Uggh! What a ride

We left Toad River RV Park in Toad River, BC.(About 400 miles from Dawson Creek).  We weren’t on the road 5 minutes & we hit a road construction site and had to wait until they let us through. It was a dusty, rocky, messy ride, which should’ve given us a forewarning of what was to be up ahead. We eventually found a nice “rest area” to land for the night and we actually had cell service! It was somewhere near Buckinghorse River, BC, right  past Fort Nelson (about 185 miles from Dawson Creek); with anticipation of reaching Dawson Creek the next day (Thursday). 


The ride back to Dawson Creek on the Alaska Highway, crosses over the BC-YT lines about 6 or 7 times, so the time changes back & forth, which we don’t really notice until we land then we say “dang! it’s only * o’clock, we could’ve gone a little further”; or we say “dang! it’s already * o’clock, no wonder we’re tired or hungry or ready for happy hour”.


The boondock site was fine, not too many bugs or people, so we chilled for a little, fixed dinner & went to bed. Our intention was to get to Dawson Creek and stay a couple of nights;  since  Anne & Briggs came in on the Cassiar Highway and haven’t been down to Milepost “0.
 
That was the plan…..but….plans change when you’re RV riding.


We hit the road with Briggs leading the way, and we came to another road construction site and had to sit and wait. Well, we didn’t have far to go and just figured we had to accept the fact that it’s going to be slow going. We weren’t 10 miles up the road and a truck went flying by and a rock flew up and ‘dinged’ the windshield. So much for thinking we were going out with our glass intact! That wasn’t the worse of it. A few miles further and another big truck went flying by & knocked a BIG hole in the windshield and 2 seconds later the BACK windshield shattered glass all over the girls! We couldn’t stop where we were, so I tried to get them settled as best I could until Mr.Charley could find a place to pull over. Luckily, we had two-way radios to let Briggs and Anne know what happened. Once we pulled over, we were able to get the girls out and survey the damage. Anne & Briggs are the sweetest people and we are so blessed to have them with us. Anne watched the girls while I tried to get their beds cleared of the glass (even with the bugs flying around, bless her heart). Briggs brought over his whisk broom & helped Mr.Charley clear out the glass, he even had cardboard and heavy duty duct tape to close up the hole. Luckily, it wasn’t the entire back window, it was just the middle part (that opens to the bed). Unfortunately, that’s the section Mr.Charley needs to look through when it’s time to hookup. Once we got that cleaned up (and I got Sadie calmed down enough to get back in the truck), we moved on.


These pics don’t really show it very good,but you get the idea of the front windshield, it’s still drivable and there’s a couple more but you get the point.
I didn’t get pics of the shattered back panel, but it had cardboard in it now. 


 


Here’s an idea of the roads along the way, long and winding, but sometimes the gravel and dust are awful!
 


We did see a stone sheep on the side of the mountain:
(they blend in so good it’s hard to see them) but there was no joy in seeing it



We got to Dawson Creek in hopes of finding a glass repair place in the few days we were planning on being there. Would you believe EVERY decent campground was FULL! It had been so empty on the way IN we didn’t think we needed any reservations on the way OUT!


Another lesson learned……….
 
We moved forward and landed here in Grand Prairie, BC, about 80 miles past Dawson Creek. The campground is decent, full hookups, 50 amps and decent Wi-fi. We’ll be here a couple of nights and continue on to Calgary where we hope to get the RV jacks fixed before making our way to Montana. Mr.Charley will see about getting the glass fixed too.


In all this ride back, we’ve been skirting around the wildfires in BC and now we hear there’s wildfires in Montana. Mr.Charley has an eye shot appointment back in Bozeman,Mt on 8/25. We were hoping to cross the border mid-August so we could go to Glacier NP before that, but we’ll see. It’s a one-day-at-a-time kind of ride, but we are thankful we’re safe, able to get things fixed and most important, thankful for good, sweet friends.


We’ll all be leaving here Saturday, but we’ll be parting ways, since they are heading straight to  Alberta Beach near Edmonton and we are heading to Calgary, but stopping in Whitecourt on the way
since Calgary is a bit further.
 
I failed to mention once we got through Dawson Creek and made reservations in Grand Prairie, the ride was beautiful. The roads are NICE paved highway with fields of yellow Canola! I had no idea where  “Canola Oil” came from, nor did I know those beautiful yellow “wildflowers” were canola. (When we came through this way in May-June nothing was plowed or blooming) What a change in scenery in a couple of months!


Here’s some pics of our ride: (excuse the windshield dings in any pics)
That yellow in the background is a canola field in the distance. These go on for miles
    
     


I was very happy the sky was so blue and clear, check out this puff of a cloud:
 


The Lord didn’t promise to make us rich or healthy or any of those “material” things, He just promised He’d take care of us. He has, in our health, our safety on the road, the means to be able to get things fixed (or patched) and for sending the right people along the way. We couldn’t ask for more, we are truly Blessed, since we both can remember a time when either one of us could afford a tank of gas let alone this Grand Adventure.


Have a good one everybody, we’re sure trying to.


RV Riding is counting your blessings in the midst of the fire (and thankful we’re not in the wildfires!)
 

Toad River

Mr. Charley & I have been "caravanning" with Anne & Briggs. We made our way to Whitehorse, YT; hung out for a couple of days (laundry, groceries, etc) and the guys even played a round of golf! Well, about 10-11 holes. About the time Mr. Charley's back was "talking" to him, Anne called Briggs to let him know someone had knocked there awning off while they were pulling in! 🤦‍♀️ Needless to say the fella didn't realize his backend was going to swing around as far & wide as it did. 🤷‍♀️ Well, long story short the guys got it "fixed" well enough to travel and we were able to leave Monday as planned.



We headed to Watson Lake, stayed over & made our way to Toad River, BC.
It was a nice ride, we saw a fox, a few black bears , a grizzly, a few dead porcupines that the ravens were feeding on, and some stone sheep or mountain goats (couldn't tell) 😏


I didn't get pics of all, but here's a few:

 You need to look real close to see them on the hillside

We were hoping to drycamp near or around Muncho Lake but decided to go a bit further to Toad River.
It's a beautiful place, but the clouds were moving in & the wind was picking up so the lake wasn't as "calm" as it had been when we first came through on the way in:

On our way, we stopped at a rest area & found that our awning was flapping (ours is broken too, so we had it tied up). Mr Charley crawled up on the roof & proceeded to tie it up better. Thank God Briggs was there to help! The bugs were SO BAD, I put the girls back in the truck so they wouldn't get eaten alive! Mr Charley did, tho. Bless his heart he had blood running down his face & neck from all those bites! Luckily, we didn't have much further to go. By the time we landed & got set up he was  starting to feel the stings. I got the alcohol out, gave him some Benadryl & fixed him a  drink. We were happy they had a restaurant here so he didn't have to cook. Once we got him fed, he was ready to kick back & rest.


Here's some pics of him AFTER I got him cleaned up:

He was a bloody mess from those black fly bites.


This is a pretty nice place, the girls have a nice grassy yard & theres a nice view of the pond in the back. There's supposed to be some moose around that like to get a drink there, so we'll keep our eyes open. In the meantime, the restaurant has over 10,000 hats that have been "left" here. So here's the story and some pics:

This is the view of the pond behind us

And later on in the evening, the moose did come out to get a drink

Have a good one everybody, we're sure trying to






RV Riding is a new "adventure" everyday

We made it to Whitehorse

We FINALLY made it to Whitehorse! Although it was less than 200 miles (around 187 give/take) it took nearly 5 hours to get here! The roads were RUGGED! If they weren’t working on them, hopefully they will be soon. “They” (road construction folks) do an AWESOME job, in that they get a lot done in a short time. They work efficiently, always have an ambulance on site and most of the flag persons wave as you pass (LOL).
They generally have a Pilot Car for you to follow if it’s a long detour, which means you may have up to a 15 minute wait if you don’t get through with the group. I think I mentioned in a previous blog about the frost heaves or permafrost that they are constantly repairing. It looks like instead of waiting for the freeze, they may be “shaving down” the road (in some places) to get it more level during the “sun” season before it freezes again.  Just building the highway was a MAJOR undertaking, but it looks like maintaining it is a non-stop work in progress. I’m sure they work day & night (time wise, not brightness)  before the freeze when all work would stop, but who knows. God Bless them, though, the weather here (Alaska & Yukon) changes constantly! It can start out cold/rainy & end up warm/sunny within hours.
Well, enough of that……here’s some pics of the ride in:
 
Most of the pics above are the Kluane Lake & Mountain range.
According to the Milepost: “Between 300-400 years ago, Kaskawulsh Glacier advanced across the Slims River and closed the drainage outlet of Kluane Lake. The water level rose more than 30 feet and the lake’s drainage reversed. Water that had flowed south to the Gulf of Alaska carved out a new channel at the northeast end of the lake to connect with the Yukon River system. Instead of traveling 140 miles south to the Pacific Ocean, Kluane Lake waters began a journey 10 ties longer; north to the Bering Sea. When the waters receded to their present level, the lake’s drainage had been permanently altered”.
And then…..on we go



We arrived at Pioneer RV Park and the place was pretty packed. (thank God we got into cell service area, so Anne called ahead) We got set up (slides/jacks worked great) & chilled out. Happy Hour, dinner out, and bed.
Mr.Charley & Briggs are happy to play golf tomorrow, Anne is going to fix us dinner tomorrow, so I volunteered Mr.Charley to fix dessert. LOL!  I guess we’ll get to the grocery store, laundry on Sunday, so we can be ready to go Monday morning.
Have a good one everybody, we’re trying to.


RV Riding is seeing some awesome things as you make your way around

Crossing back over towards Buckshot Bettys

This morning we left Tok on our way back over the Canadian border on our way to Whitehorse, YT. We all decided we didn’t want or need to do another 300+ mile day, so my friends were trusting my notes in the Milepost to a cool place to boondock for the night. (I had a Plan B if we couldn’t find it or didn’t like it).
We were extremely thankful the 113 miles from Tok over the border into Canada wasn’t such a mess we rode in on. (I think they moved the construction to the Tok Cutoff road! LOL!
We made it back over the border into Yukon (YT), had a little stopover for lunch and moved forward. Past Buckshot Bettys in Beaver Creek (you’ll have to read previous posts on that story), past the Indian Village of Snag where back in 1947 functioned as an emergency airstrip for aircraft flying from Edmonton to Anchorage & Fairbanks. Snag’s claim to fame is the lowest recorded temperature in Canada: –81.4 F/ –63 Celsius on 02/03/47. (Alaska’s lowest was –80 F/-62.8 Celsius on 01/23/71.  Past Moose Lake (still no moose); over White River (white caused by the volcanic ash in the water). Past the beautiful Discovery Yukon Lodgings & RV Park that I would’ve loved to stay at,  but……; past Pine Valley Bakery Creperie (a historic Alaska Highway lodge lovingly resurrected), over the Edith Creek bridge; to the Donjek River Bridge. DC 1098.7 (1761.6 km ) where I had scribbled “boondock” in the Milepost. It was a good gravel access to informal parking area near the Donjek River.
It was a nice, peaceful place by the water with some woods that we parked at and chilled. The girls were happy to have a place to run & of course Cheyenne made her way to the waters edge where she saw & tried to catch  some small fish. Since we had mountains on all sides, it was pretty, but as the day drew to an end, the clouds rolled in & we hunkered down for the rain. It was a nice, quiet drizzle with some wind, but I slept like a log!
Here’s some pics of the ride & the view of our site:
     
This is the view of where we boondocked and the rainbow
 


We had a nice relaxing evening. Mr. Charley fixed his favorite chicken tenders, pimiento cheese sandwich, potato chips & pork-n-beans. We ran the generator (no quiet time here LOL!) watched a movie & slept like a baby.
Tomorrow we’ll  make our way to Whitehorse, YT & hang for a few days.


Have a good one everybody, we’re trying to


RV Riding is finding some awesome spots and parking there