We got back on BC-97, headed north. Like I said before, just cruising along, several clicks with the hand throttle, doing about 90 Kilos/hour. Working the wipers, that Bosch wiper motor install paid off big time. Got the Bluetooth speaker blasting Garth, Shania and a little T-Swift or whatever happened to come up. I’m kicked back in the passenger seat. Rolling smokes, keeping a close eye on the gauges, just totally enjoying the drive. That’s when we had our first SNAFU.
We had been navigating mostly by GPS. Looking at the screen, my brother notes that we are going to take a detour up ahead. No big deal. So we exit the highway, and start to climb a short/steep hill. Cool, we make it up the grade no problem. Now were on some two lane forest/country road. We keep on keeping on, as we both are looking for a left hand turn to get us back to the BC-97. Well twenty minutes go by and we never see any turns. So I pull out the paper map and take a look. I see a road sign for Horsefly, BC. What the hell, Horsefly is in the complete opposite direction. So, we pull over, take a good look at the map and realize that the GPS had lost service at some point. We were able to find an alternate route back to 97, it was a 40 kilometer road, all gravel, and wet(it was raining), but it was exactly what the cruiser needed. My brother is smashing along with mud flying, wipers working, we see a deer, then a bear. He hits a pothole going about 40mph, that wakes us both up. We even had to stop when the cattle decided to road block us.
We make it back to BC-97 and continue on. Overall, not really that big of a deal. But this little detour gave the 40 a little more street cred for the rest of our trip.
We stopped in Quesnel, BC.
@GEMatulich had about another 1.5 hours of stick time before we got to Prince George. We made it to PG without any issue and fueled up there, switched seats and took off for Dawson Creek, BC.
Leaving Prince George, I was behind the wheel. As I climbed a grade, the cruiser had its first hiccup. As I was accelerating, it hesitated. I let off the gas pedal, and then got back on it. The 40 started to accelerate smoothly, then hesitate. It took me a few tries, but I finally got it up the hill. We figured we were experiencing fuel vapor lock. I had read stories on Mud, and it was in the back of my mind when we left town. Well, we kept going in one direction, no way were we turning around and besides, the 40 seemed to be fine now.
About 140 kilos into the drive, we pull into Tudyah Lake Provincial Park. The weather had been raining on and off all day long, and by this time(evening) the sun began to break through the clouds. We cruised through the camp ground, and parked at the boat ramp. Both of us had to relieve ourselves, so we headed for different trees.
Here’s a shot from Tudyah Lake
As we were getting ready to climb back in and pull out of there, we noticed 6 Canadians walking towards us. At first they were giving us a hard time. Telling us the route we were on was washed out, that we couldn’t make it Alaska, that our ride wasn’t built for the kind of driving we were going to experience. We had a good laugh and the conversation went from there.
One guy in particular started asking me questions more pertinent about our drive. Where are you headed now? What are you going to do when you get there? Where are you staying? That kind of stuff. I told him we were trying to make it to Dawson Creek that night. We planned on rolling into town and finding ourselves a quiet little place to set up camp. We were unsure of where we would stay and where we would fill up.
The guy stops me and starts to fill in the blanks. You guys are about 300kilos from Dawson City. He say’s that he lives just this side of Dawson, and that there aren’t too many places for us to camp once we’re there. He suggest that my brother and I stay at his place. He mentions that he has plenty of land, a fire pit with lots of fire wood. At one point he offers us the keys to his house. I pushed back at first, no sir we can’t put you out like that. He insists, says his son lives there and he lives in the back of the shop. Just pull on in and setup camp where ever you’d like. Ok, so I decide that having a destination is better than just rolling into town. We exchange numbers, he writes down directions and we say goodbye.
Three and a half hours later we pulled into his driveway. It’s a quarter to midnight and the property is dark, a dog is barking at us. I park the cruiser and tell my brother to wait there, I was going to find his son and introduce myself.
I walk around the shop and see a sliding glass door. Inside I can see a television is on, so I nock on the glass door. Moments later this early/mid twenty something year old young man opens the door is his drawers. I tell him that my brother and I are just passing through and that we met his dad at the lake. He stops me and asks if its ok if he throws on some clothes and meets me at the rig. I agreed and went back to where my brother was. The young man comes out a few minutes later, dressed and totally welcoming. We explained our intentions of setting up camp and that we would be out of there first thing the next morning. He isn’t having that, so he goes inside and grabs the key to his camp trailer. He unlocks the trailer and sets up two beds. He had me pull the vehicle over to the camper and lets us in. My brother and I have been on the road, in a Toyota Land Cruiser, since 7am; you can bet we appreciated having two beds to sleep on.
We unpack our duffle bags, sleeping bags and cooler. I hit the sheets, my brother stayed up for a bit, but eventually we were both sound asleep, its now half past midnight.
The next morning, I hear “you guys awake in there? I’m coming in.” I’m thinking to myself, no we’re not awake, its 5:40 in the morning. He opens the door, and in his hands he has two plates. Both plats have a stack of pan cakes, two hard boiled eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausage. He sets the plates down, then he pulls out to cold Miller Lites(No BS). In a tired state of mind, my brother and I thank him. He tells us to take our time, sleep in and leave when we are ready.
We eventually rolled out of bed shortly after 7. I ate what I could, and my brother took his for the road. The two of us get the cruiser loaded and do our pre-flight check list. Engine oil(add a quart), coolant good, belt tension good, windshield washer fluid gets topped off. We warm up the 40 and say goodbye to the young man. I got to say, that was one of the nicest things I have ever experienced. Both the father and his son were extremely hospitable. If I ever have the opportunity to help someone out like that you bet I will.
We got back on the highway and headed for Dawson Creek (0800, 875mi)
