Big Cashew Adventure - Final Installment

 I can hear the sighs of relief and the cheers in the background.  Those wonderful words, 'Final Installment'  No more non-insightful, dull as dish water, insomnia curing meanderings of an 'Old Koot' with too much time on his hands.  Yes, that is me!!!

First, the final day is anti climatic.  I had nothing major planned and there isn't a lot to due in Anchorage, not meaning to disparage this city.  It's just that we have only one day and we are tired from all the driving.  We did do a couple of things though so it was not a nothing day.  I wanted to visit a couple of the parks here.  One is Kincaid Park.  It is just beyond the southern end of the airport on the bay.  It is a fairly large park with miles of trails, soccer fields and playgrounds.  The reason I wanted to stop here is that this is a frequent stop for many moose.  In fact, there are dated warnings to hikers and bikers about aggressive moose that chase you.  They recommend only bikes and you better know how to speed up.  Alas, we saw no moose or any wildlife.  Still, it was a nice drive.

Then we went to Earthquake Park.  It is about the only remaining point that looks a bit similar to when the 'Great Quake' occurred.  For those not in the know, Anchorage was a middling city in Alaska, back in 1964, still finding its place on the scale of important metropolises.  It was 5:36 PM, local time when the 2nd greatest recorded earthquake in history hit this city.  It registered 9.2 on the Richter scale.  The quake actually occurred in the Prince Edward Sound, about 120 miles away.  But with the massiveness of this phenomenon, most of Anchorage was severely damaged.  In some areas, the businesses on one side of the street dropped or were raised between 7 and 50 feet compared to the business across the street.  70% of all bridges and other infrastructure were destroyed, but there were minimal fires as electricity was lost at the beginning and it did not ignite broken gas lines. Surprisingly, only 7 people died due to the quake.  But the greater impact was due to under sea avalanches.  At this time, there were two other towns that rivaled Anchorage.  They were Steward and Valdez.  They had excellent ports and a number of shipping businesses had sprung up there since the early 1900's.  Both towns were competing and winning the battle for businesses when compared to Anchorage.  However, both these towns were completely wiped out by the quake and tsunami that followed.  It caused the complete destruction of the oil stations and the railroad too.  Miles of track were twisted and unusable.  It took years to rebuild these towns and they never were able to regain their pre-quake strengths. Meanwhile, Anchorage started their rebuild immediately and over the next couple of years grew into a major port and modern city it is today.  When you get down to it, there is not much to see, but there are posters that tell the story of what happened and the impact it had.

We then headed for the only Hard Rock Cafe in Alaska.  Chiara is stopping at each one we come across in cities we visit to get a T-shirt for her sister and nephew.  There was no place to park so I drove around for 10 mins while she shopped.  After this, we found an empty parking lot, pulled in and had lunch.  We then drove back through town, noticing the continuing theme of small houses (there are some beautiful homes that are decent to large sized but many are ranches that look to be two bedroom).  I guess that is less to heat in the 8 month of winter.

Time to head back to the RV site.  We have lots of packing to do and we don't need to do it in a rush late in the evening.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow starting early.  I think I will pull in all the hookups late tonight so I don't have to go out in this mess in the morning.  Just close up the bedroom bump out and head out to fill the gas and propane tanks before we turn in our home for the last 18 days.  They will take us to the airport for our 12:50 PM flight to Seattle..  As I stated previously, it has been a long trip but I do not regret any of it.  It was an adventure and the little lady was great having never done anything like this before.  I am glad we did it, but I am not sure if I would do it again.  I am not getting any younger and it is hard to handle driving %K miles.

I sign off with this thought.  They say these hold up to 8 people.  I would say that anything more than 4 is not going to work.  Three or four people change the dynamics but give you someone to talk to while someone drives.  And you have another driver to share this requirement.  But there is not enough room for more, unless you have a larger one.  That is my 2 cents.  So take care and hope it wasn't a trial to get through these postings.

Big Cashew Adventure - Day 17 - The is upon Us

Today is the third and final Monday of this trip.  In two days we deliver the RV to GAH.  But in the meantime, we still have a couple of activities and some to accomplish them.  We see the finish line and it looks pretty good.  As I have noted lately, we are tired and worn out from the driving and sitting for extended periods.  We get out and walk around when we can but the body is not happy these last few days.  Still, it has been an experience I do not regret doing and I am very thankful we had the time to do this and see both countries in a way we had not done so before.  The experience and the pictures, both by camera and with just our eyes were beyond description.  But don't worry, we have plenty of pictures to show that were not loaded to this blog.

The plan for today was to pack up the 'camp' and head either back to Denali for a couple of hours or head south.  The weather was no the most hospitable.  It was at freezing, and there was rain.  It was not freezing rain, but it was very cold and dank.  In addition, the winds picked up in the early morning and the RV was rocking a few times during the night.  Its hard to tell if it is night, as it never gets dark.  Although the sun sets, it seems to stay just below the horizon and there is enough light to do some day activities.  It makes falling asleep more difficult, at least for some people (I am not one of those people).  Any way, we took our time getting our sh*t together and decided to head south and say goodbye to Denali.  We hit the road and set off for Telkeetna and then Anchorage.  I have copied some pictures from the internet to show you the town as I did not take the camera but this gives you an idea of the layout.  The town serves two purposes.  There are a bunch of gift shops with both locally made items and nick-knacks from other global points.  There are also a number of excursion companies that offer activities to do.  This includes white water rafting, Helicopter and plane rides to see Denali and it is also an initial gathering point for those who want to climb Denali.  There is a lot of activity for such a dinky town.









The town is really alive for just 4 short months, mid May to mid September.  It is too cold and there is too much snow the rest of the year.  The town itself is active all year.  There is a native population of about 900, with a school, medical building and mayor, but during these four months they receive thousands of visitors.  Along this one strip there are over a dozen shops and at least 10 restaurants or snacking businesses.  There are not enough people in the town to fill the open jobs, so people come from far away to work this abbreviated time frame.  The come not only from the lower US but from other countries too, like Europe.  Very similar to those who work in Denali for just the tourist season.  So we walked the strip and visited the shops.  We were then for a couple of hours and picked up a few items.  The weather was on and off rain, but that did not seem to matter to the crowd.  We saw another GAH RV and I am sure there were others throughout the past week.  We finished our shopping, got back to our 'home' and drove out.  We now headed to Anchorage.

It was already near three and it was a 2 hour trip to this main city.  Traffic started to build once we got near Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin and family.  Just a tidbit of information for you.  She did not come out and greet us.  This is a good sized town or small city, especially compared to what we have see lately.  It is spread out over 10 miles along the main artery here, and has all the stores and stop offs of towns we are familiar with.  I was amazed at the amount of traffic going against us.  It is about 35 miles from Wasilla to Anchorage and I would guess, many people make this commute.  The highway was crowded the entire way to Anchorage.

Anchorage, as noted earlier is the largest city in Alaska.  It has over 300K inhabitants.  This is about 40% of the population of the entire state, which is around 700K.  It is a regular city with the same issues and activities of any other town in the US.  We will explore a bit tomorrow.
We pulled into the RV park, or what passes for one.  It is right on the main highway and rather noisy, Probably not the best choice but the other sites had there own negatives also.  Plus, I was able to sleep with no problem.

So here we are, just a day or so before the 'Adventure' ends.  The goal for Tuesday is to pack up, clean up and maybe still find some wildlife to photograph.  Moose is said to be quite prevalent here and can be seen walking down main street on occasion.  We will see.  Until tomorrow!

Big Cashew Adventure Day 16 - Wildlife show in Denali

Here we are, the third Sunday of this trip and it seems like only three months ago that we started.  Perhaps the enthusiasm has waned slightly.  Perhaps we miss our warm, cozy bed at home, or decent cable offerings.  Well it could be those points but its not. It comes down to the fact that my ass and back are killing me from sitting and driving 5 thousand miles.  That's a round trip across the US. Whew, am I bushed.  But only a dwindling few days to go so I am getting off the mat and back in the drivers seat to lead this rag tag group of two to the finished line.  But first we do have to talk about Denali, as excruciating as it is to read one more day of these inane tombs.  Here we go, one more time.

Since it was Sunday, and there are Catholic Churches about one every 500 miles, we found ourselves with an infinite number of options that totaled only one with only one mass time period.  That was at 10 AM, back in Healy, AK, about 10 miles away.  It was a bit different compared to what we are used to.  There were 8 pews and some chairs lined up along the back.  The room is about 40 X 40 with a few statues and pictures.  There were about 35 people at the service, and at the end when the priest asked all visitors to stand up and say where they were from, about half the room stood.  What must a gathering in the winter be like?  I can only imagine.

So mass lasted an hour.  We then got in the RV, drove down the dirt and gravel for pot holes from the church and headed back to Denali.  It was just after 11 and we had a date with a park bus at 1 PM, so we went to the park at the Wilderness Center, parked, had lunch and prepared to go.  You are allowed to drive into the park up to mile post 15.  The road is paved for that distance.  To really see the wildlife you need to venture further.  The shuttle buses, that have been running since 1972 take you in further.  Of course, the remaining part of the road, which stretches to miles post 90, is unpaved, pot marked continuously and very narrow at spots (like up high on a mountain side with a direct plunge to the valley floor below.).  At least the bus comes with seat belts.  Another point is that the speed limit is between 15 and 35 MPH, with more towards the lower numbers.

The ride itself is bearable, but not comfortable.  There is no heat in the bus, and it was about 51 degrees outside.  The seats are typical of a regular city bus, I guess, but the bus itself looks more like it should be taking kids to school.  It will hold about 40 people.  Whether you are sightseeing, camping, biking or hiking, you can use these buses for a fee.  We paid $26, but the price is higher during the summer.  The cost is dependent upon how far in you are going.  At this time, you can go as far in as 53 miles.  The remaining part of the road opens as of Memorial Day.  Out driver, Marilyn, is a retired bus driver and has been doing this for 8 years with her husband, who is also a retired bus driver.  They drive their trailer up every year from south California and work this for extra spending money.  I guess life is what you make it.

OK, now to the main course.  As we started out, I had some doubts as to whether we would see many animals.  It was a bit cool, very overcast and I was just sick of sitting in a moving vehicle.  But I was proven wrong again!  As we past a turn off driveway to one of the housing buildings for the employees, there was a moose in the parking lot.  It was just a very quick glance as there were more trees than opening and I did not see it.  By the time someone said something, the bus has traveled past and could not back up.  But fear not, the day would not disappoint.  As we made our way in, we started seeing Caribou.  We actually saw a number of groups of them.

  Overall, we saw more than 2-3 dozen at various points.  A good number of them were growing their antlers.  One group of three seemed to have a full set of antlers, were large bulls and were eating in the brush about 50 feet in front of the bus.  We got some good shots as they stayed there awhile until we had to move on. We saw plenty of birds, especially this one that looked like a small rooster but can fly.  It was white with black spots and had a red crest on the head.

As we moved further in, we came across a wolf who was just meandering down the road.  We noticed him at about 50 yards away and he just kept coming at us until he reached us and then must kep walking down the road past us as if we were not there.  This is a rare site as there are only about 70 wolves in the park.  Once we hit the final stop, we got out to stretch and in the head.  We had to wait 35 minutes as this was all scheduled so that people can depend on the bus showing up regularly.  On the way back, hit the jackpot.  Just starting out, we saw a grizzly with her two cubs on the side of a mountain near the top.  It was far away but we got some good pics.  We also saw Dahl sheep on anther ridge.  As we kept moving back towards the visitor center, we saw more Caribou, three moose, and multiple sites of the sheep up on the ridges.  Hopefully the pictures will do it some justice, but they are not the best substitute for being there.  I was exhausted and worn down on the return to the point I wished the driver would speed up, but we saw so many animals that it was quite s successful day.  The only disappointment was that Denali mountain was not visible due to low clouds.  We were advised that it is visible less than 30% of the time, so you have to be lucky and time it just right.  Not something you have control over.

So that was our day.  As I noted, I am tired and worn down, but this was great for Chiara and that has been the number one goal of this trip.  Just two days to go and then we return the RV and head to airport Wednesday.  What will these last days have in store for us.  Tune in to find out!

Big Cashew Adventure - Day 16 All Hail Denali

Yes, as you might have surmised, we are at Denali, or actually, in Denali.  There is a town just north of the Denali NP called Denali.  That is where we are at the moment.  At a site called Rainbow RV and Motel.  A small town, made up mostly of shops and excursion type business, such as for running the rapids, sightseeing by Helicopter, and exploring with a jeep Safari.  Of course we do not have any of those on our list of to-do's.  And we will get into what we are doing, but first a word or hundreds on today's happenings, or lack of same.

Since we were staying to see a few sights that did not open until 9 or so, it was a slight sleep in morning.  I slept in all the way until 6 AM.  Then got up, make my tea, using Red Rose as I ran out of Lipton, for shame, and worked on yesterday's blog.  Chiara stayed in bed until after 7:30, but finally got up and made me breakfast.  That will come to he who waits!  Had cheesy eggs, toast and my remaining tea.  I then  took a shower, we got dressed, closed up the site and headed out.  It was after 9 so we headed for the Farmers Market.  This small gathering near the fairgrounds is just that and more.  There are fruits and vegetables, although you wonder where they came from.  The growing season hear is barely late May to August.  That is all the time you can usually depend on no frosts.  They had cucumbers, tomato plants, and a number of herbs.  But even though it was a farmers market, at least 60 percent of the booths had nothing to do with farming.  Lots of nick knacks like local jewelry, hand made place sets, hot pot holders of NFL teams, t-shirts, carved wood items, jams and jellies, honey and other food stuffs.  We were there for about 40 minutes and then moved on.  Next stop was another game preserve.  It will not open until June, but you could see Oxen in the pen that was near the road.  There was supposed to be a 3-4 week old baby but we did not see it.  Moving along, we decided to get the little lady and espresso at this one coffee shop.

While we waited on line, the lady in front of us had seen us pull up with a RV and asked some questions about it and what you need to expect.  We gave her the low down on this particular RV,  She stated she was organizing a trip with and RV with the family and her father.  We stated that although it is designed for up to 8 people, there should be no more than three or four, tops.  It is just to cramped.  Chiara was disappointed with the Espresso while I drank my British Breakfast tea.  It was not bad.

We next headed to Pioneer Village.  This is more of a playground than a historical site, but there were some interesting points.  This 'village'is made up of mostly original houses or cabins when Fairbanks was first settled in 1901 and the name was accepted a year later.  It was more of a trading facility and stop for panhandlers when gold was discovered 20 miles north.  The town grew from that time and eventually became Alaska's second largest city.  The cabins in Pioneer Village, as noted earlier, are mostly original.  I took a number of pictures.  They have some color to them and many are now shops for local businesses.  There was a kids jamboree when we got there so we just walked around for a little while.  We had some ice cream and then headed back to the RV for the drive to Denali.  First there was a stop at Fred Myers for some quick food shopping.  I got gas while waiting.  We made one more stop for wine and then we turned south and said good bye to Fairbanks/

Denali is 115 miles from Fairbanks so it was about a 2 hour + trip.  We stopped in a town called Healy, as I found a Catholic Church that serves mass on Sunday and wanted to see where it actually was located.  They are few and far between in this part of the state.  One church states they have a service but there is no priest, only a deacon.  A deacon cannot say mass.  But I digress.

We got to Denali around 4 and drove in.  We first went to the visitor center.  Things are changed since I was last here.  Newer buildings and better lay out.  We went in and talked to a Ranger.  We found out that unlike summer time when you cannot drive past the 3 mile marker, we can drive to the 15 mile marker.  Not much farther but a little.  The shuttle buses are running but only to about the 56 mile marker, then they return.  We signed up for a Sunday trip starting at 1 PM.  They last up to 7 hours.  Lets hope we see lots of wildlife.  We will stay til Monday so we will be back to the Park Monday morning and see the dog sled demonstration.  Maybe then drive our allotted 15 miles befoer heading south.  We will see.

RV site is just a completely open parking lot with the hookups.  No trees or anything, but it covers the need.  So that about takes care of this blog.  Hope I haven't bored you too much.  We are in the hoime stretch.  I am sad and glad.  The trip has been exhausting, but interesting.  Chat later about today.

Big Cashew's Adventure - Another drive to Who Knows Where

Day 15, 5/19/17

This will probably be a short blog as there was not much happening today and there were few pictures.  The goal was to reach Beaver Creek, YK as that was about the mileage distance we set for driving in a day.  First we had to get there.  We had stayed at Takhini Hot Springs and Campground/Hostel the night before.   The site was fine as it was more than large enough for the RV and could fit another vehicle if you were so inclined.  As has been happening ever since we reached British Columbia, the sun stays up late and gets up really early.  In fact, the last three nights, I do not believe it actually got completely dark.  It is still light out after 11 and rather bright by 4 AM or so. 

We left the campground about 9 AM PDT and headed out.  I had some worry as the propane gauge in the RV was showing empty.  It is not that accurate, but I knew we were down towards the bottom and needed to find a place.  Remember, the Fridge and stove run on propane.  We had to keep the fridge going at least.  I asked at the office of the campground, but they do not carry it and directed me to go back to Whitehorse, which was about 20 miles south.  This was not an option so we got back on the ALCAN going north and took our chances.  This drive is more of the same of nothing, then abandoned stops, then nothing and then an occasional house.  Where these people worked was beyond me.

We ran into the usual construction works which held us up for about 15 minutes.  At the stop, we noticed a group of 4 other GAH RV’s ahead of us.  Apparently they were traveling together.  Once we got past the road that was not there (they had torn it up completely and it was rutted dirt, very rough), they took off and kept the group together.  Chiara had spoken to some people earlier and knew that at least two couples were driving together, but we did not know it was this many.  Anyway, they lead for a while but finally pulled over to stop.  We kept going and after another half hour, found a place that sold propane.  We filled up and got back to the driver.

The rest of the drive was the most devoid of humans on this trip.  There was a couple of spots where two or three buildings were located.  These went up after the ALCAN was built to give truckers a rest spot along the way.  They had weird names, like Destruction Bay, Burnish Landing, and Beaver Creek. Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek kept operating, but Burnish Landing had nothing to stop for.  You are pretty much on your own here so don’t break down.

Since Beaver Creek was our goal, here is a little more information.  It is a small hamlet about 30 km from the US border.  Plus they had an RV campsite, two restaurants and gas stations, along with a place called Buckshot Betty’s.  I guess this place has been there a very long time and with so few offerings along the way, it stood out and stood the test of time.  We did stop at Beaver Creek, and we visited Buckshot Betty, but there was not much to get excited about.  They had some clothing and nick knacks, plus there were one of the restaurants, but really, not something to write home about.  We took our time to stretch our legs and decided to get back in and head for the border.

About 2 miles out of town, you reach the Canadian check point for the border.  What is surprising is that the border is still 20 miles away.  We drive past as there was no requirement to stop.  We know entered what I would have to say is the “Dead” zone.  The road for this stretch was about the worst we encountered.  Some spots there was no road.  There were many frost heaves, pot holes, loose gravel, dust and just a plain rough surface.  I get the idea that no one takes care of this section, but it belongs to Canada so they don’t care I guess.  We finally reach the US customs point.  It is just a small building with three lanes to reach a customs official, only two were operating, and two lanes for the run into Canada.  We handed in our passports which they must have checked for any red flag, asked us two questions, where do we live, and what do you think the RV, and let us through.  You wonder where these officials live to get to work here.  There is really nothing in Alaska for 100 miles, which is the town of TOK.  Do they commute every day or what?  Who knows? 

We stopped at TOK as we were now over 300 miles of today’s travels and needed to stop.  I picked the first RV site, since I did not know what was ahead, and it seemed OK.  Plenty of room, treed spaces, gas grilles at strategic points and full hook ups.  They also had WiFI, but I did not find out until after I had paid that it was strictly controlled and you only got 2 hours free.  After that you are charged.  We were both pissed, and I felt bad that I just assumed otherwise.  All previous sites who had WiFi were open with no restrictions.  Maybe it was the drive or just being tired, but this really bothered us and it took while to calm down and get squared away.  At least we had a nice juicy Lucy burger and salad for dinner.  I did not feel like writing last night so we watched a move and then went to bed.  It was 10:45 Alaska time, which is 2:45 EST.  The sun had set but it was still quite light out.  It’s not easy to get to sleep when the day still seems to be running.

 

Well, that will do it for now.  We head to North Pole, Alaska tomorrow then head to Fairbanks.  Chat at you tomorrow!

Big Cashew's Adventure - Day 13 (5/17/17)

Well, we are moving closer to our goal of reaching Alaska.  Today brings us one day closer and leaves us with only another day and partial day before we stumble back into the USA.  I can tell you that it has been an exciting but also tiring quest and I am starting to feel the fatigue.  We have driven almost 4K miles, and the stress of not knowing what lies ahead whether it be weather or animals or road conditions has certainly added to the fatigue factor.  Of these points, the road concerns keep one up at night, so to speak.  You usually do get a warning that something is coming up, but you cant always be sure exactly what it is.  The road has been very rough sounding when you drive over it and there are seemingly endless potholes and rough patches, but the one thing you cannot rally see until you go over it is the frost heaves.  The road looks flat and "smooth" ahead as you barrel down at 50 KM/HR, but one you go over it,you experience a major dip and rise in the vehicle that tests the shocks.  You are concerned of bottoming out.  Every so often you hit one of this points and you just hold your breath.  Construction is another concern, but you do see this coming.  There have been repeated times where the road just disappears.  The asphalt becomes dirt, or loose grave, and it rocks the RV with pebbles, dust and mud.  Some times these points are a couple of miles long.  It is scary to be driving along and see a sign saying pavement ends.  Oh, that nice to know.  This is what we have encountered here in Canada, but we experienced it in Yellowstone and Montana too.

As you have read, we have passed through Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory on this trip.  The driver from Watson Lake, or actually Rancheria, takes us from the Yukon, back into BC and then back into the Yukon.  Chiara is posing at one of the signs along the route.  The remoteness of this land is particularly evident when we stop like this.  There is no one around and no cars pass us in the short time we stop.

Today we were driving to Whitehorse.  Along the way, you have the usual spectacular views.  This is a view near Teslin, YK.  The sky is so blue as is the water.  It is so cold, that most lakes are still partially frozen.  But the water looks a pure as driven snow.  We have basically passed the Canadian Rockies, but there were still a few more mountains that we had to get by.  These were drives through the passes so we did not climb to any great heights, but with the fact that they build the roads up higher than the surrounding land, the shoulders are rather narrow and the drop off is just that.  You do not want to leave the road surface.  There is chance you wont be coming back if you do.

We arrived in Whitehorse about 1:15 and drove to the Visitor Center.  It is the visitor center for the Yukon, not just Whitehorse.  The attendant was friendly and directed us to a few sites, mostly shops in town.  So we decided to walk around the town.  We walked a few blocks and went into a building that contained multiple small shops.  Just browsing, although we went into one that had different food items.  The proprietor was French, but spoke English with and accent.  He started up a conversation with Chiara about some preserves.  I believe Chiara was asking about the sugar content.  The next thing you know, it turns out, although he is French, we spent time in Naples and loves it there.  They were now like bosum buddies.  He walked us through the store and talked about the various food stuffs, like pasta from Italy that is supposed to be the best you can eat, jams from France, candies and the like.  He was very friendly.  We found a couple of items and picked them up.  We then went back outside.  It was not cold in the sun, but the wind was strong and it created a cold feel.  We headed back to the RV and took off to the grocery store and liquior shop.  We came back to the visitor center so I could take a couple pictures of the Yukon River that the town i next to.  See below.

After taking the pictures, we decided to head out of town to find the wildlife preserve that is maintained 25 miles out of town.  It was on the way to the campground so stopped in to check it out. The animals are all indigenous to the area.  So we paid the admission fee and started to walk.  The whole walk took about 2 hours.  It was tiring but we need the exercise what with all the sitting we have been doing the past 13 days.  The pictures below are of the animals we saw.  There were Buffalo, which we have seen plenty of.  The one difference here was that there was an 18 hours old baby in the herd.  It was so small and the group seemed to keep their distance from the fences so no close up.  There is on picture where you can see the baby.
There was also Mule Deer, Moose (notice the close up), Mountain goats, Caribu, and Oxen (OK, not all indigenous to this area).  But we needed the exercise and Chiara wanted to push herself.  The walk was fairly hilly at times so there was a stain on her but we took our time and make the complete figure 8 trip.  It was about 2 miles.

We then headed to the campsite, which was just 2 km down the road.  This one is also a hostel and I think there was more people in the hostel than in the campground area,.  Our campsite is fairly large.  I would accommodate our unit and a towed vehicle, if we had one, very easily.  It is also wide and separate from the the adjoining site so you have some privacy.  Dinner was a seafood medly with pasta, salad and of course, wine.  It was around 8 PM when we ate but it was good as usual.

Tomorrow we head to our last Canadian stop, Beaver Creek.  It is just a dot on a map, but its 270 miles and a 5 hour drive.  Not much there but an RV campsite and a place called Buckshot Bettys which is the local restaurant and gift shop.  We might have to give it a go.