After my last posting, we had been reading that the road was closed due to wildfires. Any which way we would go, it would have been an obstacle course. As we recently learned, even the path we got to this point had been closed due to landslide and a new fire. So we reached out to the locals. This was helpful and we moved onto Dawson Creek. Super smoky there, but found a nice campground. I am most fortunate to be able to run my a/c on 12 v, whereas Cheri needs electricity. A/c doesn’t eliminate the smoke, but it sure cooled the air enough for Rosie & I to be comfortable. Morning report found the road was open with a pilot car, so we headed out for Fort St. John. More heavy smoke greeted us and we kept going. Got to the check point and found no pilot car, I would have loved to have been following anybody down that road, visibility was horrible, but just took it slow. It was easy to see why the road had been closed off and on, but no active fire was visible as I plowed thru that heavy smoke. Whew! We made it. so we headed on down the road to Fort Nelson. About 5 hours later, we pulled in tired, stinky from the smoke and glad to be in cooler temps for a change. The smoke came in the next morning. When we arrived the whole town was without electricity, again I was thankful I had my van on 12 v. As I grumble about things that have fallen apart, quit working, etc, I love what I can do with this van without electrical hook-ups. Solar has not failed me in any way, shape or color. Now if I could just figure out how to add juice to these old bones…

On our way to Fort Nelson, we stopped at a rest area. A young fella with a Florida license plate, flagged Cheri down to ask if we had any spare gas.He saw our spare gas tanks on rear of our vans, but alas we haven’t put gas in them yet. So he asked if he could siphon off some gas for his car. The guy had filled up in Grand Prairie, AB and he claimed he always gets gas at 1/2 tank, but this time he thought he could make it. He shy about 80 kilometers. Then he bragged he quit his job in Florida to go build log homes in Alaska. I asked if he already had a job lined up and his bravado spoke volumes that he was clueless. He’s also clueless if he will hitchhike to Fort Nelson too, or just start walking. Well, we don’t know the end result, but none of the tanks he tried to siphon worked, so no gas. He’s learning the hard way.

That broken drawer under my microwave, I found a great way to keep it semi-closed – put my croc’s in front of the drawer. Works far better than the cabinet top. Can’t close the drawer tho, and I can’t take the drawer out – as the lid to my VitaMixer had fallen back there. Can’t reach it either. I need a grabber, but alas we haven’t been anywhere that sells them. So it travels partially open/closed and it can’t go anywhere. Now my step by the sliding door decided to quit. It worked twice one morning, then nothing. Took it into a RV repair place in Dawson Creek, they thought it might be a fuse, but no fuse was found for the step and they couldn’t get to fixing the step until another day. I will just deal with the this, maybe in Whitehorse I can get it fixed, if possible. The step has been a problem ever since they ordered it. The first one worked until it didn’t, waiting for parts to arrive that didn’t work, for them to send a bigger step was nice and it did work the first 3 weeks of owning the completed van, but it doesn’t now. Rosie has no trouble jumping in and out, but I have to take it slow.

Animals sighted so far: Alive: large coyote, buck, 3 moose, 2 black bears, itty bitty fawn (I sure hope Mom was close, but wasn’t seen) and 1 road kill – big grizzly bear. That grizzly must have been hit by big truck, as a car would have left all kinds of debris.

Soory, no images this time. Smoke pictures are less than desirable. Next time, hopefully.