Travel Journal: (Loveland, CO to Dawson Creek, BC)
Travel Journal: (Loveland, CO to Dawson Creek, BC) |
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...seems to always begin a few hours late,
at least for us. Why is it that it takes forever for us to get
going on any vacation? Sara, who was gone all the previous week
to Arizona painting houses and working with kids, was nearly ready
on time (planned 9am departure). However, we weren't ready to
leave until about 4 hours later. Finally, there was this point
that the RV seemed to be full and we couldn't quickly think of
what we had forgotten. At least this time, when we left, we didn't
circle the block and go back into the house to get that one more
thing that was remembered. At this point, we decided that we will
live without or purchase anything forgotten and needed. However,
later that night part of a conversation was "Did we get the
prescriptions into the RV or are they still on the kitchen counter?"
Fortunately those were with us. It took a few days to sort out
things and organize exactly where everything needed to be in the
RV.
Douglas, Wyoming isn't exactly a vacation
destination place...Well, it isn't so bad if you're with family. At about 4:45pm, we arrived at Kathy's (Sandi's sister) house in Douglas, Wyoming to visit her and Amiee, her daughter / our niece, who lives over in Casper, Wyoming. Even though they only live 3 hours away, we had not visited there in much too long. It was a good visit, and having not had enough sleep the night before, we slept well in our home away from home, sleeping so well, we did not hear Rod leave at 4am to go to work.
Yea!
Is there a better way to celebrate a milestone anniversary than
to drive 413 miles from Wyoming to the middle of Montana? Well,
we do plan to actually celebrate the occasion at another time.
We left Wyoming at 2pm, which was nearly to the minute the same
time we arrived in Wyoming the day before. This night was a stop
at "Spring
Creek Campground and Trout Ranch" near Big Timber, Montana.
It's a really pleasant place to spend some time. After dinner
that evening we took a walk with Sara and Sophie (our Chinese
Pug), had some ice cream at the campground office/cafe, and fed
the fish in the pond. Our guess is that these fish will be very
easy to catch, based on how they go after the food. Isn't that
the way everyone should celebrate their 25th anniversary?
When we left the campground the next day,
there were three horses standing near the dump station. These
horses seem to know that people come here in the morning, and
our guess is that some people feed them. They had no fear of the
vehicle, nor the horn. Only when we had moved the RV up to them
did they finally move a little bit out of the way, and then it
was to the doorway. They seem to know exactly where we would be
getting out. While Jerry did his duty at the dump station, Sara
went outside to make friends with them. They were very friendly,
gentle and came right up to her. (the big beggars)
Our
crossing of the border into Canada went very well. The only reason
it took any time at the border was the wait in line, but that
line was only about a half dozen vehicles. It is nice to be able
to see over all the cars in line. The border guy asked a bunch
of the normal questions about our identity, firearms, mace, alcohol,
firewood, dog shots, etc, then let us go. He didn't even look
at any of our ID papers, but did ask if we had them on us. Other
vehicles ahead of us did get to go to the inspection line, but
we were allowed to just go on. One of the first things seen after
crossing the border was a sign that said "Maximum 110".
Like most of the world, Canada uses the metric system. Immediately the question is
how that translates into miles per hour. Since our RV is old enough
to not have a digital display and we didn't see the metric numbers
on on the speedometer (because they were smaller and a color that
didn't stand out) we had to start doing some mental calculations.
(BTW it is a little over 68 mph, which was for a divided 4 lane
highway.)
Here are the typical traveling positions. Jerry is driving, while Sandi "gets to" hold Sophie most of the time because that is where Sophie wants to travel. Sara mostly spends her traveling time back in the rear bedroom either sleeping, reading, or watching DVDs on the TV back there. We start each day by getting on the road by 9am, after showering and eating breakfast. While usually lunch is in the RV, we do stop at a rest area for that and stretch our legs some. There is usually a stop for gas at the beginning or end of the day. Depending on where we are, there can be other stops for scenery or other sights. The stop for the night is usually happening between 3pm and 5pm.
Given that the motor home is 12 years old,
some things are bound to not be in perfect shape. In our case,
the drain for the bathroom sink was leaking. When Jerry went to
take it apart, it broke even further. Now it has a crack up near
the basin, and is broken down below near the trap. Not having
the proper tools or wanting to take the time now to properly fix
it, a little bit of repair was done on the spot with plastic welder
glue, rubber electrical tape and duct tape. Didn't need any bailing
wire. :-) Testing on the next day shows that the fix did work.
It looks like that will be on the list of things to do when we
get home. Other things that need attention, but haven't got it
yet, includes the stove vent hood that doesn't work, the water
pump leaks some, the fuel gauge nearly always says the tank is
full (unfortunately it is lying), the black water tank monitor
often says that tank is full (fortunately, this one is lying),
and the wire from the TV antenna has a break in it somewhere.
To get around the antenna issue, Jerry climbs up on the roof to
route the coax cable from the antenna, over the roof, to the outside
outlet, which is connected to the inside cabling. That has to
be undone each time we get ready to travel. It's always something,
but there is usually some way to get around it.
The second day of travel in Canada was from
Lethbridge to Whitecourt through Calgary and around Edmonton.
The scenery for this portion of the trip varied from very flat
farmland to rolling hills with trees. The temperature was a lot
cooler today. The high in Calgary was supposed to be 17C (~63F),
however it felt a lot cooler than that when we went through there
at about noon, which was partly due to wind chill. 
We
bought a couple items that we forgot. From Calgary to Edmonton,
we experienced very strong and gusty cross winds from a storm
front coming through the area. This made for travel in the RV
to be a struggle. There was also a fair amount of rain with this
front. When we got to the campground that was picked out prior
to the trip, it turned out to be a dump, so we went about an hour
farther to Whitecourt. This had a secondary effect of shortening
our travel for the next day, which was nice.
One of the human interest stories on the news was covering the "World Famous Chicken Chariot Races" in Wynard, Saskatchewan. Whitecourt is quite a ways north too. At 10:30pm in the campground and the sun had set, but it was very light outside. We're sure glad we prepared for darkening the RV with cardboard panels on the windows at night so we can sleep "at night".
In another story comparing Canadians to Americans, Canadians think they are more friendly and funnier than Americans. We have found that the Canadians we have met are much more friendly. This might be related to the fact that they have been in the tourism industry and want our money (places selling gas, food, lodging, souveneers, etc.). However, we have not noticed that Candaians are any funnier. Canadians also think the world likes them better than Americans, but that report stated that polls show that the world sees them just like Americans.
The portion of the trip in northwestern
Alberta to Dawson Creek British Columbia was somewhat more interesting
with more forested areas than the plains areas. The road is excellent
most of the way with a wide divided highway. There was some construction
along the way, but mostly it was very easy traveling. 
During
the trip all the way to Fairbanks, the only damage was during
this stretch of road. A very muddy construction vehicle was flinging
mud and rocks, of which one rock was destined to punch a hole
in our left front turn signal. Most of the broken plastic stayed
inside the turn signal (as well as the culprit rock). That has
now been fixed with clear duct tape to hold together the small
puzzle of plastic.
Yes, the sign that welcomes you to British Columbia leans to the right. It also say "Super Natural British Columbia", which sounds somewhat eerie.
Dawson Creek is the official beginning of
the Alaska Highway. The town really plays up that position for
tourism sake.
This
is Sara standing next to the sign indicating the start of the
Alaska Highway. (oops, I wasn't going to say anything like that)
The highway begins at the traffic circle just behind this sign.
The real milepost 0 has been placed a little over a block away,
more in the downtown region. It has some mileages listed on it,
which are the original mileages, not the current ones due to improvements
in the road.
If we believe the signs, then our trip starts here tomorrow on our 6th day.