We've been travelling a little while now without telling the world what's been happening. It's partly because Bill has been working, and partly because Internet access is sometimes problematical and partly because we have been having a good time. We hope to have a more complete account posted sometime, but here is an outline and a few photographs.
The work: Bill has not completely retired. He has retained two clients and BOTH of them want work now. This should be completed pretty soon .
Where we've been: From Vancouver we took the westerly route via Whistler to Prince George, turned left on the Yellowhead Highway and then right onto the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. When this met the Alaska Highway, we headed West again to Whitehorse in the Yukon. From there it was North and more North on the Klondike and Dempster Highways to Inuvik. The latter is a 'no exit' road so we had no choice but to retrace our steps to the Klondike Hwy before heading into Dawson City. Over the Yukon River by free ferry and we travelled the Top of the World Highway to the border with Alaska. We turned around there (the reason is below), and doubled back to Whitehorse. Our next destination is Yellowknife via Watson Lake and several places with even more improbable names.
The bad time: An unpleasant border guard at Poker Creek would not give us permission to enter the USA for two days. He would only grant the 3 months under the ETSA program, of which 88 days would be spent in Canada, and afterwards the onerous conditions for USA re-entry would apply. So we turned around. The Canadian border guard on the other side of the building was very nice indeed. He stamped our passports, effectively giving us 6 months in Canada from that date. We probably won't use his generous gesture because we are not enthusiastic about driving in a Canadian winter, but it was a real kindness.
The good times: We won't list them all. The highlights include:
- meeting Gretchen and Russ Berquam several times along the Dempster Highway. They are really nice folk and veryexperienced RVers. They taught us a lot. And hosted an impromptu party in their RV, and invited us to a french toast breakfast, and … We made them promise to visit us in NZ.
- attending the Aboriginal Day celebrations in Inuvik. We were a little bit nervous about watching activities that were for the local First Nations people (formerly known as Eskimos), but we needn't have worried. Visitors were very warmly welcomed. In fact, the master of ceremonies asked if there was anyone from outside Canada. We put up our hands and were presented with a little bag each, containing souvenirs of Inuvik. The activities of the day deserve and will get a separate post.
Vehicle imperfections: We didn't expect a 24-year-old motor home to behave faultlessly and we've had some issues. We had a tyre blow out about 5km from completing the return trip along the Dempster Highway. That's not too bad. Lots of folk get punctures over about 1,500km of gravel road. But it turned out that Gregory's toolkit was very incomplete, so we couldn't change the wheel without assistance, and the tyres were worn and very old. So we had a full set of six new tyres fitted and bought the requisite jack and wrenches.
Now the left rear indicator won't work. It's not the bulb, and an initial diagnosis by a mechanic in Dawson City didn't find the cause. All the mechanics in Whitehorse are busy, so we're hoping to get it fixed in Watson Lake.
And on the way to Watson Lake we heard a strange sound, which turned out to be the muffler dragging on the highway. We've managed a temporary fix and we hope to get a proper repair today.
Mammals: There ARE bears in Canada. We've seen several. Most of them were black bears, but one was entirely brown and Eve is sure its 'face' was different, so that was a grizzly. There are also squirrels and snowshoe hares and chipmunks and marmots, but despite the frequent warning signs to look out for them we haven't seen any moose, elk or caribou. And the only deer was a dead one. :-(
A red squirrel. Not the same species as the European red squirrel.
A snowshoe hare. You can see the white feet if you look carefully.
Birds:The birding hasn’t been too good. Perhaps the RV makes too much noise. Lots of American robins, white-crowned sparrows, swallows and ravens. A few grey jays. However, I did get some shots of an eagle at Tsiigehtchic. I thought it was a Golden Eagle, but an expert birder friend says no, it is an immature Bald Eagle.
White-winged crossbill.
White-crowned sparrow.
Dark-eyed junco.
An immature bald eagle disguised as a golden eagle.
The same mendacious bird.
Insects: Swallowtail butterflies are very pretty and common. Lovely. Despite powerful chemicals we have donated blood to many mosquitoes, which are much more common and not at all pretty.
We found several of these congregations, always around moisture.
Flowers: Lots of them and many different species. Since they don't run away and hide we have lots of photographs. :-)
Eve will label the flowers when she gets some time.
Spotted lady's slipper orchid.
Two more of the same. The bloom on the left is beginning the process of ripening the seeds.
Scenery: Canada is abundantly supplied with gorgeous scenery. We append a few examples.
Kinaskan Lake, British Columbia.
Rancheria Falls, Yukon.
From the Top of the World Highway, Yukon.
The Arctic tundra.
Special thanks to Ann Marie Dillon, who invited us to contact her when we were in Whitehorse. She provided a free place to park, delicious meals and wonderful company.
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