Alaska Highway Deja Vu

So here we are again, about to leave on a journey across Canada.  This time though, we're going back to the lower 48 from Alaska.  It's almost exactly one year to the day from when we first rolled in to town (April 1st, 2015).  We didn't think we'd be leaving here so soon.  It's kind of a bummer, because AK is an absolutely amazing place and there is so much that we didn't even scratch the surface of doing up here.  But I am fortunate to be one of the lucky ones who got reassigned instead of laid off when our project up here was shut down.  So it's hard to be too bummed, knowing the alternative was unemployment.

Our next adventure will be moving the whole crew down to our new homestead in Rogers, Ohio.  It's cool that we know a little bit of what to expect on the trip this time.  It takes some of the pressure off and we also know a few places we definitely want to allow some time to visit (Liard Hot Springs!!).  However, there are a couple of important differences between this trip and the last.  Other than the obvious North-to-South direction,

1. We will be driving 2 vehicles and pulling 2 trailers
2. We will have the horses the whole way, not just half

The two vehicles thing is going to be a big deal.  We won't be able to switch drivers if we get tired, I won't be able to read the guidebook & plan our next stop while we're on the road, and I don't have a lot of confidence pulling a trailer.  Our progress will probably be a lot slower this time because of all that.  But that's what makes it an adventure, right??  

I've been sitting in our former bedroom all day going over the Milepost guidebook and sending emails.  All of our stuff is gone so it's just me on the floor with my laptop and a few sleeping bags.  We've been sleeping on the floor the last 2 nights.  I think I've made some progress though.  The rough outline of our Alcan stops is looking like this:

Palmer, AK --> Tok, AK --> Beaver Creek, YT --> Whitehorse, YT --> Watson Lake, YT --> Fort Nelson, BC --> Dawson Creek, BC

Subject to change based on our rate of progress and/or finding something cool to stop at along the way.  Any suggestions??

Alaska Highway, Part 4: Back in the U S of A!

So as many of you may have already guessed, we did in fact make it to Alaska.  We've been making the most of our first Alaskan summer, which means I haven't been sitting at my computer very much.  But before we get to what's going on here, the rest of the journey story:

Monday morning we packed up our little traveling circus and left Whitehorse.  As we made our way through the Yukon, the scenery got better and the roads got worse.  We were traveling around 25 mph for much of the day.  It was tough on the truck, tough on the horses, and tough on Rich.  We were also starting to get nervous about the border crossing.  We had all our paperwork in order- vet certificates, Coggins tests, rabies shot records, bills of sale for the horses- but with that many moving parts, who knows what could happen.  And as we found out in Portal, North Dakota, the rules don't necessarily matter depending on which border guard you get and how their day happens to be going.

We had heard that the roads would improve once we crossed the border so we were definitely looking forward to that.  When we approached the border crossing, we first had to stop at a zillion-foot-high tower where the guard had to shout down to us.  We gave him our passports, answered his questions (I had to get out of the truck, for him to watch me I guess?  Make sure our stories matched?  I just remember it was cold).  He said we had to go talk to someone else.  "Here we go", we thought.  We pulled up to another zillion-foot-high tower, this time with a female border agent.  When we told her we were moving to Alaska, her face lit up and she got all excited for us.  She was telling us how she had just moved there not long before, she loved it, and welcome to the state, and all that.  She saw the dogs and asked for their paperwork.  We handed her the folder, she glanced over it, handed it back, told us again that she was happy for us and best of luck, and.... that was it.

Wait, really?  That's all?  Like, we can go now?  She didn't even ask about the horses.  Their window was on the other side of the trailer, so she probably didn't even know we HAD horses!  A positive, upbeat, welcoming SHORT conversation with the border agent wasn't exactly what we had expected.  But we weren't going to stick around and let them change their minds!  We hightailed it outta there and got back on the road.

Back in the USA!  Where the road signs are in miles and gas is sold by the gallon!  We had already gone farther than we thought we would that day and I was trying to find a good place for us to stop.  There's really not much going on in that part of Alaska though so options were limited.  The best chance was to go to Tok, which is a decently sized town but was also another few hours away.  Rich said he could make it, and we didn't have much other choice, so onward to Tok it was.

Now that I could use my phone again, I called ahead to a BB&B I had read about in one of our brochures.  The ad said they were closed in wintertime but again, not much choice.  The lady answered and was really nice.  She said their cabins were closed but we were welcome to park the trailer in front of the barn & the horses could stay in the pasture.  Perfect!

Tok was another town that I would've liked to explore if we had had more time.  That was definitely out of the question at this point though.  Everyone was exhausted and a little stir-crazy.  The BB&B was pretty easy to find.  It was a little eerie pulling up to the cabins all covered with snow and looking abandoned.  The owner and her husband pulled in a few minutes later and showed us around.  We were welcome to use the bathroom in the barn which at that point felt extremely luxurious (Running water! Toilet!  HOT water!!).  The turnout area for the horses was a decent size, in good shape, and they had access to a run-in stall in the barn.  There seemed to be a difference of opinion among her horses as to whether these two interlopers should be allowed to stay in the paddock adjacent to theirs.  But after a few minutes of tough talk (and Stormy pretending to be manly) everyone settled down.  We ran an extension cord to the barn for our heater (another luxury!) and everyone turned in for the night.

Next day, back on the road.  We were so close now we could almost smell it.  There was a decision to make- do we go all the way to Palmer today (our destination!), or do we stop one more time?  We were borderline between one long day to Palmer or two short days with a stop.  We were still traveling pretty slowly- the roads had improved but not a lot- so we decided to play it safe and make a stop in Glennallen.  The plus side was that we got there early enough to have a decent meal and figure out accommodations.  Turns out it was a good thing we got there early, because it took a long time and a lot of effort to figure out where to stay.  There were no BB&B accommodations that we could find, so I asked someone working at the gas station if they knew of a place.  That started a whole chain of she knew a guy, who knew a guy, who couldn't reach that guy but had heard that someone else in town might be able to help, who couldn't but she referred us to someone else, and on and on.  By the end it seemed like the whole town was trying to help us.  I was starting to get really nervous because nothing was panning out and at this point it was too late to get back on the road to get to Palmer.  Not to mention the fact that we didn't even know where we were going to stay when we got there- the deal on the house hadn't closed yet and we didn't even know if they were still living there or not.

What followed was easily the most "creative" solution of the whole trip.  Even more so than the makeshift paddock in Fireside.  Instead of a few trucks, the trailer, and some plywood, this enclosure consisted of the truck, trailer, some trees, a snowbank, and a bunch of ratchet straps in the back corner of the school bus barn parking lot.  Oh yes we did.

It didn't give the horses a ton of room, but they could walk around a little and at least they were out of the trailer.  They seemed fine with that deal.  And with that, we spend our last night on the road.  Huge thank yous to everyone in Glennallen who helped us out.  We'd only been in Alaska for a day and already we were experiencing the helpfulness and "we're in this together" mentality of Alaskans.  Pretty nice welcome.

And then, finally, on April 1st 2015 we rolled in to Palmer, AK.  "Alaska Highway" adventure- complete!  "Living in Alaska" adventure- let's get started!

Alaska Highway, Part 3: Watson Lake and Whitehorse

The next morning, our bodies refreshed and our faith in humanity restored, we left Fireside and headed towards Watson Lake, which would be our first stop in the Yukon.  I was eager to see the "Sign Post Forest" that I had been reading about in the guidebooks.  Apparently back when the Alaska Highway was first being built, a guy put up a sign with the distance to his hometown.  Just because he was homesick, I guess.  Anyway, other people started doing the same thing and on and on, and today there are over 75,000 signs all posted in one place in Watson Lake!  And travelers are encouraged to add their own signs as they pass through.  I love the idea of a tourist attraction you can become a part of yourself. 

We got in to town in time for an early lunch and stopped at Kathy's Kitchen.  Rich liked my sandwich a lot better than the one he got so I was nice and gave him the other half.  Can't hurt to put a few extra bonus points in the bank, right?  After lunch we looked for the Sign Post Forest on our way out of town.  We didn't have to look very hard... it is HUGE!  Rows and rows of signs almost as far as you can see.  You could probably get lost in there. 

I walked around looking for signs from places I knew.  If there was a Penfield one I didn't see it, but we found a bunch of familiar places, including NOLA!  Rich spotted that one first.  I don't think I would have even caught it.

As I was walking around thinking about how cool this thing was, I was trying not to be too disappointed to not be able to put our own sign up there.  Did people plan ahead for this?  I knew we had a scrap of a 2x4 and I asked Rich if he thought we could make that into a sign.  "Oh, you want a sign?  I think I have some in my suitcase", he says.  Because of course, who DOESN'T carry random signs around in their suitcases.  Sure enough, not only did he have one but several signs to choose from.  He's been known to come up with some pretty obscure items in a pinch but this one was pretty impressive.  I picked the BEWARE OF DOG sign, scratched our names into it with a drywall screw (which of course he just happened to have in his pocket) and started looking for a spot to put it.  We found a great spot right on the back of the entrance sign.  He lifted me up onto his shoulders and I tacked it on.  Now c'mon, how cool is that???  Another little bit of Alcan magic.

Our destination for the day was one of the few places we had arranged ahead of time.  We'd be staying in the Hidden Valley Bed & Breakfast in Whitehorse.  It's the type of place that's sometimes called a B&B&B (for Bed, Breakfast & Barn) or Bed & Bale because it has accommodations for your horses as well.  I knew we were going to like this place when the owner didn't skip a beat when I said we'd  have four dogs in our room with us.  Usually "dog friendly" doesn't extend quite that far.  Not only was she cool with it, but there was no extra charge!  Pretty amazing.  And sure enough, the place was great.  Eva & Emile were excellent hosts and their house is beautiful.  The guest paddock for the horses was great too- enough space to stretch their legs and a nice roomy shelter.

We liked it so much there, we decided to stay another day!  Rich was pretty run down from the last few days of tough driving, the horses were getting a little fed up with being in the trailer all day, and all of us could use a little break.  Especially at such a nice place.  Our 2nd day there was quite luxurious.  We ate at a great spot in Whitehorse called Burnt Toast Cafe.  Unfortunately most things we wanted to see in town were closed because it was Sunday, but it was just as well since we really just needed to relax and sit in one place for more than a few minutes.  So we went back to the house and rested up.  In the morning, back on the road.

Kind of nice to be going zero miles per hour for a change.

Alaska Highway, Part 2: Fort Nelson, Liard River Hot Springs & Fireside

The next day was spent driving to Fort Nelson. The roads were okay- not great, but okay- and the scenery was starting to look like we were in the mountains.

I'm not sure how much other traffic I was expecting to see on the road with us, but there has been enough that I've never felt REALLY remote or out in the middle of nowhere (even though we pretty much are). Lots of oilfield service vehicles.

We rolled into Ft Nelson around dusk and finally had enough cell service that we could call Lindsey, our contact for the night's accommodations. It wasn't a business, she'd be letting us & our animals stay at her house, so I was worried that we were going to be too much trouble or she had changed her mind or we had gotten in too late or something. But, the awesomeness of people along the Alcan continued and she (and her family) were EXTREMELY nice and accommodating. Stormy & Gaefa got to stay outside in a round pen, where Gaefa promptly rolled in the snow, and the rest of us stayed in the trailer in the driveway. They let us plug in our heater which was awesome because then we didn't need to run the generator. Getting up to their house was an adventure in itself- we should have suspected as much when Lindsey asked us if we had 4WD and said we'd need to use it. Not only was their road reeeally steep, it was also dirt/gravel and really muddy. I almost thought we wouldn't make it but of course the Chevy didn't let us down. We inched up there & finally made it.

In the morning they invited us in for coffee. We wanted to hit the road early as we had a long day of driving to get to Watson Lake, but I wasn't going to turn down their generous offer so we sat and chatted for a few. Then it was back on the road.

Their place was just north of Ft Nelson so it was a nice little jumpstart to the day's drive. Unfortunately though, the driving was really slow going because of a lot of very steep ups and downs. We'd creep up 8-10% grades at about 20 mph or less. We soon realized that Watson Lake wasn't going to be feasible. We figured we'd play it by ear and find a place to stop when we got as far as we could.

It was a rough driving day for Rich. Lots of stress about keeping the horses safe & comfy with the rollercoaster ups and downs. And with the wind added in there, it was requiring all of his concentration just to keep us on the road.

Liard River Hot Springs was along the day's route that day. It's supposed to be one of the highlights of the whole Alaska Highway so of course we wanted to see it. As the day wore on though, the stress and effort of the driving built up until I was ready to skip it just to avoid the hassle and time of another stop. But I was surprised when Rich still wanted to see it, I figured he wouldn't, so we ended up stopping anyway. And we're both so glad we did! The hot springs were amazing. And REALLY hot. I could barely walk over to the end of the pool where the water was coming out of the ground to take pictures, and even then I couldn't get too close. My legs looked sunburned when I got out of there! It was a really nice refreshing stop for the both of us and just what we needed to melt away some of the stress and fatigue of the day.

On the downstream side of the little waterfall, where it was a little cooler.

It was REALLY HOT over here, I almost couldn't get close enough to get this photo.

Gotta do the feet pic!

A welcome oasis on the Alcan

Can't you just feel the "AAAhhhhh...."

Hot spring selfie!

Another view of the spot where the HOT HOT water was coming out.  You could get pretty close if you approached from the right angle, but one step off track was OUCH!

Still really hot over here, but oh so pretty.

Yes, it really was that inviting, and it felt every bit as awesome as it looks.

After that, Rich figured he'd be good for another hour of driving which turned out to be a pretty close estimate. Only problem was that there wasn't much of anything between the hot springs and Watson Lake, and Watson Lake was still a few hours away. We needed a place to eat and a place to stop and let the horses out for the night, and it looked like we weren't going to find either.

Rich saw a sign that said “Buffalo Burgers, 40 km” and decided that if there was food, he could make it that far. I wasn't so sure because the only thing I saw in the Milepost guide at that spot said “Fireside, no services”. I was afraid it was an old sign and that he'd be disappointed. But, if we were going to stop on the side of the road for the night anyway, I supposed that we may as well do it 40 km further along. So imagine my surprise when we drove up on the Fireside Truck Stop with big signs saying, “OPEN for business!” and “New Owners!”. Wait, so... there really is food here?? And other humans?? And possibly even a hotel room??? It was an absolute oasis in the middle of backcountry Canada.

The Fireside was definitely one of our best stops on the whole trip. Now the place doesn't look like much, in fact it looks more dive-y than any dive I've ever seen (and I've been to the Florabama), but the hospitality was top notch. The owners, who I don't think have even had the place for a year yet, went out of their way time and again to make sure we and the animals had everything we needed. There was no place to put horses, so I thought we'd have to leave them on the trailer, but our hosts Norma and Daryl didn't give up until we had cobbled together a small pen made out of any and all building materials we could round up, plus a couple of trucks and a tractor, Not the prettiest accommodation, but the horses were safe and happy to be off the trailer. As for us, after a nice hot meal we and the dogs were put in the “suite” right up the stairs from the horses so we could keep an eye on them.

Our room.  Not much to look at but the hospitality made it just perfect.

The next morning Norma got some pictures of the horses and made sure we signed the wall before we left. She said it was only the 2^nd time they'd had horses there and seemed really excited about it. I highly recommend their stop to anyone who travels the Alcan... they've got a lot of work to do to make the place look presentable but you won't find nicer or more accommodating hosts. They came along just at the perfect time too, when I was starting to freak out over where/how we were going to spend the night. Yet another small miracle in a series of them that happened throughout the trip.

Side of the "restaurant" which was made of two adjoining travel trailers.

We left our mark!

Alaska Highway, Part 1: Dawson Creek

So after being on the road already for what felt like forever, we finally made it to the START of the Alaska Highway.  Dawson Creek, BC, "The Mile Zero City".  We rolled in just before sunset.  The first thing we saw was the Lakota Agriplex, which we had been researching & felt we had a decent shot of finding overnight horse boarding.  We hadn't been able to actually contact anyone though.  So it was much to my surprise when I jumped out of the truck to talk to two ladies over by the entrance and one of them says, "Are you Andrea?".  Apparently she had gotten my messages but I hadn't been able to get hers back.  Not only did we get overnight horse boarding, but the facility was amazing and everyone there was soo nice!

Stormy and Gaefa enjoyed some turnout to stretch their legs after the day's trailer ride.

They weren't able to stay outside, but the stalls in the barn were really roomy and they were able to be across from each other.  It's funny how attached they've gotten to each other already.  Stormy more so, since he tends to be more nervous anyway.  Staying in a big barn like this was a different environment for these two who are used to being outside 24/7/365.  But they went along with it & handled it like champs.

So where were the humans staying, while the horses were in such luxurious accommodations?  In the trailer in the parking lot, of course.  Priorities.

The place even had SHOWERS, like for humans, of which we most certainly availed ourselves before leaving the next morning. 

Then it was time to be tourists for a little while.  We saw the Mile 0 marker in the center of town, took selfies in front of the "Welcome to the Alaska Highway" banner, and got oodles of cool stuff from the visitor's center gift shop.  Every single person we met in Dawson Creek- the Agriplex folks, the waitress at the restaurant, the visitor center lady, even the gas station guy- was absolutely awesome.  I was so impressed by this town. 

And then, we were off!  Driving the Alcan at last!  It was a different feeling right away.  It finally felt like we were actually getting closer to Alaska.

Next stop, Fort Nelson, where we had horse accommodations lined up at the home of a friend of a friend of the person who picked up the phone at the Ft. Nelson Chamber of Commerce.  2 things were amazing about that: how everything seemed to be falling into place with the horses after worrying about how we were going to handle it, and how nice and hospitable and friendly and awesome everyone is up here!  Total strangers just go out of their way for you for no reason.  An excellent start to our Alcan journey.

HORSES!!!

We did it!  We have Stormur and Gaefa with us!  I don't think it's even set in yet that we have two new fuzzy members of our family.  I can't wait to get to know them more and see them every time I come home.

We started off getting Gaefa outside of Calgary.  Calgary seemed like a cool city that I would've liked to explore a bit, but there was no way I was stopping when we were so close to her.

We met Danielle at her farm on Sunday morning.  She took us back to see Gaefa, and she was even prettier than her pictures :)  She is a very feminine, refined-looking mare but she is also very strong.  I took a lesson on her that day to start to learn about the tolt (the special gait that Icelandics have).  I feel like a total horse beginner again!  So much is different about the cues, your seat, body position etc that I was almost starting over.  I didn't even know how to tack up with Icelandic tack!  But Gaefa, the sweet girl that she is, was very patient with me.  She is very well trained and a joy to ride.  Rich fell in love with her instantly- once he looked into her beautiful brown eyes he was a goner :)

We stayed overnight at Danielle's, who VERY kindly let us plug in to an outlet on the house to run our heater.  The next morning I had another lesson.  I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  Will need a lot more practice though.  When we loaded Gaefa into the trailer and pulled out, it was almost surreal.  We were driving down the highway and I kept telling myself, omg there's a HORSE back there!  And she's OURS!  It was a little intimidating, knowing that I was totally responsible for taking care of her.  Even when I had Max, I wasn't on my own because he was boarded.  But for Gaefa, if I don't feed her, brush her, clean her stall, etc, it won't get done!  Funny how I no longer bat an eye at having the same responsibilities for four dogs, yet I find myself worrying about messing this up.

So what to do?  Why, get another one, of course!  After some delays with frustrating trailer brake issues and some bad weather moving in we finally made it to Verena's outside of Edmonton, where we would get Stormy.  She and Danielle were both getting really worried about us because they knew we should've gotten in hours ago.  Since our phones aren't working in Canada, we had no way of contacting them to let them know we were okay.  But we made it, safe and sound.

It was late so all we were going to do for the night was get Gaefa off of the trailer and settled in.  She got turned out in a paddock adjoining the one Stormy was in, so they could start getting acquainted over the fence.  Whether they got along was one of my biggest worries, since we didn't really have a good Plan B for how to handle that.  But when they met each other and started sniffing for the first time..... nothing happened.  Really, it was quite uneventful.  They sniffed, were like, "Oh, yeah, hey." and then went about their business.  A good first step.  Stormy was great with Rich and me as well.  He is such a polite, adorable little gentleman :)  We plugged in our heater with an extension cord to the house and spent the night in the trailer in Verena's driveway.  We're so classy.

In the morning, we practiced trailer loading with Stormy.  He can be nervous about new things, and the step up to our trailer is really high so I didn't know if that would scare him.  He took some gentle coaxing and some patience the first time, but after that he loaded on and off like a pro!  I was very impressed.  After that we decided to put Stormy and Gaefa together in the paddock and see how that went.  They really seemed to hit it off well.  There was a lot of flirting going on, actually.  Stormy would get up close and Gaefa would do a tiny little squeal, not the kind like "stay away from me!" but more like "I'm pretending not to like this but I really do, please continue".  Silly girl.  It was really nice to see her so relaxed and taking in the new environment without any issues.  And it was also really great to see Stormy so relaxed with us.  He is so cute!  He is boyish where Gaefa is feminine- big solid head, stocky build- but sweet and quiet as a mouse.  I love these two.

The rest of the day was spent petting horses (me), fixing the trailer brakes (Rich), and lining up places to stay the rest of the way that offer horse boarding.  After we leave Edmonton, the next stop is Dawson Creek, BC which is the official start of the Alaska Highway.  I think we're going to have a lot of fun (all eight of us) and I can't wait to get started in the morning.

Huge, huge thank you to Verena and Mike for being awesome and letting us into their home & lives while we were here.  They fed us, let us take SHOWERS, do LAUNDRY, helped make phone calls, and were just generally awesome.  We'd love to come visit you and your crew again some time, and would really love to host you in Alaska if you ever make the trip.  I bet Stormy would like that too.

Time to rest up... it's about to get real!

More Photos

Lake Superior, as seen while driving through Ontario.  Beautiful!

The dogs are being SO good together!

Our meal at the truck stop where we showered and Rich fixed the trailer lights

Our rig.  She's hanging in there really well.

In Alberta on Saturday, the weather took a bit of a turn for the worse.