A week to go!

After an easy discharge from the hospital, this crew jumped right back into the thick of things. 


I’d like to take a second to profusely thank everyone that’s been praying for Taylor. I’m happy to report that she’s doing incredible. Like really. Her congestion is gone, her cough is gone, she’s back!! We are so, so grateful! She’s back to eating anything we will let her and singing “da-da” all. day. long. (No, I’m not bitter about that at all. Really.)
Before I get any farther, I’d like to point out some Canadian differences. And of course, this doesn’t apply to all of Canada, and different isn’t necessarily bad. 

1. The dang metric system. I know this is more of a rest of the world thing, not just Canada. But seriously, I get a little excited when I see a 110km/h speed limit sign before I remember its metric. 

2. They call restrooms, washrooms. That’s even what it says on the sign above the door. Washrooms. And people say they need to use the washroom. 

3. The roads. Even before we got on the Alaskan Highway, which has been pretty nice so far, the roads were a little crazy. There’s been places where it’s 4 lanes wide, 2 lanes going both ways, no median and there are NO LINES. None. For example…

4. Canadian currency has thrown me for a loop. Specifically the coins. More specifically, the coins needed for the laundry machines. I was told they take loonies ($1 coins) so I went off to get some cash back one evening. A nice gas station guy got me cash back and when I mentioned I needed it for laundry, I thought he said, “oh, well then you need some loonies. I’ll give you your change in those.”

Turns out, he did not say loonies. He said tooies. That’s what Canadians call their $2 coin. And just for informational purposes, tooies do not work in the laundry machines. You’ll have to go scrounge around your RV site and chance running into a neighbor or 3 and hope they are nice and have change to break your tooies into loonies. 

5. Last one today. Lots of full service gas stations. And there’s sometimes no option to go anywhere else. I’ve never been anywhere that had this many mandatory full service stations. 
Okay, back to road trip madness. We had to cut out Banff and Jasper, which was really sad. Seriously, go google those places in British Columbia and you’ll see why. But by skipping them, and going a different route, we were able to stay on course. 

We headed up to Whitecourt, BC on Tuesday. We stayed at Sagitawah RV Park. The internet wasn’t great and there wasn’t lots of room. But the guy running it was nice and it had a great playground. Sadly, no picture. 

The next stop was Dawson Creek, BC. It’s where the Alaskan Highway starts. 

Small nugget of history: when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, they also bombed Dutch Harbor up in the Alaskan island chain. In 8 months in 1942-1943, the Army built this road from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks, AK so they could get up there and protect our country. That’s crazy fast! And after driving through the terrain, I literally can’t believe it. Thank you Jesus it’s paved now. 

We stayed at Northern Lights RV Park. A little cramped, but impeccably clean washrooms, showers, and laundromat. 

Next stop Fort Nelson, BC. We stayed at Triple G’s Hideaway. This didn’t seem as cramped because we got to stay in the round about area which had some trees, but still close quarters. Owners were nice and the restaurant was great. What was even cooler was the Fort Nelson Museum within walking distance. I can’t even put into words what a cool, quirky place it was. I’m pretty sure the curator never threw anything away and one day realized he could organize it and call it a museum. But he has some stuff of serious historical value too! From a giant engine that used to generate electricity for the whole town and a propellor from an airplane that crashed at a local runway, to 3 tons worth of old telephone company equipment with switchboards and even the owner manuals. Mounted bears, foxes, ferrets, hawks, caribou, mountain goats, even a moose! 

Yesterday we drove from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake, YK and it was seriously the best part of our trip yet. We saw lots of animals on the side of the road, even crossing the road! Bears, caribou, mountain sheep, bison, deer! But the best part was Muncho Lake! So, so pretty! We had to stop and take some pictures. Breathtaking view, HUGE lake that was almost jade in color. 

Last night we stayed at Downtown RV in Watson Lake, YK. Very nice owner, but it’s basically a parking lot. There aren’t lots of choices up here. Most places don’t have websites, and you can’t make reservations on line. You can see how we are packed in here, and how one of our neighbors was already gone before I got up to take the picture. 



We’ve found that we see lots of familiar faces at our RV parks. There’s like a herd of us all going the same way and all stopping at the same spots. What we are doing for a military move, lots of people are doing as their trip of a lifetime. There’s not a whole lot of people on the road at all, but the ones that exist are 90% of the time going to or from Alaska. We don’t get up and on the road as early as the, ahem, mature crowd surrounding us do. Be we usually catch up or pass them before the day is over. We should probably take a lesson from them in pulling over and enjoying all the historical markers, but it’s a big hassle getting everyone out and then back in! Most of the people our age that we’ve seen are doing the trip on a bicycle. With tents. 

Heck no techno.