October 05, 1998.  Monday.  No time.

   Day 6.  74,103 miles on the odemeter.  Leaving the rest stop at 8:30
am.  It was still windy.  All the cars vehicles parked here last night
have all gone.
   Made a right at the south side of Clinton.
   Stopped at Downing Provincial Park.  There was a beautiful golden retriever just
wandering merrily around.  He was very active and did not bark.
   I went to use the bathroom, and came out and saw a wet spot on the left
rear tired.  Immedidately, I wondered if there was some kind of fluid
leaking from the Rodeo.  It turns out that the retriever left its
territorial mark there.  Ever since I have been at the park, he has gone
around whizzing all over the place and then scrathes his feet.
   There's some homes next to the provincial park, and the retriever's
home is probably there.  He didn't seemed like an abandoned dog because
he looked very healthy.  The retriever went off somewhere, and when he
came back he was looking around for me, but I was in the truck because 
it was cold outside.  The dog left.
   Down the road from the park, some people lived in little huts with
outhouses.  I didn't see a mailbox or and electrical lines going to
the homes.  Something the unabomber might have lived in.  One home was
just a camper for a truck and a roof built overhead.  The propery seemed
like like it was maintained; therefore, occupied.
   These people live very primitively.  In a way we are alike, except
their home is stationary, while I'm mobile.  We don't have much.  There
is electricity lines going to that area.  They probably got water from
the nearby lake at the provincial park.
   The only road out of this place (other than backtracking) is the
Clinton-Pavilion drive, which connects the city of Clinton and Pavilion.
   This is a nasty, steep dirt road.  14% climb.  This is the road
logging trucks use.  Most of the climb was done in second gear, and was
able to shift into 3rd a few times.
   I was just chugging along when a 4x4 truck just zoomed right by me.
   The road goes through private property, Diamond Ranch, for a while.
   Stopped at the Pavilion general store to buy a postcard.  General
stores in little towns also act as the post office in Canada.  The woman
behind the counter was elderly, but still looked youthful.  She must
have been beautiful when she was young.  A sign in front of the store
said "for sale."  Hens and chicks were roaming around the front of the
store.  The dog she tosses out pushes against the door, and the door
bounces out and the dog sticks it snout in to get back inside.  She must
have threw the dog out a few times while I was there.
   I would say she is in her 40's or 50's.  Had a Canadian accent.  Had
grey hair.
   Stopped for a short while in Lilloet.  Bought a sticker at the general
store and exchanged money at the bank.  Lilloet is a nice friendly town.
Again, if I wasn't in a rush to be anywhere, I would have walked around
more.
   Headed to St. Portage.  Stopped at the power plant and recharge my
laptop a bit to get an address.  This plant must supply power to the
whole area.  The road to St. Portage from Lilloet is very nice.
   On the way there's a dam.  A tunnel was drill through the mountains.
Near the tunnel was a user maintained park.  Users are responsible for
taking out their own garbage, and it was actually clean.  This was the
Carpenter Lake recreational area.
   The general store in St. Portage has a miniature golf course, but it
didn't seem like it has been used in quite a while with leaves covering
it.
   After arriving in St. Portage, I headed to the road to D'arcy.  This
was not a nice road, and it was definitely built for 4x4 vehicles.  It
makes me think of all the people who buy 4x4 vehicles, but really don't
get to use it for that purpose.  This is where those people need to
take their vehicles.  Dangerous.
   The descent was a monster.  Had to ride the breaks almost every meter
down.  This whole route is the most dangerous route I have ever taken.
Thank goodness I didn't drive it at night.  10, 20, even 30 years from
now, this road will probably remain the same since hardly anyone travels
this road, and it would be too expensive to build make it into a paved
road.  One day I'll be here again.
   Driving this road is not a good time to find out the brakes don't
work.
   Stopped in Pemperton for something to eat.  Ate a Denver omlette
at the Continnetal Cafe.  What was funny was that 2 Oriental men were
cooking in the back.  They saw me when I entered.  An native Indian women
was the waitress.  The restaurant offered hamburgers to Chinese food.
There was soy sauce on the tables.
   Arrived at Nairn Falls Provincial Park just outside of Pemperton to
call it an early night.  It was a nice provincial park with a fall 2
kilometers from the campsite as the main attraction.  There were some
groups camping out suprisingly (because it was a Monday).  For once
I made camp early and felt safe about where I was staying.  The
temperature was cool.
   This park, along with 10 other provincial parks in British Columbia
were no longer giving unlimited free campfire wood.  This was a study
to prevent polluting the air unnecessarily.  Wood could be purchased
for $5.  A lady came around to collect fees.  The fee was $9.50/Canadian
to camp.