Alberta, Canada Day 7 to Day 9

Day 7:  Mile 1216-1568   Great Start; Bad End
The day started out beautiful.  The countryside in British Columbia (as well as the Yukon) is very pretty.  We saw lots of elk--one dashed across the road directly in front of me.  We got started early-by 0705 But after stopping at a rest area (one of the rare ones along the Alaska Hwy) we noticed the tire on the motorcycle trailer was low.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to change it, unload about 250 pounds out of the motorcycle trailer box  (had to remove about 50 screws), and attempt to mount a tire on the wheel of the previous flat tire (it almost worked).   By early evening, heavy fog and rain engulfed us and made driving very treacherous.  We wanted to reach Fort St. John for the night, but we were forced to pull off the road for safety reasons.  We were too stressed to even eat, so we went to sleep around 2030.

Elk grazing in someones front yard.

Summit Lake-Highest Point on Alaska Hwy (elevation 4248 feet)

Summit Lake area.

Removing bad tire from rim.

Taken from inside car while driving along British Columbia road.

Also from inside car while driving along road British Columbia.

Day 8:  Mile 1568-1875   Welcome to Alberta.
We have traveled almost 1,900 miles since leaving Healy, Alaska.  We are now in Whitecourt, Alberta staying at the Day's Inn.   We arrived late (more driving in the dark--why do we keep doing this to ourselves?)  Today we reached the end of the Alaska Hwy in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, saw a "Chips" in the back of a pickup in Grande Prairie, Alberta (Colin will know what I mean-missing you Colin), stopped at a tire repair shop  (regretfully-more on day 10) to repair two tires (yes, we had another flat tire on the motorcycle trailer-yesterday), drove up and down lots of steep hills, (almost had to drop into first going up one of them), and drove through Valley View, Alberta where we had our truck accident 5 years ago.  (And where we met very kind people)  We finished Murder She Meowed (not sure if it was today or yesterday)  and started on Hard Eight by Janet Evanovich.  After about 5 minutes into the story, it was obviously not one I cared to listen to.  (language, and content not appreciated)  so we started on The Mitford Series by Jan Karon.  The day was mostly sunny and warm--temperatures reached 52 degrees in Grande Prairie.  It sure felt good. 

Goodbye to Alaska Hwy

Driving near Grande Prairie.  It was very flat.

Beautiful skies driving away from Valley View.

Day 9:  Mile 1900-2300 (approximate mileage-we drove about 396 miles today)   More Alberta
This morning, when Dave went out to move the car closer, he noticed that someone tried to break into our car and destroyed the door latch on the passenger door.  (Very upsetting to have our caravan mutilated after Dave put so many hours into rebuilding it.)  So now it can only be opened from the inside-a slight inconvenience.  We finally left Whitecourt, Alberta at 0910 after enjoying the continental breakfast at the Days Inn.  We ran into heavy traffic near Edmonton.  We are enjoying the Alberta countryside-lots of farmland.  More heavy traffic-bumper to bumper-in Calgary.  Bad timing-rush hour.  By the time we stop for the night, in Nantin, it is raining again.

Our poor car that Dave worked so hard to rebuild.

Road to Edmonton.  Even though the skies are cloudy, it was still a magnificent sight.

Road to Edmonton

Calgary, Alberta.  This is where we hit bumper to bumper traffic.