Smoky again this morning. We begin today with another museum tour at the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum, next door to our campground. They have so many old cars, trucks and vintage machinery they cannot fit it all in their buildings so much of it is parked outside both in front and in the back. Inside, we enjoyed displays of pioneer artifacts, wild animal mounts, and local history. Out buildings were crammed with historic vehicles, wheels, old metal signs and hundreds of license plates. The family who owns and runs the museum shared with us their relief that this amazing collection had not burned while they were evacuated.  We were grateful too as it is quite a nice place to see. Thinking of Sherry and Phil and their hot rod show car. You both would love this place.

We are anxious to get the wheels of our own vehicles rolling because we are anticipating visiting the “Cinnamon Bun Center of the Galactic Cluster”, about 1.5 hours drive to Tetsa River. The Tetsa River Lodge offers fresh baked bread, buns, and a variety of Artisan meats all made by hand on the premises. Woot woot! 

Here’s the long and short of Tetsa River Lodge. It is owned by Ben and Gail Andrews who both do all the game meat processing and bread making plus run an RV campground, rental cabins, and a fuel station. Ben is in the hospital five hours away having major surgery and Gail is here dealing with life in the middle of nowhere. She is a very straight-forward, no nonsense, capable woman with a warm heart and a smile for all the crazy people who walk in her doors. She also has very nice buns (yes, she’s heard that a million times). Vicki and I have coffee and cinnamon buns, John pumps diesel and tastes all the samples of homemade smoked sausages. His favorites were the chorizo and hickory smoked sticks. Mine was the pepperoni sticks. The cinnamon buns are to die for. Many travelers stop here to get one – even giant visitors from Minnesota on motorcycles (He looked down at me and asked me how tall I was.) This is what happens to you when you eat too many cinnamon buns!

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:18-19

We told Gail we loved the the No Sniveling signs on her fuel pumps and agreed that she could pretty much charge as much as she wanted because when you need fuel, you need fuel, regardless of how much it costs. Gail told us a story about a couple who drove up in their gigantic class A RV – the big fancy diesel bus ones. The man got out and fueled up his rig with diesel to the tune of over $500.00. He came into the lodge to pay and told Gail he should get a free cinnamon bun for spending that much money. Gail told him a thing or two. She told him the diesel was free but the cinnamon bun costs $500.00. He paid his fuel bill and left without the bun.

As we make our way back into more mountainous terrain the highway winds through a rocky limestone gorge with an eight percent grade dropping down into a gorgeous valley with magnificent mountain views of folded rock formations. These are the Northern Canadian Rocky Mountains formed by tectonic pressures that folded the earth. Stopped for fuel in Toad River, a very popular fuel-up stop for travelers and locals alike. Toad River becomes relevant later in the story. We stop at Muncho Lake for photos and a short hike on a giant alluvial plain. Beautiful! 

Today is wildlife day! We see bison, black bear, moose, caribou, and more bison.

We arrive around 5:00 p.m. at Coal River. We are confused driving into the parking area as the place looks very run down and well, as Vicki said, permanently closed. There is, however, a vehicle fueling up at the pumps out front. We drive over one of those old gas station tubing sensors and hear the ding of the bell each time a wheel crosses it.  Remy, the young, tall caretaker with striking blue eyes and a warm smile finishes fueling the previous patron and walks over to our campers asking how he can help us – as we have very confused looks on our faces.  John says, “I called last night and we have reservations for your RV park.” Remy says, “You don’t have reservations here, I don’t have a phone.” He continues, “I have water and power from a generator for RVs but no sewer as the septic system wasn’t properly prepped for winter. I have blown water and septic pipes everywhere but you’re welcome to stay the night.”

Remy helps us get to the bottom of who we called the night before. We show him the phone number and he says he thinks that’s Toad River. We look up the Toad River ad in the Milepost and sure enough, the phone number matches. John had asked Siri on his phone to call “Coal River”. Siri heard “Toad River” and dialed. John had made reservations at Toad River, over 120 miles back. Nothing can be done now as no one has phone service so we happily park at Coal River and learn the rest of Remy and his young family’s story.

A couple had bought this place two years earlier with great plans for a full-service outpost on the Alaska Highway. Her parents agreed to live there, run the place and get help get it all built. Marital issues crept in and the in-laws bailed in support of their daughter. No one was there over the winter or spring to take care of the place. Pipes froze and broke, old buildings had issues, and the weeds grew. The husband/owner hired a local guy to at least run the gas pumps this spring and summer. The guy was there a month, took the money in the cash register and hit the road without a word. It was a week or more before the owner figured out the place was left wide open with no one there.

Enter Remy and his sweet wife and little boys. They previously lived down the road a bit. Remy and his family agreed to take over and try and get the place going again. The only thing Remy complained about was hitting bison poop piles while trying to mow the property.  He didn’t like getting sprayed with fresh bison crap when the mower blades hit hidden piles in the tall grass. There is a huge (and I mean HUGE) newer building on the property that was closed up. John asked Remy what was up with the building. Remy told us there was a brand-new bowling alley in there, five movie theaters and enough wood and insulation to build five cabins along with antique cars and vintage equipment for a museum.  WHAT!?  All part of the master plan that hasn’t happened for Coal River outpost. We marveled at this craziness and slept soundly to the hum of the generator.