High Level Day 2

Day 11 Saturday, 6/27: Had showers and breakfast and headed off for a day of exploring with just the truck. Drove south to a turnoff toward La Crete and caught a ferry across the Peace River. Small ferry but big enough for a “B train” which is what they call a semi with two trailers, plus a couple of cars and us. Pretty countryside with lots of nice farms. Most farms/houses had very large lawns, sometimes two +acres, and all were mowed and looked perfect. La Crete has a large Mennonite community and they always keep their places very nice. The Mennonite Heritage Center was closed. Not much to see in La Crete so we drove on to Fort Vermillion, one of the first places to be settled in this area. Started out with trappers. Not much in this little town either so we drove back to High Level and had a bite to eat at the local A & W. Fueled up and headed back to camp. Loaded up the camper, filled and dumped, and got everything ready to head out tomorrow. It might be several days of “dry” camping so we want to be well stocked…. Tomorrow it is on to Hay River and we plan to stay in a Provincial Park. It is getting close to Canada Day (July 1) so hoping it is not full. Kind of like our 4th of July. Weather was nice today, except a bit cloudy this afternoon. Bugs are still somewhat of a problem so we haven’t spent a lot of time outside. Mostly mosquitoes and a few black flies. The bug spray does work though.

We are down to about 2 ½ hours of actual night and even then it isn’t really dark like at home. Further north the more daylight hours and we were told that by the time we reach Inuvik the sun will not set at all…. It is very strange to wake up at midnight and have it be daylight!!!
Our neighbor came over about 8:00 and said they had a campfire and invited us to join them so we took our chairs and went over. Nice couple from Rainbow Lake. It is a town created for the oil industry, which both of them work for. About 150 miles from High Level so they weren’t terribly far from home. They gave us some information about the area and we asked about various signs we had seen and didn’t understand. They get a large tax break for living so far north and the oil company provides housing. They have a 5th wheel and do some camping in the summer months. He works 8 days and then has 6 off. Her parents live in Red Deer and often drive to Missoula, MT to shop (quite a distance!). They brought back a 24 pack of Coors Lite and paid about $16 for it. Here it would cost about $48 so quite a bargain for them! Coors Lite, $2 per can…. Wow…. Stayed by the campfire until after 10:00 (the sun hadn’t even gone down yet) and then went back to our camper because we were tired of swatting the mosquitoes! They weren’t biting, just annoying.