Date: 6 June 2001 (Wednesday)

Start:

End: Poplars Campground and Café, Toad River BC (0 miles)

It rained during the night. It was 45f, damp, and cloudy when we got up. It stayed cloudy, with low clouds, all day.

We wandered down to the roadblock lady to get the latest word. She said there had been a small landslide late last night five miles up the road, blocking it there. It was to be cleaned up soon, taking eight hours. It had to be cleaned up because a disaster response company is bringing up a bridge to span the gap.

So we wandered around some more, trying to keep busy.

I changed the air filter on the truck. Then we went down to the store to look around.

We heard there that the bridge was coming through at about 11:00 am, so we took a walk, then returned to get the cameras, and positioned ourselves for the great event. At 10:45, it got here, stopped briefly, and left, making good speed. It was a huge box girder perhaps eight feet by eight feet by 60 feet long. On top of the girder was a wider driving area with low side rails.

Dolores and I went into the store and had homemade chicken noodle soup and homemade bread, both absolutely delicious. We must stop here if we return this way, just to have lunch or something. The Poplars Campground at MP 407 is just great. In order to have a memento of the place, Dolores bought a tee shirt and I got a sweatshirt, both with their logo on them. I paid the site rent for another night.

About noon, another wide load convoy came in and stopped. Most of the drivers came over to use the washroom and get things. The lady driving the trailing vehicle said that’s what the company does – respond to disasters (her word) like this. The second half of the bridge, she said, is the 70’ part of the total 130’ span. She estimated it would take them ten hours to put it into place once they get there this afternoon, and guessed that we should be able to move tomorrow morning.

She also said that her company had caught her at the airport coming in off vacation, given her an hour to pack a bag, and that they’d driven essentially non-stop from Grand Prairie AB overnight. She guessed they’d come back to Liard Hot Springs for R&R after the delivery.

We returned to the trailer. Dolores vacuumed and swept the "little house in the woods behind the store". I got told to beat the little area rugs to get the dirt out. So I took them outside and whacked them each multiple times against a tree. Some of the Canadians looked around from behind their trailers and started saying things like, "isn’t that just like an American, trying to chop down a tree with a rug?"

So now it’s nearly 1:00 pm and things are getting quiet. It looks like everyone is going to relax the remainder of the day. The sprinkles of rain that come every now and then (like right now) will probably help keep the outdoors festivities to a minimum.

We’ll try to get a good start tomorrow when the roadblock is lifted.

(Later) People began appearing after lunch. The ladies put out coffee in the early afternoon. The instruments came out again, and we sang some more (with less skill than yesterday, certainly less enthusiasm – probably has something to do with the rum yesterday and coffee today).

Fred, the Canadian who’s parked behind us in our site, came up and slid a $10 bill into my hand, saying something about "we got a deal, here’s your share".

Somewhere in here, I managed to reserve a campsite at Watson Lake tomorrow night. I also called son Bill and asked him to put out an e-mail describing our stop and the lack of e-mail capability and thus information from us.

Everyone’s convinced the road will be opened in the morning, including the roadblock lady. She reported, when we thanked her for her patience in answering all our questions, that all but one of the folks she talked to had been nice to talk with. I’m glad there was only one but it’s too bad there was that one.

Some people have been easing up the road toward the blockage in hopes of being out earlier than others. We’re told the officers up the line are handing out interesting parking tickets for those not legally "parked" that bear $500 fines. This is being done to prevent a re-enactment of the Oklahoma land rush when the road is re-opened.

The singing broke up at suppertime. No one came back out to play afterward. Dolores and I did our computer chores and computer games, drank a glass or two. The wind came up from flat calm most of the day to slight winds out of the east and now quite breezy out of the northwest, so some weather pattern is changing. We’ll see what tomorrow is like.

Given that we got thrown off the road with no hope of advancing for an indeterminate period, into a campground in the middle of nowhere, we’ve had the best darn time.

The Canadians intend to ease out onto the road about 9 am tomorrow; we’ll probably leave before that, given the road is open. It’s been a nice stay, sort of an enforced holiday, but it’s time to move on.