Thursday, September 12, 2013 (Travel to Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley, BC)

We were up and ready to leave at 8:30 this morning. As Steve went to start the truck, we both held our breath...will his repair job on the switch last night hold?....Nope!  He tried taping it together with electricians tape...with duct tape...just trying anything, but nothing held.  Great...no air suspension in the truck means we can't go anywhere.  What are we going to do now?  The closest community is Lytton but there isn't much there.  Our best bet is Cache Creek, about 80 kms/50 miles north of here.

First of all, we thought we would walk down to the camp host to see if he could recommend anyone.  He gave us the name of a mobile truck repair place, Chanor Truck Repair and Towing, in Cache Creek.  But before calling them, we thought we would give CoachNet a call. Initially they said that they don't cover roadside assistance, only towing, but she called right back apologizing, yes they do.

After a couple of phone calls...and a lot of sitting around waiting...the fellow from Chanor was on his way out with a new switch.  He arrived just before 2:00 and had the new switch installed in moments...we're all fixed up and ready to go.  Mind you, the switch he installed was for a big Freightliner/Kenworth truck. A bit of overkill for our truck, but hey, it worked and got us on our way.

This is a picture of the old switch that blew apart...

...and this is the new one...

After all of the paperwork was taken care of over the phone with CoachNet, the fellow from Chanor was on his way...and so were we.

We continued south through the Fraser Canyon...another beautiful day with great scenery...

 Slide/avalanche area construction...

There are quite a number of tunnels to go through when travelling the Fraser Canyon..

The end of the Fraser Canyon...Hope, BC

After stopping in Chilliwack to fuel up with diesel, we arrived at Brae Island Regional Park in Fort Langley just before 6:00.  Our usual site, at least the one we prefer, was already taken so we asked for the site next to it, site C-3.  We pulled into it and after some major leveling, we unhitched and got all set up.

Ah...it is so good to be back at our "home away from home" from where we started our northern trip exact three months ago (we left June 10)!  And that marks the end of our trip to Alaska.  Steve plans on doing a recap of our trip...so stay tuned for that....

Wednesday, September 11, 2013 (Travel to Skihist Provincial Park, Lytton, BC)

After hugs and handshakes, we thanked Bob and Sue for their hospitality and were off...it was just after 9:00.  It was another gorgeous day...what a great stretch of weather we've been enjoying!

We went south on highway 97, retracing our route that we had take on the way north. 

We drove through Quesnel...

 McLeese Lake...

...and then Williams Lake...

The scenery on the drive south was just beautiful...blue sky and not a cloud anywhere...

Just look at the bug splatter on the windshield!  This is the worst we have seen it!  So...I had better apologize now...anymore pictures I take (unless out the side window...) are going to include splattered bugs!!

Here we are approaching Cache Creek...

Big Horn Sheep...

Spences Bridge...crossing the Thompson River...

The river looks a lot lower than on our trip north...

We really weren't sure how far we were going to drive today, thinking that we might just try to find a pull-out along the highway to stay at for the night.  But when we reached Skihist Provincial Park, we decided to go in and take a look.  The information on the website says that the park has been updated, making the sites big rig friendly.

The road winds up a hill and although the sites themselves are fairly level, the road is quite steep.  It does level off as you continue into another loop..  We easily backed into one and after leveling off one side, we tried to level front-to-back without unhitching.  This involved dumping the air out of the back air bags of the truck.  As I mentioned the other day, the switch inside the cab has been leaking air...well...it blew right off!  Oh...Oh!..... Steve found the switch out in the gravel in front of the truck and glued it back together...sure hope it holds!

I did the minimal set up inside and then it was time to relax in our chairs outside.  At least the sun had gone down behind the mountain...it was pretty hot when we arrived! The camp attendant came by to collect...$21/night (no services), a little steep, we thought...oh well...

After dinner we went for a walk around the upper loop of the campground and then settled inside to watch a taped program...before heading to bed early.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013 (Prince George, BC)

It was another beautiful day...perfect for a quad ride!  Steve off loaded the ATV's while I cleaned up inside the trailer.  It was about 10:00 when we headed off...yes, we were able to ride right from Bob and Sue's place!

That's me (I'm riding in front of Steve)....

 Sue...

 This was a bit of a challenging spot...Coco and Bandit got out as Sue went through it...

Unfortunately, by the time I got around to writing this blog, I couldn't remember the names of the lakes (and I didn't have it in my notes!).  A beautiful spot...

All of these core samples were neatly stacked on the side of the road...

We stopped at this gorgeous little spot on a lake for lunch.  Bob and Sue brought hot dogs to roast over a fire.

Bob and Steve cutting some wood for the fire...

Coco had rolled in something and didn't smell very nice...so Sue gave her a bit of a wash in the lake...







Bandit quietly watching...he doesn't want a bath!

The fire is almost ready to roast hot dogs!

After roasting and eating our hot dogs, we ensured the campfire was out and then it was time to continue our ride.  I believe this used to be a forestry research area...

We arrived back at Bob and Sue's at about 3:00...after another great ride.  Thanks so much for showing us some of the trails in your area!

Time to spray the quads down before loading them back in the truck...Bob lent us his power washer...bonus!  Steve did his quad first and while he was doing that, I took some pictures (that I neglected to do yesterday)...

A perfect spot for us backed in beside the shop...

Steve's quad is clean...mine (in the background) is next...

After the quads were all washed and loaded back in the truck, we sat out on the deck for a beer before going in for showers (thanks guys, for letting us use your bathroom..."full on" showers without doing the usual get wet, turn water off, soap up, then rinse off routine)

Now we were all ready to go out for dinner...Chinese Food...yum!

Bob's eyes are looking a little red and swollen but I'm sure by the next time we see them (Quartzsite, Arizona), they will be back to normal...