Days 18-20: Stuck in Fort Nelson

November 1

Fort St. John, BC, Canada to Fort Nelson, BC, Canada: 236 miles

Beautiful blue skies were above us today as we continued our drive along the Alaskan Highway. We drove through a tiny town called Pink Mountain, named for how the autumn leaves look on the mountains in the sunset. Of course, the only thing we saw were snow-covered trees. I bet the pink leaves are beautiful!

It was a winter wonderland as far as you could see. Still no moose sightings, but we did see a few deer and wild horses grazing along the side of the highway. We arrived in Fort Nelson and checked out the visitors center, where I also picked up my favorite postcards from the trip. We stayed the night at Kacee's Suites and they didn't charge us their usual pet fee - so kind. :)

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November 2-3

Fort Nelson, BC, Canada

Day 19: Today was a tough day. The radiator reservoir cracked in the Land Rover, and we were forced to stay put awhile longer. Thankfully there was an auto store across the road, but poor Sam still had to run back and forth across the highway all day since we were car-less. He was also on the phone all day with his dad (thank goodness for iphone apps like Talkatone that use wifi). Those two together make an awesome auto team. Originally we thought that we would have to wait until NEXT Wednesday for a new reservoir part to be shipped from Washington. For awhile, that was extremely discouraging. Staying here until Wednesday would mean about $1000 extra in hotel fees, the car part, food - plus the extra five days of just waiting around in the tiniest town ever.

Thankfully (seriously I think I cried), Sam and Gary came up with a DIY solution to fix the reservoir. We will have to see if it works; give it some time. We are praying it does.

It made me feel a little better to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on TV while uploading photos from our trip - and also going through old photos. Homesick, you know.

It was a discouraging and defeating day, but at least this didn't happen while we were driving. We're thankful for this cramped, warm room with Internet to stay connected with our friends and family back home. 

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Day 20: Well, we are pretty certain that the Land Rover will be good to go tomorrow!

Nothing much happened besides that. We just relaxed with the dogs. Sam and Kaia took a nap and looked adorable cuddled up together. We split a very expensive Subway meal for lunch ($14 for ONE meal. It's one of 3-4 restaurants here.), took the dogs on a short walk, practiced some tricks with the dogs, and played Phase 10.

If the rest of the trip goes smoothly ,we should be in the Yukon Territory tomorrow, then have three more days left til we're back in the USA!

Whew. What a trip!

Days 15-17: Northbound to the Alaskan Highway

October 29
Day 15: Quesnel, BC, Canada to Quesnel, BC, Canada: 5 miles :(

It snowed all day, so the only thing we did today was switch hotels. The Super 8 was way way overpriced for what it is, so we packed up everything and headed a few miles down the road to the local Grace Inn.

Before leaving the Super 8, Sam talked to one of our "neighbors," an older gentleman from Fort St. John. He and Sam shared some interesting conversations about Indian tribes, weapons, happenings at the Montana/Canadian border, and the like. I think Sam could have talked to him all day. Right up his alley.

We mostly had the Grace Inn to ourselves, so we took it as an opportunity to play with the dogs in the snowy parking lot. It was their first experience with real snow (other than flurries) and they were hilarious!

We took advantage of our free afternoon with naps, watching "The Voice" on TV, and skyping with my parents and Alex & Ariel before they leave for Hawaii tomorrow morning.

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October 30
Day 16: Quesnel, BC, Canada to Prince George, BC, Canada: 85 miles

We had high hopes of traveling further today but slippery roads & our lack of snow tires meant otherwise. It took us almost three hours to drive 70 miles and I'm sure Canadians everywhere hated us. Highway 97 (the West Access Route) was okay, but the roads in Prince George were absolutely terrible. We were sliding all over the place and almost slid into a concrete block. Dodged a few accidents, thank goodness. We also had to replace a broken windshield wiper; ugh, one thing after another.

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October 31

Prince George, BC, Canada to Fort St. John, BC, Canada: 271 miles

Happy Halloween!

Our Canadian Halloween was a day of continuing our drive north into British Columbia. We are finally on the ALCAN! We take it all the way to Delta Junction, AK. Today was cloudy but the road conditions were much better than the previous two days. The scenery was nothing out of the ordinary until we arrived at the Pine Pass. With 10% grades up and downhill, the road cut through gorgeous views of the Canadian Rockies all around us! The walls of mountains one after another were breathtaking, especially for this southern couple who have never seen Rocky Mountains before this trip.;)

We made the most of our nontraditional Halloween with candy of course and silly "costumes" that definitely made the trip funnier and more entertaining. And of course, the dogs were all festive in their yellow and orange bandanas. :)

We finally arrived in Fort St. John and stayed at the Blue Bell Motel. We were able to chat with our families and relax after a long day of driving.

PS Lots of moose crossing signs but still no moose sightings!

Day 14: Fall to winter, just like that

October 28

Day 14: Cache Creek, BC, Canada to Quesnel, BC, Canada: 200 miles

We awoke to an overcast, chilly morning after camping and were checked on by the park owners who were happy to hear we made it through a night of tent camping with no problems. After our breakfast of oatmeal and pumpkin spice tea, we cleaned up our campsite, organized the car, and walked the dogs around the RV park trails and piles of autumn leaves.

We filled up on gas before leaving Cache Creek. Canada measures fuel by liters instead of gallons. The price is cents per liter vs dollars per gallon. Oh and everything is so much more expensive here.

The route to Quesnel consisted of sparse, tiny towns less than a quarter mile long; snow on the ground; frozen lakes; signs for elk, badger, and sheep crossing. There were definitely signs of civilization but where were all the people? What are their jobs out in the middle of nowhere? How do they survive out here? 

It began snowing heavily in Quesnel so we cut the day short. We got off the worsening roads and stayed at a Super 8. We caught up on laundry and skyped with my parents, Alex, and Ariel.

Day 13: Canada bound

October 27

Bellingham, WA, USA to Cache Creek, BC, Canada: 197 miles

Before leaving the good ol USA, we had to run a few errands... exchanging currency at the bank, picking up a few groceries at Walmart to save some money, filling up the tank, and grabbing lunch at Wendy's. I know, so American right?

Everything went smoothly at the Canadian border. I was anxious for nothing! With The Milepost as our guide through Canada, off we went. We immediately turned our phones on airplane-mode because AT&T charges through the roof internationally. We will really miss being in touch with our friends and family over the next few days. Right across the border were many American-like stores and restaurants, and we grabbed a DELISH frozen lemonade from Tim Horton's (thanks to Elisabeth's recommendation!) before continuing our Canadian journey. 

We drove the West Access Route through British Columbia. The scenery changed so much as we drove: gorgeous autumn leaves with rain & fog... to snow-covered Rockies once again... to dry and rolling hills near Cache Creek. The West Access Route is also the Gold Rush Trail.

Everything is so spread out here! We drove a hundred miles without seeing anything, then would see a sign for an upcoming town. Turns out that town is on the main highway and consists of a gas station, hotel, and one restaurant. It's sort of a mix between the isolation of SD and the scenery of MT/WY.

Our destination tonight was Cache Creek BC. The weather was great (well, high 30s/low 40s) so we decided to camp. We set up our little tent at the Brookside Campsite, an RV park. The owner came to greet us, and we were expecting to pay the rate of $20 to camp for the night, but he surprised us by saying, "If you want to camp out in a tent in this weather, go for it. I'm not going to charge you." Haha! The owners were so friendly and the campsite was very well maintained, and even decorated festive and cute for autumn. We loved it! Sam set up the Kelty Noah overhead tarp, even with a 0% chance of rain. Good thing my husband is a smarty and is always prepared, because it ended up raining all night.

I felt so cozy in our camp. Sam grilled hotdogs on the camp grill as night began to fall, and the dogs enjoyed a little extra running space being tied to a tree. After dinner, we all four snuggled up together inside the tent. Those puppies really add extra warmth but WOW their breath smells terrible in a small enclosed space! Sam and I reminisced about our dating days almost seven years ago. (never would I imagine that we would be camping in a tent in Canada seven years later;) It was sweet and memorable, just lying there together in the tent in the middle of nowhere. As we were talking, lost in the past, it began to rain. We fell asleep to the sound of light raindrops hitting the tarp, mixed in with sporadic puppy farts of course ;). One of my favorite memories.

In the morning, I woke up to a text from Amanda asking if we were okay. A 7.7 earthquake had hit the western coast of Canada and the effects were felt as far as Kamloops BC which was sort of near us. So it maybe wasn't the best night to be sleeping on the earth...

Onward!

Day 12: Hello, Seattle

Seattle, WA: 40°

Mocksville, NC: 73°

Fairbanks, AK: 19°

Today we explored a bit of Seattle. We saw an awesome view of the city from Gas Works Park. It was rainy and gloomy, and to avoid traveling with wet stinky dogs :), we decided to make it a short trip. We did grab a pizza at a local authentic Italian place, a hot chocolate for me from Zoka, and a few doughnuts (yes more doughnuts!!) from Mighty-O (if you're reading, thanks for the local recommendations, Kate and David!).

We loved watching the skyline, the dogs loved watching the geese. :) The weather quickly turned chilly, so we decided to head to Bellingham a bit early, where we are spending our last night in America for awhile.

Wish we could have spent more time in Seattle, and also visit Olympic National Park - maybe in a few years on our way out of Alaska. Ha!