June 1, 2001, Friday- for our last day in Williams Lake we decided to go to the likely place of "Likely". An hour's ride away, this ghost town from the 1800's offered a lot of insight into life in the last half of the 19th century. At its heyday, 5000 people lived in a area a few acres that included a master plan with 5 streets and 4 avenues. Several days of the daily log maintained by the local mine are reproduced on the information board. One, described the fire that consumed most of the businesses and homes. At that time structures were built one against the other for support, many not having any foundations, but when one started to burn, good by to the block. Many of the inhabitants were Chinese, and along with all of the Anglos, were buried in the town cemetery. Several years after the demise of the town, all of the Chinese remains were dug up and transported back to China. Now that's dedication by some folks. It was unfortunate that it was raining hard while we were in this area, and most of the day. Maybe tomorrow will be drier.

INFORMATION KIOSK IN "LIKELY" CEMETARY	THIS IS IN THE MIDDEL OF THE RIVER. WE DIDN'T REALIZE THAT CROSS TRAFFIC HAD THE RIGHT OF WAY!

June 2, 2001, Saturday- Happy Birthday to Debi, Robert and Stephen….wow …29 years have flown by. We reached cell service this morning, and got to reach them having lunch with Art and Anna at Zaidys Deli in Cherry Creek. A&A had just returned from a month or so in Bonaire, and Stephen had sent Robert a frequent flyer ticket to Denver for the weekend. Ben, Becky and a ton of other friends were joining them for the Rockies game in the afternoon, and then to watch the Av's game four in the Stanley Cup. (To bad the Av's lost 3 to 2). But, a good and noisy time will be had by all of them.

After it rained hard all night, and into the early morning, Susan and I drove the 200 miles from William's Lake to Prince George towards drier weather. PG is the fourth largest city in BC with 76,000 residents. After two days of rain, we only had some sprinkles. Couldn't believe as we came towards our campground, a big Costco loomed on the horizon. Also, one of the biggest big box superstores that we've ever seen is "The Real Canadian Superstore"….you almost need your bike to get around inside…it is tremendous carrying every imaginable product.

At the Blue Spruce Campground a man came over to us….and asked if we were in Livingston, TX in December. Naturally he remembered Hobbes. Small world. But even more interesting…. remember our border crossing and the bit about guns and Texas….he also had Texas plates. After he said he didn't have and firearms or handguns, they pulled him over and went through every bin and storage locker. Canadian authorities didn't deny for one moment….it was the Texas tags and the stereotype. I guess my remark about the cell phone really hit the right cords to avoid the "Texas" search.

Adjacent to the campground is a 21 kilometer trail through the woods. We started where it was the width of a two lane graded road, and as we progressed it became a single track through thick woods. On early parts of the trail we observed sets of animal tracks, some of which we think were caribou, and some, bear tracks. Scat also appeared on the road. In the thick woods it felt like we were walking on a carpet of pine boughs. I however felt a little uncomfortable walking with Hobbes in such a confined area, in the middle of bear country. Why did we leave the bear bells back in the coach? Anyway, we made it out safe and sound.

June 3, 2001, Sunday- Mom had an early flight to Vegas, having to leave the house at 5 AM. With the sun out and drying the landscape, we found our bear bells, and headed back to where we hiked yesterday….but with more comfort (for me anyway), having the bells clanging. Only a very muddy piece of trail forced our return.

Next activity….we found the Prince George Tennis Club and used a court for over an hour. Since their "donation" box had no bottom and the money kept falling out, we couldn't leave the $5 per head donation. Hungry you say after the tennis, so we might as well head to Costco and do the free food samples. As always, they hit the spot.

June 4, 2001, Monday- we awoke to perfectly clear skies…so let's stay a day more in Prince George and play a round of golf. Good luck for us at Aspen Grove GC….Monday is discount day $21 Canadian ($14 US) per person. Not bad. Played with a local woman, Joan, who provided us with the perfect course guidance and area information.

The local economy in BC is not doing well. It has almost a 20% unemployment rate, and with lumber and pulp prices falling, many timber related businesses are slowing or closing. Some blame the unions…I guess it's where you stand with the concept of unions….but with clerks in the local food store chains making $25 per hour to stock shelves…one has to wonder.

Another coach that has been leapfrogging us with some of the same campgrounds told us that when they crossed the border, all of their potatoes, apples and citrus fruit were confiscated.

Another coach told us that two of them left Whistler/Blackcomb and headed north along highway 99. One said it was slow and no problems, with hills that might be 8% in the US, not 13 to 17% that we read about. But, his buddy came down with smoking brakes and didn't have the most enjoyable time. I guess our playing safe wasn't unwarranted.

June 5, 2001, Tuesday- the rains started at 10 last night and continued hard most of the night. By this morning they were only intermittent, but by the time we reached the Cassiar Highway, 300 miles to the west, the coach was dirty, and the car filthy.

The ride was most pleasant following the river to the sea, the passes only at 850 meters. We found out why we can't communicate with the Canadian truckers on the CB radio. That's because they don't use the CB in the northland…but us truck to truck VHF channels…one for southern BC and one for the northern area.

CAMPGROUND ON THE CASSIAR HIGHWAY

Glad that we aren't heading up the Alcan Highway….listening to the CBC it seems that the highway is closed at the BC/Yukon line where the world's largest culvert failed. It may be four or more days before the roadway is reopened. That will stack a few rigs and cause problems up and down the line for a few days.

June 6, 2001, Wednesday- although we only had 130 miles to get to Prince Rupert, the ride couldn't have been through more beautiful scenery. This ride has been listed as one of the best 10 in Canada, past magnificent mountain ranges like the "Seven Sisters", and along the riverbanks of the Skeena River. A real treat was our first moose sighting along the road. But, a 100 Kilometers per hour, it was too fast for a photo.

Finally arriving in PR, we were greeted by a quaint city (17,000 residents), with a focus on the marine activities. There are rain slicker specialists, sail repair facilities, supermarkets that send provisions to your dock, and monuments to sailors lost at sea.

LARRY AND HOBBES BY THE LOST MARINER MONUMENT	THE PRINCE RUPERT YACHT CLUB MARINA

We passed by men preparing their crab pots for the upcoming season. Each pot weighs 100 pounds (with the line and floats), and they pack 1000 pots on the boat. After 3 days they have them all out, and it takes 4 days to check them after they spend 4 days at the bottom….200 feet down (35 fathoms). The harvest is 5 to 7 thousand crabs a day. All that sounds like hard work.

BALD EAGLE IN PRINCE RUPERT	CRAB POTS WAITING FOR ACTION

After checking into the Park Avenue Campground a few men came over and said that they remembered us from the Decatur, IN rally last June. Hummmm! Then a guy came over to say that he was next to us three campgrounds ago in Williams Lake. Watch out world….you all seem to run together.

We headed over to see Kim, the woman that will be watching Hobbes. They seemed to hit it off. From there we checked the storage facility and all seemed in order.

A STATELY CITY HALL IN PRINCE RUPERT

Dining at the Crest Restaurant, we watched the bald eagles soaring past the window and the ships coming and going from the marina. The Yacht Club Martina will greet us upon our return on the 27th of the June.