The Journey Has Now Begun

  Wow!  All we can say is Wow!  We're sitting in a hotel in Whitehorse, Yukon.

  We crossed the border at Sweetgrass, MT/ Coutts, AB with no problems.  They did make us pull aside and answer a few extra questions but did not go thru our truck and camper.  They also did not charge us duty on any of the wine or beer we are taking up to AK with us.  10 minutes with a super nice customs agent and on our way we were.

Heading into snow towards Helena, MT

We are both very thankful that the weather has been sunny with some clouds almost the whole trip.  Every day there is the brief snow squaw or 2 that we have to drive thru but nothing stays on the road and it always gets sunny again.

On the road - I love this one

Road conditions are the same as driving any back road in PA except for the occasional road heaves from ice thawing and they are very well marked.  Apparently we are headed into 100 to 200 miles of pretty bad road heading into AK and down to Anchorage.
With less than 1000 miles to go on the drive We are in no hurry and should be fine.   There has been at least 2 to 3 feet of snow on either side of the road since we crossed into Canada.  Sometimes more at higher elevation.  Temps have been hovering around freezing and a little higher during the day but it feels like 45 because of the low humidity.  The Canadians have quit wearing socks and are in thin coats, it's spring to them.  The rivers are still frozen shut but starting to open up.
  The Canadian people are beyond super nice!  They are all very enthusiastic and positive to hear about our trip and generally anything you talk to them about.  The accents and phrasing are so stereotypical that sometimes Michelle and I look at each other and grin.  There's a million "eh's?", a bunch of "fur sure's", and a few "you knooow's" every day.   My personal favorite is the grand slam, "fur sure, you knooow, eh?" all in one shot. 

  Alberta is a giant pancake with a lot of snow on the fields.  We saw a bunch of prairie dogs both smashed and alive.  The prairie dogs were so absolutely freakin' cute I could hardly stand it! There were two of them rolling around wrestling and the one tossed the other down the hill then they rolled around a little more then stopped so one could clean off the other one's back.  Leigh and Traceylyn, if a package arrives at your front door with air holes in it, yeah, its two prairie dogs.  You'll love 'em!  We also saw coyotes in the fields hunting them for lunch. 

RV park in Whitecourt

Joey lost a leg in a bear fight

We stopped and stayed in Whitecourt, AB for the night.  Hockey is on every television you glimpse at but there does seem to be a general interest in American Baseball as well.  In BC the fans are pretty pumped about the Canucks winning their division.As we drove out of Alberta and headed toward BC we got a feel of what may, but hopefully not be part of northern PA's future.  The entire area is beautiful, uninhabited wilderness with abundant wildlife.  Long straight rolling roads with no traffic.  Mountain ranges with big snow caps on either side.
The sad part is the other vehicles on the road are pulling in and out of dirt roads that come out onto the Alcan every 10 to 20 miles.  They are hauling oil, gas, logs, or support for these industries.   As was explained to me, these roads lead anywhere from 10 miles to 100 miles into the bush.  These roads terminate in "camps" for the workers.  The camps house anywhere from 100 to 700 workers with all supplies.  Some are open, meaning multiple companies and industries sharing the same camp.  Some are closed, meaning owned and operated by only one company.  The depressing part of this industry was driven home when we arrived for the night in Fort Nelson, BC.  The whole town is about 10 blocks long and 6 blocks deep.  It stinks constantly of diesel!  Everything is absolutely covered in soot and grit.  The melting snow is covered in oily grit and as the snow melts and runs down the road it stinks of diesel.  Your boots stink of fuel no matter what you do, even while eating dinner you can smell it.   It's just part of life up there.  There are a million tractor trailer and pickup trucks parked on every street and parking space.  The guys  just sit and let them idle all night.  Some of the guys rotate shifts so the one driver goes into the hotel and goes to sleep and the next shift comes out an hour later and jumps in the idling truck and goes to work.  The guys make good money and go into Ft. Nelson every now and again to apparently get staggering drunk, gorge on steak dinners, and pray that they get to see the sight of a woman.  A little risky taking Michelle out for dinner but I think they were all too drunk to do anything.  The few women we did see working in the field were driving 4WD pickups with camper caps that were emergency services and First Aid. 
  After leaving Ft. Nelson, we headed into more extraordinary wilderness to get to Laird Hot Springs in Yukon.  We saw a ton more bison along the road, deer, and a few bald eagles eating road carnage. 

this was really sad - she was big and beautiful. 

We even got to see a fresh road killed wolf that a trucker told us about a little west of Toad River, BC.  What an incredible sight to see up close and just to know that there are still incredible animals like this  running loose in the wild in such great numbers is awesome to behold. okay, so, road kill isn't actually something you want to be looking at, I get it, but Johnny says tough, Aidan will want to see it.  Even though I knew she was dead, I still had the eerie feeling that she was going to jump up and snarl at me.
  Laird Hot Springs was definitely a highlight of the trip.  We parked in the parking lot with a few other through travelers and camped for free.  The surrounding mountains are rugged and steep.  The lighting is awesome and unique being this far north. 

 You walk back a wooden boardwalk through some boggy woodland for about 1/4 mile and end up at the pools.  There are nice changing rooms and a deck area built around the pools.  We walked across the snow covered deck to the pools and slipped into the really hot water. 

if you look close here you can see little white dots in the water to the left - that's actually boiling bubbles

You can see where the hot water flows out of the ground and is almost boiling at the upper end.  There is also cold water flowing into the pool about 20 feet away.  The object is to start at the far end of the pool and walk toward the hotter water as your body allows.  The water stinks of sulfur which is good for the skin but also turned our silver wedding rings black. 

The bottom is smooth 1 to 2 inch pebbles.  What a great way to relax after a few thousand mile drive! 
We met a bunch of great people who are doing exactly what we are.  Many of them having been doing it  for many, many years.  They all were very nice and full of great advice and helpful hints about the road and small upcoming towns.  Many of the truckers stop across the street, soak for an hour, and get back on the road every time they drive past. 
  Yesterday we drove up here to Whitehorse, Yukon.  We got to see our first herds of Caribou.  What a strong looking creature these animals are.  The great strength they must have to hop over the snow to run, especially in January up here, is impressive. 

nice sized herd right in the middle of the road

The only animal we have yet to see  are bears and it is probably a little early in the season for that.  The sheep have been allusive as well.  I would also love to see a mountain lion and a wolverine for sure but I've got some dues to pay for that I think. 
  Whitehorse is a super hip little town and kind of reminds me of a small Lancaster with it's hip younger crowd, cool shops and galleries, and restaurants.  There is apparently a bit of an alcohol problem here as well with a few drunken adults staggering around town as I took Joey for his walk late last night.  No problems or crime,  just drunk people.  The locally brewed Yukon Beer, which is pretty good, doesn't hurt either.  I don't think there is much to do here when it is cold but spring is breaking and you can feel the big outdoorsy crowd gearing up to head into the surrounding mountains for what must be an awesome warm weather season.  There is the Yukon to Fairbanks dog sled race here every winter and also a canoe/kayak race down the Yukon River that runs right through town in  the summer.  There is a big summer arts push with drama, music, and festivities all summer long.  This is a big hub for the Tlingit Nation.  Jay Mackley would be in heaven in Whitehorse.  There is even a cable TV channel dedicated to the native community showing traditional cooking and events as well as Saturday morning cartoons for the kids in the native language.  Very cool!  The sun was finally setting around 930 last night.  No norther lights yet but there is still time for that.  I look every night.       
  Tomorrow we will cross the border and finally make it into Alaska.  I can taste it.  I never thought I'd think of driving 100 miles as no big deal but after what we have driven 100 miles is a joke.  The return trip will be a walk in the park without carrying 6 boats and a trailer on the back.  We are hardly aerodynamic.  I won't tell you what we are paying for diesel, but let's just say the lower 48 is cheap even with the recent increases.  We plan on stopping for the night in Tok, AK tomorrow night and should be into Seward by Monday night.  Let's hope crossing into AK goes as fast as it did in Canada.

We're working on our metric to english conversions.  Constantly with the kilometers to miles and liters to gallons.  We're getting it down.

We miss everyone and hope you all are doing well!!
JH & ML
Here are some more pictures - please keep in mind that most of them I took from inside the truck, moving 70 miles an hour, through filthy windows.   

on our way from Livingston, MT

little cloud - cute as a button

Crazy sky in Big Sky country   Ever changing weather

Calgary

Looked like one could ride their snow mobile the entire way

sunset at the trailer park, Whitecourt, AB

rest stop at Pink Mountain

Signs of animals all over the place, none to be seen

stream beginning to break up

Johnny made a friend at the hot springs

forests of birch

road sign forest

Ahhhhhhh

Tatonka!

Jeffrey & Johnny on the porch at Jack & Wendy's

 
After leaving SD and moving west, we headed toward Livingston, MT to visit our friends Jack and Wendy Heckles.  We arrived just before dinner and were met in the street with smiles and hugs.  They asked if we wanted to come in for a beer.  To our great surprise, Jeffrey Stauffer came around the corner carrying a hand full of beers.  Jeffrey helped me tie down the boats on the roof of our truck before we left and seemed a little too casual about the goodbye's.  He had the whole thing planned out since before we left.  What a great surprise!  He's been here with us for the whole time.

Yellowstone River from the park down the street

Livingston is a great town with the Yellowstone River running right through it.  You could walk down 3 blocks from Jack and Wendy's house and pull out trout from the crystal clear river.  As could be expected, everyone is super nice.  Joey loves to be able to walk down the middle of the street while on his walks and has numerous places where he can run off leash and tear it up.   

 Jack ended up getting Wendy's elementary school cold so Jeffrey and the Hughes's took a drive to Dillon, MT to look around.  Dillon is big rancher country.  The cowboy hats and belt buckles were huge.  

My first Bison sighting!  I was so excited I could hardly take this picture!

The highlight of our stay here was yesterday when we went to North Yellowstone with Jeffrey and Wendy.  We saw tons of hot water, huge Bison up close (Tatonka), Elk, Deer, Antelope, and a pack of wolves from a distance thru binoculars.  The scenery and views weren't bad either.  The only thing we did not see were bears.  We finished off the day with a long soak in the Boiling River Hot Springs right at the edge of the park.  The abundance of wildlife freely roaming this area of the country is awesome. Today is a sit around and catch up day with our departure for the Canadian line approaching tomorrow morning.    Our ability to access the web will be greatly reduced so we will write again as soon as we can. 

Traverine, a form of calcium carbonate, in Mammoth Hot Springs

pthththththth!

Seeping scalding hot water

Bison getting some God

Yep, its poop, but cool, huh?

Wolf pack, Agate, consisting of four younger ones, an older male (to your right) and the alpha female (to your left) who is believed to be pregnant.  She has over come a battle with mange and the pack is doing well. You may be able to zoom in and see them better.  One of the black ones did down dog and laid down for a snooze.  They were beautuful! It was incredible!

John Hughes and Tatanka

    
  



Could someone please tell Traceylyn that if she thinks my stories are too long, she does not have to read them.  Missing you all and wishing you were all here with us, especially Traceylyn!

JH & ML