Ellensburg WA to Williams Lake BC to Terrace BC

06-28 Ellensburg to Williams Lake


Stopped off on the way at Roslyn WA which is where they filmed Northern Exposure (or at least used the town for neighborhood  shots)

Along the Yakima River

I had a difficult time getting across the Canada border with my shotgun.
I must look like a crook because they kinda treated me like one.
I should have got a haircut first.

Anyway made it through and went on to Chilliwack BC and Escape Trailer Industries where I met up with Reace and Tammy.
Great people.
Go visit!
The 17’ escape seems much larger than the Casita because it is.
It is wider and taller even though the same interior length.
The perceived longer length stems from the side mounted marine toilet which opens the floor plan from stem to stern.
Also it has two large windows at each end which lights things up and make it appear even more roomy.
I like the couch upfront for solo-traveler-me.
The large dining table would stay up… no need for a large bed.
Still cant get to the back cabinets without crawling though.
I like my layout better for that reason.
Maybe a half table in back?
Also, the escape is designed with a flat roof top.
No noggin dome like the Casita.
That gives it a lot more room for cabinets and stove fan vent, etc.
The casita stove fan is so low (due to the step down in the roof) that I just took it out so I could cook!
Many Casita owners do this,
All of the above combined with less roundy corners gives the escape 17 a cavernous feel when compared to the Casita.
Another great thing about the escape is that they don’t charge you for a highlift axle.
There is no difference in what Dexter charges Casita or Scamp or Escape for a different angle axel but Casita up charges the customer for it anyway.
Sort of a cheap thing to do in my opinion.
Escape does charge extra for high lift but that is because the high lift kit includes 15” tires and rims.
Unlike Casita and some others escape is very willing to work with you to customize your Trailer.
You don’t like Goodyear Marathons?
Tell them what tire you want!
From the people I know who have converted from some other brand to Escape many cite this as a reason for changing brands
It is a very good design, the Escape.
And this reminds me…
Having spent a large part of my life in mechanical design I have witnessed the difference between true quality engineers and wannabe engineers.
Henry Ford was not a degreed designer.
His math skills were mediocre.
He could not read a blue print.
Yet he was a manufacturing genius,
Reace reminds me of the many Henry Fords I have worked with over the years.

Interesting developments with the Escape lineup.
They have a 13 and a 17 and came out with a fifth wheel a few years back.
Then they tried the 19 dual axle and it is selling very well.
When the floor plan (jut the floor plan) for the 19 came out five customers who were waiting for their 5th to be built flipped orders to the 19.
But that is not the news!
Escape will soon add a 15 footer.
So their lineup will be 13, 15, 17, 19, and 5th

A slide out in the future?
How did I guess the head imagineer would have thought of it already?
But it appears the slide out challenge is too great.
Reace knows the people at Northen Lite who make fiberglass campers and they have been trying to do it for years but cant solve the leak problem.
So Reace says, “If they can’t do it, I’m not trying”.
That was another thing Ford was good at: not over inventing.

We chatted some about the history of Escape.
Reace and Tammy owned a successful courier service some years back and they also owned a dozen fiberglass camping trailers that they rented out as a summer side business.
Their trailer customers gave them many ideas on how they though the designs could be improved so they thought about designing their own fiberglass camping trailer.
As Reace says, “We knew we could do better and besides, how hard could it be to build them??
Big big grin and rolling of the eyes.
So they sold the courier business and the rental trailers and opened an escape travel trailer business in a “chicken barn”… that’s what he said J
As alluded to above Reace and Tammy have had a lot to learn about Manufacturing production control. Originally they sold their trailers through a dealer network.
The good thing about dealers were orders came in multiples.
“one of these and three of those and two of that one and deliver them on this date”.
But the hard thing was getting the orders don on time because the truck was going to be here and they better be ready.
Reace said that, “in order to make a delivery I’ll admit to cutting corners sometimes and there and that didn't make us feel good”.
So today Escape is dealer free and are just like Scamp and Casita in that regard because if you want one of these products you have to order it and go get it from the factory.

I forgot to ask if they had manufacturing planning software.
LIFO FIFO

Escape has sold about 300 trailers in the seven years they have been in business.
They expect to sell 150 per year and no more,
Rease says he doesn’t want managers managing managers.
He and Tammy will run the operation.
I enjoyed this visit.

Drove on up the Frazier Gorge heading towards Williams Lake but stopped short at Around 70 Mile house... Lac La Hache provincial park campground.
Very thickly forested, flat campsite.
Rate it 7

I think I love me
I am too ugly old and slovenly to be narcissistic yet I really really like me.
I am the perfect travel companion.
We never speak until spoken to
We lend a caring ear
We don’t interrupt each other... unless we missed our meds
We don’t turn the radio up too loud
In fact, since we truly love each other’s company, we have no need for music or other sound bytes.
We converse sincerely and critically and skeptically and never offend us in the process.
That’s why we like driving with us on the open road
Just the hum of tires to gratify
Just the comfort of true friends to pacify
I think I love me

This is a great green fern draped campground.
Sitting here with my beer and cigar and looking over my shoulder for maybe a California nico-nazi.
Can you enjoy a cigar in Canada?
Will the lady three campsites down come rushing into my camp, breathing through a kerchief, waving her hands in dispare, and yelling some wacko left second hand smoke rant?
Do they have Californians up here?
Are they all, I hope, in Vancouver?
Beyond Hope?
As they say?

Just sayin

06-29 Williams Lake to Terrace

I decide this morning that I could breakfast and coffee at a McDonalds up the road somewhere.
I got to the one in Williams lake at 5:45 AM and they would not be open until 6:00 AM so I said, heck with that... I'll find another place on the way towards Prince George.
Well I found another McDonalds in Quesnel BC around 7:00 AM but could not figure how to get off the highway and get to it... so again I said, " I'll find another place on the way"
Well I didnt find a place to breakfast and coffee-up until Prince George at the Husky truk stop.
This part of BC doesnt have many breafast stops open early on a Sunday Morning.
I was famished.

Driving along the Yellowhead Highway from Prince George to Terrace takes you through the town of New Hazelton.
As I mentioned in an earlier post I am a fan and minor student of First Nations Culture and New Hazelton is the home of the Ksan Indian Village and Museum which I recommend visiting.
The docents here are all First Nations guides.
I think I do not like white anglos as docents... like they are at the University of Brit sh Columbia Museum of Anthropology.

Anyway some Native Art follows.
This from a Salish Chief:

ALL IS FINISHED

I WANTED TO GIVE SOMETHING OF MY PAST
TO MY GRANDSON.
I TOLD HIM THAT I WOULD SING
THE SACRED WOLF SONG OVER HIM.
IN MY SONG, I APPLEALED TO THE WOLF
TO COME AND PRESIDE OVER US,
WHILE I WOULD PERFORM THE WOLF CEREMONY.
SO THAT THE BONDAGE BETWEEN MY GRANDSON
AND THE WOLF WOULD BE LIFE LONG.

I SANG.

IN MY VOICE WAS THE HOPE
THAT CLINGS TO EVERY HEARTBEAT.

I SANG.

IN MY WORDS WERE THE POWERS
I INHERITED FROM MY FOREFATHERS.

I SANG.

IN MY CUPPED HANDS LAY A SPRUCE SEED..
THE LINK TO CREATION.

I SANG.

IN MY EYES, SPARKLED LOVE.

AND THE SONG FLOATED
ON THE SUN'S RAYS FROM TREE TO TREE.
WHEN I HAD ENDED,
IT WAS AS IF THE WHOLE WORLD
LISTENED WITH US
TO HEAR THE WOLF'S REPLY.
WE WAITED A LONG TIME
BUT NONE CAME.
AGAIN I SANG,
HUMBLY
BUT AS INVITINGLY AS I COULD,
UNTIL MY THROAT ACHED
AND MY VOICE GAVE OUT.

ALL OF A SUDDEN
I REALIZED WHY NO WOLVES HAD HEARD
MY SACRED SONG.
THERE WERE NONE LEFT!

MY HEART FILLED WITH TEARS.
I COULD NO LONGER
GIVE MY GRANDSON
FAITH IN THE PAST, OUR PAST.
I...WEPT IN SILENCE.
ALL IS FINISHED!

CHIEF DAN GEORGE
SALISH
(1899-1981)

Some of you may remember Chief Dan from his poetry.
Others may remember him for his Oscar nomination in "Little Big Man" or from "Outlaw Josie Wales"

Drove on to terrace where I stayed south of town at Lakelse Lake Provincial Park.
Beautiful campground recommended by Ellen Smith of Terrace... a fellow eggster.
$20 Canadian... spaces far apart and quiet.
Hot showers too!
Rate it an 8

06-30 Terrace BC


Still In Terrace at the Lakeske Lake Park.
Found a place to get on the internet and do laundry.