Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 18:45:13 -0400
From: Eddiehintz@aol.com
Subject: Trip Report: Prince George and on
Hey now,
It's 23 July, 7pm. We are on Highway 97 heading north for
Chetwynd, and will camp just beyond it. Our convoy is currently 6
strong. Bob Hoover is up ahead, at our campsite, as he left for there
early this morning from Prince George. Jack Stafford is leading the
way, followed by Jorge, Todd & Becky, Tobin & Christa, Dan
Kane, and my dad & I. Ron experienced technical difficulties with
his Powerbook, and remained behind in Prince George at the Apple
Service center, and the rest of the group will join us later, as they
were getting maintenance at the VW dealer.
Our total number is about 12 now, and a few more may
yet join us farther north. Our first day out of Vancouver was
spectacular. The scenery was much like that of Kings Canyon mixed
with a little of the Pacific Coast Highway-but no hairpin turns.
There were several beautiful waterfalls beside the road, and numerous
lakes as well. It was all truly marvelous, but I'm a little sad
because Sam would have
loved it. We made it to Williams Lake, and people
kept walking up to us and talking about our trip, having heard
about it on CBC(that's Canadian Broadcast Company, we
had an interview on their nationwide morning show). One of the
fellows who came up to chat was Mr. Wilbur Jones, of Williams Lake,
who graciously showed us a location very nearby where we could camp.
It was very welcome as we had been on the road for over 12 hours and
were still one hour away from our planned campsite... This is the
part Sam would *not* have liked. We camped without water, in knee
high grass. Ok for folks with real westies, not so cool for my bus.
Lots of bugs too. Seems like the farther north we go, the more
aggressive the mosquitoes get. Truckers up here are a strange breed.
The roads are basically all 2 lane highway with an occasional passing
lane. So the truckers way of telling you they want past is
tailgating. We had one guy with about 50 tons of steel girder about 5
feet from the back of the bus, doing 60mph. Scary. We let him pass,
and he did it to 
every single bus in the line. Maybe he knew what he
was doing, but I think he'll kill someone someday. Thankfully he
didn't today. He wasn't alone either, I've only had one courteous
truck behind me all day.
Tonight we are camping at Moberly Lake, we should arrive there in
about an hour. Today's drive was again spectacular, although the pine
trees are starting to thin out a little, not as big and buff as
before. Still all over the place though. It's also quite cool,
especially considering that it's July 23rd. This is really a lot of
fun so far, although this group travels kind of slow. Hey! We just
saw a Mama 
bear and 2 cubs on the left side of the road!!!!
While I'm typing this! This is really very cool... I'm not really
sure what the plan is for tomorrow, as I don't have a copy of the
itinerary anymore, I lost mine.
But it's safe to say we're going North...
Peace,
Eddie
PS-anyone who is unaware of this-the trip is also being chronicled
by others, for a full picture (including photographs), of what's
going on fire up your web browser and point it at:
www.chaco.com/inuvik/
Back
to the Main Trip page
Our total number is about 12 now, and a few more may
yet join us farther north. Our first day out of Vancouver was
spectacular. The scenery was much like that of Kings Canyon mixed
with a little of the Pacific Coast Highway-but no hairpin turns.
There were several beautiful waterfalls beside the road, and numerous
lakes as well. It was all truly marvelous, but I'm a little sad
because Sam would have
loved it. We made it to Williams Lake, and people
kept walking up to us and talking about our trip, having heard
about it on CBC(that's Canadian Broadcast Company, we
had an interview on their nationwide morning show). One of the
fellows who came up to chat was Mr. Wilbur Jones, of Williams Lake,
who graciously showed us a location very nearby where we could camp.
It was very welcome as we had been on the road for over 12 hours and
were still one hour away from our planned campsite... This is the
part Sam would *not* have liked. We camped without water, in knee
high grass. Ok for folks with real westies, not so cool for my bus.
Lots of bugs too. Seems like the farther north we go, the more
aggressive the mosquitoes get. Truckers up here are a strange breed.
The roads are basically all 2 lane highway with an occasional passing
lane. So the truckers way of telling you they want past is
tailgating. We had one guy with about 50 tons of steel girder about 5
feet from the back of the bus, doing 60mph. Scary. We let him pass,
and he did it to 
every single bus in the line. Maybe he knew what he
was doing, but I think he'll kill someone someday. Thankfully he
didn't today. He wasn't alone either, I've only had one courteous
truck behind me all day.