01 October 2009

On The Road Thur Canada

We've been on the road since Monday morning. We had a stop over in Anchorage for 2 to 3 hours before heading toward Tok. Mostly uneventful travel except for the freezing of our fresh water pump. Fortunately we brought extra bottled water to drink and flush the toilet.
We made about 450 miles Monday and the last 80 to Tok on Tuesday morning. We had a tasty breakfast at Fast Eddy's in Tok and a short nap before taking some more of the Alaska Highway.
Tuesday found us dodging many frost heaves and driving much more slowly than we'd wished. We did make it to Whitehorse before 9pm (that's Pacific time, we'd lost an hour). Good thing, we made it to Walmart in time to shop, whew! (I get withdrawals when deprived of shopping, lol!) We slept in the Walmart parking lot and hit the road for more fun miles.
Wednesday included seeing the bison herd and a flock of sheep, (both were on the road). We saw 5 Caribou crossing the road near us too. Our goal was to make 600 miles in one day to get thru the winding mountain roads. We might experience snow in the passes and we don't want to spend the night in the high elevations (our fresh water pump was still inoperable from the freezing temperatures). All the mountains have snow and they are beautiful to look at with the contrast of the dark green pines and yellow aspens at the lower elevations. Traffic is nearly non-existant, so peaceful to have the highway to ourselves.
Surprisingly there is still some bridge work going on along the road. A couple bridges were one lane with a signal for right-of-way control. This part of the highway is the most winding and also the slowest but with the most wildlife viewing. You must just drive slow and keep on the lookout because they could be right around the next corner and in your lane!
The first 2,000 miles is all about the distance and the next 2,000 miles is all about the stops. We have stops to visit friends, children & grandchildren, motor home repair, and finally doctors. Actually, one of my exciting visits will be in Las Vegas to see all my new friends at Wooly Wonders yarn shop. I have missed them and their friendship. I'm excited to see what they've been making since I left the first of May.(That's 6 months worth of knitting, it better be good, lol.)
Well, that's 3 days travel, any questions? Oh, I heard one about the weather. Well, we've had sun everyday and some clouds with a smidge of snow flurries but nothing on the road. Does that about cover everything?

2 comments:

SOPHIE9910 said...

Oh, delightful that you'll be back here for a while. We're all so happy about you coming back where you are soooooo admired.
Continue to have a quiet trip, safe and happy.
Gentle hugs and love from Dutchie

Susan Wise said...

I'm going to miss you again. Rick and I take off tomorrow for Mexico. We're so excited!! I packed my knitting. You know how that is. I could pack in an hour if it wasn't for deciding what knitting stuff to take. I decided on socks and a bunch of stuff to make Christmas ornaments....little sweaters and hats etc. Cute. Have fun on your journey. I'm The Wise Old Owls on blogspot. Love Susan