Homebound Across the Northern Plains: Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Minnesota

After we crossed into Alberta the terrain flattened out, and the scenery was much less interesting.  I had to struggle to choose some good photos.  We've been spoiled by the grandeur of Alaska and the great wildlife.

Smokey Alberta

 Many parts of British Columbia have been experiencing serious fires.  We have not been impacted by the fires or the smoke until now.  Upon entering Alberta we observed a significant haze for the next day or two.

The town of Beaverlodge Alberta has a cute mascot.  He was even bigger than the Giant Beaver we saw at the Yukon Beringia Centre.

I'd like to see the dam this guy makes.  Might be Hoover-like.

Wiiiiiiiiide load!  Tall too!

We meet lots of wide loads on the highway, but this one was wider than most.   Click HERE to see a video of the wide load.

As we travel across the northern plains in Canada, it's time to make some miles.  This day we traveled 494 miles and camped at the Walmart in Weyburn Saskatchewan.

Camp Wally World in Weyburn SK

We had planned to buy some fuel at the Costco in Saskatoon SK.  They had the best price for diesel of any place we would be passing through while in Canada.  Dorcas mapped us to the store, and we pulled up to the pumps, but we couldn't see a diesel pump.  I hollered out the window to an attendant and asked which lanes had diesel.  He said they didn't sell diesel here.  WHAT???  "GasBuddy.com says you do".  "Oh, I think they sell diesel at the new store across town".  CRAP!!.  By then I was in a bad place.  We needed to get out of there, but I was fairly close to the pumps, and we can't back up with the car in tow.  I then proceeded to make the worse decision I have made during this trip.  There was a space large enough to drive a car through between the cars ahead at the pump lane on the left and the pump lane on the right.  But apparently there was not enough room to pass a motor home.  The good news is I cleared the cars on the left side.  The bad news is I wasn't so lucky on the right side.  Why this guy had his fuel door open on the side away from the pump, I'll never know.  I thought I had made it, and we pulled over beyond the pumps to ponder our next move.  A few minutes later a guy in a pickup pulled up, and he was PISSED!  It turns out that I had hit his open gas cap and bent it such that it wouldn't close.  I apologized profusely while he was cursing and calling me an idiot (I couldn't argue with that).  I offered to pay him for the damage, but that didn't seem to help.   After he ran out of breath and curse words he got in his truck in left.  It's a good thing Canadians can't carry hand guns.  If this had happened the next day in North Dakota I think I would have been shot. After he left I looked at the passenger side of the coach.  OUCH!  Faithful readers will remember the sine-wave shaped scratch a hiker put down the side of the coach during our passage to Skagway on the ferry.  Now I have a matching straight-line underscore to that one.  Unlike the Skagway scratch, this one was totally my fault and resulted from a moment of extreme stupidity. That makes it even worse.   I think I'll blame it on Dorcas; she should have stopped me (he didn't listen when I tried D).  We left Saskatoon without buying fuel.  I figured we should get out of town as soon as possible before the guy changed his mind and called the cops.

I saw a single hay bale in the median of the highway and remarked to Dorcas it must have fallen off a truck.  Then I noticed there were numerous hay bales in the median and along both shoulders.  Apparently the Provincial government allows farmers to harvest hay on the highway right-of-way.

Saskatchewan is big on farming

And filled with smoke

Dorcas, I thought I told you to clean the windshield! (Farm country!)

Our final border crossing was largely uneventful.  The customs agents did enter the motor home, however.  I think they were checking to see if we were smuggling Canadians or other human cargo across the border.  They peaked into the trunks of the cars ahead of us, but nobody seemed to be searched or detained.

We stopped in Minot ND, the first fair sized town we came to after we crossed into the US.  I wanted to have some lab tests done to be assured that my infection had cleared up before we entered the Boundary Waters for a two-week wilderness trip the next week.  This day we drove 378 miles and spent the night at the Walmart in Grand Forks ND.  We found that we were running a little ahead of schedule and could afford to slow down a bit.

Our camp at Grand Forks ND

We visited for a while at Itasca State Park in north central Minnesota.  Lake Itasca is the origin of the Mississippi River.

I always assumed that the word "Itasca" was an Indian word.  In fact, it is a combination of the Latin words veritas ("truth") and caput ("head").

Check out the cool solar array on the Visitor Center building

The big thing to do here is wade across the Mississippi River.

Wading the big(?????) muddy.

Wading the Mississippi at the mouth of Lake Itasca

Where else can you find a giant toucan, pink flamingo, Pegasus and rubber ducky all together?

The next day we drove only 248 miles and spent the night in Hibbing MN.

This is what it looks like shooting though a door screen

Hibbing MN is a mining town in the Mesabi Range mining district.  It's major claims to fame are that it is the site of the largest open pit iron mine in the world, and it is Bob Dylan's home town.  Rocks and rock and roll.  As usual, we spent the night at the Walmart Supercenter.

After sleeping late and having a leisurely breakfast we drove the final 82 miles to Ely MN, which will be our jumping off point for our traditional annual canoe trip into the Boundary Waters.

Homebound Down the ALCAN: Yukon and British Columbia

From Whitehorse we continued south and east across the Yukon Territory, then into British Columbia.

Camp near Pine Lake YT (MP 699). A super-wide double ender with toilets

We chased the pot of gold but it eluded us

The Sign Post Forest is Watson Lake’s most famous attraction. Travelers from around the world have been bringing signposts from their hometowns to the Sign Post Forest since 1942 and continue to do so today.  The tradition began during the Alaska Highway construction in 1942, when U.S. soldier Carl K. Lindley spent time in Watson Lake recovering from an injury. A commanding officer asked him to repair and erect the directional signposts, and while completing the job, he added a sign that indicated the direction and mileage to his hometown of Danville, Illinois. Others followed suit, and the trend caught on. Today there are over 83,000 signs in the Forest, and the number grows each year as visitors contribute signs and continue the tradition. The Town of Watson Lake maintains the site, adding more sign posts as they fill up.

We posted our sign

Real estate was at a premium on the posts.  I was tempted to pull an older, less substantial sign down to make room for ours.  Many folks had done just that.  At the bottom of each post were several older signs that had "fallen" off.  However, I was prepared and carried a 3' step ladder and was able to reach high on a post where there was some room.

We even found the sign we posted in 2011

On September 28, 2016 there were 83,886 signs in the forest.  But who's counting.  No really, I mean, who's counting???

Watson Lake signpost forest: sign count by year

After we left Watson Lake we almost immediately crossed into British Columbia.  We had hoped to spend the night at Liard River Hot Springs, but the campground was full when we arrived.  We had met to a lady at Watson Lake who was from Juneau and was traveling to Idaho to watch the solar eclipse.  We ran into her again here at Liard, and she had scored the last campsite.  DANG!

No room at the inn

Flexibility is a virtue, and we made the best of it.  We parked in the day use parking area and hiked to the spring for a dip.

What CAN you do here?

We had dinner at the day use area and went back to the hot spring one more time for a final dip.

Toasty water at Liard River Hot Springs

After our second visit to the spring we left the park and found a nice spot to park just a few miles down the road.  Faithful readers will know we are not strangers to roadside camping

Camp near Liard River YT

At one point we rounded a bend and found ourselves smack in the center of a herd of bison.  This ain't Yellowstone, folks.  They were right there in the middle of a 100 kph (62 mph) highway.  Click HERE to see a video of the bison

Bison on the boulevard

Caribou on the carriageway

We also saw some less conventional wildlife.  We later learned that a nearby outfitter was letting these horses roam freely on the highway.

Horses on the highway

Between a rock and a wet place

When we passed through here in 2011 this place had excellent home made cinnamon buns.  We were looking forward to some more.  DANG!

It's a good thing we didn't need any fuel!

At $1.59 per liter, I certainly would snivel (~$4.79 per gallon US dollars)

Another interesting potty door.  Kinda like a freezer latch

There is a reduced speed zone coming into the Village of Teslin.  We saw this mountie on the side of the road and hit the brakes.  They sure fooled me!

Faux Mountie

A glorious sunset

Flowers at the Fort St. Nelson Visitor Center 

This map gives a good depiction of the length of the Alaska Highway

Normally Mile 0 is at the beginning of one's trek up the Alaska Highway.  We're a little different; we did it backwards.  We came by here only on our way home.

Does anybody really know what time it is?  Does anybody really care?  (Chicago/Robert Lamm 1969)

On this day we had a strong tail wind, which seems to almost never happen. I was getting a little over 10 mpg.  SWEET!

Flags blowing at the Dawson Creek railroad depot museum and visitor center

Departing Dawson Creek we entered Alberta CA and began our long trek across the Canadian plains.


Oh, by the way, news from the good luck department:  I am a long time subscriber to Sirius satellite radio.  I received an email for a sweepstakes offering free tickets to this event.  I entered, and we won two tickets.  The event is in Charlotte on September 15.  It will be tight, but we plan to make it home just in time.