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!
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!
LMAO!! Too funny!!! So glad to hear you didn't stay at the PINK place. Ryan and I loved reading your entry; it made us laugh so hard. We are so proud of you two and a lil' jealous...wish we could have made the trip with you!!! Enjoy; it will be over before you know it!! 1.5 more days!! Whoohoo!! Love you!, Love, Laura, Ryan, Robert and Baby#2
ReplyDeleteHi, Vikki & Pete What fun reading your blog. I loved those beautiful carvings and of course seeing the scenery is breathtaking. You guys are like pioneers, no showers and Pete with a beard started , be sure to get a picture of that. at least you didn't have to beat your clothes on a rock in the river... You must of been in Kmart getting your air mattress when we talked last night. So glad your tent didn't blow away or flood. Cute picture of Nana & Papa on their way to Baby Robert. I'm like Laura said proud and envious of your adventure. God Bless , Love You, Mom xx
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