July 9, 10, 11, 2008

We spent two nights in Prince George to do office work, laundry, and banking before moving on to Houston. We and the road crew had dinner with Barbara Sandberg.




On the way to Houston, we dropped in at the Vanderhoof and Burns Lake Home Hardware Stores.




At Burns Lake, Kelly Holiday from Peak FM came to the motorhome door. She had Henry Reitsma, owner of the Home Hardware store in Houston, on the cell phone. Henry wanted to know what time we were going to arrive in Houston. He said he and his wife, Dorothy, would meet us at the big fishing pole at the tourist office where we were heading for an interview with CFTK TV. We were wondering why so many cars honked at us on the road to Houston. Later we learned that Peak FM announced on air, "The Cooking Ladies have just left Burns Lake. If you see them give them a honk."

Houston, BC, is the steelhead capital. There is a wonderful park along the highway with a huge fishing pole.

Karin Koppitz from CFTK TV filmed our arrival and interviewed us for the 6 o'clock news. As promised, Dorothy and Henry Reitsma were waiting there as well.

We went to the Shady Rest Campground in town. They had wifi and that made us happy because with wifi we can work on the blog and try to get caught up.The meatloaf, that Road Crew Ruth had put in our slow cooker when we started our drive from Prince George, was ready. There is nothing like driving down the highways with delicious smells coming from the motorhome kitchen. We have done this many times during the road trip. We have an inverter and also a generator so we can drive down the road with dinner cooking in the kitchen and the food is ready when we arrive at our destination at the end of the day.

On July 11, we headed out in the towed car to sightsee and to look for wildlife. And we found it along with some spectacular scenery.

Sometimes animal sightings are in the back of a truck!

We started our day in Smithers with a visit to the Home Hardware store. Then lunch and on to 'Ksan Village and museum and Kispiox to look at the totem poles.

On the way, we visited the Moricetown Canyon.

On the road back into Houston, we saw a moose in a stand of trees. We drove closer to get a photo and lost sight of the moose. While we were busy looking into the trees the moose walked across the road in front of us. All we saw was his back legs as he disappeared.

In too many places we saw the devastation caused by the mountain pine beetle. Dry rusty brown pine trees cover the hillsides. The dead and dying trees are the discarded nurseries of the pine beetle which, together with its partner, the blue-stain fungus, choke off the tree's flow of water and food.