August 8th - Kitimat - Kitwanga - Kitimat

August 8^th

We drove out to Kitwanga, to meet George and Kellie Roberts, other Wanderlodge owners.  We decided to take the camera as Alicia, a friend of Vadie’s has said that she has seen the Spirit Bear many times in her travels.  In my 32 years up here, I have never seen the Kermodei , or the Spirit Bear.

On our trip to Kitwanga, there was no sign of the Spirit Bear.  

George and Kellie were not at Kitwanga, so we decided to drive into Gitwaynga, there we saw the old Anglican church and steeple as well as many totem poles.

When we returned to Kitwanga, George and Kellie were arriving. We had a good lunch with them at the cafe, then it was show and tell on the coach.  

We Canadianized them, he even mentioned that he was “Hyderized” and had the card to prove it.

 George officially "Hyderized"

and "Canadianized"

On the return trip to Kitimat, 5 minutes from Kitwanga at the “S” bend where the RV’s are stored, there was the Kermodei.  We could not have missed it, the vehicles were stopped on both sides of the road and the semis had a hard time getting through.

August 7th - Kitimat, BC

August 7^th

In the afternoon, I started with the removal of seats and misc items so I can remove carpet in the front part of the coach. We had purchased cork laminate with vinyl top to replace the carpet.  Removing of all the items was quite a chore. I will post pics in the next couple of days.

August 4th to 6th - Kitimat BC

August 4th to 6th

Location - Kitimat BC

 

I have been neglectful of not posting what we have been doing.  I sort have kept track of what has been happening, as most of it pertains to the upcoming trip.

When  we met with Randy and his group, I knew that I had a coolant leak coming from the circulating pump.  When we parked at Walmart, I used a bucket to catch the leak, but when I came out of the store, I noticed that there was coolant on the tarmac.  This came from what appears to be a leaking hose.

On August 4^th, the weather was real nice, and Dave Jones said he would give me a hand to put down some of the 2ft by 2ft concrete slabs, actually he said 6.  By the time we were finished we had laid 30 of them and we were both very tired. He was done, but I continued on with the finishing touches, so I brought the topsoil around and also planted grass.

 Sidewalk

On Monday August 6^th, Vadie gave me a hand with removing the cooling hoses to be changed.  I was going to change one, but then after checking them out, I have removed three but I think I will be changing five of them.  This job was particularly dirty, so once I started the job, I had to continue till I was finished.  So, three hoses were removed and the area cleaned up somewhat so I would not get as dirty reinstalling the hoses.

 3 hoses removed

 Dirty Bill, good thing I was wearing coveralls

I also replaced the Groco circulating pump, so that job has been taken care of. 

Another job that is almost complete is the towing system for the HHR.

July 29 to 31st - Mini Rally in Terrace

 July 29 to 31st - Mini Rally in Terrace

We knew Randy and entourage were heading to Terrace on Sunday, so Vadie and I went to Terrace on Saturday night.  We washed the coach, one less coach to wash when the group arrived.  We moved the coach around so we could plug into power and were set up for the night.  A short while later Vadie heard strange noises, I didn’t as I was not wearing my hearing aids, then went to look outside to see what what going on.

Wow, to her surprised there was billowing black smoke coming from the rear of the coach, and she yelled out, I did not need my hearing aids to hear her.  We both rushed outside, I pulled the power plug then opened the engine hatch and turned off the master DC switch, and the fire and smoke supsided quickly – one of the two battery chargers had burnt up.  I removed the AC and DC wires and restored power to the coach, but we did not sleep well Saturday evening.

On Sunday morning, we moved the coach down to Hwy 16 so the group could see us.  Vadie and I went shopping and when we came back it was quite a sight to see, all the coaches lined up side by side.  It was perfect timing as they had just arrived.

Just off Hwy 16 in Terrace, BC

We all moved up to where I store Vadie’s coach during the winter time.  This was going to be home base for one night, the plan was to head to Prince Rupert on Monday afternoon. 

Randy put me on a mission, they needed a set of moose antlers.

The coaches were all washed, and Vadie was busy making dinner.  Nancy helped with the dessert.

Washing Randy`s coach

Dinner consisted of – Vegetarian chili, salad with kickass homemade dressing, also strawberries and ice cream for dessert.

After dinner we went for a ride around Terrace, one to show the sights and the other so we could get internet and phone service.

Being a sort of mini rally, which we sort of hosted, we had got the “Americans WOGgers” something they could take home. As you can see by the pics it was a number of good Canadian “EH” things.  They had to get Canadianized LOL.

 Hmmm Randy is almost Canadian

 Cliff and Barbara being Canadianized

 Randy and Carol too

Oh no, Jim and Nancy too

On Monday, we headed to Kitimat. One of the first stops was to see a friend of mine, Dave Brousseau. 

Dave Brousseau and Carol

There, my mission, was fulfilled – the moose antlers.

 My mission fulfilled

 As you can see by the pics they were “moosing around”. 

 Randy wants to grow horns

 Jim had no trouble growing his

 Way to heavy for Cliff

Dave gave them two moose antlers as well as moose and caribou meat. Wow what a haul.

We toured around Kitimat, where we saw the Giant Spruce Tree,

Tree many hundred of years old

  then onto Kitimaat Village and had a long discussion with a totem carver.  He had just started carving a 38 foot Red Cedar tree.

We travelled back to Terrace to check out another wood carver.  He was not there but we were allowed to go and check the carving out, in all states.  We finally got hold of the carver and the ladies went back to purchase some of the items, Barbara came back with the biggest haul of 5 items.

We were all getting hungry, and as the time had disappeared so quickly, the group decided to stay in Terrace and head to Prince Rupert in the am (short 100 mile drive).

 Our campsite

 Group travelling along Hwy 16 toward Prince Rupert

 Do you think those young lads had fun during the evening - What is that thing.

July 22 to ?? - At home in Kitimat BC

Well, for now, we have a number of things to take care of here in Kitimat, before we head out for our longer trip.
We hope to meet a group of BlueBird WOGgers who have travelled up through Alaska and are coming through the Terrace area, we had hoped to meet them at Meziadin Lake, but that cannot happen. When we meet them, we will certainly have pics and we will post them,
Other than that, Vadie and I both have to get our health in order.

So do keep in touch with reading the blog and hopefully once a week till we get on the road again I will update what is happening.

Oh yes, we also have to get some things done on the bus too, oil leaks, coolant leaks, air leaks and the step will not go in.

So, thanks for reading and whatever you are doing - enjoy yourself.

July 21st, 2012 – Smithers BC to Kitimat, BC

July 21st, 2012 – Smithers BC to Kitimat, BC

Weather – Overcast and cool

Total Mileage this trip - 3457.7                   Mileage today -                164.0

Drove to Terrace and dropped off most of the clay. 

 Moricetown Canyon

All were very helpful with unloading.

We were hoping in seeing the Kermodei bear but that was not to happen today.

When we got home, we looked at all the changes that Dave has made, as well as the good work he has done by looking after our property for us.

 

As I was unhitching the trailer from the coach, I noticed that the cooling system was leaking steadily from the circulating pump.  Will have to look closer at that, could be just the hoses.

We finished unloading the trailer, wow, this was quite a chore, as we still had to unload almost 4000 lbs.

Dave had made dinner for us as well, what a renter, we are going to keep him LOL.

July 20th, 2012 – Valemount, BC to Smithers BC

July 20^th, 2012 – Valemount, BC  to Smithers BC

Weather – Clear and warm

Total Mileage this trip - 3293.7                   Mileage today -                417.8

The trip started out smoothly, everything was working except the two front jacks, they leak profusely.

We stopped in Prince George and I noticed that the leak at the circulating pump was getting greater, as well as a small oil leak.  These will have to be checked out before we head on our larger vacation.

 Prince George Railway bridge - high water

 Welcome to Prince George

Kermodei Bear Statue

During the trip we encountered nice weather and some not so nice like, thunderstorm, lightening and torrential downpours. 

We also had numerous delays due to road construction, but this is the norm for up here. 

                               The long endless road                         Largest Rod - Houston BC

When we got to Smithers, we stayed at the Safeway parking lot and had a good evening, the weather was cool, down to 15 deg.

We saw a number of wildlife 6 deer, 2 black bears  and 1 moose.