September 22, 2008. Day 103 - Stone Mountain Provincial Park, BC - Fort Nelson, BC

The overnight snow precipitation whitened the dark gray mountains around us. It was nice to see the snow but at the same time it raise concern about driving on white slippery roads, at least for now the road was clear. The sky was clear, nice for a change. We all got up early, still semi dark. Lew and Marcelo go busy removing the frozen solar car cover, it was heavy due to the extra ice and stuck to the solar car, it was carefully removed to avoid breaking the cells, at places it left print on the ice underneath the cover. A new challenge for operating a solar car at below freezing temperatures, ice. Even the clamp meter and the voltmeter left inside the solar car had a bit of a frost on its display. As the array was set up, left over moisture froze, showing a cool display of ice crystal, particularly on the solar cells. The cover was placed on the ground to thaw and dry. Got a fire going to keep us keep us warm, boil water; Lew, Taro and Marcelo had tea while Mark a dose of caffeine to get the day going. For our breakfast, we settle for the easy and healthy oat meal, cereal, bananas and other snacks. Everyone in good spirit and having fun, Lew was teaching Taro how to juggle. As the morning progressed the welcoming halo of the sun appeared, it was 09:00nish when we first saw the sun peaking from behind a mountain, slowly the temperature started to warm up. Not much to do, waiting was the game. No internet, no land line phone or cell phone coverage. Mark, Lew and Taro went exploring the area, Marcelo stayed behind baby-seating the car. They followed a creek up stream, took photos, filmed, indulge themselves in a feast of wild blueberries. In the mean time, there were a couple of birds called whiskyjack keeping Marcelo company, quite curious and friendly. Back at the camp Mark placed a small piece of bread on his hat and stood still for a few minutes; the hungry and curious Wiskyjack made the move, crabbed the piece of bread and flew away. Excited with our little visitors, we took turns feeding the birds. One Whiskyjack landed on Taro's head, at Lew and Marcelo's hands. We took photos and filmed as our little feather friends landed and flew away. We couldn't tell if they were eating or storing it for the winter. The late morning sun was dried our wet sleeping bags, slightly damp from all the bellow freezing nights we had lately. We filled up water containers in the creek near by, spring water from the source. The water was so clear and cold, refreshing to drink water with no chlorine or fluoride in it. By noon the batteries were near half full, we put out our camp fire, gathered our belongs cleaned out camp and got back on the rod onwards to Fort Nelson. The sun was shining, it was one of the most beautiful and challenging drives. XOF1 climbed the highest point on the Alaska Highway, Summit Lake without any problems. The mountain goats and Caribou no where to be found. From there on, most was down hill but very hilly. We stopped a couple of times along the way to take photos and film. As we approached Fort Nelson, there was a noticeable increase in heavy wide load trucks, lots of mining, oil and gas equipment going north. It was still sunny upon our arrival in Fort Nelson. The Super 8 hotel gracefully gave us two complimentary rooms. Hot showers and warm beds The array got set up to squeeze the last bit of energy from the sun, after sun down we took the solar car and trailer across the street to an enclosed parking lot for the night. The ISP Marcelo have been using for the project was down, as a result no emails or updates could be posted online. Special thanks to Mandy, Super 8 Fort Nelson.