We head into the town of Dawson Creek to a little restaurant for breakfast...eggs over easy, sausage, hash browns, toast, coffee and a big glass of milk. Later, back at the campground, we pack up for an early start. We have a 280 mile drive, and it's expected to rain all the way.
It's a challenging drive...now, way up here, you have to be on the lookout for animals (moose, deer, etc.), rock slides, bad highway, and a host of other things. It takes us almost six hours to cover the stretch between Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson. We stop every hour or so to stretch our legs and give Kechi a walk. It's not a particularly scenic drive, especially with all of the rain. There are a few low mountains and rolling hills...a few steep grades and a number of small rivers. That will all change once we leave Fort Nelson. Then, we'll be on the approach to the Rocky Mountains...lots of steep grades, winding highway, rives/streams and, hopefully, some wildlife.
These long drives have given me opportunities to listen to some great music. Sometimes (particularly in the morning), I listen to CNN or BBC News...but the rest of the time, it's all music. I've listened to all four of the Brahms symphonies, the Mahler 5th, Dvorak's 9th. Every other day or so, I listen to my favorite "Mash-up" (Girl Talk's "All Day". I've got over fifty Techno "podcasts" stored on my iPod, so there's plenty of that to listen to while I'm driving. Cousin Bill listens to CBC Radio mostly...and that's good because he's up to date on weather conditions and road closures.
Around 3:30, we roll into Fort Nelson and find our campground. It's not much this campground...pretty barren...but it's got water, electricity, Wi-Fi, bathrooms and showers...everything that you could want. We actually have a little bit of sun as we park our campers. I have my usual afternoon Manhattan and a few snacks.
Around 5:30, Bill and I start setting up for dinner...that comes to a halt when the rain starts. But it's a short rain and, by 6:30 or so, we're cooking. Bill makes Pepper Steak with some leftover beef. I grill up a batch of Tandoori Chicken and heat up a pouch of "Bombay Potatoes".
After dinner, we have a few beers and listen to CBC Radio. We've switched over to Pacific Time, and it's a struggle to stay up past 10:00.
We've got a short drive tomorrow...155 miles to Muncho Lake. But I know from my first trip up here that things will start to change tomorrow. The landscape will get more interesting as we enter the far northern end of the Rockies. About fifty miles out of Fort Nelson, we'll lose our cell phone signal...won't get that back until we hit the Alaskan border. I'll also lose my Sirius radio signal...it'll be all iPod until Anchorage. Last rip, I lost satellite radio all through the Yukon and Alaska. This is because of the curvature of the earth and the position of the Sirius/XM satellite. But I read an article recently about how Sirius/XM has installed a series of "repeaters" up in Alaska to put out a signal in the major towns like Anchorage and Fairbanks...I'll find out soon how successful that project turned out.
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