Game Day! 2,000 miles away. . . Day 7

"It's Football Saturday here at Memorial Stadium". . . "and now entering the field, The Pride of All Nebraska!"

. . these words rang through my head, and the sights and sounds of Big Red Football warmed my soul, as we woke up on a cold damp saturday morning. I had been away from Cornhusker Football Saturdays before, but with the recent "My Bo-friend's Back" phenomenon, my spirits were especially high for the upcoming season. Here I am, pumping the keg in our campground for our red beers. We were actually hoping for fresh water, but ended up with water direct from a nearby river.

It looked like beer anyway. . .

Our first stop of the day took us to a "covered bridge" Stacy had seen a sign for the night before on our way to the campsite. After a day-lit view of the sign, we revealed the true nature of the bridge.

Covered and curved, albeit very similar on a grammatic level, are quite different when it comes to architecture. It was good humor to start the day with. Stacy and I were starting to feel anxious for our arrival into Anchorage and our original goal of a seven day trip was obviously out of the question. Instead, we had a new sense of enjoying the Alaska Highway and some of the attractions along the way. We would just get there when we could.

The country side remained lush throughout the drive and rain continued on and off throughout the morning. We stopped once to strike a game day pose.

Our road led us to a town called Fort St. John, where we decided to refuel. We ended up driving into the town itself (quick rights aren't easy with a 2,0o0 lbs. U-Haul on your back) where we found a Petro station. After full tanks, we went in to pay and get some beverages. We struck up a small conversation with a 60 year old lady at the register. Her tone switched gears when we told her our destination. This woman's warnings and guidelines of driving through Yukon Territory were very direct, and a bit intimidating. She told us about thousands of Caribou in migration. She warned us about the bear and moose and bison on the roads. She told us that we needed to buy studded tires and could expect snow and icy conditions on the roads.

She told us to refuel whenever possible, luckily we learned that lesson before we even reached Canada(see Wyoming, day 2). After directions back to the highway, we then ventured on our way into the zoo of the Great Northwest, fearing the worst.

We cautiously continued through the winding Alaska Highway, our eyes dodging through the roadside trees, waiting for thousands of Caribou, or any other wildlife to cross our path.

Nothing. The occasional rotting carcass were the only wildlife to be found. Not that I was looking forward to dodging animals, but I would just liked to of seen more living elk than dead ones or the signs every five kilometers about how thick they were.

I would imagine driving at night would be a different story. I was glad we drove only during daylight hours. The winding, sometimes unmarked, roads and blind curves would have been a more 'interesting' drive. 

Through the lack of wildlife, we were able to capture a few pictures of some elk and a far off moose.

Finding a place to fuel became somewhat of a game for us. It was difficult to judge the terrain ahead, therefore we were unable to gain a sense of how far a full tank would get us. To accommodate, I found it was easier to estimate the half tank. This left multiple factors open. Sometimes there wouldn't be a place for gas when we needed. Other times the road became increasingly steep, which changed gas mileage. Having the room for error was very comforting. We stopped for gas three to four times a day. Never filling an almost empty tank, we were almost always just topping off where and when we could. Finding these gas pumps became our next hurdle. Without a mile post, it was difficult to know where a pump was, or if it was even in service. We had already driven by several closed service stations so we kept our fingers crossed. The GPS was great at finding how close we were to a gas station, and it became our main navigator at this point. We owe Scott and Christy big time. To the right, is a typical service staion. 

This one doubled as an RV park, and had a laundry room, shower station, as well as the restroom facilities.

Here I am, making sure I go in the correct door.

We reached the Liard Hot Springs around 5:30 that evening. A potential camp site, but 2 hours away from our original goal of Watson Lake. The lady in the booth reminded us of the fact that this was Labor Day Weekend, and without reservations, it would be very difficult to find a campsite there. There was one site available here, only because someone had left early. Feeling tired, needing to take our time in the springs, we took it.

The Hot Springs is a natural sulphur spring much like the ones found in Yellowstone. These, however from large pools where people can relax. Think really big, really hot, really stinky outdoor hottub. Stinky like bad sulphur, rotten eggs stinky. It was potent.

It was very relaxing, however. There were a few underwater benches and posts on which to sit. It was fun because the outside temperature was about 45 degrees. The hot springs temperatures ranged from 85 to 100 degrees. After awhile of wading and sitting, and just relaxing, I headed up to use the restroom nearby. Once inside, everything became blurry, and I almost blacked out. 

The body was not used to the extended time in the hot water up to the neck, 

nor the rush of blood flowing away from the brain. It was a scary situation. It was awhile before I came back, and Stacy was wondering where I had been.

After telling her, we decided it was a good time to head back to camp and call it a night. Getting out, Stacy sat on a bench to put her clothes on. I turned to grab her shirt and when I looked back, it was just in time to see Stacy's limp body collapsing over and onto the floor! Instantly, I grabbed for her and tried to get her legs up, when a elderly German man rushed over and assisted in the rescue. Stacy quickly came to, and had remembered nothing. The man was holding her legs giving me a lecture about how long to stay in the springs. He knew from experience and was unable to 'go in such waters'. There were several others around and all checked to make sure she was alright. Stacy was okay and back to sitting up, but soon her lips went pale and her eyes rolled back slightly, and she was out for another few seconds. After lying down for another five minutes, she was fine, but the German was persistant with reminding her to lay down if she felt light headed. He was very friendly, and very helpful, and were very appreciative.

Back at the campsite, we first got into warm clothes and drank what water we had left. Our bottles were empty, and the electric fresh water pumps were not working. I drove to a nearby cafe, and refilled them in the back kitchen. After hard luck getting a good fire going, we were able to get our meal in, our teeth brushed and in bed rather quick. What was intended as a relaxing evening, turned into a event filled, blog-perfect ending to our day. 

Our journey was in its final stretch! After seven days on the road, and only so much of Canada left, we were glad to be able to unload and unhook the U-Haul soon. Thanks again for joining us today. Just like this long road trip, we can't wait to finish the blogging of the trip, so we can tell you all about how, and just what we are doing up here!

Day 6: Shortcut Through Alberta--Hello Highway 40!

as remembered by Stacy


As the morning light woke us from our slumber in our cozy tent, we could see the campsite that had been chosen for us in actual daylight...and it was pretty sweet! A stream flowed over river rocks just behind our site and trees everywhere! This campsite even offered showers...for free! Even though Jonathan and I were driving in separate vehicles, we still had to smell ourselves, so we took advantage of the shower facility. We wanted to get into town (Jasper) to find a post office to purchase Canadian stamps to mail postcards, use the internet, and to find a place to charge up all our batteries. After being greeted by the postman, "Cheers!," we purchased postage, and headed to the Visitors Center to inquire about the route we had planned to drive for the day. You see, there is this mysterious highway 40 that appeared to be a shortcut, that would take us straight north, bypassing Edmonton and saving us 500 miles. We could see the route on some maps, but not others, and whenever we mapquested or googled the route to Alaska, this route was never highlighted. I could only guess that maybe it was a road that was closed part of the year due to snow, or just a rough road that wasn't recommended. However, the friendly Park Ranger at the Visitor's Center informed us that this road would be a fine road to travel! Scenic too!
We found ourselves drawn into a restaurant by the smell of breakfast! Jonathan and I shared a breakfast of 2 eggs and fruit, granola, and yogurt in between checking our email and writing postcards. After several refills of coffee and water, we didn't end up getting on the road until 1 o'clock in the afternoon. But when we did, we soon realized how wonderfully scenic this mysterious Highway 40 would be! Also known as the Big Horn Highway, we were hoping to see several "big-horned" animals. Alas! We did not see live animals this day, but we were fully aware that they could be around, as several road signs warned us of their possible presence.














I think these are homemade!









These guys look much less scary in real life, we would determine later...





rain, rain, rain!
The last portion of our adventure on Highway 40 was in the rain. It was interesting because the road was very curvy and...wet. By this time, we were well-trained at driving through mountains, so we had no problems! The mountains in the distance soon disappeared behind the fog, so we could only see the mountains we were winding through, and the few and far between buildings on the sides of the road. Around one bend appeared a fully functioning coal mining/refining plant. And later we saw a flame from a smoke stack...still not sure what that was.




We crossed the border from Alberta into British Columbia, and yes..it was still raining. We arrived in Dawson Creek "Mile 0 of the World Famous Alaska Highway" ready to find a campsite, as the rain had stopped. With Rand McNally's help, we located a Provincial Campsite just outside of Dawson Creek, and decided to try our luck there. And luck we had! We arrived at Kiskatinaw Provincial Park to find only one campsite available. 15 Canadian dollars later, we were setting up our tent and starting a fire to roast our ever-so popular meals-in-a-box. We had set our tent up just before the rain caught up with us again, and quickly realized that we would have to relocate our tent, as a lake of water seemed to be forming with each raindrop. The advertisement on our meals, "cooks in 2 minutes" may be accurate for a microwave, but for a campfire, it is more like 10 or 15 minutes. No big deal, unless you are standing in the open rain, cold and hungry! Even after our shortest day of driving, we retired to our tent early and listened to the rain and wind blast our tent, thankful that our rainfly was strong and our seams waterproof!



Good Night!