find campgrounds in the Williams Lake area.  But we have no way to research them.  Just show up and hope it’s OK.

As it turned out, it was not bad.  It looks like it used to be a KOA.  It started cooling down towards evening.  Tomorrow we would be crossing the US border into Washington and I needed to get rid of my firewood.  I had two bundles.  I hated to do that but I don’t want to do anything that might flag an inspection.  We sat out and burned one bundle and left the other behind.  I had my refillable fire starter too near the fire ring and it exploded.  It didn’t start a brush fire, fortunately and no debris went flying.  We were lucky.  I’ve been looking for another just like it and so far haven’t found one.

The scenery along the way was mountains, not as high as further north, and we also went through some rolling prairie type terrain with fields of hay.  But there were always mountains visible.

Along highway 16 we stopped at a rest area to make lunch.  Shortly afterwards there were ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars going east and about ½ mile up the road the traffic was backing up.  After lunch when we were ready to leave, the traffic was moving, but the emergency vehicles were all on the scene.  As we got to the scene of the accident, you could see skid marks veering off to the right, and down into a ravine.  At the bottom of the ravine was an upside down pickup truck with and some people on stretchers.  An EMT was looking into the cab of the truck.  It’s hard to believe anyone survived, but we never heard any more about it.

We arrived at the Big Country RV Park at 5:30 PM, a long day.  Made a meal of grilled barbecue pork chops with potatoes.  Then made a fire and blew up my fire starter.

Tomorrow, U.S.A.