This was the first day of our long drives.  This is what happens when you have to head home. The time has flown by.  We did see one very large doe.  It was the size of a horse.  She was standing very proud and strong at the side of the road,as we drove by she headed back into the woods.

The roads on the way to Prince George were not to bad. Made for fast travel, I think or I just thought it went fast because I couldn’t stay awake.  We did not get a super early start, so I thought it might be food related we stopped in Houston BC for lunch.

I am amazed when companies decide to give back to the community.  We ate at A&W  the first thing I see is 1 in 350 people are living with MS.  Canada also has the highest occurance of MS.  I did not know that.  So I took pictures of the posters, I also purchased a star for a toonie ($2).  I guess A&W does this every August.  I do not know if this is done in the states or not.  Tomorrow it is onto Cache Creek.

We saw a fox crossing the road.  Four legged of course!  Headed down the Cassiar Hwy this was the only wildlife we saw. A couple of the locals at Khan also said they thought it was strange the lack of wildlife.  This is all good, because, it means a trip back.

Tonight I met a family who was headed to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks to finish up his 20.  His wife was prior Army and crossed trained as a 91Bravo.  This was the old designation for 68Bravo OR Tech which was my MOS.  For my battles good news Fort Sam was the same back then with the same smoke shack.  It was fun swapping memories.

Earlier in the day I walked over (hobbled) to the museum next to the campground.  This culture is known for their use of totems very interesting.

Tomorrow we are headed to Prince George then Cache Creek and out of Canada.

Yes, I did eat MREs (meals ready to eat) in the service.  I want to know when they took out the skittles!  Dinner was delayed as we waited for the propane alarm to stop.  Before this journey began we decided to purchase a box of MREs in case we didn’t have electricity or didn’t want to cook.  Getting close to the end of the trip I said let’s use them or at least try them.

I had beef stew Roy had beef brisket with real beef slices and mashed potatoes. Each came with snack bread sealed in plastic with a packet of silca fot freshness.  DO NOT EAT was plastered on the small white packet.  I had pretzels, Roy had trail mix.  I had instant orange aid, Roy had coffee. We both had peanut butter and grape jelly.  We opened the package, which took a bit of work.  Once open you have a paper heater, in a plastic bag, which you put the unopened entree in add water to the line at the bottom, put in a cardboard sleave, set on an angle to heat for 10 to 15 min.  After getting to this point Roy could not believe our Service Men go through this in the field just to get ready to eat.

So, the dinner is getting warm and all of a sudden the propane sniffer goes off.  I immediately open the door take everything outside, I dump the water out of the bags and say let’s open the packs and microwave them.  The stew wasn’t to bad, neithervwas Roy’s beef.  The process on the other hand!  That was FUNNY!  Roy tried the peanut butter on a muffin later he scraped it off after one taste.  That hasn’t changed.

One final thought, Roy says if they had these when he was serving the war would have been over in time for dinner.

Day 67 was getting a little long so here’s more.  I have been without phone service since Whitehorse which is ok and strange.  I never realized how much I keep in touch with people via text and phone, I didn’t think I did.  I bring this up because the only place in the area to have cell service is Stewert, BC.  We sit down for dinner and I turn on the phone, 2 voice mails appear.  No one calls me on this trip until I’m out of range.  That’s not true but it is funny.

Roy found a restaurant offerring King Crab and that is what he had.  I myself have become hooked on halibut.  This in itself is amazing, because I don’t do fish, too many fish Fridays in school.

In Hyder it’s Fish Creek there is a bear viewing area we were there earlier in the day with no luck.  I was hoping Roy would see one.  After dinner we returned.  SUCCESS! The bear waited to walk down the river for Roy to huff it down to the end of the platform.  My camera was having operator issues could not get settings right for the light available.  So glad Roy had my other camera.  He got amazing video which I will screen grab.  We were able to see the bear catch his fish.

Hopefully tomorrow we will see more.

No fires or burn out spots today which was good.  I was able to get Roy up and moving, this has been easy this trip.  I think the promise of animals gives me some help.  I am proud of him.

The one thing that is interesting on this part of the drive is how untouched the land is amazing.  It’s funny we have spent a whole season travelling.  We left Palm Desert on June 20th and witnessed the turning of summer on our way up.  Now that we are returning we are witnessing the beginnings and end of autumn.  It’s cool seeing the start of fireweed and the purple flowers now turn into stocks of red.  The “natives” say when the fireweed turns red winter is 6 weeks away.  The fireweed has turned red about 2 weeks ago.  Perfect timing to head home.

We pulled into dodge about 1pm, ate lunch that I slaved over in the morning. OK I made sandwiches, more then just making reservations. People who know, know kitchen skills are optional for me.

After setting up we headed over to Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK these are like sister cities seperated by an International boarder.  The drive over we saw quite a few glaciers and some amazing waterfalls.  I am glad these landscapes are coming later in the trip, because I am getting better with my camera.

I think we found Roy’s twin although it was a she in a store in Hyder.  It was a record between the two of them I started talking to myself in 15 seconds.  Fun and amazing who knew.

I will touch on bears, eagles and dinner in Day 67 and a half.

I think I need a biscuit in Iskut, cause there ain’t no restaurant.  We got a fairly early start today.  Amazing rolling hills, a forest fire and no animals, not even a magpie.  We left the AlCan this morning to head down the Cassiar Hwy.  The first thing we notice is a sign that warns of a severe wildfire prepare to stop.  We got lucky not so much for the forest we drove through. There was burnt areas from recent fires and you couldn’t see the flames or smoke but you could smell where it recently burned.  It seems this area burns often.  I also learned at one time off the highway there was an abestos mine, this mine is where alot of the world’s supply  came from.  For some reason I thought abestos was man made, maybe because it was so damaging.

A little farther down the road we went to Jade City.  This store is featured on a Canadian reality show soon to be on Discovery in the US.  They mine the jade at two claims along with other minerals.  It was funny I overheard one of the guys from the show saying they want us to make it harder then it is for TV.  Although they did just get electricty in November, before that they ran on generators.  That would be hard in itself because of the saws rhey have to use to cut the rocks.  It was well worth the stop.

We ate lunch at Dease Lake one stop also got gas.  We kept playing tag with an RV that was camped next to us last night.  In fact they were checking in right in front of us.  The road down to Iskut was devoid of people influence so it was nice to see no billboards just nature.

Tomorrow we are head to Meziadin campground for two nights, this is jumping off point for Stewart and Hyder.  See how many times we can cross the border.

I have no phone service probably for another 3 days.

Roy said we should always get a front row space in the RV parks.  I aaked WHY?  Because we are handi-camped.  I will rent him out cheap.  We have driven this road before on the way up but did it in two stops.

Today instead of stopping at Johnson Crossing for the night we did lunch there.  It didn’t have that Stephan King feel this time.  Last time was just creepy and we spent the night.  We also crossed the Continental Divide again in the same spot, going home this time.  July 3rd we crossed on our way up, seems like yesterday.  Today we ran into a guy at the pull off for the divide who had biked all over Alaska and now up over the divide.  He has more balls then me.

No animals today, I hope they are saving themselves for Hyder/Stewart down the Cassiar Hwy.  There is a bear viewing area.  Tonight we are staying at a place with no internet or cell  service so Roy is in bed at 11:30.  Tomorrow we are headed to Iskut.

We have come full circle on this part of the trip, we are at Takhini Hotsprings.  July 5th at the start of the trip today August 22 near the end.  So far we have travelled  over 7500 miles.  On the way down the 2 today we saw the biggest bird ever.  I haven’t been able to look at the pictures I took on the computer.  I think it was a golden eagle.  We had pulled over so I could take pictures of the fall colors on the aspen trees.  I wasn’t sure what I was looking at because palm trees don’t do that.

It was cool the bird flew in landed on the road looked at us took off then flew across the road.  I zoomed in and got his picture.  He took off flying and I hope I got him in flight.

Once we got to the campground we headed to eat.  I hate to break the news to everyone but, Santa will have trouble navigating through fog or snow this year.  Roy and I ate rudolph for lunch.  Klondike Ribs Salmon & BBQ even called it rudolph, reindèer, carmelized onions, smoked cheese curds, a deep fried pickle, and sriracha mayo (not super hot) on a pretzel bun.  It was very good meat. I would do it again.

Tomorrow we are heading south towards Watson Lake.

We took our time getting out of Dawson today because we originally were going for a short distance to Pelly Crossing YT.  This would have been the roughing it night in Canada.  If you haven’t noticed we are not big on roughing it.  We enjoy our morning Keurig coffee maker.

Before leaving Dawson we stopped to have brunch at Klondike Kate’s, rumor has it that the business is for sale.  It seems most of Dawson is for sale.  We are trying to get stamps in a tourist book to enter to win two troy ounces of gold.  The goal is to visit local museums and visitor centers in the Yukon. You need to visit 20 of the 34 sites we are close.

Roy got to drive the Dempster! I wanted a picture of the sign so Roy turned down and yes it was gravel from the start.  For those of you who know  Roy he liked “Ice Road Truckers” season one.  The Dempster was the first road featured.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dempster_Highway for more info.

The Yukon 2, the road to Whitehorse was full of potholes. Roy started a new road reality game combat driving. The goal here is to avoid the potholes. I should have taken a picture when we got to Carmacks the inside of the trailer looked like the Tazmanian Devil passed through. I was amazed.

I have enjoyed our trip and sharing the funny things with everyone. Tomorrow Monday Whitehorse YT.