The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
in McBride, British Columbia
July 30, 2015 and August 23 - 24, 2009

Note: (smaller photos are from 2009 and the bigger photos are from 2015)

The site of McBride was surveyed and established as a divisional point through the Yellowhead Pass for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1912. For a while, its first station was the largest between Winnipeg and Prince Rupert. The yards had 8 miles of track plus a roundhouse, turntable, bunkhouse, 2 water towers, a dam and an ice house. The village of McBride was designed in a standard Grand Trunk Pacific Railway design. It was first known as Mile 90, being 90 miles from Summit at the boundary with Alberta. In 1913 it was named McBride after Richard McBride, the Premier of British Columbia. McBride was incorporated in 1932.

The town of McBride does NOT have a car wash - bad news for RVers. But there are lots of hiking trails, fishing, and mountain biking in the area.
Below: Welcome sign in 2009 and 2015

Below: Other McBride campgrounds have separate links: Visit these if you are interested in campgrounds, click on the links below, BUT please return here to continue the main journey. If you are not interested in campgrounds, scroll down below these two links.
The two RV Gypsies parked their RV at Beaverview RV Park in 2009.
The two RV Gypsies parked their RV at Mountainview Chalets & RV Resort in 2015

Below: Bill Clark Memorial Park and the nearby Visitor Center. Note the train on the parking bumper.



Below: An art walk through the city of McBride exhibits examples of the fantastic artwork created by artisans from the Whistle Stop Gallery via painted fire hydrants.






Some of the same hydrants from 2009 were still there, but a bit deteriorated.
2009	2015



Below: The sidewalks were blue with hockey players on them in 2009. The designs were all washed off by the year 2015.


Below: Mural on a building

Below: Train murals on buildings in the city.

Below: Street signs had trains on them too

There are 7 river systems flowing in the BC portion of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The only river completely in BC is the largest one, the Fraser River. It flows from its source high in the mountains about 50 km from the Yellowhead Highway near Lucerne, then westerly to the trench of Tete Juane, then northwesterly through the beautiful Robson Valley to Prince George and its confluence with the Nechako River. Then it travels in a southwesterly direction through the Fraser Canyon. At Hope, it turns and flows west to Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean. The Fraser River was a major transportation route when the Overlanders came in search of the gold fields in 1862.


Below: Leaving McBride in 2009 got a bit complicated:


After driving about 30 miles, the two RV Gypsies heard a very loud bang, so they drove slowly and carefully until they could find a rest area big enough for their RV to fit in. Then they stopped to investigate the problem. One of the inner tires on the RV blew. While Lee Duquette was pumping air into the tire, Karen Duquette took a walk around the area and photographed a beautiful river.




Below: Lee Duquette determined that the tire needed to be replaced, so the two RV Gypsies slowly drove back to McBride. On the way back to McBride, a deer crossed the road in front of their RV.

Below: The Goodyear Garage in McBride was closed, and the only place that could fix the tire could not schedule the repair until the next day, so the two RV Gypsies returned to the campground. Below: AWO had space to herself. AWO stands for "All We Own" because the two RV Gypsies do not own a house or apartment anyplace. (They do own a tow car that they call "MOB". As the tow car got replaced a couple of times, the name stood applied, but had a different meaning each time.)