North to Alaska - Laird River Springs

I should not have mentioned how nice the weather has been for the last week. This morning we awoke to pouring rain. We thought about staying put for another day because we heard that the mountain roads ahead were very steep. After seeing all the others in our campground leaving we decided to head out. Once again the pictures can't do justice to the beauty of these mountains. (Click on picture to enlarge)



The Northern Rockies Lodge, is the newest lodge in the area. It has a 45ft. high fireplace in a vaulted ceiling log dinning room.



The lodge is owned by two "Bush Pilots". Its located on Muncho Lake where they offer sightseeing flights over Virginia Falls and Nahanni Park, air taxi and fly-In fishing.



It seems like every turn we take there's another picture to be taken. Even in the rain there are some breath taking views.



There is wildlife around every turn. At times the buffalo even wander out onto the road and you have to wait for them to get out of the way.

We decided to spend the night at Laird River Hot Springs. It's a Provincial Park with great RV and camping sites, but no hookups.

We chose to stay at Laird River because of their hot springs. There are a series of pools that flow into each other. The pool closest to the the spring is 120 degrees. As the water works it's way to the second pool is has cooled to 110, and in the third 104 degrees, before flowing out to the stream. After a day of driving, the water was very relaxing. While in the pool we made friends with Syl and Kate from Alabama/Alaska. They're headed back to Alaska for the summer as they do every year. Following cocktails, they invited us to join them at their place on the Kenai Peninsula for a day of fishing. We'll look them up when we arrive in 2 weeks.

The heat of the hot springs creates a tropical climate that allows tropical plants to live in the harsh environment that surrounds it.

North to Alaska - Fort Nelson, BC

I forgot to mention yesterday and for the record, we stayed at Mile 0 Campground. The sites were fairly level but it wasn’t anything to write home about. We headed out of Dawson Creek around 9 am under sunny skies with the temperature around 70 degrees. The weather has really been nice the last couple of days with temperatures in the 70 degree range. The photo below shows our decent to the Peace River Bridge. It became very apparent that we were now in the Northern Rockies. Most of the hills we drove in yesterday had grades of less than 6%.



We were now beginning to encounter grades anywhere from 8 to 10%. Being the flatlanders that we are from Iowa, hills with more than 6% grade are a little nerve racking. I have never been concerned by driving in the mountains in my car or SUV that weighs 4-5,000 lbs. On the other hand, driving a large motorhome that has a combined weight of 40,000 lbs. including the vehicle we are towing makes going down a steep incline very challenging. Fortunately, our motorhome has a Pac Brake which is basically a heavy-duty butterfly valve mounted in the exhaust that can be closed to create a tremendous amount of back pressure in the engine, thereby helping to slow the vehicle.



As you can see from this picture, we are totally surrounded by the Canadian Rockies. Every scene is more breath taking than the next. I know our pictures can’t do justice to the beauty of the area.



This afternoon we were astonished to see three bikers heading down the side of the road. Since we were in the middle of nowhere with no towns within 50 miles, we don’t believe they were just on a short day trip. I have heard that there are bikers that actually ride the entire length of the Alaska Highway. If they were truly riding the entire length, they must have a support vehicle to carry their supplies.



We stayed at Triple G Hideaway campground which had a very nice bar and restaurant. One of the nice things about staying at campgrounds is the people you get to meet. I became friends with our neighbor when I asked him about fishing. It turns out he and his wife have been coming to Alaska for the last 15 years to fish along the Russian River and the Kenai Peninsula. He gave me so many tips on fishing this area that after a while I started taking notes. Kathy couldn’t help take this picture of us sitting under the cover of his 5th wheel during a late evening shower.



By the way, at this latitude we are no longer able to receive a signal from Direct TV on our satellite system, because of the curvature of the earth. Direct TV satellites are set at an angle for use in the US. Also, the days are getting very long. The sun is rising at 4 in the morning and it is not completely dark until 11 pm.

North to Alaska - Dawson Creek

We arrived in Dawson Creek around 9:30 am taking into account the change to Pacific daylight time. We decided to stay here for the remainder for the day because we heard there were a lot of things to see. Prior to WWII, this was the furthest you could drive a vehicle. Below are the Visitor Center, Art Gallery and Gift Store. They had some beautiful Indian hand-made coats that cost over $500.



Dawson Creek is the start of the Alaska Highway. In 1942, President Roosevelt, fearing an attack on the Aleutian Islands on the coast of Alaska, ordered a 1,500 mile highway built. It took over 12,000 men just under 9 months to accomplish this incredible feat. They battled swamps, frozen tundra, - 40 degree temperatures. Today the highway is a paved, two-lane road with scenic vistas through the Rocky Mountains. This monument designates Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway. Our daughter purchased “The Milepost” book to guide us in our travels over this famous road. It contains approximately 800 pages that highlight anything significant along the route.

Dawson Creek is really an old town of 12,000 people with many historic buildings. A lot of the history is depicted in more than a dozen murals painted on the sides of buildings.

The Alaska hotel is over 70 years old and boasts of having the only bar in the area for many years. Rumor has it they had so many patrons that you had to stand in line for your drink and once you received it; you had to go outside again to stand in line for another drink.

As you can imagine, the Canadians are wild about their hockey. Tonight was game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks. Joined by neighbor friends from the campground (Dwayne and Karen from California), we thought we would take in the game at the local pizza parlor. It is a chain called Boston Pizza. But knowing their fellow Canadians would be upset, they changed the name to Vancouver Pizza. Boston won making the series even at 2 – 2.

North to Alaska - Grande Prairie

It poured down all night in Edmonton but fortunately it stopped before we headed out. As I mentioned earlier, the terrain since we entered Canada has been rather flat and agricultural. That all changed quite a bit as we approached White Court, AB. The hills are rolling and densely forested. According to the White Court welcome sign at the edge of town, this area claims to be the Snowmobile Capitol of the World.


We learned a valuable lesson today. When the road sign says "Rough Road" it means it. We slowed to about 35mph as we approached the rough area. All of a sudden the bottom dropped out and I swear we were airborne for a brief second. That's all it took for every piece of clothing on hangers to fly off the closet rod that runs across the back of our motorhome.


We are all familiar with Deer Crossing signs. With a deer they say you should hit it and not swerve to avoid it. In Canada there are far more Moose Crossing signs. With a moose, you sure better swerve to avoid it. A moose can weigh up to 1500 lbs and stand 7 1/2 ft tall.


We drove about 300 miles today and decided to stop in Grand Prairie, AB. It's the largest town (50,000) around here and probably the largest we'll see until we get to Valdez, AK. We figure it would probably be the best place to stock up with groceries and fuel for the trek that begins tomorrow on the Alaska Highway. Everything is more expensive in Canada than the U.S. and our U.S. dollar is worth $.9745 Canadian. The fruits and vegetables we picked up were twice the price of those in Des Moines and fuel is sold by the liter for about $1.19/liter or $4.76/gallon. I hear that along the Alaska Highway it sells for as much as $8/gallon. I guess we'll find out over the next couple of days.

North to Alaska - Edmonton

Following a day of rest on Sunday we headed to Edmonton on Monday morning.  It was a rather short 180 mile drive through the country side on PH2, the equivalent of our interstate roads.  The terrain so far has been fairly flat and primarily agricultural, a lot like Iowa.  We arrived in Edmonton about 1pm and decided to take a driving tour of the city. 

The city's population is about 1 million.  Much like Calgary, it's a cosmopolitan city surrounded by urban housing.  Here is one of the universities located within the city.

The center of the city has wonderful park with neat water fountain in the center.



One of the more interesting buildings was The Art Gallery of Alberta.  It reminded us of the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain designed by Frank Gehry, a famous architect.  However this building was designed by an architect from Los Angeles named Randall Stout.

North to Alaska - International Snowmobile Congress

You may have noticed we haven't posted for the last several days. That's because we have been tied up night and day with attending the International Snowmobile Congress here in Calgary. It starts with a group breakfast each morning at 7am and concludes each evening around 9pm. Each year it is held in a different location across Canada and the U.S.  Kathy and I thought we'd get into the swing of things by getting our picture taken with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in hopes it would be our only encounter with them on this trip.

The convention hotel was located on the pedestrian mall that runs down the center of the city. At lunch time it's filled with thousands eating at the outside cafes.

The International Congress includes representatives from the 26 snowmobile states, 10 Canadian Provinces, Sweden and Russia.  Also in attendance are the state snowmobile administrators, the Snowmobile Media and Travel Councils.  Each group meets separately and then as a group. 

While I was in the various meetings Kathy explored the city.  She came across this great park where the medals were awarded to the athletes in the 1988 Olympics.

Each year the host association conducts an off site function that include cocktails and dinner.  This year the Alberta Association sponsored the evening at Heritage Park.  It's a historical town that includes a first rate display of classic cars.  Here is was my favorite.

The entertainment was a group of young fiddle players and dancers.

Next years congress will be hosted by the Massachusetts Snowmobile Association.  This year Massachusetts representatives dressed up in traditional revolutionary garb to tell us about their plans for next year.

The final evening is a gala cocktail and dinner party followed by award presentations. 

Karl Herman and I are displaying the Congress Belt Buckles that he bid on and won over the last 2 years.  This was the 25th year for the one-of-a-kind buckles to be auctioned to the highest bidder.  The winning bid typically raises around a $1,000 for the ISC.  This was the last year for the Belt Buckle Auction.

Kathy, Sally Carmichael and Kim Herman enjoyed the cocktail hour preceeding the banquet.

Iowa was well represented this year with 10 members of the Iowa State Snowmobile Association.

North to Alaska - Calgary

The temperatures are great in Calgary again today, about 70 degrees. This is our last day before the Snowmobile Congress begins with a reception this evening so we decided to take in a couple of tourist areas this afternoon. The Air and Space Museum was pretty interesting. It contained quite a few WWII Canadian air planes. Our favorite was the one shown below. In the U.S. I believe it was called a Texan.


Later this afternoon we headed to the Winter Olympics Village built for the 1988 Olympics. It's only about 5 miles west of Calgary built into the foothills. I didn't realize the ski jumps were so high.


In July they open the Bobsled run to the public for rides. The sleds are equipped with wheels in lieu of skis. The cost is $72 Canadian for a 60 second ride.

North to Alaska - Calgary

Calgary is a very cosmopolitan city. There are many condos and apartments within the city and it's bordered by upscale neighborhoods with one of a kind shops. The city is located by 2 rivers and has an excellent waterfront area with parks and bike ways where thousands congregate each day for lunch. (click on image to enlarge)


Calgary is also a great city for biking. Kathy and I stopped in the local bike store and picked up a map of their trails. They have over 400 miles of paved bike trails and pathways throughout the city. Below is Kathy crossing the bridge that links the city with Prince's Island, a great park with a nice restaurant and paved trails.


While biking along the river we came across a yoga class. Calgary seems to be a city where its residents are very physically fit. We saw joggers all along the trails.


Later that evening, our friends Kim and Karl Herman joined us for some after dinner drinks. Kim is ISSA's treasurer and membership chair. She, as well as others from our snowmobile association in Iowa are here to attend the Snowmobile Congress.

North to Alaska - 4

We headed out of Great Falls around 8am this morning. Yes, it was raining again but about 50 miles north we finally drove out of it. Just prior to the Canadian border we stopped at a rest area and observed this sign. Our good friend Betty loves snakes, ha ha, so we had to include this picture.

At the border crossing we weren't sure what to expect. We heard that sometimes they inspect your entire motorhome. That wasn't the case. They did ask has much alcohol we had on board. Fortunately we had read the regulations that allowed us 1 case of beer and 2 bottles of wine. It only took about 3-4 minutes.

So we're now in Alberta Canada. The roads are good and the countryside is agricultural, looks a lot like Iowa. The main difference is their use of the metric system. The speed limit on the Provincial highway is 110km, about 67mph, the temperature is today is 15c, about 60, and fuel is sold in liters, or 33.8oz

We arrived in Calgary about 2:30 this afternoon. We're staying at Mountain View RV Park. It's certainly not the nicest place we stayed in but it's close to downtown Calgary where our convention begins on Wednesday.

North to Alaska - 3

It's only about 250 miles from here to Calgary. We'll probably hit the border by noon tomorrow.



Lewis and Clark wrote about these falls in their journal. The area is really interesting. There is a nice bike trail on both sides of the river. Had the weather been warmer we would have ridden it.

We decided to stop in Great Falls, Montana after 300 miles. It's not much fun traveling in raining weather. Following supper we decided to tour the Great Falls area since the rain had quit. We learned that true to it's name there really was a falls in Great Falls, Montana.

Due to the flooding, we had to take route U.S. 191 from Big Timber to hook up with U.S. 87 that was closed further east. It's a very straight 2-lane highway that runs right through the valley with mountains on either side. Above is a shot of the wind mill field along the highway with the snow capped mountains as a backdrop. The grey & rain drenched skies made for a poor quality photo.



It took us a while to get started today. Of course it is Sunday, a day for resting. We finally pulled out of Billings about 10:30 am in the pouring rain. Before we left I checked to forecast and it called for rain the next two days. Both Wyoming and Montana has experienced severe flooding over the last week. There are many major roads closed due to creeks running out of their banks. I-90 was closed where it crosses the Crow Reservation for several days due to flooding. This area is where Custer made his last stand at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

North to Alaska - 2

We stopped for lunch today in Sheridan, Wyoming. It sits on the eastern side of the Big Horn Mountain range, just near the border of Montana. If we had more time, it would be a great place to spend a couple of days. The town itself appears to be a nice place as we drove through the center of it. We stopped early this evening in Billings, Montana and decided to catch some R & R and see a movie at the local Carmike Theater.

Wow, what a ride I had this morning. Kathy couldn't resist having me jump into the rubber raft and shoot down the valley in the fast flowing water followed by a group of our newly acquired friends. Seriously, they have a number of exhibits at the Welcome Center. Kathy couldn't resist having me ham it up.

It didn't take us long this morning to reach the Black Hills and cross over into Wyoming. Fortunately, it was a sunny day because the winds were very strong.

North to Alaska

It was 8:30 before we got going this morning, so we were quite pleased to put 575 miles on before we stopped for the night. We’re in Wall, S. Dakota. Many of you have probably heard of Wall Drug. It takes up an entire city block and contains a wide variety of stores from trash and trinkets to western ware. Yes, there is a small drug store too.

As you can imagine a trip of this length would require a lot of planning and investigation. Gary and I both made multiple lists to be sure we included everything. Here I am on departure morning checking that list for the last time. We probably will come across something we forgot but it will not be because we didn’t do our planning.

We are finally Alaska bound. We have wanted to take a trip to Alaska ever since we bought our first RV back in 2003. The opportunity came when we learned that the International Snowmobile Congress was being held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in June of 2011. Since Gary is the President of the Iowa State Snowmobile Association, we would certainly be attending and since Calgary is halfway to Alaska it made sense to extend the trip to include Alaska.