It rained on Monday while I was in Haines, Alaska. It rained all day yesterday, while I was aboard the car ferry cruising southward on the Inside Passage. And guess what? It poured all day today as I headed eastward from the car ferry port of Prince Rupert to Prince George, British Columbia. Yuk!
I slept well last night aboard the car ferry. I went to bed and read until about 11:00PM and then slept until 4:00AM. Five hours of sleep is pretty normal for me, so I had plenty of time to gather my things in preparation for disembarking at the car ferry destination of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. I showered, dressed and had time for coffee in the ship's cafeteria. I thought it was considerate of the ferry to open the cafeteria, at least for cold breakfast, given the 6:00AM arrival at Prince Rupert. I really enjoyed the car ferry journey from Haines, Alaska, even though the cloudy, drizzly weather prevented much sightseeing and photography.
At Prince Rupert, we had to clear customs after driving off the car ferry. Remember, this was an American car ferry with vehicles and people entering Canada. I had my passport with me for identification, and after the usual questions, I was through customs and on my way.
There was a time zone change, from Alaskan Daylight Time (ADT) to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), so 6:00AM quickly became 7:00AM. As I began my journey from Prince Rupert, I had not yet decided on my final destination for the day. Prince George was more miles that I would have cared to drive for the day, but there isn't anything special in between. The decision maker turned out to be the weather. With constant rain or drizzle all day today, it ruled out my stopping for things like touring a heritage village or the totem pole museum. I wound up driving all the way to Prince George.
On the bright side, my motel at Prince George is fantastic. For $40.00 USD, I have everything in my room that I could expect or ask for. The Bon Voyage is a great place to spend the night, and I have both a restaurant and a food market right next door.
The coffee and roll I had for breakfast was the last meal for me in the ship's cafeteria. Yesterday's meals included a Denver omelet for breakfast (which was excellent), beef stew for lunch (which was good but a small portion), and beef brisket for supper (which was both good and plentiful).
The ship's purser made frequent public address announcements during the trip to Prince Rupert. About 45 minutes before arrival, he announced the planned arrival, which was actually a wake up call for people sleeping in staterooms (cabins) and in the lounge. It's understandable, that they want a quick unloading of passengers and vehicles once they dock.
The purser's wake up call said it was a balmy 50 degrees. Baloney! It was a continuation of yesterday's drizzle, with a cold 50 degrees, if you stepped outside on deck and caught the ocean's wind (the Gulf of Alaska, actually). I was reading an article last night which talked about the "maritime climate". Read into that, clouds, cold, wind, drizzle and such.
Once I got on land and began my eastward drive, I immediately noticed the condition of the roads in Prince Rupert and onto the countryside. Fantastic! How nice to have smooth, paved road for hundreds of miles. There was one slow down for construction, and signs of recent construction, but none of that delayed me as much as driving slowly because of the rain.
Another thing that I noticed quickly was a different terrain and landscape. Instead of the predominant white spruce trees that are so common to Alaska, here there were mostly non-evergeen trees and foilage. My guess is that this western part of British Columbia is probably brilliant with color in the fall.
The countryside is quite mountainous, with the steepest mountain having a vertical slope of about 100 degrees (it leanded over the highway). Lots of lakes, and small waterfalls spilling off the mountains next to the highway. Highway 16 is a major east/west highway across Canada. I used it in part when I was in Jasper.
For much of my drive along Highway 16, it paralleled the Skeena River. At first, I thought it was a lake or a very wide river. Highway 16, by the way, is also called the Yellowhead Highway. Why? I don't know.
Logging and fishing (tourism) seems to be major industries in western British Columbia. In spite of the rain and the early hour, I saw people wearing waders (I assume) and into the river casting for their big strike. I even saw campers with their tent pitched out on sand bars. Boy, you have to really want to fish to do these kinds of things.
I did stop at one Indian Village, which was actually an indoor museum, selling local arts and crafts. I'm not into mocassins, Indian jewelry and the like, so the short visit meant little to me.
I thought the countryside was pleasant to look at. Western BC is populated, in constrast to Alaskan highways, and there are many farms along the way - something I saw little of in Alaska. I made another stop to visit a wildlife museum, which was actually a collection of stuffed birds and animals. Several days ago, I visited Burwash Landing, and I expressed my opinion that that was the best display of taxidermy I have seen on this trip.
Tank and Eeyore seemed to be happy today, because I had a different country western album on the Explorer's CD player. Among my favorites were "Old dogs, children and watermelon wine" and "I've been everywhere, man".
A minor irritation while driving along Highway 16 was the local choice of speed limits. A town called Smithers, for instance, is stretched out for about seven miles, and the only buildings are on both sides of the road. For that, they post a 30 mph speed limit. Give me a break!
Smithers was sort of a half way point for my drive today, and because of the persistent rain, I chose not to stop there for the day, or at Burns Lake, either. And besides, I didn't see any motels at either of those locations that look inviting. So, here I am, all the way to Prince George and settled in a very nice motel. Some things balance out.
Tomorrow I will head south, at least to Cache Creek or Kamloops. The day after that, I'm planning to end up on Vancouver Island.