Thursday, Sept. 28

7:03am. Prince George, BC. The Toyota dealership in Abbotsford forgot to reset the Oil Change light after they serviced my truck. Arg. Today I go past 4000 miles on the trip. Ended up choosing Cassiar Highway, the more scenic route. Bears here I come.




BC rest area. More like Picnic Site Of The Year. I hope people living here are aware of the beauty that surrounds them. I mean, it's ridiculous!




More BC.




This was another beautiful, quaint BC town. Everything looked Swiss. Behind those mountains there's a ski resort.




Some people have it all. Like the owner of this house.




More BC.




Not as lush a rest area as the previous one, but still engaging.




The Cassiar Highway begins here.




4:38pm. My first bear sighting! A small (300lb) one, strolling on the right shoulder.

5:44pm. First wooden bridge.

6:29pm. Saw a large black wolf standing under a tree in the rain. He was big. Very big.

6:35pm. Second wooden bridge.




8:10pm. Bell II lodge for supper. Met Elena, a cute, black hair, nosering German waitress. She's visited Barcelona 4 times this past year, but thinks Catalans are strange people. I guess she's right.




The lodge specializes in heli-skiing. A helicopter takes you to the top of a mountain, drops you off, and you ski down pristine powder to a rendezvous point. And you do it all again. Well, at least until sundown. Very cool, and very expensive: $600-$900 for one day.

11:22pm. Iskut - Red Goat Lodge. Truck-camping again, as per usual. This time I chose a creepy campground next to a huge lake. The waves are 15 ft from my Tacoma and the wind is howling bitterly. Quite chilly, too. Population of Iskut: 283.

Oh man. The wind is rocking my truck like a crib.

Wednesday, Sept. 27

2:45pm. Wednesday - Abbotsford, BC. Hopefully I can make it to Prince George today. Still debating between Cassiar Highway or the Dawson Creek way. The first is more scenic, bears + moose, gravel, no centerline, single lane. The second is more popular, more frequented, paved, more rest areas. Hmmm.






3:40pm. Hope, BC. Gas is expeeensive! $0.939 (canadian dollars) for Premium.
A gravel pullout a few miles north of Hope on Highway 1.




(remember to click on these for the full effect)
A couple of hours later. Still Highway 1. British Columbia is stunningly beautiful. My favourite state/province/territory of the trip so far.




Can't remember the name of the town. About 3/4 hours north of Hope.




Still gorgeous.




A quick visit to the rest area restroom and I'm off again. This picnic table sat next to an informative sign lamenting some sort of pine-killer beetle. Red beetle, perhaps? Anyways, the destruction is monumental. Supposedly it'll take a couple hundred years before the trees grow healthy and strong again.

Tuesday - Wednesday, Sept. 26-27

Margaret, Scott and I were on our way back from... gosh, something. And then this! A cop stops traffic, then more cops show up, and then a peloton goes past us (albeit not too fast). Looks like a ride-for-a-noble-cause event. Good thing I had my camera with me: I jumped out of the truck and started snapping away like a paparazzo!










Beautiful Mt. Baker.




Beautiful Sara Prins.




Beautif... ahm, no. This Haunted House is on Margaret's property, and it gave Scott and I serious jitters on Wednesday night. The fact that we tried to go in well after sundown didn't help. Using a strobelight as a lighting device didn't either. Oh no.




Staircase that leads to Margaret's room. That place is also haunted. I know this for a fact.




Scott and Margaret looking Very Cute Together. He picks her up at school every day! What a guy!

O, I almost forgot. Of course you can use my camera if you marry me, Sara! That whole what's mine is yours thing will certainly apply. Let's think about the pluses and minuses here: I get Canadian citizenship, which means I can work in Canada. You get Spanish citizenship, which means you can work in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. And since you now have Spanish citizenship you'll also find it rather easy to get a work visa in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay or Venezuela. So you see you have nothing to lose.

Monday, September 25th

8:01am. Moses Lake, Washington. Crop names are written on the fences between the interstate and service roads. Neat. Peppermint, potatoes, wheat, carrots, peas.

Girls on Film - Duran Duran?



8:53am. CraHorse ViewPoint, WA. Met 2 snowboarders from Utica, NY on their way to Bellingham, WA for the winter. Sol and Ken. Sol HAD to be on pot.

Lullaby - The Cure

Some impressive views from this outlook point. This road below is an old trail used by the pioneers. The trail ran parallel to the canyon. This was the only way east/west.



You guys better be clicking on these panoramics. It takes me a long time to assemble the final version from the 6 or 7 original shots.



11:20am. Everett, WA. Tons of smog near the Seattle area. 18.46mpg.



~ 1pm. Abbotsford, Canada! Get to hang out with Scoot and Margo and (hopefully) Sara (my future wife? stay tuned for more) for the next 2/3 days.

Sunday, September 24th

9:08am. Hardin, Montana. So I didn't make it far enough yesterday.

This is a very, very long road trip.








The Rockies, maybe? Anyways, glad to see mountains again.



2:22pm. Crossing the continental divide at 6393 feet. Pulled over at a scenic outlook rest area. Was greeted by a VW bus full of french-speaking people and a keg (!) of Heineken. That rock seemed to protrude ever so interestingly, but it was only after one or two shots that I realized A GUY WAS GOING UP IT! omigosh.










2:32pm. Butte, Montana. 17.62mpg, $91 is $2.79/gallon. I kept waiting for the dog to fall off. He couldn't sit still, going from side to side. He was making me nervous.

Ordinary World - Duran Duran.


7:36pm. Missoula, Montana. There are only country radio stations in West Montana. I'm not kidding.

8th of November - Big & Rich (radio) (made me cry)


10:33pm. Spokane, Washington. 18.99mpg, 92 is $3.11/gallon. Nearly had an accident by turning to incoming traffic on a one-way road. Stupid.




6:34am. Sprague, Washington. Took this shot while having breakfast at a cozy roadside inn, Ristorante Toyota Il Gabino. Had tasty eggs and toast with h... NOT. Just water and stale bread.

Morning Edition - National Public Radio