From the Geographic Center of the Province

We arrived in Prince George day on the 29th. The drive from Victoria was really nice. The weather was fantastic, with only a little rain in Cache Creek, some thunder. Being a Tuesday the roads were very empty, we made some great time. AC was sleeping through the majority of the trip as she had just finished a graveyard shift. Most the drive I had my iPod and headphones on. I tripped across this great metal site a few days before we left. They had just started a podcast. The site was Metal Observer, the podcast was fantastic. Different styles of metal from all over the world. Most I had not heard before and really enjoyed the introduction to. Driving and listening to those kinds of tunes, drinking lots of Timmy's coffees and taking in all the sites, Does it get any better than this?

 

We have been spending a few quality days with a good friend of ours here in Prince George. Lots of laughs, good food, beer, and other treats. Its great to be back here, lots has changed. Mr PG has a huge Casino behind him. There are many new developments, housing prices are on their way back up, much of this is based on new developments in the Pipeline and Gas industry. I am really glad to see some positive economic developments for the region, they had been hit very hard with Lumber and mining cut backs over the years.

 

We sampled some fresh Kokanee that MB's Parents had just smoked. Wow! Forget how nice fresh fish can taste. MB's Dad is very intelligent and inventive, while giving us the tour of his green house he showed us the root cellar he put in under his greenhouse. He also has a red wriggler worm ranch, guess these little guys are in huge demand in gardens everywhere. His garlic was incredible big cloves, he gave us some tips on planting them, and I think I am going to try it out in my cleared potato patch when we get home. He also had some solid tips for many of our plants in our garden. MB also knows much about these things as well and gave us many tips about what we "newbies" should do and most importantly to keep a garden journal so we have what works and what does not year to year.

 

Hard to believe that our visit here to Prince is almost over, we are heading to Terrace tomorrow and expect to arrive tomorrow night. More great people to visit and see again, more great places to see too.  :)

 

EOF  - LC

Writely, trip, repairs and Improvements

Reading about Google's newest release. An Online Word Processor (plus more) called Writely. Very easy to sign up for and it could be a useful online application and collaboration tools for many road warriors or those who are touring and using Internet Cafe's and cannot or do not wish to install yet another bloated tool for word processing. As I have just started using it I am not sure of what limitations are on it, this is a Beta so I am sure that it is not going to be a cakewalk just yet. There are file upload limitations, as there must be. May ask a buddy of mine to sign up and try some of the collaboration options. The auto save function seems to be timed much like Gmail, and yes that has saved me some recreation time ;-). As I have a road trip coming up it might be the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Speaking of ... 8 Days and counting! damn I am looking forward to getting back up North. Looking forward to hitting all of my favorite places. We are going to start by spending some time with a good friend in Prince George . She's a blast, so very positive and a lot of fun to hang out with. From there we will go straight through to Terrace , (ah nice to be home again). We are going to be heading to the Queen Charlotte Islands for a few days as well, it will be our first trip over. I was originally hesitant about going there, we have a limited time to spend, but after my Mother-in-law went over and told us about it we have to take the opportunity to experience it. Supposedly mile and miles of sandy beaches with no one around. It will be a bit cold for any swimming, but we are hoping to get our fill of seafood. Speaking of I think I will be able to get some fishing in, our timing should be good for some salmon and trout. Any of you who know me know that I do not get very excited about much, but I am starting to get that "Kid on Christmas eve" feeling. During the whole trip I will be posting to the Blog(s) so stay tuned. It also appears that my father-in-Law will be in Watson Lake , (In the Yukon) for much of our trip. I have never been, and am always looking to explore more of the North I love, so may take a few days to make it up there to a point further North than I have been so far (record now is Dease Lake ).

As the schedule is getting tight before we leave I am a little anxious about some parts for our Westy I am awaiting. The little van has been up on blocks for about 2+ weeks, as we discovered a fuel leak when we filled up. After pulling the tank I found a couple of small holes on the top end of the tank as well as much corrosion inside. Pulled a favor in with a good friend on the mainland who works in the automotive industry and was able to get a new tank and a good price. I needed to replace the venting tube, two plastic valves and three grommets (Dealer got better than $70 for bugger!). I replaced all fuel hose and fuel filter, did not do the charcoal one, (after visiting the Westy Owners site I am rethinking this and since it is still up on blocks I will do this. Hoping I can get it from Bow-Wow Automotive and do not have to see the Dealer),re-zapped strapped everything. The expansion tank on the Passenger side was very brittle, ended up breaking both the lower nipple and the Expansion Valve Cap Nipple off, and of course the only place carry the part was the Dealer. So another $120, and now I play the waiting game. It was supposed to come from Toronto and be in on Thursday, but nothing so far. Dealer says it should have come in Friday (this past) or tomorrow (Monday). I am hoping so as I need a good week to test it on the road and ensure that it will run fine. I also bought a new Oxygen Sensor, but as it is located in the exhaust I will hold off on installing that until I get to Terrace.

Around the house I have been very busy. I should have some new pictures to post as I expect to be completing the deck install today. Just doing the railing over the past days as well as the gate. Still have the stairs to do, and with the Wife working graves I am trying to keep it down to just nailing and no power tools until late in the afternoon. I was out racing the sun last night trying to get all the wood facing slats cut, and got it done just as the sun went down. Ended up putting tools away in the dark and then doing my Hot wings on the BBQ by the Sensor light. :-0
So stay tuned, I think I am going to like the way it finished off.

Met the neighbour last evening, over the fence. Turns out he also works for TELUS too, in an I&R position. Seems like a pleasant fellow. Was asking if he could pop over to trim his grape vine on our side.

EOF - LC

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