Holidays

You would think a flight out of the airport in downtown Los Angeles, on the Friday night before Christmas, would be chaotic. It was surprisingly smooth. We had allowed lots of time for traffic, lineups, and potential problems. What a shame that we had to use that extra time at the airport sitting over wine and beer, instead. Taking off after dark, we had a view of the prettiest Christmas lights in the world out our airplane windows, reaching from coast to horizon.

Our car rental, California style - a Mustang convertible - was waiting in San Francisco. Of course, with temperatures in the high teens over the next four days, we couldn't resist going with the top down at least once!






We only spent four days in San Francisco, having a quiet Christmas with family and enjoying good food and many walks up and down the hills. We will return in a few weeks when we aim our trailer back towards the north.

The flight home was a bit rougher, but still on time. We got home to find a new set of residents from the park - ants. They had managed to invade the trailer and seemed to be coming out through the drains. The sinks were full of them and there were very orderly lines running along the walls and the edges of the counter. Even though I consider myself a pacifist, this called for a trip to Home Depot for the latest in ant weaponry. While hubby wielded the WMD (think George W Bush), I resorted to guerilla tactics and carried around my all-purpose spray of vinegar and water to catch any advance parties in other areas. Hopefully we can subdue the main battalion and push back the enemy lines before we execute our exit strategy. No hitchhikers on this bus!

Next stop: Pasedena Rose Bowl Parade!

City of Angels

California hasn't been quite what I expected. Except for the traffic. It was quite the experience, driving multi-lane highways while towing a 34' trailer and having little sports cars trying to cut us off because they thought they could save 2 seconds getting to the off ramp in front of us instead of behind us. This wouldn't be mentionable except that it happened several times.

Between the others on the road and the mountains looming ahead of us, I had some anxieties coming into the Los Angeles area - and I wasn't even doing the driving! But I was distracted by the views around us, and as usual, hubby managed just fine to get us where we were going.





And that was to a regional park on the outskirts of the big city. There are a lot of residents in this park, and only a few of them in RVs.

The largest group has to be the waterfowl. They even have their own crosswalk! There is a flock of black American Coots that has to number in the hundreds. In the small lake onsite we have also seen grebes, cormorants, geese, mallards, and one beautiful Bufflehead diving duck that just pops up from underwater occasionally.



What with travelling over 10,000km in all kinds of weather this last month, we figured a good wash of both truck and trailer was in order. After all, we were headed for sunny California, right? So, after we left the banks of the Colorado we stopped at a truck wash and scrubbed as best (and as high) as we could. The day after we arrived at this regional park, the high Santa Anna winds picked up and a massive dust storm rearraged the surrounding desert areas. Much of it on our vehicles. Ah, the L.A. version of a blizzard.


So, do you remember our fun with the electricity? Well, after 10 days the warrantied part finally caught up with us. We picked it up at a UPS store near the park. Up to now, we had been managing on very little light, as the lights work off the battery which was draining pretty fast. The hot water and fridge controls also need battery power, so we had heated water for washing and used our plug-in cooler (the plugs worked fine).

New part in hand, hubby went back under the couch and into the rat's nest of wires. Everthing was reattached with no drama and the power plugged back in. Nothing. Oops, back to the drawing board, or in this case, the electrical schematic. It was very late, and well past my bedtime before the break in the system was found and fixed. Celebration! Just in time for us to have hot showers before our flight to San Francisco. Christmas is coming.

And no suntan yet

Well, I haven't yet sat under a palm tree with a drink. After some hectic preparations to leave Albuquerque, we drove straight past Flagstaff and on south towards Phoenix. Enough of this cold and snow! Off with the winter boots and on with the shorts .... um, not yet. Although it did get a little milder as we travelled south, and the snow left us as we came down to lower elevations.

This was the sign that greeted us as we came into Arizona. Looks like the tables have turned, and I'm not the one going to be nervous on our hikes in the wilderness. As far as I know, bears are not indigenous to desert areas.

I figure we must be in desert land. If you look at this picture, you will see a huge saguarro cactus on the corner of the adobe house. It is taller than the house, and even the light pole!

On the way south from Flagstaff these tall cacti were everywhere we looked. Some were just a straight pole, others had multiple arms.



We came into Phoenix just before sundown. The campground we chose was outside of the city, but convenient to the highway. It was the fanciest place we've stayed in so far. It boasted a swimming pool and a hot tub, which we took advantage of!

And it had trees, which private RV parks often don't have. These were lovely citrus trees. I even sampled a grapefruit and a couple of oranges before we left. We only stayed a couple of nights, despite how nice it was. It was pricier than what we've come across so far, but this is southern Arizona, so I guess it is to be expected.




We've now crossed the Colorado River into California. We are staying at a regional county park just across the border. It is a lot more rustic than the Phoenix park, but the folks that stay here are very friendly. One couple even put on an ice cream social for the whole campground, around thirty people in all.

I finally got a close look at the cotton fields we've been passing. The area around us is mostly agricultural and there are numerous canals coming up from the Colorado River for irrigation.







We will be here for a week and hope to get our canoe wet again. The river appears to have quite a flow to it, so if we get our exercise going upstream for a couple of hours, we can float back easily and call it a day!

Who needs a palm tree to drink under, anyway?

W

The science of Electricity

Electicity is very complicated when it comes within the box of a trailer. It is comprised of wires that go through tiny spaces in the walls and under furniture and carpet alike. Our system also has two batteries that connect somehow to solar panels on the roof and a generator, and yet can also connect to the battery in our truck and the 120V power supplied at campgrounds.

Electricity is a mysterious power that I stay away from. But hubby has experience with it, and was willing to tackle the loss of power that started to plague us. As usual, he was very thorough. He studied the diagrams that were in the trailer manual, and crawled under the couch to label the wires he could reach. He carefully turned off everything and unplugged us from the campground service. He even double checked the sockets with the volt meter and tried the lights. Then he went back under the couch to detach the batteries, setting off a heart-stopping display of fireworks, smoke, and curses. I learned the evacuation drill that day: grab my purse and the fire extinguisher on the way out the door.

Two important things I did forget - our passports from the hidden cubbyhole, and my husband. He was still frantically disconnecting wires and turning the air blue. Not just with smoke.

The day ended with us running to local auto shops at 5:30 on a Saturday evening to replace the melted heavy gauge wires and connectors. And, although everything is now put back together and secure, the slight loss of power that started this has now severely affected our 12V systems. Our trailer battery refuses to recharge from anything but the trickle charge from the solar panels. This affects anything that is directly powered from our batteries: our lighting and the system controller for the fridge, for example. Good thing we are experienced with lanterns and flashlights.

We are now waiting for a new converter to be shipped to us. On the plus side, we flew through the New Mexico and Arizona snow belt and are far enough south that we are not getting any snow or freezing temperatures. The only threat could be an electrical storm.....

W
Disclaimer: any inaccuracies in the technical aspects of the text above is solely the fault of the writer.

Left turn at Albuquerque

When Bugs Bunny utters his famous phrase, "I knew I shoulda made that left turn in Albuquerque" he is always popping out of the desert. So I guess I had a few misperceptions of the place. For one, it's a pretty darn big city!

For two, there are big rocky hills all around it. It is in a valley that is indeed a hilly desert to some extent, but it is overshadowed by this great rocky ridge.

So, if you're looking at our direction of travel, if we had've turned left at Alburquerque, we wouldn't have pictures like this. We would be along the border of Mexico, and hopefully a little warmer than it is right now.

Instead, we decided to play tourist. It's actually a fun game. We hiked the Petroglyphs National Monument, which is just a huge pile of black lava rocks with etchings on them - some very old, and unfortunately, others that are new. We also toured the Museum of Nuclear Science (you can take the man out of the lab, but....), and the Old Town of Albuquerque, a delightful mix of boutiques and restaurants.




But now the online weather reports are calling for more snow. So we are going to dash (slowly, 'cuz it's mostly up and down hills) to Flagstaff, Arizona, to make our left turn there. So hopefully the next time I post a blog, I'll be sitting under palm trees with a drink and a suntan!

W

Gotta get ourselves a stetson hat!

We are definitely in Texas - big ranch houses, and lots of space, cattle and oil rigs. We even saw tumbleweeds along the highway!

The one thing we didn't expect in Texas was the cold weather and the snow. As we drove up to Fort Worth and on to Amarillo, we knew we were going up in elevation just from how many more times we had to stop to get gas. But we didn't expect the below freezing temperatures and the 2 inches of snow that we found in Amarillo. We had planned on staying at the Palo Dura Canyon State Park just outside of the city, but when I called them for an update on the park, the road into the canyon had been closed because of the ice and snow conditions. They said that the 10% grade with hairpin turns down to the bottom of the canyon made it a touch dicey in this weather, but that the road would be open later in the afternoon once the sun melted the ice. With that news, we opted to find a campground in the city.

The next morning was spent thawing our our water lines after it dropped to -10C overnight. This was the man who didn't want me to bring my hair dryer. Guess who's using it now?



After hubby got the water lines emptied, we took the truck and went down to the Palo Dura Canyon. The land is flat and wide open, and the first sight of the canyon is a surprise. The land just drops away and suddenly you are driving along the rim. There are no fences to stop people from just walking off the edge, and no signs of warning like what we expect in Canada.

We entered the park area and drove down the winding 10% grade. There was less snow at the bottom. There were also very few campers! Which is probably why we saw so much wildlife while we were there - deer was everywhere, and we had a quick glimpse of a bobcat.

The canyon is 120 miles long, and the colours of the rocks are beautiful. We hiked about two and a half miles along a trail, all the time wishing we had come earlier. Frozen lines be darned!

But soon enough the sun was getting low and we had to get back to Amarillo. At the top of the rim, we finally got to see true longhorn cattle. There is a small herd of them just within the park boundaries. The park ranger told us their names: Biscuits, Gravy, Brisket and T-Bone.


With that on our mind, we stopped at the Big Texan Steakhouse after a quick shower and cleanup. They offer a free 72oz steak (four and a half pounds!) to anyone that can eat it within one hour. We wimped out and asked for something much smaller. Between that and our Tilley hats, I'm sure we were easily identified as tourists. Maybe with Stetsons we won't stand out quite so much.

W

Another one off the bucket list

We left Louisiana, although reluctantly. All that fresh seafood at our fingertips was too tempting. But San Antonio was near the top of my bucket list and our next stop.

We were right beside the Alamo and didn't even recognize it. It just looked like a walled Spanish garden, and indeed they have made the back of it into just that. They have walkways and koi ponds and benches. The facade of the Alamo is widely recognized, but coming on the side, this is what you see.

The other thing not widely publicized is how close to all the downtown buildings the Alamo is. You can see the top of the courthouse on the other side of the old barracks. It is on the other side of the street, and there are highrises and office buildings and hotels all around it. It is literally in the middle of the city. But when you step inside, you enter a whole different world. The old mission chapel is a shrine and you are not allowed to take pictures or talk loudly, and men must take off their hats. The old barracks had been made into a museum with all the artifacts and history timelines. Anyone who has had the misfortune of waiting for us in a museum (sorry, D4!) will know that we read every written piece presented, and scrutinize the artifacts. Thus, it was well after lunch before we came back out into 2011.

Lunch was taken at the famous RiverWalk. San Antonio has made pathways along both sides of the river, at a level lower than the street so the traffic noise doesn't intrude. There are cafes and bars and shops all along the river and boats motoring quietly up and down. There are also no handrails along the waterside of the walkways, and weekends can be relied on to have at least one partygoer fall into the river. Good thing it is only three feet deep.

By the time we finished walking up and down the river, the lights had been turned on. It became a fairyland of Christmas lights on all the trees, boats and bridges. We walked to a outside concert area to sit and watch a performer singing Christmas songs on the other side of the river. It was a very full day, and we drove back to the trailer pleasantly tired.




The weather has now turned, and it is drizzling. Our tourist day was beautiful weather, but today is a good day to travel. So on we go.

W

Let the good times roll!

Laissez les bon temps roulez! The motto of New Orleans, and I think we should adopt it. As long as those good times stop at 9 pm or so, and start up again early.

We stopped hitting the headwind when we crossed into the Mississippi hill country. When we got to Louisiana, there was more rivers and swamps and less hills. We stayed at a park south of Baton Rouge, where I got the chance to try my first "po-boy" sandwich (a sub with seafood - very good!).

Since everything is closed on Thanksgiving, we spent that day paddling the bayou the park was situated on. We learned something very interesting at the nature centre of the park: that "stump" that hubby is holding on to isn't some rotted out stump like we always thought when we saw pictures of a cypress swamp. It is actually part of a bald cypress tree's root system: a tree's knees, we were told. Of course, these "knees" were everywhere. Especially on the trails. I finally found someplace with no rocks to trip over, and they put knees in my way.


The next place we stopped was just outside of New Orleans.

On our first walk around the area, we found a fish market with fresh crabs, shrimp and other delights. Needless to say, we brought some back for lunch. And this bounty only cost us $7.50!



Food is just too good to describe here. We spent a day in New Orleans in the French Quarter, and waddled home stuffed! We tried "gator bites" - both fried and blackened pieces of aligator, plus gumbo, crawfish, hushpuppies, and finished it off with fresh french beignets at the coffee and donut place.

The French Quarter was alive with people. Mostly tourists, but there were also buskers, musicians, dancers - both on the sidewalks and sometimes right on the streets. This performance artist stayed in this position for at least the 15 minutes it took us to walk past him and take pictures. And everytime I looked back, he was still there! The boutiques had Mardi Gras masks, art, and lots of cajun spices to buy.

Other kind of wildlife lived within our campgrounds. We were surprised to see this little fella rooting around just behind our trailer. Armadillos move quickly, and dig in the dirt with their nose and feet. It didn't seem afraid of us, but just kept going. We also saw several great egrets, pure white and the size of a blue heron, and smaller snowy egrets.

No aligators, yet. That's probably for our next hike.

W

On the way to Graceland

We left our cozy spot at my sister's farm and drove straight into a stiff headwind that did horrible things to our gas mileage. And rattled our extended mirrors, too! But we made it to CanAm RV Center without losing any pieces, and settled in for 2 days of trailer repair, and three nights of free overnight hookups. Bonus!

We crossed over the border to the states on Wednesday at noon. A much easier crossing than we had anticipated - we had cleaned out any fruits, and most food, from our trailer. But he only asked 3 questions: where we were going, when we were coming back, and was our trailer 16' long? He gave a whistle when we told him it was 34 feet, and waved us on.

We still seemed to be fighting a nasty headwind. In fact, that became a theme to our travels over the next few days. We went through sunny spots, and one very cold spot, but always a stiff wind coming from the southwest whenever we were on the road.

We made an overnight stop at the Airstream production plant in Jackson Center, Ohio.

It was interesting taking the tour of the plant and actually watching them put together a new Airstream trailer. And hubby found a new accessory for our own trailer. Good thing for me it was too heavy to bring along!





We travelled down the state of Indiana and into Illinois, crossed the Mississippi River and into Arkansas. The land was flat, and mostly farming country. Certainly there was nothing to slow down that headwind. We saw fields of cotton ready to be picked just before we crossed the Mississippi River the second time. The river was wide and muddy coloured, and there were tugboats, and riverboats, and barges on it. But this second crossing brought us to our first destination: Memphis! We came in just after dark, and so we missed the entrance to the Graceland RV Park we were aiming for and ended up talking to the security at Graceland Mansion parking instead. He was very kind and accommodating, and escorted us to the "40 acres" we needed to turn our rig around.

It didn't take us long to get set up and hooked up for the night. One of the brochures given out at check-in was for a BBQ restaurant called Marlowe's that had a free shuttle in a pink limo. So just for fun we called them and got our ride.

Everyone here talks like Elvis, "Y'all have a great night, now!"





And yes, we toured Graceland. It was a very interesting place. Even though it is kinda the "off season", it was still busy with tourists. It was well run, and you could move along at your own pace and not have to keep up with a group. There was a lot of history blended in with the amazing collection of memorabilia.

This was a stunning display of awards and of gold and platinum records in the trophy room. The collection was on all the walls and all the way to the ceiling, as well as on the walls of the hall leading into the room.

The most surprising to me was the huge plaque received from the Town of Memphis recognizing Elvis' generosity of donations to many charities, organizations, and even needy individuals in the town.

Of course, as in most tourist spots, there were also the endless souvenir and gift shops. We hurried through those - not enough room to put them!

W

2nd PHASE OFFICIALLY UNDERWAY

After saying our heartfelt good byes to Roger and Heather, we left their farm (our home for the last month and a half) in Bath, Ontario on Sunday, Nov 13. Stopped at daughter #2 briefly and then on to Can Am RV in London, ON.
The stay at the farm gave us the time to reflect on our initial phase and learn from our mistakes and experiences. It took all that time to fix, pack, and prepare our trailer for the next phase. We took our time to visit with families and friends.
The next phase of our travels will be through the Airstream Center in Ohio, Graceland in Memphis, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, along the Pacific Coast in Oregon, Washington State then on to BC. Planning to spend the summer in BC and Alberta. The biggest highlight of the 2011 part of the trip is spending 5 days at the Pasadena New Year Rose Bowl Parade.
Take Care and see you all soon...

B

Phase 2 ... coming soon to a blog near you!

The past month has been spent in a Toy Box.

Not just any toy box, but a big boy's toy box. As you can see by the picture, my 34' trailer looks small in the doorway. What you can't see is that there is another large travel trailer, a back hoe, and 3 big sailboats inside as well. A grown man's dream!


It's been a great place to wait out our time on the Canadian side. We have fields around us and a beautiful view of Lake Ontario. It is so close to shopping areas (ie Costco and Home Depot) and near to my siblings. We've spent the time here doing maintenance on the trailer and visiting family.

I had the pleasure of rust-painting the front hitch, propane beds and all. And parts of me as well. Hubby has been fixing and caulking and packing.


Figuring out where everything goes is the toughest part. We seem to have lots of cupboard space, thank goodness, but not much outside storage. This means tools and cleaning equipment for the exterior need to be stored alongside the blankets and dishes.

And we still have camping equipment to put somewhere. We are planning to find places to go hiking and canoeing, and of course, fishing. What? Sit on the beach beside the ocean? No, not us! We gotta go find aligators (no grizzly bears down south, I'm told) and mountains and wild places to visit. In this, our mid-life crisis adventure, I made the mistake telling my hubby to take me "out of my comfort zone". Silly man does take me literally. Wouldn't mind the odd time IN the comfort zone.

Actually, I really can't complain. We do have tickets to see the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasedena, and are making plans to see real touristy stuff like Graceland in Memphis. We will be leaving on our second phase of travels the middle of November. Good thing the furnace works like a charm. Fingers are crossed that we don't get much in the way of snow before then.

W

Preparing for Phase 2

It was good news that we didn't need the black clothes we had packed. But now our temporary medical insurance is running out, and it's time to go back to Canada. The time seems to have gone so fast. We have been visiting family and helping out where we could. And eating way too much. One of our favourite desserts from the Philippines is called "halo-halo". It means "mix, mix" and consists of shaved ice layered with sweet jellies and beans and fruits, all topped with ice cream.

We found a place nearby that sells an amazing one and we've been back most days this last week. The weather has been warm and sunny enough to make the cold treat delightful. I don't know what the weather is like anywhere else right now, but it's still summer in New Jersey.

We also made friends with the family dog. A young black lab with a unique spotted tongue. He kept us from gaining too much weight with the daily walks we gave him. And going with my niece to Zhumba helped with that, too!







So now it's back to the regularly scheduled program, folks. A little bit of time with each of the girls, appointments to be made (and kept this time), and preparing the trailer - and us - for the next phase of our journey: south to New Orleans before the weather gets too wintery.

W

Change in Plans

After 5 flat tires this trip, I figured everyone must be tired of all these pics of hubby changing the flats. So this picture is of the tire we took off the truck east of Marathon, ON. Our last spare is on now, so our fingers are crossed that nothing more happens to our tires before we get back to where the winter tires are kept. Buying new tires is at the top of our "to do" list. On the plus side, we have become very proficient in changing tires! We debated calling Roadside Assistance for this one, now that we are back in civilized country with cell service, but decided that the 45 minute wait for the tow truck wasn't worth it. We changed it ourselves and were back on the road in 30 minutes.

We've always heard the fall colours viewed from the Agawa Canyon Train were lovely. The colours on the way down haven't shown themselves, yet, but the price is right, so we booked the tour. A 7:30 boarding in Sault Ste Marie allowed for a stop at Tim Hortons. Cups in hand, we got on a newly refurbished train car with other folks willing to save a little to see green instead of reds and oranges. We passed many beautiful, good fishing lakes and rugged cliffs and boulders. There was indeed, a little red showing on the tops of some of the trees, so we didn't miss out entirely.
In the canyon itself, we had a 90 minute stop. Hiking trails led out from the train stop, with varying degrees of difficulty. Of course, we started with the 312 step staircase climb to the lookout. Then continued with the treks to 3 waterfalls before finishing with a saunter by the river.

We were lucky to have a lovely day for the view on the train and the trails. Back in the Soo we walked over to the Casino to spend the $30 in slot money we were given as part of the train package. It won us $18.40 - just enough to cover our drinks. Good thing we don't gamble on a regular basis.


We had planned to meander down the road and fit in visits with friends and family before settling down to the job of preparing for the next, southern, portion of our trip. However, we have had bad news from family and are blessed to have the ability at this time in our life to change plans and routes at a moment's notice. So instead of continuing east, when we hit Sudbury we drove south. Quick stops to shed equipment and pick up things we need (like a spare tire and clothes) and we are on our way to New Jersey.

Family comes first, after all.

W

Southern Manitoba

Our visit to northern Manitoba was short, but sweet. Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipeg are very big, long and narrow. What a difference going to the south! We drove through the Narrows of Lake Manitoba, where the large north lake narrows down to the size of a two lane highway (literally) before widening back out to the south part of the lake. It was a windy day (and with the flat land we drove through - no wonder) and the water even at the narrows was a grey-green colour with whitecaps. Almost immediately, you could see the signs of flooding. We camped on Dauphin Lake, just to the south of Lake Manitoba. The campsite had just opened up the last couple of weeks of August because they had been flooded out 3 times this summer. There was driftwood everywhere.

On the way to the eastern border, we passed an "Historic Site", according to the sign on the highway. Not ones to let such things pass by unnoticed, we pulled into this long, one lane gravel driveway. Thinking of the trailer in back of us, I had suggested we walk in, but after 1.5k down this "road" I was glad hubby just drove in. We eventually came to a wide spot, beside a path. The signs along the path described a "Thunderbird Nest". Another 400 meters down the path there was a sign that asked us to leave a "gift" of cloth or tobacco.

Having nothing with us closer than 400 meters, hubby offered up a pocket from his shirt. Because we were camping, the clothes we brought weren't our best and newest. And obviously, the shirt was sewn on pretty tight. And the rest of the shirt was thin.

The Thunderbird Nest, when we stopped laughing and moved on, was a large circle of stones, built to encourage the good spirit, Thunderbird, to take up residence. If nothing else, it was a good walk for us, and a good reason to get rid of an old shirt.

We camped at Whiteshell Provincial Park on the Labour Day Monday. The campgrounds were quiet, and the gatehouses closed. But it was a nice place to stay for a couple of days. We have friends from the Town of Pinawa, so we wanted to tour the area and, of course, do some fishing.

Coming into Ontario, we decided to aim for the Sleeping Giant provincial park outside of Thunderbay. We were surprised by how far off the main highway we had to drive to get to the park. The peninsula didn't look that big from the mainland! And once on the peninsula, there were so many lakes that we drove around even before we got to the one we were camping on! Again, the campgrounds were quiet. We met a deer going in, who wasn't inclined to move off the road, and a couple of ducks came up from the water to nose around our campsite as we were unloading. These animals are obviously used to people.

This is a shot from our campsite to the end of the peninsula, where the Sleeping Giant lays. With all these tall, rocky cliffs, we must be back to the Canadian Shield. In the morning, we could hear wolves howling and a family of mergansers swam right off shore.

Isn't life beautiful?
W

Northern Saskatchewan

After a great visit with our daughter, haircuts, and an essential re-organization of our trailer, it is time to get back on the road. It is becoming too easy to sit on the couch and watch TV again. We didn't miss it for 4 months, and now that's all we want to do! Addiction comes in many forms.

This was a picture I couldn't resist - our shadow on the fields of Saskatchewan.



We headed north, aiming for Candle Lake Provincial Park. When we got there, it was windy and we camped right on the edge of the lake. The next morning was calm and clear, so the canoe went in and the fishing rods came out. We had supper with what is known up here as "jackfish" - northern pike. After supper we walked down the long, sandy beach and then around by the park roads back to the campsite. The park was mostly empty, the long weekend is still 2 days away. A doe skittered across the road right in front of us, followed by a fawn and then another small deer. A red fox crossed farther up.

The blueberries up here are just coming ripe now. We had blueberry pancakes, and saved a few for another breakfast. Hard to believe we are picking fresh blueberries on the first days of September.

Flin Flon, Manitoba was our next objective. It just sounded like a fun place to go! This was the only picture I could get to prove we actually made it to Flin Flon. I had the camera out and was waiting to see the city limits and city sign to take a picture of it. But I guess we came in the back way, because there was no city sign. Not even a sign to indicate we crossed from Saskatchewan to Manitoba! Just all of a sudden we were driving down main street Flin Flon. We stopped for lunch and to get on the internet at the library - except the library is closed on Saturdays. Obviously, we didn't stay long.

We headed south to The Pas, looking for a campground. Clearwater Provincial Park is just a little north of The Pas, so that is where we stayed. Just an overnight - we have more of Manitoba to see.

W

Lesser Slave Lake

We have done the Alaska Hwy from start to finish! Starting at Dawson Creek, BC, going up and around the entire road circuit of Alaska, all around the Yukon, and back to Dawson Creek, we have gone 10,745 kms. Trip of a lifetime, folks. Good thing we started with low mileage on the truck.





Once we hit Alberta, we headed over to Lesser Slave Lake. The town of Slave Lake had been hit by a forest fire this spring. It was sad to see the burned areas. Although they have quickly cleared up any destruction, you can see where whole subdivisions were destroyed. Only a few new houses have been put back up. The downtown area looks like it was mostly spared. The provincial park where we stayed was on the north-east side and not affected at all.

The lake itself is long - 108kms but fairly narrow. When we got there, I took a picture of the sunset over the water, but during the night the wind kicked up and in the morning the waves were huge.

We are now in Edmonton, enjoying the amenities. The truck is clean, although the car wash franchise "Bubbles" that we used had to put it through twice! And we pampered it, with a full fluids and filters change. We had planned on getting new tires, too, but the lack of provincial taxes in Alberta is offset by the high cost of labour, so there was no benefit.

We will spend another day or two here, seeing friends and shopping, before we head off to see Daughter3 for a couple of days. And then there are the joys of seeing northern Manitoba. No sign of snow yet, so I guess we can just keep on going!

W

Back to the Alaska Hwy

So, after the fun on the Campbell Hwy, we debated the sanity of going up the Liard Hwy to the NorthWest Territories and maybe Yellowknife. Research has revealed that most of that road is very similar to the Campbell. The first 100k is paved and the last 100k is paved. The rest of the 800k trip would be gravel and dirt. Looking at our tires, or what's left of them, and our windshield, we decided to leave that trip for another time. Maybe we should start to meander back home.

Meander is what we are doing. We have stopped again at the Liard Hotsprings, dallied at Stone Mountain, and tried to fish most rivers we come across. The wildlife in the northern part of BC is still abundant with bears and bison, but now the caribou is starting to move so we saw several batches of them as well. We want to come a different way as much as possible, except that the Alaska Hwy has a monopoly on this area. Leaving Fort St John, we plan on heading toward the Lesser Slave Lake area, which we haven't seen yet. Distractions are all around us, and we still have a little under one month to finish seeing as much as we can.


The days are getting shorter much faster than we had expected. It seemed that one week the sun went down at 11pm and the next it was 9pm. Where we are in Fort St John in BC, it is now completely dark at 9:30. We are using flashlights again, after having dug them out of the back.

But we're having so much fun camping, does it have to end?

W

The Campbell Highway

I'm not sure why they named this a highway. It is more like a sideroad. A very long, dusty, and not maintained sideroad.

It started out as good pavement for several miles, if narrow and with no dividing lines. It followed a pretty valley and we stopped at viewpoints. There was a road off to the north that led to a small town called Faro. This was a lovely town, only 300 people in it, and everybody took the time to volunteer and to help make the community better. Despite the fact that it rained the entire time we were there, we had a great time. We got to know people, and spent our time visiting and enjoying the company. We visited a salmon creek where the red salmon are coming up. Groceries were a problem: the only store in town was listed as a "hardware" store, but it had groceries in the back - especially if you ordered a week ahead of time so it could be brought in for you! We, of course, just walked in and could get almost nothing.

On leaving Faro, we moved on to Ross River. The road worsened, becoming gravel and dirt between the potholes.

Just outside of Ross River, the natives were holding Aboriginal Hand Games. This was a fun group game kinda like a shell game, where you had to find the person holding the token. They would line up, 6 to a side, bend down together and pass the token between each other, then straightened up so the other team could guess where it was. All the time, the drummers were beating (loudly!) a quick and deep double beat. This went on all day, with stops for meals that were provided free. We were warmly welcomed, and hubby even participated in a fun race that was held to break up the day. We left late, so we didn't get to a campground before dark. Since the road was not well used, we pulled off and made our own camp.

The next day saw more bad roads. We had only gotten about 60k before a tire went flat. We were practised at replacing tires by then, so it only slowed us for half an hour. An hour and a half later, we punctured another. Good thing we had 2 spares! Except now we were running on a repaired tire, and had no more in reserve.

Decision was made to, instead of stopping at the campgrounds, run to the end of this road, where the city of Watson Lake would have tire shops. We didn't make it. The repaired tire gave out 70k from the city. We had no more spares, no tire plugs. But as my sister says, one can live for 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. We had all of these, and were quite prepared to camp on the side of the road until someone came by. The good luck was that the natives at the hand games were going home, too. We got 6 cars that came by in two hours. And at least one of them had a plug we could use that would at least get us to civilization.

But a highway? No, I wouldn't call it that.

W

The North Pole

I felt that this subject needed it's own blog. Everyone knows that we went north past the Arctic Circle, but I didn't mention that we had stopped at a small place called the North Pole. This was a busy little town, even in the summer. We went inside of this magical place that had Christmas Trees all lit up, and toys on shelves, and Christmas songs being played. What a beautiful place!

We spoke to one fellow (he didn't introduce himself) who had a big white beard. He seemed to know us, though, and talked to us about our family! He knew all our grandchildren, and said that he would especially remember them this December. I'm not sure what he meant, but he did say that he knew that most of my wonderful grandchildren were being good by helping their mothers this year, and was hoping that the others would do the same for the rest of the year.

It was a surprising stop, and I thought it was worth passing on.

W

And back again....

We managed to come back down the Dempster in 11 and a half hours. That did not include the time it took to change the flat tire we had.

Of course, on the way north it was mostly dusty and dry. On the way back, however, we got showers and MUD. We were both grateful the hard rain didn't hit until after we got back on the road again - although it could have washed off some of my hubby's clothes before he got back in the car.

All told, we got off fairly easily for the road conditions. The total was one punctured tire, two stone chips in the windshield, and a few pounds of mud stuck to the truck and trailer that needed several dollars to wash off.

But as you can see, we were very happy to "do the Dempster" as it was a long-time dream that led to experiences we wouldn't have gotten anywhere else.

W

The Long and Dusty Dempster Highway

We stopped for a couple of days at Tombstone Territorial Park at the south end of the Dempster Highway. The road was not too bad up to there, and we got to spend time hiking Goldenside Mountain (not all the way up) and, of course, fishing - however fruitless it was.

North of the park, the road was more dirt and shale than gravel, but we took our time and stopped frequently for sights and fishing. There was always something to see, and even just the views of valley and mountains were breathtaking. We were amazed that so many people race up to the end and race back again. Every range of mountains is made of different features - some covered in trees, some are rough and craggy on the top, and the last group was barren and rounded. The road doesn't go very high, just occasionally up to ridges where we overlook amazing valleys. Wildlife has been pretty sparse, except for the ptarmigan that run out onto the road in front of us.

We made it to the Arctic Cirle on a sunny day. Soon after, we saw something yellow on the next hill. We have met the occasional brave cyclist, and since a truck coming towards us slowed down for it, we assumed that it was another one. The yellow walked down into the ditch, perhaps looking for a campsite, and as we approached fairly close, up from the ditch came a grizzly - less than a car length from us!

Driver put on the brakes and said "Quick! Take a picture!" Nervous wife (on the same side as the bear) said "Don't stop! Don't stop!" That bear passed about 6 feet away from my window, too close and we were going too slowly for my liking. I was unable to get a picture until we had completely passed it.

The next day we started early and hadn't gotten far before we saw a herd of about 100 caribou on the tundra to our left. So we stopped for a while and watched with binoculars, as they were too far out to get good pictures.

About a kilometer behind them were two older native hunters who had downed a young bull caribou fom the back of the herd. This did not seem to frighten the others into running, as they were calmly grazing when we came apon them. The hunters had already skinned and cut the meat before we got up to their truck on the road. Hubby, seeing his chance for an experience, waited until they had walked back to the road with some of their earnings and then approached them. They were both in their 70's and were struggling to carry meat over the rough tundra ground, so he offered his assistance.

You can see him helping carry the huge antlers up to the road. In thanks, the hunters cut us off a huge steak. It went staight into the cooler for supper that night.



In the NorthWest Territory, the road "improved" by having a thick layer of gravel on it. Not so many bumps and sharp rocks, but the dust was horrible. We crossed the Peel River by cable ferry, about the same size as the one in Dawson City. The Mackenzie River wasn't that much farther on, but it's ferry was much larger. Getting off it on the north side was done by the crew putting "tire ramps" under the ferry ramp and directing us to make sure our tires were in the right spot. With all the different trucks and cars, those ramps had to be adjusted often.

On the other side of the Mackenzie the gravel was thick and dusty. We were also surprised that the road was straight and there was heavy forest on both sides. We had expected more tundra instead, and found it boring (!) to drive the last two hours into Inuvik.

When we finally got settled in a campground near the city, everything we owned was covered in a thick layer of dust. It had gotten into the trailer, the back of the truck, everywhere!

But the weather was beautiful - sunny and 30 Celsius. That's as warm as we've seen all trip! Had to go north to get the good weather, I guess.

It has been an amazing drive up here. We've managed to get here with no dings in our truck or windshield, and with all 6 tires intact. There is only one problem: now we have to go all the way back again!

W

Top of the World and Dawson City

We decided to take the "short cut" to Dawson City. This took us through a town called "Chicken, Alaska". Now, Chicken is very small, but everyone has a "rooster" sense of humor. There are rubber chickens, roast chicken meals (with any other meat in it), and photo spots that capitalize on the name.

Obviously, all the men wanted their picture taken here.





After Chicken, the road went over and along mountains. This road wasn't nearly as bad as the Denali Park experience because the big bus traffic wasn't there and it really was a two lane road, even if the shoulders were nonexistant. It was still high, however, and it was all dirt and gravel. Except when it rained, and then it became all mud. Which, of course, it did sporadically while we were driving. So we ended up with dirt, covered in mud, coated in more dirt just to make it hard, all layered on our truck and trailer. Oh! and then, just before the Alaska/Canada border crossing at 4,000' elevation, we drove through fresh snow! About two inches had fallen just before we got there. The customs house was in a beautiful spot on the mountain, almost right at the top, and you could see mountain tops around you for miles.

Before we got to Dawson City, we had to cross the Yukon River. It is a fast, and muddy river, and quite wide. There is one ferry going back and forth constantly.

You can see how small it is - we are the first car and the fellow is standing beside the last one. It only holds about 8 cars, and does not have a dock on either side of the river, so just rams itself up on the gravel and lowers the ramp to anchor itself to the ground. They get the cars to start rolling off the ramp even if the ferry is still moving! Probably helps to lodge it more firmly on shore.

Dawson City has been left mostly the way it was in the early 1900's. The streets are still just dirt, and the sidewalks are boardwalks. There are very few new houses here, most of them are very old and wooden.

Our second night in Dawson, we went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's - an old style gambling hall and saloon. They had nightly entertainment: cancan girls and singers. We stayed late, and had a great time. And even though the sun was down when we got out at 11pm, it was still light out.

The next stretch for us will be the Dempter Highway heading north. Arctic Cirle, here we come!

W