Snow, rock dings, flat tires, and way ahead of schedule…….

Yesterday morning we awoke to find a dusting of snow on everything.  It rained hard all night but must have turned cold just before daylight and it snowed.

It's springtime!!!

Later in the morning a truck kicked up a rock as it passed us and we got our first of probably many dings in the windshield.  I kind of expected this so I brought a rock chip repair kit with me and fixed it in camp.

Shortly after leaving the campground on Tuesday, the low tire warning light came on so we pulled over at a rest stop.  When I got out of the truck I could hear a hissing sound from the driver side rear tire.  There was a small rock wedged in between the tread and it had penetrated the tire.  Once again I had planned for this and had with me a tire plug repair kit and a small portable compressor.  After digging out everything, it only took about 20 minutes to fix.   Didn't even need to remove the tire.

First flat tire of the trip

We have gotten way ahead of schedule.  Some of the campgrounds I had picked out were not open yet
(even though the travel guides said they opened May 1st) and the free camp grounds are either to small for us to maneuver into, to muddy, or to far off the beaten path on questionable gravel roads.  As a result we had to continue north until we found a suitable campground or RV park.  Monday we drove 11 hours and yesterday we traveled twice as far as planned, so now we need to slow down so not to get to Alaska to early in the year..
We are now on the Cassiar Highway.  The travel guides say this is one on the most scenic roads in BC and has the best possibility of spotting wild life.  We have traveled on it just a short way and it looks really promising.  Saw two black bear yesterday, a grouse, an owl, and Pat thinks she may have got a glimpse of a moose.  Today we are at Mezidain Lake Provincial Campground, camped right on the shore of the lake.  There is still some snow piled up along the roads and last night there was frost. We are now far enough north that I carry my bear spray  with me when walking the dogs. Especially this park as it’s noted for bears.

Bear spray in the back pocket

Mezidian Lake Provincial Park