{"id":1659,"date":"2013-05-22T02:23:12","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T02:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/?p=1659"},"modified":"2014-01-27T00:05:18","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T00:05:18","slug":"may-17-19-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/?p=1659","title":{"rendered":"May 17 \u2013 19, 2013 Wildlife in the Yukon\/Liard River Hot Springs to Dawson City (Milepost 1) AlCan Highway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got word from our work-camping employer.\u00a0\u00a0 Still no water available and it is supposed to snow today.\u00a0 Her reaction was UGH.\u00a0 My reaction was OMG\u2026NO water?\u00a0 Yes, we have a water tank in our box-on-wheels but one week is our max and even then, we were able to drive to Flying J and shower a few times a week. \u00a0Oh yea, we\u2019ll be livin\u2019 the life\u2026 as stinky dirt balls!<\/p>\n

\"Mile<\/a>\u00a0\"Sunset<\/a><\/p>\n

Dawson Creek is a scruffy town.\u00a0 The Mile \u201c0\u201d RV Park is a scruffy RV Park.\u00a0 We are on an uneven site that faces businesses with the main road only 3 sites up, no fences anywhere.\u00a0 Bathrooms are playhouse size, no ability to bend in the showers, no consistent Wi-Fi, not a place we will stay again.\u00a0\u00a0 The town\u2019s saving grace is Wal-Mart and Safeway.\u00a0 Both are small and sparsely stocked.\u00a0 Everyone we meet is Alaska bound.\u00a0 Spending the next two days doing household chores, groceries, washing the road grime off Ribbit and getting things back in place. \u00a0\u00a0Quick stop at the Mile \u201c0\u201d flags that mark the beginning of the Alaska Highway.\u00a0\u00a0 Glad to be on our way in the morning.<\/p>\n

\"Decending<\/a>\u00a0\"Red<\/a>\u00a0\"Snow<\/a><\/p>\n

Beautiful weather for our full day of travel. \u00a0\u00a0Snow plows in winter causing road lines to disappear, then reappear then fade away again with only a faint yellow hue to mark the center divide.\u00a0 Makes driving a big RV a bit scary.<\/p>\n

Mountains, rolling hills and acres of farm lands with snow white shrink wrapped hay bales lining the fences.\u00a0 John pointed out scattered handfuls of cows in the pasture and said, that must be where pasteurized milk comes from\u2026cows \u00a0standing in pastures.\u00a0\u00a0Yes dear, whatever you say dear.<\/p>\n

\"Tetsa\"<\/a>\u00a0\"Left<\/a>\u00a0\"Referring<\/a>\u00a0\"Best<\/a><\/p>\n

A leg stretch stop at Tetsa for a taste of their famous cinnamon rolls.\u00a0 The owner, a throw back from the 1947 era, was a friendly gent who was eager to pass on any information of service to travelers, including the condition of the roads.\u00a0 He was also a jolly prankster and his thoughts were in print scattered around the small cozy caf\u00e9 and spilled over onto his gas pumps outside.<\/p>\n

We have passed dozens of signs for moose, elk and bear.\u00a0 Still wondering when we will see the signs telling us when the next showing will be and where.\u00a0 \u00a0So far we have seen, but not been able to snap photos of, two wolves at the edge of the trees, one large moose standing in the river (but nowhere to stop), one large moose standing on the side of the road, one deer\u2019s butt going into the trees and a dozen or more animal carcasses in road side ditches.\u00a0 We also passed the lead trailer in a caravan who, moments before, flipped his trailer attached to his double dooly truck.\u00a0 10 wheels weren\u2019t enough to keep him grounded in his fifth wheel.\u00a0 \u00a0A few miles down, a reasonably new trailer lie on the side of the road, shattered into pieces.\u00a0 A harsh reminder of what bad road conditions and strong winds can do if you don\u2019t slow down and stay in control.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/a>\u00a0\"Lunch<\/a><\/p>\n

A light lunch and social chat with the owners of historic Bucking Horse River Lodge, mile 175, former barracks for the builders of the Alaska Highway.\u00a0 It is now a restaurant, motel and cabins.\u00a0 \u00a0The owners have the place up for sale so they can retire.\u00a0 Pictures line the walls and depict the history of the building, faded memories of all the characters that passed through, some still frequent the caf\u00e9.\u00a0 One famous character, a 17 year old cowboy, stayed for two weeks during inclement weather on his ride from Alaska to Mexico on horseback with his dog and extra pack horses.\u00a0 His journey made the national news and is talked about with reverence still.<\/p>\n

Spent the night on a roadside province garbage turn-out.\u00a0\u00a0 Not my idea, not doing it again.<\/p>\n

\"All<\/a><\/p>\n

Fantastically awesome 9 hour drive.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>\u00a0\"Lunch<\/a> \"Sky<\/a> \"Miles<\/a><\/p>\n

A long steep winding slope into the valley and a delightful quiet lunch by the bluest lake I have ever seen.\u00a0 It looked like someone had added blue coloring to the water.\u00a0 The ice crunched and moaned as it broke up under the suns warming rays.<\/p>\n

\"Warnings\"<\/a>\u00a0\"More<\/a>\u00a0\"First<\/a>\"And<\/a>\u00a0 \"Shedding<\/a> \"Owning<\/a> \"Mother<\/a> \"Ok,<\/a> \"Herds<\/a> \"Herds<\/a>\u00a0 \"Big<\/a> \"Another<\/a>\u00a0 \"Almost<\/a><\/p>\n

Saw dozens of signs warning us of the Bison but all we saw were hundreds of their gigantic plops for miles.\u00a0 In the distance, RV\u2019s were stopped with signals flashing, a sign that wild animals were close by.\u00a0 That was the beginning of the sightings of herds all along the highway.\u00a0 Some of the larger males would stand in the middle of the road, just because they could.\u00a0\u00a0 Saw so many of them that we stopped counting at 40 and stopped taking their pictures so as not to overload\u00a0on one\u00a0animal.<\/p>\n

\"Stone<\/a> \"Stone<\/a> \"Sharing<\/a> \"No<\/a> \"Lone<\/a> \"First<\/a> \"Fox\"<\/a> \"Caribou\"<\/a> \"Caribou<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bison marked the beginning of our wild animal adventure.\u00a0 From then on, it was sightings of some four legged wild thing every few miles all the way to Watson Lake, Yukon.<\/p>\n

\"Liard\"<\/a> \"Liard<\/a> \"Spring<\/a> \"Hot<\/a>\u00a0\"Ahhhhh\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another pause in our journey lead us to\u00a0a warmer part of the\u00a0Yukon.\u00a0 \u00a0At least is was warmer if you were submerged in the water of the hot springs.\u00a0\u00a0Liard River Hot\u00a0Springs just happened to be a short walk from the main road so we stopped to let John sooth his bones in the\u00a0sulfur\u00a0laced waters while I walked the many wooden boardwalks that moseyed through the area.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>\u00a0\"Up<\/a> \"Ten<\/a> \"Second<\/a> \"Munchin<\/a> \"Mother<\/a> \"Land<\/a>\u00a0 \"Hardly<\/a> \"Black<\/a> \"first<\/a> \"Didn't<\/a> \"Bear\"<\/a> \"Bear<\/a> \"Another<\/a><\/p>\n

Today was like driving through a humongous zoo without fences.\u00a0\u00a0 So up close and personal you could reach out and touch them\u2026if you were nuts enough to want that kind of trouble.\u00a0\u00a0 We saw a man get out of his car and approach a mama bear and two cubs.\u2026you just can\u2019t fix stupid.<\/p>\n

\"Hooked<\/a>\u00a0\"Snow<\/a><\/p>\n

Spent the night attached to the local caf\u00e9 in Watson Lake, power and water included, as the RV park was not open.\u00a0 No Wi-Fi or cable.\u00a0 Real life had to be dealt with so the balance of the 17 hours of daylight was spent cleaning the windshield (snow on the wipers as\u00a0John finished) and cleaning up all pieces of things that fell off our counters from the horribly pounding of the tires on the pot holes, bumps and separations in the roads.\u00a0\u00a0 This road is not for people with back problems.<\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a>\u00a0 \"Slight<\/a><\/p>\n

Before bedtime John did a little repairing to another \u201cit\u2019s always something\u201d and his handy work left us with an interesting alteration.\u00a0 We now have peep holes in the night shade.<\/p>\n

No dump station, showers cost $3.00 Canadian for 10 minutes and are tiny so we did the Girl\/Boy Scout washcloth thing and went to sleep when it finally got dark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Got word from our work-camping employer.\u00a0\u00a0 Still no water available and it is supposed to snow today.\u00a0 Her reaction was UGH.\u00a0 My reaction was OMG\u2026NO water?\u00a0 Yes, we have a water tank in our box-on-wheels but one week is our … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lilypad"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1659"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3129,"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1659\/revisions\/3129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/perrellas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}