Fort Nelson

Okay, now I am beginning to feel the miles a little more. We are actually following most of the Alaska Highway on our trip back home as opposed to when we went "up". The highway is officially from Dawson Creek which is pretty much in north east BC all the way up to Delta Junction, sort of south of Fairbanks, Alaska. Frankly just getting to Dawson Creek from California is a vacation in itself....regardless, Dawson is "mile zero". We should be there tomorrow. We are kind of doing this trip backwards, which is really tough when you use the Milepost!

The last several days have really been all about driving. From Watson Lake to Dawson there are not very many stops. While we loved the Northern Rockies (yesterday), today we are down, out of the mountains, and just drove miles of forest.... still alot of spruce in the morning, but by evening, not very many. Tonight we are camped in a forest of birch, which is nice, but not the mountains!

The highlight of today is chatting with the editor of the Milepost, our road "bible". Most travelers don't drive this route without having it on the dash! She was staying at our campground last night, not too hard to spot since she is in a truck camper with the guide book title on it! Any way I really wanted to say hi, but felt that maybe she didn't want to be bothered, every one must want to introduce themselves...so I didnt.

But this morning after gassing up, we spotted our new favorite breakfast place, Tim Hortons. So we turned in, and what do you know, there was her truck camper! So this time I did go up and say hi! I can't remember what I actually said, but we did end up having a nice little chat. She didn't want to tell us how long she had been doing the traveling because she had been doing it for "so" long. But really, every year, ALL the routes are driven and updated, and there are a number of them! All through western Canada and Alaska. When we asked about how staff is replaced, it sounds like when "some one finally dies", they replace the position. She was joking of course, but there are only a few who do this, and many who imagine what a "dream job" it must be! What was nice is that they really want travelers to share info with their staff so the guide can stay as relevant as possible, so she gave me her card. Probably recognized my innate ability to note travel detail, (as pertains to cinnamon buns and coffee in particular) even if I don't spell well! (I added that disclaimer for Mother's benefit since she cringes as she reads our journal updates! Yes, Kristi, yours too!) But I digress, she was gracious, friendly and very patient with me.

No wildlife except for two kind of big, tan birds, with long legs. Oh, and some horses!

Split a buffalo burger in Buckinghorse for lunch.

And drove by a lot of temporary company housing for oil and gas companies. A lot! It triggered a conversation about our brother in law, Steve.

Thankfully found a provincial campground outside of Fort St John, on Charlie Lake. The good news is that it was over a kilometer walk to the lake from our site and so we actually used our legs and had a nice long walk with Auggie through this big birch forest. Cool weather, blue skies, clouds, and a pretty good size lake.

Back to camp and barbecued chicken to have with a salad and nice glass of Canadian chardonnay for dinner!

Thank you Lord for safe travels!Read more