Then, we followed the signs for Alaska!
Breakfast time...
Sherman had visitors over for breakfast.
Thanks again Doug and Arlene, we had a great visit and hopefully our paths will cross again someday!
We headed over to the Canadian Tire. We had to buy some weatherstripping for Sherman's main entrance door because mosquitoes can get in... and that is no good! And one of Sherman's battery cables had corroded at the terminal and so I bought a new one. Oh, and bear spray! Except they were sold out of bear spray, but we bought an air horn which is supposed to be a good deterrent as well... hopefully the bear spray will be a last resort.
Oh, we had better turn here!
Then, we stopped at Walmart to see if they had bear spray, but no luck.
Next was a stop for propane. We still had about a half a tank but I figured that it will likely get more expensive the further north we go, so we filled up at $0.895 per liter ($2.75 USD per gallon). Not cheap, but not bad either.
Heading west out of Grande Prairie.
Almost looks like we're back in the prairies.
We stopped at the small town of Beaverlodge and took a photo at the largest beaver in the world!
We're in British Columbia now!
Scenery along the way.
Ruth had read about another old wooden train trestle along the way. It wasn't much of a detour, so we drove over to have a look at it. Built in 1930, and entirely made of wood!
Me, going for a stroll on the Pouce Coupe train trestle!
Better not be a train coming around that corner!
The track is actually no longer in service. But it's kind of scary walking out there, despite the fact that it's about 10 feet wide. It would have to be a real blunder on your part to fall off. But the slats between the wood are about 4" apart, so that's actually quite a gap and you're watching where you put your feet, so you can't help but look through to the ground way below. It kind of gives you the heebie jeebies!
Next stop, the town of Dawson Creek and the beginning of the Alaska Highway.
On the way into town, we stopped at this Canadian Tire, and they had bear spray in stock. By the way, bear spray isn't cheap! The spray can cost $45.99 plus 12% tax for a total of $51.51 CAD ($40 USD).
It's that-a-way!
A pic of Sherman at the tourist info spot in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.
The World Famous Alaska Highway... Mile 0
We are not the only RV heading to Alaska!
As we were sitting in the tourist parking lot using their free wifi, Ruth reminded me that one of our readers had left a message on facebook inviting us to visit with them here in Dawson Creek. So I looked up the message and got his name and gave him a call.
Next thing you know, Wayne was down at the visitors center meeting up with us. He suggested we come up to their place, where Sherman could spend the night, and he and his wife Karen would take us out for dinner.
Wow!
We are sure meeting up with a lot of our readers on this trip so far!
Kevin, Ruth, Karen, and Wayne.
We went out for dinner at Boston Pizza, and then back to their place for conversation and a couple of glasses of wine. Another great evening we had! Thanks guys!
Tomorrow, we're headed further north. Lots of interesting stuff to see over the next few days, and I think that's the way it's going to be for the next couple of months! We've never been to this part of Canada, so it's all new to us!
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Good morning from Portland, OR.. Im really enjoying your travels.. we embark fulltime in 2 weeks.. starting into WA and heading east to WY then to CO for 2 months... would love also to meet up with you at some point in our travels.. safe travels.. enjoy Alaska ! :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations an the start of a new adventure! We really hope that you will enjoy this new lifestyle. Take your time and explore all those little off the beaten path kind of places, you won't regret it. :-)
DeleteI hope that we will have a chance to meet as well, somewhere down the road.
Followed your writings all over Mexico and now looking forward to the Alaska venture since that is high on our list. Thanks, again, for posting your travels.
ReplyDeleteThank you for following along with us. I hope that we can give you lots of ideas and helpful information for your eventual trip north. :-)
DeleteGood morning. Enjoying riding along and seeing what it's like. I once asked my granddaughter (when she was about 10 yrs old) 'what's it like to drive from Wasilla to Phoenix?' she one word response 'green.' As any kid on a road trip, she hated the drive haha. I would love to drive up highway 1 and explore. I've seen other blog pictures of Alaska and Yukon travels so I have an idea but it's nothing like being there.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are enjoying the ride! I know that you mentioned about being up north but not driving so this will be a totally different thing for you to see. I hope we can do the north justice with our pictures and our blog posts.
DeleteTo deter bears, we always sang and told jokes loudly when we were in the woods. But also a can of spray of we if ad a close encounter.
ReplyDeleteWe have done that as well but it is hard to keep on doing that for miles and miles of hiking, we would eventually lose our voices or run out of jokes and songs! ;-) We are glad that we have our bear spray but we hope that we will never have to use it.
DeleteI lived in Northern BC as a kid, they used to show "how to protect yourself from bear attack" films in the gym in elementary school lol. But really, common sense and not getting near Momma bears is the big thing. Likely you will be able to find bear spray though as it is so common - just keep stopping at those Canadian tires.
ReplyDeleteThere is more of a possibility of us meeting up with a bear because of all the hiking that we do. We have tried to gather as much info as we can on how to prevent an encounter with a bear as well as what to do if we actually do encounter one. The biggest error people make is running away from it and that is just pure instinct, hopefully we can keep a calm head if that situation should ever arise, hopefully it won't! BTW, we did get a can of bear spray. :-)
DeleteHow is the cell booster working?
ReplyDeleteSo far, great. It boosts an intermittent one bar signal to a four bar signal every time. I haven't yet had a chance to try it when the phone shows no signal at all... but we will!
DeleteDid you say 89.9 for gas... Vancouver is 161.9 and Med Hat is 133.9. Safe journey. Love your Blog.
ReplyDeleteNo Kevin said $0.895 for propane, not gasoline. Wish it was $0.895 for gasoline though!
DeleteI've heard that wearing little bells warns bears away too. But you need to be able to tell the difference between the different kinds of bear poop. Brown bear and black bear has berries and twigs in it. Grizzly bear poop has little bells in it and smells like bear spray.
ReplyDeleteThanks for starting my day with a laugh!
DeleteLol, we have heard that one before! ;-)
Deletegood afternoon from NS. Loving following your travels everyday.
ReplyDeleteHi there Natasha, thank you for commenting and for following along with us each day. We hope you will enjoy this new adventure of ours. :-)
DeletePer Rangers @ Glacier NP, best deterrent for bears is to let them know you are coming so they can move away. If you can't see aways ahead of you, including around bends and up and over rises, give a good, very, very loud call. Like 'Hey there!' or 'Hi Yo!'
ReplyDeleteJust don't use 'Bear' in your shout-out so as to avoid giving any hikers coming toward you a complete and immediate heart attack! 😅
Yep, that is exactly what we do when hiking in bear country. It is definitely better to prevent an encounter than to have to deal with one after the fact. Hopefully our air horn and can of bear spray will never have to be use! :-)
DeleteYou are now officially heading far north and new experiences .
ReplyDeleteIt is going to be an adventure filled trip! :-)
DeleteHi, We are from Ontario and driving from here to Alaska is on our list in the next couple of years. We are following your daily updates with a lot of interest! I really love that you don't have a specific agenda or end date for your travels, but left enough flexibility to stop for visits with friends or unexpected pitstops along the way.
ReplyDeleteHi there Campnuts, thanks for following along! I hope that we can give you lots of helpful info and ideas for your trip north in the next few years. Yes, we also like the fact that we don't have any specific agenda, it makes things so much easier than having to make reservations and feeling like you need to rush from one place to the other to meet your reservation date. If we like somewhere than we can stop for a few days, if not then we can move on to a better place. We like to smell the roses (in this case the pine trees, lol) along the way. :-)
DeleteGreat that you are finally going to be on the Alaska highway. Yes you are meeting a lot of your readers this trip enjoy! Sounds like the next few months will be very exciting reading of your blog. Travel safe!
ReplyDeleteWe had a great first day, can't wait to see what other adventures we will have down (up in this case) the road. :-)
DeleteYes, we have been very lucky to have met so many readers already on this trip.
I can attest to the fact that the air horn works to deter bears. About 20 years ago I was working in the bush in Yukon (we used to say 'the Yukon' but don't think that's PC these days) and suddenly we hear a low growl nearby. We look up and see a bear about 30 feet away! My partner tried to scrabble up the nearest tree, while yelling at me, "get the air horn!" (a lot of help he was) so I ran to our pack, blew the horn (it's REALLY loud) and the bear ran off. It wasn't a grizzly but still too close for comfort.
ReplyDeleteI remember you telling us that story, I don't remember the part about the air horn though, so it is good to know that it was effective in your case. We are really hoping that we aren't going to need it or the bear spray but we are glad that we have them both.
DeleteKaren and I were delighted to be able to meet you in person and spend some time together swapping travel stories! We wish we would be making the same trip as you as we had planned on doing it this summer but it didn't work out for us. We will be following your trip and living it through your pics and posts. Thanks again and hoping to meet up with your folks again sometime.Have a great trip and travel safe!!
ReplyDeleteWe really wish that you would have also been able to do this same trip but there is always next year. We are sure that you will have some great adventures in your motorhome this summer despite the fact that you won't be going up north.
DeleteWe really hope that we met up with you both again. Thank you once again for everything, we enjoyed our time with you both. :-)
Try not to buy fuel (diesel at least) in Fort Nelson. It was cheaper south of there, and cheaper in Watson Lake and Whitehorse last time I was through! Have fun. Watch for the frost heaves, bison, and construction. You must take a dip at Liard Hot Springs!
ReplyDeleteWe check GasBuddy as we go but we are definitely going to have to get gas somewhere along the route because we can't make it all the way to Fort Nelson on a tank of gas, we may have to pay a higher price but we will only put in enough to get us to the cheaper priced gas.
DeleteWe are definitely going to stop in at Liard Hot Springs. :-)
Should be a great trip..enjoy:) Canadian Tire was our go to place when we were touring the Maritimes.
ReplyDeleteIt is going to be a GREAT trip! :-)
DeleteO boy! On your way! Have THE BEST TIME! (stay off rickety train trestles) :-)
ReplyDeleteWe are going to have the BEST time! :-) Nope, no rickety old train trestles for us, this one was good and solid.
DeleteHere's a neat trick for you,, if a bear is in front of you,, spit at it,, if the spit comes back and hits you,, run like hell,,,,,,, moral of the story ,,,, Bear spray ain,t no good UP wind
ReplyDeleteIf the spit comes back at you, the worst thing to do is run like hell! Apparently that just makes the bear want to chase you, you are to make yourself as big as possible, waving your arms above you head and slowly back away. This may be hard to do if you are actually in that position though. Nope bear spray won't work if the wind is blowing back at you! ;-)
DeleteWe enjoyed following along with your group in Mexico over the winter. Looking forward to exploring the northwest with you. Always good writing and great photos. I do appreciate when you include a map every few days, showing exactly where you're at.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for following along with us Ann and Tom and for taking the time to comment. We will try our best to keep the blog posts interesting and hopefully we will have some great pictures to share as well. We try to put in a map every travel day but the odd time we forget. ;-)
DeleteHola y'all, really looking forward to "riding along" with you again and really glad you found some bear spray. It's really expensive till you need it and then it's unbelievably cheap. Gail and I counted 67 bears on our trip up there last spring, not counting the four that we either heard or heard about but didn't see in campgrounds while we were there. One of those was trapped only a few yards from our RV, (didn't end well for the poor bear). I second the suggestion for Liard Hot Springs, but you'll want your bear spray there too.
ReplyDeleteSafe travels,
Jim, Gail and Winston
Hi there Jim and Gail, hope you guys are doing well. :-)
DeleteTotally agree with you about the bear spray, if you have to use it, it is money very well spent providing of course that it works! ;-)
We have been told to have it with us walking to the hot springs at Liard, so we will definitely carry it with us.
We are going to enjoy watching this adventure!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ken and Shirley, we hope that you will enjoy it! :-)
Delete