Driving to Alaska Part 2

In my last blog post, we had just reached the Colorado border and were heading for Andy’s Uncle John’s ranch in Hillside, CO.

It took us a little longer to get there than we expected, because motor homes just move slower on winding mountain roads. It was around 3:30 PM when we arrived, but the drive there was beautiful! Boulder filled creeks, mountains covered in shrub trees, and deep canyons with sheer rocky cliffs. At one point we had to stop to let a herd of mule deer get off the road. They are not afraid of vehicles, apparently!

We had taken some of our Alaska salmon for Uncle John, so once we got there and had visited for a while, he suggested I just fix it for supper because he wasn’t sure how to make it. Andy and the older children joined him outside feeding the cattle, and I put Chase down for a nap in the house and made a salmon dinner. We enjoyed a visit from one of Andy’s cousins and his family that evening, then crashed in the motor home for the night.

I was coming down with a bad sore throat and cold, the kind where your head feels full, and your eyes sting, and you feel as though you need to sneeze all the time but can’t quite do it. And I wasn’t the only one. As the trip progressed, more and more of us came down with it and the motor home was filled with the sound of coughing and nose blowing. Sickness certainly added another level of hard to the travel.

The next morning we left the Ranch at 6 AM and saw a line of Elk silhouetted in the sunrise on the horizon. We were able to watch the sky turn colors all around us as we drove through the mountains to visit some other friends near Del Norte, two hours away.

They served us breakfast when we got there around 8:30, and we had a wonderful visit for a couple hours before we had to leave.

That was our last planned stop in the states, so once we got on the road this time, we headed North for home! Andy put our home address into the GPS. Two days, and 22 hours to get home, it said. 

We drove the rest of that day and stopped for the night at a truck stop somewhere in Wyoming.

On Friday, we started at 6 AM again, and drove through the rest of Wyoming, all the way through  Montana, and reached the Canadian border a little after 8 in the evening.

Going through the border was a cinch, and we thought we’d get a couple more hours behind us in Alberta, but around 9:30 PM we just got too tired and had to stop. There was a big pullout just outside of Lethbridge, AB, so we parked and got everyone in their sleeping bags for the night. 

Headed out again at 6 AM on Saturday and drove through Alberta. We stopped to visit some friends not too far from Grande Prairie at 5 PM, and ended up staying the whole evening. It was so good to be out of the motor home and have a chance to get a bunch of laundry done as well.

Sunday morning we again began driving pretty early, but we took it much slower that day, stopping to run off some energy at a gorgeous pullout in the Canadian Rockies, and keeping an eye out for wildlife. We reached the Alaskan Highway by way of Fort St John and drove around three hours to Fort Nelson.

There we stopped to make some lunch and use the WiFi, although the dumping and fresh water station for motor homes was closed for the season. This was becoming a problem, because we soon ran out of water and the black water tank was getting very full.

We drove a couple more hours to Toad River, winding through a gorgeous part of the Alaskan Highway in the Canadian Rockies. We began keeping a list of all the animals we had seen on the trip. Elk, mule deer, prairie dogs, and now Stone sheep and Dall Sheep. 

We reached Toad River a little before 5 PM on Sunday, and a sign boasted, ‘Open year round!’

Well, it was open, but most of the amenities were not available. No water or propane or dumping could be had until May. They had a sign that offered showers as well, but that was also a seasonal luxury. Ah well. We bought more drinking water and tried to ignore how much we all needed showers. 

It was really nice to have an evening where we weren’t driving. It felt like such a luxury to sit and drink a cup of coffee without it sloshing! 

This morning, the gas station at Toad River didn’t open until 6:30, so since we had gotten up at 5:30, we had some time to kill. I worked on breakfast and coffee and again enjoyed the luxury of cooking when we aren’t on the road. The children have gotten really fast at each stuffing their blanket and pillow into their sleeping bag and stowing it under the bed. In no time, the living room area is clear of bedding and we can put the couch and table to their normal positions and get car seats strapped in. Canadian law requires car seats, even in motor homes, so the children stay in their seats unless they’re using the bathroom or needing to get something from the back.

Once we got gas and got back on the road, we continued through beautiful mountainous country. Eventually we began getting to the end of the Canadian Rockies as we traveled through British Colombia. One area was a hot spot for bison, and we saw several herds along the road.

We reached Watson Lake in the late morning and again had no luck finding water to fill our tanks or a place to dump. On to Teslin with the same result. Towns are few and far between out here in the Yukon Territory, so it’s important to fuel up when you find an open gas station, especially this time of year where some stations are only open in the summer.

If we keep moving today, we should be able to get to the Alaska border sometime this evening. Then we only have around 14 more hours to get back home!