Wed June 18--Day 16

Elks lodge #400 Ft Nelson BC
Bar room, Ed and his wife the E.R.
One of many bears I saw today


I Started the day in Dawson Creek and tried to get an early start, I needed to change the oil in my motorcycle and the shops I stopped at yesterday wanted $20.00 just to drain the oil, I had my own oil as it is difficult to find. None of the places seemed very anxious to help me out. So first thing this morning I went to wal-mart and got a funnel, I drained my oil into an old jug I found, then filled it back up. Then I went back to one of the shops and asked if they took old oil, which they did, so I gave them mine and headed out.
Dawson Creek is the official start of the Alaska Highway, I was going to take a picture, but the sign post was hard to get to and a big tour bus was parked near it, so I just headed out wanting to put this town behind me.
About 50 miles up the road I came to a town called Ft. St. John, it was a good sized town, and I found a big outdoors store and tried to find a pair of boots, the only size 14 EE they had were $350.00. I explained to the sales lady about the problems I was having with rain getting into my hiking boots, so she suggested a pair of high "gaiters" which were water proof. I got them and a new pair of water proof insulated gloves. I still ended up spending $80.00, but it was well worth it as about 50 miles up the road I hit rain. The gear worked great and it was money well spent. My goal for the day was Fort Nelson, which is 300 miles from Dawson city. It seemed that the day was dragging on, but about 100 miles from Fort Nelson things cleared up and it was looking like it was going to be a nice evening. I thought I would stop in town get gas then find a place to camp.

When I got to town, I filled up with gas and found an ATM that would take my debit card, most of the ATM's here only take Master Card based debit cards and mine are Visa. It was about 6:00pm and I headed out of town, but what would I see on the edge of town, but an Elks Lodge! and right next to it a very run down hotel. I decided to stop and check the rate for the hotel and if it was less than $100.00 I was going to stop. I found it funny because the name of the hotel was "Shannons" with a green sign and a big shamrock on the sign. The guy who ran it was Chinese and could hardly speak English, things were slow and I got the room for $55.00. Believe me in this part of the world that is CHEEP! I got checked in and found that I pretty much got what I had paid for, but it was a roof over my head and no bears to contend with tonight.
I went over to the lodge and what did I find, but one of the nicest lodges I have been to since my stay in Oppalassas LA in 2000. Everyone was a nice as they could be. I met Bob and Sheldon, who just happened to run the local NAPA store. Those of you that know me, Know that my first real job was with NAPA in the early 80s as a manufactures rep. We had a lot in common and had a real nice visit! They invited me over for coffee in the morning before I headed out.

What started out as a difficult day, ended up as one of the most pleasurable of the trip, yes as always the scenery was nice, but new friends, cold beer and the fellowship of the Elks is always a nice way to end the day!

Tim

PS I wanted to give a shout out to Kim Zimmerman, I high school friend I have not seen in over 25 years, she found my blog and is along for the trip. Nice to hear from you Kim, I have thought about you from time to time over the years, I hope all is well for you and your family!