Day 24

7/17/2007

We say goodbye to Boston Bar on a cloudy morning. A good day to hit the road.

Like I said yesterday, more traffic. The closer we get to Vancouver BC, there are just more and more people trying to get somewhere. Quite different from the Cassiar and Top of the World highways where it may have been 10-15 minutes between vehicles.

Border crossing was quick and uneventful, then a surprise. One of our cousins that lives in the Vancouver BC area had been watching our movements on the tracking page. Once she saw which border crossing we had used, she loaded a couple of kids in the car and hit the road. We were driving through traffic and saw people waving along side the road. I figured they were selling something or having a car wash. Fortunately, Elizabeth recognized them at the same time Phil called on the radio that they had recognized them. After a few minutes that resembled a Keystone Cops routine, we all managed to get stopped in the same parking lot.

Had a nice visit then hit the road again.

It's long story short time. We are home. Got here around 17:30 this afternoon. Now the daunting task of putting away what took weeks to load and had been bounced around the truck for 24 days. This is going to take a while.

First impression of walking in the house - how big it is. Spend 24 days driving 8 or so hours, then cooking, cleaning and sleeping in the camper. Then step into the house. It will take a few days of getting used to being able to take a shower without touching the walls. Then, I suppose it will all be memories. Ah, but what wonderful memories they are. It's late, and I must head off to bed.

First, a few thank yous. Thanks for my family for putting up with my driving, my cousins for putting up with me always arriving in camp 1-3 hours after they did (we stop at every sign that says viewpoint or historic marker), thanks to the Alaska based cousins for being fine and generous hosts, thanks to my customers for their understanding while I left them in the hands of my associates, thanks to my associates for taking care of my customers and finally thanks to you for reading this blog. It was always fun reading your comments and watching the site stats knowing that our friends and relatives all of the country were able to see and read a small fraction of what we have experienced.

I once wrote that this may be a once in a lifetime experience. I stand by that statement. It's a big investment in time and money. I am afraid to add up the fuel costs but for example, on 7/12 diesel cost $1.349 per liter in Dawson City. $100.00 per day fuel ups were the norm. Fuel prices are not getting any cheaper either.

On the other hand, I am so very, very glad we did it. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat. Might take a different route. Maybe the ferry. See some different county. Most of that will depend on the budget.

If this is something you have been contemplating, do it. Do it now. Get a copy of The Milepost and make it happen. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

If I can figure out how, I will try to post a map sometime this coming weekend showing our route.

Mileage for today 254. Total for the trip 5,254.

(it was hard to type that, end of the big adventure)

Cheers.

Day 23

7/16/2006

Away we go again. Departed Prince George more or less on time as most other days. Headed South toward the Fraser River Canyon. Yes, we are homeward bound. There had been plans to head down the Okanogan and spend a day or two more on the road. The gravity of home is tugging so South we drive.



Leaving the oil and mining areas of the North and central portions of BC and South into the logging and farming areas. It's warmer, near 30C, and quite a bit more traffic on the roads.



























Through the upper reaches of the Thompson river drainage.










Then finally back to the Fraser River, one of the main impediments to development of the Canadian trans-continental railway.



























Then, camp near Boston Bar.












The first place that we camped at this trip that we didn't see many bugs.








Total mileage for today - 341

Day 22

7/15/2007

We are officially starting our 3rd week now. Feels like we are headed home. Today, we drove from Pink Mountain to just South of Prince George BC. We are now over 1/2 down the length of BC.

Along the way, we visited Dawson Creek and found Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. All of them. The "pretty" mile 0, the "historic" mile 0 and the "real" mile 0 that is in the middle of the street.










Chetwynd - chainsaw carving capital of the world.














Prince George greeted us with a very nice thunder storm.











The storm washed the truck a bit.












And left us with a great sunset. Kind of odd to see the sun setting.







I am in a rush this morning. I spend last night updating the last 3 days. Now it's after 8:30 Monday morning and a few people are getting excited about getting back on the road.

Mileage today - 404. Mileage to date - 4658

Day 21

7/14/2007

Liard Hot Springs to Pink Mountain BC. Today was wildlife day. Between Liard Hot Springs and Fort Nelson we saw the greatest number and diversity of wildlife of the trip to date. Moose, black bear, grizzly bear, caribou, stone sheep, falcon and a porcupine.

At the same time, some of the curviest and limited shoulder piece of the "Alaska Highway" we have seen. Not that we haven't seen some roads that were worse. This was probably the stretch of the official "highway" that needs the most work.

Now, on to the pictures. Sorry we didn't get pictures today of every animal we saw, but we did get the new ones.







Ok, so not an animal, just the last remaining suspension bridge on the highway. I am sure, that at some point, someone has called it a "bear". Maybe worse...



























That's it. 334 miles today.

Day 20

7/13/2007

Departed Whitehorse this morning. Now we still have a few more nights on the road but I will give an early award to the folks at Hi Country RV in Whitehorse for the best showers on the road.

Great road conditions today as well. Wide lanes, much of if had shoulders and about as smooth as can be. One more thing. I think Yukon Territory has some of the best roadside outhouses on the road. Some of them are a few years old but most of them had a fresh coat of paint. All of the ones that I was in were clean and most had some sort of industrial air freshener in them. Yes, the trip has come that that. Comparing outhouses. But, it's kind of like a day at work for me. Freshly painted outhouses is kind of like getting the latest "product" from microsoft. Smells bad, if still full of crap, smells better than last year. To be fair, Alaska has a number of the new concrete outhouses. For some reason I didn't get much opportunity to use them. So the comparison isn't as scientific as the campground shower comparisons.

Enough of the potty comparisons. How about some pictures...




The "Klondike" on display near the river in Whitehorse.








































We decided it's nearly impossible to see all of the signs and the signpost park in Watson Lake.











So, it's goodbye Whitehorse, hello Liard Hot Springs. Mileage for the day 405. Total mileage for the trip - 3,920

Day 19

7/12/2007

Made the run from Dawson City to Whitehorse today.

Very striking memory, the first few kilometers South of Dawson City. For many years, they ran those big floating dredges up and down the river bottom seeking gold. The entire river bottom from side to side has been churned up like a ginormous rototiller had repeatedly been ran through it. We didn't take any pictures of it because we couldn't find a way to do it justice. I did find this. Maybe this will help. Maybe this picture will help (click here for link)



On the road, we stopped in the town of Braeburn where they claim to have cinnamon rolls the size of your head. Well, they are certainly close.

From what I read, this is a popular place among pilots since they have a grass strip right across the highway. Fly in, get loaded up on monster cinnamon rolls, and fly out.


Took another picture of the truck. It's still about as dirty as when we got off the "Top of the World". Then again, it's been dry since then.


Total mileage for today - 332 miles.

Day 18a

I have a bit better connection here so here are a few more pictures from day 18.

We made it to Whitehorse but I will have to wait to update day 18.

Day 18

7/11/2007

198 Miles from Tok is Dawson City. In spite of what you read, there was only about 30 miles of gravel. Only bad thing was it was raining lightly over most of it, so it got a bit messy. Top of the World Highway was worth the effort. It may have rained over some of it, when if did dry out the views from the top were as advertised. We've all been to mountain tops and seen peek-a-boo views on the roads and that was that. On Top of the World Highway, it's miles and miles of being on the ridge tops. The views just kept coming.

Tomorrow, we are aiming for Whitehorse.

Hopefully an update then. Now, the pictures. Not too many, connection here is mighty slow. I will catch up with more pictures from today in the future. The color seen is from the Alaska State Flower - Fireweed. They had a big fire go through this country in 2004.

Day 17

7/10/2007

Departed Fairbanks. Said goodbye to the highest latitude that I have ever been to. Just short of 65 North.

On our way South, we stopped in North Pole AK and visited Santa's Workshop.























Then on to a place called Knotty's. From the parking lot, we saw a number of F-16's working the field at Eielson AFB.








Saw a couple more moose. This time, we got a picture.














One more time past the oil pipeline.









Finally past some great scenery, stopping at Tok for the night.












It was good to get out of the heat of Fairbanks (80's) Today was partly cloudy, the occasional rain shower and it may have made 70. Tomorrow's forecast is about the same.

Today's mileage 209 miles. Mileage to date - 2993.

Tomorrow, we head up over the Top Of the World Highway, the inspiration for name of this blog, to Dawson City. Depending on where we stay along the way, it may be a couple of days before I can update again.