On July 13th, we headed out to Fort Nelson, which was a RCMP outpost. Our trip was fairly uneventful and we saw a couple of bears on the way up. Road conditions were average. Our campground had been changed from The Ft. Nelson RV and Truck Stop (it closed without notifying Adventure) to a campground on the other end of town called the West End campground. We didn't have sewer and the campground was not very well maintained and was host to a lot of mosquitos, but we were only there one night, so we managed fine. The Fort Nelson Heritage museum was next store and it was really full of antique cars, trucks, farm machinary, etc and there was a gentleman there who helped found and preserved all of the aritifacts that looked as old as they were. However, everything there still worked. I wish we could take him with us to keep us all up and running. When we first got there, Denny went into town? and did a money exchange. We need to shop a lot in Canada-good exchange rates now. Dinner was on our own and we had our drivers meeting inside a saloon/restaurant owned by the campground. Thank goodness we were out of the mosquitos.
July 14th, we left early for Laird Hot Springs. This was only 198 mile trip, but took us almost 6 hrs. We had 2 long stretches of road construction. Here they usually have a pilot car that leads one group at a time. Sometimes if you are unlucky enough to be the one left behind, you can sit there awhile. We had that pleasure one day and just decided to eat our lunch. HOWEVER, that was not the big delay. We started seeing animals like you wouldn't believe. Herds of Stone Sheep on the sides of mountains, in fields and on the roads (we had to just stop for a while for them to pass) they liked to lick the pavement for the minerals, 6 or 7 buffalo on the side of the road and we almost lost count of all the bears. We did see a couple of grizzlies and one sow with 2 cubs. I hope you realize this was all inside the car, but right in front of us. Amazing!! Rudy barked his head off but they didn't even acknowledge him. From that point on, he rode on the dash that day. He was such a good little look out!!! When we arrived at our campground, we hurriedly put on swimsuits and OFF and headed for a dip in the Hot Springs at Liard. They were great! Really hot (Denny didn't last long) but so soothing. Would have stayed longer but Maddie rode her scooter over with us and she was getting eaten alive even though she used spray. We went back to the RV and prepared to eat Fish and Chips at the lodge with some of our new friends. In just a few minutes, we looked out the window and the biggest buffalo anyone has ever seen, just walked past our window. The waitress said his name was Henry and he hangs around the lodge because his herd kicked him out because of his advanced age. The next morning when we pulled out, he was sitting by the exit like he was telling us good-bye. We had our drivers meeting inside the RV's by CB's. So glad not to have to fight the mosquitos.
July 15th, we still left early to drive to Watson Lake. This was a short day (supposedly) as we only drove 120 miles. On the way, we passed Stuart and Bev on the side of the road. He was pulling a fifth wheel and the clutch on his truck went out. This is when you are soooooo glad you are in a MH. Within 2 hrs, a tow truck had arrived to tow his truck in and one of our caravan had dropped off his fifth wheel and gone back to tow the Blythes 5th wheel into the next campground. No one had phone service but the word was passed forward with CB's and our WM had help on the way pronto.KUDOS!
At the campground, we all car pooled to the Sign Village where people from everywhere leave their signs on posts. There are over 65,000 signs. Denny made us one and we hung it over our group sign. Our group sign was the best one there. Allen and Don Spigler made one with all our individual pictures and Adventure Caravan sign. It was on some kind of thick board and laminated. We will be there for a while.
We returned for a heavy appetizer get together and played some cute games and had door prizes. Would have been a great day if not for Stu and Bev's problems. They were there with us and tomorrow they were having their truck and rv towed to Whitehorse where we are spending 3 nights
July 16th, we were ready to pull out and head for Whitehorse, everyone was ready for a few days in one spot. However, we knew that the road to Whitehorse from Dawson Creek was not necessarily where we would have wanted to tarry. Very remote with few services. We stopped at the Robert Johnson museum. He was a Tinglit Indian and one of the early pioneers in this area in the early 20th century. Saw a film with original footage from the 20's and 30's. Boy, if we thought it was remote now---they would think it was a metropolis. Very interesting the way they survived, played and really strived to continue their First Nation traditions. We traveled on some of the old Alaska Highway that has since been by-passed. We could see why :-) Arriving at the Pioneer Campground, we are delighted to have cable tv and Wifi and a lot fewer mosquitos. Today was a rest-up day and we ate in the RV. More later on the rest of our stay. This got quite lengthy. Sorry-no time to proof.
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