02 Jun 2001
Chetwyn to McBride

Three Excelsior motorcycles displayed on museum stands Excelsior Autocycles

Today we drove from Chetwyn to Prince George and then to McBride, following the Fraser River upstream. It rained all day, so our activities (and our report) are somewhat abbreviated.

We saw a deer and a bear and later a trumpeter swan; every time we see one of these animals in the wild we're delighted. The countryside continues to be tamer; now all the forests are being farmed -- harvested, then replanted, then thinned, eventually to be harvested again. The companies harvest about a hundred acres at a time, so that the hillsides get a patchwork appearance, with trees of different ages. As we neared McBride we were treated to some tantalizing views of the Rockies through the clouds and rain.

We drove around the city of Prince George -- about 80,000 people. We considered two museums: the first, a transportation museum, had lots of outside exhibits, so we decided to pass, considering the rain. The second was the Fort The waterfalls cascade from ledge to ledge, tumbling down a series of shelves amid the evergreen forest Bijoux Falls George museum. It's primarily a place designed for children with lots of hands-on science and natural history. (OBTW, we think it would be great if museums would identify their target audience.) But, as it happened, there was an absolutely unbelievable collection of restored old motorcycles on display.

We could hardly believe our eyes, as we saw one-of-a-kind motorcycles from the first year of production of each model during the period 1902 - 1952. The exhibit included the only 1902 Merkel in existence, a world-record holding Ace, plus Harleys, Hendersons, Excelsiors. We'll include one photo, but we have five more motorcycle photos for anyone who asks.

Bijou Falls was right next to the road and looked beautiful, with the rain and the spring melt it was full and splashing everyhwere -- a great waterfall among many we've seen the last couple of days.