Date: 2 June 2001 (Saturday)

Start: Whistlers RV Park, Jasper AB

End: Blue Spruce RV Park & Campground (240 miles)

It rained several times during the night but the temperature was 45f when we arose.

As we ate breakfast and hooked up, it was mostly cloudy with some sunny patches.

We exited Jasper on highway 16, the Yellowknife Highway, and headed for Prince George. We filled up with diesel fuel the night before, as we usually do, knowing that we wouldn’t find anymore for 64 miles, then 90 miles. Services are somewhat scarce up here.

As we went over the lowest pass on the Continental Divide, the land changed to green grass and tall pines with some aspens on the edges of meadows. On this side of the mountains, the winds lift up the sides and drop their moisture as rain. We were in gentle showers most of the way to Prince George.

The road is a pretty good two-lane road with some construction ongoing where some of the pavement is wearing out. There wasn’t much traffic today, the predominant vehicles being logging trucks returning empty from some mill.

There’s water everywhere, of course, so Dolores was keeping a good eye out for animals as I drove and kept track of cars and trucks about to pass us. First she (and I) saw a couple of young bull moose in separate encounters. Some miles later, she saw a black bear with two cubs eating at roadside. Farther along, she spotted a young moose eating the grass at roadside.

We checked in at the campground in the early afternoon (we gained an hour today, going onto Pacific Daylight Time). Then we toured the town in the truck to get the flavor of the place.

Logging is the name of the game around here. There are several big mills along the river, next to the railroad yards. There are kilns running, steam rising from them, next to lumber storage sheds. Lots of flatcars with all sorts of wood products waiting to roll out.

Prince George is located all over the place. The downtown is down in the river valley (the Fraser, on its way to Vancouver). The suburbs are on the hills to the north and south and along the road to the east. It has about 78,000 inhabitants and one enclosed shopping mall. It has everything including a university. They bill themselves as the "capital of northern BC".

It's church day. A look in the book shows there are several in town, but none close by.

We went way across town to the north side. One side benefit of this is that we had the chance to evaluate two routes out of town tomorrow. One (route 97 itself) goes through downtown and has construction zones. The other goes over a few hills through the west side past the university and is clear all the way to 97 North, which leads to Dawson Creek BC. Guess which one we’re taking.

It’s still mostly cloudy, more showers in the forecast, and 55f outside now as I type this (6 pm). The campground has a modem jack available, so I’m going to set up for that and send the last few days of notes.

Tomorrow we reach the Alaskan highway. Anchorage is 1,860 miles from here.