Week ending June 11, 2015 Peace River

Thursday we moved to Strong Creek District Park, just outside of Peace River. This is a pleasant park, on the bank of the Peace River and close to all amenities that the town of Peace River affords.  We are testing out our new batteries, and so far they seem to be working well with our solar panels. Of course it is hot and sunny, that doesn't hurt. The biggest negative to this park is that we only have cell service sporadically, more off than on. As a result we don't have wi-fi access either.

Friday we took the opportunity to do laundry in Peace River. It has been a while since we have been close to a laundromat.

Saturday we explored the neighbourhood.   We headed up the Shaftesbury trail, stopping first at Fort Fork National Historic Site.    The fort was actually on the other side of the river, but that is in a corner of the  Peace and Smoky Rivers that is hard to get to, so they put the historic markers on the north side of the river.  Alexander McKenzie wintered here in the winter of 1792 after returning from his trip to the Arctic along the river named for him.   He continued his search for the Pacific by traveling up the Peace River from here.   David Thompson also wintered at the fort 10 years later.    

We continued on to the Shaftesbury Ferry to cross to the south side.  We found out that they would have a few feet to spare for our trailer should we decide to cross the river here.  It was interesting to note that the ferry is pushed with a small tug boat.  After many years of petitioning the province to put a ferry across the river here,  in 1952 a couple who owned land on both sides of the river built their own ferry.   In 1977, the province took over operation.

We then checked out  Tangent Park, a full service campground on the south side of the river.  An okay place, but too many trees for our liking, sites a bit short.   Climbing out of the valley, we came upon a bit of detour, where the road had washed out.   It was a strange site, as there was no evidence of slide above the road, but the road was almost gone for a section a few car lengths. 

Our next stop was the Eaglesham Golf and Country Club. Their golf course looked very nice, and the campground was great. There was not space available for the time we require. We then checked the municipal campsite at Falher. It is in the area we want to be and looked very nice. Long wide sites and cell phone service.

Sunday was Nascar race day as well as the start of the FIFA Women's World Cup.  We watched Canada win their first game.


Monday morning we explored Peace River. It is a pretty town, there are nice walking trails along the river.  We eventually stopped at the 12 foot Davis statue in Riverside Park in the downtown area. 

 

Davis got his nickname from a gold claim he made in BC near Barkerville.  Claims could be 100 ft wide, but 2 claims next to one another measured 212 feet.   Davis claimed the extra 12 feet.   After a quick bite of lunch we drove up to 12 foot Davis grave site. It is in an amazing location with views of the entire valley.

 

Just before 2 we arrived at the GM dealer to get an oil change. Of course they always find extras and decided that we needed our brakes done, so instead of 100.00 we came away with new rear brakes and 1300.00 lighter. They also suggested we get new tires. Not today. Tires require some research, as these last ones didn't seem to last as well as we expected.



Tuesday we did another drive. Our first stop was Berwyn.  We find these small places have great recycling centres, so we dropped off our recycling.  We noted their small water tower. Obviously there isn't a large water requirement here.  

(the lean is our photography, not the tower itself)

We stopped at Lac Cardinal, intending to visit the historic village. It is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  We then did a short walk in the park, fighting off the millions of mosquitoes and black flies. We then headed to Grimshaw, Mile zero of the Mackenzie Highway.

There is a well cared for park with historic information about the area and about the highway.  One of the interesting items was a cat train, that used to be used to move cargo up the highway to Yellowknife, starting in 1939.   Each train had three Caterpillar tractors, and many sleds.   
 

We had a picnic lunch at the park, one of the few places that we were not attacked by flying insects. We got back to the trailer in time to watch our neighbours pull their trailer out. Actually we are not sorry to see them go as they run their generator almost 24 hr a day, and even though it is quiet, it is always there.  We really appreciate our solar panels as they provide us with sufficient electricity and are quiet.  We did run the generator to augment the panels for a couple of hours about half the evenings.

Wednesday was cleaning day. While Joan did some housework John replaced one of the headlight bulbs in a headlight. The dealer here wanted 150.00 to do it, but was kind enough to show John what screws needed to be removed to get at the bulb.  It cost us 50.00 in the US to have the same thing done. John figured it was time to take care of these things himself and although he has never performed this task before it took him about the same length of time they told us it would take them at the dealers.

Thursday was moving day. It doesn't take very long to pack up when we are parked in dispersed camping. By lunch time we were in Falher, and set up in the municipal campground. The campground manager came by, so we were able to get all sorts of information about the town as well as pay our fees for the next few days. We are looking forward to once again having cell phone service.