STARR TREKS FRIDAY 6/12/15 Stewart BC
We had planned on an early start to drive 175 miles from Hazelton to Stewart. When Larry put the car barker gizmo in, it did not work correctly after several tries. We decided that we drove without that in our tow car for many years, so we would just tow without it. But it made us feel a little nervous. It was cool, but nice and sunny. We drove 135 miles on 37 to Meciadian — we saw the Seven Sisters snow topped mountain peaks, and 3 bears along the road! We then took the 37A spur to Stewart, stopping to view the lovely Bear Glacier by Strohn Lake — it was very windy and chilly there, tho sunny.
We got to the Bear River RV Park around 11 AM. We got the car unhooked in front of the office, and Larry could not get the gearshift to move from Park — it had been in neutral while we towed it. The guy in the office— Dave and his wife Mary — had no clue to solving the problem, but said the owner Steve would be there soon. Chatted with Dave and Judy— their daughter lives here and works at the park in the summer, but she had a doctor’s appt, so they were filling in for her. Then Mario, the chief of police came by — he knew nothing about car mechanics either. So we left the car there and picked a back-in spot for the RV— all the spots were nice and big, ate lunch, then studied the Honda CRV manual — Larry found a page on what to do if the shift is stuck— poking a screwdriver into this little opening(!) which he did, but could not feel anything move. Steve got back, but he could not help us either. Larry called the toll free number for Honda (the office had a phone — there is no cell service) and got some bimbo that connected him to the nearest Honda dealer in Terrace (204 miles away, backtracking, then toward Prince Rupert) — that bimbo knew nothing either. He finally got someone on the line who told him how to poke the screwdriver correctly, and Steve told us to go to the Canada gas station 2 KM away— so we could move the gear shift— just couldn’t put it in park, so used the emergency break each time we parked. The guy at the gas station directed us to “Dave the mechanic” a few blocks away— couldn’t find him, so asked another guy, and he got us to Dave. Larry thought it had to do with the fuses and had looked at the fuse box, but had no clue what to do. So he opened it for Dave, and Dave said — which fuse did we think was out??!? We felt it had to do with the brake + the brake lights were not working now. He said to try the horn, and that didn’t work either, so he localized which fuse it was— got some pliers and dug in like he was pulling a tooth! The fuse was blown, so he replaced it and advised us to buy some more— then he did not even charge us!!! What an angel (I had been praying VERY hard the past hour). With the new fuse, we had brakes, we could shift gears, and we could blow our horn!!!! (We really worried we would have to go 204 miles to the Honda dealer in Terrance — and today is Friday, so not sure we could have gotten the problem addressed till Monday!)
Happily, we drove to the Visitor Center — the lady there (no internet sadly at this center) gave us a booklet for a self guided auto tour thru Hyder to the Glacier Hwy. First we walked the boardwalk nearby thru the estuary, then got in the car. The Salmon Glacier was a 23 mile drive, half of it on gravel. As we drove, we passed into Hyder Alaska ( YAY— we made it to Alaska!!) 2 miles from Stewart— there was not a whole lot there — there was not even a customs agent at the gate. We got to see the Portland canal, the Tongass National Forest, the “Moose Pond” (no moose there— named after the fraternal organization that was active here), walked on the boardwalk at the Fish Creek Wildlife Viewing area— this is where people get to watch bears eat salmon late summer and early autumn — today no fish and no bears, got to see buildings where mines had been, got to the “Toe of Salmon Glacier”, and finally to the Summit Viewpoint. Larry grumped about the gravel road with many potholes, and a steep drop-off at the edge, but we both loved seeing the glacier — it is the 5th largest in North America, and is the only one you can drive up to. There was a man tent camping in the parking area, trying to see postcards and DVD’s— said he was just staying there for awhile— said it had snowed last night. Both of us were so relieved that our car was ok, so it was just a pleasure to do this drive today.
We came back thru Hyder and drove around a little bit— we had read about a lady who had a restaurant called Bus— it indeed was an old school bus where she cooked fish— it was only 4 pm, so we weren’t ready for supper yet. When we came thru customs into Canada, we were stopped, questioned, had to show passports. We went to the museum at Stewart and the docent took us around the museum, watched part of a film (they were closing soon), and drove around town a little more to check out historic buildings.
 |
| toe of salmon glacier |
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| bear on the road |
 |
| our "angel" Dave, who diagnosed our blown fuse |
 |
| buying extra fuses |
 |
| Hyde AK |
 |
| boardwalk near visitor center in Stewart |
 |
| tarrow |
 |
| border between Hyde and Stewart |
 |
| beautiful salmon glacier |
 |
| the bear viewing platform-- no salmon, no bears |
Back at the RV park, supposedly we have internet, but NOT! So we were told that the grocery store in town has guest internet, so will try and send this journal entry. Again, not sure if photos will happen. The next few days on the Cassiar Hwy will probably not have internet at all. At lease we made it to Alaska today — sort of.
No comments:
Post a Comment