18 August 2009 Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park, British Columbia Canada

I got up late, about 7:30 a.m. and didn’t have time to update my blog. I had to get rolling. I ripped down my tent and packed everything. Another night without dew to make everything wet; a campers dream. Today I will continue to travel west and north on Highway 16 (YellowHead Hwy) to Smithers. I stopped at the Smithers Harley-Davidson shop to see if anything changed since I last stopped there in 1995. The last time I was there I purchased oil and oil filters for my 1989 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard and a t-shirt. It’s pretty much the same as it was the last time I was there. I looked around some and didn’t see anything I needed and left. When I come to a Tee in the road I will pick up Hwy 37 the (Stewart Cassiar Hwy) North to Watson Lake. My plan was to be in Watson Lake tonight. Today I drove probably the most scenic highway, hands down, since I left the 13 May 2009. I highly recommend this highway because of the scenic beauty and the excellent condition of the highway. Its rolling mountains have spruce, pine, white birch and poplar trees. It also has plenty of wildflowers growing alongside the roadway.

Well, I came up short on making it to Watson Lake on the Alaskan Hwy. I’m not happy about this. I’m about a 100 Miles/161 Kilometers shy of my destination. I’m camping in Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park. My neighbors are from Tennessee and Abbotsford, British Columbia. The Camp Caretaker is from Germany. She was really interested in politics and my travels in Russia. She says she still doesn’t trust the Russian government. I met some bicycle riders today. One of the guys was from Ireland and the other from Chicago, Illinois. The Irish guy is traveling around the world for a year with plans of working in Australia for three months in the underground diamond mines. He says in three months he can earn a year’s wages and then he’ll use it to fund his travels till he gets back to Ireland. The Chicago guy up and quit his job with plans to travel till his money runs out. Destination unknown. He says there’s more to life than sitting in an office till you die. Amen, brother. I mentioned before that as I’m coming north it’s getting cooler. That sure is the case today. The Chicago guy said the Red Fire Weed wildflower in the ditches is a sign to watch for the season change. It will drop all its leaves when the season changes i.e. summer to autumn. Today I was looking at this fire weed and most of these flowers have dropped their fauna. I can feel the snowballs hitting me in the butt already. Burr………….I must get this tent put up and get to bed its 10:30 p.m.