|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
20050612 Prince George BC 49/64 Cool, misty, light rain, occasional sun breaks.
We hopped up and resumed our westward run to Prince George.
This was just about the most uneventful day's run we've ever had. No animals, no people, darn few cars (two passed us in 133 miles, we met about 20). There are no towns between McBride and Prince George.
We finally got there about noon after a journey that seemed really long.
Prince George, with 80,000 people, is the center of everything in northern British Columbia. It's a major railroad crossroads and is at the junction of the two major roads up here (97 north-south and 16 east-west). It has a university campus, several museums, a casino, all the junk food shops you can imagine and terrible traffic.
The campground owner greeted us with all sorts of enthusiasm and gave us maps and attraction booklets and all sorts of information. We set up the trailer and immediately drained tanks.
We decided to use our new-found information, so we toured the town. I bought a pair of jeans at Walmart, then we found nothing at Canadian Tire (like Lowe's), and we went to one of the two malls. Dolores found a Cotton Ginny and bought some slacks. We had a sandwich in a mall deli that specializes in German things and bought a couple of pieces of carrot cake to take home.
Then we went to Canada's Superstore, a grocery-and-more outfit that competes with Walmart Superstores. We bought a few staples and a lot of junk/goodies (same thing, different point of view). It's amusing to find that some things we take for granted aren't sold here (probably because no one wants it, example: Eggbeaters) and some things take slightly different forms (no whole green beans, just the cut version). And all the labels are in English and French.
We took it all home and put it away.
We gathered all the towels, linens, and the contents of two laundry bags and did the laundry. It took about six loads again and took some time. There were others around to swap stories with, including a lady returning to San Diego from their trip to Alaska already (the other couple they were traveling with hates crowds). Finally, we brought it all back and put it away.
I got the email (nothing much happened, it appears) using the modem phone line to a local number. The campground rents a proprietary box that interaces via ethernet to your computer and via radio-waves to the campground antenna, then a high-speed link to the local ISP. Interesting; we'll probably try it tomorrow.
We heard a rumor yesterday about some tropical storm threatening the Florida Panhandle. We called our neighbor, Daisy, and chatted a bit. The storm went ashore near Pensacola but didn't hurt anyone very much, due to its low velocity. Daisy said she had a day of horizontal rain, but that today is back to the usual 90 degrees and sunny. She added that Ray Andrews, our lawn care person, will have surgery tomorrow for some polyps unremovable any other way.
Then we collapsed in the trailer. Somewhat later we ate a thrown-together dinner. Now, we're taking it easy; D is watching a movie on the local movie channel & I'm doing these notes.
We'll get the truck work done tomorrow and do some touring.
|
|
|
|
20050613 Prince George BC 48/65 Variable: Sun, Rain, Hail, Cloudy, Warm Enough. Picture Link
The weather was screwy - a little of everything.
We overslept, ate breakfast, and went downtown to attend to the truck needs as arranged by our campground host. Jon at MrQuick took care of the first part of the truck stuff - oil change, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter, and addition of radiator cleaner to the cooling system.
We drove around for a couple hours to let the radiator cleaner do its work. We drove west to preview our run tomorrow and stopped in at a garden store to buy a kneeler-cushion for Dolores. The cushion is meant for garden work, but D will use it for close-up flower picture-taking.
Then we returned to let Jon flush the engine and radiator of the radiator cleaner and old antifreeze, add new antifreeze, and flush the transmission.
While Jon & crew did that we walked around downtown Prince George. I found a menswear place that was long on jeans and bought a jeans jacket. We found a place and bought a thing for Susan. Dolores found a yarn store and bought some to trying crocheting while we move.
Downtown Prince George looks a little rough like many cities whose stores have moved to the Walmart and Superstore centers on the fringes of town. Prince George is also the support center for this end of BC, so there are lots of maintenance places for all sorts of equipment - logging, road-building, trucking, and so forth. It's definitely a working town.
When Jon and crew finished we moved to the Railway and Forestry Museum. It turned out to be "Seniors Day", so I got in free. Dolores & I chatted a bit with some folks, but scurried out into the yard to get done what we could before the rains came.
We got as far as a beautiful old observation car when the rain started. We ran back to get a loaner umbrella and hid in the car while we read about it. Nechako was originally wooden, then steel-clad. The interior burned out and was redone, and eventually it came here.
We tried to dodge the raindrops while we looked at and took pictures of old railroad equipment and old farm equipment. I grabbed pictures of manure spreaders, hay loaders, and tractors along with the railroad stuff.
We got back to the museum main building, turned in the umbrella, and bought a few books so we could understand more of the history of the region. In buying the books, we got into conversation with one of the volunteers.
This person came to PG in the 80's in the midst of a boom that devalued in the 90's. The median wage in town dropped from $65K CDN to $34K CDN. Many people just left. They feel here that the government has not done its work in helping forestry improve. Now, there is a minor resurgance and things here are improving a bit, it's said.
We brought our stuff back to the little house and asked our campground hosts for dining recommendations. We went to 5th Avenue to their recommended place and enjoyed it very much.
Then back to the little house to take it easy. No such luck, Dolores wanted to see if there was a moose in the back field. There wasn't.
So we did the photo downloading and naming, and the writing of the logs, and now to bed to go on tomorrow.
|
|
