July 13, 2008. Day 32 - Fort St.Johns, BC - Sikami, BC

After the usual morning routine of setting up the array and getting breakfast, Marcelo pulls the car up in front of the Super 8 for some photos with Guest Services Manager Cathy Ellis and lovely staff. The morning has a few minor stops and starts; a screw in the front tire panel came loose, the front latch opened, and Douglas - a gold prospector hitchhiking home to Dawson- joined the crew. A few hours down the highway, Marcelo pulls over for a quick break. Danielle Patterson and Sheldon Michaud from Summerland pull their pick up truck over to check out the XOF1. They were great and pretty enthused by the project- Marcelo, always on the lookout for cool camera shots asks if it would be alright if suggests someone (Carrie) jumps in back of pick up truck to film XOF1 from the front. It was a bumpy, windy experience and hopefully some sweet shots came of it. At around 1 30ish, the procession halted for 10 minutes at the side of the Alaska Highway to avoid heavy rain clouds ahead. The show gets back on the road and after a slower ascent up some hills we pull into Buckinghorse Pass for a coffee charge up, wifi, photo download, further rain wait out. As every evening seems to bring, "Should we stay or should we go" is the question. We try to figure in weather, terrain, distance to next coffee shop . . . We meet the friendly and informative Tyler Mattheis - the Community Development Officer from Fort Nelson and his lovely wife who tell us what they know about the road ahead and give us some cool pins. The soft beds of yet another generous sponsorship from Super 8 in Fort Nelson undoubtedly influenced the decision to continue on. We stop short some kilometres short of the city - on a flattened area for roads -possibly built for pipelines? The mosquitos are thick and aggressive for Marcelo's first camping experience - Douglas makes a smudge fire in hopes of discouraging them. We entertain ourselves with a crew photo shoot - but the light gets too dim. A hare and a deer are spotted. Where we parked was muddy and our boots were soon caked in the stuff. The mosquitos drive us to the relative safety of our beds where we sorely miss the luxury of Super 8.

	Early in the morniing while charging the batteries empty from the previous day drive, we took the opportunity to change some tires. The IRC tires have been outlasting their expectations.
	The sky finally start to clear a little just before we decided to start today's drive.
	One last stop at the Super 8 main entrance, Thanks! Super 8!
	Douglas looking for a ride to Dawson.
	Douglas, a gold prospector from Dawson City, YT joins the crew temporarily.
	Danielle & Sheldon allow Carrie to film from the back of their pick up truck - thank youse!!
	The camera is bigger than Carrie's head.
	The support van at the side of the road.
	X of 1 passes some interested structures on the left.
	Roadside flora.
	The X of 1 on open road.
	The highway leads through forested hills.
	Curious crowd gathers at Buckinghorse Pass.
	A helicopter takes off from the lot across the road from the Buckinghorse cafe.
	Family with the canoes waves and takes photos.
	A quick stop under a still overcast but somewhat bright sky to charge up the batteries a little before taking on the rain just ahead.
	Waiting for a few minutes was just enough to give us time to scape the heay rain.
	We encounter some light rain on and off
	Being under the full sun was rare so we have to take a photo to remind us it still exists.
	Douglas' campfire in front of the trailer.