By George, the Car’s Okay!

Danielle is having a bit of a lie-in, and with it not quite being 8 am yet, I thought I might squeeze in a post after all.

Danielle is recording time lapse video with her secondary phone, which I will later edit into new videos, but I will also be shooting a few of my own bits for them. Here we are just about to leave downtown Prince Rupert after a much-needed Tim’s pick-up:

And then we drove. Oh boy did we drive. We did stop at the Terrace Walmart (a full-size one – the store in Prince Rupert is reputed to be the smallest in Canada) and I was still walking funny. My legs feel mostly normal today so far, though.

Terrace

The car and trailer together don’t like to go much above 80 km/h. I’ve settled into going 85 km/h on rural highways. There’s a little too much herky-jerky and whistling if you go 90 km/h or faster, and potential sway is always a concern. We are burning lots of gas, but it is probably still far less thirsty than one of the U-Haul trucks would be.

First re-fuel of the trip, Smithers

Spring has arrived in Prince Rupert, but here in the northern interior it is better said that it is anticipated. At a rest stop somewhere in the *Fraser megalopolis, the lake was still frozen over.

Dry William Lake Rest Area

I didn’t enjoy the night drive into Prince George. Even though the terrain isn’t fully mountainous, there are a lot of twists and turns, and the pavement markings have all but disappeared in places, especially on curves when you need them the most. There are also disconcerting drop-offs everywhere.

It was quite a relief to finally hit the 4-laned portion for the last stretch into the city. But that presented a new issue. With just a car you might just go the speed limit until you get to a light that asks you to prepare to stop. But if you’re towing, you can’t really do that, if you want to have any brakes left. You have to anticipate the lights, approaching “stale” greens (ones that you didn’t see just turned green) with covered brake.

Anyway, we got to the hotel, the Econo Lodge City Centre, around 11 pm. I did sleep somewhat, but would have slept better if I didn’t have a Diet Coke from Carl’s Jr. and wasn’t worried about the car. Parking at this particular hotel wasn’t generous, and the back side of it is kind of spooky at night, at least by my standards.

I was awake before 7 and decided to get up and shower and dress and then move the car once the clock ticked past 7 and the street on the front side of the hotel was open for parking again. I was mentally preparing for the worst, but delighted to find that the honest people of Prince George did not disturb the car or trailer.

Well, it’s now 8:20. Time to post this and wake the co-pilot. Tonight’s destination is Fawcett, a town a ways north northwest of Edmonton.

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