Day 5

6/28/2007

Still no internet connection in sight so I am writing this not knowing when the blog might get updated.

Seems like we have a routine going. Depart around 8:00-8:30. Find a place to stop to have lunch, then back on the road looking for a camping place around 16:00-16:30

Woke to a cloudless sky, our first of the trip.

Departed Bell II at 8:20. Did I mention yesterday that Bell II gave us our first taste of bugs? All manner of no-see-ums and mosquito's. We all have bite marks to prove it.

Right after departing, we crossed into the first patch of gravel road. Not very eventful, just a note on the page.

Proceeded North through some wonderful mountainous country. Still plenty of snow in the high country and plenty of water in the creeks and rivers.

We also saw our first bears and mooses (is that the correct plural for moose?) of the journey. The bears were just black blurs as we sped past them. The first two moose we saw, a cow and a calf, ran across the road in front of us. Headed into the scrub next to the river. Turned and looked as us through the brush. Of all the game, 4 cameras, no pictures.

There is one stretch of the highway that is sloughing away so they have build a one way gravel bypass, up hill, right alongside a river. Well, Phil had the lead, I am following a safe distance. You know what happened next - introducing the knucklehead - some guy thought he should come right down the middle of the road, blocking the route up for us. Phil had to stop, I had to slow considerably while we waited for this guy to move to the side so we could get out of his way. Did I mention it was slippery and soft? Did I mention the big double trailer fuel tanker behind me? Well, the poor fuel truck had to down shift while trying to not hit me. He missed a gear and was stuck. We kept moving or we probably would have been stuck too.

When we later got fuel where the Cassiar Highway meets the Alaska Highway, the same fuel truck was delivering to the very same fuel station. The truck drive was ok with the whole thing, knew how it all went down, and was good with the fact that we were all here. If only more drivers had that attitude.

Had one stretch of about 30KM of gravel road after that. They were working aggressively on about 1/2 of that. We wondered if they are preparing to seal coat that stretch as well.

Once we got through that 30KM of gravel, the road got rough. We longed for the well graded gravel. Plenty of humps and bumps. Patrick and I were reminded of a Christmas ornament that we have. It's a model of John Glenn's Freedom Seven capsule. When you push the button, John Glenn's voice plays back, "Zero G and I feel fine - capsule is turning around - ah the view is tremendous" We had it all. (except our capsule never turned around)

Made to the "Alaska Highway" around 16:20. Traveled West for about an hour until we got to the campground at Rancheria.

It got cloudy as the day progressed. By the time we hit the Alaska Highway, we could see a thunder storm that we were driving toward at 100KPH . The cloudburst washed off about 1/2 the dirt collected on the Cassiar. Tough luck ;+)

We are going to call it a day. The clouds are dark enough, and we are camping in trees so we won't need any of the blackouts tonight.

Mileage today 355. Total for the trip so far - 1,549 miles.