| May 1st We left the lake in the early afternoon after Cassidy had gotten her fill of swimming. She certainly wasn't happy when we started the bus. We continued on the dirt road for quite a while before it reconnected with the highway in Quesnel. As you can imagine it was slow going and very bumpy. We continued on the Prince George where we briefly stopped for supplies. We can feel the weather changing as the day wears on and we head north. When we stop near a river outside of Bear Lake it is downright chilly. The radio forecast is predicting snow tonight! We decide to use candlelight to conserve power - we might not see the sun for a few days if the forecast is accurate. May 2nd Sure enough there is snow on the ground when we wake up. Long johns are pulled out again! I thought we were through with this stuff - it is May. Drove to Gwillam Lake Provincial Park outside of Tumbler Ridge. The lake is still frozen except for the edges (which Cassidy promptly jumps in) and the campground is deserted. Everything is snow covered and the silence is beautiful. They even have clean water through an old fashioned pump. This is good because our tank is just about empty. We still have another few days of this storm so we use our stove for heat to conserve energy. We talk about how wonderful it would be to have a wood stove right about now! May 3rd What a night we had last night - I don't think I slept for more than two hours! Around midnight I heard Abbott racing around the bus like a freak cat for a bit. I didn't think too much of it until the chirping began. What the hell - I'm thinking how on earth could a bird manage to get in the bus? Turned on the light and it is a freaking mouse. It was all I could do not to shreek. Now, it is important to note that mice strike fear into my heart. I don't know what it is about them that make me go all wiggy inside. So, I quickly turned off the light and ran onto the bed. It must have gotten in when we had the doors open at the recreation area. Jay and I decide to take our chances that Abott will kill the mouse when he is done messing around. I certainly can't reach him to shoo him out of the bus. Just as I start to fall back into an uneasy sleep Abott races for the bed and jumps up. Uh-oh. Does this mean - YES, the mouse is on the bed. Horror of horrors! When I turn on the light, there he is with his little beady eyes staring up at me on my BED! This time I can't help myself and let out a little scream as I begin to fling him off the bed. Jay just stays still through the whole thing, half asleep. This time I'm going to get that little bugger. I arm myself with a broom and the dust pan to hunt him down. I locate him back behind the couch and spend almost half an hour trying to get him to come out where I can scoop him up. Abbott is no help. He could easily get him with his paw but he has suddenly lost all interest in the mouse and is whining for me to feed him. "This is your only job," I holler at him. If only Ghost were here! I finally gave up, hoping that Abbott will get him when he comes out again. I didn't really sleep for the remainder of the night, imagining Abbott chasing that darn mouse back onto the bed. After we ate breakfast, we drove the Trooper into Tumbler Ridge for supplies. Then we headed to Monkman Provincial Park to see Kineuso Falls. These falls were huge - taller than Niagra Falls. Again, the place was deserted. We hike down to the river to get another angle of the falls and to let Cassidy swim around a bit. She never ceases to amaze me. This water is practically ice it is so cold but it doesn't seem to bother her. Although the weather is cold and snowy because it is so early in the season, we have basically had all of the campgrounds and parks to ourselves. These places will be packed in another few weeks. The hike back up has me sweating, it is pretty much uphill the whole way. As we are heading out of the park, we turn a corner and there is amoose standing right in the middle of the road. Our first moose! It is towering over the Trooper and just stares at us for a brief moment before he turns to run away. We're both pretty stunned at the size of this animal and want to see more of him. So, we roll on after him. The moose is just running up the middle of the road and we're following along in the Trooper at a fairly good clip. He turns to look at us over his shoulder as if to say, "Knock it off, eh?" and Jay stops the car. It dawns on us that we have been chasing this poor animal with a vehicle. We were just so flabergasted - if I was on foot I would have run after him. The moose finally turns into the woods and we yell after him an apology for freaking him out. We were hysterical for a bit after that. High on seeing a moose! May 4th We topped our water tank off and left Gwillam Provincial Park. It is absolutely frigid outside and snowing, again. This storm is sure sticking around. We took Highway 52 back to Highway 97 through Dawson Creek and Ft. St. John where we picked up the Alaska Highway. Finally - but we look at the map and see we've got a long way to go! We find a place to spend the night outside of Ft. St. John. When we are ready to shut the engine off, we can't. The choke isn't working. Jay gets on the overalls and goes out to investigate. Looks like a cotter pin broke. Unfortunately, we don't have a replacement small enough to work. No worries. Jay uses a plastic zip tie. Sure enough, it works just fine. May 5th We drove to Liard River Hot Springs today and paid a whopping $17 to camp there overnight. The park was pretty full and we can see people walking back from the hot springs looking very warm and steamy. Woo hooo - we have been cold for too many days! We quickly set up camp and head for the springs. The first thing we notice is the smell, sulphur. It doesn't bother me as I am used to being in estuaries/marshes but Jay almost doesn't get in. There is also a group of kids and they have got Eminem cranked up on their stereo. Not our idea of relaxing but we make the best of it and stay until we've got our blood warmed up. May 6th Late start today after a big breakfast. Crossed into the Yukon Territory today. We saw the license plate (sign) forest in Watson Lake which is pretty cool. We are 4,000 miles from Tokyo and 3,600 miles from New York City. Pretty crazy stuff. We run into a bit of a problem as there are "No Overnight Parking" signs at the rest areas. So, we look for a campground. We pass at least 25 of them but they are all closed! What to do? On the map it looks as if there is a 60 km stretch where the highway dips back into BC. Hopefully, there is a stop there. It is pretty late when we finally pass back into BC and we find a place to stop for the night. May 7th We drove through most of the Yukon today. Had to stop outside Beaver Creek at a rest area. Of course it had the "No Overnight Parking" sign but there were no open campgrounds. What do they want us to do? It is impossible to drive straight through the Yukon as it is just too big. We figure that this must be a summer rule. It seems quite unreasonable that they would give us a problem when there is no alternative. May 8th Well, no one bothered us last night. After 45 minutes of driving we stop in at the Canadian customs building to turn in our visitor visas. Then continue along to the Alaskan border. Took us less than 15 minutes to cross the border. The customs agent came on board briefly, played with Cassidy, and waved us through. We were pleasantly suprised. Finally, we're in Alaska. We pull over at a scenic view stop and let Cassidy out to play ball. Everything looks so huge. It is like British Columbia but 5 times bigger if that makes any sense? It's a bit hard to describe. It is here that Jay has his first encounter with an Alaskan mosquito. He is pretty freaked out at the size of it and the fact it is buzzing around while we are still wearing sweaters! I remind him that I warned him about the mosquitos here as he has pretty bad reactions to mosquito bites. He is one of those unlucky people that swell up when they get bit, and they seem to go after him specifically. The two of us can be outside together and they won't touch me but he'll have 20 bites! We continue on until we're about two hours from Anchorage. May 9th Our first experience with the residents of Anchorage occurred a few miles outside of the city. After a merge, Jay was attempting to get back over into the right lane. His blinker was on but everyone kept passing him on the right side making it impossible for him to get over. Then, one nice gentleman comes flying by on the right, beeping his horn, flicking us off, and wildly gesturing for us to get over in the right lane. Helloooo! You see my blinker, indicating that I would like to get into the right lane, but idiots like yourself keep passing me on the right. And he has the nerve to flip us the bird. What the hell is wrong with people? When we get into Anchorage we find the park we'll be staying at for the next month or so, only it is located in between two factories in the industrial part of town. The best part is that a railroad track runs practically through the park. According to Good Sam, this place is scenic? Shame on Good Sam. In addition, they want a deposit from us and there are no refunds if we decide we don't want to stay for a full month. Forget it. We'll have to find another place to stay. We decide to try Centennial Park, a municipal campground. There are actually trees and grass here but it is located right next door to the local power plant with an airforce base on the other side. There are some seedy characters running around this place. Including some chick who knocks on the door to the bus demanding to know what I've done with her stuff! What? We're pretty bummed but decide there has got to be at least one campground in Achorage we can deal with for a month or two. We'll visit them all first thing tomorrow. Then we head out to have Alaskan King Crab in Alaska to celebrate our journey. May 10th Anchorage has officially been labeled the "WORST CITY EVER"! Each person we have encountered in the last two days has either been rude as hell or completely out of it. One woman told us she didn't have any room for us even though the park was only filled to about 25% capacity. Another man wouldn't rent to us because we had a bus and he wasn't going to put up with "our shit". He basically flipped out on the two us. And this is a Good Sam park. Good Sam is going to get a letter from me about him - that guy was freakin' psycho. After that final experience, we drove to the Gulf and decided to get the hell out of Anchorage. We'll take our chances with finding a job in Fairbanks. If that doesn't work out, we'll come up with a new plan. After we dumped our tanks, filled up the water, and washed the bus and the car, we headed to Fairbanks. May 11th We made it to Fairbanks mid-day today and found the Chena Marina RV Park to stay for the evening. The people here were so helpful - what a change from the park owners in Anchorage. We went to the market and explored the town a bit. People in the market were smiling - that is always a good sign. We visited the RV parks in the area to find one that might offer a discounted monthly rate. A little place outside of Fairbanks in the North Pole seemed our best option. We decided to have another dinner out at a recommended Italian restaurant. On the way in, some guy handed Jay a coupon for a free entree. Nice! May 12th We headed to the North Pole after we filled up with diesel and propane and began to set up camp for the month. Hopefully, we'll be able to find some work here. The owner of the park liked the bus and was really impressed with its condition. I spent most of the day doing three weeks worth of laundry! All day long people staying in the park stopped by to say hello and chat. This is normal. RVers are usually really friendly, laid back people. Something must be in the water in Anchorage... Anyway, it was refreshing. May 13th The job hunt begins. Jay spent most of the day applying for jobs. I set up appointments at temporary agencies. May 14th I had an interview at a temporary agency today. Had to take all of the proficiency tests: typing, Word, Excel, Powerpoint. Boring! Boring! Jay also applied at several more places. May 15th Another interview with an employment agency. More proficiency tests. Jay checked out a few more leads - he must have applied at 20 different places so far. I guess we'll have to wait a few days until the new paper comes out. Looking for a job is the worst. We both want to work - it is the whole job hunt thing that is a bummer! |