One More Canadian Night: Cache Creek, British Columbia
Odometer: 169,628
Day Distance & Time: 546 Miles; 9 hours 39 minutes
Overall Trip Distance & Time: 5,929 Miles; 98 hours
We’re getting close to the States! I hope that my friends and family members there have had a nice Memorial Day. The weather eased up on us today and we enjoyed partly cloudy skies for our drive through British Columbia. We got to see a lot of neat little towns tucked away in the mountains. From where I sit at the Motel 6 in Cache Creek, I can hear the creek itself churning outside. That sound is so therapeutic. I might have to just lounge next to it for awhile this evening. Here’s the view.
Today we traversed the Yellowhead Highway, route #16 in British Columbia. If we’d stayed headed east on that road instead of cutting south on 97 at Prince George, it would have planted us back in Edmonton where we made a visit many days ago. I can’t recall exactly, as the days at this point are all running into one another. The remarkable thing is that either due to a primarily downhill grade, better fuel quality than we’d been getting, or simply a lighter right foot, my car got over 36 miles per gallon today over our 546-mile day. Move over, hybrids!
This morning in Houston (B.C., not Texas), we made a stop at the world’s largest fly fishing rod. It’s six times larger than the average fishing rod and would require a river 15 boxcars wide to cast it on. It took 270 hours for local volunteers to assemble. That’s some community spirit!
Jason and I grabbed lunch at a restaurant called J&S in Vanderhoof and I tried a dish called poutine for the first time. It’s basically French fries with some cheese and gravy on them. It was delicious!
Road conditions were great today, and it was nice to be finished dodging potholes and frost heaves. Shortly after Williams Lake on route 97 headed southbound, the highway opened up to two lanes in each direction with glass-smooth pavement. I’d forgotten what that felt like! Short and sweet entry today, but tomorrow we cross into Washington and I have several visits to make. From here on out, I may collect my thoughts for a couple of days at a time before blogging. Just wanted to relay this last entry from Canada and thank you for following!
Beautiful morning leaving New Hazelton, B.C.
Passing a variety of small lake towns, including this one – Burns Lake
Our lunch spot in Vanderhoof
Junction of highways 16 and 97 near Prince George
Must be in logging country!
I agree!
I liked this old cabin along Hwy 97
Another red Honda dealership sighting! This one in Williams Lake.
Getting closer to Cache Creek
Bathroom break in the woods!
Arriving our destination for the night
Jason and I were ready to try some local grub so we hit up Herbie’s Drive-In up the street.
It’s cozy and the chicken sandwich wasn’t half bad.
I wandered around to explore the town a little (needed to get the legs moving anyway). Check out this interesting castle-themed motel. It’s currently for sale, but still appears to be in operation.
This place, the Wander-Inn Restaurant, is closed and has weeds growing in the parking lot.
I’d love to explore inside a place like that.
drivetofive 
May 30, 2016 at 7:55 pm
Incredible mileage!
May 31, 2016 at 7:24 am
I know! I guess that’s one bonus to the low speed limits on most Canadian highways. We were between 80 and 100 km/h for most of the day which felt like we were crawling. I hope you had a great holiday weekend, Mark!
May 30, 2016 at 9:42 pm
It looks nice up there… 5900 miles this past week, 169,6XX in total, well, let’s see how long really modern vehicles last… Best of luck on your trip back!!!
May 31, 2016 at 7:24 am
Thank you! Yes I will probably roll 170,000 tomorrow on my way to Idaho. Today’s leg to Seattle isn’t quite far enough!
May 31, 2016 at 2:19 am
Bathroom break in the woods! That must be a first for you.
May 31, 2016 at 7:25 am
Oh it’s happened plenty of times! Luckily this was just for #1, not #2. Sometimes you just don’t want to deal with waiting for a “washroom” (what Canadians call the restroom) at the local convenience store!
May 31, 2016 at 8:27 am
It’s been interesting reading your account, Tyson, and then contrasting it with Jason’s. It’s cool how you guys are on the same trip, but see the world a little differently.
Also, you’ve got to have the highest mileage ILX at this point.
May 31, 2016 at 5:21 pm
Thanks, Tim! I’m glad you’re following both of us! Jason and I are great road trip partners and have managed to stay off each others’ nerves for our 12 days together! We’ve parted ways for the evening as we have separate dinner engagements here in Seattle, but we’re staying at the same motel tonight and then heading different directions in the morning. Been a great adventure! Hope your day has gone well.
June 1, 2016 at 8:27 am
Sorry for not following each day but I’ve been stringing wire with attic temps over 125, so I too am a liggle tired too. Not sure if your long distance drive is as tiresome but your view is far better 😉
Happy your adventures have been relatively trouble free and you’re heading home safely. Just a heads up, take your time as we’re hitting some record heat these upcoming days. Depending on the source we’re going to hit 118F by Saturday…
Enjoy the cool temps while you can and drive home safe.
June 1, 2016 at 7:33 pm
Yikes, 118? Maybe I’ll linger up north a bit longer. I’ve made it to Idaho for the night and I’m planning on getting to Scottsdale by Saturday. Sounds like you’ve got your hands full with home improvement projects (no surprise!) but I hope it’s going well! Thanks again for following along on my journey. You’ll be pleased to know that I’m at my friend Josh’s place right now and he drives a pearl white 2005 TSX. So he has great taste in cars.
June 1, 2016 at 10:35 am
The adventure continues — you guys have amazing stamina!
I love places like the Wander Inn. Probably won’t be around all that much longer so it’s great you got a snapshot of it.
June 1, 2016 at 7:33 pm
I agree, Chris! I had to document that in case it’s not around when I (potentially) make this trip again 10 years from now! Glad you enjoyed seeing it too 🙂
June 1, 2016 at 7:36 pm
Yeah, Josh has great taste in cars 😀