Beautiful, rugged Yukon scenery

We woke up at the Watson Lake airport and headed into town to use the free wifi at the visitors center. There's a cell signal around Watson lake, but for some reason my phone won't connect to the data. It shows a UMTS connection with no data, but the calling features work fine. Not sure what's going on there, but it's frustrating. (And then for no reason it started working later in the day. And now, in Teslin, it's not working again. Arg!)

Before leaving the airport though, we had a couple of things to do.

Made it to the Yukon!

Yesterday morning we arrived in the Yukon! We can't believe it took us 56 years to get here!

We did the drive first thing in the morning, almost 200 kms. We stopped a couple of times along the way, once to get gas and a couple of times to see the animals!

I would say this was worth the extra effort...

Once again, we got up at 6:30am Monday morning, fired Sherman up and hit the road right away in the pouring rain. It wasn't a far drive to Muncho Lake and the Northern Rockies Lodge where we stopped to have breakfast. I should clarify... we didn't have breakfast at the lodge. We simply stopped at the lodge to have our breakfast in the motorhome!

And, the lodge has wifi internet... a rare commodity in these parts where there is no cell service.

This is why we came here!

On the road before 7:00am again yesterday morning. We find it's better to get some driving done early. There are a lot fewer vehicles on the road, plus the odds of seeing some more wildlife are higher.

There are a lot of roadside pulloffs on the Alaska Highway. Obviously you can't stop at them all, but there are so many photo opportunities and things that we don't want to miss. We simply can't figure how anybody can drive right through, and yet many people do exactly that.

No overnight camping allowed at the dump station

We woke up at 6:15am Saturday and got Sherman ready to hit the road. We figure that we might as well use the engine heat to warm things up rather than wasting propane by using the furnace.

It doesn't take us very long to get going... we have done this so many times that even when we aren't ready at all, it only takes us 15 minutes to get things packed away and secured for travel. We both know the drill and what has to be done, and before you know it we're on the road.

Scenery along the Alaska Highway

We actually drove 205 kms (127 miles) yesterday! We're trying to average about 200 kms (124 miles) a day, but we haven't been able to that very many times... there is too much to see along the way.

Lots of oil and gas activity up here! In fact, it's amazing how they get so much equipment and manpower, and be able to house and feed all the workers. Especially the 300 kms or so north of Dawson Creek.

May Expenses

Not a bad month considering we flew to Ottawa and back, and we rented a car for a week. But, we also spent two full weeks working at the park, and we hardly left the park during that time so we didn't really have much opportunity to spend any money.

In total, we spent $1,591 CAD ($1,250 USD) for the month. Here's how it all broke down...

A great first day on the Alaska highway!

Okay, bear with us... long blog post today with lots of pictures because we saw lots of neat stuff!

We said goodbye to Wayne and Karen, and thanked them for their hospitality. Great to meet people along the way! Forgot to get a photo of Sherman's overnight spot... we had parked in the storage area of the little community where Wayne and Karen live. Their motorhome was in for service work, so we were able to use their spot.

On the way into the center of Dawson Creek, we saw something interesting!

The World Famous Alaska Highway... Mile 0

Up at our normal time around 6:30am yesterday morning. Had to get things done and give the place a bit of a tidy up, because we were having visitors over for breakfast. Doug and Arlene were coming over for pancake breakfast and to give us a few last minute tips around the city of Grande Prairie.

Then, we followed the signs for Alaska!

Before we knew it we were sitting on their back porch having a glass of wine!

On the road again fairly early yesterday morning after a great sleep despite the highway noise. I had read that the Valleyview, Alberta visitors center had good free wifi, and they weren't lying! Not a bad place to park for an hour and get caught up on things.

Then, we headed to the nearby Williamson Provincial Park to go for a walk.

Too close to the highway, but at least it's a nice setting!

Slept fine at the church, but moved early this morning to have our breakfast at the mall using the unsecured wifi coming from Domino's Pizza. Nobody was in there eating pizza for breakfast so it was pretty fast wifi with us being the only ones using it!

Then, we made our way to the Whitecourt Visitors Center located in the Forest Interpretive Center.

Because if you don't ask, you don't know.

We sure are getting lots of daylight as we get closer to June 21st, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. And of course it's even more noticeable as we drive further north.

On Saturday night, the official sunset was at 9:57pm. And then sunrise is at 5:20am! But the interesting thing is that when then sun sets... it lasts for a long time!

Well, that was a different day!

Up and on the road early yesterday. We were trying to beat the moderate winds that were in the forecast, and we were trying to make it to Edmonton by 11:00am or so.

We were not successful in either endeavor.

Into the province of Alberta!

Woke up with a bit of a breeze in the air, and it continued all day. Fortunately, it wasn't a cross wind, but it wasn't a tailwind either! Yes, we had a fairly strong headwind all day. Not good for Sherman's fuel mileage!

But, we had to carry on towards Edmonton. We crossed into Alberta just before 10:00am. Sherman hasn't been to Alberta since the fall of 2007!

We packed things up and decided to search for something else.

Because of the two hour time change related to our flight from Ontario back to Saskatchewan, we both woke up before 6:00am. Might as well get up and start the day! After a bit of computer time, we decided to head to Walmart and do a grocery shop while the store isn't busy.

After that, we went to a heavy truck and trailer place that advertised welding, but it was crowded for parking and I didn't want to hang around. Actually, truth be told I couldn't wait to get started on our trip to Yukon! Besides, the welding job isn't pressing, but I've been wanting to get it done for so long and keep putting it off. I'll keep my eyes open for a small town guy who hopefully can squeeze me in without waiting.