Catching Up

It's now July 20 and we haven't had internet in several days so I am behind on blogging. I think I will just review the past several days in one post.

On Saturday (7/17) we left the campground and I drove for the first time. I was helping move the rig up so that Eric could pick up some blocks we put down and I just kept driving. The Cassiar was the perfect road for me. It's remote and not crowded. I drove about 160 miles and I think I did pretty good. The kids said it was a smoother ride than when dad drives, but I think they were just trying to push his buttons.

The Cassiar is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we highly recommend it to anyone traveling north. It gets a bad rap of being a hard road to drive. The top part is in the Yukon and has some issues, but it's far better than parts of the Alaska Hwy. There was a horse in the road at one point that would not move. I had to inch forward and keep honking the (regular) horn to get it to move. We saw lots of bear scat on the road as we approached the junction to Stewart-Hyder, but only saw one small black bear. Stewart-Hyder is very interesting. It's at the top of the Portland Canal which is the most northern ice-free port in Canada. There are several glaciers in the area. Hyder is a funky little town on Alaska. The US does not maintain a customs station but Canada does. It didn't make sense to me but someone explained that booze and cigarettes are tax free and a lot cheaper so it's truly about customs and not immigration. When we left Hyder the custom's officer got into our RV and asked us lots of questions.

We stayed at a cute little RV park called Camp Run-A-Muck. They have WiFi, but the connections were SUPER slow so all I managed was to update my FB status. I did do a few loads of laundry since we have full hook-ups. On Sunday morning we got up and went up to the Fish Creek bear viewing platform. Thd salmon have not started running yet so the bears were not out. We were a little bummed that the salmon are late this year, but it was still a neat place to visit. Parker said he wants to work there someday. We also drove up to the massive Salmon Glacier, which is the largest glacier accessible by car. It was an amazing site. Dori & Park has some fun playing in some snow.

We got a late start out of Hyder and drove 200 miles to Smithers, BC. What a cute town! We stayed at the municipal campground. We were SOOO tired and all headed to bed a little earlier. For the 2nd night in a row, it actually got dark.

Yesterday we got an early start out of Smithers and our plan was to drive east to Prince George and then head toward Japser and Banff. We were traveling up a hill (using the passing lane to pass a logging truck) and the RV lost power. It was a super tense moment but Eric was able to get it started before we started rolling backward or someone hit us. We immediately made the decision that we needed to turn south toward the US at Prince George and avoid the mountains. We stopped in the visitor center parking lot for lunch and I went in and asked about our driving options. They agreed that with potential issues with the RV that we should not go through the mountains as there are very few towns.

We headed south out of Prince George and decided to go as far as possible. When we stopped in Williams Lake to make dinner we decided to push it to Kamloops. We knew it would be about 10pm before we got there. We had more issues with the RV the last hour before we stopped. It was hilly, curvey, and dark and it got quite scarey when the RV died and wouldn't start right away. We managed to make it to Kamloops and parked in the Costco lot for the night. We did talk to another RVer who gave us some advice about our rig and the best route to the US. We had planned on taking the freeway south, but the man said that it cuts straight up through the mountains and we should avoid it.

Eric didn't sleep well and was up right away this morning, which woke me up. We decided that we needed to find a shop to take a look at the RV (maybe bad fuel or need an oil change?) so we headed out right away. There were several truck shops about 1/4 a mile from Costco, but the RV died trying to get there. We parked it in a lot, unhooked the Jeep, and Eric went around to several shops in the area. We found a place that thought they could take a look at the rig around 9:30, which is actually right now. With the wait it cut out this morning and we couldn't get it to start again for about 5 mins (3 times!) we realize we won't be back in the US by lunch as we hoped. We were really hoping to make it to the US and have someone take a look at it there, but we can barely make it 2 blocks without it dying. It seems to be some kind of electrical issue. We think it could be related to the ignition switch, but we aren't sure. We called Eric's dad this morning and he wasn't quite sure what the issue is. We kept the call short since we have to pay roaming in Canada.

Right now I am about a mile away from the truck shop at a McDonalds with the kids. There is no WiFi here so we are about to head to Starbucks to see if they have WiFi. Hopefully the RV is a quick and cheap fix (I won't hold my breath) and we can be to the US by the evening.

**Will update photos & video when we can!!**

Goodbye Alaska Highway

We ended up sleeping in a little bit this morning. We didn't have the best night's sleep (that's what you get for FREE) and we were chilly. Eric aired up tires and I grabbed some baked goods at Starbucks (thanks P&P!) before getting back on the highway. I tried the ATM again and it would not let me get any money. It said my daily allotment was exceeded. Grrr!! I took our money before midnight CST, so there shouldn't be an issue. I am not sure what is up. I was able to take out money one night and then the next morning when we first got into Canada. So worse comes to worse, we will use the credit card.

Today's drive along the Alaska Hwy was very pleasant. The surface of the highway was good and rough areas were well marked. The fist 250 miles is a portion we covered on the way up. We stopped to make lunch at one of the Continental Divide rest areas that we stopped at before. We didn't want to go back all the way on the same road, so we decided to take the Cassiar Hwy back.
It turns south and travels through western British Columbia paralleling the inland passage of Alaska.

At first the Cassiar really stressed Eric out. It was like turning onto a small sideroad, even though it was paved. Overall it hasn't been bad. We aren't driving as fast as we were most of the day, but we still arrived at the Boya Lake Provencial Campground with plenty of day left. We actually stopped much earlier than we do many days. This lake is just so beautiful. It water is tourquoise blue and crystal clear. The trees and mountains reflect so well in the lake. It's just breath-taking! We are camped right by the swimming and boating dock so the kids wanted to go swimming right away. The glacial water is in the 40s. Parker jumped in and was out of the water super quick. The look on his face told how cold it was. After dinner, a walk, and some s'mores by the fire, Eric & Jake decided to have a man contest. They decided to jump into the lake and whomever was in longest was the manliest. They were crazy and lasted about 6 mins. You can check out the video below. Enjoy the gorgeous pics from the day too!

Goodbye Alaska

We set a 7am alarm to get on the road from Tok as we had nearly 400 miles to cover to get to Whitehorse (Yukon Territory, Canada). We topped off both vehicle with gas and got on the road. We had about 90 miles to the border. Canada customs is another 20 miles down the road. There is not a lot along this stretch of the road. We did see rivers, creeks, and lakes looking quite full along the way. There was major rain in Alaska several days ago which caused flooding in the area. In fact, the Taylor Hwy had many parts washed out. Several people were stranded along the road. We drove that road into Alaska a few weeks ago. Last night I called an RV park at Border City to see if they had any spaces and they said they were flooded. As we drove by we saw that the RV park was surrounded by water and several RVs were stranded there. We were thankful to not be a part of any of this flooding. We sailed through customs with no issues.

The stretch of the Alaska Highway today was bad. We were told that it was horrible from Beaver Creek all the way to Whitehorse, but that's not the case. Construction starts in Alaska about 15 miles before the border. It's rough going from the border to Beaver Creek. It's absolutely HORRIBLE from Beaver Creek until about Destruction Bay. Frost heaves and uneven pavement that really pushes you side to side on the road. We are taking the Cassiar Hwy tomorrow which is known to be bad, but many people say this portion of the Alaska Hwy is worse. We hope so. From Destruction Bay to Haines Jct there are rough spots, but most are well marked and if you slow down all is OK. The road was pleasant from Haines Jct to Whitehorse. A few heaves along the way, but pretty smooth the whole way. It took us over 11 hours to drive the 393 miles yesterday. The trade-offs for going slow was the Jeep bumper still being entact AND our gas mileage when up to 10.6 mpg.

We got into Whitehorse and planned to get gas, money, and then check into a campground. We had issues getting money as the ATM said we were over the daily limit. This was frustrating as I had used the same bank in the Edmonton area and gotten out $500 no problem. I tried different amounts and different banks and got the same result. I ended up being able to get $200 from the first bank. We stopped by the public library to use the WiFi and check our bank balance. Plenty of money in there, so I was confused by not being able to get more than $200 out. Since we are low on funds (we are avoiding using our credit card and getting 3% fees on each transaction) and it was after 9pm and we wanted to get another early stop we decided to just park at Walmart. I never thought we'd do this on the trip, but it was late and I was concerned about having enough cash. We are going to be more remote over the next few days and there are places where we will need cash. We plan on hitting the ATM in the morning before hitting the road. Hopefully it's not to loud in the parking lot overnight.

Arctic Adventures & Arrival in Alaska

This post is rated AAAA!

Yesterday was our BIG Arctic Circle (AC) adventure. We set an alarm so we could get on the road because we knew it was a 12 hr round trip. We started up the Dempster Hwy at 8:15am. This was not the best day to ride up the road (highway is not really a good term for it...think Ice Road Truckers) as it was raining. Unfortunately we missed out on many of the incredible views due to the clouds. But we persevered and made it. It was 252 miles up the road to the AC. There was a stretch about 75-100 miles long that was thick mud and quite slippery. We saw a car off the side of the road which looked like it rolled. We were glad to have 4 Wheel Drive on this section. We made it to the top and turned back about 3:30. We rented a gas can that needed to be returned by 9pm and we never thought we'd make it. It was after 4pm when we left Eagle Plains after getting some gas. That was 229 miles up and still on the far side of the bad section of the road. But we were very fortunate that it stopped raining and the clouds had lifted. We thought we wouldn't get back down until after 10pm. We flew down the highway and made it back to return the gas can at 8:45. So about 6.5 hrs to get up and under 5 hours to get back down. We only made 1 quick stop on the way down. The Jeep is caked with mud. You can see in the video we posted yesterday. (scroll down)

Anyway WE WERE INSIDE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE! We even did a GeoCache up there! w00t! It was COLD up there!! I wore a Teletubbies beach town around my head to stay warm!By the time we got back to the RV everyone was SICK of being in the Jeep and all wanted to do our own thing. We decided that we would not be in any hurry to get up at all. I had been sleeping poorly (even with a sleep mask on), so I took an Advil PM and slept for 9.5 hrs. Best sleep of the trip!

We took our time this morning and got packed up to head down the ferry line. There is a ferry crossing the Yukon River. We were going to do it with the Jeep hitched up, but we ended up unhitching and sending Jake over with the Jeep ahead of the RV. (Cars go in a different line) He was able to take lots of pics of the RV going over on the ferry. Those pics are on our other camera and will need to be uploaded another time. (We have 3 cameras, a video camera, and my phone which does both pics & videos with us and we still need to get them organized. Not to mention 2 different laptops to organize on! AND we never know what the internet connection is going to be. Right now we are using the WiFi in the main building at the RV park!)We continued on the day with Eric driving the RV and me in the Jeep. The Top of the World Highway is SOOO beautiful (I today's views made up for the missed views yesterday!) it is very rough...especially the US side. The border crossing (Poker Creek) is at the high point of highway. We got a very cool stamp in our passport and then went down about a 1/2 mile to the Welcome to Alaska sign!WE ARE IN ALASKA!!! We continued on the road down through Chicken, AK where we a little boy and his dog befriended Dori & Parker and chatted with his family a little bit. We got some funny pics in Chicken! The road was MUCH improved from Chicken down the the Alaska Hwy. For anyone reading this who is going to drive the Top of the World~ unhitch your tow vehicle and drive separately! I was able to go ahead of Eric and let him know of upcoming holes, curves, and vehicles via the CB radio.

We are know in Tok, AK. It's like Tokyo (with out the yo!) We are staying at a great RV park (Tundra). Tomorrow we only have 200 miles to get to Fairbanks, which we will take at a leisurely pace. We hope to stop and see Santa along the way!

Before I sign off, I want to show one of the incredible views we had today! We truly felt like we were on top of the world!!

Arctic Circle

This post has been updated to include a few videos we took. We have another Arctic Circle video to add but we need to get it off the video camera first.

Dawson City, YT

Just a quick update tonight.

We drove 347 miles from Whitehorse to Dawson City today. Dawson City is gold mining territory. Eric took Parker out panning this evening, but they didn't find any. We met some RV bloggers, Linda & Bob from Because We Can II. It was fun to chat with them! I also met Rae who works here at Bonanza Gold. She was kind enough to save a spot for us with just an email contact. Since the internet is on the slow side we will have to wait a few days to upload pics and video. Tomorrow we are venturing into the Arctic Circle via the Dempster Hwy. Should be a very interesting, but long day!

Still Sunny! (10 p.m.)

Natural Hot Springs & Sign Posts

I wrote this entry up this morning because I was so too tired last night. I took the boys up to the Hot Springs before bedtime and it was so relaxing that I just about passed out when I hit the bed.

After Eric got the Jeep bumper fixed we topped off with fuel before heading out of town. When Eric went to hitch up the Jeep the DC (plug into the cigarette lighter) end for the axillary brake broke apart. He tried piecing it back together, but it wasn’t working. Then we remembered the inverter had a DC plug. Eric cut the wires and spliced the inverter plug to the brake system. It worked and we were on our way. Glad we had electrical tape packed!

We had a beautiful drive to Laird. The views were amazing and we started seeing wildlife. We saw black bears, moose, a stone sheep, and LOTS of bison. We traveled alongside Mucho Lake which is absolutely gorgeous. The water was turquoise and the reflections were breathtaking. I hope the pics I took show the beauty of it all.Overall the drive was good. The road was in great shape and the rain was light. A very enjoyable drive.We arrived at Laird Hot Springs, set up, grabbed a snack and headed to the pools. It was a nice walk along a wooden platform walkway over a marshy area. The springs didn’t smell too bad at all. There was a ‘kids’ area that was about 2.5 feet deep and not too hot. It got cooler as you headed down stream. Everyone really enjoyed it. We saw a moose in the distance on the way back to the campsite.When we first arrived at Laird, Eric checked the jeep and noticed that the bumper was starting to pull away in a different area. One of the bolts was pulling through the bracket. (His vlog entry for today explains it better!) He figured if he could get some big washers and the right tool that he might be able to secure it. After we are dinner I went in search of firewood and stopped at the RV park across the street to say hi to Robert & Nancy (Wandering Woolfolks), whose blog I had been following long. I felt really bad that I woke Nancy up (she went to bed early) but was able to talk with Robert a little bit and explained our issue with the Jeep. He went down to the group and asked if anyone had any washers. One of the guys brought me a few washers, I borrowed (the wrong) tool from Robert, and then headed back to our site. It took a lot of muscle, but Eric was able to get the bolt off, hammer the ripped part down, and attached the washers on the outside. YEA! I was so thankful for the helpful people in that caravan group. It seems like all the bloggers I meet in person are super nice, and Robert & Nancy were no exception to that.

We made a fire, enjoyed some s’mores, and then the boys and I headed to the hot springs. We decided to try the beta pool further down. It’s a deep pool that felt refreshing to swim around. It was quite hot, so we headed to the main pool area before heading back to the RV. I thought I was going to have trouble falling asleep since it was so light at 10:30, but with going in the hot springs I was jello by the time I hit the bed. We slept til about 7:30 and then popped up and got on the road by 8:30.Today’s drive has been pretty good roads so far. Nice wide shoulders and not much traffic. We drove a few hours and stopped at Watson Lake, which is just inside the Yukon Territory. Outside the visitor’s center is this cool area called the Signpost Forest. There are huge wooden poles scattered about with signed from ALL over the world on them. We grabbed a shim of firewood and a sharpie and wrote our names & town on it and hung it on one of the poles at the highest point in the forest. We really enjoyed reading signs. People were quite creative on what they hung up. There were lots of license plates, city & street signs, and a variety of stuff that people put their names on. We figured there had to be a Geocache there, so we went back to the RV, jumped onto an open connection, and found one. The coordinates were way off so we didn’t find it, but it was fun trying. We will definitely do a cache or 2 when we go up to the Arctic Circle in a few days.We are now on our way to Whitehorse, which I think it the largest city in the Yukon. We will actually pass quite close to Skagway, AK today but we don’t plan on going there. We will check how the tow is doing. Eric said it was in good shape when we stopped in Watson Lake. We are hitting more rough spost now, but Eric is taking those really slow. We are starting to see mountain peaks with snow in the distance. We’ve only seen bison so far today, but we hope to see more.

In this video I have the date completely wrong. I say 25th of July! I twas recorded on the 25th of June, lol I have lost track of days.

Jeep Ready!

Eric just got back with the Jeep. It was 2 hours of labor and some bolts and parts and it was $243. 2 other RVers pulled into the welding shop with TOAD problems. They all hit the same big frost heave and it caused some damage. Ours was pretty minor compared to the other vehicles. Eric had noticed the one side starting to pull away but he didn't think it was a problem. It was really pulled out last night...so that one big frost heave must have done the damage. That shop said they are making lots of money off that bump! We are going to REALLY slow down now.

Off to get road ready. No services tonight at the Laird Provincial Park. Probably have internet again on Saturday night.

Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson

We started out with a lazy morning. We woke too early but just laid in bed for a while. We took showers and Eric made eggs for breakfast before we headed to town for some more pics. We visited the museum and original milepost 0.We didn't end up pulling out of the RV park until after 11...got on the road by 11:30. While I slept well last night it just wasn't long enough. I was tired all day long. The drive from Dawson Creek to Ft. Nelson was tougher than we thought it would be. The 283 miles took just over 7 hours. Eric was pretty stressed out by the rain. I think the main problem is we are running short on sleep. Hopefully we get a full night's tonight. Tomorrow we have a 4 hr drive to Laird Hot Springs.

We had our first meal out tonight. A&W cause it is fast and we were hungry. I planned meals well and have plenty of ingredients, but we encountered a problem today. We stopped for lunch and the kids & Eric got out to look around and play. I stayed in and prepared lunch. I thought I would prep dinner too, so I decided to make BBQ pork. The inverter I used the other day (which we've had for 13+ years) stopped working, so I plugged the crock pot into the inverter installed in the rig. As I was preparing the pork I thought it had an odor, but I wasn't sure. When I had Eric smell it when he came I noticed that the inverter was off. I knew it worked when I turned it on, so I thought that maybe the engine had to be running. After trying that it still didn't work. We realized that the inverter was blown, figured it was the $1 garage sale crock pot, and just threw the whole thing away (pork roast and all) into the nearest trash. I can imagine some animal having a feast tonight. We were just too tired to prepare a meal...the kids didn't mind!

Tomorrow Eric is going to get up and drive the Jeep over to a welding shop to get some work done. The front passenger side bumper has been starting to pull out from the vehicle and got worst today. He wants to get it secure before we head down the road. I hope he's able to get it fixed quickly and we can get to Laird in time to prepare lunch and then take a soak. We hope to meet up with Robert & Nancy, whose blog I've been following. They got some good pics from the drive today.

Look what I did today!!Don't get too excited~ it was just to the front of the campground!!!

FYI~ We have other videos besides the ones we are posting on the blog. Just click our Vlog link under the header to take you to our YouTube Channel.

Eric from Ft. Nelson

Mile 0

We've actually gone 2350 miles in 5 days and made it to the start (mile 0) of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, BC. Days 2-5 were ALL 12.5-13 hr days, but that is going to change today. We are way further than we thought we'd be so we are slowing it down. The kids have done GREAT and neither Eric nor I have had many meltdowns, but we were sooo tired when we pulled in at 10pm last night. Yesterday we traveled 514 miles in about 13 hours. Lots of hills so many times we were going 25-35 MPH. We thought we would have hit mountains by now, but it's continued to be hilly.

We stayed up pretty late last night. We're in another time zone now so it's actually 2 hours behind IL. Whatever time we actually arrived and went to sleep...I still only got about 6.5 hrs. But like the night before they were solid. I think I could have slept longer but Eric was awake...and when you are in such close quarters little sounds and movements wake you. We are trying to stay as quiet as possible so the kids keep sleeping. They too were up too late.

We left Carstairs, AB and traveled north towards Edmonton. When we stopped at a rest area about an hour or so later, there was a little restaurant. Eric saw the Poutine sign and HAD to get some. He and the kids devoured it while I talked to a couple from IL. They were parked near us at the campground in Carstairs but we never crossed paths there. The kids got a little chance to run around too.
We went around Edmonton via a SW bypass. We stopped in Spruce Grove at a Rotary park (lots of Rotary and Lions parks up here), made lunch, ran into Walmart, and got some cash at a bank. We don't want to pay 3% fees on credit card purchases so we are just using cash in Canada. I did get an ATM fee with the first withdrawl at a C-store, but there were NO fees at TD Canada Trust yesterday.We stopped into the visitors center (also LOTS of those up here) and she told us the distances to Grande Prairie and Dawson Creek. It was around 2, so we knew that our original goal of Fox Creek would be lazy...so we set our sites on Grande Prairie. We did stop for some frozen treats around 5pm as we needed a little break and we didn't want the kids napping any longer. We also knew it would be 6:30 before we got to Grande Prairie so we needed a little snack to tie us over.We gassed up in Grande Prairie ($3.56/gal) and then went across the street to the WM parking lot to prep dinner. It was chili dogs, so I opted for tomato & cheese on tortillas. I had picked up some YUMMY cherries and a HUGE tomato at a road side stand, which was a nice alternative. I checked with some people camped out in the parking lot and they said 1.5 hrs to Dawson Creek, so we decided to push it. We hit some big hills (both up and down) and Eric smoked a crane on one. LOL!! We are usually the slowest vehicle.

When we got to the Mile 0 traffic circle and didn't see anyone around, I told Eric to pull into the lot to get the shot of the rig at the start of the Mile 0 sign. There are actually 2 Mile 0 signs (about a block apart), but we got the one you see on so many photos. We've heard that there is often a line to get your photo there, so we thought it was a good time to stop. A local woman drove up and took several photos for us.The campground was sold-out when we arrived but he had some no-shows so we got a spot. We were very thankful cause we didn't want to go looking for other spots or return to Walmart on the other end of town. There is one big caravan group camped here til Friday and a few people from some other caravans. I might email ahead this morning and see if I can get a reservation for tonight.

Plan for today? We haven't discussed it yet, but I think we will return to our original plan and head up to Ft. Nelson, which is 200-some miles. That would mean we have less than 200 miles on Friday to get to Laird Hot Springs. I would use a hot spring soak RIGHT now! We are in a back in space and have the Jeep unhooked, so we will probably load up in a little while and go to the other mile marker for pics and hit the visitor center for info. Maybe see what else there is in town.

As always, we don't know when we will have internet again. We've done all our updates and have loaded video to You Tube and photos to photobucket. See the Trip Pics and Vlog links below the header to see those. We are not posting all pics & video entries here on the blog.

Comparison

When I (Eric) was about 6 or 7 years old, we went to Florida from Illinois. On the way back we stopped in Lafayette, Indiana where my brothers were born. This being in mid 70's with no seat belt laws, we just folded down the rear seat and the 3 of us laid on some sleeping bags.

We had to get ice for the cooler frequently, we traveled "cash only" or with traveler's checks. If the station wagon had AC I don't remember ever using it.

Good times!

Dawson Creek, BC

Loonie or Toonie?

Day Four

I woke up earlier than I had hoped this morning, but I did get a much better night’s sleep than I had been getting. I figured it was about 6:30, but it was before 6. I tried to go back to sleep and be quiet, but Eric heard me and woke up around 6. That gave us some time to check email and chat before we got the kids up. After the stressful few days it was nice to have some time to relax. It was in the mid-50s out and it almost felt chilly. After we packed up and did dishes we filled with propane at the local wholesale ranchers supply. They were very helpful and it was only $2/gal. Then we headed west on Hwy 2. There were lots of hills and we were steadily climbing, so there was some slow going. We have to get used to that as we are heading west and into the mountains. We got gas and I was able to take the kids to a park nearby for a few minutes. We had the darkest looking rain cloud heading our way, but it never rained on us.We’ve seen patches of rain across the plains all afternoon, but we haven’t gotten more than enough rain to smear the bugs on the window. We jumped onto I-15 North and headed about 35 miles north to Canada. The wait reported online was less than 10 min wait and I’d say it took us about 9.5 mins to get through. Lots of questions about where we are from, where we are employed, where we are going and why. They ran our passports through and we were free to go. I tried to get a post on the blog and Facebook before going over the border, but my phone registered roaming (Canada) a good mile before the border station. I think the post went through to the blog but not FB. We were stressed from going through the border and forgetting to ask for a stamp, so we missed the photo op at the ‘Welcome to Alberta’ sign. No Fair~ we needed to force the kids to take a pic in from the sign and yell at them to smile just as our parents did when we were on family vacations as kids. LOL!

We stopped in the parking lot of the MacLeod visitor center to eat dinner. Eric made some YUMMY grilled cheese sandwiches. There was no play area, so the kids were mostly inside. They love to wrestle and goof around on our bed in back. No yelling tonight…we stopped a little earlier and the kids were a little more helpful. Jake, Dori, & I walked across the parking lot get cash out of the ATM. We were a little freaked out at first by the CDN dollars. Why is money from other countries so interesting??

Our goal is to make it to the north side of Calgary as we don’t want to hit any traffic in the morning. Right now we are about 30 miles south of Calgary. We had hoped to stop by 8:30 (12 hr day), but it’s looking more like 9pm. The sun is to our left, so Eric feels like he can keep going. I’ll finish this post later.

We made it to Carstairs, which means we drove 539 miles. It was a 12.5 hour day. Eric said he could go further, but it was time to stop. The kids needed some time to run around and Eric and I got a 30+ min walk in. We made a vlog entry on our walk which is pretty funny. We hope to upload both tomorrow when we have some WiFi.

Pic taken at 10:30pm

No pull through? No problem!

We just make one!