Monday, May 15, 2017

Liard to Watson Lake to Whitehorse, YT

 5-10-17 We awoke to a herd of Wood Bison rambling down the road! We got an early start and at Watson Lake it was biting cold and windy. The guys found a w
ay to get the sign nailed up high.
We headed on to Pioneer Campground in Whitehorse and even though they weren't officially open yet, we were able to stay and only had to fill our water tanks. We had electric and sewer.
We all enjoyed the beautiful views of the Yukon River and the Klondike Sternwheeler that used to ply its waters.

We booked ourselves a train trip on the White Pass and Yukon route from Fraser, BC to Skagway, AK. We did this trip in 2014 and wanted to experience it in the snow! It was absolutely beautiful!
There was only 1 ship in town, the Grand Princess (we have been on it!) so it wasn't crowded at all. We had a tasty lunch of halibut at The Skagway Fish Co. Highly recommend!
After our trip back to Whitehorse, we were all tired but really enjoyed the day. Tomorrow, it's on to Haines, AK, one of my favorite towns!

Sunday, May 14, 2017

On to Liard Hot Springs, BC

We got going a little after 7 and decided to stop for fuel and breakfast in Fort Nelson. We had enjoyed breakfast at the Fort Nelson Hotel last trip and this time was no exception!
I then spent 3 hours parked in front of the hotel catching up on work as I had great internet coverage. Mickey and Lynn went on ahead of us. We traveled 253 miles and it took us 9 hours and 27 min. including our time in Fort Nelson. Gas there at the Husky was $1.24/lt. CN. It was a bonanza day in terms of wildlife! I didn't get any pictures because I was driving most of the day. We saw a porcupine up a tree; 2 hawk, 2 moose, 1 deer, a caribou, 2 more moose, 8 wood bison and another Bull Moose!
My right knee has been giving me fits (old injury and one surgery) so I was not up to walking the half mile (round trip) to the springs and back. I LOVE the hot water but made the decision to stay behind and rest. Everyone else enjoyed their time there though and I might catch it on the way back.


North into Canada!

We left Great Falls on Thursday, May 4th and headed north into Alberta. Our plan was to avoid Calgary and the traffic and take the slower and more scenic route west and spent the night at the Wal Mart in Pincher Creek. Their municipal campground was not open yet. It was a 259 mile day and traveled 8 hours and 7 minutes. Gas was 99 cents per litre in the area. By far the cheapest we will see in the rest of Canada.

We headed out bright and early on 5/5 with our destination being Lake Louise and then Jasper and the Icefields Parkway. We all had our first Tim Horton's for breakfast (think delicious donuts and pastries). We got a call from our friend Wallace Lewis, about mid day, that there was an avalanche that had shut down the road to Lake Louise and Jasper! We found a bypass with the help of a service officer (pic) that took us back east and north through Banff and Kootenay National Park which was a beautiful drive! We saw mule deer, Big horn sheep, wild turkey, a bald eagle and many ravens.  Cochrane, AB was our final destination for the night after a long day of 364 miles and over 9 hours of driving. We stayed at Spring Hill RV Park. 30 amp FHU was $35.70 CN with our 15% SKP discount. We had the most delicious Greek food at My Greek Plate for dinner. Highly recommend!







Saturday, May 6th was a pure driving day, straight north, with rolling hills and a lot of rural farm land. Our wildlife for the day was a bonanza of 3 moose standing in an open field! We arrived in Grand Prairie, AB, catching up with Wanda and Wallace Lewis and their friend Eloise. We had a fun evening visiting and catching up with each other and our travels! We all stayed at Camp Tamarack, a Good Sam park. Very woodsy but nice at $40.00 CN which equates to $29.15 US.
With the Dollar being so strong, our money is worth 30 per cent more. A nice change! We covered 450 miles and 10 hours and 40 minutes of driving.




Sunday, May 7th was a special day as it was our friend Mickey Waite's Birthday! They had spent the night at Wal Mart so we left our RV park very early and parked next to them. I made Mickey a special birthday breakfast that was enjoyed by all! Every day so far we have been hitting the road between 7 and 7:30 but today we took our time and enjoyed an extra cup of coffee after breakfast and left at 10:25 a.m. It was a very short travel day of only 89 miles to Dawson Creek, BC and the Northern Lights RV Park. Today was our staging day to get ready to hit the Alcan on Monday at MM 0. We did some grocery shopping, got the car washed (it took off the top layer of dirt anyway) and we saw elk and deer off the roadsides. Lynn made homemade pork tenderloins for everyone for Mick's birthday dinner. They were SO delicious! It was my brother Al's first and he loved them!

Monday, May 8th, I awoke at 6 a.m. so I could get a lot of work done and we were able to finally head out about 11 a.m. We fueled up at Safeway and saved 10 cents per litre since we had bought groceries there the day before! So it only cost us 94 cents per litre. We all met at Mile Marker "0" and took pictures all around! The drive was beautiful and a bonanza of a day for wildlife sightings! We saw a hawk, mule deer, wolf, black bear, caribou, and 2 white swans. We overnighted at Prophet River (boondocked) and Lynn made a big fire and we cooked dinner of hamburger patties and veggies in foil packets. They were yummy but parts were a bit "crispy" but enjoyed by all! We covered 310 miles of good road in 5 hours and 33 minutes. It was early to bed and early to rise, as almost all days have been! Not something we are used to but it makes sense up here for some reason.





Monday, May 1, 2017

Days 4 and 5 - On to Great Falls, MT

We all were moving a little slower on Sunday morning as it was quite noisy in Billings. Between the sirens, motorcycles revving their engines (bar across the street), gunshots and then heavy equipment chiming in with "Beep Beep Beep" which started before before 6 a.m. and went on forever...no we didn't sleep too well! Our drive to Great Falls was quite scenic but slow due to the cross and then headwinds!
Our views included plenty of antelope, deer (pic), hawks (pic), and a family of Canada geese with 9 baby ducklings! (pic)
   
Rolling hills

Deer

Hawk at top of pole

Canada Geese family

We arrived about 3 p.m. and were greeted by Mickey and Lynn Waite at the Malmstron AFB Fam Camp. They had our site next to them waiting. Of course we had to visit and catch up over Chinese food. The company was great! (the food mediocre)
It was early to bed for all of us.

Monday morning was up early and for me and head straight to my desk for a full day of work. Charles helped Lynn with some RV repair projects and a trip to Home Depot. He also worked on another project of his own; running another 12 volt line. Al and Mick went and registered us and found a laundromat for Weds. so we can head in to Canada with clean clothes. We plan on crossing the border on Thurs. After my work day was over, we all headed to Wal Mart to replenish supplies. I bought a new Keurig as our "off brand" we found on sale for Stuby was not doing its job. This non-morning girl MUST have her coffee and everyone seconded that! It was PB&J's for dinner and no one complained. I was too tired to cook and needed to take some time to map out our route from here to Fairbanks. I talked to friends Wallace and Wanda Lewis (aka Moose and Moosette) and they gave us a slightly alternate route in Alberta that we are going to try. They are heading out tomorrow but we will catch up with them somewhere. I got it all mapped out and highlighted. Mission accomplished!



Lynn, Mickey and Al