Terrace BC to Prince Rupert BC

07-01 Terrace BC to Prince Rupert BC

While in Terrace I was invited to coffee by Ellen Smith and got to see her and Gary's escape 19... very nice setup.
They had the four seat dining table up front.
Nice visit.

At my morning conversation with Noel he mentioned a few slow clear creeks flowing into the Skeena River where I might catch a Rainbow or Dolly... this as I drive into Rupert for the RV park layover.
I got five hits on ten casts landing zero.
BC fishing, barbless single hook lures only.
Makes it real hard to hook and land a trout with only one barbless hook dangling behind a mepps #3.

On the drive into PR I stopped to look at the Skeena River.
Above is a short video showing how very large the Skeena river is.
It looks like a sea harbor but that is all fresh water.

I got to Kinnickinick RV park and was very disappointed.
A dive with steep hills to climb to get to your spot. Highly not recommended RV park.
Rate it 2

One of my anticipations was to get back to Dolly's for a live dungeness crab, my favorite seafood on the planet.
Dolly's had no dungeness!!!!

Alaska Highway is formerly known as the ALCAN highway which was derived from the original name: The Alaska Canadian highway.

This is not my first ALCAN rodeo

If old soldiers never die then myths about the ALCAN hwy must have originated with Douglas MacArthur too. Things have changed in the 67 years since the United States Army Corp of Engineers first scooped some mud out of Dawson Creek... but the old everybody-knows-stuff continues.
Many if not most people have a vision of the ALCAN drawn from old black and white theater newsreels or History Channel documentaries about the building of the road. http://archives.cbc.ca/science_technology/transportation/clips/12534/
But very few documentaries today deal with the modern version of the road. What is it like today? Has it changed? Is it really that big a deal?

“Some people still have the perception that they’re going to be driving up through the wilderness and they need 17 spare tires and armor plates to punch their way through. We want people to know that you don’t need a surplus army tank.” -- Lynn Gabriel, deputy director of the Great Alaska Highways Society.

Today the ALCAN is a 100% paved two lane highway. It's a normal conduit cutting through the woods just like a Northern Michigan road. The miles between gas stations and food is a wilderness-distant 50 miles and that would be a bit scary if you were from Traverse City but, should you be, you would have grown accustomed to a bit of planning and passing of the driving time with your favorite tunes or snacks. A CAA (AAA) tow truck is always somewhere close via CB radio and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police cruise the ALCAN in numbers relative to the California Highway Patrol cruising the I-5

So, forget all that stuff about "roughing it" on the ALCAN. It's a piece of cake needful of a bit more frosting than usual... that's all... and no more spare tires are needed here than a trip across Arizona.

PS I will not be on much of the ALCAN this trip. Just a short section from just east of Whitehorse to just west of Watson Lake. See the trip map


What I've learned about BC Canadians
These are the most polite people I have ever met.
Perfectly at ease and sincere.
A natural host for any American.
They speak differently.. they speak a truly unique version of English and its not the use of the noun, adjective, verb. It is the pronunciation and inflection that makes it different.
Probably the most important word to learn is "eh".
Eh is the Canadian word for "huh" and is used at the end of most sentences as a pronounceable question mark.
For example: "Ron's having a great time on this trip, eh?"
Completely rhetorical.
Its an affirmation like "right?" or "you know?".
By the way it would be ok with me if the youngsters that use "you know?" at the end of every sentence substituted "eh"... fewer syllables and less time I have to listen to them.
The BC Canadians are fond of the vowel sounds too and draw them out slowly and succinctly.
Example: About - "What's that all aboooot, eh? "
It lilts on you with time.

So how about that Canadian money, eh?
They don't have any dollar bills!
They have a dollar coin instead and it is called a Loonie presumably because there is a loon on one side.
What is the significance of the loon in Canada?

To make things even easier they have a two dollar bill... no wait we used to have a two dollar bill. They instead have a two dollar coin

And it is called cutely, a twonnie (two loonies).
It can trap you if you are not careful because your "loose change" takes on a new meaning.
When Canadians check for coins that have fallen behind the cushions they are serious about it!

Ok

Just sayin, eh?