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Earlier in the day we had gone downtown to a rather good sized car show. It covered most of seven blocks. We saw a 1956 Mercury Pickup. Apparently Mercury only made trucks in Canada. We also saw a 1953 Hudson Hornet that had been meticulously restored. Bart thought it was the best of the show.
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After we ate, we went to see the Kiskatinaw Bridge. It is an original wooden trestle bridge built by the army on the old Alaska Highway. It is one of a few curved wooden bridges and is banked at 9 degrees. While looking at the water below. sharp eyed Kay spotted something swimming. It was a beaver!
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July 14, 2008
First travel day of the caravan. We are in Fort Nelson, BC - 276 miles today. Bill’s coach lost air pressure in the rear airbags creating a ride not unlike a cement mixer with no springs or shocks. He pulled into a pullout and he and Bart discovered the control arm to his airbag leveling system had vibrated loose. They were able to reattach it and added a second lock nut to make sure it didn’t come loose again.
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On the way here Elaine and Bart saw a black bear run for the woods (Bill and Kay had gone past it). It happened so fast they were not able to get a picture. So far we have seen Buffalo, Elk, Moose, White Tailed Deer, Mule Deer, Mountain Goats, Sheep, Black Bear, Turkeys, Coyotes, Foxes, Eagles, Marmots, Beaver, Prairie Dogs, Antelope and Richardson Ground Squirrels.
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We put 55 gallons of gas in the coach at $5.715. Diesel topped the $6.00 mark at $6.093. And did the coaches and cars ever get dirty from the dust and rain.
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After we arrived, we went to the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum. It was small but had stuff packed in it like an antique store with old vehicles in the yard and out buildings.
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July 15, 2008
We drove from Fort Nelson to Muncho Lake, 161 miles on the Alaska Highway. The trip took about 8 hours. No, the road was in very good condition and didn’t slow us down at all.
We did, however, stop often to take over 400 pictures along the way. Every time we thought we had seen the most beautiful sight, another would pop up around the next bend.
From the top picture down:
A view of the Canadian Rockies.
A view looking up Muncho Lake.
An alluvial flood plain created by the flash floods resulting from the heavy downpours in those mountains.
Another view of the Canadian Rockies, Sawtooth Range.
Looking downstream from the bridge over the Racing River.
The water is glacier run off. The color, grayish green, is caused by the accumulation of pulverized rock dust in the glaciers.
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We were able to get pictures of two moose, a young bull next to the road, and a big cow in a stream.
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At Watson Lake is the Sign Post Forest. A homesick GI working on the Alaska Highway in the early ‘40s hung a sign up with the mileage to his hometown. Others soon followed suit. Travelers began hanging sings and now there are thousands of signs. We hung ours as well.
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And of course, we saw more beautiful scenery along the Alaska Highway.
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Lastly, we drove 161 miles to Watson Lake, YT today. We got gas in Contact Creek, YT, 41 gallons at $5.60. The owner of the station, which was 30 miles from nowhere had moved up here 24 years ago from Kissimmee, FL to avoid the rat race. Talk about a change of life style!
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July 17, 2008
Drove to Teslin, YT today, 163 miles. Not much here but a lake of the same name.
We all went to supper at Mukluk Annie’s. It was a really nice place in the middle of nowhere. We had a choice of a salmon bake or ribs. Both were very good.
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On the way we walked back to see some “falls”. But living near Niagara Falls we thought these were more of a cascade.
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We thought you might like to see a typical “view through our windshield”. This is the kind of view we see almost all day every day.
On the way to Mukluk Annie’s, a big cow moose and her calf ran out in front of the car. We had to slam on the brakes and just missed her. Could not get a picture.
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July 18, 2008
We drove to Whitehorse today, a very short 106 miles. Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory and has about 24,000 people. They have actual streets and stores and even a McDonald’s and a Pizza Hut, and of course a Wal*Mart.
We put 48 gallons of gas in at $5.358. We now have driven 4,270 miles from home. We will be in Whitehorse for three days. We can sleep in tomorrow morning for a change.
We got here early and did some shopping. Kay had gotten bit near her eye by a mosquito or black fly and it swelled up pretty good. So she and Bill went to a local clinic and got it checked. She is OK and got a prescription.
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The drive today was pretty uneventful. The scenery is great but we are getting jaded. There was really nothing that grabbed our attention.
There was a bridge that grabbed Bart’s attention but nothing was coming the other way so he was able to creep across while straddling the yellow line.
We did see two porcupines though, and got a picture of one as he entered the weeds.
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July 19, 2008
We took a bus tour and saw a steamship, the Klondike II, that plied the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City until 1953.
It was wood fired and burned three cords of wood an hour. They loaded the wood on at several places along the way.
It also carried passengers in addition to cargo and gold.
It was flat bottomed (no keel) and only drafted four feet so it could navigate in the river rapids.
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Then we saw the power dam and saw the world’s longest wooden fish ladder designed so spawning salmon can swim upstream past the dam.
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Then we went to a dinner show called “Frantic Follies”. It was nonstop singing, dancing and vaudeville; it was great and we laughed ourselves silly.
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