Almost Home

Actually, I am home. This is the last post I wrote while traveling.  I'll update and add pictures tomorrow.
 

Haines Junction, July 23, Monday

Yukon Territory campgrounds are the BEST.  They are clean, quiet, easy to find, and they provide free firewood. For $12.00 that’s a bargain.  Tonight we are camped right before Haines Junction.  I would take a trip back to Whitehorse any time.  I didn’t stop and see much.  It surprised me how much I chose not to do because I wanted to be considerate of the poodz.  They didn’t have a choice about coming.

I finally got to wash my hair.  It’s amazing how good that feels.  When we were camped at Fort Nelson, we were under a birch tree that was sapping all over everything, including my head.  I wondered why my hair felt crispy.  There was sap on everything – the truck, the trailer, the chair, me.  Sappy, sappy, sappy. 

Today was the first time I’ve hit the wall while driving.  I had to stop and take a nap.  After the nap, it was back to normal.

As we near Alaska, the days are longer and cooler.  I’m grateful for both!  A campfire feels just right tonight. 

Yesterday I was looking for the old road – not much looking required today. There’s even a short bit you can drive on ( I did not).  In some places, it’s pretty obvious why it was moved, but other places made me wonder.  The new road is smooth except for ^^^^^^ those bits, and it avoids the steep ups and downs, but the creeks and rivers are so far down you really can’t see them.  I either saw or dreamed or remembered dreaming about a clear, clear stream running over black-flecked white granite rocks.  The water was clear enough to be almost invisible.  I’ve seen some clear water, but nothing like that.  Here, the water is tea-colored like it is in Anchor Point.

Mosquitoes.  Deet.  Benedryl.  That’s all you need to know about that.

Duct tape has been my friend on this trip. From taping up the front of the trailer to keep out the rain to keeping the vent and cupboard door from flapping open to keeping the Kleenex box where I want it on the counter – I can rely on good ol’ duct tape to do its job.

It dawned on me today that my finances are going to be a HUGE mess when I get home, and I won’t be there to sort it out for a while.  Ah well.  The bank will have tons of fun sending me emails I won’t get and phone calls I can’t answer.  I thought I’d organized that part pretty well, but having my credit card jacked sort of threw me.  If I ever do this again, I’ll be more prepared for those kinds of surprises.

I’m glad I took as many books as I did.  I’ve read 6 so far and quite a ways into The Beautiful and the Damned by Fitzgerald. Because the internet is so scarce, I’m totally out of touch with the news.  I did hear about the shooting in the theater.  It makes me wonder if things are worse than they ever were or if they just seem worse because we have news 24/7 from everywhere on the globe.

I’m excited to be almost home, but already feeling kind of sad about letting go of this experience.  Tomorrow is Tok, then Anchorage, then home. 

Where Is That Campground?

Sunday, July 22, 2012

It’s easy to lose track of time out here. 

Today was a good driving day.  Dusty but good. First there was about 15 miles of gravel outside of Fort Nelson then the trip to the campground was gravel.  The dang vent vibrates loose on the top of the trailer, so it was full of dust when we stopped for the evening. 

On the way here, we drove past the entrance to this campground because it was a long way to the campground, but I didn’t want to stay in a commercial campground tonight no matter how smelly and sweaty I am! This is not the Watson Lake campground Jesse and I stayed at 22 years ago, but it is quite nice. 

All day today, I kept looking for vestiges of the old road and the old, old road.  There are places where the road has to be where it’s always been, like along Muncho Lake.  But in some places, the older road slides in and out under the new one.  I think of my folks driving all the way from Montana to Alaska with all six of us and a dog—no GPS, few amenities, and scarce gas stations.  It must have been a fingernail-chewing experience at times.

Canada is still hot.  And still mosquito-ey.  I should buy stock in the OFF company as I us so much of it. Eau de OFF. 

Fort Nelson Redux

Saturday in Fort Nelson

Some days are driving days, some are not. Today was NOT a driving day. I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed – which meant I smacked into the cabinets or rolled over into the knitting basket.  Something.  The plan was to drive, drive, drive to Laird Hot Springs and camp there.  As you can tell, that didn’t happen.

I was crabby, out of sorts, hungry, low blood sugar, achy back.  Oh, and wind. You name it, I have an excuse for being here.  Mrs. Tom Tom lost her electronic mind and sent me back to Chetwynd.  Swearing and flipping her off didn’t even faze her, and it didn’t make me feel much better either.  When I finally got headed in the right direction I was all befuddled, and it went downhill (not literally – the rest of this trip will be uphill) from there.

So, we got from Chetwynd to Dawson Creek, back towards Chetwynd, and finally headed in the right direction. The road was OK, but the big trucks here are driven by the same kinds of people who drive big trucks everywhere – no matter how fast I’m going, they want to be in FRONT of me.  From my perspective, it looks like they are going to devour the T@B, their giant grills looming in my rear view mirror.  Scary.  Yet another reason to want to get off the road.

The uphills and downhills are ferocious on this part of the road.  Third gear ferocious going up and 4^th going down.  I have six gears to choose from, so it’s all good.

We drove through a spectacular thunderstorm.  The black sky, the lightning, and rain so hard the fast wipers couldn’t keep up with it.  Then we came out the other side!  By then I had decided I was tired of driving for the day, so Fort Nelson became the destination. I thought there was a Provincial campground here.  Nope.

This will do. I like the electricity because I can run the fan.  I hear it’s raining in Anchor Point – I’ll definitely enjoy that for a while. 

OK.  I’m all done being crabby. It’s cooling off. The margarita-in-a-pouch is having a mellowing effect.

Headed to Summit Lake and Beyond

From Fort Nelson to Summit Lake is uphill all the way.  200 miles of uphillness.
 

Saturday, July 21, 2012

We spent last night in Chetwynd.  It is nothing like I remember it from when Jesse and I stopped here with a flat tire.  Then again, I don’t remember much of anything, or things have changed so much that they are unrememberable.

There was a wonderful thunderstorm last night.  First the thunderheads built up over the hills, then they moved over the campground and turned pink, orange, purple and glowing.  Finally, there was lightning – the kind that fills the whole sky. 

The towns are getting farther apart now, and the population is sparser.  Along the way we passed lots of abandoned log buildings:  houses, barns, sheds, outbuildings.  It makes me wonder what happened to the people who used to live in them. Did they move into town? Did everyone in the family die and no one wanted the property?  This road is full of untold or forgotten stories.

So far, no wildlife, even though the signs promised big-horn sheep.

The plan for today was to make it to Liard Hot Springs, but that’s 400+ miles, so we may settle for Summit Lake and explore the hot springs Sunday if the weather’s not too hot to leave the dogs in the truck.  In a stunning reversal of karma, what I can do is determined by the dogs and their comfort.  Not so stunning, really, and I appreciate their company so much that I’ll do whatever it takes to keep them safe and comfortable.

One more cup of coffee, then time to pack the trailer, load the dogs, head to Dawson Creek, buy gas before I need it, buy ice because I need it and see what this day brings.

Random Travel Thoughts from Chetwynd

Random Travel Thoughts

It’s hot.  I hate hot.  I was practicing being hot, but it hasn’t paid off. 

Tepid water tastes as good as cold water when you’re thirsty.

I don’t remember much of anything from either of my two trips over this highway.  Twenty and thirty + years make a lot of difference.

The trip down was all about the trip.  The trip home is all about getting home.  The miles matter!

Thank goodness for campgrounds with electricity and showers.  My hot practice is not working and I’m sticky.

The pod was a good idea.

I love the Canadian no-name grocery store. The generic food comes in yellow packages and tastes as good as name-brand food, but it’s a lot cheaper.

69315 Chris Court, Anchor Point, AK is the best place on the planet.

Canadians have large RVs.  Canadians also seem to have less need for guard rails than Americans.  There were some pretty steep drop offs.

The view of Hell’s Gate on the Fraser River is no longer accessible unless you buy a $20 ticket and ride the tram.  Bummer.

Always buy gas before you need it.

The poodz are such good company and so patient.

Why do I travel in July? It’s hot in July.

Some Photos

Some river in south eastern Oregon.  It was beautiful.

Our campsite: a turnaround.  It was peaceful, and I wish I cold have bottled the smell.

Employees of Stitchin' Post quilts.

Brookie and fam.  From left to right:  Zorro, Brookie, Sarah, Uzzi, Mark, Wes, Bethany

Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

The tram across the Fraser River at Hell's Gate.  $20 will get you a ride.

From Williams Lake

Just so you know:  I can read texts from my phone, but the data plan is outrageously expensive.  I can make and receive calls until I head into the Yukon.  

 

Thursday, July 19, 2012

After a great visit with Brookie and her family on Wednesday, we spent a quiet night at Silver Falls, got up early and headed north. 

Freeways!  Aaarrgghh.  Seattle! Aaaarrrggghhh.

South of Tacoma, the front end of the truck started shuddering.  I was sure every imaginable mechanical part was disintegrating under the hood.  I called a Toyota place and they were able to get me in.  Turns out one of the balancing doo hickeys had come off a tire, so it was unbalanced.  Horribly unbalanced. They fixed it for me, and we headed north again. 

When one thing like that goes wrong, my whole equilibrium is rocked, and I’m just a mess.  After driving and driving and driving and finding no campgrounds in Washington, it was a toss up between spending the night in a casino parking lot or in a rest area.  The rest area won.  It was noisy, but I got some sleep.

This morning we crossed into Canada with two contraband potatoes.  She didn’t ask.  Don’t ask, don’t tell.  Right?

The weather has been beautiful, and we stopped early at a campground near Lac La Hache.  It’s shady here, but very warm.  I’ve been practicing being hot, but I still sweat a lot.

I’m not sure why everyone thinks The Milepost is such a wonderful thing.  I just want the maps to tell me how many miles are between each place.  All those stupid initials just get in the way and make the math more difficult than it has to be.  I’d like to spend the night at Laird Hot Springs, but I’m not going to drive 8 hours to make that work.  Six is about my limit.

Friday. 

After deciding that it’s MY trip and I can take as long as I want, I’m much calmer today.  This is being posted from Williams Lake, a pretty town on … a lake.

Free wifi!  Yay. 

News from Tuesday

This post won't have any pictures.  I haven't downloaded them from my camera.
 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Counting backward from Tuesday.

Today.  Woke up at a reasonable hour and made coffee and breakfast.  Shared breakfast with the dogs because I’m running low on dog food. Ok, this sounds like I’m crossing the Rocky Mountains in the dead of winter.  However, I am running low on dog food, and we did have breakfast.

The showers here are lovely.  The weather was great: kind of overcast and warm but not too hot with a gentle breeze.  After the shower, we did some walking around the campground and checking out the different campers and tenters. It’s always fun to see where people are from.  Lots of people admired the poodz.  They all LOVE Zeus because he’s so little and cute, and he limps.

I put up the awing on the trailer, forgetting which parts went with which other parts, so it was a sweaty endeavor until was all done.  Then, I sat in shady luxury and knitted while the dogs slept. 

Brookie, Sarah, and Uzzi arrived about 3:30 or 4:00, and we went to the lake and goofed around.  Uzzi and I got wet, and the poodz got to practice their swimming.  Zeus is possibly the worlds worst dog paddler.  Odd, he is a dog after all.

We returned to our campsite where Sarah and I built a fire with extremely wet wood and made sheepherder stew.  Mmmmm.  Wes and Bethany joined us for dinner, dessert, and the obligatory marshmallow battle.  We played bananagrams and laughed and had a wonderful time.  It is so good to spend time with family.

Monday.

I got up early in Sisters, let the dogs out, then started packing the trailer.  Tina made tortillas to go with our breakfast.  Mmmmm.  I LOVE home made tortillas, and hers are the very best on the planet. After looking at pottery designs, rounding up my scattered possessions, collecting my credit card from the mail box, and saying reluctant good byes, it was one the road to Silver Falls State Park.

 The road was nice, except that a big truck got in front of everyone doing about 35-45 mph.  Now that would have been OK with me, but the people behind a trailer always blame the trailer for going slow.  I pulled over and let a whole string of traffic pass. I guess they don’t have the “five car rule” here in Oregon. 

We arrived at the campground about 3:30 pm and got to our spot, which is wonderful. After unhitching the trailer and getting set up Brookie, Mark, Sarah, Uzzi, Wesley, and Bethany arrived.  Brookie brought me a TON of fruit.  Fresh-picked strawberries, fresh blueberries, fresh peaches, fresh raspberries, and some big ol’ marion berry looking berries. Of course, none of that can cross the border into Canada, so it was fruit, fruit, fruit.  I really wasn’t suffering.  We had a wonderful visit. 

Sunday

THE COUNTRY FAIR! Yes!  I love the Country Fair.  It’s in Veneta, near Eugene.  It’s a ginormous hippie gathering of crafts people, musicians, dancers, performers, vendors, food boothers, and people who like to have fun.  The temperature was just right – probably between 70 and 80.  To get there, we drove about two hours south of Sisters through some of the most gorgeous scenery in Oregon – unlike the stuff I crossed GETTING to Sisters.

Once in Eugene, we boarded a bus and headed to the fair.  It’s hard to describe the Country Fair.  It’s huge and something new and interesting is around every bend.  There are occasional punny parades.  For example, we got to see the Nose Parade.  Large noses followed by Kleenex boxes.  There were Ents, stilt people, Gumby, and the black and white parade. 

After a full day of walking, eating, shopping, watching people, visiting with people, it was time to go home.  What a great day!

Saturday

THE SISTERS QUILT SHOW.

Fabulous.  Tina and I wanted to go early because it was supposed to be hot, and the weather man was warning about thundershowers.  Mike had already gone off to cut wood, so we ate breakfast, got on our bikes and headed toward Sisters from Tollgate.  Mike and Tina are trading me a dishset for a new quilt, so we had fun looking at quilts, and Tina was deciding what she wanted.  There were so many cool ones. 

Last time I went I don’t remember them being divided into categories, but this year they were.  There was a display of quilts made by men, a display of quilts inspired by a paint chip color, quilts made by the employees of the Stitchin’ Post.  Traditional quilts, art quilts, hand quilted quilts, large quilts, small quilts, everything!  All of them beautiful and impressive.  Just when you think you’ve seen them all, you go down another street and see more. 

As we left, the thunderclouds gathered overhead.  We hadn’t been home very long before thunder, lightning, and rain hit.  We wondered how they got those quilts under cover.  

Even though Mike had fortified the dog enclosure, Zorro greeted us as we rode our bikes into the yard.  At least he had the good sense to stay around.

Friday

This was the day of the glazing party. Mike is throwing a set of dishes for a couple and for their wedding they want to give each guest a hand-thrown cup.  So a bunch of them got together and threw 260 cups (without handles).  Most of them had been bisque fired and were ready to be glazed. 

Mike cooked a turkey in his barbecue, and the guests arrived and we began the assembly line of glazing the cups.  First they (the cups, not the guests)  have to be sanded, then dusted, then waxed, then glazed, then the wax wiped clean of glaze, then dipped in the gold-rim glaze.  It was fun and friendly, and we got them all done.  After a delicious dinner, we all enjoyed sitting around in the warm evening visiting.  (That’s one thing I really love here – the warm evenings.)

Thursday

After recuperating from my drive across the endless desert by sleeping in a real bed, I was ready to get up and be useful.  I “helped” Mike mix up some glazes and visited while he trimmed pots.

My truck needed the oil changed, and that happens in Bend, so Tina followed me over there and I dropped off the truck.  When it was time to pick it up, she stopped and picked up her grand daughter Loa.  What a sweetie pie!

Wednesday

“I been through the desert in a truck with no name.  I’d have given anything for a little bit of  rain.”  This was Day 2 of “The Big Mistake.”  Who knew the route across southern Oregon would be SO desolate.  We had camped in a pull off where the smell of juniper was just intoxicating and the temperature cooled down from at least 100 to a decent 70 or so. I expected a shortage of gas stations in the Yukon, but in Oregon?  It was nothing but miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.  And hotter than the hubs of hell.

Because we had gone so far the night before looking for a place to camp and crossing into Pacific Daylight Time we got into Sisters earlier than we expected to.  I parked the trailer, unhitched it, plugged it in, turned on the fan and prepared for a break from traveling.

Tuesday. 

I left Missoula early after deciding to take the road over Lolo Pass.  Once I got go Weiser, Idaho, I was going to take a southern route across Oregon to Sisters.  It looked good on paper (the map).  Lolo Pass was beautiful, but after that things went uphill and downhill, mostly downhill.  It was HOT.  Very hot.  There was no access to any of the rivers.  Fewer pullouts than they have in Alberta.  No rest areas.  HOT.  Barren. HOT.

I kept looking for a place to pull over and stop so the dogs could get out of the back of the truck.  Finally, I stopped in some Godforsaken little town and moved the junk from the cab of the truck to the canopy so they could be in the air-conditioned part of the truck.  By then, I’d picked my fingernails to bits with anxiety for them.  It looked like we were never going to find a place to stop. After crossing the invisible time zone line, passing innumerable craggy rock piles, hundreds of empty pastures, a beautiful turn off appeared and we stopped for the night.  By then the sun had set, and the junipers were releasing their scent into the air.  We were far enough off the road that the dogs could run as they pleased and dig up gopher holes.  That was one campsite I will be eternally grateful to have found.

After a good sleep and a good breakfast the next day, we headed off to Sisters.

July 11

Today is Wednesday July 11

…And we’ll make it to Sisters today.  The drive from Missoula to where we are now (and I have no idea where that is) was long, hot, curvy, uphilly, downhilly, scenic, hot.  There are no camping spots along this road after you get out of the National Forest in Idaho, so we had to improvise and pull over in a big turn around.  The rivers looked so tempting, but they were either fenced off or so deep and swift (the Malheur) that it wasn’t practical to stop. 

This spot turned out to be perfect. By the time we stopped, the sun had gone down, the head had subsided from 100+, and it was wonderful. 

It was SO hot, that I moved the junk out of the cab of the truck, and put the dogs in there so they could have air conditioning.  No matter how open the windows on the canopy are, 100 is just too hot.

We had a great visit with Charlie, Tyler, Willow, and Landon.  All the dogs liked each other, and their fenced back yard was such a blessing. Beth and Willow and I did a little shopping, but the yarn shop was closed—dang.

Missoula is surrounded by hills and built along a river.  If it had not been so warm, it would have been the perfect strolling town, especially the college district.

Spicy juniper

perfumes the cooling air

evening here is bliss

Wearing polar fleece

standing near a blazing

fire would be cooler.

Reunion Reflections

Reunion Reflections

The green tee shirts outnumbered the rest of us.

Grandma was known as Bertice.  Her name is spelled Beatrice.

Lots of people remember Daddy and Mom and loved them a lot.

Food, sharing food, making food, eating food, too much food is definitely a family trait.

Most of the women in our family are short.  Leslie and Pam are exceptions.

Beth and I represented Team Purple – along with Charlie, Chris, Tyler, Willow, and Landon. 

Hugo Johnson, owner of the campground was friends with Daddy and had been to Alaska a couple times to visit them.  Likewise Bobby.

Kay was the go-to gal for the reunion. Pam did most of the computer work because Kay’s computer was on the fritz.

When Daddy was out fishing one time, he had a kid with him.  In those days, outboards were started by pulling a string (much like a lawnmower) the top was off the outboard, and when the boat lurched, Daddy put his hand on the spinning part of the outboard.  The kid, who had to have been younger than me, brought Daddy and the boat in safely.

Uncle Ted was married to Aunt Anne.

Uncle Dogie was married to Aunt Rose

Grandma was married to Harry Montgomery.

Uncle Dutch was married to Geogiana.

Aunt Millie was married to Walter.

Daddy was married to Mom.  J

An uncle named Bill was either never married or never had children.

Not many of us bear the name Pendegrass, but there are a lot of Jessups. 

I got to see where we lived before we left Montana, but we did not get to see Uncle Ted’s cabin. 

If there had been an award for the farthest-away-attenders, Beth and I would have gotten it.

Missoula

Sunday, July 8, 2012

My trailer is parked in front of Charlie and Tyler’s house.  I’m sitting in front of a fan keeping tolerably cool. 

The reunion was more than I expected it to be in every way. Some of the cousins had been to Alaska, so I immediately recognized them. Others recognized us.  In 1997 when we attended that reunion, we just popped in and out.  This time, we got to meet and talk to lots of people.  It was so great to hear people talk about Daddy and Mom. I'll make a whole post -- with pictures -- of the reunion experience.

The weather was perfect.  Quite a bit warmer than I’m used to, but not intolerable, and Beth got all the way down to one pair of socks. The poodz were warm, but not in distress; I managed to find shade for them throughout the day.

The main event was Saturday, and this morning we gathered for coffee and cinnamon rolls.  As people left there were lots of hugs and photographs.  Then it was off to Missoula.

Instead of going south, I went past Duck Lake and out onto the prairie/plains.  It’s pretty obvious as the miles roll away why this is called Big Sky Country.  I tried to imagine the plains covered with buffalo and my Blackfeet ancestors camped along the streams.  As we approached the Continental Divide headed to Missoula, the whole landscape changed to wooded hills and clear rivers.  This part of the country reminds me of the high desert of Oregon. 

This is Divide Mountain.  I remember it from when I was a kid.

I’m sure I’ll make this trip again; there’s so much more I want to see and do here.

Gratuitous haiku:

Cattle grazing in

Damp stream beds overlooked by

Rock promontories.

Day Before the Reunion

Friday, July 6, 2012

Johnson Family Campground

It’s beautiful and warm with a breeze to keep it from being too hot.  Some of the cousins showed up at noon to get the pavilion ready for the doo dah tomorrow. I went down and hung around for a while, but there was a glitch with the arrival of the food.  I went to the little store and got ice then came back and was promptly attacked by a nap.

After a wonderful shower (6 minutes is longer than you think), and quality time with the washer and dryer, I went to the café where had a visit with Hugo Johnson, the owner of the park and café.  He was friends with Daddy, and he’d worked at Prudhoe Bay back in the day.  He bought my breakfast and then came by my campsite with some photos a little bit later on.  One was of Daddy on a boat and the other was an earlier one of Daddy butchering king crab in a snow bank. I will scan them and make copies for us.

Imagine hundreds of buffalo plummeting off these cliffs.

The gals just drove by; they are all done unpacking and getting ready, and the festivities start tomorrow.  They’ll be here around 8:00 so I’ll go down then and see if I can be of any use to anyone.

I’m still in a quandary about whether to leave Sunday or Monday. I’ll wait until Beth gets here and find out what she’s going to do.

Yesterday I stopped at the Smashed-in-Head Buffalo Jump. 

July 4 -- again? I've lost track of time

Happy Fourth of July from Bowden, AB

After too much rain and wind and not enough getting out of the car, the poodz and I decided enough was enough and we stopped here.  It’s a rest area/campground.  The rates can’t be beat: $17 for a spot with power.  Hubba hubba!

This campground, like a lot of them, is being used by people who are working.  We were met by a charming little boy collecting cans and plastic bottles to get the refund.  His dad had been transferred to a nearby town, and they are looking for a place to live.  The man in the spot next to me, who kept me from mowing down a tree with the trailer, also works around here. 

It was nice to stop early and let stuff dry out.  The incessant rain dampened everything. Stopping early gave me a chance to sort and reorganize.  I even cooked a real dinner with veggies and all.  It’s supposed to get into the 20s tomorrow.  That’s warmer than it has been, and the 30s are on their way.  I’ll take it!

Mrs. Tom Tom was a champ getting us around Edmonton, but I really pissed her off when I was driving in circles in this campground looking for a spot. She’s always wanting me to do U turns.

Gas stations are plentiful, and gas is reasonably priced on this route, but I’ll definitely go home another way.  Aaaaarrrrggghhhh.  Towing my trailer on a freeway with big ol’ semis rushing by is just not fun.  The speed limit is 110 km per hour, and I don’t want to go that fast.

Tomorrow we’ll be at Fort McLeod and staying at the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.  I was talking to a man this morning who said there is a really spectacular interpretive site there.  On Friday, we’ll cover the last 100 miles or so and be at our destination.  It’s going to be so nice to stay in one place for a few days!

We’ve covered over 2,000 miles and three time zones. I have absolutely no regrets; as a matter of fact, I’d make this trip again.  I love having the dogs with me, especially at night when we’re all cozy in the trailer.  These last couple days have been hard on them because it’s just no fun to stop in the sideways movie rain and follow Zelda around while she picks the exact right spot where she will pee – maybe.

Giant trucks roaring

Close behind my little T@B

Cow catchers grinning.

They do have cow catchers on some of the trucks which go almost down to the road. I’m guessing it’s so that the deer won’t slow them down as they scoop them off the road at 110 kmh. 

Some Updates

July 2

This is not Charlie Lake. The road just goes on and on.

Here we are happily camped at the Charlie Lake Provincial Campground just outside of Fort St. John. It’s a beautiful place.  The sounds of the birds:  chickadees, golden crowned sparrows (that sound a bit different from the ones in Anchor Point), and other birds I don’t recognize.  Of course, Zelda recognizes the sound of the squirrels, but she’s behaving—for the time being. This campground is awesome.  The sites are separated from each other by lots of trees, the spaces are level, and the picnic tables are sturdy and new looking. 

The most interesting event of the day was meeting up with the people from the motorcycle accident.  I was coming out of the bank when they pulled up in their truck; they recognized the T@B.  Their friends were doing OK.  The man had broken his wrist, and because he had neck pain, the hospital had kept him overnight.  I was relieved to hear they were all doing well.

The wildlife count is up to nine bears.  One black bear was standing at the edge of the road looking curiously at the passing traffic; the other one was running up the road embankment.  I also saw two live long-tailed deer and one dead one.  The live ones were running AWAY from the road; their friend obviously hadn’t seen the signs that had cars smashing into wildlife (yes, they do have them). 

British Columbian road signs, when they choose to use them, are kind of funny.  In a “ha ha” way.  The sign for bumpy road is pretty self explanatory ^^^^^^^ .  Add to that a picture of a car tipping over, and you have a VERY bad patch of road!  Slow down to some indecipherable amount of kilometers.

Mrs. Tom Tom could calculate the distance in kilometers, but I prefer to exercise my scanty math skills by trying to remember how many kilometers in a mile and vise versa.  I pretty much have 2 kilometers mastered – the actual distance, not the miles.

Today’s random thoughts:

I love the smell of OFF in the morning (and all day long).  Apologies to Apocalypse Now.

If the British Columbians can put a sign on BOTH sides of the road every whipstitch announcing that it’s STILL British Columbia, why the Hell can’t they afford restrooms.  Zelda has a field day at pull outs, what with her toilet paper fetish and all.

The bark beetles have attacked the pine trees here.  The trees farther north are red; it looks like fall foliage.  The trees nearer where we are now have lost all their needles. They seem to be logging them off. 

Haiku:

Pine bark beetle kill

Fall in a coniferous

forest. Orange with death.

This museum was full of cool old equipment and cars

The Tacoma and the T@B

One last thing. If you ever come this way, you MUST stop at the Fort Nelson Museum.  It is wonderful.  It’s a collection of random historical stuff more or less organized by type.  Most of the good stuff is outside, and I took a million (OK, that’s hyperbole) pictures of it.  The car shed alone is worth the price of admission.  They have a 1928 Model (something) Ford that drove up the Alaska Highway, and two beautiful Packards.  Parked all around the periphery of the grounds are all kinds of antique construction equipment and vehicles.  It was amazing.  I haven’t done much tourist stopping, but I’m glad I did that.

July 2 -- Fort Nelson and Beyond

 

July 1 – Happy Canada Day

The day started off sunny and bright and pretty much stayed that way.  A nice change from the drizzle and rain we’ve been having along the way. 

The highlight of my day was discovering that my VISA had been jacked.  Damn! I called them and they had noticed two suspicious charges. So they shut it down.  Fortunately, I have another credit card with me, but my auto-pay stuff is on that card.  I’ll worry about that when I get back to Alaska.  It was hard to convince the customer service gal that there wasn’t much I could do about the fraud survey within five days of receiving it.

From Watson Lake to Fort Nelson is downhill almost all the way, about 200 miles of downhill.  Makes for good gas mileage, but in the back of my mind the thought of driving UP that 200 miles of hill keeps rattling around.  That’s a lot of hill.

It was a good wildlife-spotting day.  The bear count is up to 8: two brown ones and 6 black ones.  The sheep count is one – and it ran off before I cold take a picture – thank you Zelda and Zorro.  Too many wood bison to count, but I did get pictures. The baby bison are as cute as baby moose. I stayed BEHIND my car while photographing them just in case they were as jittery as moose.  Mostly they just kept sleeping and chewing their cuds.

We are getting into a pretty good camping rhythm. If I can find a pull out quite a way from the road with no one else, the poodz get to run around.  Otherwise, it’s “drag Ellen day.” 

This campground is right next to the Fort Nelson Historical Museum, and the stuff that’s outside is very interesting, especially the old construction equipment and old vehicles.  That’s definitely on the agenda for tomorrow before we head out toward Dawson Creek.

Some observations about Yukon Territory and British Columbia in no particular order.

The Yukon’s roads are wavy, but they have good signage and lots of restrooms and pullouts. 

BC roads are slightly better, but you better be willing to pee behind a bush.  If you do run across a restroom, you still might want to pee behind a bush. As for signs – fuggit aboud it.

Who knew Laird Hot Springs had become a Provincial Park and now charges? I didn’t.  They did it for their 50^th anniversary of the Alaska Highway.  That was in 1992 – two years after I drove the highway.

And finally – 200 miles uphill all the way?  That’s gonna hurt!

July 1 -- Watson Lake

July 1 -- Watson Lake

Several days update are included in this post.  The internet is very sparse here in the Northland.

How about we start from yesterday:
 

June 30

Here I am at Watson Lake, looking forward to a shower tomorrow morning. This is a pay campground, and I’m parked next to another T@B with two people and three dogs.  Zorro and Zelda rocked the truck about that for a while, literally.  The drive was LONG. I’d rather not go this many miles in a day.  And there were complications.

As I was driving along at slightly under 100 (kilometers per hour, that is), some motorcyclists came up behind me.  Being the polite trailer-puller that I am, I moved over and let them pass.  Not many miles later, their bikes were parked along the road and one of the women was frantically flagging me down.  One of the couples had dumped their bike in the ditch.  The accident had something to do with a bear alongside the road.  Both of them were lying in the bottom of the ditch.  The woman was crying.  There is NO cell service out in the middle of the Yukon, but fortunately, a man with a satellite phone stopped and called the emergency personnel from Watson Lake.

In the meantime, I had given them the dog blanket from the back of my car, some ice, one of my flip-flop dishtowels, my camping jacket and what meager first-aid supplies I had.  Pretty soon the police arrived in a Suburban.  Apparently the ambulance was indisposed.  One of the officers said that it might be as much as a four-hour wait. By then, the rain had started again and the injured couple were lying there in the ditch getting wet.  I made arrangements to pick up my stuff at the Trooper Station tomorrow and left.  As I drove into Watson Lake, I wondered why they had been so unprepared. Supposedly they were some sort of first responders.  Seems like they would have had first-aid kits, blankets, extra clothing, and other emergency supplies even if they were staying in hotels at night.

It really brought home how vast this country is, and how difficult it would be to get help in case of an emergency.

June 29 –

The dogs woke up at 5 and wanted to go out. Squirrels!  Needless to say we did NOT go out.  Around seven, I could no longer ignore them so I put on some clothes and a lot of bug dope and we went out.  Zelda FINALLY peed. For those of you who know her…

Today we are headed to Tok (Tock, according to the Tom Tom lady) where I will do some tourist stuff, and the dogs will languish in the back of the pickup. It’s not hot, so they will be fine.

Picked up some maps and a paper copy of The Milepost. The weather in Tok was very nice, but that didn’t’ last.  The border crossing was uneventful.  The border lady asked for both the dog documentation AND my passport.  She didn’t ask about potatoes, apples, firewood, or dogfood. 

The road near the border was excellent – just trickin’ the people coming into Alaska for the first time.  However, the road into the Yukon was terrible.  I mean terrible.  Whoop-de-doos like you wouldn’t believe.  Sometimes I had to drive as slow as 35 just to keep the car and the trailer on the ground.  So, we didn’t make very many miles yesterday.  We stopped at a beautiful provincial campground on Kluane Lake, but who could tell how beautiful it really was.  Pouring rain.  I do mean pouring. I felt very sorry for the people in the campground who were staying in tents.  The trailer was damp enough with all four of us breathing, but it was not wet.

The highlight of day 3 in spite of the short mileage was seeing a little brown bear grazing alongside the road.  He was eating the sedges or whatever grows there.  It was not like watching a horse graze; it was like watching Zeus inhale his dinner.  I took some pictures.

Stopping, setting up, and getting settled in went smoothly.  Of course, the door was closed against the pouring rain and NONE of us wanted to be out getting drenched. 

 

June 28 –

Anchorage to just before Tok.  The Eagle Trail Campground.  The lady on my Tom Tom says “tock” instead of Tok.  The drive was good, but in the Mat-Su Borough, it was cloudy.  Farther up the road, it rained.  The clouds and rain could not hide the vastness of this part of Alaska. OK, all of Alaska is vast, but usually we don’t see so much of it edge to edge.

Once we left the Mat-Su Borough, the roads certainly changed a lot. They went from nice, well-maintained roads with lots of wide paved pullouts to rough, tarry, gravelly, wavy (in and up and down way) roads.  It was OK to drive slow on these roads, and I did!

Glennallen is pretty small.  It has a big dot on the map, so I thought it would be bigger, but the grocery store had everything I needed (and had forgotten). 

Camping with dogs—three dogs.  Let’s just say it’s a tad more work than I thought it would be.  Squirrels!  The evil nemesis of poodles (and Ellen) must be the denizens of every campground in Alaska (and maybe Canada, but we’re not there yet).  We’re still ironing out the sleeping arrangements.  Zelda could sleep quite comfortably on “her” little part of the bed, but for some reason, my part of the bed is just so much more comfortable.  The dog enclosure works very well, except for the parts under the trailer. So far Zorro has not taken off with it like a gerbil wheel down the road.

The mosquitoes are epic! I bought some dog stuff and will be applying it to the dogs (and maybe to myself), but in the mean time, they are getting OFF where they can’t lick it. I feel like a walking Deet factory. 

Day 2 was a success!