185 Prince Rupert to Hazelton

Sunday 16th June 2013 Miles Today 277 Total  8518

We lost another hour yesterday so we are now 8 hours behind the UK.

Our usual 11am start (the time most motels kick you out) and following the dribbling advice of an ex-patriot drunken Glaswegian we sought out the local park where there was a classic car show on.

To be fair, the local petrol heads had excelled themselves. There were some beautifully restored old cars as well as the usual turbo nutters with the hot rods.

This is a corvette and a half, the back part contains a double bed.

This is a British, Triumph Rocket III, the biggest capacity bike in production at 2300cc pushing a deliberately low (for its capacity) 140bhp but it has unbelievable torque. However this psycho stuck a turbo and a Nitrox kit on it and it has been dyno tested at 620bhp.

This was my favourite, I could see me following Ray down the road in this.

We had a long way to drive today so we pulled the plug at around 1pm and hit the road.
How often do you see this on your Sat Nav,  "Turn Right in 566km". It was not actually that far but you get the idea. There are very few roads in this area and it is difficult to get lost.

It reminded me of North American films, where people were lost in the wood and their salvation was as simple as getting to the road.  In the UK you just walk in any direction till you find one,   Simples. Out here it is also simple, except if you go the wrong way it will probably end in your death.  Nice. This country is unbelievably vast and desolate. The bonus is that God had a pact with Mother Nature to sculpt this land into a thing of beauty.



We had been warned before and during this trip that the biggest problem we would encounter would be wildlife on the road, typically, deer, moose etc. What we did not recon for were birds. Those that have followed know of the collision we had with a pheasant. He died and we paid about $300 for a new screen. Today however we were attacked again. This time by a 7 foot wide bald eagle. I saw something black moving in the ditch about 50m in front of me and as I looked to focus in on what it was this huge bird, that to me could have been a 747, flew straight at us. I ducked as did Karen and the huge beast flew about 6" above our heads. Lots of breaks and swerves and the beast was gone. Bloody hell that was close.

From my perspective, I heard Ray go "Woooooo" through the intercom, and I looked forward around his left shoulder.  I swear I could have caught the beast by it's leg if I'd looked up a couple of seconds earlier.  I know it's serious when Ray becomes a man of very few words.  As for me, I had been hoping to get closer to a Bald eagle, we were lucky this time, but the old adage, "be careful what you wish for" hung in the air for a few minutes, and then this......

We stopped for a snack, drink and bottom break at about 4pm.  It was a proper rest stop, with tables for picnics and also toilet facilities.  After our break, Ray went to the loo, and I just stood enjoying the surroundings.  He came out of the loo, and at this point I have to remind myself, that I have been married to this man for 14 and a half years, loved him, hated him, but today, I was seriously worried about his mental state.  I looked around to see him coming out of the loo and as he walked towards me, his motor cycle trousers started to fall down around his knees.  I started to shout at him that he needed to sort himself out, and he kept a straight face and carried on walking.  I was thinking, senility, no sense, no feeling, is it still 911 here in Canada.  It was like a home video off of "you've been framed" or in America, "funniest videos".  However, he lost the ability to keep a straight face and creased up at my obvious discomfort.  You can take the man out of the Army squaddie mentality,  but you can't take the squaddie mentality out of the man.  Looking forward to the next 14 and a half years........

We (as in I) were trying to keep to the speed limits and in any case keep to around 100kph (60mph) to conserve fuel and more importantly, conserve the tyres which we need to last till we come back from Alaska. We were overtaken by most vehicles (I must be getting old - I would never have allowed ANYTHING to overtake me when I was younger) but this completely took the biscuit:

Not just a big 4x4 with a boat on the back but a 4x4 towing a small trawler. I am so ashamed.

The scenery just continued on and on and finally we pulled into a small town called Hazelton and passed a motel. As it was near our intended destination we stopped here for the night. A 'Subway' supper and a trip to the local liquor store, which in typically North American style was part of the motel and we retired early to bed to write up this blog.

A small gorge at a village called Mauricetown.