Well, when I woke up this morning at 4.30 am my feet were freezing. I dozed fitfully till about 7 am then got up, and found out why my feet were cold - The temp on the car thermometer was 0.6 deg C even at 7 am. I found out later that it was minus 6 deg C during the night, but I think it might have been colder because there was an enormous icicle growing upwards from the grass beside my tent where a tap had been dripping overnight - And icicles don't just grow without it being bloody freezing !!! So I was rugged up in all my clothes and thermals while I had my breakfast and packed up the car.
Well at least it was a clear blue sky, and not the rain that had been forecast ! But when I saw that icicle, I knew it had been very cold. Another guy from a nearby motorhome came over to say G'day - I thought I detected an accent - He was from Germany, and intoduced himself as Jurgen. He said he had owned a Lotus Elite many years ago, as well as a very odd looking Matra which he showed me photos of, and we had a good chat about cars and the Nurburgring and many other things. He also had a phone which still had his german SIM card in, so I showed him how to get onto the wifi with it, and suggested he went down to a local phone shop and bought himself a pay-as-you-go local SIM card. He was in a rental motorhome and had got it for 3 1/2 weeks for 500 Euro because this early in the season they are trying to get motorhomes up to Alaska for the summer season. Worth remembering !! Anyway, I will probably bump into him en route as he is going the same way as I am.
Due to the cold and the chatting to Jurgen, I didn't get on the road until about 11 am, but at least it was fine and I had the roof off. Basically the road today was as boring as the one yesterday scenery wise - just a 2 lane highway crossing basically flat forrested country. So I apologise for the lack of interesting photos and the lack of much to talk about here but it really was one of those long drives that you just have to get out of the way in order to reach the next interesting bit.
I had the roof off until I got petrol in Vanderhoof, and while filling up there was a flurry of snow and the lady in the gas station said she reckoned they were in for a lot of rain and snow, and that I should probably put my roof on. The sky was pretty black, so I thought she knew best, and put the roof on.
Of course as soon as I drove off, the road did a right hand turn and I never saw another drop of snow or rain all day !!! So about half an hour down the road I stopped in a lay by to make a sandwich for lunch, and took the roof off at the same time, and it stayed off all day.
Due to the late start this morning, I was never going to make it to Stewart Hyder today, and as it was nice and sunny when I got to Smithers, and there was a good campsite with wifi right beside the road, I decided to stop at 5 pm and try and catch up on my blog and a few other things. But the scenery here is stunning, with big snow covered mountins to the north and the west of me, so I think tomorrow could be a far more interesting drive than the last few days. Still fairly cold tonight, so I have got 2 pairs of socks on tonight and am hoping my feet will be OK tonight !! Will let you know in the morning.
Lots of youngish guys (Uni age ?) have been coming up to chat about the car in the campsite. Turns out they are here for the summer planting trees, and for some of them this is their 4th or 5th year of doing it. It seems they are paid by the tree and it is a fairly good summer job for them - They have come from all over the country and will be starting shrtly now the weather is warming up. Obviously a major government incentive to plant trees, which is good.
I have a few photos of today but the internet is so slow tonight I cannot link them, so I will post this now and add the photos tomorrow.
Next morning - Here they are
https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/PrinceGeorgeToSmithers?authkey=Gv1sRgCL_RwpWW-v-pcA#
