Back to the "Lower 48"

Sunday night while camping outside Thunder Bay, we were awakened by rain, then thunder and lightening (appropriate that the first thunderstorm since our first night of camping was near Thunder Bay). For the first time in a very long time, we had left the windows and vents open because it was warm enough, so I crawled out of bed to close up everything. Later when it had stopped raining, Ernie opened one of the vents and turned on the fan. Of course the rain wasn't finished and started up with a vengeance when we were too sound asleep to realize what was happening. By the time I got up, turned off the fan, and closed the vent, the floor, countertops, and I were all soaked! The next morning Ernie had to spend lots of time cleaning up everything we'd left outside (chairs, ladder, etc.) because they were all mud-splattered--verification again that camping in the rain is just not fun!

We drove through Thunder Bay, got an oil change, and headed south. This was the fourth oil change of the trip--we hit 13,000 miles Monday!

A few miles outside Thunder Bay, Ernie spotted this little guy digging in the bank alongside the road. I didn't have time to get the camera set correctly, so lighting is bad, but he was really cute! Ernie has some good video of him. No sign of Mama Bear.

His head down inside the hole he was digging--probably digging for bugs

Border crossing back into the "Lower 48" in Minnesota

Lake Superior

Lake Superior in Grand Marais, where we stopped for lunch

We drove along the coast of Lake Superior, but the view was limited since there were so many trees between the lake and the road, not to mention lots of clouds and fog over the lake. We drove as far as Two Harbors and stopped for the night, since Ernie was exhausted. After the experience of the night before and the forecast of more storms, we opted for a hotel again. We decided to stay until Wednesday, since the forecast is for thunderstorms Tuesday and Tuesday night, but sunny Wednesday. Delaying a day will also give Ernie a much-needed chance to rest a little more--the 13,000 miles is beginning to take its toll! Not sure of our schedule after tomorrow--depends partially on the weather, but we'll head to Wisconsin from Duluth.

More Grain, Museums, and Canadian Scenery

After spending Thursday night, August 27, in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, we decided to make a stop at the Saskatchewan Western Development Museum before we left Yorkton Friday morning. Saskatchewan has four different Western Development Museums in different towns, but we didn't stop at the one in Battleford because when we went by, the parking lot had four school buses and several cars there--looked a bit crowded! However, no one was at the one in Yorkton the next day, and their outdoor exhibit of old farm implements was much more extensive than the one in Battleford. Farmer Ernie just couldn't resist! I thought it would be rather boring, but I enjoyed the indoor exhibits immensely. I find any history fascinating, and the exhibits in this museum were extremely well displayed, which made it easy to become absorbed in all the intriguing information. When we started this trip, we knew next to nothing of Canada's geography and history, but now we're much more educated about our northern neighbor! Even the outdoor exhibits were displayed in a way to make them more interesting--I'd never seen so many old tractors and implements on one place! Of course Ernie loved it all!

Entrance to Western Development Museum in Yorkton, Saskatchewan

The display that immediately caught my eye was the winner of the Centennial Quilt Contest in 2005--the intricacies in this quilt were just amazing!

One of the many sheds housing tractors, wagons, combines, threshing machines, etc.--I think there were about six of these structures, all filled with machinery, in addition to the implements outside along the fence. There was also a sawmill and blacksmith shop.

Ernie inspecting one of the tractors

On our way out of town, we spotted this display of "Crops of the Parklands," which had plots of various crops grown in Saskatchewan with explanations of each crop. We had been discussing crops as we drove along the day before, trying to decide what all the crops were that we passed--we didn't recognize some of them and noticed some farmers harvesting what looked like weeds to us. So this display cleared up some of our confusion. We spent more than an hour reading all the info about the different crop plots--farming is very complicated! Another opportunity to expand our knowledge and keep learning, not to mention deepening our appreciation for farming and farmers! :)

Note the crop plots to the left and the sunflower plot (my favorite!) to the right of the sign

A wheat field behind the display

Later Friday afternoon we left Saskatchewan and crossed the border into Manitoba.

First views of Manitoba

Shortly after crossing into Manitoba, we found a little city park in Russell, Manitoba, offering free camping with free electricity. Even though they had no restrooms, we decided to stay and walk over to the co-op gas station/store next door. After setting up and eating some dinner, we took a walk around the town of Russell--very pretty, clean little town--we enjoyed our evening there! Saturday we drove across Manitoba under cloudy skies, and later in the afternoon stopped in Portage la Prairie to get the truck tires rotated and balanced and the oil changed. After some frustration and failure to find a place that could change the oil, we managed to get the tires rotated and balanced after a long wait, then proceeded toward Winnipeg.

One of many fields of sunflowers we passed. Apparently Manitoba is a major producer of sunflowers! These were looking pretty droopy since there was no sun for them, but I was amazed at the huge fields of sunflowers!

We should have spent the night in Portage la Prairie but decided to go on to Winnipeg, thinking it would be easy to find a place to stay there. Not so . . . we took the by-pass around the south side thinking we would find more on the outskirts but it was absolutely barren! So we took a road in toward Winnipeg but it was a pretty dumpy part of town. I guess we must have missed the best parts of Winnipeg, but we couldn't find anything that impressed us!

At least we were rewarded with a fantastic rainbow spanning the entire road after a rain! There was even a double rainbow above this one, but I couldn't get a good shot of it through the windshield.

We kept driving, thinking we would find either a campground or hotel somewhere between Winnipeg and the border with Ontario, but we found nothing! After driving through Yukon, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, we decided Manitoba is our least favorite! Roads were inferior, and we just didn't find much to impress us (except the town of Russell just over the border and the tire store in Portage la Prairie)! Anyway, we ended up driving into Ontario before finding a place to spend the night--the only hotel room we could find in Kenora, Ontario (by that time it was too late, and we were much too tired to try to find a campground).

Sunday morning we found McLeod Park in Kenora--peaceful, beautiful city park on the shore of Lake of the Woods with lots of lovely flower beds.

Ernie caught me admiring the fountain in the lake when I didn't know he was taking pictures.

Ernie testing to see if his arm was long enough to take our picture :) Not bad

Sailboat on the lake

Instead of driving south from Winnipeg into Minnesota as we originally planned, we had decided to drive east to Thunder Bay, Ontario, then drive south along Lake Superior to Duluth. The drive east to Thunder Bay was beautiful, so we were glad we changed routes.

Rock walls on either side of the road--beautiful drive!

One of the many lakes we passed between Kenora and Thunder Bay, Ontario

We stopped just west of Thunder Bay and spent Sunday night in a campground after a day of beautiful scenery! Monday should find us back in Minnesota!

Amber Waves of Grain

Today was much like yesterday, with lots and lots of wheat fields and round bales of hay scattered across the landscape. Massive farm machinery and huge fields, along with occasional herds of cattle, populate Saskatchewan. We passed through many small communities, but the only larger city we drove through was Saskatoon, which is the largest city in Saskatchewan. Eastern Saskatchewan seems to have lots of lakes, reminding us of Minnesota. It was all beautiful with sunny blue skies and warm temperatures again, so Ernie again thoroughly enjoyed gazing at all the wheat fields!

Views of the town and fields around Battleford from the campground where we spent last night

North Saskatchewan River Valley from a scenic overlook

We're spending tonight in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, about 50 miles or so from the Manitoba border. Tomorrow we'll be in Manitoba (one more time zone closer to home!) but I'm sure we won't make it as far as Winnipeg--will probably be there Saturday. We pushed it a little too far today, and Ernie is exhausted, so tomorrow will probably be a shorter day.

Alberta to Saskatchewan

Ernie was a happy man today--once we got out of the city of Edmonton (we actually only drove across the north side, so we didn't get into the city proper at all), we drove through prairie farm country all day! Lots of wheat, other grains, tractors, hay bales, and miles and miles of farmland--a big change from all the mountains of the last several months! I love mountains, but Ernie's preference is prairie land, so he was loving the terrain today! He loves to be able to look out over open country and see for miles, so he was feeling a little claustrophobic in the mountains. The weather was absolutely perfect--sunshine, blue skies, and temperatures in the mid to upper 70s! Staying in Edmonton yesterday to let the bad weather get ahead of us turned out to be a very wise decision! So not only did Ernie get to see wheat fields, but he saw them with the sun shining on the golden wheat!

Some views of Alberta fields . . .

We have now traversed the entire width of the province of Alberta--going west on the way to Alaska and now going east. This afternoon we left Alberta for Saskatchewan, the first time we've been in this province. So far it looks very similar to Alberta, but maybe a little more rolling and a little more "growy." We're spending the night in a city park in Battleford, which has a museum with lots of old agricultural stuff, so who knows when we'll leave tomorrow. :) It remains to be seen whether we'll get across the entire province of Saskatchewan into Manitoba tomorrow. We drove almost 300 miles again today, and Ernie's knee has been bothering him the last few days, so we might have to stop more often for him to stretch it and take breaks from driving.

Our total mileage on this trip so far is getting close to 12,000 already! Ernie had calculated before we left that we'd drive about 12,000 miles, but we're obviously going to exceed that! We'll make it home before the predicted four months, though, even though we're driving more miles than anticipated.

Now that we're headed southeast, it seems like we're getting closer to home. But looking at a map of Canada and the US, I see we still have a loooong way to go! Right now we're about straight north of central Montana. We're not too anxious to get back to Indiana's heat wave, but we are anxious to see the kids and friends!

On to Edmonton, Alberta

Sunday, August 22 we left Dawson Creek and the Alaska Highway, headed to Edmonton. Weather was still cloudy and rainy, and smoke from the forest fires joined the clouds to make the sky very hazy. Rolling hills gave way to flat plains, broken up occasionally by forested areas. The farther we drove, the flatter the land became, though.

The sweet housekeeper in the breakfast room at the Days Inn insisted on taking our picture in their lobby before we left :)

Ernie's relieved to finally have some grain fields to look at!

Sunday night we stayed in Whitecourt at the campground that had the highest rating, but we were disappointed--bathrooms were very disappointing, interior roads were muddy and full of potholes, and everything seemed run-down and poorly maintained. Ernie had been freezing all day and just couldn't get warm, and his knee started bothering him again. Our bed was just downright wet (not just damp, but wet), so sleep was not easy! We took our time leaving in the morning, though, hoping the rain would again get ahead of us. We planned to drive only about 80 miles Monday to give the storms time to get far enough ahead of us that we wouldn't catch up.

Beautiful fields between Whitecourt and Edmonton with some blue skies! Ernie even got to watch some farm machinery in the fields!

Catching up to the clouds again . . . but the fields are beautiful! Some of the haziness is caused from the wildfires in BC that has drifted into Alberta

I had researched campgrounds near Edmonton, and from reviews I read there was only one worth checking out. We drove through it, but it was still very wet from all the rain, and the storm clouds looked very dark and ominous again! We were just so tired of the rain and damp, so we found a new Motel 6 in Stony Plain west of Edmonton at an extremely reasonable price and checked in. Normally I'm not too thrilled with Motel 6, but this one is very nice. After checking the weather, we decided to stay Tuesday also to make sure the weather would stay ahead of us. Staying another day also gave me a chance to catch up on the blog and gave Ernie a chance to rest his knee. We've both enjoyed the break, and are ready to go again tomorrow, through the prairies toward Winnipeg (after driving through Edmonton--hopefully after morning rush hour ends). Now we just have to travel fast enough to stay ahead of another storm system moving in from the west! We're hoping for sunny skies over the prairies tomorrow!

Finishing the Alaska Highway--Ft. Nelson to Dawson Creek

Saturday, August 21 started out with sunny skies, so we were hopeful the rainy skies were gone. Today the goal was to complete driving the entire Alaska Highway with the last section from Ft. Nelson to Dawson Creek.

Alaska Highway east of Ft. Nelson

Wildflowers along the highway

It didn't take long for us to catch up to the clouds and rain--we were apparently traveling the same path and caught up to the storm system by midday. The radar Ernie had looked at hadn't shown anything, but it was obviously faulty. (Later he found another radar that showed the massive system we'd been following!)

Not only did we have clouds and rain, but late afternoon between Buckingham Creek and Ft. St. John, slushy rain was followed by a horrendous hail storm! Temperatures were in the mid-forties. Felt more like the beginnings of winter than August!

Hail collecting on the windshield

Over the mountains, out of the wilderness, and onto the plains . . . finally! Coming out of the mountains, we started seeing definite signs of civilization between villages and towns. Ernie was thrilled to see some flat land and fields--he'd begun getting a bit claustrophobic with all the mountains and longed to be in a place where he could see for miles.

Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek--the official beginning of the Alaska Hwy. (or in our case, the end)

We made it! We traveled the entire Alaska Highway!

While searching Dawson Creek for the two campgrounds that were supposed to be there, we found one which seemed to be full and hosting a "Peace Festival," but we never could find the other even with GPS. So we decided to stay dry and get another hotel room--this time a new and much nicer Days Inn at a reasonable price. Ahh, the joys of private bathrooms and showers and dry beds!

Whitehorse to Watson Lake and Fort Nelson

Thursday morning, August 19, we made a stop at the Yukon Transportation Museum in Whitehorse, a very interesting museum. I didn't expect much for a local museum, but I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the visit. After our museum time, we headed east from Whitehorse to Watson Lake, a drive we had made west in July. This was just a travel day over territory we had seen earlier and in better weather. Thursday brought a day of rain and clouds, so we didn't stop often until we arrived at our destination a few miles west of Watson Lake and didn't take any pictures all day--a first! Even though it was raining and we had seen it earlier, we were still fascinated with the beauty. The rain and clouds just gave it a different kind of beauty! We spent another night camping in the rain, but we were compensated by their wonderful "Wolf It Down" Restaurant and Bakery!

On Friday, August 20, we continued from Watson Lake to Ft. Nelson on another rainy day. When we left Watson Lake, we passed a line of vehicles waiting in line to see if they could get in the convoy possibly going south on the Cassier Highway, the highway we took north in July. It had been closed due to massive forest fires, but there were rumors they might take a convoy through. The day before they had decided at 3:00 pm not to go through, so all the people waiting had to go another route! I'm glad we had taken it earlier; we talked to many people who had planned to leave by this route and had to change plans. We could certainly see and smell the smoke from the fires, one of which was just a few miles from where we were.

This must have been wildlife day! We had seen bison warning signs for miles, and we finally came upon a herd napping and grazing on both sides of the highway.

Note bison on the opposite side of the road also, near the trees.

A baby bison, curled up in the grass, napping

A big bull bison right beside the road

A calf grazing beside the road

The Liard River Bridge, the last remaining suspension bridge on the Alaska Hwy.

The Liard River from the bridge

The Trout River

Ernie looking cute beside the Trout River

The Alaska Hwy. winding along beside the river

Muncho Lake with Peterson Mountain at the end. At the right side is the Terminal Range of the Rocky Mountains (northern-most range of the Rockies), and the left is the Sentinel Range of the Stone Mountains.

Muncho Lake and Peterson Mountain

Ernie at Muncho Lake

Joanne at Muncho Lake

Alaska Hwy. winding along beside Muncho Lake

Southern end of Muncho Lake

Ernie again had to drive off-road to get closer to the water--I think he just likes driving on rocks :)

Mama and baby Stone sheep standing in the road

Baby Stone sheep as they walked right past the truck

Two more Stone sheep on the other side of the road

A few more feet up the road were two caribou

Toad River, an odd name I thought for a beautiful, turquoise-colored river

Centennial Falls

We were surprised to come across a hay field! We didn't expect to see this until getting to the prairies later! But Ernie was excited!

Racing River Bridge and Racing River

Summit Lake--Summit Lake Pass is the highest pass on the Alaska Hwy.

Steamboat Mountain Summit

Our goal was to get to Ft. Nelson, but we almost stopped at Toad River at a campground we saw. We decided to go on to Ft. Nelson, though, because we didn't have phone service and wouldn't have internet service before Ft. Nelson. Ross and Mandy had had a terrible day Thursday, and we really wanted to talk to them, so we wanted to get to a place with phone service. By the time we got to Ft. Nelson, it was too late because of the time difference to call Jesse and Amber, but we did get to talk to Ross and Mandy. We could only find two restaurants open, so we chose "Dixie Lee" Chicken--yuk! Poor choice! It had been raining, it was cold, and by then we were exhausted so decided to get a hotel. Turns out all the hotels were full except one because "the bush" had been "closed down" because of all the rain, so all the people who work in the bush were in hotels in town (don't exactly grasp that whole concept, but the hotel parking lots were full of very muddy trucks, and the halls of the hotel we got were quite muddy!) Our room in the "historic" Ft. Nelson Hotel wasn't as bad as the halls indicated--it was clean and dry so we had a good night's sleep without getting soaked!!