Not-so-random thoughts on random topics: July 2011

Saturday, July 30, 2011

On the twelfth day of travel...

...my true love said to me: "Honeymoon's over. Take out the garbage!!"

Well, thank god the honeymoon is not over yet but I do my share of taking out the garbage. Over the last twelve days on the road I have captured the following:

(BTW, do you know you can click on the pictures and make them really big?)

Simple things excite me:
- Wild life hanging out along the road
- Fellow travelers waving back when I wave at them
- Dishing out delightful one-pot-gourmet

Caribou grazing
Somewhere between Point A and Point B

Roadside grizzly

Herds of stone sheep licking mineral off pebbles

Fellow VW travelers

These occasions made me very nervous:

Picture does not do justice
to these man-size potholes...

- Driving through the pot-holes laden construction zone while it was pouring - felt like I was driving through a land mine

- Passing 18-wheelers on a winding two-lane highway

- Hearing the clanking loud noise from the front left wheel of Albatross on Day 10 of trip. Turned out the culprit was a small pebble that got stuck between the brake shroud and the rotor. Eric and I removed the tire, performed the necessary operation to remove the rock, and 'Tross is fine.

Daisy driving like a girl
through the construction zone...

What I appreciate the most:

July 18, Day One of trip
Seattle, WA

- Spending lots of quality time with Eric and truly enjoying it - yes, 24 hours a day, everyday

- Meeting warm and generous people along the way: CS'ers at Lytton, Prince George, and of course Cynthia and Randy at Dawson Creek. Karen at Diamond Willow; Linda and Bill. Larisha at the visitor center in Fort Nelson. Once again, the world becomes just a little bit smaller and more manageable, when the warmth and connection is present

- The tremendous help from Sonja, the lady at the Watson Lake Info Center, who patiently made all sort of arrangement so I can receive my battery charger for my camera. Although I never received the charger in time for the rest of my trip, Sonja generously offered to send it back to Seattle, free of charge.

Eric enjoying homemade biscuit and chicken soup
Diamond Willow Retreat

Kiskatinaw Curved Bridge with Spyro the dog

Counterclockwise: Linda, Bill, Randy, Cynthia, Eric

Karen's Stage
Diamond Willow Retreat

Things that annoy me:
- Plastic bottles and roadside garbage left on hiking trails
- RV generators running in the campground when it is clearly "quiet time" at night
- Mosquitoes

Daisy's extra protection from
helicopter-size blood sucking mosquitoes

What I learned about myself:

- I am a fun, self-sufficient, and low-maintenance travel companion

- I don't stink even after three days of no-shower

- I have lots of creative energy and must unleash and make good use of it

Hiking to the summit
Summit Lake, Stone Mountain Provincial Park

Daisy practicing the Bear Averse Conditioning Program

Washing away all the worries
Liard Hot Springs

What I am most thankful for:

On the way to Fort Nelson

Endless canola fields
Outside Dawson Creek

- My senses to see, to hear, to smell and to experience nature at one of the most magnificent places in the North America continent

- My most loving and wonderful husband Eric who has worked tirelessly for months to ready Albatross, our camper, for this trip; and his perseverance through it all

Eric doing light maintenance on 'Tross
Fort Nelson

Laundry Time!
Fort Nelson

Good morning!!
Charlie Lake

- My family, friends, and bloggers who show their love and interest in my journey in their very own ways, such as reading this Blog

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Picture this!

On the way to Fort Nelson, BC

Shitty turkey sandwich at a truck stop: $7.78

SKYPE phone call for reinforcement: 36 cents

Overnight Shipping charges: $58

Taking pictures of two stone sheep bumping nasties: Priceless

My G-rated blog just got upgraded to PG-13.

It is best to use your own imagination for all the priceless photos I will not get to take. My camera ran out of juice and I lost the battery charger somewhere between Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson in northern British Columbia. It’s not like you could just walk in a Radio Shack and pick up a charger for the Canon Powershot, like you would in Seattle. There is no such store here. We are in the middle of nowhere. Literally. Well, reinforcement is on its way, but “overnight” mail likely means five days.

If that is the biggest problem, I am a lucky gal. People did just fine without a camera for decades. I have done some sketching along the way, and journaling what I have seen. Now I rely on my brain instead of modern technology to remember what I saw.

The Canadian Rockies

I have never seen the Canadian Rockies. The mountains are huge. So big. So magnificent. So open. The air is clean and crisp. If more people see these wonders of the world, will they appreciate Mother Nature just a little more? Or will Mother Nature be treated just as poorly as she has been in the last hundred and fifty years or so, since the discovery of oil? We can never go back, no. How we move forward as a species is entirely up to us.

Summit Lake, highest point of ALCAN
Stone Mountain Provincial Park, BC

The Rockies are famous for their summer downpours, and we have experienced our share. The weather turned from sunny one minute to a sudden squall, then warm and beautiful again all within twenty minutes. We passed the lowest point of the Alaska Highway, the Muskwa River, at 1,000 feet elevation, while entering Fort Nelson. Two hours later, we were camping at the highest point of the Highway, Summit Lake, at Stone Mountain Provincial Park - 4,250 feet elevation.

Taking a hike up the summit at Summit Lake

Stone Sheep eating something - perhaps pebbles -
in the middle of the highway

Bear Necessities: Berries...

A moose was grazing; herds of stone sheep hanging out, posing for tourists through the limestone gorge. Stone sheep are indigenous to the mountains of northern British Columbia and southern Yukon Territory. They are often mistaken for mountain goats, which are not found in this area. Bear warning shots were fired by the ranger at the Liard Hot Spring, where I soaked and rid of all my trouble…

Buffalo - these magnificent animals
used to roam the great north

Camera or not, it will be just fine.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Breaking News! Bear poop sighting!

I cannot seem to remember what day of the week it is, let alone the date. Everyday I ask Eric: “What day is it today?” You thought I could just make a point to remember.

Rolling canola fields
Along Alaska Highway

Turnoff to Beatton Provincial Park
4 Miles from Fort St. John

Beatton Provincial Park
right next to Charlie Lake

Almost 10pm at Charlie Lake

Took a detour via the Hudson Hope's Loop
before we continued North

On the descent from Hwy 29
Peace River Plateau

How do you VIA?

Daisy catching up on her journal

We started towards White Horse – where we would supposedly turn south to Skagway then Juneau. We will be camping for a while from now on before we have another Couch to stay with. We drove for miles and miles and there was nothing but rolling hills and great country scenery. Nothing but 18-wheelers and RVs. At least the roads are in good condition, with intermittent pot holes and construction.

Albatross is filthy. We are saddened that the engine will never look as pristine as it once was – when it was just two thousand miles ago.

We put down for the night at a wild camp along the Prophet River. It used to be an emergency airstrip but it is no longer in use. No sooner after we popped the top and started on dinner, we discovered something alarming: A pile of bear poop ten feet from ‘Tross! “Holy bear feces!” – our words were a bit more appropriate and descriptive to the occasion. I guess we are in bear country afterall. We took the necessary precautions and planned an “escape route”, and continued the One-Pot-Gourmet du jour; clanking pots and pans and sounding the horn occasionally to announce our presence… Any evening constitutional is out of the question.

Holy bear feces...

Mosquitoes are the size of small helicopters. We slathered on the super strong Bug Juice with DEET, but the extra hungry ones will bite through anything to get a pint of blood from you. It is like donating blood at the Red Cross, sans cookies and hot chocolate. We feel no remorse for killing every single one trapped in the van.

We made good PRO-gress and covered lots of ground. No loss of limbs or digits to wildlife. Found Scotia Bank whenever we need one. Free WiFi is plentiful. Most importantly, not remembering what day of the week it is.