UT-ID-OR-BC-YT-AK

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not sure what happened when I was putting all the lost blogs back up but this is the rest of the entry from UT to AK...

Day Five, Monday, July 2, 2007
Back on the road again, traveling with my son again, he’s in the driver’s seat again… He says I had a chance to drive and I failed; guess I just could not go fast enough. Of course the fact that it was night and one could not see too far ahead has nothing to do with it?

We are on our way north again toward Salt Lake City, UT. Going through desert with mountains around us. This car, Honda Civic, is quite nice for traveling in, lots of leg and headroom. We haven’t had too much construction on the road either or too much traffic.

Just passed a road to Emma Park, so is it a park with the name Emma or is it a road named after Emma Park? Good name in either case! ☺

Back in Wellington we passed a home on one side of the street that could have been lifted straight in from Israel! Then almost directly opposite on the other side was a log cabin that could have been at home anywhere in Alaska! The public works building was shaped like interconnected igloos. I know I should have taken some photos of them but they went by before I could… next time.

So we are in the mountains and came upon some construction, down to one lane. The car in the end of the line, the one we pulled up to had its hazard lights on, so we did the same when we stopped. The next car to pull up behind us put their hazards on; we turned ours off, and so on down the line! There was a sign for slow vehicles to put on their flashing lights but nothing about the hazard lights like we saw and did.

Just remembered something, back in a small town we passed through, maybe Wellington, there was a gas station that was closed, the signs for gas were still up: $1.00 a gallon! Gas was $2.89 in OK, up to $3.29 here in parts of UT, in some cases higher.

We went to visit Mrs. Baxter, my high school English teacher in Salt Lake City! Stayed for a lovely chat with her before continuing our way north. Decided to stop for dinner at Olive Garden. Unfortunately we could not find it nor could Lucy. So we drove a bit and stopped somewhere else that was okay but nothing to write home about, so I wrote in a blog instead. (that last part was Elan’s contribution to this blog installment) I did not want to get back in the car and start driving directly after dinner so we went to Target!! Took our time wandering around, picked up a few snacks for the road and then it was, back on the road again, going places that we’ve never been…(again Elan)

We’ve decided that traveling at sundown is not a good idea as the sun when heading west or even northwest is directly in one’s eyes. So the plan is to try to leave earlier than our usual take-off time of 11AM tomorrow. We have an idea we’d reach Katrina & Josh, and Eric by tomorrow night in Tigard. We’ll call them on Tuesday, July 3, 2007!

So now we pass a truck on the road and Elan thinks the yellow license plate is Alaska, not! It is Oregon, he said, “Bother, if it were Alaska, it might be my shipment and I could stop it to get my MP3 with all my music on it!” Yep, my son packed most all his music except for a few, say 5 cd’s. Tod gave us a few and Elan’s picked up a few more on the way back at Target. Right now we are listening to “The All-American Rejects” which followed “Red Hot Chilli Peppers”. Luckily I like most of the music Elan listens to and visa-versa, for the most part.

Well, we are coming up to our lovely abode for the night, the fabulous Marble Motel in downtown Tremonton, UT so time to sign off and upload this along with the few pictures we took today.

Spoke too soon, though they advertise wireless the signal is almost non-existent so we’ll have to upload tomorrow from somewhere else… Elan just called the front desk and the person there said while they do have wireless it is not turned on and would he like to have it on? The weak signal must have been someone else’s then… Elan is taking matters into his own capable hands and going over to offer his services to get the wireless up and running. He came back an hour later after chatting with the guy, didn’t work, as the wireless is too weak to send the signal to the whole motel.
Day Six, Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Good morning! We got out this morning at 10:30AM- earlier! Lucy has guided us back on the highway and we are to go 93 miles till our next turn. The sun is out and it promises to be another sunny day.

Elan’s always promised to send pictures of what he’s doing with his life in OK. It was not that he didn’t have a camera, had a disposable one I sent him once and his own digital camera. I did get one or two pics that he emailed somewhere along the way. Now I have all of them on my computer, got to download them too. We’ll share a few with you here!

Crossing into Idaho was uneventful though they have good signs, “Dust Storm area, do not stop on road” “Game Crossing” “Idaho is too beautiful to litter” “Deer migration crossing” So far we’ve seen only herds of cattle. We did see a flock of goats yesterday somewhere in UT. We’re not on the open range so no chance, or little chance of a close encounter with a cow up close yet. Camera is at hand just in case.

Elan’s has delusions of grandeur and we’ll arrive in Tigard within the hour. With the release of “Transformers” Elan thinks this car will magically transform and fly the rest of the distance… (This bit dictated by Elan himself)

And today for our listening pleasure while we drove across Idaho, “Disturbed”, like I said good thing we like each other’s music for the most part. Elan likes country though. OK’s influence I suppose.

Rest stop at Ziggy’s café, Elan did some reading in a book for worrywarts. Things a cow should worry about: where does hamburger come from? What if I don’t want to be milked twice a day? Are some of my relatives, baseball mitts? Will the farmer have cold hands? Why did all my friends go in the truck? What about shoes? In another category: you should worry about the neighbors will report you for being abusive to your children for asking them to turn off MTV so that they can clean violent game video cartridges. What if gravity should fail?

Back on the road, scenery update: rolling hills farmland, lots of green growing crops, herds of cattle, herds of horses, a few wineries, meandering river (Snake River), many trucks on the roads and of course cars galore. I-84 is a nice double lane highway where we make good time as you can imagine with Elan at the wheel. I’m not sure I’ll be doing much driving on this trip.

Nice rest stop at an outlet near Boise. Picked up a few things, good prices on some, and high on others. Barely any people there, one salesclerk said that not many people come to that outlet and there were many closed stores too. Afterwards we decided to get some dinner, Elan asked Lucy to find us an Olive Garden and lo and behold she did and it was not too far away. Endless breadsticks and salad and some appetizers made a great dinner. Now we’re back on the road again heading to Pendleton, OR. That is the place where they make the famous Pendleton shirts. We have about 3 hours of drive time ahead of us. That is 3 hrs if the traffic moves, unfortunately we’ve hit rush hour. Oh well… got music, got water, got good company…

First rest stop in Oregon has wireless but one has to pay for it! Guess we’ll wait some more, just to upload one time is not worth the payment, if we were staying for a bit it would be different.

This is the first state that we’ve come across that has required helmets for motorcyclists for both driver and passenger. Just passed a grove of trees, as opposed to a herd of cattle or bales of hay. Elan made the observation that we are close to the ocean! Woohoo! Click it or ticket! $97 fine for no seatbelt.

We’ve just entered the snow zone with a chain up area. One can only stop while chaining. Don’t pass snow removal equipment on the right either. It is also unlawful to drive in the left lane unless one is passing. Elan promptly moved to the left lane to demonstrate his rebellious side. Hills of Oregon are bare and brow, some brush dots the hills with a big of sage green color. Oh! It is unlawful for trucks, campers, buses and trailers to be in the left lane while passing, so Elan wasn’t being rebellious…this time.

We just realized that we are in a new time zone, Pacific Time zone so we’ll arrive an hour earlier than we thought; Elan is thinking that we can go to see Transformers tonight! And in case one did not know that there was a sign on the road that said we are now in the Pacific Time Zone.

The summit of the Blue Mountains! Trees, trees and more trees everywhere. One sees the tall ones with ones half their size growing up around them, like kindergarteners and sixth graders mixed up! A few are taller than all, they must be the teachers! Elan says they are just all trees.

End of our sixth day out and still no wireless!

Day Seven, Wednesday, July 4, 2007
A short update for now…
We arrived in Tigard to see Katrina & Josh, & Eric. Sat, talked, caught up on what everyone is doing. Went to dinner then went to watch fireworks. We went to a park by the river and not only saw the professional display we had front row seats for the local people who brought their own fireworks. A family with two small boys had tons of fireworks to set off. They did, about 10-15 feet from Eric’s car. Not only these kids but also many other families were around the park setting off fireworks. Quite a display, noisy and bright. Happy 4th of July! Hot sunny day too once again.

Day Eight, Thursday, July 5, 2007
Woke up well rested. Katrina & Josh’s friends were visiting on vacation. We all went to the science museum, OMSI, except for Elan & Eric who did not want to see the Body Works 3 exhibit. The rest of us had a good time and the exhibit was very interesting to see. Got home and had a snack then Elan & I hit the road. We decided to head west towards Tillamook. Drove slowly and enjoyed the scenery. We toured the Tillamook Creamery, had some ice cream, bought some cheese and then headed up the coast.

Little towns along the way were very picturesque. The coast was absolutely beautiful. Some of the areas reminded me of the east coast when I drive up to Camp. We found a motel in one of the places. The view from our window faces the hills, looks like the tree farms we saw coming into Portland. Chatted with some of the other guests in the motel. One has a Pomeranian, very cute and fluffy. The air here is very cool compared to just a few miles inland. Elan, and I will have our long sleeves out tonight!

Had dinner in a small diner that was rather crazy. Waiters said they were understaffed that night but we counted 6+ for the place. Food was okay; we just had clam chowder, which was a bit salty. Trying to go to be a bit earlier tonight so we can leave tomorrow at 9:30AM…

Day Nine, Friday, July 6, 2007
On our way to Wolf Haven… rode up the coast towards Tenino. Stopped in Seaside for breakfast. Had a scare that something was leaking from the bottom of the car but turned out to be nothing. Elan says there is something about Oregon that makes one want to drive slowly, it’s in the water he says, though, he has not drank too much Oregon water. Today is the first day since we left that there is no sun. It is grey and overcast with a few sprinkles but not the rain that we left in OK.

I think it would be quite fun to rent a beach side house with a group of friends! One could go swimming, boating, having a kumzitz on the beach. (bonfire) We have a bag of charcoal that we plan on using some time later in our trip one evening, at least that is the plan.

Elan’s car has almost 20,000 mi on it!!

-----Thoughts with Elan Aqua-----

So here I am sitting in the car as my mother drives. Yes I have decided to extend my forgiving side a bit further and allow my mother to drive once more in the car that has possibly saved countless thousands, that car of course being mine.

I have been sure to give my Mom a taste of her own medicine by curling up and shouting each time she tries to pass a vehicle, or a blade of grass bends the wrong way on the rode, and of course harping on her constant speeding. Yes my mother is speeding! (One mile over the limit but speeding nonetheless).

We saw an Alaskan flag on the right, not sure what it is doing out here but still rather interesting, not. It was near three odd pillars with some wire statues at the top. Some sort of Catholic thing I believe, the third looked something like the robed open arm Jesus, the right the sad looking Virgin Mary. Aside from this I am not sure what else it could be.

I am listening to Disturbed again; I like this CD “Ten Thousand Fists”. It’s a nice little ‘angry’ set of music. I like the drums in it, rather nice if you take the time to listen. Speaking of disturbed, I was quite the same a bit earlier. See Oregon was giving me this odd feeling that I had to pull over any time cars got behind me, and being the nice guy I am I pulled over each time they came, this time I may have pulled over on a street a bit less level than I thought. We heard a nasty little “kerchunk”. After pulling over I saw something leaking under the car. After checking it and sniffing it I decided my car has nothing clear and “water” like in it. At first I thought maybe it could just be the Air Conditioner blasting out from the condenser, but the stupid sound from earlier had my head thinking something was broken and I couldn’t quite derail that train wreck despite my better judgment. Finally we stopped by a pit stop and asked a mechanic who dispelled my fears with the same thoughts I had originally. Perhaps I should have taken my Chilton manual on this trip. Oh well something to remember for the next time.

We crossed into Washington a bit ago, a bit annoyed, another state with an inaccessible “Welcome to X” sign. Who puts “Entering Washington” on a bridge where you can’t stop and take a picture, whoever did that needs to be shot. In the foot. Twice.

About seven trucks around us, so I know my Mom is a bit nervous, especially because her hands keep wringing the steering wheel. Ah she is backing up now, which isn’t the best of things to do in this situation as now all the trucks are pulling around and in front of her… what will happen next? Well I suppose you will just have to wait for another exciting installment of “When Mothers Drive!”

As we crossed the bridge into Washington of course my Mom started calling out every Oregon license plate returning home. Because of this weak attempt to wrack up points I did the only logical thing, I deducted points from her total score for a poor attempt to take advantage of an easy shot. The rules of MY license plate game change, only because it’s MY car and I get to make the rules. I believe my score is 344 to her negative ten billion or so, give or take a few zeros. I am happy to finally be winning this game, no wonder she plays it with me all the time.

Ah right I promised the answer to “When Mothers Drive!” She made it out alright, the evil truckers of “El Chupa Diablo” have left her alone as she flashed her “Angry Teacher’s Biker Gang” signs out the window chasing them off into the sunset.

I hate her silly little Mac keyboard, it clicks too much not very quiet. Sounds like a blasted typewriter.

I feel like some chicken right now, oh well no chance of that happening, I’m sure the craving will go away before we finish crossing this new bridge. Ooh blades of grass! See, gone already.

Well I’m off for a bit, time to take a nap while she drives. Ciao.

He never did sleep. We headed to Wolf Haven and got there in time for the last tour. Saw most of the wolves there and the coyotes. It was great to be there and think of my Dad. There were a number of kids on the tour too who asked great questions. Two kinds of wolves, Red & Gray with the Gray having 5 subspecies according to our tour guide. Only in Alaska and Minnesota are the wolves not on the endangered list. We did not really get time to go in the gift shop and look around but most of the stuff seemed to be not worth the money. Elan was looking at a few things but the wolves did not have yellow eyes, an absolute must according to Dad.

Elan’s regaling me with stories of his time in Basic. Or as he was called then, “Water Boy.” He’s telling me mostly funny stories of his resourcefulness and creativity.

Just passed Steilacoom, we waved hi for you Susan! Next stop, the Tall Girl store in Tacoma! Rush hour traffic heading north into Tacoma… we’ve seen one fender bender, lots of traffic though and a high potential, and as I write this we see a car that has overturned on the road…the ambulance speeds off. I’m glad we are taking a break at the mall to let the traffic cool off a bit.

The mall had a large Tall Girl store and very nice women working there. Elan busied himself by getting another CD of music, alternative rock.

Got to Seattle and found a place to stay then contacted Kelsey again, we had called several times during the day with an update of our progress north and when we thought we’d arrive in Seattle. After arriving and putting our stuff in the motel then we went out to dinner. He took us to a conveyor belt sushi! Elan was in seventh heaven, hasn’t had sushi in a long time. We plan to leave tomorrow to head up to Vancouver B.C.
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Day Ten, Saturday, July 7, 2007
Happy Birthday Susan!

------Thoughts with Elan-------
Here we are sitting in line waiting at customs. I find it very amusing that folks sound their horn when the distance grows more than 5 feet. Bunch of impatient dorks. I hate them all.

Speaking of funny things, we are watching the folks in the car in front of us. They are trying to change out their CD changer in the trunk and the passenger can’t quite seem to figure it out. Poor guy. Makes for a funny show for us though so I suppose it’s not all bad. DANCE MONKEYS DANCE!

Not much else really going on, called my Aunt Susan to wish her a happy birthday over the phone. We dropped by… NEWS FLASH

We break this standard Elan text message for an important broadcast… My mother believes the word “hate” to be too strong, due to the graphical nature of this post this has been elevated to PG 13.

We now return you to your regular text entertainment.

Where was I? Oh right, we dropped by a town where my Aunt lived, I already forgot the name though, I will ask my mom in a second what it was. In the mean time, the town was small and nice. All in all a quaint little place, I don’t think I could live there personally a bit too odd for me. I decided I dislike cities with multiple layers. Seattle is too busy for me, every driver is insane and has a death wish, and Lucy can’t seem to stay focused enough to give me directions with the multi tiered bridges and roads blocking her view of the sky. All in all I think Seattle is a city we could take a rolling pin too and flatten out a bit. Plenty of surrounding countryside to expand into.

The line into Canada is a long and boring one, we are in the right hand lane, which I believe was a mistake. It turns out that there is an on ramp to which cars can sneak into the line mid way without having to wait in the line. The problem is that while they keep sneaking the right hand lane doesn’t seem to move much. Lessons for the next time I go into Canada…. Fly.

It seems our rest stop with wireless Internet was quite the rarity. We have seen Internet at two others, and both were pay sites not much fun. Oh well c’est la vie.

I am really running out of things to talk about so time to sign off and watch the show in front of me.

Ferndale, by the by, is the name of the town my Aunt lived in.

-------End Transmission-------

We are staying in a small hostel, cheap, clean and located near Gastown and Chinatown. There was a night market, food stalls, clothing- get your underwear here, only 10 C.A.D.! A stage had entertainment starting with a dancing dragon that ended up eating a head of lettuce then spitting it out on the audience and then a scroll dropped from its mouth. We tried some fried tofu, how bad can that be? Or so we thought. More than nasty, it was foul smelling and was promptly tossed in the nearest garbage can. Just think how many calories we saved by not eating it! We then tried a chicken teriyaki skewer, much tastier and then had some Native fry bread for dessert. This was also tasty. Back to our humble abode to try to sleep a bit.

Sunday, July 8, 2007-Monday, July 9, 2007
On Sunday we slept in before getting up to walk around the city. The hostel was in a smelly and noisy part of town. So walking to and from the hostel meant seeing lots of local color and smelling more smells, more that we wanted to see and smell ever. We wandered near the water, and up to Robson, a fancy shopping area then on to the famous Taki’s Taverna. Unfortunately the food did not live up to previous visits but still was okay. But wait we did something else first! We went to Tinseltown to see “Ratatouille” on the big screen! If one can get away from the fact that the rats are rats and can see them as only cartoon characters then the movie is quite cute but if one starts to think of rats then it is rather disturbing. For those who have a serious dislike of rodents, (Aunt Kathy, says Elan), this is not the movie for them. This movie can extend the olive branch between disease infested rodents and humans, I’m sure the plague was a big misunderstanding. (This last sentence is also dictated by Elan)

We had to check out of the hostel by 11AM this morning, so Elan went to get the car while I brought down all the luggage downstairs then we took off. Elan was kind enough to make a stop at the Tall Girl store but I did not find anything… Next stop was the “all-you-can-eat” sushi, which was fabulous. On the road towards Cache Creek now…

Passed Cache Creek and we are staying at Williams Lake. The scenery is beautiful yet again! Forests and mountains surround us!

Tuesday, July 10, 2007
In 7 days I fly to Boston!
Got on the road after stopping at Sav-On Foods. Picked up some stuff for sandwiches on the road. Elan would like to grill somewhere on the road but we have not seen any grills on the roadside stops like we did in Kansas. We might have to pick up a cheap little grill to put over the coals. Then we’ll get some chicken to put in the marinade we picked up earlier in our trip. The weather has been fantastic all along, not much traffic but we are definitely not alone on the road. Picked up some great cherries to nibble on the way. Found a wifi at McDonald’s so we are uploading this now…


We are staying in a B&B just east of Chetwynd, BC. Found it when we were in Prince George and Elan wanted to stay in a Super 8, they have breakfast included, but the Super 8 was filled up in Dawson Creek. If you ever travel to William’s Lake be sure to stop and see the visitor center! It is one amazing building, an enormous log cabin. Anyway, we stopped in the visitor center in Prince George and while the building was unimpressive the insides and the people again were most helpful. They helped us find this B&B.

It is called, Polly’s Ranch B&B, 30K east of Chetwynd, 1.6K off highway 97. They have a couple of horses, 4 cows/steers, a Golden retriever and best of all: a Bernese Mountain dog!!! The retriever, Kobi, is very friendly while the Bernese is more a watchdog, though nice enough. The owners are originally from Switzerland; they’ve been here 13 years. They are very friendly too and we talked a long time as they told us how they came to be here. The owner asked what time we’d like breakfast. It could be anytime between 7-9AM. Elan laughed later and said he had not seen 7AM in months! So I told her around 8:30AM would be fine.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007
We just passed Buckinghorse Creek and stopped at a litter barrel to have sandwiches. The pullouts here are designated by litter barrels rather than rest stops so we stop there for lunch or a break. They don’t necessarily have toilets though.

The B&B last night was fantastic, if you ever come this way be sure to sleep there, Polly Ranch B&B. Lilane made us the most wonderful breakfast this morning: muesli, homemade yogurt, jam, toast, fresh bread, coffee & cream, cheese and meats. Very yummy! After that we drove to Dawson Creek, mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway. Went to the store and picked up a few things for the road and took off. Elan slept till around 4 then he drove. We are doing a long drive today… Lucy says we can arrive in Anchorage by tomorrow at 4 if we drive for the next 24 hours. We are not taking her advice though and plan to stop for a few more nights before arriving home. The closer we get though the more Elan would like to push on home. Do you think he is anxious to get there? ☺

Scenery through BC are forests as far as the eye can see. There are some mountains off in the distance and rolling hills throughout. Oh, and thanks a lot Eric for telling Elan he’d be able to go fast on the long stretches! I zoom along at 110 kph he zooms along at 130 kph…

At the motels we’ve been staying at we’ve been watching the food network. Elan watches it regularly in OK… At least it is better than the cartoons they show late at night!

We saw caribou, elk & Stone sheep on the road! The Milepost said to watch for the animals on the road and they were not kidding. Now we are camping out at Toad River Campground. Elan is getting ready to bbq our chicken. The campsite has internet & electricity! Wireless too which is how I’m able to upload this…
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Thursday, July 12, 2007
We both slept amazingly well in the car last night, it was a little hot in the morning but not bad, we got up at 9:30AM! Went to the café to have breakfast and saw a motorcycle rider that we’d talked to back on the road a day or so ago. Chatted with him a bit, he’s headed to Fairbanks and Top of the Road highway.

We ate a good breakfast and then took off. The road is very good, some loose gravel, some construction in a few places but not bad at all. We got to see more Stone sheep on the road again; our motorcycle friend was in the same place taking photos too. Then we headed towards Liard hot springs. We thought to stop and take a dip but the bathroom was calling so we left the line. Got back on the road and saw many signs to watch for buffalo on the road. I kept saying to Elan that maybe over the next hill we’d see them; we didn’t but did have to stop for another flock of sheep on the road! More buffalo signs then finally we saw one buffalo! After taking many photos we left and then just up and over the next hill we saw a whole herd of buffalo!! Many more pictures later and full of excitement we took off.

Another fellow rider on the road is a bright yellow “Alaskan Cruiser.” It is a motorcycle trike with a trailer on the back. We’ve played leapfrog with it for a couple of days. Every now and then we see a bicycle rider. I wonder how Aaron did on the Fireweed 400 this year? How about Ed & Evelyn on the 50 mi tandem? Next stop I’ll have to look at the results. (Next stop that I can get internet that is.)

Many places on the road say to slow down; Elan would like to see one that says speed up!

I drove for a few hours then Elan again. As we crossed into the Yukon Territories, the official crossing the Mounties were out stopping everyone and asking questions. As one travels the Alcan, the highway crosses back and forth between BC and Yukon Territory six times. Watson Lake has a sign post forest with over 68,000 signs. If we include the license plates from there then we’ve seen a plate from every state except Hawaii and that is probably there too but we did not see it! The information center person said that people plan on coming to Watson Lake to put up their signs. Many of the signs were in German, she said they research and know all about the place they are traveling to before they get there! My favorite signs were the solar system ones! I hope the pictures of them are good enough to put up in my classroom.

We picked up some hotdogs and marshmallows for dinner tonight, whenever that might be. We’ve been playing leapfrog with the motorcycle rider, he is easy to recognize with his neon yellow reflective gear.

So I was just getting ready to add in here that I had seen a black bear on the side of the road but could not stop and Elan slowed down because there was another one on the side! We saw a moose last night where we camped. The wildlife is definitely grand to see on the road. I did have to slow down and swerve to avoid a small duck waddling across the road… Awhile back we were told to be cautious of the Rancheria Caribou herd in the area but we did not see them. I’m thinking that on a motorcycle the wildlife is a bit scarier. Take the bear, it wandered onto the road after we passed it by… not sure how that’d be to come upon on my motorcycle.

Lucy is telling us that if we drive from now straight we’d arrive home at 8AM tomorrow morning. This is one feature I do not like. For those of you who have seen the previews of the new Mr. Bean movie, Elan quotes, “Get me the toothpicks!” Yes, Susan, there is a new Mr. Bean movie, want to go with us? ☺

Lots of cottonwood in the air blowing about, there was a lot of bees too at the last rest stop. Elan got out to stretch his legs and promptly got back in his car again.

Do you prefer the metric or imperial system? Elan prefers mph over kmph. I wish we would stick with metric, makes math easier! So we are traveling along and Elan wanted to know how fast in mph he was going so clicked the switch to show that. Then after we passed some cars on the road he continued to speed up, after all the gauge said we were at 86 and we were used to going at 110. Oops! He forgot that 110 was kmph and 86 was in mph! Makes a big difference!

Friday, July 13, 2007
Ooooh! Friday the thirteenth! Thanks to Susan, Elan thinks he should make Whitehorse to Anchorage in one day! Lucy says we’ll arrive by 8:30PM, if, and that is a big if we can keep to the speed limit the whole way and no stops. But that is the problem there is lots of construction at Beaver Creek we’ve been told, and the road has bumps and frost heaves in it. I imagine that we’ll be sleeping in our own beds though tonight even if it is later than 8:30PM.

When you go through Canada be sure to stop at the Visitors’ Centers. They are wonderful. One can watch an audio-visual presentation or look out the window, get lots of information from the people working there; they are very helpful and pleasant to talk to. Across the street from the Haines Junction Visitors’ Center is an excellent bakery. Elan had a lox and bagel half and I had the best slice of Greek pizza! We got some blueberry scones for the road later on when Elan will not want to stop… ☺

We are promised more bear on the road, in the muffin bakery there was a warning sign about black and grizzly bears and how to tell the difference based on their scat. Grizzly bear scat has the bells in it and smells like pepper. As I don’t intend to walk around in the area I’m not too worried, nor is Elan. Neither of us has bells nor pepper spray either, just bug dope.

We can see the ice fields of Kluane now but with the clouds there is not much sun. Off in the distance we can see some sun on the mountains. (I wonder if this segment of our travel blog will get uploaded before we get home or not?)

Kluane Lake, very dusty conditions, slow traffic, gravel road, big construction project going on, will slow us down. Got to the end of Kluane Lake and there is less construction but wait, there’s more. And now we have blasting ahead too, turn off your radio transmitters. The flagger came by to tell us that it would be a few more minutes then we have a few more miles of this stuff. Ahh that is so nice! Usually we are not told anything but one just sits and waits till the line moves again.

We are following an rv that has a sticker of the Good Sam Club, some of the campgrounds have the same logo too… like AAA or CAA? Hmmmm… And we are off, 3kmph… I feel sorry for the motorcyclists on the road here, they are being put in the front of the lines of traffic following the pilot cars. I guess that helps somewhat. So the line of cars slows even more, we are on a muddy, rocky road and all of a sudden see a sign that says detour, we see the original road off to the left blocked off and the detour looks like it goes right into Kluane Lake! A great optical illusion and gives us a laugh!

Slow going because of frost heaves in the road, when there is a sign for bumps you’d better slow down!

Well we crossed the border sometime ago, then stopped for dinner at Fast Eddy’s and now are speeding our way back to Anchorage. Thanks again Susan for telling Elan that you did Whitehorse to Anchorage in one day. So far the only bad thing is we got a rather larger crack in the middle of the top of the windshield. We had some rain earlier and now it is pouring, Elan’s hoping for a real good shower to clean off his car.

Do you like roller coasters? Then the road from after Whitehorse till even now, 220mi northeast of Anchorage would be the road for you. Elan is enjoying himself as he is driving, when I drove it was not so bad. I think when you drive the rollercoaster effect is lessened, or it just seems that way.

So tonight we’ll be home, this will get uploaded from home along with the pictures. The weather was beautiful along with the scenery. Mountains with glaciers, sun on the water, green forests as far as the eye can see… it is good to be home again.


****Elans Log 4099949848****

So here I am back in the passenger seat for the time being. My mom is an interesting driver. I think she is afraid of blades of grass, but I am not sure. Maybe she has a right to be, they look awfully threatening and in the night if you listen closely you can hear them whisper in the wind “I want to suck your blooooood”… or not. Seriously she is an ok driver. (I’m alive to write this, aren’t I?)

I enjoy taking the roller coaster version of the road, the bumps are fun and make the ride interesting. My mom hates them, but she laughs like she enjoys them. Who knows.

I am excited to finally be on the last leg of the trip, I am excited to finally be coming home. It has been a long six years of my life and much has changed. Sadly I did not win the lottery and get a billion dollars, but I did get a lot of job experience, and a chunk of college. All in all I’m doing well for myself, I think. Only time will truly tell.

Time to get a hair cut I think. As much as I want to grow my hair to epic proportions it is itchy and getting a bit oddly mushroom shaped. Then again this could also be credited to the fact that we did not shower this morning at the campground. Though I did manage to stick my head under a sink and the restaurant. HAHA Jokes on them!
As excited, as I am to end this trip, I am also ending it with much regret. In my six years I have made many acquaintances and have come to call a few true friends. All things I will be leaving behind in order to return to what is the only place I could every truly call home. Though I will not admit this to my mother, I will also miss our trip together. In life we share very little time with our parents, and should cherish it for what it truly is… time. Perhaps in the future we will have another road trip, maybe one a bit better planned… then again knowing me probably not.

All in all I am happy with this trip, my car, which is yet unnamed, has served me well. Lucy our trusted companion and GPS have yet to really lead us astray and Lucy has only lost her mind in the most severe of conditions. Yes, all in all I have had a good trip home.

I end this with a quote that I have heard “youth is wasted on the young”. To that quote I say humbug, if you thinks it’s wasted on the young then live vicariously through my eyes… and when you’re bored with doing that, join me on my next road trip!

We’ve arrived in Eagle River, due to the late hour though we did not stop to see Robin & Michael & Maddie! We headed on to Anchorage to wake up Shealtiel instead! The rain is accompanying us along with a beautiful rainbow. I’m hoping for a good sunset for our homecoming.

We stopped to see Shealtiel, who was not sleeping and in fact had just made himself dinner of salmon. Elan was very happy about this, as that was one of the things he talked about the whole trip, how much he wanted some salmon and halibut.

I’m writing these last few paragraphs from the comfort of my own couch. Our trip is over but Elan promises me that we’ll go on more road trips and that makes me very happy. We had a wonderful time traveling together, sure we had our moments but overall it was fabulous and I can’t wait for our next trip!

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Comments

[shealtiel aqua]

so nice
it is so nice to see all of your faces be well be safe come soon