20030703                Open new window with today’s pictures.

July 03, 2003
Thursday

Start:   Park Avenue RV Park, Prince Rupert BC
End:     Cassiar RV Park, Kitwanga BC
Miles:   126
Hi Temp: 63.7 (for the last three days)
Lo Temp: 48.9 (for the last three days)
Current: 55.9


The veal picatta last night was very good, if I do say so myself.  One factor was that the veal scallopini was on sale (half-price).  Safeway had house brand capers on sale as well.

Dolores boiled a bunch of BC nugget potatoes, I made the salad, and as the potatoes were finishing, we threw olive-oil based margarine, capers, and lemon juice into a shallow frying pan.  As soon as the margarine melted, the veal went in.  When the veal was done, the pan was taken off the flame, the veal was put on the plate, with the caper/lemon butter remains.  Dolores had a Jackson-Trigg Dry Riesling with hers, while I had a merlot from the same house.  Not too shabby.

On to today......

We got up. Rain.  Cloudy. Fog. Not a nice day.

So far, we've gone 4,441 miles with the trailer, according to MS Streets & Trips, and 6,847 miles with the truck according to the odometer.  Now we're finally on a road listed in the Alaska Milepost guide, so we can use it from here on.

While getting ready to move out, we got into a conversation with the couple next to us.  They were also getting ready to move.  They had Michigan tags and a Kalamazoo dealer license plate frame on the Suburban. They're also on their way up to Alaska.  They're going to Hazelton to look at something there, then to Stewart BC.  We're going to stop (change of plan) at Kitwanga, then go to Stewart, so we'll probably see them again.

We pulled out, through Prince Rupert and east on BC16. The weather stayed moist.  The road was in good shape.  It follows the valley of the Skeena River.  A few miles above its mouth, the river looks about 400 yards wide and 6 inches deep. Farther upstream it is narrower and deeper, rushing through the canyon it made.

There wasn't much traffic today. We had no problems.  The only major town is Terrace BC, which we went through slowly.  At the junction where the Cassiar Highway (BC37) turns north, we stopped to fuel up (with many other folks). 

Then we ran a couple miles north and checked in at the Cassiar RV Park.  When we pulled into our site, we happened to be perfectly level, so we didn't bother unhooking the truck. We just hooked up the power and water.

We ate lunch and settled back to read for a while. When the rain stopped around 3:30pm we went out for a hike around the property, maybe 10 acres. In the back, there's a row of old rusty farm implements, including sickle-bar mowers and potato planters. I recognized all of them, which says something I'd rather not acknowledge all the time.

Then we spotted the Kalamazoo rig, with the Suburban missing.  They must have decided to drop the trailer here and go to Hazelton with just the Suburban.

There were other rigs arriving about this time.  Those that were muddy were coming down the Cassiar; the ones that weren't muddy are going up the Cassiar.  One guy we talked to said this was his 40th trip and the Cassiar was in better shape than ever, but there are still two graveled places that are muddy or dusty, depending on the weather. The campground has a high-pressure hose for washing off muddy RV's.

I called ahead and made reservations for the next two nights in Stewart, BC, on 37A - a stub road off 37.  Steward BC and Hyder AK are located at the top of the fjord that separates southeast Alaska from BC.  Not much happens there now, but it used to be a mining area. Now the big attractions are bear-watching and Hyderizing the tourists. Hyderizing involves drinking a shot of pure grain achohol. We'll look for bears.

We'll eat a simple dinner tonight and settle in. Maybe we'll go talk with those who've come down the road to learn whatever we can.