The final 300 plus miles of our trip didn't disappoint. After traversing through the British Columbia and Yukon Territory, Pete and I both thought we had experienced some if not the best natural scenery in the North Country. Well, let me say just this ... the best was saved for last!

The frost heaves continued from Tok to Glennallen, Alaska. Not quite as intense as Yukon Territory, but enough for our mid-50's bodies to say, "OK!! Enough already ... more than once!" Even me, with my endless ability to try and find humor in everything, had grown weary of the body beating. As we came within 100 miles or so of the Palmer/Wasilla area where Laura, Ryan and Robert live we stumbled across something so breathtaking that it will stay with me forever. The Mananuska Glacier. In all it's spendor, dazzling that gorgeous ice blue as the sun peaked through the clouds. I couldn't get enough of it! When light danced across the glacier it sparkled like a prisim in the morning sun, truly a sight to behold. I felt so humbled by it's magnificent size and beauty. The Mananuska Glacier is 27 miles long and 4 miles wide. One of these days a day trip to explore this Grand Beauty is in order for sure!

Upon arrival at the kid's place Pete and I felt an immense sense of accomplishment. There aren't too many folks in their mid-fifties that are willing to would load up everything they own into a U-haul truck and tow their vehicle without a concrete game plan. All I can say about any of that is this. There's nothing like the complete sense of fullfilment one experiences when you travel over 2800 miles and finally get to feel the cuddly arms of your grandchild wrapped around your neck. It gives me total joy to be in Robert's presence. He is the first to carry a part of me beyond his mother. It may sound rather absurd, but unless you experience it first hand it's as if you can't fully grasp the emotion.

It reminds me of when I delivered Emily, my first child and Earl, her father commented to a friend afterward how intense it was, so much work getting her out and how tired he was. It was almost too much to hold back with a sarcastic response of, "Oh really?" But then I realized, each of may share the same experience, but our personal perception is ours alone. I never fully understand his feelings until I was present and alongside Laura when she labored and delivered Robert. Now I get it! Watching somebody you love go through everything it takes to bring a tiny life into the world has an impact on you, no doubt about. I am so excited about grandbaby #2 arriving in February. Laura is in the early stages and no matter what - I am grateful to be here. I can hardly wait to feel the cuddles and hugs from my two grandchildren!

Interesting Facts and More Photos

Last night we decided it was time to check into a four sided building with a hot shower and a bed. It's amazing what we take for granted sometimes. I did my ceremonial scratch to Pete's five day facial hair growth and said good-bye to the stubble. I think he was actually relieved that I didn't plead with him to keep it. He has such a handsome face ... why cover it up with a beard, eh?

We found a local laundromat and washed up our clothes so we'd have enough to make it the rest of the way. One thing I observed while in the public wash house is that no matter what country you are in, people still don't enjoy the process of doing their laundry amongst others. I also observed that if you watch long enough you can see which dryers are the known favorites, at $6.00 a load I was going to be as efficient as possible, but we still didn't get out of there for under $24.00. The Canadian one dollar coin is a looney and the two dollar coin is a tooney, I suppose sounding like a cartoon should make you laugh as you hand over your money!

Pete and I put in 440 miles yesterday and it's already 8 am and we need to get on the road. So, due to the time crunch, and our need to get back on the road I'll share some interesting facts we've discovered along the way.

• The official start of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek was only 1/2 way for us. We'd already traveled over 1300 miles from Bend through Seattle, and into British Columbia. Wow. Long road


• There are several tunnels in the "Cariboo" (yes, that's how they spell it) region of British Columbia along the Fraser River. One is 2300 feet, one of he longest tunnels in North America.


• Cache Creek, where we stayed the first night out of Seattle, looks a lot like Eastern Oregon. For those who haven't been there think Shandon, Cholame, rolling hills, farms, rolled hay bales, desert and cattle, but with lots of rivers and lakes.


• The lakes are sometimes very long. Lac La Hache is 11 miles long, only 1.5 miles wide, we drove by another lake that was 17 miles long and only 1 mile wide.


• The Liard River is a deep jade green, made so by the copper in the soil.


• We drove through the Rocky Mountain Trench, marking the western boundary of the Rocky Mountains.


• We crossed Pine Pass, the lowest pass over the Rockies in Canada, at 3,061 feet.


• Most of the towns are very small. For example, Chetwynd only has 3000 people, and two gas stations. We passed them both thnking there would surely be another, then had to turn around to go fill up. We've seen towns with populations of 260!


• Chetwynd is at the northern end of the North East Coal Resource, one of the largest known coal deposits on earth!! I found that rather amazing.


• The roadway really is a two lane road, with long stretches of smooth pavement, then long stretches of bumpy chip seal with no painted lines anywhere. The truckers are familiar with the road and they don't mess around. We've been passed by many fully loaded LARGE trucks (they have longer trailers up here). These guys really haul. Most of the roads in British Columbia were pretty good, but as soon as we passed into Yukon Territory the wide shoulders disappeared and the bumps started. We've been told that the next 400 miles are full of frost heaves (the tundra freezes and thaws and makes the road heave up and down so it is like riding a roller coaster) and torn up pavement from the weather.


• In over 2000 miles we have seen 2 police and 2 conservation patrol officers. Seriously, it's no wonder the truckers can drive so fast!


• Visitors centers have clean bathrooms! Yep, we seek them out! Some even have free internet ...


• The Watson Lake Signpost Forest is a real trip. People put signs there from their hometowns or their car license plates. There are over 61,000 signs! It all started in 1942 by one of the Army engineers working on the original highway.


• There are little grass airports along the road everywhere.


• Teslin, Yukon Territory is absolutely stunningly beautiful, sitting in a valley along Teslin Lake and Nisultin Bay, a huge lake. The longest bridge on the highway crosses the lake into the town, it's 1917 feet and metal grade road deck. Very cool.


• Every once in awhile you'll drive past a random sign posted next to the road. One that struck me really funny read: "Fresh eggs - Pies on Request"


• For some reason, there have been several places, either a roadside cafe, grocery store or campground office that claims to have the "Best Cinnamom Rolls". Of course we couldn't determine who had the best, so we never did try them. We did stop at this tiny cafe and bakery somewhere around 1800 miles into British Columbia and bought a round loaf of some of the best homemade sourdough bread we've ever had. For lunch that day we feasted on torn pieces of bread with peanut butter. Budget travel never tasted so good!


• The Canadian Rockies started out on the ocean floor about 1billion years ago. About 175 million years ago the continent of North America started shifting west and eventually pushed the mountains up into folds. 120 millions years ago they surfaced from the ocean. At one time they stood as high as the Himalayas. Let's just say, that's a very long time and they are still quite impressive!

Before we post this blog we're hoping to find an internet signal strong enough to upload some photos. More later.

8/10/10 Big stretch of Yukon Territory with a whole lot of "nothing but beautiful". Over 400 miles of no cell service and absolutely no internet, gas at almost $5.50/gallon and the most horrific road conditions you can possibly imagine. The frost heaves from the frozen tundra were constant, rough, potholed and huge. Most of the time we had to slow to 20 mph to get through them. It was amazingly rough. To lighten the moments I would imagine being a stagecoach driver in the old days and fake the sound of a cracking whip followed by "Yaaaah!" Seriously, it was really rough. Pete would just look at me over the top of his glasses. Guess he didn't find it as funny as I did!

Two quick points:

Kluane Lake is probably the most beautiful breathtaking sight we have ever seen. The lake is a bright turquoise blue surronded by majestic mountains and glaciers. Truly a gift to see.

Crossed the Canadian / US Border and celebrated being back in the USA! Why you say? The roads.... :-)

And a big wow was a huge black bear weighing at least 350 lbs. crossed the road in front of us and stopped to eat berries on the side of the road. We took pictures from about 50ft. away! And yes, we stayed in the truck!

We should arrive at Laura and Ryan's tonight! What an incredible journey it has been. Hello Alaska!!!

Pictures from Day 3 and 4

Unfortunately I don't know how to work this blog as well as I should. The pictures above are just a few of the things we experienced on days 3 and 4. The top ones are of the beginning of the Alaska Hiway. This is the official start of the Alaska Hiway, referred to as Milepost 0. The Alaska Hiway is over 1400 miles long.

The next photos are of the Sikanni River and some interesting rock cairns. What a gorgeous river and campground!

Next are some random shots along the way, including Lake Azouzetta looking down from Pine Pass, and the wood carvings at Chetwynd, the location of the International Chain Saw Carving Championships.

So much more to talk about, we're having a great time! Internet and cell service is very intermittent but highlights of today were wild wood bison (buffalo) along the road, a running black bear less than 50 yards from the car and bald eagles. More pictures and details hopefully tomorrow.

Day 4 in British Columbia

A pioneer's attitude of "Yes We Can" has come into play since my last entry. I suppose that it was just a matter of time when the overwhelming scenic beauty is over shadowed by even more of Mother Nature's generosity. Thunder, Lightning and down pouring rain ... not so difficult to deal with unless you are setting up a tent and testing that rain fly in a very dramatic way. I told Pete as we hunkered down into our dry and cozy sleeping bag that if the Good Lord decided a challenge of thunder, lightning and buckets of rain was on our agenda, then at least I would have something to write on the blog. At that very moment, a loud clap of thunder followed by a blinding flash of lightning opened the Heavens and down it came! Pete looked at me and said, "So, you just had to go ahead and say it, didn't you?" I giggled until I fell asleep, knowing that I would either spend the night worrying about it, or just wait until the morning to see what we had on our plates. I am so happy to say that we survived without a single droplet of water inside, and just a real soggy mess to pack up before hitting the road again.

Our travels northbound took us to a small town, world famous for it's wood carvings. Structures of all shapes, size and theme adorn the city streets. Chetwynd, British Columbia a quaint place to stretch our legs and marvel at the massive blooming baskets of sweet petunias and larger than life wood carvings.

We made it to Milepost 0 at Dawson Creek. It is the official start of the Alaska Hiway and turns out to be almost exactly 1/2 way to Ryan and Laura's. How bizarre is that?!

Not knowing how many miles we will cover in a single day because of road construction or mini stops, we try to look for campgrounds that at least offer picnic tables and flush toilets. Our ever present Milepost, the Bible for traveling the Alaska-Canadian Hiway, gave us a description of a lovely little place called Pink Mt. For any of you who have heard about our travels through Eureka Springs, Arkansas a few years back, you might remember the story about our stay at an interesting little motel ... noted in the travel books as home away from home with world class gardens. Not to side track here, but just a few key words to jog your memory about our stay at the Arkansas motel. Scary man with the world's biggest comb-over (one strand of hair that started at his left ear which wound over the top of his head and wrapped around his right ear to keep it in place ... and describing the wireless Internet with hands sweeping gently over his head, "It's in the A-I-R") and EVERYTHING in the room which was dated back to 1952 was some shade of PINK. Now that place and the experience has stayed with us for several years and I didn't think it could get anymore interesting than that. Well, let me tell you, the next time we see a place to stay that has the word PINK in it, we will just keep on driving.

Yesterday evening, we were rather tired as we not only had thunder, lightning and rain throughout the night, but the camping air mattress that we had for several years had decided it was going to leak air ... and I woke up face down, half out of the sleeping bag with my face buried into the vinyl floor of the tent. Honestly, there were no shots of tequila the night before. Well, this upcoming pink campground sounded fine, we registered and got our campsite number. OK, we just need a place to call home for the night. But I kid you not, our campsite was a number nailed to a tree. That's it. Park on the road, lay your tent on a hillside (no flat ground anywhere) and find something to plug your nose with as the campground sewer pond is less that 25 feet away with flourescent tape around it. Serious as a heart attack!! It didn't take more than a couple of seconds for us to agree we were not staying the night.

We headed out with refund in hand and drove 20 miles further north and stumbled across a small campground on the Sikanni River. Tucked into the trees with the river running nearby, we set up camp and inflated our brand spankin new air mattress (WalMart Dawson Creek) and slept for 9 hours!

Right now I am sitting in the visitor's center in Fort Nelson (don't you like the name?) using their free wireless Internet but my time is nearly expired. I'll post this for now and if we get to another location where we can upload pictures we'll do so. But it's time to hit the road!!

As we travel through British Columbia I've come to the conclusion that most of the way it has been like being in a beautiful water color painting, with rambling rivers, trees in all shapes and sizes, amazing vistas and flowers of yellow, white, purple and PINK!

Day 2 in British Columbia, Canada

Excuse me, did you just say "Eh?" It seems like the old saying goes, 'when in Rome' ... well, folks really do say, "Eh" here.

Yesterday we crossed the Canadian border. Admittedly, I was rather excited, it represnted uncharted territory! Pete, with his suspicious looks once again, created question with law enforcement. While we presented passports and all other documentation to the man in the tiny shack beneath the massive red maple leaf flag of Canada, it became evident that Pete was a man of interest .... "Sir, please park your vehicle and trailer in the pull through and go inside to Window A." Huh?? OK, in we go. There were documents to verify, questions about EVERY place we have lived since birth ... and oh, by the way, are you carrying over $10,000.00 in cash with you? Of course, all this took over an hour and the final question Pete had to answer was this. "Mr. Johnson, can you tell us WHY you were finger printed in California in 1984?" Pete stood there, and calmly responded, "Well, my late wife had a day care business in our home back then and we had to be licensed, which required finger prints." By this time, the supervisor and three other border patrol officers are now, 'standing down' ... and we got the big stamp of approval and were handed our papers. What a welcome to Canada ... nobody said a word. It was rather strange, kind of a letdown. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was pretty nonchalant. But Pete's suspicious nature did give us a good laugh for several hours as I teased him about being such a rebel and all.

There are approximately 500 wildfires burning out of control from dry lightning strikes in British Columbia right now. The route we are on is part of the famous Cariboo Trail which is where the majority of the fires are burning. For over 250 miles we had down on the deck smoke, the rest of our time in BC the smoke is lingering high enough to open up some of the vistas, which I might add are spectacular!

Most of today's travels have been through countryside that is dotted with cattle ranches, horse properties and rising hills that flow into valleys speckled with wild flowers that are yellow and purple. The Frazer River is massive, sometimes we are traveling right alongside the fast moving water and then climb several hundred feet to the highest tops and look down from jagged peaks. There were a few times today as we crossed a valley floor that I could imagine Hoss and Little Joe Cartwright riding through the meadow on horseback. This part of BC is called the High Country.

Last night we camped in Cache Creek and met our friendly neighbors. The campground host was a pleasant woman who was very helpful and accommodating. She was a bright spot in our day. Tonight we are setting up camp north of Prince George. Dawson Creek will be our first stop tomorrow. We plan on spending a little bit of time meandering there as it is the official start of the Alaska Hiway. It was during World War II in 1942 that the Army Corp of Engineers began this incredible feat. It should prove to be an interesting history lesson.

By the way, Starbuck's is amazing. We popped in, bought a hot green tea and have had the pleasure of sitting here in the air conditioning writing of our tales. Thank you Starbucks! When the Internet allows, we will drop you another note. Until then, know that we are loving this great adventure. To be our ages with this kind of opportunity is a blessing we appreciate in so many ways.

It's been a wonderful day, eh?

So, remember being a child and picking the petals from a flower and singing, “he loves me, he loves me not” all the while selecting each petal carefully before tossing it into the wind? OK … some of you may be thinking right now, what does this have to do with ‘Are We There Yet’ and most of you are thinking to yourself, if I stick with this long enough, Vikki will eventually get to the point. Because I am feeling a wee bit tired, sore as hell and the crunch to get back on the road, I’ll do just that.

We picked up the U-Haul 17 foot truck on Friday evening, paid through the nose to have two extremely large and in shape lumpers come over on Saturday morning to move our heaviest items and our massive log bed frame (thank God Ryan will be there to unload this mutha because the head board alone weights over 300 pounds). I insisted we were not going to get hurt prior to driving 2800 miles to Alaska. After these items are on the truck and the boys left with great big smiles for walking away with their 2 hour minimum for 30 minutes of work, Pete and I stood at the back of the truck and in unison, turned and looked at each other with “what the #*!@ and where is everything else going to go?!” expressions on our faces.

As I’m standing there, beginning to feel the beads of sweat rolling down my back, and my blood pressure rising, I decide to channel something Zen. Before I know it, I am seeing myself plucking petals from a daisy singing “he loves me, he loves me not”. I am thinking hopefully Pete will still love me when I am done acting like a mad woman with dirt stained tears running down my face pleading, “What are we going to do”?

Metaphorically, it dawns on me that it just might come down to a higher level of sorting. What do we need, what do we want and what can we get rid of. Pete stands there being the typically patient Johnson husband and lets me finish, and calmly stats this (almost verbatim). “I’m telling you, it will fit. Tom will work his magic”.

Pete’s brother, Tom was a long haul trucker for at least 15 years and has been a dispatcher for about 12 years. When he got to Bend on Sunday I thought to myself, he’s really got his work cut out, because Pete and I can move and lift boxes until midnight if that’s what it takes, but can Tom figure out where to put it? Well, I only have this to say. “Tom is a magician! The David Copperfield of fitting 10 lbs. of everything in the proverbial 5 lb. bag!” It was and still is to this very moment, amazing!

We had the expected glitches with getting out of Bend yesterday afternoon, but with trailer lights finally fixed (2 hours at U-Haul) we rolled on down the road in our temporary home for the next week and a half with our SUV up on a big trailer. We are loaded up and ready to hit the road for today’s leg of the trip, Seattle. We will be staying at Emily and Todd’s for the night and then tomorrow morning we are north bound for the Canadian Border!
Thank you all for your love and encouragement. This is an adventure that is one for the books. I will continue to post whenever I get the chance. But for now, I encourage each and everyone one of you to think of tossing those petals into the wind and singing, “he loves me, he loves me not” and know that Pete has assured me that it will take more than me acting like a mad woman for him to stop loving me!

Testing ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...

So here we sit, somewhat dumbfounded trying to figure out what the hell we are doing setting up a blog when we should be packing!!

Hopefully with a little luck and a lot of patience, ha! we will be successful with this blog so we can share Pete and Vikki's Great Alaskan-Canadian Hiway Adventure.

Please feel free to post your comments or feedback. We'd actually LOVE to hear from somebody else, other than ourselves ... considering we will be in very close quarters for about two weeks! Did I just say that?