Friday, July 4, 2008

Back to the USA







Alaska Highway/Yellowhead Highway

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Departing Fort Nelson we were both sad not only because we were leaving the Alaska Highway soon, but also because Fort Nelson’s the end of the mountains. As we’re gassing in Fort Nelson, we recognized the minivan with a kayak on top as people we had been following (or they were following us) for the last day or so. The kayak was enclosed with a protective covering. When we talked with them, we found out they had done the Whitehorse to Dawson City kayak race on the Yukon River. This older couple from Bellingham, Washington, came in second place for their age group on the 48 hour, non-stop, 450 mile race!! We read about in the Whitehorse paper when they had a story about a 50+ year old woman who, even though she had had a heart attack and hip surgery, completed the race in her best time ever. Just two more encounters or stories of old people staying active and going for it.

We got to Dawson Creek for the required picture of the beginning of the Alaska Highway. We traded picture-taking duties with Ed and his wife, from Bay City, MI, who were northbound. They asked questions about road conditions and we gave a few tips about what we had done. The rest of the day was spent in a fairly arduous drive through increasingly dense forest. We tried to camp at Fox Creek but it was full with mostly Canadians camping for their Canada Day holiday. We drove for another hour to Whitecourt where we stayed at the Sagitawah RV Park, owned by Hank Vos. Along with red, white and blue wooden shoe slippers, Hank had a variety of Dutch products for sale in the gift shop. We enjoyed the usual routine of grilled something (pork), Canadian Cabernet/ Merlot from Niagara, etc. Gary avoided a potentially dire situation when, without looking, he pushed the five minute light switch button instead of the ten minute light switch button, and in the middle of his shower everything went black. It was a touch and go moment until by touch and feel, he found the switch without opening the door (for all the world to see!!).

Stats: 549 miles; 53 gal; 10.4 mpg; 55 mph

Thursday, July 3, 2008

We headed out at 6:30 a.m. After fairly sparce traffic, we hit rush hour in Edmonton, Alberta. Edmonton isn’t a particularly attractive city, but you can tell its economy is going great from all the gas and oil activity. It was relief to get to the east side and back to light traffic and pretty good road. We both had the same feeling that even though there wasn’t a mountain in sight, the rich green fields interspurced with bright yellow fields of canola were in a different way as beautiful as the mountains. We stopped for breakfast at 9:30 in Vegreville. The diner was called Bamboo Chopstiks, a Chinese Canadian establishment. The young waitress who seated us asked if we wanted coffee. When we said yes, she asked if we wanted anything else. Mickey said yes, breakfast, so a menu please. As we looked around, her wondering if we needed anything else was apparent. The place was full of retirees having just coffee. The conversation among the retirees was loud and animated. Gary was reminded of the old guys having coffee at South Side Inn, telling their stories to each other just like here in Vegreville. No matter where you go, what people want to do is tell their stories, and for the most part (remember one-way Bob from Montana?) listen to your story. When we get back, and start sounding like one-way Bob with our Alaska trip stories, be blunt, tell us to shut-up, and tell us your story!

Back to Vegrevill, it is the home of the Pysanka Festival, which is this week. Neither one of us had ever heard of a pysanka, but we figured it had something to do Ukraine because from the signs we knew this was a Ukrainian area. The waitress at the restaurant enlightened us that it’s the painted egg that is part of the Ukrainian culture. Vegreville boasts that it is the home of the largest pysanka in the world.

Gary said to hi to Gerry and her son Richard, later joined by husband Elmer in the parking lot. We traded “where are you froms and what do you dos” and found out Gerry had worked for Air Canada, the last five years as a tour guide. They have a son in Whitehorse and were intimately familiar with Mom’s Bakery on the Klondyke Highway with the big cinnamon buns, which we enjoyed it seems like forever ago. Elmer was a retired school caretaker and Gerry told us about the Ukrainian connection with Vegreville and how they are known for being very close-knit families. This was borne out earlier when Mickey went to take a picture of the mural representing the founding of the town by Fr. Thomas Vegreville. While she’s taking pictures, there were a couple of young teens sitting on the park bench in the gazebo. He was on the bench and she was on he, facing he. They saw the camera and were visibly nervous that their “she on he” was going to be recorded for posterity’s sake. It was quite evident that teenagers in Vegreville are closely knit along with the Ukrainian families…which is, of course, how you become a Ukranian family! (Of course, if Gary had had the camera, he would have a picture to show you!) Elmer and Gerry wished us well and we got back on the Yellowhead.

After Vegreville’s Pysanka Festival, we noticed that almost every town is the home of or festival of something. In this part of Canada, that something is usually related to pioneering or farming. In fact, our lunch stop at Battleford, Saskatuwan, they had a whole museum that was made up of old cabins, barns and farm equipment. When we passed through Weyburn, its claim to fame is the home of the world’s largest inland grain terminal; i.e., they grow a lot of wheat up here. Oh well, I guess we better not make too much fun of towns trying to come up with an angle, after all Borculo has its Dandelion Festival and we have Tulip Time. Next to the grain elevator and train station in Weyburn were 50 feet high iron wheat stalks, Padnos-like sculputures, only, in our opinion, classier!

Mostly the day consisted of driving, sleeping (not when driving), potty breaks, breakfast and lunch breaks and looking at the GPS too often to see how far we have to go! Our end goal was an off-the-beaten-path campground called Mainprize Regional Park in Midale, Saskatuwan. We had a late arrival (10:00 p.m.), late dinner (11:00 p.m.) and a welcoming bed at the end our day.

Stats: 727 miles; 70.5 gal; 10.3 mph; 59 mph

Back to the good ole U.S. of A.!

Friday, July 4

Towards the end of our drive yesterday, we saw a lot of iron horses and drilling rigs. Several of the wells were recently drilled. With oil being the focus of so much of the news and the where-with-all of us being able to drive this trip, it was appropriate to get off the road and get up close and personal with one of the iron horses. Not that we’re going to make an offering to it like the Israelites did to Baal, but it was encouraging to see and we were grateful for production of this needed resource here in the U.S. and Canada. Pump on, Iron Horse!

There are probably over a thousand ports of entry in the U.S. For the third time we entered at the most appropriately named one: North Portal, Canada/Portal, ND. In our four border crossings (the first three were perfunctionary), this one was more thorough—they went in and inspected the camper. Gary’s concern was the Canadian cigars that we failed to mention; Mickey’s concern was the dirty laundry all over the bed. They must not have found any contraband and we were waived through. XM10 had non-stop patriotic country songs on all day and that, along with getting back to our own country, filled us with patriotic ferver. There’s nothing like hearing Toby Keith shouting out, “We’ll put a boot in your a__, it’s the American way!” (This one’s for you, Anna!)

Right after the patriotic ferver feeling, there was great sadness in the house. Two grouse flushed from the ditch along side the road, and the one smacked right into the middle of the windshield, bounced off the camper and ended up between the two windows. It’s these kinds of incidences that bring to light the difference between men and women. Gary’s concern was for damage to the truck or camper. Mickey’s concern was, if they mate for life, one of the birds is very sad. We pulled over, grabbed the broom and slid out the now-dead grouse. One of us experienced some sadness—which one do you think it was? Mickey is looking at it and saying, “You poor thing; I’m sorry!”

This is the third time that we’ve come down Highway 52 where we come through the Des Lacs River Valley. The gentle low hills on either side of the road and the clear water of the Des Lacs River make for one of the prettiest drives in all of the U.S. About half way down, we pulled over for breakfast, enjoying the scenery and the trains going by. We gassed up in Minot, ND and angled down to 94 at Jamestown. We had lunch here in Mallory Park. It was warm, quiet and relaxing. Mickey had lunch in the sun to catch a few rays. Gary had his picture taken by the All Veterans Memorial Bridge in the park. To illustrate the paradym shift, we both got real excited when we bought gas for $3.99 gal!

Our second sadness for the day was I94. The flavor, feel, smells and up-close sights of non-expressway travel are a joy to behold. We both talked about replicating Charles Kuralt’s Sunday Morning when we retire. Like him, the joy of this trip has been the common people of the U.S. and Canada who we’ve been privileged to see short snippets of their lives. For the most part, people are willing, interested and eager to tell you their stories. We found their stories for the most part to be imminently interesting. From Piper super cub, wolf-shooting rancher Melvin and his wife Helen to Gerry and Elmer in Vegreville, we have Mom’s (Tracie) Bakery on the Klondyk and so many others who have enriched our trip greatly. If there’s one sermon Gary would like to preach to you, it is: walk up to someone, introduce yourself, ask “where you from and what do you do?”, then take quick notes so you don’t forget!!! It’s really fun!

Stay tuned. In about six years you might be able to tune in on “Sunday Morning with Gary and Mickey” – we will need a bigger rig by then!

We have landed (7:10 p.m.) at St. Cloud Campground and RV Park in St. Cloud, MN. It’s a wonderful place, clean and neat, Good Sam highly approved. We were concerned about getting a spot on this 4th of July night and were happy when the owner said (when Mickey called) that he had a spot just for us. Very nice people! We stopped at Panera Bread to pick up dinner and have enjoyed it on our picnic table in 80 degrees. We can see fireworks from the yard (if we make it that long!) Home tomorrow…we are both very excited to get back!

Stats: 611 miles; 63.3 gals; 9.6 mpg (high winds today); 57 mph

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Hail Canada






Hail, Canada!

Monday, June 30

This morning when we crossed the border, the Canadian customs guy asked the usual questions, one of them being, Are you bringing any large amounts of cash into the country? He probably didn’t know why we laughed, but we found Canadian gas prices drained cash quickly. The weather was good, allowing us views of the St. Elias part of the Wrangell-St. Elias U.S./Canadian Park. We did this stretch four years ago, and it was refreshing to not have to do it in smoke-reducing visibility. What was the same, however, was the terrible road conditions from the border to Burwash Landing. The road was a checker board of gravel and asphalt with pot holes thrown in for good measure. It’s also the part of our travels where you plan well for your gas stops.

Other than the views, the hightligh of the day was Mukluk Annie’s. The initial attraction of their ad was “free,” free camping, free boat ride, free RV wash. Their ad also had at the top “Jesus Is Lord.” With it being free and Christ-centered it was a natural stop. We had a beautiful view of Teslin Lake and our dinner of smoked salmon and ribs cooked on a wood stove in the center of the restaurant with a hole in the roof for the vent. We both like to eat, and eating at unique places like Mukluk Annie’s is one of the high points of the trip. When you come over, we’ll show you the unique/classy Mukluk Annie coffee mugs we bought. The free boat trip is captained by Mukluk Chuck!. We’d been riding all day and instead of riding on the boat, had wine, cigar (Gary), and skeeters on the camper porch. Gary’s carefully positioned cigar kept the skeeters of Mickey while she did her Sudoku and crossword puzzle.

Stats: 411.6 miles; 37.1 gal; 11.1 mpg; 50 mph

Tuesday, July 1

Couldn’t sleep, so went for a 5:50 a.m. road show with coffee and glazed donut for a kick start. No traffic at first and good road made it easy. Throughout the day, however, a whole lot of RV’s – big ones – headed north. Stopped in Watson Lake and had another picture taken for JP’s at the Signpost Forest. Mickey made bacon, eggs and pancakes. Gary got on line to check email. Dishes were even done before we headed out of Watson Lake. Our mid-day goal was Liard Hot Springs, which we met at 12:45. On our way to the hot springs, we were in woodland buffalo country when Mickey (who was driving) thought she spotted some. The buffalo turned out to be a large brown/grizzly bear with her two cubs, right on the side of the road. She woke up Gary and hollered, “grizzlies!” It was fun watching them eat and play while we clicked away.

The 120F degree hot spring water at Liard Hot Springs was just the cure for stiff necks and lower backs. It stinks a little bit, but we still came out smelling better. There was a boy about 8 or 9 who was the spittin’ image of Mitchiel deBoer at that same age. He had red hair, fair skin with freckles on his face and mannerisms that screamed “Mitchiel!!” Sorry to say, we didn’t have a camera or we would have taken his picture! Brought back lots of memories! This was definitely critter day! We saw a moose, black bear, several buffalo, two eagles, stone sheep, grizzly family and a dead moose long the side of the road that stunk to high heaven! Mickey saw one more black bear on the side of the highway which would have been fun to watch and capture on “film” but as usual Gary was going too fast! Ugh! We are now settled into another parking lot in Fort Nelson, at the Blue Bell Inn & RV. At least it has internet! Still no phone service, though. It has been a long day. We are about to sit down to steak, rice (with mushrooms, garlic and onions that Mickey added) and baked beans…with wine, of course. It’s finally hot here…84 degrees! We might even use the air conditioner tonight!

Stats: 501 miles; 46.1 gal; 10.9 mpg; 52 mph