Dawson Creek, BC

Canola fields & grain silos near Sexsmith, Alberta

It's been a tumultuous few days, with things moving quickly back home.

Here, not so much.

Bird nest in rosebush

I left Grande Prairie without having seen anything of it, really. My mind has been forward and backward, and not really paying attention to where I am.

Letterboxing in Sexsmith

I did get most necessary things taken care of before I left the motel, so took a little extra time and tried to find a letterbox north of Sexsmith. Hey, it was the ONLY letterbox in a 30-mile radius, and it's been quite awhile since I've tried to find one. 

The time just seemed right. 

Trying to get this trip back on track.

And find it I did. The place itself was unremarkable (in the midst of an aspen grove), but the stamp itself was unusual — it was a two-part stamp, which was kind of cool.

Two-part letterbox stamp

While there, I saw an little bird's nest in an Alberta wild rose bush. I was surprised that it was only about two feet off the ground! It was in perfect shape, and reminded me of the nests we would find in the rose bushes back at the Larkspur house. Those tangled rose bushes were the first defense against any animal that might try to get at them. It was always fun in the spring (and a little worrisome) to see the fledgling birds hopping around the yard. No birds here, though, they were long gone.

This area has a number of agricultural fields bordered by small aspen and evergreen trees with lots and lots of little sloughs and ponds (thus, the increasing number of mosquitoes). 

Canola field

Canola fields above
Oil fields below

The most amazing thing here are the canola fields. They in full bloom now and are an incomprehensibly bright yellow. The color is so vivid — almost an electric yellow — that they look like they belong in Provence, France, or Oz (as in "Wizard"). 

When you're on a local high spot, the landscape looks like a gigantic patchwork quilt of greens and yellow. The photos really don't do them justice. 

I learned a little bit about canola here. I had heard that canola was another name for rapeseed, and that the name had been changed to be more socially acceptable. But while canola was developed FROM rapeseed, it is different — the seeds have to meet established nutritional standards, which rapeseed does not. And this was achieved through traditional breeding methods, not GMO manipulation. The name is a contraction of "Canada" and "ola" (meaning "oil"). 

It is also the most profitable plant grown on the Canadian prairies.

Pumpjack in canola field 

While there are yellow fields above, and oil is being pumped from below. The slowly nodding heads of these oil pumps are ubiquitous here. They are quiet, but there is a fairly strong oily smell if you are near one. 

And of course there are "no smoking" signs near them. I have two comments about this: 

(1) People in Canada do smoke a lot more than I'm used to from being in California. I confess I'm not that used to the puffing of smoke, and I'm a little sensitive to smoke of any kind at the moment! 

(2) There is a whole industry devoted to oil field safety. I've seen lots full of "mobile medic" trailers and "mobile showers." I can only think that these are dispatched in case of an accident.

There were a number of places that I would have liked to have stopped — doesn't "Moonshine Lake" sound intriguing? But... once again, I was feeling that I'd already made one stop for the letterbox and that I'd better get going.

Iconic grain elevator at Dawson Creek

Dawson Creek, British Columbia

So I've entered British Columbia (BC aka "Bring Cash"). BC is known for being more expensive than its neighboring province of Alberta. There are higher taxes on everything, gas jumped from $1.02/litre in Hinton, Alberta, where I last filled up, to $1.17/liter here in Dawson Creek. It's kind of like the gas sticker shock in California after driving across the midwest, where gas prices are cheaper. 

Honestly, at this point, it doesn't really bother me. If I had an RV that was getting very poor gas mileage, and had a huge gas tank, I'd obviously mind it more, but N0MAD has been getting better than 20 miles/gallon, which is not bad for a big SUV that's also a comfortable camper!

Dawson Creek is a bustling, busy town. It's an agricultural, industrial, and social center for the surrounding area, and also is Mile "0" for the Alaska Highway (which used to be called the Al-Can Highway). So it's kind of a big deal.

It even has a Walmart and a Safeway, quite a number of motels, an ice arena, and events center. 

And a library.

The iconic grain elevator was built in 1948 and was deemed valuable enough to preserve as a historic structure. Consequently, it was purchased and moved (now THAT is quite a story) to it's present location. Ten TONS of grain dust were vacuumed out of it, and the "annex" was converted into an art gallery showing a variety of oils, acrylics, watercolors, multimedia pieces, pottery and photographs from local artists. It had a beautiful garden in front of it, too.

I popped into the Visitor Center and asked to use their wifi. And yikes, there was a message to call the contractor — they were trying to get into the (locked) house.

What's left of the roof

House fire update

Ohhh. My.

- I've settled on a contractor (thank you, Pat! AND everybody else who recommended someone... It was hard to decide, but I needed to do this quickly). 

- Contractor Steve and insurance adjuster Greg and (other mystery Safeco contractor) did their walk through yesterday. I'm answering questions about the property.

- Friend Karen heroically managed to get the key from Southern Marin Fire, made copies, and dashed over to the house between tennis matches, and gave one of them so now Steve with ready access. Plus he helped Karen get my computer out of the house, so that's a relief to me.

- I spent a good deal of time yesterday in the library lobby transferring utilities back to my name so that things are set. You have no idea the trouble that took — since power and gas have been shut off at the house, the PGE customer service person was at a bit of a loss, because if there is no meter running, you can't have an account. It took a little while (actually almost an hour) to get around this particular Catch-22 problem (no meter running, no account; no account, no electricity no meter running). Good grief.

Between the kitchen & dining area

The bottom line is that the initial photos didn’t quite to justice to the damage. As Karen said, it will be months, and a lot of money. Just to begin with, there is smoke damage in every room of the house except my downstairs office, which thankfully had the doors closed. The surfaces need to be cleaned with a special cleaner, then sealed, and then painted (which I assume will come after the other work is done).

- The ceiling in the kitchen is nothing but charred wood. It will have to be reframed.

- The framing of the roof over half of the garage and the kitchen will have to be totally reframed. 

- The drywall in the kitchen, dining and living room will have to be removed and replaced. 

- The water used to put out the fire went through the floor and through the ceiling on the lower level. So the flooring and ceiling on the lower level will need to be removed and replaced, too.

- Sliding glass doors need to be reframed and replaced.

- And we haven't even talked about the decks yet...

Nothing left of the ceiling in the kitchen

The good thing is that things are moving quickly. 

- Tenant Julie is getting on HER insurance people, because nothing can be done until they've done their walk-through. We're hoping that she'll be able to put her furniture in storage (after being cleaned, I guess). There's going to be such nasty, dirty work going on, that all of the things in the kitchen, dining and living room really need to be out.

- Steve is getting going with removing soggy insulation. The insurance company wants this out sooner than later so we don't have icky mold growing to add to the damage.

Ahh, it was so pretty before!

- Drywall is being tested for asbestos (considering the age of the house). If it does have asbestos, they'll have to hire a specialist to remove and dispose of it.

- Greg will come up with a number and cut a check for the repairs. I'm holding my breath on this. Of course, there is the issue of depreciation. I've emphasized that although the house is not a new house, it was in pristine shape when I purchased it in October, and no one had been living there until February of this year. 

At this point, I'm going on faith. I'm counting my blessings. Yes, it could have been worse. More stories are circling in the neighborhood about the severity of the fire. I just heard today that 20 (TWENTY) people called it in. So it must have been spectacular. I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been. No wonder one of the neighbors was packing a suitcase!

I'm counting my blessings for all of the friends and professionals who have come forward with advice, help, expertise, support, and sympathy. 

I'm counting my blessings that MOST of the the family heirlooms that survived the Great Purge from the Larkspur house are still in storage. I would have been crushed if they had been in the house and were damaged. It appears that the photographs and photo albums that I had with me are okay. Still checking on a few other things, but... it's okay.

I'm counting my blessings that I'm able to continue this trip. It's going to be a different trip than originally planned, of course. I will have to be tethered to communications more than anticipated. But the good thing is that I will be able to continue, at least for now. I'm keeping an open mind, and keeping strong and centered about what I really want and what's important. 

So... northward. The plan is to take about a week to get to the Alaska border. This is much faster than I would have liked, but it's a balance between speed and appreciating the country ahead of me. I cannot do much at this point, anyway, so it's time to take a deep breath and move forward.

I already think I will be coming back. There is another road trip, the "Deh Cho" loop through the Yukon and Northwest Territories that I'd love to take — it goes up to the Wood Bison Preserve, and includes part of the country I'm going to go through, so I'm (once again) assuaging myself with the thought that I'll be back.

I've gassed up, gotten more ice for the cooler, and am ready to hit the road. I probably won't write again for a few days at least. Look for pictures on Facebook; there will be more here when I have time. 

If anybody needs to get something to me, I'll be doing a mail pickup next week, and you can send something to: Dena Van Derveer, c/o General Delivery, Northway Post Office, 6650 Northway Road, Northway, Alaska 99764. It's a good think I didn't have anything sent though Canadian post, as there is a possible strike starting this week!