Happy Tuesday!  Maybe not.  Must have hit a pot hole or something yesterday because the tv won't even work now.  I put in a new, flat screen because the old, heavy, tube set broke out of its moorings on rough roads last season.  So much for good intentions.  After paying the nice man to fix the microwave before we left, the microwave won't work now.  We were lucky enough to find a Sears store in Hope, B.C. that had some in stock.  No tv, but we have a microwave.  Enough about troubles.  We shall overcome!

Crossing the border yesterday was interesting.  Long lines even in the small town we chose to cross at.  Everything went smoothly on passing us through until the inspector saw our box of firewood.  He was nice about it though and didn't make us go around, through the U.S. border and go to the back of the line.  We just had to go park, and take the wood to the U.S. inspectors.  The wood had bark on it and Canada has a real problem with bark beetles.

Our first stop after customs was in Hope, where we spent last night and tonight.  We are camped in a beautiful, forested campground that is so serene that Connie asked if we could just stay here.  The countryside around Hope is just breathtaking.  We are in those big mountains folks talked about.  Cloudy skies all day with a little rain, but still incredibly beautiful, especially for a desert rat like me.

Coming into Hope, it didn't take us long to realize that the area has quite a few dairy farms.  Our noses told us.  All kinds of crops.

Today, we headed out for a place on the Fraser River, called Hell's Gate.  One thing on our list to do was ride the Airtram over the river.  On the way, we just had to stop to take pictures of the mountains and the roaring river.  The river is so high; so brown; so angry.  They have had rain for nearly a month with snow in the higher elevations, so the river hasn't had a chance to calm down.  Connie got out and started photographing the angry Fraser and I was trying to take pictures of the shear, rock face on the other side of the highway, in hopes to do it justice, when a sound coming from the truck froze my heart followed by the closing of the truck door.  "One of us" locked the truck doors by accident - and I'm not saying who.  Our spare key, I had so thoughtfuly had made, was locked up in the trailer back at the rv park and the keys to the trailer, which was locked up, were inside the truck.  Luckily, it was just a little over a mile back to a tiny little community and I hiked to a little store there and someone had the 800 number for Good Sam.  About an hour later, a tow truck driver was on the scene and unlocked the doors with his fancy tools.  I venture to say that "if" I could have found a metal coat hanger, we'd still be there. 

While I was hiking and waiting at the little store, worrying about Connie being with the truck all alone on the highway, she was worried about me after watching me try my hand at hitchhiking and wondering if someone had done me in.  To  pass time, she took pictures of the mighty Fraser.

We finally made it to Hell's Gate on the Fraser River and we learned why it is called Hell's Gate.  The explorer, Simon Fraser, who thought he had found the Columbia River in 1808 said:  "We had to pass where no human being should venture, for surely we have encountered the gates of hell".