Date: 7 June 2001 (Thursday)

Start:

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

It was 47f with high, thin clouds when we got up.

We wandered down to the roadblock lady to get the latest word. She said it would open sometime in the afternoon, and that they would tell us before the others back down the line so we could get out ahead of them.

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

We were low on fresh water, and didn’t want to move the trailer due to the layout of the Canadians and us. I borrowed three hoses and linked them with ours, strung the whole mess to the nearest water tap (135 feet) and filled the tanks on all the campers. That’s one thing we won’t have to do tomorrow, and the water is so good here.

More and more vehicles started coming up to the roadblock. Finally there was a tremendous string of cars, trucks, and RV's there. We had lunch (chicken noodle soup and wonderful home baked bread) in the store. Then back out to the roadblock lady. She said the RCMP had ordered her to hold all traffic.

We took a look at the mob headed up the highway and figured that we didn’t want to join in with that over-eager group. So we called ahead to Watson Lake and delayed our reservation a day, till tomorrow night.

Some of the crowd waiting at the roadblock came into the store to purchase things. One goofy American (US) lady held out a Canadian $50 bill and asked me if it were 50 dollars or 50 cents or 5 dollars or what, because she couldn’t understand the money. Nobody said what was on their mind about her mental capability. For the information of those who don’t know, Canada uses coins for everything less than $5; there is a $2 coin and a $1 coin. It works remarkably well; the US should switch to that same scheme.

About 1:00pm the roadblock was lifted and vehicles were allowed through 25 at a time until they had all gone. Then the roadblock lady threw all her stuff in the truck and headed for home.

The store owners family found out a couple in one of the log motel rooms was celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary when he asked them to make up a little cupcake with a candle for them. They invited the whole campground down for cake and coffee. One of the camper guests is a cake decorator, so she did the cake (and a cupcake, as requested).

The Canadians grabbed their instruments, called themselves the band, and started practicing. At 4 pm we all congregated behind the store where the cake and coffee were laid out on a table, and formed a large square with the couple on one side. Many pictures were taken of Bob & Margaret Sideroff, 324 Arias St, San Rafael, CA, 94903. Everyone’s supposed to send them copies of the photos they took. I want to send pictures back to the owners here, too.

The band played, people sang with them when they could, and a good time was had by all. The Sideroff's made the rounds thanking everyone for the most unusual anniversary they’d had.

When the festivities broke up, we weren’t hungry but returned to the trailer since the Canadians were going to do hamburgers at the common picnic table and we didn’t want to intrude. I typed this (6 pm) and, unless there’s another entry, we had a quiet evening.