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.

Moose_closeup

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