Today we drove to Dawson Creek. Since the truck and trailer were COVERED in bugs we went to a trailer car wash. After scrubbing both shinny clean we proceeded to our campground which was right across the street. Unfortuantely, at that very moment the tranmission on the truck went out! We have Good Sam so we called them ASAP.  They said we can tow the truck but we don't have any way to tow the 5th wheel. Jim found a guy from South Dakota with a Dodge RAM dualie and he parked our trailer for us. So here we are, 2 TV channels, a mile walk to town and we need groceries - shit!

Click pictures to enlarge. Yesterday we drove from Chetwynd to Tumbler Ridge. We visited a dinosaur museum that features 350 million year old dinosaur tracks found in sandstone in a local riverbed. We had planned on visiting the river to see additional dinosaur tracks but a report of a "somewhat aggressive grizzly bear" encounter the day before made us change our minds. We also drove 20 miles down a not yet graded for the tourist season gravel road to see one of a dozen waterfalls. The scenery was wild and gorgeous. Lots of streams, lakes and beaver dams. We stopped to photograph a beaver dam that was in two levels and really long. The beaver was curious and swam right up to us. When we got to close he rolled over and SLAPPED his tail to warn us off. Pretty cool. We also saw two moose. After a VERY BUMPY drive we arrived at the falls. Kinuseo Falls is taller than Niagara Falls. It sits at the far end of a deep bend in the river so the noise and the falls comes as a surprise. Jim climbed to the bottom to take some pictures of the whole thing, said it was steep and slippery. Since we were far away from help the whole thing made me nervous. On our return drive we saw a grizzly bear running on the shoulder of the road next to us! He was awesome and at least twice the size of the black bears we've seen. All in all a pretty cool day.

5/29  - I just couldn't pass up sharing this with everyone. In my family we call this "pulling a Tom".....
Jim was kind enough to throw our dirty clothes in the wash when he went to take a shower. He said it was a really GREAT shower! Unfortunately, when he was done he couldn't find his towel to dry off. It took him a minute to figure out he had thrown it in the washing machine! Jim says he had to drip dry. 

Today we traveled to Barkerville. This is a restored gold rush town from the 1860's. They have actors who walk the town in period costume and talk to you as if it's still 1860. Barkerville even has a China town section.

We had been told that last weekend 20 black bears were spotted along the road to Barkerville. On the way we saw a Moose grazing by the road. Later, on the way home we saw four black bears!  Here are some pics from today.

After leaving Hope we drove through the spectacular Fraser Canyon. We checked out the tiny town of Yale, which is one of BC's most historic towns. Yale was the steamship navigation capital during the Gold Rush. Now a town of 200, in it's heyday the population was 20,000 (sounds like Cherokee.) Built in 1863, BC's oldest church, the Church of St. John the Divine still stands in the town. Next door, the Yale museum is surrounded by a really pretty perennial flower border (which I loved.) I also added 3 new birds to my life list, Barrow's Golden Eye, Redhed duck and Common Loon (HOORAY!) We are now camped in Quesnel, tomorrow we go to Barkersville.

We have arrived in British Columbia, Canada. Staying in Hope at the Hope Valley Campground which is next to the Fraser River. Had a wonderful visit with Dan, Dani, Alyssa, Brandon and Whidbey (their Berner puppy.)  Here is a picture of the Canadian Border Guard with our Travel Nome. The border guard had trouble believing that a retired COP didn't have a gun stashed somewhere in the trailer. We also forgot to declare my bottle of Margaritas, so if there are no more posts you'll know we are in the slammer! Miss everyone.

Day 3. Went to the Lemay Car Museum in Tacoma today with Dan and kids. Really amazing collection of cars and trucks. All you car buffs out there must see this museum someday. They even have the "Flintstone mobile." 

If you're into photography this is a great place to take pictures. LOADS of gleaming chrome, shinny paint jobs and of course all those unique hood ornaments. Here are a couple of photos from the Lemay collection.

This was a sad day for the Massie's, we lost a beloved travel companion today. Jim opened the kitchenn slide out without checking to see if anything was in the way. He CRUSHED our Canon G9 camera (shit!) I have some recollection of purchasing an extended warranty on the camera so tomorrow we'll go by Best Buy and see if we can replace the broken camera.                                                                                                    

Maggie has been a naughty girl. Our first night at Dan's she peed on our bed (twice on my side!) Today when we were gone she got up on the kitchen counter and dumped over my vase full of roses and peonies.  There was water all over the counter and floor.I think she is jealous of Dan's puppy - Whidby. Hopefully this naughty phase will pass once we're on the road again.

                                                                                            

In three days we leave for Alaska! We're packing the trailer and closing up the house. Maggie knows something is up, she keeps bouncing between Jim and I as we work on our respective to do lists. She's really an amazing dog. She's only known the 5th wheel trailer for three weeks but she's already picked the best spot for panoramic viewing, claimed her new sleeping spot, knows where the trash can is located, etc.  A wise woman told me recently that Basenji's make you better housekeepers (since they're into everything.) I think that will be especially true of the trailer. We are also installing a simple latch hook on the trailer's screen door so she can't "accidentally" push it open. Since we are constantly amazed at Maggie's ability to problem solve the latch may not be sufficient. I do know one thing, with so many windows in the trailer Maggie will be able to "bake" in the sun all day long. I told Maggie today she is about to become an international traveler, she didn't seem excited about it. Figure that Basenji cat like thing prevents her from showing too much enthusiasm (Heaven forbid she should behave like a dog!). Yesterday I tied a long string to one of Maggie's stuffed squirrel toys and threw it for her. Darn if she didn't chase it! Eventually she had an epiphany, realizing she had stooped to dog fun. Now she won't even look at the squirrel. Our friend Nancy has been trying to teach Maggie to shake. After watching the training demonstration today, I am not sure who is training who. Given enough treats, Maggie will allow Nancy to lift her paw. Of course Maggie wears an expression of complete contempt during the process. Life is interesting when you're owned by a Basenji. 

OMG, just 14 days until we leave for Alaska! This is the hectic part of travel, pack the trailer, pack clothes, pack prescriptions, shut off everything in the house, drain the courtyard fountain, drain the hot tub, empty the frig, check irrigation, etc. Last week we did a "shake down cruise" with the trailer. Discovered the trailer batteries were kaput, had a cracked vent cover and found a leak. So those are now fixed. Have been cleaning out the stuff we won't need, like the extra camp chairs, sleeping bags and bedding. So excited about this trip.