Going with the Flow

This has been a peaceful easy week as we call ourselves “going home”. There is no point in even thinking about how many miles we plan to drive in a day or where we plan to spend the night. The mindboggling amount of road construction makes those plans for us. It is not unusual to wait 15 or 20 minutes at a road block or to drive 35 mph for ages. We get up when we are ready, drive until we are tired, and stop wherever we can. I can’t image the amount of stress that could be generated if we were on a schedule.

On Monday (7/15) we left the CG at Nisutin Bay (Teslin) and continued east on the Alaska Highway toward Watson Lake and Ft. Nelson. We stopped at the Teslin Tlingil Heritage Center and saw the most beautiful masks and textiles of our trip. We have tried to take advantage of the opportunities to talk with the First Nation citizens when we can. The young people have a difficult time. They call their parents the “gap generation”, the group that did not learn the native languages because they were sent to government schools. As a result, there are now few native speakers and some languages are almost extinct.

We were fortunate to find a spot at Laird Hot Springs Provincial Park (BC) that night. The springs are really something! A very nice break after a day of driving. Tuesday we drove to Ft. Nelson, Wednesday to Dawson Creek. We were then at Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway, 1,422 miles from Delta Junction. Every day we would see a few special things; maybe a bear or a moose or a hike to a waterfall, but mostly highway.

Yesterday we drove Alberta Highway 40, the Bighorn Road, to Hinton. We passed through Grande Prairie and Grande Cache. From Dawson Creek to Grande Prairie we saw rolling hills covered with the yellow blooms of the Canola plant. We had hoped to camp in a PP last night but we tried three and all the sites were either reserved or taken. Fortunately we found a very nice spot in Hinton and plan to stay here until Sunday. We are just 25 miles from Jasper National Park, in the middle of July, with no advance reservations. Need I say more!

I love the small town Visitor Centers. Not only do they have maps and brochures, they often have very savvy locals to help you find things to do. A young lady in Hinton suggested we drive out  the Forestry Trunk Rd. It is only paved for about 25 miles but runs south along the eastern side of the Canadian Rockies all the way to Canmore (near Banff). We drove about 40 miles and had a great day. Saw lots of wildlife, gorgeous views, and almost no people. It would be an adventure to drive the entire distance. 

We plan to go to Jasper tomorrow and have pizza at our favorite pizza place. I think we had pizza there three nights in a row in 2010. Yes, it is GOOD.

 (Butch in the Alpha Spring at Laird Hot Springs)