morleymooseisontheloose: The Road Trip....

Week 3 of episode 114 of the Good Doctor. Off to Vancouver International airport for a guest star cast pick-up for the next episode which started at the end of last week.

I beat the rush hour traffic, so that gave me a few minutes to check out the McArthur Glen outlet mall by the airport.

After dropping off the film drives (the film shot for the day) at a place in Kitsilano in Vancouver, I stopped by Mountain Equipment Co-op quickly to check out some shoes. The view of Vancouver from the parking lot was fairly impressive.

Close to the end of episode 114, we were rewarded at the stage with a juice and smoothie truck! This was a gift from the writer of this and 2 other episodes, Tommy Moran.

Wednesday, another Teamster peep, Ward, and myself were informed we would be needed to help out another production for a couple of days. We had no idea we would be heading out on a crazy road trip! Here we are travelling up the Coquihalla highway. (this is not a highway you want to be on in the winter if you can help it, we were lucky, there was still snow on the road, but it was sunny and the traffic was light..)

First stop, Douglas Lake ranch, near Kamloops. (approx. 515,000 acres!) Hmnnnn, dark and rainy Vancouver, or snowy and sunny Douglas Lake? The sun is a welcome change.

It was just below freezing, enough to keep the snow on the Suburbans we were driving.

Ahhhhhhh, the sounds of silence, and just 3 hours from Vancover.

The liason for the Thompson-Nicola film commission also had a Suburban. We looked like some kind of special ops team.

A little chilly, but the sun more than made up for it.

The main office for the ranch. We were scouting locations for an upcoming feature film, based on a novel, the Personal Life of Rachel Dupree. (rumored to star Viola Davis) Filming would be in the summer.

Some of the locations they wanted us to travel to were not the most travelled roads? I have ever driven on. Hey Ward! wait for me!

We felt like we were the only people on the planet. (except for those horses way, way ahead.)

One of my passengers, Ryan, one of the young producers on the Brightlight Pictures team.

Closing in on horses, they were very curious to see why the heck we were way up in their world.

The snow was getting too deep, so we had to stop short of our destination.

The survey team, including producers, director, director of photography, and liaisons meet to discuss the next move.

Passing by this not so natural rock formation, we were off to the next location.

They decided we would not see much of Douglas Lake Ranch in these snow conditions, so we headed east towards Kamloops on Highway 5A. We were supposed to see a cabin close to Stump Lake, but the snow and the snow drifts were just to much for our vehicles. (The liaison got stuck in a 4 foot snow drift, and we spent close to an hour digging her out.)

Interesting enough, less than one hour northwest of Douglas Lake Ranch on highway 1, there was hardly any evidence of snow.

This movie is a period piece, set back in the early 1900's. We checked out another abandoned film set, but it was not the vision they were looking for.

This shell of a church was still worth a photo op.

Not your usual road hazards, but when your on the CN ranch close to Cache Creek, it is to be expected.

watch your step, many, many cactus clusters all around

the new problem, not the snow, the fact we were running out of daylight (We tried to go back 2 days later, but the snow and cloud cover made the visit to this location TBC.)

The jury was out, some people said it was a cougar track, others said it was a bear track.???

The mighty Thompson river.

Ward and I went out for dinner after we dropped the gang off. (not getting any better with my selfie skills, OMG!)

Yay! Looking out from the hotel room in Kamloops, looks like we are in for another sunny day.

We headed to the Kamloops first nation (Tk'emlups) Indian band lands. First stop, the "Hoodoos".

It was a fairly short walk to get to the first location.

and we're off

on our first stop, we well below these majestic natural spires.

a 20 minute drive and we were above the same spires

the production team was very impressed with this location

they even brought in a drone operator to give them some aerial views

got a little dizzy looking up at the drone

right beside the action, I noticed this skeleton. (not sure what animal it is, there are sheep in the area, though)

up above the hoodoos, great view of the Thompson valley looking towards Kamloops

Ryan! (he photo-bombed my sagebrush pic!)

Time to head back to the ranch, albeit a new ranch.

When in Rome.......Ward is feeling the frontier spirit at our next stop, Turner Ranch, just outside of Kamloops.

Nice old barn pic

So they knew we could not drive to where they wanted to go. So lo and behold, a new option presented itself.

Ward and I stood by in this expansive ranch field for close to an hour.

There is the producers heading off into the abyss.

It was a peaceful, easy feeling....... to be left out here.

Met a couple of locals........

another local....

back out to Douglas Lake Ranch

what a fantastic day!

Then it was back to the scene of the stuck liaison Suburban close to Stump Lake. Ward and I waited as the gang went to the cabin they wanted to see by snowmobiles.

Our road out of here, it's a beaut, eh!

a shot of us hanging out..

trying to get a fence line in the snow pic...

The daylight was waning, so it was time to head back to Kamloops.

The ride back to Vancouver was a different story. It was snowing very heavy in Kamloops. (this is a pic of us leaving the hotel)

we made a quick stop to see an old locomotive they want to use in the movie

The road from Kamloops to Cache Creek was treacherous.

We had one more stop, Hat Creek Ranch in Cache Creek.

Hat Creek is looking a little chilly.

Apparently this is quite a tourist destination in the summer.

Road conditions were ugly, didn't matter which way you decided to go back to Vancouver. We decided Highway 1, the Fraser Canyon was the way to go. (It was ok, but it was a long 4 1/2 hour drive back home to......)

The Sutton Place hotel. Look at our vehicles, it looks like we never went anywhere!

As I was searching on my phone for a pic, I found this shot from the movie the Watchmen. (who is that handsome doctor waiting to put the straight jacket on the Mothman??????????