Friday, September 8, 2017 (Travel to Fort Camping, Brae Island Regional Park, Fort Langley, BC)

We had finished our pack up and were ready to hit the road shortly before 9:30. With big hugs, we said goodbye to Doug, Sue and Tucker...enjoy your winter and some well deserved "down" time! As we pulled out of the compound, I took one final picture...bye Tunkwa Lake!

We had an uneventful journey south to Fort Langley...well, with the exception of that old familiar squeal/whistle. Yes, it returned when the (new) exhaust brake engaged while exiting highway 97D onto the Coquihalla! WILL THIS EVER END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If this occuredr again the tech at Bernhausen Diesel said to record the squeal with our phone moving it around the cab, so we did that a few times. They'll be getting a phone call on Monday!

It was just after 1:30 when we rolled through the quaint town of Fort Langley...passing our favourite hangout...The Fort Pub...

...crossing the bridge over the Fraser River, that takes us to...

Brae Island Regional Park, and Fort Camping...

After checking in, we pulled into our "regular" site, C-1...and were greeted by John and Pat, friends that we enjoyed time with while here last year. They are from Calgary and stay here when in the area to visit their daughter. They have been here almost a month and plan on leaving late next week...so glad we were able to connect before they left!

We chatted for a few minutes and then they went back to their site and we got on with our set up. A couple of hours later we were back with John and Pat (and Tasha) at their site...for drinks...

While we were sitting with them, my phone rang...the call display said it was Bernhausen Diesel. Really? Gee, their ears must have been burning! They knew we were going to be back sometime in September and wanted to followup on how the repairs have been working out. He was surprised to hear nothing has changed, so said to bring it back when we were ready. They are installing a Dynamometer next week and if it's capable of testing a truck our size they want to run it under a load to try and duplicate our issue. We were impressed getting the unexpected followup call, now if they could only figure this out!

John and Pat had also invited us for dinner...grilled burgers, corn-on-the-cob, and salad. Good job on the burgers, John...they were delicious!

We enjoyed a few hours with them catching up and then headed home...it gets dark so early now! Thanks for inviting us for dinner on our travel day!

I'll end today's blog with picture of the beautiful walking stick Ray made me. Great job, thanks so much Ray!
















He even carved out finger grips...and there is a natural hollow on the other side where my thumb fits...

"Diamond" Willow...
Diamond willow is willow with wood that is deformed into diamond-shaped segments with alternating colors. This is most likely the result of attack by a fungus (Valsa sordida and possibly others), which causes cankers to form in the wood in response to the infection. Diamond willow is prized by wood carvers and furniture makers for its strong contrasting colors (red and white) and its sculptural irregularity of shape.