The adventure continues!

We left Dawson Creek and headed north west after eating yet another hotel breakfast that looked awfully familiar. Thank you Gordon Foods & Sysco! No, seriously, the same eggs, tater tots, and sausage patties are EVERYWHERE.

Just a short way along on our journey we were starting to see some pretty spectacular views. Especially coming down into the Peace River valley and down to the Peace River bridge outside of Taylor. We stopped to take plenty of photos and videos here.

Driving through Taylor we stopped at a weigh station at Mile-0 Paving and asked would they weigh the Mokes. The verdict:

• Green Moke – 1200 kg / 2604 lbs
• Blue Moke – 1100 kg / 2420 lbs

Late model Australian Mokes like these had a curb weight of around 704kg (1552 lbs). This is the weight of the vehicle ready to drive, full of fuel, with no passengers or luggage. Not being large men by any means, we were obviously carrying a lot of extra weight!

In Fort St. John we stopped to see the brother of Jeff’s friend, who was working at his plumbing supply store. We stopped for a chat and then borrowed some tools to replace the ball hitch on the Blue Moke; replaced a 1 7/8″ ball with a 2″ ball. Thanks for the help Justin!

From there we continued north, passing through Wonowon which is currently the measles capital of British Columbia, so instead of stopping we held our breath and drove through.

Shortly after we encountered our biggest troubles of the trip thus far.

With dad driving and Phil in the passenger seat of the Blue Moke there was a loud pop with a instant spider-webbing of the windshield glass, obscuring the view. This was followed a few seconds later with a large portion of the windshield collapsing into the vehicle.

We aren’t exactly sure what happened, we can only guess it was a stone kicked up by a vehicle in front. The window was the original glass from the factory, back from a time where tempered glass was the best glass for windshields, due to it’s strength. Not the AS-1 glass you want as your windshield these days, which is laminated.

Fortunately, there was a pull-off about 200m down the road, so the Blue Moke drifted down the road, hazard lights flashing, and pulled into the stop.

No one was injured, except for our hopes that we could continue our journey.

Nevertheless, we pushed on. We pulled out the windshield frame and started to remove the glass from the frame and the rubber seal. We called ahead to an auto glass repair place in Fort Nelson (our planned stop for the day) and confirmed they could do the replacement. The cleaned out windshield frame was reinserted back into the vehicle and Dad and Phil suited up to brave the windshield-less 3 hour drive to Fort Nelson.

Fortunately the physics worked in their favour as the aerodynamics of the vehicle meant that the front edge of the Moke broke up the air and the full force wasn’t slamming into Dad’s and Phil’s faces. That isn’t to say that they didn’t have multiple bugs slam into their foreheads along the way! But the unobstructed view of the drive made for some pretty clear photos.

An hour and half later Phil needed a break from the chaos and we brought the Mokes off the road to a lookout point to get photos and videos. Tim & Jeff suggested a Moke swap so they could enjoy the experience of full-faced Mokin’. Dad and Phil were more than happy to oblige!

The landscape up here was marred by the forest fires it has endured over the last few years. It was interesting to see how the fires left winding trails of destruction. In some places you would have pockets of green trees in a vast area of black and brown dead trees. Why did those trees not burn too?

Rolling into Fort Nelson, the Mokes, particularly the Blue one, received a lot of attention by anyone who we drove past. Lakeview Hotel in Fort Nelson was a great little hotel with the right amenities, including laundry which we were all in desperate need of. Tim let us know that his underwear situation was going “inside-out” if we didn’t get laundry done during this stay.

For dinner we drove to a local hot-spot Northern Spice Pizza & Donair. That place was just a revolving door of foot traffic putting in dinner orders. The local forest fire-fighters were there picking up some grub, and said pretty much everything on the menu was good. They also gave us some background on the job they are doing and the kind of training they received.

We put in a take-out order for donairs, and took them back to the hotel to eat. Food was good, not spectacular: ⭐⭐⭐

Tomorrow the plan is to get our windshield installed and head off to Laird Hot Springs.

Starting Location & Time	Dawson Creek, British Columbia – 8:33 am
Ending Location & Time	Fort Nelson, British Columbia – 6:14 pm
Total Kilometers	452 km
Total Time	8h 47m