Sunday August 8th we are in Prince George to go to church services. It is obvious that this was a crown colony and still is. The dollar coins are called loonies because they have a loon on them. The coins and colorful bills have images of leaders on them, sometimes British monarchs.
Along the roads there are often avalanche warnings that say do not stop. Of course there are road signs with moose almost everywhere. There are also bison, caribou, mountain sheep, and deer signs. Then there are the don’t feed the bear signs that say “a fed bear is a dead bear” because they have to kill the bears that lose their fear of humans. Many signs are also in French and the Indian language.
In the backcountry the road signs show which services are available when we pass populated spots (sometimes just two buildings); for us the gas symbol is always welcome. Sometimes there is no gas for 100 kilometers. There is diesel available at every station. Most of the rest stops have no restrooms, only bear proof garbage bins. There are often nice information signs. One that occurs over and over is the mountain pine beetle kill explanation.
Yesterday we traveled through dozens of First Nation villages. We stopped at one where there was a fortified hill fort that a local chief used in the late 1700’s. It made you think of Book of Mormon time. Nekt, the chief, was invincible in battle with a double thick grizzly bear vest with slate panels. His club was called “strike only once” because he knocked his opponents down with the first strike. The battles often consisted of just the champion from each village fighting.
The villages often had full sized bill boards on the highway telling the Indian girls not to hitchhike. They were pretty graphic showing photos of girls who had been killed.
The most common vehicle plates other than British Columbia are Alberta and Yukon Territory, which are the neighbors. We didn’t see a Northwest Territory one however. Common US tags are Alaska, California and Washington State. Some rare ones we have seen are Maryland, Colorado, Oregon, New York, Idaho, and Minnesota. Nobody from Montana.
We are now back in radio country. There are highway signs giving the frequencies and call letters of the local stations. Mainly talk shows and of course, good old country western music. There is more international news than in the States. There was one radio announcer, sounded like an old guy, who announced in an Indian dialect. There is wifi at the motels so Janeil downloads indexing to do as we travel. She has done over 56,000 names since she started back in Baltimore.
Right now the the government is really strict about open campfires. The fine is $343 for every person at the site. Most of the hundreds of fires going right now are lightning caused and the firefighters just let them burn unless homes are endangered. They predict that the wilderness fires will burn on for several months. The skies are often haze overcast even in the farthest backcountry.
