The Schullo’s Personal Blog

Wow! This was a special day. It started off a bit slow, but ended with wonderful sights. After calling our credit card company and straightening out that mess, we got started at about 8:00 am, we think. The time zones have us baffled. We picked up some Tim Horton coffee and donuts and headed out 43. Shortly after we started we were held up for about 30 minutes for a really bad accident. Then once traffic got started again we saw a real idiot who was in such a hurry he tried to turn his semi around and ended up high centered on the edge of the road. That saved him some time eh?

In about an hour and a half we got to Dawsons Creek which is Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway. This started a very scenic drive through the Rockies. We took lots of pictures, but can not load them up right now. We will as soon as we have a good connection. Sights seen today include many beautiful views and quite a few wild animals.

Here is a run down of the animals we saw today. First, there was a field of domestic Elk. I do not really count these as they were not running wild. So, my count says we saw 6 different types of wild animals. There was the Kamikaze Ground hog who wanted to play tag with the truck but changed his mind. Next we saw two or three deer along the side of the highway grazing. Then came a Black Bear which looked like a stump next to road until it lifted its head and we realized it was a black bear. We saw other deer throughout the day, but we also saw our first Caribou which looked similar to the deer, but was taller and darker in color. Next, we got up close and personal with a rather large bull Moose. He was right next to the road and meandered in front of the truck. I took a close up of him from the truck window. Last, but certainly not least, we saw a whole bunch of Stone Sheep. A whole flock (is that what they travel in?) was grazing on the edge of the road in a steep and curvy part of the AlCan Highway. It was quite a sight to see. for now, here is a close up of the moose we saw. I will upload all the pictures in an album on our site soon.

The first spectacular view on the highway caught me off guard as I was looking through the “Milepost” and was not aware that we had been climbing. Once I got myself back together from the shock it was quite beautiful. That was when I let go of the “Oh God” handle. Scott did a wonderful job of not worrying me on the steep hills and sharp curves. We had some pretty steep grades, but the views were breath taking. I would suggest this trip to all of you that enjoy communing with nature.

We stopped for the night in a small town called Toad River which is at milepost 422 on the Alaskan Highway. We are at the Toad River Lodge which has half a dozen cabins and a camp ground. I am going to try to send this off tonight, but the network connection is one shared link in the general store/ restaurant so I have to get some time between other users. If not, I will put all this up once we hit somewhere with a good connection again.

Stay Tuned!
S&S

The day started by driving to Edmonton where we were planning on getting some breakfast. Unfortunately we ended up with a flat tire on the trailer and had some time getting it changed and replaced. Once on the road again the day was uneventful. The prairies of Alberta are very beautiful with large fields of yellow flowers. Scott and I think these might be the Canola fields. I took some pictures, but will need to upload them with a better connection.

Edmonton was a very large city that looks to have a lot going on. The Yellow Head route takes you directly through the city, so we got to see a good deal of it. There were Go Oilers signs everywhere, go figure.

We learned a bit of Canadian lingo today as well. How about “Squeeze Left” instead of “Merge Left”? They also note “Important Intersection” with a special sign. Some of these had traffic lights and others did not. We did not quite figure it out, but think it probably means the intersection may have some traffic.

Another lesson learned is to warn your credit card company that you will be traveling across the country and spending $4 per gallon on fuel. About half way through the day they put a security hold on our card and it stopped working. This was problematic as we had not taken time to exchange cash yet.

Just outside of Edmonton we changed to 43 which heads Northwest. We ended our day in Grande Prairie with a bucket of KFC. Grande Prairie is definitely named appropriately as it is a very large prairie where the wind seems to blow all the time. Most of the trees lean one direction or the other. It was pretty though and we got a good night sleep.

Alaska or Bust!
S&S

We left Fargo early Tuesday morning headed to Canada up 29. We had no issues at the border, they just wanted to know if we had alcohol and could not believe we did not own a firearm. It took us all of about 5 minutes. Here is a picture of the border crossing.

We proceeded North through the province of Manitoba through Winnipeg and on to the province of Saskatchewan. Once we hit Winnipeg we picked up the Yellow Head Route which is named after a yellow haired explorer.. This route will take us all the way to the Alaskan Highway, outpost 0.

We stayed Tuesday night in a small town called Yorkton where we had our first bad experience with Thor when we tried to go out and leave him alone in the room. The clerk had given us a suggestion for a good steak place and she had to call the restaurant to have us come back as Thor was disturbing the hotel by barking with out stop. He was really upset and they thought he sounded like a rottweiller. We ended up with take out again. Guess we will just have to find ways to take him with us or settle for take out for the remainder of the trip. Scott stopped and bought us a 12 pack of Labatts for $25 Canadian (about $22 US) and we thought is was going to be expensive in Alasksa! We really needed to relax after the long drive and almost being thrown out of the hotel. We both slept really well.

Today we started off not knowing what time it was. The motel clock had one time, my laptop had another and my watch another. It looks like Canada does not switch to daylight savings time so we were in Central time but an hour earlier than we thought?! This was good as I let Scott sleep in a bit while I caught up on some of my class. Once we started, about 8:30 am, we set out for Saskatoon and points Northwest.

People say it has been raining in this area for the last two months, so our rainy day was to be expected. When we stopped for gas at a small gas station about an hour away we heard that many of the farmers are struggling. They grow Canola in this area and over the last four years they have either had drought or flooding. Many are just giving up.

We drove today in the rain most of the day, but it is now blue skies. We just passed Saskatoon and are planning on staying in Lloydminster which is on the border of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

More later…S&S

Bob told us we would probably get blown into Fargo but we did not believe him. Silly us. We arrived around 1:00 pm on Sunday with wind gusts in the fourties. Otherwise it was a good trip. Check out the map to see where we were.

We went to Fargo to see Scott’s sister Debbie and her kids. Time with the family is always a hoot. However, we did miss Larry (Scott’s nephew) as it is not nearly as much fun to harass the girls with out him. We spent time with Barb, Jamie and Steph and even went to dinner at Old Chicago. Great pizza, especially the olives! Here is a picture to document our visit.

While in Fargo we tried to learn a bit of new vocabulary. Special thanks to Jamie for some of our new words such as ginormous. Thanks to Debbie’s navigational skills she got to see parts of Fargo she had never seen, even though she has lived there for 20 years. Thanks to Steph for getting us unlost!

Barb and Jamie good luck on your Twin home (that would be duplex for the rest of the country ). Steph don’t be in a hurry like Jamie to get married and above all be careful about taking advice about men from your sisters.

Debbie, thanks for waiting on us hand and foot. We could really use some of that turkey salad about now. Darn, we forgot to raid the frig before we left. Scott says he is really pissed off that we did not get a care package, as some of those bars would be ideal for keeping him awake as we traverse the open, rainy, prairies of Saskatchewan.

As for the sunglasses, just toss them out. We have plenty. More later about our travels through Canada… Stay tuned. S&S

Friday, we made it to St. Paul Minnesota. Many members of Scott’s family live here or near by and we spent the last day visiting family. Both Scott’s sister Joni and his brother Chris live in this area. We had a good visit with both families.

Here is the current map.

We also visited Scott’s Aunts in River Falls Wisconsin. It was good to see them again.

Our last stop in Wisconsin was in Hudson where we visited with Scott’s father’s wife, Wanda. Scott’s siter and her husband Bob accompanied us to Wisconsin on their motorcylces. Thought we would add a picture of that for you all.

Where next? Fargo North Dakota (yes I said Fargo). Scott’s other sister Debbie lives there. We will visit her and the neices for some laughs. Stay tuned.

S&S