June 28th

Another day in paradise.  We are in Watson Lake taking a rest day from driving so it is a lazy day.  We have some shopping to do, wheels bearings to grease, a thermometer to fasten to the outside of the RV and catching up on e-mails, bills, etc.

We took a walk this AM to the "Signpost Forest".  This was started by a US Army soldier working on the highway.  Today of the over 62,000 signs the earliest date is 1954 as the wooden signs deteriorate over time.

In the center of the Signpost Forest are several pieces of equipment used in the building of the Alcan Highway.

I see my buddy Cowboy Tom also left a sign here... don't think Cowboy has ridden this way...  

Until the next time we have internet...  Keep your loops open!

June 27th

Today started out as another rainy day. Not very heavy but enough that one did not want to get out of the truck. The temp was also about 43 degrees which didn't help either.

It was a good day for seeing animals. We started out with Bison (or Buffalo as they say in Canada). There was a family unit with cows and calves and a big old bull sitting on the top of a hill overlooking his harem.
Next, we say a black-bear sow with 2 cubs. What was neat was watching them enter a pipe that went under the road and then they exited on the other side. You might say it was a bear crossing without the danger of being hit by a car.

Then we saw another Bison family unit and a little while later another black bear only this time he was brown. We did see one other lonely Bison (he must have lost his harem). That was the end of the animals for the day.

Another interesting site along the road was the "Internet Corral"… yes you read it right. It is not an "Internet Café". We didn't stop so who knows what the inside looks like. You may have to lasso a connection.

We only drove about 2 hours down the road to Watson Lake as there a few things to see here and we wanted to take a couple of days where we weren't "on the road". Actually we picked up an hour too as we are now on Pacific Time. Driving with BA is always a hoot! Did you know that the campsite we are in has free TV on Saturday? That is what BA read in the description of the campsite book. Imagine our surprise when we found out it was free satellite TV – every day is an adventure!

We walked over to the Northern Lights Center to watch an I-max movie on Astronauts and the Northern Lights. It was very impressive as well as informative. It would seem that we would not see the Northern Lights on this trip or at least our chances are minimal given the long daylight and that they occur mostly in winter. It was worthwhile going too.

Next, we walked to a local "department store" (about the size of a very small convenience store) but they had just about everything from fishing/camping equipment to clothes to bikes, etc. etc.

We also went to 5:00 PM Mass at St Anne's Mission in Watson Lake. The priest was surprised to see 10 people at the mass as they normally only have a couple people in attendance. The mass on Sunday AM has about 25 people total, as this is a very small church. It is also a very short walk from our campsite as the RV park is right behind the church… very convenient.

Did you know?  Moose can swim continuously for several hours, dive up to depths of 20 feet and remain submerged for over a minute!

Keep your loops open!

PS  We don't have phone service in the Yukon.  We were told that Bell Canada has a monopoly here and doesn't have agreements to "hook-up" with other carriers.  It will be a several days before we get to Alaska when we should have coverage again.  In the meantime we may or may not have internet   

June 26TH

We spent the night in a "Litter Barrel" turnout.  It was not too bad especially if compared to the night before when we stayed in a campground and someone's security alarm kept going off.  We only had 1 truck pull in and he shut it down quickly.  It did rain all night so we were wondering if our rig would float… fortunately, it didn't come to that.  Weather was different as the temp dropped to 34 degrees and we were in a snow storm as we passed by Summit Lake.  The snow didn't stay on the road but it was in the bush for a while.  It continued to rain until about 2:00 PM.

We also learned that when a sign states "watch out for falling rocks", you had better pay attention.  We saw one large rock (about 5 foot around) sitting right in the middle of the road.  There were also lots of smaller rocks along the way too.

Another thing we learned today… what the sign "loose gravel" means.  It means that the chip-seal road has been badly torn up and repaired with lose gravel.  It wasn't even packed down or had oil/tar sprayed on it. 

All in all the roads have been pretty good but it is always a surprise to open the trailer door to see what we have shaken loose that day… so far, no messes just a couple of cans.

Internet access and phone service has not been too reliable but what would you expect when the satellite radio can't even pick up a signal and we aren't even out of BC yet

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Today must have been animal day… maybe they were getting ready for the weekend gawkers and were practicing today.  We did see a whitetail deer, moose calf, a moose cow, a stone sheep, and some buffalo.  It was great to see all the animals in their natural habitat.

Tonight we are staying in the Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park.  This park has a boardwalk, which takes one through a wetlands area containing 250 boreal forest plants including 14 different orchids.  There are lots of bears and moose in the park because the plants are much richer because of the hot springs.  There are also 2 hot spring pools, Alpha & Beta.  Arda and I enjoyed Alpha which is the hotter of the two.

Tomorrow, it is northward again but not sure to where. 

Did you know?  Black Bears must consume 20,000 calories per day prior to hibernation.

Keep your loops open till next time.

June 25th

Another good day.  Once again, we got up before BA’s breakfast… no reading in bed with coffee!   It was cloudy when we left and continued that way until after lunch.  Then it turned to rain.  That along with the 50 degree temps makes for a good day to drive… better than the temps we’ve heard about in GR.

After taking, some pictures at Mile ‘0’ we headed west again.  Our plan was to stay in Fort Nelson but we stopped a couple of times along the way and decided to call it a day about 40 miles short of our destination.  We stopped just before 4:00 PM because we didn’t want to miss happy hour!  We are going to spend the night in a “rest area” (no facilities) but in BC they call it the 'Litter Barrel’.

The first stop of the day was at Mile 21 at the Kiskatinaw Bridge.  This is a 531' curved structure that is the only remaining one built from timber (original timber that is) that is in use today.  It is an amazing feat when one thinks that the Alcan Highway is 1523 miles long, built in 1942 in 8 months by the more than 11,000 American troops, 16,000 civilian workmen, and 7,000 pieces of equipment… remember the equipment did not include the big "dozers" we have today.

Next stop was for lunch at a small gravel pit alongside the road.  Lunch consisted of raisin bread, cheese (yes Dutch Gouda) and jam.  The jam was a present from Gale Ring when we left their place (suppose she was glad to get rid of us?).  It was homemade blue berry jam and was delicious.  Before we finished lunch, we had company as another motor home stopped for a break too.  

It wasn't long before we were on our way again with Arda desperately searching for Moose.  Seems like the bigger the "moose signs" along the road, the more moose we should see but not to be.  We did spot one little Black-Bear cub crossing the ditch… who knows where Momma was?  Maybe a good thing?

We had intended to stop at Mile 148 named SUICIDE HILL.  Apparently, it is one of the most treacherous hills on the entire highway and is noted for its ominous greeting, "PREPARE TO MEET THY MAKER".  We are not sure where we went wrong but there was nothing at this mile marker other than trees, grass, and more road.  The mileage may not be correct, as the road has been straightened over the years.

A new feature for WD's Tally book…  Each day I publish something I will include a section called, "Did You Know?".  Here is the first item…

Grizzly Bears have difficulty climbing, however they can still reach heights of 12 feet up a tree trunk.

That's all for now folks – until next time, keep your loops open.

June 24th

This morning dawned bright and sunny... no we didn't see the dawn but we were up earlier than usual as BA wanted to get on the road early so she could have a better chance of seeing wild life. Maybe they will stand by the side of the road and wave at us?                                                                                          

The drive was uneventful but a couple of things stood out. First we drove through an area where there had been a forest fire several years ago. We were driving on a paved, 2-lane road with extremely wide shoulders (probably room for at least 2 more lanes and more shoulder). It was clear that the fire had jumped the road as both side were burnt. It really is amazing the power and swiftness that a fire moves.

The second item that stood out was the size of the farmer's fields. They were so big that they appeared to go on forever but the reality is they are smaller than the grain fields in Saskatchewan. A person could get lost plowing a field if they weren't careful.

We are staying in Dawson Creek, BC. The main street of town lays claim to "mile 0" of the Alaskan Highway. I guess we still have a ways to go...

Not sure when we will have internet again but we will be thinking of you...


PS Congrats to the new Hartmann & Gass Grand Babies - a first for each family.  

June 13th – June 23rd

In looking at the date of my last update, I see that it has been a long time since I have posted anything. While I do have an excuse like no internet, that only accounts for part of the time. We were having fun the rest of the time. 

BA & I spent the next couple of days visiting with my brother Al. I am the smarter, better looking one!

We were very lucky that we were able to have breakfast with our niece Breanne too. She works at a Christian Summer Camp in Gull Lake so is not home very often. She works with young teems in grade 10, 11, & 12… about 150 kids of all ages attend camp.

On the Monday, BA & Al’s friend Vickie went to a local casino. Well BA won $19 but Vickie won $400 playing the slots, which normally doesn’t do but she didn’t have a choice, as the tables were not open in the morning. Between Arda and Vickie, neither of them knew the game they were playing; only that it paid off – go figure!

After getting our laundry done and a couple of other errands run, we packed up on the Wed. AM and headed to a campground just outside Rocky Mountain House, AB. This is a private RV campground, which is open year-round. The grounds are very neat and tidy with large campsites, a store, lounge, pool (heated), hot tub, and lots of things for kids. We were very lazy and normally did a little walking, a lot of eating and sitting around a campfire although my brother does have a unique way of starting fires… with the “fire tiger”.

On the Friday, we went to Edmonton to pick up our other niece Kelsey at her school. She was able to come to the camp for the weekend so it was really a surprise for us. We also stopped at the camp where Breanne is and took her to lunch. She was really surprised.

Well as all good things must, our time at the campground came to an end. On Sunday BA and I volunteered to take Kelsey back to school as we were heading that way anyway. So we drove to Edmonton, dropped Kelsey off and then headed to the nearest casino for BA. We stayed the night in the casino parking lot… it was very quiet as Arda did not do as well as she had earlier in the week.

On Monday morning, we headed out for Cold Lake AB, which is on the border of Saskatchewan north of Edmonton. We went and visited another niece Nicole (my sister’s youngest) and her better half Trevor. It was funny as we parked across the street from their house and since they have 3 cats (one of them the biggest cat I’ve ever seen!) we decided to have cocktails in the trailer… I am allergic to cats and BA just doesn’t like them. We had a nice visit with them and went to dinner… Nicole is a great cook!

After dinner, we went for a short drive to see the “sights”. We did see some nice areas such as the longest trestle bridge in AB, the harbor for Cold Lake and a couple of other areas. Cold Lake’s economy is driven by the Oil Patch and the Air Force. It is a nice town but housing is very expensive especially as BA says, “It is at the end of the world”.

On Tuesday, we headed back towards Alaska. We had a very leisurely drive to Slave Lake (not sure where the name comes from but I will Google it when we get internet again) where we are staying at the Bay Fish Campground. 

Until next time, keep your loops open.

June 11th - 12th

We woke up early on the 11th and broke camp, which means BA pushed her finger on the slide buttons so they would come in and WD unplugged the electrical cord from the campground plug.  Then we took off in a cloud of dust... well we left anyway and headed towards Calgary.

The border crossing was uneventful except we had to drop our firewood but that was not a great loss.  The Canadian Customs Officer was really friendlly and answered a lot of questions for us.  

We arrived in Calgary and are staying at the Calgary West Campground which is about 15 minutes from ny brother's.

On the 12th, Arda went for a bike ride.    She discovered that there are tons of bike paths in the Calgary area.  There are also lots of BIG hills so she gets a real good workout.  We went to Al's (my brother) last night to watch the hockey game (Wings player poorly and lost).  Al arrived home about 7:00 PM so we had a nice visit with him and his friend Vickie. 

More later... keep your loops open.   

June 8th - 10th

Just a short update as tomorrow we are in Canada so will have to pay for internet service. We are using my phone as a modem so we only pay when we exceed our monthly data allotment. In Canada, I will have to pay for every byte of data used so…

We spent Sunday and Monday in Billings in a campground. Sunday was a very lazy day as it rained all day. Biker Arda didn’t get up until lunch but of course, she had her coffee, banana, and other snacks long before lunchtime. She actually did a week’s worth of laundry in the afternoon.

On Monday, we drove to Sheridan to buy a cowhide for a pair Armitas that WD would like. I was going to buy a pair ($200) but BA wanted to make them. So, $1500 later she is ready to start working on them… they will be a good buy for me! Actually, we spent too much time in the leather shop and Arda bought a barely used Ferdco Sewing Machine, which will sew heavy material and leather. She will also use this for the upholstery work she likes to do. As the machine weighs about 250 pounds and is large, we will pick it up in Sept on our way back to GR. Oh yeah, she has “orders” for 2 additional pairs of Armitas from a couple of my friends.

Tuesday we spent the day doing maintenance chores on the trailer as several items needed to attention due to the rockin’ and rollin’ on our great roads. It also rained most of the day.

Wed arrived with bright sunny skies although the temperatures where only in the high 40’s. As the day progressed, they got all the way up to 61… nice temp for WD that is. We left Billings and headed north. We had lunch at a roadside rest area where BA cooked – what a woman!   Back on the road to Shelby MT where we are camping in the city campground. They keep these very nice and the campsites are not so packed in that you feel like you are sitting on your neighbors lip.

Tomorrow it is off to Calgary where we will see my brother for a few days.

Animals we’ve seen to-date:

• Moose – young bull still with velvet on his antlers at Don & Gale’s in Schroeder MN.
• Cows
• Dogs
• Horses
• Cats
• Antelope – North of Sheridan and all the way to Shelby
• Sand-hill Cranes – in Belfry MT
• Pheasants – in Belfry MT
• Bison – on the way to Shelby

With any luck, we’ll see more in Alaska.

Take care until next time.