Once near the Rockies, we found ourselves on the RV/bus loop that circles endlessly through Jasper and area. Even through we were early in the season, there was an endless stream of rental RVs and an inordinate number of Australian coach tours in evidence. Once headed NW again, we left most of them behind and toured through many small mill towns before arriving in Fort Nelson. There were bright spots along the way, like this idyllic campsite at tiny, perfect, Heart Lake which we had all to ourselves.
The day we drove the Alaska Highway section from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake turned out to be a momentous day. It was May 28 and raining lightly when we left Fort Nelson. We were expecting just another day on the road. It turned out to be a nerve-wracking day. First, the snowstorm, on May 28! This is the view just short of Summit Pass. Through the murk you may just see the tractor trailer and uhaul truck that were stopped dead in the road, unable to make the hill. The snow piled up thick and fast in the half-hour or so, we sat there, not moving.
A snowplough came through from the other side and because we still had our snow tires on (we felt smug) we pulled out and made it to the top, only to be faced on the downhill side with two tractor trailers, side by side, blocking the entire road. Eventually, we made it down the other side, through conditions like this.
I don't know if they closed the road, but, we didn't see another vehicle behind us for hours. The next hurdle was road construction and lots of it. It was a long wait for this pilot car who led us through the rain and mud.
Eventually, we got back to summer conditions and enjoyed seeing wildlife again, like these Stone sheep (they look like goats, but, are actually sheep).
We've seen a lot of black bears so far, more than a dozen, even a group of three together on Vancouver Island. This one was too busy feeding to pay us much attention. Isn't it a beauty?
We duly arrived in Whitehorse with no further drama. We spent about a week there, getting our summer tires back on, selling the winter tires and dealing with a few other van details. We crashed our house battery in the van and had to replace it. We'd been using the propane furnace (the fan and thermostat are electrically controlled) a little too much and hadn't been paying attention to the battery charge. There isn't a good battery monitor onboard and only one measly 72Ah house battery, so, it was inevitable really. It seems like RV'ng isn't much different than sailboat cruising. You get to maintain and repair your vehicle in remote, exotic places and encounter unexpected weather dramas along the way. We've met others who've had flat tires, had to replace broken springs, transmissions, propane tanks etc.
We also had to wait to get a new Visa card delivered. It took five days to get it from Toronto to Whitehorse. The old one had been locked up, yet again! No matter how many times we tell Visa that we are permanently travelling and that there will be weird charges made from remote places, our cards get locked up a regular intervals, sometimes at very unfortunate times. When you call, the perky voice on the phone dutifully chirps 'your card has been compromised', then refuses to say how. When you go over the charges with them, they're all valid, but, the card is locked nonetheless. Sometimes they just unlock the card, this time they forced us to get a new one. We're looking forward to getting back on the road.
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