HEY EVERYONE...MAKE SURE TO CHECK DENNIS AND CAROL HILL'S BLOG OFTEN.  THERE ARE SOME GREAT PICS OF US THERE SINCE WE ARE CRAZY!!!!!!!!!  LOL

Here we are in Dawson Creek....5.24.14
Ups and downs and frustrations for the most part.  But the sun is out and the weather is nice this afternoon.  We are safe and in a town with a radiator problem and not miles out of town in the wilderness. 
Our group left this morning headed up the Alaskan Highway.  It was really sad to see them go heading off while we stayed behind.  We'll see what Monday will bring.  Steve and the men did everything they could think of....but still this radiator leaks and can't have that, for sure.
Today I live with an open hand, fully right where I am in this time, thankful and trusting in the One who leads, delays and makes a way where there is no other way...(thanks Ann Voskamp A Thousand Gifts)
Steve and I parked the Queen Bee at Wal-Mart, on the far corner, with some nice bushes out our door and the whole lot to keep watch upon.  We checked the tire that keeps going low and found it was indeed low again at 50 pounds.  The fellow in Grand Cache had checked it for leaks in the tire and stem and it was all good so Steve figured it was the extender that had a slow leak.  He removed it....and now where in Dawson Creek to find air.  We drove Peewee all around from place to place and found no place to get air with the air chuck we needed.  Back to the Rv we came.  A semi was parked very near us and I thought when I got back I'd ask the driver where we might get air.  When he got there I got his attention and hopped up on his step to ask him the question of the day.  He said if we had a hose, he had air.  So, off we went to Canadian Tire across the street to get a hose and an air chuck.  The men got it hooked up, and the driver pulled out his tools and helped get the hose and chuck working.  In a short while we were all aired up.  The guy talked to us for awhile but not with the cleanest of language.  We talked money and life and a bit of politics and then off he went.  A short while later Steve was picking things up for us to go and he found the truck driver's set of wrenches, left behind on the tail bed of our little truck.  The only thing we knew about him was that his truck company was in Devon, AB and that he had lots of tats and on the oilfields they called him "Clean Pee" because even though he looked the part he neither drank or did drugs.  Now to find him and return his wrenches!
We stopped at the Visitor Centre in DC and asked them to search for truck companies in Devon, AB. A cute young gal gave me the list of numbers and actually called  several of them  and talked to a few asking about "Clean Pee" Although I would have shared differently, she was fascinated by his nickname.  There was one number that was simply a cell number and she did not leave a message with that one.  I called that one later in the afternoon and left a message with the voicemail asking if he knew a driver that would have been headed through DC and said we had his wrenches. 
The next morning bright and early in drove the truck!  We headed out to return his wrenches and have a nice talk.  First thing I asked was what was his first name.  He told us it was Colin.  In the conversation we happened to mention that we had gone to the family dance at the Ark Christian Centre.  No sooner out our mouths than he asked if they had tried to convert us...and we said, We are Christians!  He sort of hung his head and said, "And I was throwing around the "F" bombs!"  His language cleaned up and we had another nice talk about his wife and kids, about money and then he went on his way.  Seeds of love planted, of care....Lord use them.
On Sunday after attending a little church there with amazing worship music we drove to the shop where Steve hoped to get the radiator removed.  They were in the yard there and Steve asked if we could bring in the rig on Monday morning...Yep, bright and early at 7:40 am.  One has to remember that it seems almost noonish at this hour because the sun has been up since about 3:30 am!!! 
We got the rig there and parked, our place for the next two days and the men covered our carpet with cardboard and began the incredibly challenging job of removing the radiator.  They found the tube was oval and bent and when checked it did have a crack.  Since the only "rad" shop (that is Canadian for radiator) couldn't get to it till the end of the week, the mechanic did his own fixing extremely well done and the pressure in the rad held.  This shop did ALL kinds of things.  Canada should make a reality tv show about them.  Paul the owner revs up diesel engines like you can't believe!!! 
Now, the even more challenging part of getting that rad back in the RV and to also fix the carburetor.  They called for a part but no one had them but  one of the workers had overheard  that we needed a certain part and he had two of them in his garage at home!!  Thanks Lord! They also fixed three vaccum leaks.  The bill, well we won't talk about it just to say that everything is expensive up north in BC!  They did great work, very thorough and conscientious. 
We left to catch our group at 5pm on Thursday logging in 147 miles before getting tired and parking at a "litter barrel" campground.   It was a noisy place with two oil roads nearby.  I went for a walk the next morning and met a medic truck heading out on one of them.  A young gal was driving and she stopped to say hello.  She had taken a one month course and decided to work a year to make money on the oil fields...She noticed Tye and asked if she could pet him as they don't see many dogs there.  She got out and gave him a nice hug and pat which he gladly accepted and she was off at about 6:20 am up the road to be a medic at the oil fields...interesting.
This next day we logged in 330 miles determined to make it to Liard Hot Spring (check http://rvdrivingschool.blogspot.ca/  thanks Dennis!)  Low and behold we got  there and our group was still there!!!!  Resounding calls of "You made it!" and big hugs greeted us!  It was wonderful to see them all.  We headed for the hot springs after a snack at Dennis and Carol's...thanks again!  And oh, how we enjoyed the hot springs!  Long day, wonderful scenery, safe travels, awesome weather, a 10 bear day, and good friends at the other end...stupendous.  Grateful hearts here!

Gosh, I thought it was a long way to Wyoming!  We've been traveling days and days and still we aren't in Alaska!  But...we are close!  In Whitehorse Yukon Territory now with total population of just a wee over 32, 000 with Whitehorse having 23,000 of it.  Our stay will be three days here before heading off to Haines, Alaska!!! 



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