Alaska Revisited

Today was a day of retracing our steps again. We drove highway 2 for a good portion of the day. There was a lot of construction. In one community in Wisconsin, we had to detour up one street and down another over and over again. We felt sorry for the townspeople who had to endure all the traffic in their neighbourhoods. The sky was clear and the wind that we had endured the day before was following us. The weather did create some beautiful views of Lake Superior with white capped waves crashing on the shore.  We finished our 59th day as we did on day 1. We stayed at the same Harvest Host just north of the Mackinac Bridge. We travelled 900 km. 

Today was a harder day of driving. Saskatchewan roads did not improve as we headed southeast towards Estevan. The skies were clear but it was breezy.  The border crossing at North Portal was pretty easy. After we were asked the standard questions about what we had on board, the customs agent came into the bus and looked in our fridge and  freezer. We had declared the halibut we caught, but he asked about our fishing licenses. They were in our backpack that got absolutely soaked while we were on the boat and I had thrown them out. We did however have the receipt from the processing facility that had packaged and frozen them. He believed our story and didn’t ask to see the receipt. He also looked into the bathroom to see if we were carrying stowaways, I guess.  The wind increased as we drove through North Dakota. I found it frightening when the wind would hit us broadside and push us sideways. It was so windy that there were whitecaps on the sloughs. I definitely was not of...

What a treat driving in Alberta. From Jasper on, we were on smooth 4 lane divided highway and we were able to make good time. We saw a bald eagle, elk, and deer within the park. Before we crossed into Saskatchewan we saw a large Buffalo farm.  The highway flattened out in Jasper National Park. We were surprised that we were finished with mountain driving at that point. Fuel economy improved by about 30% with no mountains and a tail wind. Saskatchewan roads were not as good as the ones in Alberta. They were still a 4 lane divided highway but in places, Lawrie would say that we were on the 60’s road - it was groovy.  We found a lovely city campground in Davidson about half way between Saskatoon and Regina. It had 18 pull through sites with electricity and 10 tent sites. The washrooms facilities were immaculate. We travelled 1035 km. 

Our drive today took us from the Skeena mountains at Terrace, through the Interior Plateau around Prince George    and into the Rockies. We spent 11 hours on the road and covered 916 km. That sounds like a lot but the bus is very comfortable and we take breaks.  For the most part driving was fairly easy. I got my first taste of mountain driving and while it is slightly unnerving, I survived and would do it again. The only wildlife we saw was a coyote and a fawn, but not at the same time. That would have been disastrous for the deer.  We stopped for the night at a turnout just outside of Jasper. Being the weekend, all the parks are full.  Today was the start of our push to home. I am forever grateful to my sisters for the extra time they have spent with Mom while Lawrie and I were on the road pursuing our retirement dream trip. But with Mom still in hospital, it is time to head for home. 

We left the bus at our campsite in Terrace and took the Jeep to Prince Rupert. The weather was typical rainforest - low cloud and rain off and on. At one point in the westbound lane at a curve, we were under a steeply carved rock face. The locals call it Carwash Rock as water pours down during spring melt off. A little further on, we could see very faintly that a rainbow was trying to form but wondered if it was our imagination. A couple of kilometres up the road we came to Rainbow Pass so it wasn’t our imagination.  There are a number of museums in Prince Rupert but we couldn’t get up any enthusiasm to visit any of them. We drove around a bit and walked in Cow Bay, an area of shops and restaurants designed for tourists. We had a great lunch at Breakers Pub overlooking the marina. We saw the strangest fishing boat. It sat very low in the water and the aft deck was tilted to the bow at about a 10 degree angle.  We had enough time to visit Kitimat in the afternoon so we retraced...

We woke up to clear skies and a brilliant sunrise. A quick bite to eat and we were on the road.   As we were approaching Dease Lake, around 100 km down the road, a moose cow and calf stepped out of the brush onto the road in front of us. I don’t know who was more frightened, them or us. The cow quickly ran off into the brush on the other side, but the calf ran up the road in front of us. I wanted to see more moose, but that was a little too close for comfort.  Shortly after, we came upon a sign warning of an accident scene. There was a truck in our lane stopped just before a curve in the road. It had extensive damage to the driver front and we assumed it was a moose encounter. Tonight as we were fueling up, a tilt and load with the truck onboard came into the station. I asked him if the truck had met up with a moose and it had, three days prior. The tilt and load came all the way from Grand Prairie, over 1500 km away. That will be one expensive tow! Just west of the Junction o...