Canada and we're going North....

We had met Frank, a nice American guy, at the Walmart carpark in Mt Vernon, who was on his 14th driving trip to Alaska.  He was a great help to us, giving us lots of advice on which roads to take, what to see etc. He recommended we cross over into Canada at Abbotsford which we did.  It only took an hour of sitting in the car at Customs and we were through, with the usual questions of how did we get 6 months off, how can we afford it and then disbelief that we were getting paid to have... A YEAR OFF!!!

Our first stop was at Hope, where we dropped in to the Visitor's Centre....and I was forced to take the obligatory photos of Stu!!

Turns out parts of Rambo were filmed here...I have never seen Rambo, but we do tease Stu about his Rocky "love affair"...."Adddrrriiiaaannn" so had to get this photo of him as Sylvester Stallone!!and then the one below dressed like a girl!

The drive out of Hope was very mountainous with some great views....and the kind of landscape that Stu and I really enjoy.  We were fortunate enough to see one of the long Canadian trains weaving its way around this mountain, along the Fraser River.

 There are small communities scattered everywhere, and apparently agriculture is their livelihood which makes for some green country amidst the rocky terrain!

 Looking across the river we saw this lonely church which looks abandoned.

 

We parked up for the night on the side of the road at a Rest Area.  It wasn't particularly nice, but did the job.  They all have pitties and a picnic table, but usually there is a sign that says "No Overnight Parking".  Stu went for a walk up a hill and saw a marmot,

and a deer

and this view.....

but when he came down he couldn't believe it.  A car had parked right next to us, and was there for the night and had the radio going till late.  The whole Rest Area was empty, but she had to park almost on top of us!! It was a lady, travelling on her own, who didn't speak to us at all, but maybe felt safe being next to the Grey Nomads in the RV!!

Next morning we pushed on, with the country side changing all the time.

One thing I really miss is the internet and not being able to contact the family, especially the boys.  So when we arrived at 100 Mile House, (yes, that is the name of the town) we were happy to see a Visitor's Centre.  We pulled in (it was a Saturday) and it was closed.  But there was a sign on the door with the password for free WiFi.  So we got the Ipad and laptop going only to discover it would give you about 5 mins, then would drop out!  Very frustrating, but we did manage to Skype Elizabeth which was great.  The good thing about stopping at 100 Mile House...we got to see the World's Biggest Fly Fishing Rod....

and we stopped at a small Indigneous community to see their "World Famous" Totem Poles,

and we got see our first bear...for this trip....it was not far from a small town and was disappearing into the forest, so we were lucky to get a quick photo...

We were putting in long days on the road....not having a great concept of the time we would have to have the RV delivered to Anchorage by June 20th, so a lot of the photos are taken as we were driving.

Everywhere you drive there is beautiful scenery

and we stopped here for lunch, on the side of the road, pinching ourselves for the 100th time that we were doing this trip!!

On the advice of Frank, (our Walmart friend) we chose to take Hwy 37 up to the Yukon.  This is the road less travelled by tourists, but Frank assured us it was very scenic and we would probably see more wildlife.  The fuel services are less frequent but there are enough to get by.  When we hit this turn off we were pretty excited! It was a sign that our big adventure was just beginning!

That night we went off the beaten track to find somewhere to sleep.  Sometimes it can be a little unnerving parking up where traffic can see you as they go by. So it's always good to try and be somewhere a little discreet.  The RV is fully operational without the usual services...power and water...if you are fully supplied, so we spent the night in the bush, down a gully, away from prying eyes! Not fancy...but cheap!!

It turns out that every Visitor Centre we went to over the weekend was shut.  The summer tourist season doesn't start till mid May, so the people up here are kind of like bears...coming out of hibernation after a big winter.....and slowly getting themselves ready for Spring and Summer and the onslaught of people like us!
It is so green....

there are mountains, creeks, rivers everywhere...and of course water in them all!

We found a Recreation Site, off the road next to a lake and spent a night there, with unbelievable views.....

and were joined by abundant bird life and mosquitoes the size of jet planes...but we have some ultra expensive (OMG...$8 for the smallest bottle of personal insect repellant ever!!) flyspray which does the trick!

As I mentioned earlier, we have been lacking in the internet department, so this blog will be done in small stages.  We are having an amazing time, loving everything we are seeing, enjoying each others company, Stu makes me laugh all the time and we continually count our blessings each day, that we are having this amazing experience.